GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual

For Emacs Version 26.3

Revision 3.1, October 2014

by Bil Lewis, Dan LaLiberte, Richard Stallman,

the GNU Manual Group, et al.
This is edition 3.1 of the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual,
corresponding to Emacs version 26.3.
Copyright c 1990–1996, 1998–2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under
the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections
being “GNU General Public License,” with the Front-Cover Texts being “A
GNU Manual,” and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License.”
(a) The FSF’s Back-Cover Text is: “You have the freedom to copy and modify
this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF supports it in developing GNU
and promoting software freedom.”

Published by the Free Software Foundation

51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor
Boston, MA 02110-1301
USA
ISBN 1-882114-74-4

Cover art by Etienne Suvasa.

 i

Short Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Lisp Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4 Strings and Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5 Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6 Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
7 Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
8 Hash Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
9 Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
10 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
11 Control Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
12 Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
13 Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
14 Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
15 Customization Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
16 Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
17 Byte Compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
18 Debugging Lisp Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
19 Reading and Printing Lisp Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
20 Minibuffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
21 Command Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
22 Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
23 Major and Minor Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
24 Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
25 Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
26 Backups and Auto-Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
27 Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
28 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
29 Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
30 Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
31 Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
32 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
33 Non-ASCII Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
 ii

34 Searching and Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865

35 Syntax Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
36 Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908
37 Threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
38 Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
39 Emacs Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967
40 Operating System Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072
41 Preparing Lisp code for distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114
A Emacs 25 Antinews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119
B GNU Free Documentation License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123
C GNU General Public License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131
D Tips and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142
E GNU Emacs Internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
F Standard Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192
G Standard Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196
H Standard Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203
 iii

Table of Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Lisp History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.1 Some Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.2 nil and t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.3 Evaluation Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.4 Printing Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.5 Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.6 Buffer Text Notation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.7 Format of Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.7.1 A Sample Function Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.7.2 A Sample Variable Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Version Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 Lisp Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.1 Printed Representation and Read Syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Programming Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3.1 Integer Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3.2 Floating-Point Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.3 Character Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.3.1 Basic Char Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.3.2 General Escape Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3.3.3 Control-Character Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.3.4 Meta-Character Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.3.5 Other Character Modifier Bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.4 Symbol Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.5 Sequence Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.6 Cons Cell and List Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.6.1 Drawing Lists as Box Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3.6.2 Dotted Pair Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.6.3 Association List Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.7 Array Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3.8 String Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3.8.1 Syntax for Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3.8.2 Non-ASCII Characters in Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3.8.3 Nonprinting Characters in Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3.8.4 Text Properties in Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3.9 Vector Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3.10 Char-Table Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.11 Bool-Vector Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
 iv

2.3.12 Hash Table Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.3.13 Function Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.14 Macro Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.15 Primitive Function Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.16 Byte-Code Function Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.17 Record Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.18 Type Descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.19 Autoload Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.20 Finalizer Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4 Editing Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4.1 Buffer Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4.2 Marker Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4.3 Window Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4.4 Frame Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4.5 Terminal Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4.6 Window Configuration Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4.7 Frame Configuration Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4.8 Process Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4.9 Thread Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4.10 Mutex Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4.11 Condition Variable Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4.12 Stream Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4.13 Keymap Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4.14 Overlay Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4.15 Font Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.5 Read Syntax for Circular Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.6 Type Predicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.7 Equality Predicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3 Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.1 Integer Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2 Floating-Point Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3 Type Predicates for Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4 Comparison of Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.5 Numeric Conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.6 Arithmetic Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.7 Rounding Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.8 Bitwise Operations on Integers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.9 Standard Mathematical Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.10 Random Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

4 Strings and Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

4.1 String and Character Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.2 Predicates for Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.3 Creating Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.4 Modifying Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.5 Comparison of Characters and Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
 v

4.6 Conversion of Characters and Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

4.7 Formatting Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.8 Case Conversion in Lisp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.9 The Case Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

5 Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.1 Lists and Cons Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.2 Predicates on Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.3 Accessing Elements of Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.4 Building Cons Cells and Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.5 Modifying List Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5.6 Modifying Existing List Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.6.1 Altering List Elements with setcar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.6.2 Altering the CDR of a List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.6.3 Functions that Rearrange Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.7 Using Lists as Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.8 Association Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.9 Property Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.9.1 Property Lists and Association Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.9.2 Property Lists Outside Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

6 Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

6.1 Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.2 Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.3 Functions that Operate on Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.4 Vectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.5 Functions for Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.6 Char-Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.7 Bool-vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.8 Managing a Fixed-Size Ring of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

7 Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
7.1 Record Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
7.2 Backward Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

8 Hash Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

8.1 Creating Hash Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
8.2 Hash Table Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
8.3 Defining Hash Comparisons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
8.4 Other Hash Table Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
 vi

9 Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
9.1 Symbol Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
9.2 Defining Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
9.3 Creating and Interning Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
9.4 Symbol Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
9.4.1 Accessing Symbol Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
9.4.2 Standard Symbol Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

10 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
10.1 Kinds of Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
10.1.1 Self-Evaluating Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
10.1.2 Symbol Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
10.1.3 Classification of List Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
10.1.4 Symbol Function Indirection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
10.1.5 Evaluation of Function Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
10.1.6 Lisp Macro Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
10.1.7 Special Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
10.1.8 Autoloading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
10.2 Quoting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
10.3 Backquote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
10.4 Eval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

11 Control Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

11.1 Sequencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
11.2 Conditionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
11.3 Constructs for Combining Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
11.4 Pattern-Matching Conditional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
11.4.1 The pcase macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
11.4.2 Extending pcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
11.4.3 Backquote-Style Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
11.4.4 Destructuring with pcase Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
11.5 Iteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
11.6 Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
11.7 Nonlocal Exits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
11.7.1 Explicit Nonlocal Exits: catch and throw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
11.7.2 Examples of catch and throw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.7.3 Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.7.3.1 How to Signal an Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.7.3.2 How Emacs Processes Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
11.7.3.3 Writing Code to Handle Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
11.7.3.4 Error Symbols and Condition Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
11.7.4 Cleaning Up from Nonlocal Exits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
 vii

12 Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
12.1 Global Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
12.2 Variables that Never Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
12.3 Local Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
12.4 When a Variable is Void . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
12.5 Defining Global Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
12.6 Tips for Defining Variables Robustly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
12.7 Accessing Variable Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
12.8 Setting Variable Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
12.9 Running a function when a variable is changed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
12.9.1 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
12.10 Scoping Rules for Variable Bindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
12.10.1 Dynamic Binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
12.10.2 Proper Use of Dynamic Binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
12.10.3 Lexical Binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
12.10.4 Using Lexical Binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
12.11 Buffer-Local Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
12.11.1 Introduction to Buffer-Local Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
12.11.2 Creating and Deleting Buffer-Local Bindings . . . . . . . . . . . 186
12.11.3 The Default Value of a Buffer-Local Variable . . . . . . . . . . 189
12.12 File Local Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
12.13 Directory Local Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
12.14 Connection Local Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
12.15 Variable Aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
12.16 Variables with Restricted Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
12.17 Generalized Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
12.17.1 The setf Macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
12.17.2 Defining new setf forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

13 Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
13.1 What Is a Function? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
13.2 Lambda Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
13.2.1 Components of a Lambda Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
13.2.2 A Simple Lambda Expression Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
13.2.3 Other Features of Argument Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
13.2.4 Documentation Strings of Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
13.3 Naming a Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
13.4 Defining Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
13.5 Calling Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
13.6 Mapping Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
13.7 Anonymous Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
13.8 Generic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
13.9 Accessing Function Cell Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
13.10 Closures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
13.11 Advising Emacs Lisp Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
13.11.1 Primitives to manipulate advices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
13.11.2 Advising Named Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
13.11.3 Ways to compose advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
 viii

13.11.4 Adapting code using the old defadvice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

13.12 Declaring Functions Obsolete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
13.13 Inline Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
13.14 The declare Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
13.15 Telling the Compiler that a Function is Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
13.16 Determining whether a Function is Safe to Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
13.17 Other Topics Related to Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

14 Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
14.1 A Simple Example of a Macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
14.2 Expansion of a Macro Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
14.3 Macros and Byte Compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
14.4 Defining Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
14.5 Common Problems Using Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
14.5.1 Wrong Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
14.5.2 Evaluating Macro Arguments Repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
14.5.3 Local Variables in Macro Expansions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
14.5.4 Evaluating Macro Arguments in Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
14.5.5 How Many Times is the Macro Expanded? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
14.6 Indenting Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

15 Customization Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

15.1 Common Item Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
15.2 Defining Customization Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
15.3 Defining Customization Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
15.4 Customization Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
15.4.1 Simple Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
15.4.2 Composite Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
15.4.3 Splicing into Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
15.4.4 Type Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
15.4.5 Defining New Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
15.5 Applying Customizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
15.6 Custom Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

16 Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
16.1 How Programs Do Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
16.2 Load Suffixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
16.3 Library Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
16.4 Loading Non-ASCII Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
16.5 Autoload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
16.5.1 Autoload by Prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
16.5.2 When to Use Autoload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
16.6 Repeated Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
16.7 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
16.8 Which File Defined a Certain Symbol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
16.9 Unloading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
16.10 Hooks for Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
16.11 Emacs Dynamic Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
 ix

17 Byte Compilation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

17.1 Performance of Byte-Compiled Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
17.2 Byte-Compilation Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
17.3 Documentation Strings and Compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
17.4 Dynamic Loading of Individual Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
17.5 Evaluation During Compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
17.6 Compiler Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
17.7 Byte-Code Function Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
17.8 Disassembled Byte-Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

18 Debugging Lisp Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

18.1 The Lisp Debugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
18.1.1 Entering the Debugger on an Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
18.1.2 Debugging Infinite Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
18.1.3 Entering the Debugger on a Function Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
18.1.4 Entering the debugger when a variable is modified . . . . . . 292
18.1.5 Explicit Entry to the Debugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
18.1.6 Using the Debugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
18.1.7 Debugger Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
18.1.8 Invoking the Debugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
18.1.9 Internals of the Debugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
18.2 Edebug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
18.2.1 Using Edebug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
18.2.2 Instrumenting for Edebug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
18.2.3 Edebug Execution Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
18.2.4 Jumping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
18.2.5 Miscellaneous Edebug Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
18.2.6 Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
18.2.6.1 Edebug Breakpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
18.2.6.2 Global Break Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
18.2.6.3 Source Breakpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
18.2.7 Trapping Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
18.2.8 Edebug Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
18.2.9 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
18.2.10 Evaluation List Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
18.2.11 Printing in Edebug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
18.2.12 Trace Buffer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
18.2.13 Coverage Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
18.2.14 The Outside Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
18.2.14.1 Checking Whether to Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
18.2.14.2 Edebug Display Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
18.2.14.3 Edebug Recursive Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
18.2.15 Edebug and Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
18.2.15.1 Instrumenting Macro Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
18.2.15.2 Specification List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
18.2.15.3 Backtracking in Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
18.2.15.4 Specification Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
18.2.16 Edebug Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
 x

18.3 Debugging Invalid Lisp Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

18.3.1 Excess Open Parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
18.3.2 Excess Close Parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
18.4 Test Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
18.5 Profiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

19 Reading and Printing Lisp Objects . . . . . . . . 323

19.1 Introduction to Reading and Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
19.2 Input Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
19.3 Input Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
19.4 Output Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
19.5 Output Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
19.6 Variables Affecting Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

20 Minibuffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
20.1 Introduction to Minibuffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
20.2 Reading Text Strings with the Minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
20.3 Reading Lisp Objects with the Minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
20.4 Minibuffer History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
20.5 Initial Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
20.6 Completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
20.6.1 Basic Completion Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
20.6.2 Completion and the Minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
20.6.3 Minibuffer Commands that Do Completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
20.6.4 High-Level Completion Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
20.6.5 Reading File Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
20.6.6 Completion Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
20.6.7 Programmed Completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
20.6.8 Completion in Ordinary Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
20.7 Yes-or-No Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
20.8 Asking Multiple-Choice Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
20.9 Reading a Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
20.10 Minibuffer Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
20.11 Minibuffer Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
20.12 Minibuffer Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
20.13 Recursive Minibuffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
20.14 Minibuffer Miscellany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

21 Command Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

21.1 Command Loop Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
21.2 Defining Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
21.2.1 Using interactive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
21.2.2 Code Characters for interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
21.2.3 Examples of Using interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
21.2.4 Select among Command Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
21.3 Interactive Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
21.4 Distinguish Interactive Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
 xi

21.5 Information from the Command Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

21.6 Adjusting Point After Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
21.7 Input Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
21.7.1 Keyboard Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
21.7.2 Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
21.7.3 Mouse Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
21.7.4 Click Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
21.7.5 Drag Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
21.7.6 Button-Down Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
21.7.7 Repeat Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
21.7.8 Motion Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
21.7.9 Focus Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
21.7.10 Miscellaneous System Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
21.7.11 Event Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
21.7.12 Classifying Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
21.7.13 Accessing Mouse Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
21.7.14 Accessing Scroll Bar Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
21.7.15 Putting Keyboard Events in Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
21.8 Reading Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
21.8.1 Key Sequence Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
21.8.2 Reading One Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
21.8.3 Modifying and Translating Input Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
21.8.4 Invoking the Input Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
21.8.5 Quoted Character Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
21.8.6 Miscellaneous Event Input Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
21.9 Special Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
21.10 Waiting for Elapsed Time or Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
21.11 Quitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
21.12 Prefix Command Arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
21.13 Recursive Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
21.14 Disabling Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
21.15 Command History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
21.16 Keyboard Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

22 Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
22.1 Key Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
22.2 Keymap Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
22.3 Format of Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
22.4 Creating Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
22.5 Inheritance and Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
22.6 Prefix Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
22.7 Active Keymaps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
22.8 Searching the Active Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
22.9 Controlling the Active Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
22.10 Key Lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
22.11 Functions for Key Lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
22.12 Changing Key Bindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
22.13 Remapping Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
 xii

22.14 Keymaps for Translating Sequences of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

22.14.1 Interaction with normal keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
22.15 Commands for Binding Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
22.16 Scanning Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
22.17 Menu Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
22.17.1 Defining Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
22.17.1.1 Simple Menu Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
22.17.1.2 Extended Menu Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
22.17.1.3 Menu Separators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
22.17.1.4 Alias Menu Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
22.17.2 Menus and the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
22.17.3 Menus and the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
22.17.4 Menu Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
22.17.5 The Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
22.17.6 Tool bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
22.17.7 Modifying Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
22.17.8 Easy Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

23 Major and Minor Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

23.1 Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
23.1.1 Running Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
23.1.2 Setting Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
23.2 Major Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
23.2.1 Major Mode Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
23.2.2 How Emacs Chooses a Major Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
23.2.3 Getting Help about a Major Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
23.2.4 Defining Derived Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
23.2.5 Basic Major Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
23.2.6 Mode Hooks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
23.2.7 Tabulated List mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
23.2.8 Generic Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
23.2.9 Major Mode Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
23.3 Minor Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
23.3.1 Conventions for Writing Minor Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
23.3.2 Keymaps and Minor Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
23.3.3 Defining Minor Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
23.4 Mode Line Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
23.4.1 Mode Line Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
23.4.2 The Data Structure of the Mode Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
23.4.3 The Top Level of Mode Line Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
23.4.4 Variables Used in the Mode Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
23.4.5 %-Constructs in the Mode Line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
23.4.6 Properties in the Mode Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
23.4.7 Window Header Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
23.4.8 Emulating Mode Line Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
23.5 Imenu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
23.6 Font Lock Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
23.6.1 Font Lock Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
 xiii

23.6.2 Search-based Fontification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

23.6.3 Customizing Search-Based Fontification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
23.6.4 Other Font Lock Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
23.6.5 Levels of Font Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
23.6.6 Precalculated Fontification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
23.6.7 Faces for Font Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
23.6.8 Syntactic Font Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
23.6.9 Multiline Font Lock Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
23.6.9.1 Font Lock Multiline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
23.6.9.2 Region to Fontify after a Buffer Change . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
23.7 Automatic Indentation of code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
23.7.1 Simple Minded Indentation Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
23.7.1.1 SMIE Setup and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
23.7.1.2 Operator Precedence Grammars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
23.7.1.3 Defining the Grammar of a Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
23.7.1.4 Defining Tokens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
23.7.1.5 Living With a Weak Parser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
23.7.1.6 Specifying Indentation Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
23.7.1.7 Helper Functions for Indentation Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
23.7.1.8 Sample Indentation Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
23.7.1.9 Customizing Indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
23.8 Desktop Save Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

24 Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
24.1 Documentation Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
24.2 Access to Documentation Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
24.3 Substituting Key Bindings in Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
24.4 Text Quoting Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
24.5 Describing Characters for Help Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
24.6 Help Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

25 Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
25.1 Visiting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
25.1.1 Functions for Visiting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
25.1.2 Subroutines of Visiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
25.2 Saving Buffers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
25.3 Reading from Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
25.4 Writing to Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
25.5 File Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
25.6 Information about Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
25.6.1 Testing Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
25.6.2 Distinguishing Kinds of Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
25.6.3 Truenames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
25.6.4 File Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
25.6.5 Extended File Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
25.6.6 Locating Files in Standard Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
25.7 Changing File Names and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
 xiv

25.8 Files and Secondary Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

25.9 File Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
25.9.1 File Name Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
25.9.2 Absolute and Relative File Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
25.9.3 Directory Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
25.9.4 Functions that Expand Filenames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
25.9.5 Generating Unique File Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
25.9.6 File Name Completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
25.9.7 Standard File Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
25.10 Contents of Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
25.11 Creating, Copying and Deleting Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
25.12 Making Certain File Names “Magic” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
25.13 File Format Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
25.13.1 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
25.13.2 Round-Trip Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
25.13.3 Piecemeal Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

26 Backups and Auto-Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

26.1 Backup Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
26.1.1 Making Backup Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
26.1.2 Backup by Renaming or by Copying? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
26.1.3 Making and Deleting Numbered Backup Files . . . . . . . . . . . 572
26.1.4 Naming Backup Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
26.2 Auto-Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
26.3 Reverting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

27 Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
27.1 Buffer Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
27.2 The Current Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
27.3 Buffer Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
27.4 Buffer File Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
27.5 Buffer Modification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
27.6 Buffer Modification Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
27.7 Read-Only Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
27.8 The Buffer List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
27.9 Creating Buffers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
27.10 Killing Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
27.11 Indirect Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
27.12 Swapping Text Between Two Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
27.13 The Buffer Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

28 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
28.1 Basic Concepts of Emacs Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
28.2 Windows and Frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
28.3 Window Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
28.4 Resizing Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
28.5 Preserving Window Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
 xv

28.6 Splitting Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

28.7 Deleting Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
28.8 Recombining Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
28.9 Selecting Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
28.10 Cyclic Ordering of Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
28.11 Buffers and Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
28.12 Switching to a Buffer in a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628
28.13 Displaying a Buffer in a Suitable Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
28.13.1 Choosing a Window for Displaying a Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
28.13.2 Action Functions for Buffer Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
28.13.3 Action Alists for Buffer Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
28.13.4 Additional Options for Displaying Buffers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
28.13.5 Precedence of Action Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
28.13.6 The Zen of Buffer Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
28.14 Window History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
28.15 Dedicated Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
28.16 Quitting Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
28.17 Side Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
28.17.1 Displaying Buffers in Side Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
28.17.2 Side Window Options and Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
28.17.3 Frame Layouts with Side Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
28.18 Atomic Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
28.19 Windows and Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660
28.20 The Window Start and End Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
28.21 Textual Scrolling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
28.22 Vertical Fractional Scrolling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
28.23 Horizontal Scrolling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
28.24 Coordinates and Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
28.25 Mouse Window Auto-selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
28.26 Window Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
28.27 Window Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
28.28 Hooks for Window Scrolling and Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681

29 Frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
29.1 Creating Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
29.2 Multiple Terminals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
29.3 Frame Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
29.3.1 Frame Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
29.3.2 Frame Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
29.3.3 Frame Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
29.3.4 Frame Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696
29.3.5 Implied Frame Resizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
29.4 Frame Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
29.4.1 Access to Frame Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
29.4.2 Initial Frame Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
29.4.3 Window Frame Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
29.4.3.1 Basic Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
29.4.3.2 Position Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
 xvi

29.4.3.3 Size Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705

29.4.3.4 Layout Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
29.4.3.5 Buffer Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
29.4.3.6 Frame Interaction Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
29.4.3.7 Mouse Dragging Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
29.4.3.8 Window Management Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
29.4.3.9 Cursor Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
29.4.3.10 Font and Color Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
29.4.4 Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
29.5 Terminal Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
29.6 Frame Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
29.7 Deleting Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
29.8 Finding All Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
29.9 Minibuffers and Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
29.10 Input Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
29.11 Visibility of Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
29.12 Raising, Lowering and Restacking Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
29.13 Frame Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
29.14 Child Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
29.15 Mouse Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
29.16 Mouse Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
29.17 Pop-Up Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
29.18 Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
29.19 Pointer Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
29.20 Window System Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
29.21 Drag and Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
29.22 Color Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
29.23 Text Terminal Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
29.24 X Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
29.25 Display Feature Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738

30 Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
30.1 Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
30.2 Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
30.2.1 Motion by Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
30.2.2 Motion by Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
30.2.3 Motion to an End of the Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745
30.2.4 Motion by Text Lines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745
30.2.5 Motion by Screen Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
30.2.6 Moving over Balanced Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
30.2.7 Skipping Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
30.3 Excursions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
30.4 Narrowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
 xvii

31 Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
31.1 Overview of Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
31.2 Predicates on Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
31.3 Functions that Create Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
31.4 Information from Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
31.5 Marker Insertion Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
31.6 Moving Marker Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760
31.7 The Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760
31.8 The Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764

32 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
32.1 Examining Text Near Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
32.2 Examining Buffer Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
32.3 Comparing Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
32.4 Inserting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
32.5 User-Level Insertion Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
32.6 Deleting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772
32.7 User-Level Deletion Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773
32.8 The Kill Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
32.8.1 Kill Ring Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
32.8.2 Functions for Killing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
32.8.3 Yanking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
32.8.4 Functions for Yanking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
32.8.5 Low-Level Kill Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
32.8.6 Internals of the Kill Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780
32.9 Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781
32.10 Maintaining Undo Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
32.11 Filling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
32.12 Margins for Filling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
32.13 Adaptive Fill Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
32.14 Auto Filling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790
32.15 Sorting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
32.16 Counting Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
32.17 Indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
32.17.1 Indentation Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
32.17.2 Indentation Controlled by Major Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
32.17.3 Indenting an Entire Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
32.17.4 Indentation Relative to Previous Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799
32.17.5 Adjustable Tab Stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
32.17.6 Indentation-Based Motion Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
32.18 Case Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
32.19 Text Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802
32.19.1 Examining Text Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802
32.19.2 Changing Text Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
32.19.3 Text Property Search Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806
32.19.4 Properties with Special Meanings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
32.19.5 Formatted Text Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
32.19.6 Stickiness of Text Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
 xviii

32.19.7 Lazy Computation of Text Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815

32.19.8 Defining Clickable Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
32.19.9 Defining and Using Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819
32.19.10 Why Text Properties are not Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820
32.20 Substituting for a Character Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821
32.21 Registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822
32.22 Transposition of Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
32.23 Replacing Buffer Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
32.24 Dealing With Compressed Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
32.25 Base 64 Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
32.26 Checksum/Hash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
32.27 GnuTLS Cryptography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
32.27.1 Format of GnuTLS Cryptography Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
32.27.2 GnuTLS Cryptographic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827
32.28 Parsing HTML and XML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
32.28.1 Document Object Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
32.29 Atomic Change Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
32.30 Change Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832

33 Non-ASCII Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835

33.1 Text Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
33.2 Disabling Multibyte Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
33.3 Converting Text Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
33.4 Selecting a Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
33.5 Character Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839
33.6 Character Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840
33.7 Character Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
33.8 Scanning for Character Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846
33.9 Translation of Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
33.10 Coding Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848
33.10.1 Basic Concepts of Coding Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848
33.10.2 Encoding and I/O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
33.10.3 Coding Systems in Lisp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
33.10.4 User-Chosen Coding Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
33.10.5 Default Coding Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
33.10.6 Specifying a Coding System for One Operation . . . . . . . . 858
33.10.7 Explicit Encoding and Decoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
33.10.8 Terminal I/O Encoding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
33.11 Input Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
33.12 Locales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863

34 Searching and Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865

34.1 Searching for Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865
34.2 Searching and Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867
34.3 Regular Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
34.3.1 Syntax of Regular Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
34.3.1.1 Special Characters in Regular Expressions . . . . . . . . . 868
 xix

34.3.1.2 Character Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872

34.3.1.3 Backslash Constructs in Regular Expressions . . . . . . . 873
34.3.2 Complex Regexp Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876
34.3.3 Regular Expression Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
34.4 Regular Expression Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
34.5 POSIX Regular Expression Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881
34.6 The Match Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
34.6.1 Replacing the Text that Matched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
34.6.2 Simple Match Data Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
34.6.3 Accessing the Entire Match Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
34.6.4 Saving and Restoring the Match Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
34.7 Search and Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
34.8 Standard Regular Expressions Used in Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890

35 Syntax Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892

35.1 Syntax Table Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
35.2 Syntax Descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
35.2.1 Table of Syntax Classes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
35.2.2 Syntax Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896
35.3 Syntax Table Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
35.4 Syntax Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899
35.5 Motion and Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
35.6 Parsing Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
35.6.1 Motion Commands Based on Parsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
35.6.2 Finding the Parse State for a Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
35.6.3 Parser State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
35.6.4 Low-Level Parsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
35.6.5 Parameters to Control Parsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
35.7 Syntax Table Internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
35.8 Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905

36 Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . 908

36.1 Abbrev Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908
36.2 Defining Abbrevs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909
36.3 Saving Abbrevs in Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910
36.4 Looking Up and Expanding Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
36.5 Standard Abbrev Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
36.6 Abbrev Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
36.7 Abbrev Table Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914

37 Threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
37.1 Basic Thread Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
37.2 Mutexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916
37.3 Condition Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
 xx

38 Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
38.1 Functions that Create Subprocesses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
38.2 Shell Arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
38.3 Creating a Synchronous Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922
38.4 Creating an Asynchronous Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926
38.5 Deleting Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
38.6 Process Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932
38.7 Sending Input to Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
38.8 Sending Signals to Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936
38.9 Receiving Output from Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938
38.9.1 Process Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938
38.9.2 Process Filter Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940
38.9.3 Decoding Process Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942
38.9.4 Accepting Output from Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942
38.9.5 Processes and Threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 943
38.10 Sentinels: Detecting Process Status Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944
38.11 Querying Before Exit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946
38.12 Accessing Other Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946
38.13 Transaction Queues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948
38.14 Network Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
38.15 Network Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952
38.16 Datagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952
38.17 Low-Level Network Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
38.17.1 make-network-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
38.17.2 Network Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956
38.17.3 Testing Availability of Network Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
38.18 Misc Network Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958
38.19 Communicating with Serial Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958
38.20 Packing and Unpacking Byte Arrays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
38.20.1 Describing Data Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
38.20.2 Functions to Unpack and Pack Bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963
38.20.3 Examples of Byte Unpacking and Packing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964

39 Emacs Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967

39.1 Refreshing the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967
39.2 Forcing Redisplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967
39.3 Truncation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
39.4 The Echo Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
39.4.1 Displaying Messages in the Echo Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
39.4.2 Reporting Operation Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971
39.4.3 Logging Messages in *Messages* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
39.4.4 Echo Area Customization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
39.5 Reporting Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974
39.5.1 Warning Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974
39.5.2 Warning Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
39.5.3 Warning Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
39.5.4 Delayed Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
39.6 Invisible Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
 xxi

39.7 Selective Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980

39.8 Temporary Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
39.9 Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985
39.9.1 Managing Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985
39.9.2 Overlay Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988
39.9.3 Searching for Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
39.10 Size of Displayed Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
39.11 Line Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
39.12 Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
39.12.1 Face Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
39.12.2 Defining Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
39.12.3 Face Attribute Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1003
39.12.4 Displaying Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
39.12.5 Face Remapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
39.12.6 Functions for Working with Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
39.12.7 Automatic Face Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009
39.12.8 Basic Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010
39.12.9 Font Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
39.12.10 Looking Up Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012
39.12.11 Fontsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013
39.12.12 Low-Level Font Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
39.13 Fringes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
39.13.1 Fringe Size and Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
39.13.2 Fringe Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
39.13.3 Fringe Cursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
39.13.4 Fringe Bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
39.13.5 Customizing Fringe Bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023
39.13.6 The Overlay Arrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024
39.14 Scroll Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025
39.15 Window Dividers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027
39.16 The display Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028
39.16.1 Display Specs That Replace The Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028
39.16.2 Specified Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029
39.16.3 Pixel Specification for Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1030
39.16.4 Other Display Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031
39.16.5 Displaying in the Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033
39.17 Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034
39.17.1 Image Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034
39.17.2 Image Descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035
39.17.3 XBM Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037
39.17.4 XPM Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038
39.17.5 ImageMagick Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038
39.17.6 SVG Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1040
39.17.7 Other Image Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
39.17.8 Defining Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
39.17.9 Showing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
39.17.10 Multi-Frame Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
39.17.11 Image Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047
 xxii

39.18 Embedded Native Widgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048

39.19 Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
39.19.1 Button Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
39.19.2 Button Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
39.19.3 Making Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
39.19.4 Manipulating Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
39.19.5 Button Buffer Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
39.20 Abstract Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
39.20.1 Abstract Display Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054
39.20.2 Abstract Display Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056
39.21 Blinking Parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058
39.22 Character Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059
39.22.1 Usual Display Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059
39.22.2 Display Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060
39.22.3 Active Display Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
39.22.4 Glyphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
39.22.5 Glyphless Character Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063
39.23 Beeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064
39.24 Window Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
39.25 Tooltips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
39.26 Bidirectional Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067

40 Operating System Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072

40.1 Starting Up Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072
40.1.1 Summary: Sequence of Actions at Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072
40.1.2 The Init File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075
40.1.3 Terminal-Specific Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076
40.1.4 Command-Line Arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077
40.2 Getting Out of Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079
40.2.1 Killing Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079
40.2.2 Suspending Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080
40.3 Operating System Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082
40.4 User Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085
40.5 Time of Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086
40.6 Time Zone Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087
40.7 Time Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088
40.8 Parsing and Formatting Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089
40.9 Processor Run time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
40.10 Time Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
40.11 Timers for Delayed Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094
40.12 Idle Timers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096
40.13 Terminal Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
40.13.1 Input Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
40.13.2 Recording Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
40.14 Terminal Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
40.15 Sound Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100
40.16 Operating on X11 Keysyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
40.17 Batch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101
 xxiii

40.18 Session Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102

40.19 Desktop Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103
40.20 Notifications on File Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107
40.21 Dynamically Loaded Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110
40.22 Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111

41 Preparing Lisp code for distribution . . . . . . 1114

41.1 Packaging Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114
41.2 Simple Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115
41.3 Multi-file Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1116
41.4 Creating and Maintaining Package Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117

Appendix A Emacs 25 Antinews . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119

A.1 Old Lisp Features in Emacs 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119

Appendix B GNU Free

Documentation License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123

Appendix C GNU General Public License . . . 1131

Appendix D Tips and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . 1142

D.1 Emacs Lisp Coding Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142
D.2 Key Binding Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145
D.3 Emacs Programming Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145
D.4 Tips for Making Compiled Code Fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
D.5 Tips for Avoiding Compiler Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
D.6 Tips for Documentation Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1148
D.7 Tips on Writing Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151
D.8 Conventional Headers for Emacs Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1152

Appendix E GNU Emacs Internals. . . . . . . . . . . 1156

E.1 Building Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
E.2 Pure Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157
E.3 Garbage Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158
E.4 Stack-allocated Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163
E.5 Memory Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163
E.6 C Dialect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164
E.7 Writing Emacs Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164
E.8 Writing Dynamically-Loaded Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168
E.8.1 Module Initialization Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
E.8.2 Writing Module Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170
E.8.3 Conversion Between Lisp and Module Values . . . . . . . . . . . 1172
E.8.4 Miscellaneous Convenience Functions for Modules . . . . . . 1175
E.8.5 Nonlocal Exits in Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177
E.9 Object Internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178
 xxiv

E.9.1 Buffer Internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179

E.9.2 Window Internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1184
E.9.3 Process Internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189
E.10 C Integer Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1190

Appendix F Standard Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192

Appendix G Standard Keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196

Appendix H Standard Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203
 1

1 Introduction
Most of the GNU Emacs text editor is written in the programming language called Emacs
Lisp. You can write new code in Emacs Lisp and install it as an extension to the editor.
However, Emacs Lisp is more than a mere extension language; it is a full computer pro-
gramming language in its own right. You can use it as you would any other programming
language.
Because Emacs Lisp is designed for use in an editor, it has special features for scanning
and parsing text as well as features for handling files, buffers, displays, subprocesses, and
so on. Emacs Lisp is closely integrated with the editing facilities; thus, editing commands
are functions that can also conveniently be called from Lisp programs, and parameters for
customization are ordinary Lisp variables.
This manual attempts to be a full description of Emacs Lisp. For a beginner’s introduc-
tion to Emacs Lisp, see An Introduction to Emacs Lisp Programming, by Bob Chassell, also
published by the Free Software Foundation. This manual presumes considerable familiarity
with the use of Emacs for editing; see The GNU Emacs Manual for this basic information.
Generally speaking, the earlier chapters describe features of Emacs Lisp that have coun-
terparts in many programming languages, and later chapters describe features that are
peculiar to Emacs Lisp or relate specifically to editing.
This is edition 3.1 of the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, corresponding to Emacs
version 26.3.

1.1 Caveats
This manual has gone through numerous drafts. It is nearly complete but not flawless.
There are a few topics that are not covered, either because we consider them secondary
(such as most of the individual modes) or because they are yet to be written. Because we
are not able to deal with them completely, we have left out several parts intentionally.
The manual should be fully correct in what it does cover, and it is therefore open to
criticism on anything it says—from specific examples and descriptive text, to the ordering
of chapters and sections. If something is confusing, or you find that you have to look at
the sources or experiment to learn something not covered in the manual, then perhaps the
manual should be fixed. Please let us know.
As you use this manual, we ask that you mark pages with corrections so you can later
look them up and send them to us. If you think of a simple, real-life example for a function
or group of functions, please make an effort to write it up and send it in. Please reference
any comments to the chapter name, section name, and function name, as appropriate, since
page numbers and chapter and section numbers will change and we may have trouble finding
the text you are talking about. Also state the version of the edition you are criticizing.
Please send comments and corrections using M-x report-emacs-bug.

1.2 Lisp History

Lisp (LISt Processing language) was first developed in the late 1950s at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology for research in artificial intelligence. The great power of the Lisp
language makes it ideal for other purposes as well, such as writing editing commands.
Chapter 1: Introduction 2

Dozens of Lisp implementations have been built over the years, each with its own id-
iosyncrasies. Many of them were inspired by Maclisp, which was written in the 1960s at
MIT’s Project MAC. Eventually the implementers of the descendants of Maclisp came to-
gether and developed a standard for Lisp systems, called Common Lisp. In the meantime,
Gerry Sussman and Guy Steele at MIT developed a simplified but very powerful dialect of
Lisp, called Scheme.
GNU Emacs Lisp is largely inspired by Maclisp, and a little by Common Lisp. If you
know Common Lisp, you will notice many similarities. However, many features of Common
Lisp have been omitted or simplified in order to reduce the memory requirements of GNU
Emacs. Sometimes the simplifications are so drastic that a Common Lisp user might be
very confused. We will occasionally point out how GNU Emacs Lisp differs from Common
Lisp. If you don’t know Common Lisp, don’t worry about it; this manual is self-contained.
A certain amount of Common Lisp emulation is available via the cl-lib library. See
Section “Overview” in Common Lisp Extensions.
Emacs Lisp is not at all influenced by Scheme; but the GNU project has an implementa-
tion of Scheme, called Guile. We use it in all new GNU software that calls for extensibility.

1.3 Conventions
This section explains the notational conventions that are used in this manual. You may
want to skip this section and refer back to it later.

1.3.1 Some Terms

Throughout this manual, the phrases “the Lisp reader” and “the Lisp printer” refer to those
routines in Lisp that convert textual representations of Lisp objects into actual Lisp objects,
and vice versa. See Section 2.1 [Printed Representation], page 8, for more details. You, the
person reading this manual, are thought of as the programmer and are addressed as “you”.
The user is the person who uses Lisp programs, including those you write.
Examples of Lisp code are formatted like this: (list 1 2 3). Names that represent
metasyntactic variables, or arguments to a function being described, are formatted like
this: first-number.

1.3.2 nil and t

In Emacs Lisp, the symbol nil has three separate meanings: it is a symbol with the name
‘nil’; it is the logical truth value false; and it is the empty list—the list of zero elements.
When used as a variable, nil always has the value nil.
As far as the Lisp reader is concerned, ‘()’ and ‘nil’ are identical: they stand for the
same object, the symbol nil. The different ways of writing the symbol are intended entirely
for human readers. After the Lisp reader has read either ‘()’ or ‘nil’, there is no way to
determine which representation was actually written by the programmer.
In this manual, we write () when we wish to emphasize that it means the empty list,
and we write nil when we wish to emphasize that it means the truth value false. That is
a good convention to use in Lisp programs also.
(cons 'foo ()) ; Emphasize the empty list
(setq foo-flag nil) ; Emphasize the truth value false
Chapter 1: Introduction 3

In contexts where a truth value is expected, any non-nil value is considered to be true.
However, t is the preferred way to represent the truth value true. When you need to choose
a value that represents true, and there is no other basis for choosing, use t. The symbol t
always has the value t.
In Emacs Lisp, nil and t are special symbols that always evaluate to themselves. This is
so that you do not need to quote them to use them as constants in a program. An attempt
to change their values results in a setting-constant error. See Section 12.2 [Constant
Variables], page 169.
booleanp object [Function]
Return non-nil if object is one of the two canonical boolean values: t or nil.

1.3.3 Evaluation Notation

A Lisp expression that you can evaluate is called a form. Evaluating a form always produces
a result, which is a Lisp object. In the examples in this manual, this is indicated with ‘⇒’:
(car '(1 2))
⇒ 1
You can read this as “(car '(1 2)) evaluates to 1”.
When a form is a macro call, it expands into a new form for Lisp to evaluate. We show
the result of the expansion with ‘7→’. We may or may not show the result of the evaluation
of the expanded form.
(third '(a b c))
7→ (car (cdr (cdr '(a b c))))
⇒ c
To help describe one form, we sometimes show another form that produces identical
results. The exact equivalence of two forms is indicated with ‘ ≡ ’.
(make-sparse-keymap) ≡ (list 'keymap)

1.3.4 Printing Notation

Many of the examples in this manual print text when they are evaluated. If you execute
example code in a Lisp Interaction buffer (such as the buffer *scratch*), the printed text is
inserted into the buffer. If you execute the example by other means (such as by evaluating
the function eval-region), the printed text is displayed in the echo area.
Examples in this manual indicate printed text with ‘ a ’, irrespective of where that text
goes. The value returned by evaluating the form follows on a separate line with ‘⇒’.
(progn (prin1 'foo) (princ "\n") (prin1 'bar))
a foo
a bar
⇒ bar

1.3.5 Error Messages

Some examples signal errors. This normally displays an error message in the echo area. We
show the error message on a line starting with ‘ error ’. Note that ‘ error ’ itself does not
appear in the echo area.
(+ 23 'x)
error Wrong type argument: number-or-marker-p, x
Chapter 1: Introduction 4

1.3.6 Buffer Text Notation

Some examples describe modifications to the contents of a buffer, by showing the before
and after versions of the text. These examples show the contents of the buffer in question
between two lines of dashes containing the buffer name. In addition, ‘?’ indicates the
location of point. (The symbol for point, of course, is not part of the text in the buffer; it
indicates the place between two characters where point is currently located.)
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This is the ?contents of foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(insert "changed ")

⇒ nil
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This is the changed ?contents of foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

1.3.7 Format of Descriptions

Functions, variables, macros, commands, user options, and special forms are described in
this manual in a uniform format. The first line of a description contains the name of the
item followed by its arguments, if any. The category—function, variable, or whatever—is
printed next to the right margin. The description follows on succeeding lines, sometimes
with examples.

1.3.7.1 A Sample Function Description

In a function description, the name of the function being described appears first. It is
followed on the same line by a list of argument names. These names are also used in the
body of the description, to stand for the values of the arguments.
The appearance of the keyword &optional in the argument list indicates that the sub-
sequent arguments may be omitted (omitted arguments default to nil). Do not write
&optional when you call the function.
The keyword &rest (which must be followed by a single argument name) indicates that
any number of arguments can follow. The single argument name following &rest receives,
as its value, a list of all the remaining arguments passed to the function. Do not write
&rest when you call the function.
Here is a description of an imaginary function foo:

foo integer1 &optional integer2 &rest integers [Function]

The function foo subtracts integer1 from integer2, then adds all the rest of the
arguments to the result. If integer2 is not supplied, then the number 19 is used by
default.
(foo 1 5 3 9)
⇒ 16
(foo 5)
⇒ 14
Chapter 1: Introduction 5

More generally,
(foo w x y...)
≡
(+ (- x w) y...)

By convention, any argument whose name contains the name of a type (e.g., integer,
integer1 or buffer) is expected to be of that type. A plural of a type (such as buffers)
often means a list of objects of that type. An argument named object may be of any type.
(For a list of Emacs object types, see Chapter 2 [Lisp Data Types], page 8.) An argument
with any other sort of name (e.g., new-file) is specific to the function; if the function has a
documentation string, the type of the argument should be described there (see Chapter 24
[Documentation], page 510).
See Section 13.2 [Lambda Expressions], page 205, for a more complete description of
arguments modified by &optional and &rest.
Command, macro, and special form descriptions have the same format, but the word
‘Function’ is replaced by ‘Command’, ‘Macro’, or ‘Special Form’, respectively. Commands
are simply functions that may be called interactively; macros process their arguments dif-
ferently from functions (the arguments are not evaluated), but are presented the same way.
The descriptions of macros and special forms use a more complex notation to specify
optional and repeated arguments, because they can break the argument list down into
separate arguments in more complicated ways. ‘[optional-arg]’ means that optional-arg
is optional and ‘repeated-args...’ stands for zero or more arguments. Parentheses are
used when several arguments are grouped into additional levels of list structure. Here is an
example:

count-loop (var [from to [inc]]) body. . . [Special Form]

This imaginary special form implements a loop that executes the body forms and
then increments the variable var on each iteration. On the first iteration, the variable
has the value from; on subsequent iterations, it is incremented by one (or by inc if
that is given). The loop exits before executing body if var equals to. Here is an
example:
(count-loop (i 0 10)
(prin1 i) (princ " ")
(prin1 (aref vector i))
(terpri))
If from and to are omitted, var is bound to nil before the loop begins, and the loop
exits if var is non-nil at the beginning of an iteration. Here is an example:
(count-loop (done)
(if (pending)
(fixit)
(setq done t)))
In this special form, the arguments from and to are optional, but must both be present
or both absent. If they are present, inc may optionally be specified as well. These
arguments are grouped with the argument var into a list, to distinguish them from
body, which includes all remaining elements of the form.
Chapter 1: Introduction 6

1.3.7.2 A Sample Variable Description

A variable is a name that can be bound (or set) to an object. The object to which a variable
is bound is called a value; we say also that variable holds that value. Although nearly all
variables can be set by the user, certain variables exist specifically so that users can change
them; these are called user options. Ordinary variables and user options are described using
a format like that for functions, except that there are no arguments.
Here is a description of the imaginary electric-future-map variable.
electric-future-map [Variable]
The value of this variable is a full keymap used by Electric Command Future mode.
The functions in this map allow you to edit commands you have not yet thought
about executing.
User option descriptions have the same format, but ‘Variable’ is replaced by ‘User
Option’.

1.4 Version Information

These facilities provide information about which version of Emacs is in use.
emacs-version &optional here [Command]
This function returns a string describing the version of Emacs that is running. It is
useful to include this string in bug reports.
(emacs-version)
⇒ "GNU Emacs 26.1 (build 1, x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu,
GTK+ Version 3.16) of 2017-06-01"
If here is non-nil, it inserts the text in the buffer before point, and returns nil.
When this function is called interactively, it prints the same information in the echo
area, but giving a prefix argument makes here non-nil.
emacs-build-time [Variable]
The value of this variable indicates the time at which Emacs was built. It is a list
of four integers, like the value of current-time (see Section 40.5 [Time of Day],
page 1086), or is nil if the information is not available.
emacs-build-time
⇒ (20614 63694 515336 438000)
emacs-version [Variable]
The value of this variable is the version of Emacs being run. It is a string such as
"26.1". A value with three numeric components, such as "26.0.91", indicates an
unreleased test version. (Prior to Emacs 26.1, the string includes an extra final com-
ponent with the integer that is now stored in emacs-build-number; e.g., "25.1.1".)
emacs-major-version [Variable]
The major version number of Emacs, as an integer. For Emacs version 23.1, the value
is 23.
emacs-minor-version [Variable]
The minor version number of Emacs, as an integer. For Emacs version 23.1, the value
is 1.
Chapter 1: Introduction 7

emacs-build-number [Variable]
An integer that increments each time Emacs is built in the same directory (without
cleaning). This is only of relevance when developing Emacs.

1.5 Acknowledgments
This manual was originally written by Robert Krawitz, Bil Lewis, Dan LaLiberte,
Richard M. Stallman and Chris Welty, the volunteers of the GNU manual group, in an
effort extending over several years. Robert J. Chassell helped to review and edit the
manual, with the support of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA
Order 6082, arranged by Warren A. Hunt, Jr. of Computational Logic, Inc. Additional
sections have since been written by Miles Bader, Lars Brinkhoff, Chong Yidong, Kenichi
Handa, Lute Kamstra, Juri Linkov, Glenn Morris, Thien-Thi Nguyen, Dan Nicolaescu,
Martin Rudalics, Kim F. Storm, Luc Teirlinck, and Eli Zaretskii, and others.
Corrections were supplied by Drew Adams, Juanma Barranquero, Karl Berry, Jim
Blandy, Bard Bloom, Stephane Boucher, David Boyes, Alan Carroll, Richard Davis,
Lawrence R. Dodd, Peter Doornbosch, David A. Duff, Chris Eich, Beverly Erlebacher,
David Eckelkamp, Ralf Fassel, Eirik Fuller, Stephen Gildea, Bob Glickstein, Eric
Hanchrow, Jesper Harder, George Hartzell, Nathan Hess, Masayuki Ida, Dan Jacobson,
Jak Kirman, Bob Knighten, Frederick M. Korz, Joe Lammens, Glenn M. Lewis, K.
Richard Magill, Brian Marick, Roland McGrath, Stefan Monnier, Skip Montanaro, John
Gardiner Myers, Thomas A. Peterson, Francesco Potortı̀, Friedrich Pukelsheim, Arnold
D. Robbins, Raul Rockwell, Jason Rumney, Per Starbäck, Shinichirou Sugou, Kimmo
Suominen, Edward Tharp, Bill Trost, Rickard Westman, Jean White, Eduard Wiebe,
Matthew Wilding, Carl Witty, Dale Worley, Rusty Wright, and David D. Zuhn.
For a more complete list of contributors, please see the relevant change log entries in the
Emacs source repository.
 8

2 Lisp Data Types

A Lisp object is a piece of data used and manipulated by Lisp programs. For our purposes,
a type or data type is a set of possible objects.
Every object belongs to at least one type. Objects of the same type have similar struc-
tures and may usually be used in the same contexts. Types can overlap, and objects can
belong to two or more types. Consequently, we can ask whether an object belongs to a
particular type, but not for the type of an object.
A few fundamental object types are built into Emacs. These, from which all other
types are constructed, are called primitive types. Each object belongs to one and only one
primitive type. These types include integer, float, cons, symbol, string, vector, hash-table,
subr, byte-code function, and record, plus several special types, such as buffer, that are
related to editing. (See Section 2.4 [Editing Types], page 24.)
Each primitive type has a corresponding Lisp function that checks whether an object is
a member of that type.
Lisp is unlike many other languages in that its objects are self-typing: the primitive type
of each object is implicit in the object itself. For example, if an object is a vector, nothing
can treat it as a number; Lisp knows it is a vector, not a number.
In most languages, the programmer must declare the data type of each variable, and the
type is known by the compiler but not represented in the data. Such type declarations do not
exist in Emacs Lisp. A Lisp variable can have any type of value, and it remembers whatever
value you store in it, type and all. (Actually, a small number of Emacs Lisp variables can
only take on values of a certain type. See Section 12.16 [Variables with Restricted Values],
page 199.)
This chapter describes the purpose, printed representation, and read syntax of each of
the standard types in GNU Emacs Lisp. Details on how to use these types can be found in
later chapters.

2.1 Printed Representation and Read Syntax

The printed representation of an object is the format of the output generated by the Lisp
printer (the function prin1) for that object. Every data type has a unique printed repre-
sentation. The read syntax of an object is the format of the input accepted by the Lisp
reader (the function read) for that object. This is not necessarily unique; many kinds of
object have more than one syntax. See Chapter 19 [Read and Print], page 323.
In most cases, an object’s printed representation is also a read syntax for the object.
However, some types have no read syntax, since it does not make sense to enter objects of
these types as constants in a Lisp program. These objects are printed in hash notation,
which consists of the characters ‘#<’, a descriptive string (typically the type name followed
by the name of the object), and a closing ‘>’. For example:
(current-buffer)
⇒ #<buffer objects.texi>
Hash notation cannot be read at all, so the Lisp reader signals the error invalid-read-
syntax whenever it encounters ‘#<’.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 9

In other languages, an expression is text; it has no other form. In Lisp, an expression

is primarily a Lisp object and only secondarily the text that is the object’s read syntax.
Often there is no need to emphasize this distinction, but you must keep it in the back of
your mind, or you will occasionally be very confused.
When you evaluate an expression interactively, the Lisp interpreter first reads the textual
representation of it, producing a Lisp object, and then evaluates that object (see Chapter 10
[Evaluation], page 129). However, evaluation and reading are separate activities. Reading
returns the Lisp object represented by the text that is read; the object may or may not be
evaluated later. See Section 19.3 [Input Functions], page 325, for a description of read, the
basic function for reading objects.

2.2 Comments
A comment is text that is written in a program only for the sake of humans that read the
program, and that has no effect on the meaning of the program. In Lisp, an unescaped
semicolon (‘;’) starts a comment if it is not within a string or character constant. The
comment continues to the end of line. The Lisp reader discards comments; they do not
become part of the Lisp objects which represent the program within the Lisp system.
The ‘#@count’ construct, which skips the next count characters, is useful for program-
generated comments containing binary data. The Emacs Lisp byte compiler uses this in its
output files (see Chapter 17 [Byte Compilation], page 279). It isn’t meant for source files,
however.
See Section D.7 [Comment Tips], page 1151, for conventions for formatting comments.

2.3 Programming Types

There are two general categories of types in Emacs Lisp: those having to do with Lisp
programming, and those having to do with editing. The former exist in many Lisp imple-
mentations, in one form or another. The latter are unique to Emacs Lisp.

2.3.1 Integer Type

The range of values for an integer depends on the machine. The minimum range is
−536,870,912 to 536,870,911 (30 bits; i.e., −229 to 229 − 1) but many machines provide
a wider range. Emacs Lisp arithmetic functions do not check for integer overflow. Thus
(1+ 536870911) is −536,870,912 if Emacs integers are 30 bits.
The read syntax for integers is a sequence of (base ten) digits with an optional sign at
the beginning and an optional period at the end. The printed representation produced by
the Lisp interpreter never has a leading ‘+’ or a final ‘.’.
-1 ; The integer −1.
1 ; The integer 1.
1. ; Also the integer 1.
+1 ; Also the integer 1.
As a special exception, if a sequence of digits specifies an integer too large or too small to be
a valid integer object, the Lisp reader reads it as a floating-point number (see Section 2.3.2
[Floating-Point Type], page 10). For instance, if Emacs integers are 30 bits, 536870912 is
read as the floating-point number 536870912.0.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 10

See Chapter 3 [Numbers], page 35, for more information.

2.3.2 Floating-Point Type

Floating-point numbers are the computer equivalent of scientific notation; you can think of
a floating-point number as a fraction together with a power of ten. The precise number of
significant figures and the range of possible exponents is machine-specific; Emacs uses the
C data type double to store the value, and internally this records a power of 2 rather than
a power of 10.
The printed representation for floating-point numbers requires either a decimal point
(with at least one digit following), an exponent, or both. For example, ‘1500.0’, ‘+15e2’,
‘15.0e+2’, ‘+1500000e-3’, and ‘.15e4’ are five ways of writing a floating-point number
whose value is 1500. They are all equivalent.
See Chapter 3 [Numbers], page 35, for more information.

2.3.3 Character Type

A character in Emacs Lisp is nothing more than an integer. In other words, characters are
represented by their character codes. For example, the character A is represented as the
integer 65.
Individual characters are used occasionally in programs, but it is more common to work
with strings, which are sequences composed of characters. See Section 2.3.8 [String Type],
page 18.
Characters in strings and buffers are currently limited to the range of 0 to 4194303—
twenty two bits (see Section 33.5 [Character Codes], page 839). Codes 0 through 127 are
ASCII codes; the rest are non-ASCII (see Chapter 33 [Non-ASCII Characters], page 835).
Characters that represent keyboard input have a much wider range, to encode modifier keys
such as Control, Meta and Shift.
There are special functions for producing a human-readable textual description of a
character for the sake of messages. See Section 24.5 [Describing Characters], page 516.

2.3.3.1 Basic Char Syntax

Since characters are really integers, the printed representation of a character is a decimal
number. This is also a possible read syntax for a character, but writing characters that
way in Lisp programs is not clear programming. You should always use the special read
syntax formats that Emacs Lisp provides for characters. These syntax formats start with a
question mark.
The usual read syntax for alphanumeric characters is a question mark followed by the
character; thus, ‘?A’ for the character A, ‘?B’ for the character B, and ‘?a’ for the character
a.
For example:
?Q ⇒ 81 ?q ⇒ 113
You can use the same syntax for punctuation characters. However, if the punctuation
character has a special syntactic meaning in Lisp, you must quote it with a ‘\’. For example,
‘?\(’ is the way to write the open-paren character. Likewise, if the character is ‘\’, you
must use a second ‘\’ to quote it: ‘?\\’.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 11

You can express the characters control-g, backspace, tab, newline, vertical tab, formfeed,
space, return, del, and escape as ‘?\a’, ‘?\b’, ‘?\t’, ‘?\n’, ‘?\v’, ‘?\f’, ‘?\s’, ‘?\r’, ‘?\d’,
and ‘?\e’, respectively. (‘?\s’ followed by a dash has a different meaning—it applies the
Super modifier to the following character.) Thus,
?\a ⇒ 7 ; control-g, C-g
?\b ⇒ 8 ; backspace, BS, C-h
?\t ⇒ 9 ; tab, TAB, C-i
?\n ⇒ 10 ; newline, C-j
?\v ⇒ 11 ; vertical tab, C-k
?\f ⇒ 12 ; formfeed character, C-l
?\r ⇒ 13 ; carriage return, RET, C-m
?\e ⇒ 27 ; escape character, ESC, C-[
?\s ⇒ 32 ; space character, SPC
?\\ ⇒ 92 ; backslash character, \
?\d ⇒ 127 ; delete character, DEL
These sequences which start with backslash are also known as escape sequences, because
backslash plays the role of an escape character; this has nothing to do with the character
ESC. ‘\s’ is meant for use in character constants; in string constants, just write the space.
A backslash is allowed, and harmless, preceding any character without a special escape
meaning; thus, ‘?\+’ is equivalent to ‘?+’. There is no reason to add a backslash before most
characters. However, you must add a backslash before any of the characters ‘()[]\;"’, and
you should add a backslash before any of the characters ‘|'`#.,’ to avoid confusing the
Emacs commands for editing Lisp code. You can also add a backslash before whitespace
characters such as space, tab, newline and formfeed. However, it is cleaner to use one of
the easily readable escape sequences, such as ‘\t’ or ‘\s’, instead of an actual whitespace
character such as a tab or a space. (If you do write backslash followed by a space, you
should write an extra space after the character constant to separate it from the following
text.)

2.3.3.2 General Escape Syntax

In addition to the specific escape sequences for special important control characters, Emacs
provides several types of escape syntax that you can use to specify non-ASCII text characters.
1. You can specify characters by their Unicode names, if any. ?\N{NAME} represents the
Unicode character named NAME. Thus, ‘?\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE}’ is
equivalent to ?à and denotes the Unicode character U+00E0. To simplify entering
multi-line strings, you can replace spaces in the names by non-empty sequences of
whitespace (e.g., newlines).
2. You can specify characters by their Unicode values. ?\N{U+X} represents a character
with Unicode code point X, where X is a hexadecimal number. Also, ?\uxxxx and
?\Uxxxxxxxx represent code points xxxx and xxxxxxxx, respectively, where each x is
a single hexadecimal digit. For example, ?\N{U+E0}, ?\u00e0 and ?\U000000E0 are
all equivalent to ?à and to ‘?\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE}’. The Unicode
Standard defines code points only up to ‘U+10ffff’, so if you specify a code point
higher than that, Emacs signals an error.
3. You can specify characters by their hexadecimal character codes. A hexadecimal escape
sequence consists of a backslash, ‘x’, and the hexadecimal character code. Thus, ‘?\x41’
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 12

is the character A, ‘?\x1’ is the character C-a, and ?\xe0 is the character à (a with
grave accent). You can use any number of hex digits, so you can represent any character
code in this way.
4. You can specify characters by their character code in octal. An octal escape sequence
consists of a backslash followed by up to three octal digits; thus, ‘?\101’ for the charac-
ter A, ‘?\001’ for the character C-a, and ?\002 for the character C-b. Only characters
up to octal code 777 can be specified this way.
These escape sequences may also be used in strings. See Section 2.3.8.2 [Non-ASCII in
Strings], page 19.

2.3.3.3 Control-Character Syntax

Control characters can be represented using yet another read syntax. This consists of a
question mark followed by a backslash, caret, and the corresponding non-control character,
in either upper or lower case. For example, both ‘?\^I’ and ‘?\^i’ are valid read syntax
for the character C-i, the character whose value is 9.
Instead of the ‘^’, you can use ‘C-’; thus, ‘?\C-i’ is equivalent to ‘?\^I’ and to ‘?\^i’:
?\^I ⇒ 9 ?\C-I ⇒ 9
In strings and buffers, the only control characters allowed are those that exist in ASCII;
but for keyboard input purposes, you can turn any character into a control character with
‘C-’. The character codes for these non-ASCII control characters include the 226 bit as well as
the code for the corresponding non-control character. Ordinary text terminals have no way
of generating non-ASCII control characters, but you can generate them straightforwardly
using X and other window systems.
For historical reasons, Emacs treats the DEL character as the control equivalent of ?:
?\^? ⇒ 127 ?\C-? ⇒ 127
As a result, it is currently not possible to represent the character Control-?, which is a
meaningful input character under X, using ‘\C-’. It is not easy to change this, as various
Lisp files refer to DEL in this way.
For representing control characters to be found in files or strings, we recommend the ‘^’
syntax; for control characters in keyboard input, we prefer the ‘C-’ syntax. Which one you
use does not affect the meaning of the program, but may guide the understanding of people
who read it.

2.3.3.4 Meta-Character Syntax

A meta character is a character typed with the META modifier key. The integer that repre-
sents such a character has the 227 bit set. We use high bits for this and other modifiers to
make possible a wide range of basic character codes.
In a string, the 27 bit attached to an ASCII character indicates a meta character; thus,
the meta characters that can fit in a string have codes in the range from 128 to 255, and are
the meta versions of the ordinary ASCII characters. See Section 21.7.15 [Strings of Events],
page 396, for details about META-handling in strings.
The read syntax for meta characters uses ‘\M-’. For example, ‘?\M-A’ stands for M-
A. You can use ‘\M-’ together with octal character codes (see below), with ‘\C-’, or with
any other syntax for a character. Thus, you can write M-A as ‘?\M-A’, or as ‘?\M-\101’.
Likewise, you can write C-M-b as ‘?\M-\C-b’, ‘?\C-\M-b’, or ‘?\M-\002’.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 13

2.3.3.5 Other Character Modifier Bits

The case of a graphic character is indicated by its character code; for example, ASCII
distinguishes between the characters ‘a’ and ‘A’. But ASCII has no way to represent whether
a control character is upper case or lower case. Emacs uses the 225 bit to indicate that the
shift key was used in typing a control character. This distinction is possible only when
you use X terminals or other special terminals; ordinary text terminals do not report the
distinction. The Lisp syntax for the shift bit is ‘\S-’; thus, ‘?\C-\S-o’ or ‘?\C-\S-O’
represents the shifted-control-o character.
The X Window System defines three other modifier bits that can be set in a character:
hyper, super and alt. The syntaxes for these bits are ‘\H-’, ‘\s-’ and ‘\A-’. (Case is
significant in these prefixes.) Thus, ‘?\H-\M-\A-x’ represents Alt-Hyper-Meta-x. (Note
that ‘\s’ with no following ‘-’ represents the space character.) Numerically, the bit values
are 222 for alt, 223 for super and 224 for hyper.

2.3.4 Symbol Type

A symbol in GNU Emacs Lisp is an object with a name. The symbol name serves as the
printed representation of the symbol. In ordinary Lisp use, with one single obarray (see
Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols], page 122), a symbol’s name is unique—no two symbols have
the same name.
A symbol can serve as a variable, as a function name, or to hold a property list. Or
it may serve only to be distinct from all other Lisp objects, so that its presence in a data
structure may be recognized reliably. In a given context, usually only one of these uses is
intended. But you can use one symbol in all of these ways, independently.
A symbol whose name starts with a colon (‘:’) is called a keyword symbol. These symbols
automatically act as constants, and are normally used only by comparing an unknown
symbol with a few specific alternatives. See Section 12.2 [Constant Variables], page 169.
A symbol name can contain any characters whatever. Most symbol names are written
with letters, digits, and the punctuation characters ‘-+=*/’. Such names require no special
punctuation; the characters of the name suffice as long as the name does not look like a
number. (If it does, write a ‘\’ at the beginning of the name to force interpretation as a
symbol.) The characters ‘_~!@$%^&:<>{}?’ are less often used but also require no special
punctuation. Any other characters may be included in a symbol’s name by escaping them
with a backslash. In contrast to its use in strings, however, a backslash in the name of a
symbol simply quotes the single character that follows the backslash. For example, in a
string, ‘\t’ represents a tab character; in the name of a symbol, however, ‘\t’ merely quotes
the letter ‘t’. To have a symbol with a tab character in its name, you must actually use a
tab (preceded with a backslash). But it’s rare to do such a thing.
Common Lisp note: In Common Lisp, lower case letters are always folded to
upper case, unless they are explicitly escaped. In Emacs Lisp, upper case and
lower case letters are distinct.
Here are several examples of symbol names. Note that the ‘+’ in the fourth example
is escaped to prevent it from being read as a number. This is not necessary in the sixth
example because the rest of the name makes it invalid as a number.
foo ; A symbol named ‘foo’.
FOO ; A symbol named ‘FOO’, different from ‘foo’.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 14

1+ ; A symbol named ‘1+’

; (not ‘+1’, which is an integer).
\+1 ; A symbol named ‘+1’
; (not a very readable name).
\(*\ 1\ 2\) ; A symbol named ‘(* 1 2)’ (a worse name).
+-*/_~!@$%^&=:<>{} ; A symbol named ‘+-*/_~!@$%^&=:<>{}’.
; These characters need not be escaped.
As an exception to the rule that a symbol’s name serves as its printed representation,
‘##’ is the printed representation for an interned symbol whose name is an empty string.
Furthermore, ‘#:foo’ is the printed representation for an uninterned symbol whose name
is foo. (Normally, the Lisp reader interns all symbols; see Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols],
page 122.)

2.3.5 Sequence Types

A sequence is a Lisp object that represents an ordered set of elements. There are two kinds
of sequence in Emacs Lisp: lists and arrays.
Lists are the most commonly-used sequences. A list can hold elements of any type, and
its length can be easily changed by adding or removing elements. See the next subsection
for more about lists.
Arrays are fixed-length sequences. They are further subdivided into strings, vectors,
char-tables and bool-vectors. Vectors can hold elements of any type, whereas string elements
must be characters, and bool-vector elements must be t or nil. Char-tables are like vectors
except that they are indexed by any valid character code. The characters in a string can have
text properties like characters in a buffer (see Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802), but
vectors do not support text properties, even when their elements happen to be characters.
Lists, strings and the other array types also share important similarities. For example,
all have a length l, and all have elements which can be indexed from zero to l minus one.
Several functions, called sequence functions, accept any kind of sequence. For example,
the function length reports the length of any kind of sequence. See Chapter 6 [Sequences
Arrays Vectors], page 91.
It is generally impossible to read the same sequence twice, since sequences are always
created anew upon reading. If you read the read syntax for a sequence twice, you get two
sequences with equal contents. There is one exception: the empty list () always stands for
the same object, nil.

2.3.6 Cons Cell and List Types

A cons cell is an object that consists of two slots, called the car slot and the cdr slot.
Each slot can hold any Lisp object. We also say that the car of this cons cell is whatever
object its car slot currently holds, and likewise for the cdr.
A list is a series of cons cells, linked together so that the cdr slot of each cons cell holds
either the next cons cell or the empty list. The empty list is actually the symbol nil. See
Chapter 5 [Lists], page 68, for details. Because most cons cells are used as part of lists, we
refer to any structure made out of cons cells as a list structure.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 15

A note to C programmers: a Lisp list thus works as a linked list built up of

cons cells. Because pointers in Lisp are implicit, we do not distinguish between
a cons cell slot holding a value versus pointing to the value.
Because cons cells are so central to Lisp, we also have a word for an object which is not
a cons cell. These objects are called atoms.
The read syntax and printed representation for lists are identical, and consist of a left
parenthesis, an arbitrary number of elements, and a right parenthesis. Here are examples
of lists:
(A 2 "A") ; A list of three elements.
() ; A list of no elements (the empty list).
nil ; A list of no elements (the empty list).
("A ()") ; A list of one element: the string "A ()".
(A ()) ; A list of two elements: A and the empty list.
(A nil) ; Equivalent to the previous.
((A B C)) ; A list of one element
; (which is a list of three elements).
Upon reading, each object inside the parentheses becomes an element of the list. That
is, a cons cell is made for each element. The car slot of the cons cell holds the element,
and its cdr slot refers to the next cons cell of the list, which holds the next element in the
list. The cdr slot of the last cons cell is set to hold nil.
The names car and cdr derive from the history of Lisp. The original Lisp implementa-
tion ran on an IBM 704 computer which divided words into two parts, the address and the
decrement; car was an instruction to extract the contents of the address part of a register,
and cdr an instruction to extract the contents of the decrement. By contrast, cons cells are
named for the function cons that creates them, which in turn was named for its purpose,
the construction of cells.

2.3.6.1 Drawing Lists as Box Diagrams

A list can be illustrated by a diagram in which the cons cells are shown as pairs of boxes, like
dominoes. (The Lisp reader cannot read such an illustration; unlike the textual notation,
which can be understood by both humans and computers, the box illustrations can be
understood only by humans.) This picture represents the three-element list (rose violet
buttercup):
--- --- --- --- --- ---
| | |--> | | |--> | | |--> nil
--- --- --- --- --- ---
| | |
| | |
--> rose --> violet --> buttercup
In this diagram, each box represents a slot that can hold or refer to any Lisp object.
Each pair of boxes represents a cons cell. Each arrow represents a reference to a Lisp object,
either an atom or another cons cell.
In this example, the first box, which holds the car of the first cons cell, refers to or
holds rose (a symbol). The second box, holding the cdr of the first cons cell, refers to the
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 16

next pair of boxes, the second cons cell. The car of the second cons cell is violet, and its
cdr is the third cons cell. The cdr of the third (and last) cons cell is nil.
Here is another diagram of the same list, (rose violet buttercup), sketched in a dif-
ferent manner:
--------------- ---------------- -------------------
| car | cdr | | car | cdr | | car | cdr |
| rose | o-------->| violet | o-------->| buttercup | nil |
| | | | | | | | |
--------------- ---------------- -------------------
A list with no elements in it is the empty list; it is identical to the symbol nil. In other
words, nil is both a symbol and a list.
Here is the list (A ()), or equivalently (A nil), depicted with boxes and arrows:
--- --- --- ---
| | |--> | | |--> nil
--- --- --- ---
| |
| |
--> A --> nil
Here is a more complex illustration, showing the three-element list, ((pine needles)
oak maple), the first element of which is a two-element list:
--- --- --- --- --- ---
| | |--> | | |--> | | |--> nil
--- --- --- --- --- ---
| | |
| | |
| --> oak --> maple
|
| --- --- --- ---
--> | | |--> | | |--> nil
--- --- --- ---
| |
| |
--> pine --> needles
The same list represented in the second box notation looks like this:
-------------- -------------- --------------
| car | cdr | | car | cdr | | car | cdr |
| o | o------->| oak | o------->| maple | nil |
| | | | | | | | | |
-- | --------- -------------- --------------
|
|
| -------------- ----------------
| | car | cdr | | car | cdr |
------>| pine | o------->| needles | nil |
| | | | | |
-------------- ----------------
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 17

2.3.6.2 Dotted Pair Notation

Dotted pair notation is a general syntax for cons cells that represents the car and cdr
explicitly. In this syntax, (a . b) stands for a cons cell whose car is the object a and whose
cdr is the object b. Dotted pair notation is more general than list syntax because the cdr
does not have to be a list. However, it is more cumbersome in cases where list syntax would
work. In dotted pair notation, the list ‘(1 2 3)’ is written as ‘(1 . (2 . (3 . nil)))’. For
nil-terminated lists, you can use either notation, but list notation is usually clearer and
more convenient. When printing a list, the dotted pair notation is only used if the cdr of
a cons cell is not a list.
Here’s an example using boxes to illustrate dotted pair notation. This example shows
the pair (rose . violet):
--- ---
| | |--> violet
--- ---
|
|
--> rose
You can combine dotted pair notation with list notation to represent conveniently a
chain of cons cells with a non-nil final cdr. You write a dot after the last element of the
list, followed by the cdr of the final cons cell. For example, (rose violet . buttercup)
is equivalent to (rose . (violet . buttercup)). The object looks like this:
--- --- --- ---
| | |--> | | |--> buttercup
--- --- --- ---
| |
| |
--> rose --> violet
The syntax (rose . violet . buttercup) is invalid because there is nothing that it
could mean. If anything, it would say to put buttercup in the cdr of a cons cell whose
cdr is already used for violet.
The list (rose violet) is equivalent to (rose . (violet)), and looks like this:
--- --- --- ---
| | |--> | | |--> nil
--- --- --- ---
| |
| |
--> rose --> violet
Similarly, the three-element list (rose violet buttercup) is equivalent to (rose .
(violet . (buttercup))).

2.3.6.3 Association List Type

An association list or alist is a specially-constructed list whose elements are cons cells. In
each element, the car is considered a key, and the cdr is considered an associated value.
(In some cases, the associated value is stored in the car of the cdr.) Association lists are
often used as stacks, since it is easy to add or remove associations at the front of the list.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 18

For example,
(setq alist-of-colors
'((rose . red) (lily . white) (buttercup . yellow)))
sets the variable alist-of-colors to an alist of three elements. In the first element, rose
is the key and red is the value.
See Section 5.8 [Association Lists], page 85, for a further explanation of alists and for
functions that work on alists. See Chapter 8 [Hash Tables], page 115, for another kind of
lookup table, which is much faster for handling a large number of keys.

2.3.7 Array Type

An array is composed of an arbitrary number of slots for holding or referring to other Lisp
objects, arranged in a contiguous block of memory. Accessing any element of an array takes
approximately the same amount of time. In contrast, accessing an element of a list requires
time proportional to the position of the element in the list. (Elements at the end of a list
take longer to access than elements at the beginning of a list.)
Emacs defines four types of array: strings, vectors, bool-vectors, and char-tables.
A string is an array of characters and a vector is an array of arbitrary objects. A bool-
vector can hold only t or nil. These kinds of array may have any length up to the largest
integer. Char-tables are sparse arrays indexed by any valid character code; they can hold
arbitrary objects.
The first element of an array has index zero, the second element has index 1, and so on.
This is called zero-origin indexing. For example, an array of four elements has indices 0, 1,
2, and 3. The largest possible index value is one less than the length of the array. Once an
array is created, its length is fixed.
All Emacs Lisp arrays are one-dimensional. (Most other programming languages support
multidimensional arrays, but they are not essential; you can get the same effect with nested
one-dimensional arrays.) Each type of array has its own read syntax; see the following
sections for details.
The array type is a subset of the sequence type, and contains the string type, the vector
type, the bool-vector type, and the char-table type.

2.3.8 String Type

A string is an array of characters. Strings are used for many purposes in Emacs, as can be
expected in a text editor; for example, as the names of Lisp symbols, as messages for the
user, and to represent text extracted from buffers. Strings in Lisp are constants: evaluation
of a string returns the same string.
See Chapter 4 [Strings and Characters], page 50, for functions that operate on strings.

2.3.8.1 Syntax for Strings

The read syntax for a string is a double-quote, an arbitrary number of characters, and
another double-quote, "like this". To include a double-quote in a string, precede it with
a backslash; thus, "\"" is a string containing just one double-quote character. Likewise,
you can include a backslash by preceding it with another backslash, like this: "this \\ is
a single embedded backslash".
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 19

The newline character is not special in the read syntax for strings; if you write a new line
between the double-quotes, it becomes a character in the string. But an escaped newline—
one that is preceded by ‘\’—does not become part of the string; i.e., the Lisp reader ignores
an escaped newline while reading a string. An escaped space ‘\ ’ is likewise ignored.
"It is useful to include newlines
in documentation strings,
but the newline is \
ignored if escaped."
⇒ "It is useful to include newlines
in documentation strings,
but the newline is ignored if escaped."

2.3.8.2 Non-ASCII Characters in Strings

There are two text representations for non-ASCII characters in Emacs strings: multibyte
and unibyte (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835). Roughly speaking, unibyte
strings store raw bytes, while multibyte strings store human-readable text. Each character
in a unibyte string is a byte, i.e., its value is between 0 and 255. By contrast, each character
in a multibyte string may have a value between 0 to 4194303 (see Section 2.3.3 [Character
Type], page 10). In both cases, characters above 127 are non-ASCII.
You can include a non-ASCII character in a string constant by writing it literally. If
the string constant is read from a multibyte source, such as a multibyte buffer or string,
or a file that would be visited as multibyte, then Emacs reads each non-ASCII character
as a multibyte character and automatically makes the string a multibyte string. If the
string constant is read from a unibyte source, then Emacs reads the non-ASCII character
as unibyte, and makes the string unibyte.
Instead of writing a character literally into a multibyte string, you can write it as its
character code using an escape sequence. See Section 2.3.3.2 [General Escape Syntax],
page 11, for details about escape sequences.
If you use any Unicode-style escape sequence ‘\uNNNN’ or ‘\U00NNNNNN’ in a string con-
stant (even for an ASCII character), Emacs automatically assumes that it is multibyte.
You can also use hexadecimal escape sequences (‘\xn’) and octal escape sequences (‘\n’)
in string constants. But beware: If a string constant contains hexadecimal or octal escape
sequences, and these escape sequences all specify unibyte characters (i.e., less than 256),
and there are no other literal non-ASCII characters or Unicode-style escape sequences in
the string, then Emacs automatically assumes that it is a unibyte string. That is to say, it
assumes that all non-ASCII characters occurring in the string are 8-bit raw bytes.
In hexadecimal and octal escape sequences, the escaped character code may contain a
variable number of digits, so the first subsequent character which is not a valid hexadecimal
or octal digit terminates the escape sequence. If the next character in a string could be
interpreted as a hexadecimal or octal digit, write ‘\ ’ (backslash and space) to terminate
the escape sequence. For example, ‘\xe0\ ’ represents one character, ‘a’ with grave accent.
‘\ ’ in a string constant is just like backslash-newline; it does not contribute any character
to the string, but it does terminate any preceding hex escape.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 20

2.3.8.3 Nonprinting Characters in Strings

You can use the same backslash escape-sequences in a string constant as in character literals
(but do not use the question mark that begins a character constant). For example, you can
write a string containing the nonprinting characters tab and C-a, with commas and spaces
between them, like this: "\t, \C-a". See Section 2.3.3 [Character Type], page 10, for a
description of the read syntax for characters.
However, not all of the characters you can write with backslash escape-sequences are
valid in strings. The only control characters that a string can hold are the ASCII control
characters. Strings do not distinguish case in ASCII control characters.
Properly speaking, strings cannot hold meta characters; but when a string is to be used
as a key sequence, there is a special convention that provides a way to represent meta
versions of ASCII characters in a string. If you use the ‘\M-’ syntax to indicate a meta
character in a string constant, this sets the 27 bit of the character in the string. If the string
is used in define-key or lookup-key, this numeric code is translated into the equivalent
meta character. See Section 2.3.3 [Character Type], page 10.
Strings cannot hold characters that have the hyper, super, or alt modifiers.

2.3.8.4 Text Properties in Strings

A string can hold properties for the characters it contains, in addition to the characters
themselves. This enables programs that copy text between strings and buffers to copy the
text’s properties with no special effort. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802, for an
explanation of what text properties mean. Strings with text properties use a special read
and print syntax:
#("characters" property-data...)
where property-data consists of zero or more elements, in groups of three as follows:
beg end plist
The elements beg and end are integers, and together specify a range of indices in the string;
plist is the property list for that range. For example,
#("foo bar" 0 3 (face bold) 3 4 nil 4 7 (face italic))
represents a string whose textual contents are ‘foo bar’, in which the first three characters
have a face property with value bold, and the last three have a face property with value
italic. (The fourth character has no text properties, so its property list is nil. It is not
actually necessary to mention ranges with nil as the property list, since any characters not
mentioned in any range will default to having no properties.)

2.3.9 Vector Type

A vector is a one-dimensional array of elements of any type. It takes a constant amount
of time to access any element of a vector. (In a list, the access time of an element is
proportional to the distance of the element from the beginning of the list.)
The printed representation of a vector consists of a left square bracket, the elements,
and a right square bracket. This is also the read syntax. Like numbers and strings, vectors
are considered constants for evaluation.
[1 "two" (three)] ; A vector of three elements.
⇒ [1 "two" (three)]
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 21

See Section 6.4 [Vectors], page 105, for functions that work with vectors.

2.3.10 Char-Table Type

A char-table is a one-dimensional array of elements of any type, indexed by character codes.
Char-tables have certain extra features to make them more useful for many jobs that involve
assigning information to character codes—for example, a char-table can have a parent to
inherit from, a default value, and a small number of extra slots to use for special purposes.
A char-table can also specify a single value for a whole character set.
The printed representation of a char-table is like a vector except that there is an extra
‘#^’ at the beginning.1
See Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107, for special functions to operate on char-tables.
Uses of char-tables include:
• Case tables (see Section 4.9 [Case Tables], page 65).
• Character category tables (see Section 35.8 [Categories], page 905).
• Display tables (see Section 39.22.2 [Display Tables], page 1060).
• Syntax tables (see Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892).

2.3.11 Bool-Vector Type

A bool-vector is a one-dimensional array whose elements must be t or nil.
The printed representation of a bool-vector is like a string, except that it begins with
‘#&’ followed by the length. The string constant that follows actually specifies the contents
of the bool-vector as a bitmap—each character in the string contains 8 bits, which specify
the next 8 elements of the bool-vector (1 stands for t, and 0 for nil). The least significant
bits of the character correspond to the lowest indices in the bool-vector.
(make-bool-vector 3 t)
⇒ #&3"^G"
(make-bool-vector 3 nil)
⇒ #&3"^@"
These results make sense, because the binary code for ‘C-g’ is 111 and ‘C-@’ is the character
with code 0.
If the length is not a multiple of 8, the printed representation shows extra elements,
but these extras really make no difference. For instance, in the next example, the two
bool-vectors are equal, because only the first 3 bits are used:
(equal #&3"\377" #&3"\007")
⇒ t

2.3.12 Hash Table Type

A hash table is a very fast kind of lookup table, somewhat like an alist in that it maps
keys to corresponding values, but much faster. The printed representation of a hash table
specifies its properties and contents, like this:
(make-hash-table)
⇒ #s(hash-table size 65 test eql rehash-size 1.5
1
You may also encounter ‘#^^’, used for sub-char-tables.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 22

rehash-threshold 0.8125 data ())

See Chapter 8 [Hash Tables], page 115, for more information about hash tables.

2.3.13 Function Type

Lisp functions are executable code, just like functions in other programming languages. In
Lisp, unlike most languages, functions are also Lisp objects. A non-compiled function in
Lisp is a lambda expression: that is, a list whose first element is the symbol lambda (see
Section 13.2 [Lambda Expressions], page 205).
In most programming languages, it is impossible to have a function without a name. In
Lisp, a function has no intrinsic name. A lambda expression can be called as a function
even though it has no name; to emphasize this, we also call it an anonymous function (see
Section 13.7 [Anonymous Functions], page 216). A named function in Lisp is just a symbol
with a valid function in its function cell (see Section 13.4 [Defining Functions], page 209).
Most of the time, functions are called when their names are written in Lisp expressions
in Lisp programs. However, you can construct or obtain a function object at run time
and then call it with the primitive functions funcall and apply. See Section 13.5 [Calling
Functions], page 212.

2.3.14 Macro Type

A Lisp macro is a user-defined construct that extends the Lisp language. It is represented
as an object much like a function, but with different argument-passing semantics. A Lisp
macro has the form of a list whose first element is the symbol macro and whose cdr is a
Lisp function object, including the lambda symbol.
Lisp macro objects are usually defined with the built-in defmacro macro, but any list
that begins with macro is a macro as far as Emacs is concerned. See Chapter 14 [Macros],
page 236, for an explanation of how to write a macro.
Warning: Lisp macros and keyboard macros (see Section 21.16 [Keyboard Macros],
page 413) are entirely different things. When we use the word “macro” without qualification,
we mean a Lisp macro, not a keyboard macro.

2.3.15 Primitive Function Type

A primitive function is a function callable from Lisp but written in the C programming
language. Primitive functions are also called subrs or built-in functions. (The word “subr”
is derived from “subroutine”.) Most primitive functions evaluate all their arguments when
they are called. A primitive function that does not evaluate all its arguments is called a
special form (see Section 10.1.7 [Special Forms], page 133).
It does not matter to the caller of a function whether the function is primitive. However,
this does matter if you try to redefine a primitive with a function written in Lisp. The
reason is that the primitive function may be called directly from C code. Calls to the
redefined function from Lisp will use the new definition, but calls from C code may still use
the built-in definition. Therefore, we discourage redefinition of primitive functions.
The term function refers to all Emacs functions, whether written in Lisp or C. See
Section 2.3.13 [Function Type], page 22, for information about the functions written in
Lisp.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 23

Primitive functions have no read syntax and print in hash notation with the name of the
subroutine.
(symbol-function 'car) ; Access the function cell
; of the symbol.
⇒ #<subr car>
(subrp (symbol-function 'car)) ; Is this a primitive function?
⇒ t ; Yes.

2.3.16 Byte-Code Function Type

Byte-code function objects are produced by byte-compiling Lisp code (see Chapter 17 [Byte
Compilation], page 279). Internally, a byte-code function object is much like a vector;
however, the evaluator handles this data type specially when it appears in a function call.
See Section 17.7 [Byte-Code Objects], page 285.
The printed representation and read syntax for a byte-code function object is like that
for a vector, with an additional ‘#’ before the opening ‘[’.

2.3.17 Record Type

A record is much like a vector. However, the first element is used to hold its type as
returned by type-of. The purpose of records is to allow programmers to create objects
with new types that are not built into Emacs.
See Chapter 7 [Records], page 113, for functions that work with records.

2.3.18 Type Descriptors

A type descriptor is a record which holds information about a type. Slot 1 in the record
must be a symbol naming the type, and type-of relies on this to return the type of record
objects. No other type descriptor slot is used by Emacs; they are free for use by Lisp
extensions.
An example of a type descriptor is any instance of cl-structure-class.

2.3.19 Autoload Type

An autoload object is a list whose first element is the symbol autoload. It is stored as the
function definition of a symbol, where it serves as a placeholder for the real definition. The
autoload object says that the real definition is found in a file of Lisp code that should be
loaded when necessary. It contains the name of the file, plus some other information about
the real definition.
After the file has been loaded, the symbol should have a new function definition that is
not an autoload object. The new definition is then called as if it had been there to begin
with. From the user’s point of view, the function call works as expected, using the function
definition in the loaded file.
An autoload object is usually created with the function autoload, which stores the
object in the function cell of a symbol. See Section 16.5 [Autoload], page 268, for more
details.

2.3.20 Finalizer Type

A finalizer object helps Lisp code clean up after objects that are no longer needed. A
finalizer holds a Lisp function object. When a finalizer object becomes unreachable after
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 24

a garbage collection pass, Emacs calls the finalizer’s associated function object. When
deciding whether a finalizer is reachable, Emacs does not count references from finalizer
objects themselves, allowing you to use finalizers without having to worry about accidentally
capturing references to finalized objects themselves.
Errors in finalizers are printed to *Messages*. Emacs runs a given finalizer object’s
associated function exactly once, even if that function fails.
make-finalizer function [Function]
Make a finalizer that will run function. function will be called after garbage collection
when the returned finalizer object becomes unreachable. If the finalizer object is
reachable only through references from finalizer objects, it does not count as reachable
for the purpose of deciding whether to run function. function will be run once per
finalizer object.

2.4 Editing Types

The types in the previous section are used for general programming purposes, and most of
them are common to most Lisp dialects. Emacs Lisp provides several additional data types
for purposes connected with editing.

2.4.1 Buffer Type

A buffer is an object that holds text that can be edited (see Chapter 27 [Buffers], page 581).
Most buffers hold the contents of a disk file (see Chapter 25 [Files], page 521) so they can
be edited, but some are used for other purposes. Most buffers are also meant to be seen by
the user, and therefore displayed, at some time, in a window (see Chapter 28 [Windows],
page 598). But a buffer need not be displayed in any window. Each buffer has a designated
position called point (see Chapter 30 [Positions], page 742); most editing commands act on
the contents of the current buffer in the neighborhood of point. At any time, one buffer is
the current buffer.
The contents of a buffer are much like a string, but buffers are not used like strings in
Emacs Lisp, and the available operations are different. For example, you can insert text
efficiently into an existing buffer, altering the buffer’s contents, whereas inserting text into
a string requires concatenating substrings, and the result is an entirely new string object.
Many of the standard Emacs functions manipulate or test the characters in the cur-
rent buffer; a whole chapter in this manual is devoted to describing these functions (see
Chapter 32 [Text], page 765).
Several other data structures are associated with each buffer:
• a local syntax table (see Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892);
• a local keymap (see Chapter 22 [Keymaps], page 415); and,
• a list of buffer-local variable bindings (see Section 12.11 [Buffer-Local Variables],
page 185).
• overlays (see Section 39.9 [Overlays], page 985).
• text properties for the text in the buffer (see Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802).
The local keymap and variable list contain entries that individually override global bindings
or values. These are used to customize the behavior of programs in different buffers, without
actually changing the programs.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 25

A buffer may be indirect, which means it shares the text of another buffer, but presents
it differently. See Section 27.11 [Indirect Buffers], page 596.
Buffers have no read syntax. They print in hash notation, showing the buffer name.
(current-buffer)
⇒ #<buffer objects.texi>

2.4.2 Marker Type

A marker denotes a position in a specific buffer. Markers therefore have two components:
one for the buffer, and one for the position. Changes in the buffer’s text automatically
relocate the position value as necessary to ensure that the marker always points between
the same two characters in the buffer.
Markers have no read syntax. They print in hash notation, giving the current character
position and the name of the buffer.
(point-marker)
⇒ #<marker at 10779 in objects.texi>
See Chapter 31 [Markers], page 756, for information on how to test, create, copy, and
move markers.

2.4.3 Window Type

A window describes the portion of the terminal screen that Emacs uses to display a buffer.
Every window has one associated buffer, whose contents appear in the window. By contrast,
a given buffer may appear in one window, no window, or several windows.
Though many windows may exist simultaneously, at any time one window is designated
the selected window. This is the window where the cursor is (usually) displayed when
Emacs is ready for a command. The selected window usually displays the current buffer
(see Section 27.2 [Current Buffer], page 581), but this is not necessarily the case.
Windows are grouped on the screen into frames; each window belongs to one and only
one frame. See Section 2.4.4 [Frame Type], page 25.
Windows have no read syntax. They print in hash notation, giving the window number
and the name of the buffer being displayed. The window numbers exist to identify windows
uniquely, since the buffer displayed in any given window can change frequently.
(selected-window)
⇒ #<window 1 on objects.texi>
See Chapter 28 [Windows], page 598, for a description of the functions that work on
windows.

2.4.4 Frame Type

A frame is a screen area that contains one or more Emacs windows; we also use the term
“frame” to refer to the Lisp object that Emacs uses to refer to the screen area.
Frames have no read syntax. They print in hash notation, giving the frame’s title, plus
its address in core (useful to identify the frame uniquely).
(selected-frame)
⇒ #<frame emacs@psilocin.gnu.org 0xdac80>
See Chapter 29 [Frames], page 683, for a description of the functions that work on frames.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 26

2.4.5 Terminal Type

A terminal is a device capable of displaying one or more Emacs frames (see Section 2.4.4
[Frame Type], page 25).
Terminals have no read syntax. They print in hash notation giving the terminal’s ordinal
number and its TTY device file name.
(get-device-terminal nil)
⇒ #<terminal 1 on /dev/tty>

2.4.6 Window Configuration Type

A window configuration stores information about the positions, sizes, and contents of the
windows in a frame, so you can recreate the same arrangement of windows later.
Window configurations do not have a read syntax; their print syntax looks like
‘#<window-configuration>’. See Section 28.26 [Window Configurations], page 676, for a
description of several functions related to window configurations.

2.4.7 Frame Configuration Type

A frame configuration stores information about the positions, sizes, and contents of the
windows in all frames. It is not a primitive type—it is actually a list whose car is
frame-configuration and whose cdr is an alist. Each alist element describes one frame,
which appears as the car of that element.
See Section 29.13 [Frame Configurations], page 725, for a description of several functions
related to frame configurations.

2.4.8 Process Type

The word process usually means a running program. Emacs itself runs in a process of
this sort. However, in Emacs Lisp, a process is a Lisp object that designates a subprocess
created by the Emacs process. Programs such as shells, GDB, ftp, and compilers, running
in subprocesses of Emacs, extend the capabilities of Emacs. An Emacs subprocess takes
textual input from Emacs and returns textual output to Emacs for further manipulation.
Emacs can also send signals to the subprocess.
Process objects have no read syntax. They print in hash notation, giving the name of
the process:
(process-list)
⇒ (#<process shell>)
See Chapter 38 [Processes], page 919, for information about functions that create, delete,
return information about, send input or signals to, and receive output from processes.

2.4.9 Thread Type

A thread in Emacs represents a separate thread of Emacs Lisp execution. It runs its
own Lisp program, has its own current buffer, and can have subprocesses locked to it, i.e.
subprocesses whose output only this thread can accept. See Chapter 37 [Threads], page 915.
Thread objects have no read syntax. They print in hash notation, giving the name of
the thread (if it has been given a name) or its address in core:
(all-threads)
⇒ (#<thread 0176fc40>)
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 27

2.4.10 Mutex Type

A mutex is an exclusive lock that threads can own and disown, in order to synchronize
between them. See Section 37.2 [Mutexes], page 916.
Mutex objects have no read syntax. They print in hash notation, giving the name of the
mutex (if it has been given a name) or its address in core:
(make-mutex "my-mutex")
⇒ #<mutex my-mutex>
(make-mutex)
⇒ #<mutex 01c7e4e0>

2.4.11 Condition Variable Type

A condition variable is a device for a more complex thread synchronization than the one
supported by a mutex. A thread can wait on a condition variable, to be woken up when
some other thread notifies the condition.
Condition variable objects have no read syntax. They print in hash notation, giving the
name of the condition variable (if it has been given a name) or its address in core:
(make-condition-variable (make-mutex))
⇒ #<condvar 01c45ae8>

2.4.12 Stream Type

A stream is an object that can be used as a source or sink for characters—either to supply
characters for input or to accept them as output. Many different types can be used this
way: markers, buffers, strings, and functions. Most often, input streams (character sources)
obtain characters from the keyboard, a buffer, or a file, and output streams (character sinks)
send characters to a buffer, such as a *Help* buffer, or to the echo area.
The object nil, in addition to its other meanings, may be used as a stream. It stands
for the value of the variable standard-input or standard-output. Also, the object t as
a stream specifies input using the minibuffer (see Chapter 20 [Minibuffers], page 334) or
output in the echo area (see Section 39.4 [The Echo Area], page 969).
Streams have no special printed representation or read syntax, and print as whatever
primitive type they are.
See Chapter 19 [Read and Print], page 323, for a description of functions related to
streams, including parsing and printing functions.

2.4.13 Keymap Type

A keymap maps keys typed by the user to commands. This mapping controls how the user’s
command input is executed. A keymap is actually a list whose car is the symbol keymap.
See Chapter 22 [Keymaps], page 415, for information about creating keymaps, handling
prefix keys, local as well as global keymaps, and changing key bindings.

2.4.14 Overlay Type

An overlay specifies properties that apply to a part of a buffer. Each overlay applies to
a specified range of the buffer, and contains a property list (a list whose elements are
alternating property names and values). Overlay properties are used to present parts of the
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 28

buffer temporarily in a different display style. Overlays have no read syntax, and print in
hash notation, giving the buffer name and range of positions.
See Section 39.9 [Overlays], page 985, for information on how you can create and use
overlays.

2.4.15 Font Type

A font specifies how to display text on a graphical terminal. There are actually three
separate font types—font objects, font specs, and font entities—each of which has
slightly different properties. None of them have a read syntax; their print syntax
looks like ‘#<font-object>’, ‘#<font-spec>’, and ‘#<font-entity>’ respectively. See
Section 39.12.12 [Low-Level Font], page 1015, for a description of these Lisp objects.

2.5 Read Syntax for Circular Objects

To represent shared or circular structures within a complex of Lisp objects, you can use the
reader constructs ‘#n=’ and ‘#n#’.
Use #n= before an object to label it for later reference; subsequently, you can use #n# to
refer the same object in another place. Here, n is some integer. For example, here is how
to make a list in which the first element recurs as the third element:
(#1=(a) b #1#)
This differs from ordinary syntax such as this
((a) b (a))
which would result in a list whose first and third elements look alike but are not the same
Lisp object. This shows the difference:
(prog1 nil
(setq x '(#1=(a) b #1#)))
(eq (nth 0 x) (nth 2 x))
⇒ t
(setq x '((a) b (a)))
(eq (nth 0 x) (nth 2 x))
⇒ nil
You can also use the same syntax to make a circular structure, which appears as an
element within itself. Here is an example:
#1=(a #1#)
This makes a list whose second element is the list itself. Here’s how you can see that it
really works:
(prog1 nil
(setq x '#1=(a #1#)))
(eq x (cadr x))
⇒ t
The Lisp printer can produce this syntax to record circular and shared structure in a
Lisp object, if you bind the variable print-circle to a non-nil value. See Section 19.6
[Output Variables], page 331.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 29

2.6 Type Predicates

The Emacs Lisp interpreter itself does not perform type checking on the actual arguments
passed to functions when they are called. It could not do so, since function arguments in
Lisp do not have declared data types, as they do in other programming languages. It is
therefore up to the individual function to test whether each actual argument belongs to a
type that the function can use.
All built-in functions do check the types of their actual arguments when appropriate,
and signal a wrong-type-argument error if an argument is of the wrong type. For example,
here is what happens if you pass an argument to + that it cannot handle:
(+ 2 'a)
error Wrong type argument: number-or-marker-p, a
If you want your program to handle different types differently, you must do explicit
type checking. The most common way to check the type of an object is to call a type
predicate function. Emacs has a type predicate for each type, as well as some predicates
for combinations of types.
A type predicate function takes one argument; it returns t if the argument belongs to
the appropriate type, and nil otherwise. Following a general Lisp convention for predicate
functions, most type predicates’ names end with ‘p’.
Here is an example which uses the predicates listp to check for a list and symbolp to
check for a symbol.
(defun add-on (x)
(cond ((symbolp x)
;; If X is a symbol, put it on LIST.
(setq list (cons x list)))
((listp x)
;; If X is a list, add its elements to LIST.
(setq list (append x list)))
(t
;; We handle only symbols and lists.
(error "Invalid argument %s in add-on" x))))
Here is a table of predefined type predicates, in alphabetical order, with references to
further information.
atom See Section 5.2 [List-related Predicates], page 68.
arrayp See Section 6.3 [Array Functions], page 104.
bool-vector-p
See Section 6.7 [Bool-Vectors], page 109.
booleanp See Section 1.3.2 [nil and t], page 2.
bufferp See Section 27.1 [Buffer Basics], page 581.
byte-code-function-p
See Section 2.3.16 [Byte-Code Type], page 23.
case-table-p
See Section 4.9 [Case Tables], page 65.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 30

char-or-string-p
See Section 4.2 [Predicates for Strings], page 51.
char-table-p
See Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107.
commandp See Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375.
condition-variable-p
See Section 37.3 [Condition Variables], page 917.
consp See Section 5.2 [List-related Predicates], page 68.
custom-variable-p
See Section 15.3 [Variable Definitions], page 247.
floatp See Section 3.3 [Predicates on Numbers], page 37.
fontp See Section 39.12.12 [Low-Level Font], page 1015.
frame-configuration-p
See Section 29.13 [Frame Configurations], page 725.
frame-live-p
See Section 29.7 [Deleting Frames], page 718.
framep See Chapter 29 [Frames], page 683.
functionp
See Chapter 13 [Functions], page 203.
hash-table-p
See Section 8.4 [Other Hash], page 119.
integer-or-marker-p
See Section 31.2 [Predicates on Markers], page 757.
integerp See Section 3.3 [Predicates on Numbers], page 37.
keymapp See Section 22.4 [Creating Keymaps], page 418.
keywordp See Section 12.2 [Constant Variables], page 169.
listp See Section 5.2 [List-related Predicates], page 68.
markerp See Section 31.2 [Predicates on Markers], page 757.
mutexp See Section 37.2 [Mutexes], page 916.
nlistp See Section 5.2 [List-related Predicates], page 68.
number-or-marker-p
See Section 31.2 [Predicates on Markers], page 757.
numberp See Section 3.3 [Predicates on Numbers], page 37.
overlayp See Section 39.9 [Overlays], page 985.
processp See Chapter 38 [Processes], page 919.
recordp See Section 2.3.17 [Record Type], page 23.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 31

sequencep
See Section 6.1 [Sequence Functions], page 91.
string-or-null-p
See Section 4.2 [Predicates for Strings], page 51.
stringp See Section 4.2 [Predicates for Strings], page 51.
subrp See Section 13.9 [Function Cells], page 221.
symbolp See Chapter 9 [Symbols], page 120.
syntax-table-p
See Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892.
threadp See Section 37.1 [Basic Thread Functions], page 915.
vectorp See Section 6.4 [Vectors], page 105.
wholenump
See Section 3.3 [Predicates on Numbers], page 37.
window-configuration-p
See Section 28.26 [Window Configurations], page 676.
window-live-p
See Section 28.7 [Deleting Windows], page 615.
windowp See Section 28.1 [Basic Windows], page 598.
The most general way to check the type of an object is to call the function type-of.
Recall that each object belongs to one and only one primitive type; type-of tells you which
one (see Chapter 2 [Lisp Data Types], page 8). But type-of knows nothing about non-
primitive types. In most cases, it is more convenient to use type predicates than type-of.

type-of object [Function]

This function returns a symbol naming the primitive type of object. The value
is one of the symbols bool-vector, buffer, char-table, compiled-function,
condition-variable, cons, finalizer, float, font-entity, font-object,
font-spec, frame, hash-table, integer, marker, mutex, overlay, process,
string, subr, symbol, thread, vector, window, or window-configuration.
However, if object is a record, the type specified by its first slot is returned;
Chapter 7 [Records], page 113.
(type-of 1)
⇒ integer
(type-of 'nil)
⇒ symbol
(type-of '()) ; () is nil.
⇒ symbol
(type-of '(x))
⇒ cons
(type-of (record 'foo))
⇒ foo
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 32

2.7 Equality Predicates

Here we describe functions that test for equality between two objects. Other functions test
equality of contents between objects of specific types, e.g., strings. For these predicates, see
the appropriate chapter describing the data type.

eq object1 object2 [Function]

This function returns t if object1 and object2 are the same object, and nil otherwise.
If object1 and object2 are integers with the same value, they are considered to be the
same object (i.e., eq returns t). If object1 and object2 are symbols with the same
name, they are normally the same object—but see Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols],
page 122, for exceptions. For other types (e.g., lists, vectors, strings), two arguments
with the same contents or elements are not necessarily eq to each other: they are eq
only if they are the same object, meaning that a change in the contents of one will
be reflected by the same change in the contents of the other.
(eq 'foo 'foo)
⇒ t

(eq 456 456)

⇒ t

(eq "asdf" "asdf")

⇒ nil

(eq "" "")

⇒ t
;; This exception occurs because Emacs Lisp
;; makes just one multibyte empty string, to save space.

(eq '(1 (2 (3))) '(1 (2 (3))))

⇒ nil

(setq foo '(1 (2 (3))))

⇒ (1 (2 (3)))
(eq foo foo)
⇒ t
(eq foo '(1 (2 (3))))
⇒ nil

(eq [(1 2) 3] [(1 2) 3])

⇒ nil

(eq (point-marker) (point-marker))

⇒ nil
The make-symbol function returns an uninterned symbol, distinct from the symbol
that is used if you write the name in a Lisp expression. Distinct symbols with the
same name are not eq. See Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols], page 122.
Chapter 2: Lisp Data Types 33

(eq (make-symbol "foo") 'foo)

⇒ nil
The Emacs Lisp byte compiler may collapse identical literal objects, such as literal
strings, into references to the same object, with the effect that the byte-compiled code
will compare such objects as eq, while the interpreted version of the same code will
not. Therefore, your code should never rely on objects with the same literal contents
being either eq or not eq, it should instead use functions that compare object contents
such as equal, described below. Similarly, your code should not modify literal objects
(e.g., put text properties on literal strings), since doing that might affect other literal
objects of the same contents, if the byte compiler collapses them.

equal object1 object2 [Function]

This function returns t if object1 and object2 have equal components, and nil oth-
erwise. Whereas eq tests if its arguments are the same object, equal looks inside
nonidentical arguments to see if their elements or contents are the same. So, if two
objects are eq, they are equal, but the converse is not always true.
(equal 'foo 'foo)
⇒ t

(equal 456 456)

⇒ t

(equal "asdf" "asdf")

⇒ t
(eq "asdf" "asdf")
⇒ nil

(equal '(1 (2 (3))) '(1 (2 (3))))

⇒ t
(eq '(1 (2 (3))) '(1 (2 (3))))
⇒ nil

(equal [(1 2) 3] [(1 2) 3])

⇒ t
(eq [(1 2) 3] [(1 2) 3])
⇒ nil

(equal (point-marker) (point-marker))

⇒ t

(eq (point-marker) (point-marker))

⇒ nil
Comparison of strings is case-sensitive, but does not take account of text properties—
it compares only the characters in the strings. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties],
page 802. Use equal-including-properties to also compare text properties. For
technical reasons, a unibyte string and a multibyte string are equal if and only if they
 34

contain the same sequence of character codes and all these codes are in the range 0
through 127 (ASCII).
(equal "asdf" "ASDF")
⇒ nil
However, two distinct buffers are never considered equal, even if their textual contents
are the same.

The test for equality is implemented recursively; for example, given two cons cells x and
y, (equal x y) returns t if and only if both the expressions below return t:
(equal (car x) (car y))
(equal (cdr x) (cdr y))
Because of this recursive method, circular lists may therefore cause infinite recursion
(leading to an error).

equal-including-properties object1 object2 [Function]

This function behaves like equal in all cases but also requires that for two strings to
be equal, they have the same text properties.
(equal "asdf" (propertize "asdf" 'asdf t))
⇒ t
(equal-including-properties "asdf"
(propertize "asdf" 'asdf t))
⇒ nil
 35

3 Numbers
GNU Emacs supports two numeric data types: integers and floating-point numbers. Inte-
gers are whole numbers such as −3, 0, 7, 13, and 511. Floating-point numbers are numbers
with fractional parts, such as −4.5, 0.0, and 2.71828. They can also be expressed in ex-
ponential notation: ‘1.5e2’ is the same as ‘150.0’; here, ‘e2’ stands for ten to the second
power, and that is multiplied by 1.5. Integer computations are exact, though they may
overflow. Floating-point computations often involve rounding errors, as the numbers have
a fixed amount of precision.

3.1 Integer Basics

The range of values for an integer depends on the machine. The minimum range is
−536,870,912 to 536,870,911 (30 bits; i.e., −229 to 229 − 1), but many machines provide
a wider range. Many examples in this chapter assume the minimum integer width of 30
bits.
The Lisp reader reads an integer as a sequence of digits with optional initial sign and
optional final period. An integer that is out of the Emacs range is treated as a floating-point
number.
1 ; The integer 1.
1. ; The integer 1.
+1 ; Also the integer 1.
-1 ; The integer −1.
9000000000000000000
; The floating-point number 9e18.
0 ; The integer 0.
-0 ; The integer 0.
The syntax for integers in bases other than 10 uses ‘#’ followed by a letter that specifies
the radix: ‘b’ for binary, ‘o’ for octal, ‘x’ for hex, or ‘radixr’ to specify radix radix. Case
is not significant for the letter that specifies the radix. Thus, ‘#binteger’ reads integer
in binary, and ‘#radixrinteger’ reads integer in radix radix. Allowed values of radix run
from 2 to 36. For example:
#b101100 ⇒ 44
#o54 ⇒ 44
#x2c ⇒ 44
#24r1k ⇒ 44
To understand how various functions work on integers, especially the bitwise operators
(see Section 3.8 [Bitwise Operations], page 44), it is often helpful to view the numbers in
their binary form.
In 30-bit binary, the decimal integer 5 looks like this:
0000...000101 (30 bits total)
(The ‘...’ stands for enough bits to fill out a 30-bit word; in this case, ‘...’ stands for
twenty 0 bits. Later examples also use the ‘...’ notation to make binary integers easier to
read.)
Chapter 3: Numbers 36

The integer −1 looks like this:

1111...111111 (30 bits total)
−1 is represented as 30 ones. (This is called two’s complement notation.)
Subtracting 4 from −1 returns the negative integer −5. In binary, the decimal integer 4
is 100. Consequently, −5 looks like this:
1111...111011 (30 bits total)
In this implementation, the largest 30-bit binary integer is 536,870,911 in decimal. In
binary, it looks like this:
0111...111111 (30 bits total)
Since the arithmetic functions do not check whether integers go outside their range,
when you add 1 to 536,870,911, the value is the negative integer −536,870,912:
(+ 1 536870911)
⇒ -536870912
⇒ 1000...000000 (30 bits total)
Many of the functions described in this chapter accept markers for arguments in place
of numbers. (See Chapter 31 [Markers], page 756.) Since the actual arguments to such
functions may be either numbers or markers, we often give these arguments the name
number-or-marker. When the argument value is a marker, its position value is used and its
buffer is ignored.
most-positive-fixnum [Variable]
The value of this variable is the largest integer that Emacs Lisp can handle. Typical
values are 229 − 1 on 32-bit and 261 − 1 on 64-bit platforms.
most-negative-fixnum [Variable]
The value of this variable is the smallest integer that Emacs Lisp can handle. It is
negative. Typical values are −229 on 32-bit and −261 on 64-bit platforms.
In Emacs Lisp, text characters are represented by integers. Any integer between zero and
the value of (max-char), inclusive, is considered to be valid as a character. See Section 33.5
[Character Codes], page 839.

3.2 Floating-Point Basics

Floating-point numbers are useful for representing numbers that are not integral. The range
of floating-point numbers is the same as the range of the C data type double on the machine
you are using. On all computers currently supported by Emacs, this is double-precision IEEE
floating point.
The read syntax for floating-point numbers requires either a decimal point, an exponent,
or both. Optional signs (‘+’ or ‘-’) precede the number and its exponent. For example,
‘1500.0’, ‘+15e2’, ‘15.0e+2’, ‘+1500000e-3’, and ‘.15e4’ are five ways of writing a floating-
point number whose value is 1500. They are all equivalent. Like Common Lisp, Emacs Lisp
requires at least one digit after any decimal point in a floating-point number; ‘1500.’ is an
integer, not a floating-point number.
Emacs Lisp treats -0.0 as numerically equal to ordinary zero with respect to equal and
=. This follows the IEEE floating-point standard, which says -0.0 and 0.0 are numerically
equal even though other operations can distinguish them.
Chapter 3: Numbers 37

The IEEE floating-point standard supports positive infinity and negative infinity as
floating-point values. It also provides for a class of values called NaN, or “not a num-
ber”; numerical functions return such values in cases where there is no correct answer.
For example, (/ 0.0 0.0) returns a NaN. Although NaN values carry a sign, for practical
purposes there is no other significant difference between different NaN values in Emacs Lisp.
Here are read syntaxes for these special floating-point values:
infinity ‘1.0e+INF’ and ‘-1.0e+INF’
not-a-number
‘0.0e+NaN’ and ‘-0.0e+NaN’
The following functions are specialized for handling floating-point numbers:
isnan x [Function]
This predicate returns t if its floating-point argument is a NaN, nil otherwise.
frexp x [Function]
This function returns a cons cell (s . e), where s and e are respectively the significand
and exponent of the floating-point number x.
If x is finite, then s is a floating-point number between 0.5 (inclusive) and 1.0 (exclu-
sive), e is an integer, and x = s2e . If x is zero or infinity, then s is the same as x. If
x is a NaN, then s is also a NaN. If x is zero, then e is 0.
ldexp s e [Function]
Given a numeric significand s and an integer exponent e, this function returns the
floating point number s2e .
copysign x1 x2 [Function]
This function copies the sign of x2 to the value of x1, and returns the result. x1 and
x2 must be floating point.
logb x [Function]
This function returns the binary exponent of x. More precisely, the value is the
logarithm base 2 of |x|, rounded down to an integer.
(logb 10)
⇒ 3
(logb 10.0e20)
⇒ 69

3.3 Type Predicates for Numbers

The functions in this section test for numbers, or for a specific type of number. The functions
integerp and floatp can take any type of Lisp object as argument (they would not be of
much use otherwise), but the zerop predicate requires a number as its argument. See also
integer-or-marker-p and number-or-marker-p, in Section 31.2 [Predicates on Markers],
page 757.
floatp object [Function]
This predicate tests whether its argument is floating point and returns t if so, nil
otherwise.
Chapter 3: Numbers 38

integerp object [Function]

This predicate tests whether its argument is an integer, and returns t if so, nil
otherwise.
numberp object [Function]
This predicate tests whether its argument is a number (either integer or floating
point), and returns t if so, nil otherwise.
natnump object [Function]
This predicate (whose name comes from the phrase “natural number”) tests to see
whether its argument is a nonnegative integer, and returns t if so, nil otherwise. 0
is considered non-negative.
wholenump is a synonym for natnump.
zerop number [Function]
This predicate tests whether its argument is zero, and returns t if so, nil otherwise.
The argument must be a number.
(zerop x) is equivalent to (= x 0).

3.4 Comparison of Numbers

To test numbers for numerical equality, you should normally use =, not eq. There can be
many distinct floating-point objects with the same numeric value. If you use eq to compare
them, then you test whether two values are the same object. By contrast, = compares only
the numeric values of the objects.
In Emacs Lisp, each integer is a unique Lisp object. Therefore, eq is equivalent to
= where integers are concerned. It is sometimes convenient to use eq for comparing an
unknown value with an integer, because eq does not report an error if the unknown value
is not a number—it accepts arguments of any type. By contrast, = signals an error if the
arguments are not numbers or markers. However, it is better programming practice to use
= if you can, even for comparing integers.
Sometimes it is useful to compare numbers with equal, which treats two numbers as
equal if they have the same data type (both integers, or both floating point) and the same
value. By contrast, = can treat an integer and a floating-point number as equal. See
Section 2.7 [Equality Predicates], page 32.
There is another wrinkle: because floating-point arithmetic is not exact, it is often a bad
idea to check for equality of floating-point values. Usually it is better to test for approximate
equality. Here’s a function to do this:
(defvar fuzz-factor 1.0e-6)
(defun approx-equal (x y)
(or (= x y)
(< (/ (abs (- x y))
(max (abs x) (abs y)))
fuzz-factor)))
Common Lisp note: Comparing numbers in Common Lisp always requires =
because Common Lisp implements multi-word integers, and two distinct integer
objects can have the same numeric value. Emacs Lisp can have just one integer
object for any given value because it has a limited range of integers.
Chapter 3: Numbers 39

= number-or-marker &rest number-or-markers [Function]

This function tests whether all its arguments are numerically equal, and returns t if
so, nil otherwise.

eql value1 value2 [Function]

This function acts like eq except when both arguments are numbers. It compares
numbers by type and numeric value, so that (eql 1.0 1) returns nil, but (eql 1.0
1.0) and (eql 1 1) both return t.

/= number-or-marker1 number-or-marker2 [Function]

This function tests whether its arguments are numerically equal, and returns t if they
are not, and nil if they are.

< number-or-marker &rest number-or-markers [Function]

This function tests whether each argument is strictly less than the following argument.
It returns t if so, nil otherwise.

<= number-or-marker &rest number-or-markers [Function]

This function tests whether each argument is less than or equal to the following
argument. It returns t if so, nil otherwise.

> number-or-marker &rest number-or-markers [Function]

This function tests whether each argument is strictly greater than the following ar-
gument. It returns t if so, nil otherwise.

>= number-or-marker &rest number-or-markers [Function]

This function tests whether each argument is greater than or equal to the following
argument. It returns t if so, nil otherwise.

max number-or-marker &rest numbers-or-markers [Function]

This function returns the largest of its arguments.
(max 20)
⇒ 20
(max 1 2.5)
⇒ 2.5
(max 1 3 2.5)
⇒ 3

min number-or-marker &rest numbers-or-markers [Function]

This function returns the smallest of its arguments.
(min -4 1)
⇒ -4

abs number [Function]

This function returns the absolute value of number.
Chapter 3: Numbers 40

3.5 Numeric Conversions

To convert an integer to floating point, use the function float.

float number [Function]

This returns number converted to floating point. If number is already floating point,
float returns it unchanged.

There are four functions to convert floating-point numbers to integers; they differ in
how they round. All accept an argument number and an optional argument divisor. Both
arguments may be integers or floating-point numbers. divisor may also be nil. If divisor
is nil or omitted, these functions convert number to an integer, or return it unchanged if
it already is an integer. If divisor is non-nil, they divide number by divisor and convert
the result to an integer. If divisor is zero (whether integer or floating point), Emacs signals
an arith-error error.

truncate number &optional divisor [Function]

This returns number, converted to an integer by rounding towards zero.
(truncate 1.2)
⇒ 1
(truncate 1.7)
⇒ 1
(truncate -1.2)
⇒ -1
(truncate -1.7)
⇒ -1

floor number &optional divisor [Function]

This returns number, converted to an integer by rounding downward (towards nega-
tive infinity).
If divisor is specified, this uses the kind of division operation that corresponds to mod,
rounding downward.
(floor 1.2)
⇒ 1
(floor 1.7)
⇒ 1
(floor -1.2)
⇒ -2
(floor -1.7)
⇒ -2
(floor 5.99 3)
⇒ 1

ceiling number &optional divisor [Function]

This returns number, converted to an integer by rounding upward (towards positive
infinity).
(ceiling 1.2)
⇒ 2
Chapter 3: Numbers 41

(ceiling 1.7)
⇒ 2
(ceiling -1.2)
⇒ -1
(ceiling -1.7)
⇒ -1
round number &optional divisor [Function]
This returns number, converted to an integer by rounding towards the nearest integer.
Rounding a value equidistant between two integers returns the even integer.
(round 1.2)
⇒ 1
(round 1.7)
⇒ 2
(round -1.2)
⇒ -1
(round -1.7)
⇒ -2

3.6 Arithmetic Operations

Emacs Lisp provides the traditional four arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, mul-
tiplication, and division), as well as remainder and modulus functions, and functions to add
or subtract 1. Except for %, each of these functions accepts both integer and floating-point
arguments, and returns a floating-point number if any argument is floating point.
Emacs Lisp arithmetic functions do not check for integer overflow. Thus (1+ 536870911)
may evaluate to −536870912, depending on your hardware.
1+ number-or-marker [Function]
This function returns number-or-marker plus 1. For example,
(setq foo 4)
⇒ 4
(1+ foo)
⇒ 5
This function is not analogous to the C operator ++—it does not increment a variable.
It just computes a sum. Thus, if we continue,
foo
⇒ 4
If you want to increment the variable, you must use setq, like this:
(setq foo (1+ foo))
⇒ 5
1- number-or-marker [Function]
This function returns number-or-marker minus 1.
+ &rest numbers-or-markers [Function]
This function adds its arguments together. When given no arguments, + returns 0.
(+)
Chapter 3: Numbers 42

⇒ 0
(+ 1)
⇒ 1
(+ 1 2 3 4)
⇒ 10
- &optional number-or-marker &rest more-numbers-or-markers [Function]
The - function serves two purposes: negation and subtraction. When - has a single
argument, the value is the negative of the argument. When there are multiple ar-
guments, - subtracts each of the more-numbers-or-markers from number-or-marker,
cumulatively. If there are no arguments, the result is 0.
(- 10 1 2 3 4)
⇒ 0
(- 10)
⇒ -10
(-)
⇒ 0
* &rest numbers-or-markers [Function]
This function multiplies its arguments together, and returns the product. When given
no arguments, * returns 1.
(*)
⇒ 1
(* 1)
⇒ 1
(* 1 2 3 4)
⇒ 24
/ number &rest divisors [Function]
With one or more divisors, this function divides number by each divisor in divisors in
turn, and returns the quotient. With no divisors, this function returns 1/number, i.e.,
the multiplicative inverse of number. Each argument may be a number or a marker.
If all the arguments are integers, the result is an integer, obtained by rounding the
quotient towards zero after each division.
(/ 6 2)
⇒ 3
(/ 5 2)
⇒ 2
(/ 5.0 2)
⇒ 2.5
(/ 5 2.0)
⇒ 2.5
(/ 5.0 2.0)
⇒ 2.5
(/ 4.0)
⇒ 0.25
(/ 4)
⇒ 0
Chapter 3: Numbers 43

(/ 25 3 2)
⇒ 4
(/ -17 6)
⇒ -2
If you divide an integer by the integer 0, Emacs signals an arith-error error (see
Section 11.7.3 [Errors], page 160). Floating-point division of a nonzero number by
zero yields either positive or negative infinity (see Section 3.2 [Float Basics], page 36).

% dividend divisor [Function]

This function returns the integer remainder after division of dividend by divisor. The
arguments must be integers or markers.
For any two integers dividend and divisor,
(+ (% dividend divisor)
(* (/ dividend divisor) divisor))
always equals dividend if divisor is nonzero.
(% 9 4)
⇒ 1
(% -9 4)
⇒ -1
(% 9 -4)
⇒ 1
(% -9 -4)
⇒ -1

mod dividend divisor [Function]

This function returns the value of dividend modulo divisor; in other words, the re-
mainder after division of dividend by divisor, but with the same sign as divisor. The
arguments must be numbers or markers.
Unlike %, mod permits floating-point arguments; it rounds the quotient downward (to-
wards minus infinity) to an integer, and uses that quotient to compute the remainder.
If divisor is zero, mod signals an arith-error error if both arguments are integers,
and returns a NaN otherwise.
(mod 9 4)
⇒ 1
(mod -9 4)
⇒ 3
(mod 9 -4)
⇒ -3
(mod -9 -4)
⇒ -1
(mod 5.5 2.5)
⇒ .5
For any two numbers dividend and divisor,
(+ (mod dividend divisor)
(* (floor dividend divisor) divisor))
Chapter 3: Numbers 44

always equals dividend, subject to rounding error if either argument is floating point
and to an arith-error if dividend is an integer and divisor is 0. For floor, see
Section 3.5 [Numeric Conversions], page 40.

3.7 Rounding Operations

The functions ffloor, fceiling, fround, and ftruncate take a floating-point argument
and return a floating-point result whose value is a nearby integer. ffloor returns the
nearest integer below; fceiling, the nearest integer above; ftruncate, the nearest integer
in the direction towards zero; fround, the nearest integer.

ffloor float [Function]

This function rounds float to the next lower integral value, and returns that value as
a floating-point number.

fceiling float [Function]

This function rounds float to the next higher integral value, and returns that value
as a floating-point number.

ftruncate float [Function]

This function rounds float towards zero to an integral value, and returns that value
as a floating-point number.

fround float [Function]

This function rounds float to the nearest integral value, and returns that value as a
floating-point number. Rounding a value equidistant between two integers returns
the even integer.

3.8 Bitwise Operations on Integers

In a computer, an integer is represented as a binary number, a sequence of bits (digits
which are either zero or one). A bitwise operation acts on the individual bits of such a
sequence. For example, shifting moves the whole sequence left or right one or more places,
reproducing the same pattern moved over.
The bitwise operations in Emacs Lisp apply only to integers.

lsh integer1 count [Function]

lsh, which is an abbreviation for logical shift, shifts the bits in integer1 to the left
count places, or to the right if count is negative, bringing zeros into the vacated bits.
If count is negative, lsh shifts zeros into the leftmost (most-significant) bit, producing
a positive result even if integer1 is negative. Contrast this with ash, below.
Here are two examples of lsh, shifting a pattern of bits one place to the left. We
show only the low-order eight bits of the binary pattern; the rest are all zero.
Chapter 3: Numbers 45

(lsh 5 1)
⇒ 10
;; Decimal 5 becomes decimal 10.
00000101 ⇒ 00001010

(lsh 7 1)
⇒ 14
;; Decimal 7 becomes decimal 14.
00000111 ⇒ 00001110
As the examples illustrate, shifting the pattern of bits one place to the left produces
a number that is twice the value of the previous number.
Shifting a pattern of bits two places to the left produces results like this (with 8-bit
binary numbers):
(lsh 3 2)
⇒ 12
;; Decimal 3 becomes decimal 12.
00000011 ⇒ 00001100
On the other hand, shifting one place to the right looks like this:
(lsh 6 -1)
⇒ 3
;; Decimal 6 becomes decimal 3.
00000110 ⇒ 00000011

(lsh 5 -1)
⇒ 2
;; Decimal 5 becomes decimal 2.
00000101 ⇒ 00000010
As the example illustrates, shifting one place to the right divides the value of a positive
integer by two, rounding downward.
The function lsh, like all Emacs Lisp arithmetic functions, does not check for overflow,
so shifting left can discard significant bits and change the sign of the number. For
example, left shifting 536,870,911 produces −2 in the 30-bit implementation:
(lsh 536870911 1) ; left shift
⇒ -2
In binary, the argument looks like this:
;; Decimal 536,870,911
0111...111111 (30 bits total)
which becomes the following when left shifted:
;; Decimal −2
1111...111110 (30 bits total)

ash integer1 count [Function]

ash (arithmetic shift) shifts the bits in integer1 to the left count places, or to the
right if count is negative.
Chapter 3: Numbers 46

ash gives the same results as lsh except when integer1 and count are both negative.
In that case, ash puts ones in the empty bit positions on the left, while lsh puts zeros
in those bit positions.
Thus, with ash, shifting the pattern of bits one place to the right looks like this:
(ash -6 -1) ⇒ -3
;; Decimal −6 becomes decimal −3.
1111...111010 (30 bits total)
⇒
1111...111101 (30 bits total)
In contrast, shifting the pattern of bits one place to the right with lsh looks like this:
(lsh -6 -1) ⇒ 536870909
;; Decimal −6 becomes decimal 536,870,909.
1111...111010 (30 bits total)
⇒
0111...111101 (30 bits total)
Here are other examples:
; 30-bit binary values

(lsh 5 2) ; 5 = 0000...000101
⇒ 20 ; = 0000...010100
(ash 5 2)
⇒ 20
(lsh -5 2) ; -5 = 1111...111011
⇒ -20 ; = 1111...101100
(ash -5 2)
⇒ -20
(lsh 5 -2) ; 5 = 0000...000101
⇒ 1 ; = 0000...000001
(ash 5 -2)
⇒ 1
(lsh -5 -2) ; -5 = 1111...111011
⇒ 268435454
; = 0011...111110
(ash -5 -2) ; -5 = 1111...111011
⇒ -2 ; = 1111...111110

logand &rest ints-or-markers [Function]

This function returns the bitwise AND of the arguments: the nth bit is 1 in the result
if, and only if, the nth bit is 1 in all the arguments.
For example, using 4-bit binary numbers, the bitwise AND of 13 and 12 is 12: 1101
combined with 1100 produces 1100. In both the binary numbers, the leftmost two
bits are both 1 so the leftmost two bits of the returned value are both 1. However,
for the rightmost two bits, each is 0 in at least one of the arguments, so the rightmost
two bits of the returned value are both 0.
Therefore,
(logand 13 12)
⇒ 12
Chapter 3: Numbers 47

If logand is not passed any argument, it returns a value of −1. This number is an
identity element for logand because its binary representation consists entirely of ones.
If logand is passed just one argument, it returns that argument.
; 30-bit binary values

(logand 14 13) ; 14 = 0000...001110

; 13 = 0000...001101
⇒ 12 ; 12 = 0000...001100

(logand 14 13 4) ; 14 = 0000...001110
; 13 = 0000...001101
; 4 = 0000...000100
⇒ 4 ; 4 = 0000...000100

(logand)
⇒ -1 ; -1 = 1111...111111

logior &rest ints-or-markers [Function]

This function returns the bitwise inclusive OR of its arguments: the nth bit is 1 in
the result if, and only if, the nth bit is 1 in at least one of the arguments. If there
are no arguments, the result is 0, which is an identity element for this operation. If
logior is passed just one argument, it returns that argument.
; 30-bit binary values

(logior 12 5) ; 12 = 0000...001100
; 5 = 0000...000101
⇒ 13 ; 13 = 0000...001101

(logior 12 5 7) ; 12 = 0000...001100
; 5 = 0000...000101
; 7 = 0000...000111
⇒ 15 ; 15 = 0000...001111

logxor &rest ints-or-markers [Function]

This function returns the bitwise exclusive OR of its arguments: the nth bit is 1 in
the result if, and only if, the nth bit is 1 in an odd number of the arguments. If there
are no arguments, the result is 0, which is an identity element for this operation. If
logxor is passed just one argument, it returns that argument.
; 30-bit binary values

(logxor 12 5) ; 12 = 0000...001100
; 5 = 0000...000101
⇒ 9 ; 9 = 0000...001001

(logxor 12 5 7) ; 12 = 0000...001100
; 5 = 0000...000101
; 7 = 0000...000111
⇒ 14 ; 14 = 0000...001110

lognot integer [Function]

This function returns the bitwise complement of its argument: the nth bit is one in
the result if, and only if, the nth bit is zero in integer, and vice-versa.
(lognot 5)
⇒ -6
Chapter 3: Numbers 48

;; 5 = 0000...000101 (30 bits total)

;; becomes
;; -6 = 1111...111010 (30 bits total)

3.9 Standard Mathematical Functions

These mathematical functions allow integers as well as floating-point numbers as arguments.

sin arg [Function]

cos arg [Function]
tan arg [Function]
These are the basic trigonometric functions, with argument arg measured in radians.

asin arg [Function]

The value of (asin arg) is a number between −π/2 and π/2 (inclusive) whose sine
is arg. If arg is out of range (outside [−1, 1]), asin returns a NaN.

acos arg [Function]

The value of (acos arg) is a number between 0 and π (inclusive) whose cosine is arg.
If arg is out of range (outside [−1, 1]), acos returns a NaN.

atan y &optional x [Function]

The value of (atan y) is a number between −π/2 and π/2 (exclusive) whose tangent
is y. If the optional second argument x is given, the value of (atan y x) is the angle
in radians between the vector [x, y] and the X axis.

exp arg [Function]

This is the exponential function; it returns e to the power arg.

log arg &optional base [Function]

This function returns the logarithm of arg, with base base. If you don’t specify base,
the natural base e is used. If arg or base is negative, log returns a NaN.

expt x y [Function]
This function returns x raised to power y. If both arguments are integers and y is
positive, the result is an integer; in this case, overflow causes truncation, so watch
out. If x is a finite negative number and y is a finite non-integer, expt returns a NaN.

sqrt arg [Function]

This returns the square root of arg. If arg is finite and less than zero, sqrt returns
a NaN.

In addition, Emacs defines the following common mathematical constants:

float-e [Variable]
The mathematical constant e (2.71828. . . ).

float-pi [Variable]
The mathematical constant pi (3.14159. . . ).
Chapter 3: Numbers 49

3.10 Random Numbers

A deterministic computer program cannot generate true random numbers. For most pur-
poses, pseudo-random numbers suffice. A series of pseudo-random numbers is generated in
a deterministic fashion. The numbers are not truly random, but they have certain proper-
ties that mimic a random series. For example, all possible values occur equally often in a
pseudo-random series.
Pseudo-random numbers are generated from a seed value. Starting from any given seed,
the random function always generates the same sequence of numbers. By default, Emacs
initializes the random seed at startup, in such a way that the sequence of values of random
(with overwhelming likelihood) differs in each Emacs run.
Sometimes you want the random number sequence to be repeatable. For example, when
debugging a program whose behavior depends on the random number sequence, it is helpful
to get the same behavior in each program run. To make the sequence repeat, execute
(random ""). This sets the seed to a constant value for your particular Emacs executable
(though it may differ for other Emacs builds). You can use other strings to choose various
seed values.

random &optional limit [Function]

This function returns a pseudo-random integer. Repeated calls return a series of
pseudo-random integers.
If limit is a positive integer, the value is chosen to be nonnegative and less than limit.
Otherwise, the value might be any integer representable in Lisp, i.e., an integer be-
tween most-negative-fixnum and most-positive-fixnum (see Section 3.1 [Integer
Basics], page 35).
If limit is t, it means to choose a new seed as if Emacs were restarting, typically
from the system entropy. On systems lacking entropy pools, choose the seed from
less-random volatile data such as the current time.
If limit is a string, it means to choose a new seed based on the string’s contents.
 50

4 Strings and Characters

A string in Emacs Lisp is an array that contains an ordered sequence of characters. Strings
are used as names of symbols, buffers, and files; to send messages to users; to hold text being
copied between buffers; and for many other purposes. Because strings are so important,
Emacs Lisp has many functions expressly for manipulating them. Emacs Lisp programs use
strings more often than individual characters.
See Section 21.7.15 [Strings of Events], page 396, for special considerations for strings of
keyboard character events.

4.1 String and Character Basics

A character is a Lisp object which represents a single character of text. In Emacs Lisp,
characters are simply integers; whether an integer is a character or not is determined only
by how it is used. See Section 33.5 [Character Codes], page 839, for details about character
representation in Emacs.
A string is a fixed sequence of characters. It is a type of sequence called a array,
meaning that its length is fixed and cannot be altered once it is created (see Chapter 6
[Sequences Arrays Vectors], page 91). Unlike in C, Emacs Lisp strings are not terminated
by a distinguished character code.
Since strings are arrays, and therefore sequences as well, you can operate on them with
the general array and sequence functions documented in Chapter 6 [Sequences Arrays Vec-
tors], page 91. For example, you can access or change individual characters in a string
using the functions aref and aset (see Section 6.3 [Array Functions], page 104). However,
note that length should not be used for computing the width of a string on display; use
string-width (see Section 39.10 [Size of Displayed Text], page 992) instead.
There are two text representations for non-ASCII characters in Emacs strings (and in
buffers): unibyte and multibyte. For most Lisp programming, you don’t need to be con-
cerned with these two representations. See Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835,
for details.
Sometimes key sequences are represented as unibyte strings. When a unibyte string is
a key sequence, string elements in the range 128 to 255 represent meta characters (which
are large integers) rather than character codes in the range 128 to 255. Strings cannot
hold characters that have the hyper, super or alt modifiers; they can hold ASCII control
characters, but no other control characters. They do not distinguish case in ASCII control
characters. If you want to store such characters in a sequence, such as a key sequence, you
must use a vector instead of a string. See Section 2.3.3 [Character Type], page 10, for more
information about keyboard input characters.
Strings are useful for holding regular expressions. You can also match regular expressions
against strings with string-match (see Section 34.4 [Regexp Search], page 878). The func-
tions match-string (see Section 34.6.2 [Simple Match Data], page 883) and replace-match
(see Section 34.6.1 [Replacing Match], page 882) are useful for decomposing and modifying
strings after matching regular expressions against them.
Like a buffer, a string can contain text properties for the characters in it, as well as
the characters themselves. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802. All the Lisp
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 51

primitives that copy text from strings to buffers or other strings also copy the properties of
the characters being copied.
See Chapter 32 [Text], page 765, for information about functions that display strings
or copy them into buffers. See Section 2.3.3 [Character Type], page 10, and Section 2.3.8
[String Type], page 18, for information about the syntax of characters and strings. See
Chapter 33 [Non-ASCII Characters], page 835, for functions to convert between text repre-
sentations and to encode and decode character codes.

4.2 Predicates for Strings

For more information about general sequence and array predicates, see Chapter 6 [Sequences
Arrays Vectors], page 91, and Section 6.2 [Arrays], page 103.
stringp object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a string, nil otherwise.
string-or-null-p object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a string or nil. It returns nil otherwise.
char-or-string-p object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a string or a character (i.e., an integer), nil
otherwise.

4.3 Creating Strings

The following functions create strings, either from scratch, or by putting strings together,
or by taking them apart.
make-string count character [Function]
This function returns a string made up of count repetitions of character. If count is
negative, an error is signaled.
(make-string 5 ?x)
⇒ "xxxxx"
(make-string 0 ?x)
⇒ ""
Other functions to compare with this one include make-vector (see Section 6.4 [Vec-
tors], page 105) and make-list (see Section 5.4 [Building Lists], page 72).
string &rest characters [Function]
This returns a string containing the characters characters.
(string ?a ?b ?c)
⇒ "abc"
substring string &optional start end [Function]
This function returns a new string which consists of those characters from string in the
range from (and including) the character at the index start up to (but excluding) the
character at the index end. The first character is at index zero. With one argument,
this function just copies string.
(substring "abcdefg" 0 3)
⇒ "abc"
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 52

In the above example, the index for ‘a’ is 0, the index for ‘b’ is 1, and the index for ‘c’
is 2. The index 3—which is the fourth character in the string—marks the character
position up to which the substring is copied. Thus, ‘abc’ is copied from the string
"abcdefg".
A negative number counts from the end of the string, so that −1 signifies the index
of the last character of the string. For example:
(substring "abcdefg" -3 -1)
⇒ "ef"
In this example, the index for ‘e’ is −3, the index for ‘f’ is −2, and the index for ‘g’
is −1. Therefore, ‘e’ and ‘f’ are included, and ‘g’ is excluded.
When nil is used for end, it stands for the length of the string. Thus,
(substring "abcdefg" -3 nil)
⇒ "efg"
Omitting the argument end is equivalent to specifying nil. It follows that (substring
string 0) returns a copy of all of string.
(substring "abcdefg" 0)
⇒ "abcdefg"
But we recommend copy-sequence for this purpose (see Section 6.1 [Sequence Func-
tions], page 91).
If the characters copied from string have text properties, the properties are copied
into the new string also. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802.
substring also accepts a vector for the first argument. For example:
(substring [a b (c) "d"] 1 3)
⇒ [b (c)]
A wrong-type-argument error is signaled if start is not an integer or if end is neither
an integer nor nil. An args-out-of-range error is signaled if start indicates a
character following end, or if either integer is out of range for string.
Contrast this function with buffer-substring (see Section 32.2 [Buffer Contents],
page 766), which returns a string containing a portion of the text in the current buffer.
The beginning of a string is at index 0, but the beginning of a buffer is at index 1.

substring-no-properties string &optional start end [Function]

This works like substring but discards all text properties from the value.
Also, start may be omitted or nil, which is equivalent to 0. Thus,
(substring-no-properties string) returns a copy of string, with all text
properties removed.

concat &rest sequences [Function]

This function returns a new string consisting of the characters in the arguments passed
to it (along with their text properties, if any). The arguments may be strings, lists of
numbers, or vectors of numbers; they are not themselves changed. If concat receives
no arguments, it returns an empty string.
(concat "abc" "-def")
⇒ "abc-def"
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 53

(concat "abc" (list 120 121) [122])

⇒ "abcxyz"
;; nil is an empty sequence.
(concat "abc" nil "-def")
⇒ "abc-def"
(concat "The " "quick brown " "fox.")
⇒ "The quick brown fox."
(concat)
⇒ ""
This function always constructs a new string that is not eq to any existing string,
except when the result is the empty string (to save space, Emacs makes only one
empty multibyte string).
For information about other concatenation functions, see the description of mapconcat
in Section 13.6 [Mapping Functions], page 214, vconcat in Section 6.5 [Vector Func-
tions], page 105, and append in Section 5.4 [Building Lists], page 72. For concatenat-
ing individual command-line arguments into a string to be used as a shell command,
see Section 38.2 [Shell Arguments], page 921.
split-string string &optional separators omit-nulls trim [Function]
This function splits string into substrings based on the regular expression separators
(see Section 34.3 [Regular Expressions], page 868). Each match for separators defines
a splitting point; the substrings between splitting points are made into a list, which
is returned.
If separators is nil (or omitted), the default is the value of split-string-default-
separators and the function behaves as if omit-nulls were t.
If omit-nulls is nil (or omitted), the result contains null strings whenever there are
two consecutive matches for separators, or a match is adjacent to the beginning or
end of string. If omit-nulls is t, these null strings are omitted from the result.
If the optional argument trim is non-nil, it should be a regular expression to match
text to trim from the beginning and end of each substring. If trimming makes the
substring empty, it is treated as null.
If you need to split a string into a list of individual command-line arguments suitable
for call-process or start-process, see Section 38.2 [Shell Arguments], page 921.
Examples:
(split-string " two words ")
⇒ ("two" "words")
The result is not ("" "two" "words" ""), which would rarely be useful. If you need
such a result, use an explicit value for separators:
(split-string " two words "
split-string-default-separators)
⇒ ("" "two" "words" "")
(split-string "Soup is good food" "o")
⇒ ("S" "up is g" "" "d f" "" "d")
(split-string "Soup is good food" "o" t)
⇒ ("S" "up is g" "d f" "d")
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 54

(split-string "Soup is good food" "o+")

⇒ ("S" "up is g" "d f" "d")
Empty matches do count, except that split-string will not look for a final empty
match when it already reached the end of the string using a non-empty match or
when string is empty:
(split-string "aooob" "o*")
⇒ ("" "a" "" "b" "")
(split-string "ooaboo" "o*")
⇒ ("" "" "a" "b" "")
(split-string "" "")
⇒ ("")
However, when separators can match the empty string, omit-nulls is usually t, so
that the subtleties in the three previous examples are rarely relevant:
(split-string "Soup is good food" "o*" t)
⇒ ("S" "u" "p" " " "i" "s" " " "g" "d" " " "f" "d")
(split-string "Nice doggy!" "" t)
⇒ ("N" "i" "c" "e" " " "d" "o" "g" "g" "y" "!")
(split-string "" "" t)
⇒ nil
Somewhat odd, but predictable, behavior can occur for certain “non-greedy” values
of separators that can prefer empty matches over non-empty matches. Again, such
values rarely occur in practice:
(split-string "ooo" "o*" t)
⇒ nil
(split-string "ooo" "\\|o+" t)
⇒ ("o" "o" "o")
split-string-default-separators [Variable]
The default value of separators for split-string. Its usual value is
"[ \f\t\n\r\v]+".

4.4 Modifying Strings

The most basic way to alter the contents of an existing string is with aset (see Section 6.3
[Array Functions], page 104). (aset string idx char) stores char into string at index idx.
Each character occupies one or more bytes, and if char needs a different number of bytes
from the character already present at that index, aset signals an error.
A more powerful function is store-substring:
store-substring string idx obj [Function]
This function alters part of the contents of the string string, by storing obj starting
at index idx. The argument obj may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string, it is an error if obj
doesn’t fit within string’s actual length, or if any new character requires a different
number of bytes from the character currently present at that point in string.
To clear out a string that contained a password, use clear-string:
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 55

clear-string string [Function]

This makes string a unibyte string and clears its contents to zeros. It may also change
string’s length.

4.5 Comparison of Characters and Strings

char-equal character1 character2 [Function]
This function returns t if the arguments represent the same character, nil otherwise.
This function ignores differences in case if case-fold-search is non-nil.
(char-equal ?x ?x)
⇒ t
(let ((case-fold-search nil))
(char-equal ?x ?X))
⇒ nil
string= string1 string2 [Function]
This function returns t if the characters of the two strings match exactly. Symbols
are also allowed as arguments, in which case the symbol names are used. Case is
always significant, regardless of case-fold-search.
This function is equivalent to equal for comparing two strings (see Section 2.7 [Equal-
ity Predicates], page 32). In particular, the text properties of the two strings are ig-
nored; use equal-including-properties if you need to distinguish between strings
that differ only in their text properties. However, unlike equal, if either argument is
not a string or symbol, string= signals an error.
(string= "abc" "abc")
⇒ t
(string= "abc" "ABC")
⇒ nil
(string= "ab" "ABC")
⇒ nil
For technical reasons, a unibyte and a multibyte string are equal if and only if they
contain the same sequence of character codes and all these codes are either in the
range 0 through 127 (ASCII) or 160 through 255 (eight-bit-graphic). However,
when a unibyte string is converted to a multibyte string, all characters with codes
in the range 160 through 255 are converted to characters with higher codes, whereas
ASCII characters remain unchanged. Thus, a unibyte string and its conversion to
multibyte are only equal if the string is all ASCII. Character codes 160 through
255 are not entirely proper in multibyte text, even though they can occur. As a
consequence, the situation where a unibyte and a multibyte string are equal without
both being all ASCII is a technical oddity that very few Emacs Lisp programmers
ever get confronted with. See Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835.
string-equal string1 string2 [Function]
string-equal is another name for string=.
string-collate-equalp string1 string2 &optional locale ignore-case [Function]
This function returns t if string1 and string2 are equal with respect to collation rules.
A collation rule is not only determined by the lexicographic order of the characters
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 56

contained in string1 and string2, but also further rules about relations between these
characters. Usually, it is defined by the locale environment Emacs is running with.
For example, characters with different coding points but the same meaning might be
considered as equal, like different grave accent Unicode characters:
(string-collate-equalp (string ?\uFF40) (string ?\u1FEF))
⇒ t
The optional argument locale, a string, overrides the setting of your current locale
identifier for collation. The value is system dependent; a locale "en_US.UTF-8" is ap-
plicable on POSIX systems, while it would be, e.g., "enu_USA.1252" on MS-Windows
systems.
If ignore-case is non-nil, characters are converted to lower-case before comparing
them.
To emulate Unicode-compliant collation on MS-Windows systems, bind
w32-collate-ignore-punctuation to a non-nil value, since the codeset part of
the locale cannot be "UTF-8" on MS-Windows.
If your system does not support a locale environment, this function behaves like
string-equal.
Do not use this function to compare file names for equality, as filesystems generally
don’t honor linguistic equivalence of strings that collation implements.

string< string1 string2 [Function]

This function compares two strings a character at a time. It scans both the strings at
the same time to find the first pair of corresponding characters that do not match. If
the lesser character of these two is the character from string1, then string1 is less, and
this function returns t. If the lesser character is the one from string2, then string1 is
greater, and this function returns nil. If the two strings match entirely, the value is
nil.
Pairs of characters are compared according to their character codes. Keep in mind
that lower case letters have higher numeric values in the ASCII character set than
their upper case counterparts; digits and many punctuation characters have a lower
numeric value than upper case letters. An ASCII character is less than any non-ASCII
character; a unibyte non-ASCII character is always less than any multibyte non-ASCII
character (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835).
(string< "abc" "abd")
⇒ t
(string< "abd" "abc")
⇒ nil
(string< "123" "abc")
⇒ t
When the strings have different lengths, and they match up to the length of string1,
then the result is t. If they match up to the length of string2, the result is nil. A
string of no characters is less than any other string.
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 57

(string< "" "abc")

⇒ t
(string< "ab" "abc")
⇒ t
(string< "abc" "")
⇒ nil
(string< "abc" "ab")
⇒ nil
(string< "" "")
⇒ nil
Symbols are also allowed as arguments, in which case their print names are compared.

string-lessp string1 string2 [Function]

string-lessp is another name for string<.

string-greaterp string1 string2 [Function]

This function returns the result of comparing string1 and string2 in the opposite
order, i.e., it is equivalent to calling (string-lessp string2 string1).

string-collate-lessp string1 string2 &optional locale ignore-case [Function]

This function returns t if string1 is less than string2 in collation order. A collation
order is not only determined by the lexicographic order of the characters contained in
string1 and string2, but also further rules about relations between these characters.
Usually, it is defined by the locale environment Emacs is running with.
For example, punctuation and whitespace characters might be ignored for sorting (see
Section 6.1 [Sequence Functions], page 91):
(sort '("11" "12" "1 1" "1 2" "1.1" "1.2") 'string-collate-lessp)
⇒ ("11" "1 1" "1.1" "12" "1 2" "1.2")
This behavior is system-dependent; e.g., punctuation and whitespace are never ig-
nored on Cygwin, regardless of locale.
The optional argument locale, a string, overrides the setting of your current locale
identifier for collation. The value is system dependent; a locale "en_US.UTF-8" is ap-
plicable on POSIX systems, while it would be, e.g., "enu_USA.1252" on MS-Windows
systems. The locale value of "POSIX" or "C" lets string-collate-lessp behave like
string-lessp:
(sort '("11" "12" "1 1" "1 2" "1.1" "1.2")
(lambda (s1 s2) (string-collate-lessp s1 s2 "POSIX")))
⇒ ("1 1" "1 2" "1.1" "1.2" "11" "12")
If ignore-case is non-nil, characters are converted to lower-case before comparing
them.
To emulate Unicode-compliant collation on MS-Windows systems, bind
w32-collate-ignore-punctuation to a non-nil value, since the codeset part of
the locale cannot be "UTF-8" on MS-Windows.
If your system does not support a locale environment, this function behaves like
string-lessp.
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 58

string-version-lessp string1 string2 [Function]

This function compares strings lexicographically, except it treats sequences of nu-
merical characters as if they comprised a base-ten number, and then compares the
numbers. So ‘foo2.png’ is “smaller” than ‘foo12.png’ according to this predicate,
even if ‘12’ is lexicographically “smaller” than ‘2’.

string-prefix-p string1 string2 &optional ignore-case [Function]

This function returns non-nil if string1 is a prefix of string2; i.e., if string2 starts
with string1. If the optional argument ignore-case is non-nil, the comparison ignores
case differences.

string-suffix-p suffix string &optional ignore-case [Function]

This function returns non-nil if suffix is a suffix of string; i.e., if string ends with
suffix. If the optional argument ignore-case is non-nil, the comparison ignores case
differences.

compare-strings string1 start1 end1 string2 start2 end2 &optional [Function]

ignore-case
This function compares a specified part of string1 with a specified part of string2.
The specified part of string1 runs from index start1 (inclusive) up to index end1
(exclusive); nil for start1 means the start of the string, while nil for end1 means
the length of the string. Likewise, the specified part of string2 runs from index start2
up to index end2.
The strings are compared by the numeric values of their characters. For instance, str1
is considered less than str2 if its first differing character has a smaller numeric value.
If ignore-case is non-nil, characters are converted to upper-case before comparing
them. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte for comparison (see Section 33.1
[Text Representations], page 835), so that a unibyte string and its conversion to
multibyte are always regarded as equal.
If the specified portions of the two strings match, the value is t. Otherwise, the value
is an integer which indicates how many leading characters agree, and which string
is less. Its absolute value is one plus the number of characters that agree at the
beginning of the two strings. The sign is negative if string1 (or its specified portion)
is less.

assoc-string key alist &optional case-fold [Function]

This function works like assoc, except that key must be a string or symbol, and
comparison is done using compare-strings. Symbols are converted to strings before
testing. If case-fold is non-nil, key and the elements of alist are converted to upper-
case before comparison. Unlike assoc, this function can also match elements of the
alist that are strings or symbols rather than conses. In particular, alist can be a list
of strings or symbols rather than an actual alist. See Section 5.8 [Association Lists],
page 85.

See also the function compare-buffer-substrings in Section 32.3 [Comparing Text],

page 769, for a way to compare text in buffers. The function string-match, which matches
a regular expression against a string, can be used for a kind of string comparison; see
Section 34.4 [Regexp Search], page 878.
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 59

4.6 Conversion of Characters and Strings

This section describes functions for converting between characters, strings and integers.
format (see Section 4.7 [Formatting Strings], page 60) and prin1-to-string (see
Section 19.5 [Output Functions], page 329) can also convert Lisp objects into strings.
read-from-string (see Section 19.3 [Input Functions], page 325) can convert a string
representation of a Lisp object into an object. The functions string-to-multibyte
and string-to-unibyte convert the text representation of a string (see Section 33.3
[Converting Representations], page 837).
See Chapter 24 [Documentation], page 510, for functions that produce textual
descriptions of text characters and general input events (single-key-description and
text-char-description). These are used primarily for making help messages.
number-to-string number [Function]
This function returns a string consisting of the printed base-ten representation of
number. The returned value starts with a minus sign if the argument is negative.
(number-to-string 256)
⇒ "256"
(number-to-string -23)
⇒ "-23"
(number-to-string -23.5)
⇒ "-23.5"
int-to-string is a semi-obsolete alias for this function.
See also the function format in Section 4.7 [Formatting Strings], page 60.
string-to-number string &optional base [Function]
This function returns the numeric value of the characters in string. If base is non-nil,
it must be an integer between 2 and 16 (inclusive), and integers are converted in that
base. If base is nil, then base ten is used. Floating-point conversion only works in
base ten; we have not implemented other radices for floating-point numbers, because
that would be much more work and does not seem useful. If string looks like an
integer but its value is too large to fit into a Lisp integer, string-to-number returns
a floating-point result.
The parsing skips spaces and tabs at the beginning of string, then reads as much of
string as it can interpret as a number in the given base. (On some systems it ignores
other whitespace at the beginning, not just spaces and tabs.) If string cannot be
interpreted as a number, this function returns 0.
(string-to-number "256")
⇒ 256
(string-to-number "25 is a perfect square.")
⇒ 25
(string-to-number "X256")
⇒ 0
(string-to-number "-4.5")
⇒ -4.5
(string-to-number "1e5")
⇒ 100000.0
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 60

string-to-int is an obsolete alias for this function.

char-to-string character [Function]
This function returns a new string containing one character, character. This func-
tion is semi-obsolete because the function string is more general. See Section 4.3
[Creating Strings], page 51.
string-to-char string [Function]
This function returns the first character in string. This mostly identical to (aref
string 0), except that it returns 0 if the string is empty. (The value is also 0 when
the first character of string is the null character, ASCII code 0.) This function may
be eliminated in the future if it does not seem useful enough to retain.
Here are some other functions that can convert to or from a string:
concat This function converts a vector or a list into a string. See Section 4.3 [Creating
Strings], page 51.
vconcat This function converts a string into a vector. See Section 6.5 [Vector Functions],
page 105.
append This function converts a string into a list. See Section 5.4 [Building Lists],
page 72.
byte-to-string
This function converts a byte of character data into a unibyte string. See
Section 33.3 [Converting Representations], page 837.

4.7 Formatting Strings

Formatting means constructing a string by substituting computed values at various places
in a constant string. This constant string controls how the other values are printed, as well
as where they appear; it is called a format string.
Formatting is often useful for computing messages to be displayed. In fact, the functions
message and error provide the same formatting feature described here; they differ from
format-message only in how they use the result of formatting.
format string &rest objects [Function]
This function returns a string equal to string, replacing any format specifications with
encodings of the corresponding objects. The arguments objects are the computed
values to be formatted.
The characters in string, other than the format specifications, are copied directly into
the output, including their text properties, if any. Any text properties of the for-
mat specifications are copied to the produced string representations of the argument
objects.
The output string need not be newly-allocated. For example, if x is the string "foo",
the expressions (eq x (format x)) and (eq x (format "%s" x)) might both yield t.
format-message string &rest objects [Function]
This function acts like format, except it also converts any grave accents (‘) and
apostrophes (’) in string as per the value of text-quoting-style.
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 61

Typically grave accent and apostrophe in the format translate to matching curved
quotes, e.g., "Missing ‘%s’" might result in "Missing ‘foo’". See Section 24.4
[Text Quoting Style], page 515, for how to influence or inhibit this translation.

A format specification is a sequence of characters beginning with a ‘%’. Thus, if there

is a ‘%d’ in string, the format function replaces it with the printed representation of one of
the values to be formatted (one of the arguments objects). For example:
(format "The value of fill-column is %d." fill-column)
⇒ "The value of fill-column is 72."
Since format interprets ‘%’ characters as format specifications, you should never pass an
arbitrary string as the first argument. This is particularly true when the string is generated
by some Lisp code. Unless the string is known to never include any ‘%’ characters, pass
"%s", described below, as the first argument, and the string as the second, like this:
(format "%s" arbitrary-string)
Certain format specifications require values of particular types. If you supply a value
that doesn’t fit the requirements, an error is signaled.
Here is a table of valid format specifications:
‘%s’ Replace the specification with the printed representation of the object, made
without quoting (that is, using princ, not prin1—see Section 19.5 [Output
Functions], page 329). Thus, strings are represented by their contents alone,
with no ‘"’ characters, and symbols appear without ‘\’ characters.
If the object is a string, its text properties are copied into the output. The text
properties of the ‘%s’ itself are also copied, but those of the object take priority.
‘%S’ Replace the specification with the printed representation of the object, made
with quoting (that is, using prin1—see Section 19.5 [Output Functions],
page 329). Thus, strings are enclosed in ‘"’ characters, and ‘\’ characters
appear where necessary before special characters.
‘%o’ Replace the specification with the base-eight representation of an unsigned in-
teger.
‘%d’ Replace the specification with the base-ten representation of a signed integer.
‘%x’
‘%X’ Replace the specification with the base-sixteen representation of an unsigned
integer. ‘%x’ uses lower case and ‘%X’ uses upper case.
‘%c’ Replace the specification with the character which is the value given.
‘%e’ Replace the specification with the exponential notation for a floating-point num-
ber.
‘%f’ Replace the specification with the decimal-point notation for a floating-point
number.
‘%g’ Replace the specification with notation for a floating-point number, using either
exponential notation or decimal-point notation. The exponential notation is
used if the exponent would be less than −4 or greater than or equal to the
precision (default: 6). By default, trailing zeros are removed from the fractional
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 62

portion of the result and a decimal-point character appears only if it is followed

by a digit.
‘%%’ Replace the specification with a single ‘%’. This format specification is unusual
in that its only form is plain ‘%%’ and that it does not use a value. For example,
(format "%% %d" 30) returns "% 30".
Any other format character results in an ‘Invalid format operation’ error.
Here are several examples, which assume the typical text-quoting-style settings:
(format "The octal value of %d is %o,
and the hex value is %x." 18 18 18)
⇒ "The octal value of 18 is 22,
and the hex value is 12."

(format-message
"The name of this buffer is ‘%s’." (buffer-name))
⇒ "The name of this buffer is ‘strings.texi’."

(format-message
"The buffer object prints as `%s'." (current-buffer))
⇒ "The buffer object prints as ‘strings.texi’."
By default, format specifications correspond to successive values from objects. Thus, the
first format specification in string uses the first such value, the second format specification
uses the second such value, and so on. Any extra format specifications (those for which
there are no corresponding values) cause an error. Any extra values to be formatted are
ignored.
A format specification can have a field number, which is a decimal number immediately
after the initial ‘%’, followed by a literal dollar sign ‘$’. It causes the format specification to
convert the argument with the given number instead of the next argument. Field numbers
start at 1. A format can contain either numbered or unnumbered format specifications but
not both, except that ‘%%’ can be mixed with numbered specifications.
(format "%2$s, %3$s, %%, %1$s" "x" "y" "z")
⇒ "y, z, %, x"
After the ‘%’ and any field number, you can put certain flag characters.
The flag ‘+’ inserts a plus sign before a positive number, so that it always has a sign.
A space character as flag inserts a space before a positive number. (Otherwise, positive
numbers start with the first digit.) These flags are useful for ensuring that positive numbers
and negative numbers use the same number of columns. They are ignored except for ‘%d’,
‘%e’, ‘%f’, ‘%g’, and if both flags are used, ‘+’ takes precedence.
The flag ‘#’ specifies an alternate form which depends on the format in use. For ‘%o’, it
ensures that the result begins with a ‘0’. For ‘%x’ and ‘%X’, it prefixes the result with ‘0x’
or ‘0X’. For ‘%e’ and ‘%f’, the ‘#’ flag means include a decimal point even if the precision
is zero. For ‘%g’, it always includes a decimal point, and also forces any trailing zeros after
the decimal point to be left in place where they would otherwise be removed.
The flag ‘0’ ensures that the padding consists of ‘0’ characters instead of spaces. This
flag is ignored for non-numerical specification characters like ‘%s’, ‘%S’ and ‘%c’. These
specification characters accept the ‘0’ flag, but still pad with spaces.
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 63

The flag ‘-’ causes any padding inserted by the width, if specified, to be inserted on the
right rather than the left. If both ‘-’ and ‘0’ are present, the ‘0’ flag is ignored.
(format "%06d is padded on the left with zeros" 123)
⇒ "000123 is padded on the left with zeros"

(format "'%-6d' is padded on the right" 123)

⇒ "'123 ' is padded on the right"

(format "The word '%-7s' actually has %d letters in it."

"foo" (length "foo"))
⇒ "The word 'foo ' actually has 3 letters in it."
A specification can have a width, which is a decimal number that appears after any
field number and flags. If the printed representation of the object contains fewer characters
than this width, format extends it with padding. Any padding introduced by the width
normally consists of spaces inserted on the left:
(format "%5d is padded on the left with spaces" 123)
⇒ " 123 is padded on the left with spaces"
If the width is too small, format does not truncate the object’s printed representation.
Thus, you can use a width to specify a minimum spacing between columns with no risk of
losing information. In the following two examples, ‘%7s’ specifies a minimum width of 7.
In the first case, the string inserted in place of ‘%7s’ has only 3 letters, and needs 4 blank
spaces as padding. In the second case, the string "specification" is 13 letters wide but
is not truncated.
(format "The word '%7s' has %d letters in it."
"foo" (length "foo"))
⇒ "The word ' foo' has 3 letters in it."
(format "The word '%7s' has %d letters in it."
"specification" (length "specification"))
⇒ "The word 'specification' has 13 letters in it."
All the specification characters allow an optional precision after the field number, flags
and width, if present. The precision is a decimal-point ‘.’ followed by a digit-string. For
the floating-point specifications (‘%e’ and ‘%f’), the precision specifies how many digits
following the decimal point to show; if zero, the decimal-point itself is also omitted. For
‘%g’, the precision specifies how many significant digits to show (significant digits are the
first digit before the decimal point and all the digits after it). If the precision of %g is zero
or unspecified, it is treated as 1. For ‘%s’ and ‘%S’, the precision truncates the string to the
given width, so ‘%.3s’ shows only the first three characters of the representation for object.
For other specification characters, the effect of precision is what the local library functions
of the printf family produce.

4.8 Case Conversion in Lisp

The character case functions change the case of single characters or of the contents of strings.
The functions normally convert only alphabetic characters (the letters ‘A’ through ‘Z’ and
‘a’ through ‘z’, as well as non-ASCII letters); other characters are not altered. You can
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 64

specify a different case conversion mapping by specifying a case table (see Section 4.9 [Case
Tables], page 65).
These functions do not modify the strings that are passed to them as arguments.
The examples below use the characters ‘X’ and ‘x’ which have ASCII codes 88 and 120
respectively.

downcase string-or-char [Function]

This function converts string-or-char, which should be either a character or a string,
to lower case.
When string-or-char is a string, this function returns a new string in which each letter
in the argument that is upper case is converted to lower case. When string-or-char is
a character, this function returns the corresponding lower case character (an integer);
if the original character is lower case, or is not a letter, the return value is equal to
the original character.
(downcase "The cat in the hat")
⇒ "the cat in the hat"

(downcase ?X)
⇒ 120

upcase string-or-char [Function]

This function converts string-or-char, which should be either a character or a string,
to upper case.
When string-or-char is a string, this function returns a new string in which each letter
in the argument that is lower case is converted to upper case. When string-or-char is
a character, this function returns the corresponding upper case character (an integer);
if the original character is upper case, or is not a letter, the return value is equal to
the original character.
(upcase "The cat in the hat")
⇒ "THE CAT IN THE HAT"

(upcase ?x)
⇒ 88

capitalize string-or-char [Function]

This function capitalizes strings or characters. If string-or-char is a string, the func-
tion returns a new string whose contents are a copy of string-or-char in which each
word has been capitalized. This means that the first character of each word is con-
verted to upper case, and the rest are converted to lower case.
The definition of a word is any sequence of consecutive characters that are assigned
to the word constituent syntax class in the current syntax table (see Section 35.2.1
[Syntax Class Table], page 893).
When string-or-char is a character, this function does the same thing as upcase.
(capitalize "The cat in the hat")
⇒ "The Cat In The Hat"
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 65

(capitalize "THE 77TH-HATTED CAT")

⇒ "The 77th-Hatted Cat"

(capitalize ?x)
⇒ 88
upcase-initials string-or-char [Function]
If string-or-char is a string, this function capitalizes the initials of the words in string-
or-char, without altering any letters other than the initials. It returns a new string
whose contents are a copy of string-or-char, in which each word has had its initial
letter converted to upper case.
The definition of a word is any sequence of consecutive characters that are assigned
to the word constituent syntax class in the current syntax table (see Section 35.2.1
[Syntax Class Table], page 893).
When the argument to upcase-initials is a character, upcase-initials has the
same result as upcase.
(upcase-initials "The CAT in the hAt")
⇒ "The CAT In The HAt"
Note that case conversion is not a one-to-one mapping of codepoints and length of the
result may differ from length of the argument. Furthermore, because passing a character
forces return type to be a character, functions are unable to perform proper substitution
and result may differ compared to treating a one-character string. For example:
(upcase "fi") ; note: single character, ligature "fi"
⇒ "FI"
(upcase ?fi)
⇒ 64257 ; i.e. ?fi
To avoid this, a character must first be converted into a string, using string function,
before being passed to one of the casing functions. Of course, no assumptions on the length
of the result may be made.
Mapping for such special cases are taken from special-uppercase, special-lowercase
and special-titlecase See Section 33.6 [Character Properties], page 840.
See Section 4.5 [Text Comparison], page 55, for functions that compare strings; some of
them ignore case differences, or can optionally ignore case differences.

4.9 The Case Table

You can customize case conversion by installing a special case table. A case table specifies
the mapping between upper case and lower case letters. It affects both the case conversion
functions for Lisp objects (see the previous section) and those that apply to text in the
buffer (see Section 32.18 [Case Changes], page 800). Each buffer has a case table; there is
also a standard case table which is used to initialize the case table of new buffers.
A case table is a char-table (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107) whose subtype
is case-table. This char-table maps each character into the corresponding lower case
character. It has three extra slots, which hold related tables:
upcase The upcase table maps each character into the corresponding upper case char-
acter.
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 66

canonicalize
The canonicalize table maps all of a set of case-related characters into a partic-
ular member of that set.
equivalences
The equivalences table maps each one of a set of case-related characters into
the next character in that set.
In simple cases, all you need to specify is the mapping to lower-case; the three related
tables will be calculated automatically from that one.
For some languages, upper and lower case letters are not in one-to-one correspondence.
There may be two different lower case letters with the same upper case equivalent. In these
cases, you need to specify the maps for both lower case and upper case.
The extra table canonicalize maps each character to a canonical equivalent; any two
characters that are related by case-conversion have the same canonical equivalent character.
For example, since ‘a’ and ‘A’ are related by case-conversion, they should have the same
canonical equivalent character (which should be either ‘a’ for both of them, or ‘A’ for both
of them).
The extra table equivalences is a map that cyclically permutes each equivalence class (of
characters with the same canonical equivalent). (For ordinary ASCII, this would map ‘a’
into ‘A’ and ‘A’ into ‘a’, and likewise for each set of equivalent characters.)
When constructing a case table, you can provide nil for canonicalize; then Emacs fills
in this slot from the lower case and upper case mappings. You can also provide nil for
equivalences; then Emacs fills in this slot from canonicalize. In a case table that is actually
in use, those components are non-nil. Do not try to specify equivalences without also
specifying canonicalize.
Here are the functions for working with case tables:

case-table-p object [Function]

This predicate returns non-nil if object is a valid case table.

set-standard-case-table table [Function]

This function makes table the standard case table, so that it will be used in any
buffers created subsequently.

standard-case-table [Function]
This returns the standard case table.

current-case-table [Function]
This function returns the current buffer’s case table.

set-case-table table [Function]

This sets the current buffer’s case table to table.

with-case-table table body. . . [Macro]

The with-case-table macro saves the current case table, makes table the current
case table, evaluates the body forms, and finally restores the case table. The return
value is the value of the last form in body. The case table is restored even in case of
an abnormal exit via throw or error (see Section 11.7 [Nonlocal Exits], page 158).
Chapter 4: Strings and Characters 67

Some language environments modify the case conversions of ASCII characters; for exam-
ple, in the Turkish language environment, the ASCII capital I is downcased into a Turkish
dotless i (‘ı’). This can interfere with code that requires ordinary ASCII case conversion,
such as implementations of ASCII-based network protocols. In that case, use the with-case-
table macro with the variable ascii-case-table, which stores the unmodified case table for
the ASCII character set.

ascii-case-table [Variable]
The case table for the ASCII character set. This should not be modified by any
language environment settings.

The following three functions are convenient subroutines for packages that define non-
ASCII character sets. They modify the specified case table case-table; they also modify the
standard syntax table. See Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892. Normally you would use
these functions to change the standard case table.

set-case-syntax-pair uc lc case-table [Function]

This function specifies a pair of corresponding letters, one upper case and one lower
case.

set-case-syntax-delims l r case-table [Function]

This function makes characters l and r a matching pair of case-invariant delimiters.

set-case-syntax char syntax case-table [Function]

This function makes char case-invariant, with syntax syntax.

describe-buffer-case-table [Command]
This command displays a description of the contents of the current buffer’s case table.
 68

5 Lists
A list represents a sequence of zero or more elements (which may be any Lisp objects). The
important difference between lists and vectors is that two or more lists can share part of
their structure; in addition, you can insert or delete elements in a list without copying the
whole list.

5.1 Lists and Cons Cells

Lists in Lisp are not a primitive data type; they are built up from cons cells (see Section 2.3.6
[Cons Cell Type], page 14). A cons cell is a data object that represents an ordered pair.
That is, it has two slots, and each slot holds, or refers to, some Lisp object. One slot is
known as the car, and the other is known as the cdr. (These names are traditional; see
Section 2.3.6 [Cons Cell Type], page 14.) cdr is pronounced “could-er”.
We say that “the car of this cons cell is” whatever object its car slot currently holds,
and likewise for the cdr.
A list is a series of cons cells chained together, so that each cell refers to the next one.
There is one cons cell for each element of the list. By convention, the cars of the cons
cells hold the elements of the list, and the cdrs are used to chain the list (this asymmetry
between car and cdr is entirely a matter of convention; at the level of cons cells, the car
and cdr slots have similar properties). Hence, the cdr slot of each cons cell in a list refers
to the following cons cell.
Also by convention, the cdr of the last cons cell in a list is nil. We call such a nil-
terminated structure a proper list1 . In Emacs Lisp, the symbol nil is both a symbol and
a list with no elements. For convenience, the symbol nil is considered to have nil as its
cdr (and also as its car).
Hence, the cdr of a proper list is always a proper list. The cdr of a nonempty proper
list is a proper list containing all the elements except the first.
If the cdr of a list’s last cons cell is some value other than nil, we call the structure a dot-
ted list, since its printed representation would use dotted pair notation (see Section 2.3.6.2
[Dotted Pair Notation], page 17). There is one other possibility: some cons cell’s cdr could
point to one of the previous cons cells in the list. We call that structure a circular list.
For some purposes, it does not matter whether a list is proper, circular or dotted. If a
program doesn’t look far enough down the list to see the cdr of the final cons cell, it won’t
care. However, some functions that operate on lists demand proper lists and signal errors
if given a dotted list. Most functions that try to find the end of a list enter infinite loops if
given a circular list.
Because most cons cells are used as part of lists, we refer to any structure made out of
cons cells as a list structure.

5.2 Predicates on Lists

The following predicates test whether a Lisp object is an atom, whether it is a cons cell or
is a list, or whether it is the distinguished object nil. (Many of these predicates can be
defined in terms of the others, but they are used so often that it is worth having them.)
1
It is sometimes also referred to as a true list, but we generally do not use this terminology in this manual.
Chapter 5: Lists 69

consp object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a cons cell, nil otherwise. nil is not a cons cell,
although it is a list.

atom object [Function]

This function returns t if object is an atom, nil otherwise. All objects except cons
cells are atoms. The symbol nil is an atom and is also a list; it is the only Lisp object
that is both.
(atom object) ≡ (not (consp object))

listp object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a cons cell or nil. Otherwise, it returns nil.
(listp '(1))
⇒ t
(listp '())
⇒ t

nlistp object [Function]

This function is the opposite of listp: it returns t if object is not a list. Otherwise,
it returns nil.
(listp object) ≡ (not (nlistp object))

null object [Function]

This function returns t if object is nil, and returns nil otherwise. This function is
identical to not, but as a matter of clarity we use null when object is considered a
list and not when it is considered a truth value (see not in Section 11.3 [Combining
Conditions], page 143).
(null '(1))
⇒ nil
(null '())
⇒ t

5.3 Accessing Elements of Lists

car cons-cell [Function]
This function returns the value referred to by the first slot of the cons cell cons-cell.
In other words, it returns the car of cons-cell.
As a special case, if cons-cell is nil, this function returns nil. Therefore, any list is
a valid argument. An error is signaled if the argument is not a cons cell or nil.
(car '(a b c))
⇒ a
(car '())
⇒ nil

cdr cons-cell [Function]

This function returns the value referred to by the second slot of the cons cell cons-cell.
In other words, it returns the cdr of cons-cell.
Chapter 5: Lists 70

As a special case, if cons-cell is nil, this function returns nil; therefore, any list is a
valid argument. An error is signaled if the argument is not a cons cell or nil.
(cdr '(a b c))
⇒ (b c)
(cdr '())
⇒ nil

car-safe object [Function]

This function lets you take the car of a cons cell while avoiding errors for other data
types. It returns the car of object if object is a cons cell, nil otherwise. This is in
contrast to car, which signals an error if object is not a list.
(car-safe object)
≡
(let ((x object))
(if (consp x)
(car x)
nil))

cdr-safe object [Function]

This function lets you take the cdr of a cons cell while avoiding errors for other data
types. It returns the cdr of object if object is a cons cell, nil otherwise. This is in
contrast to cdr, which signals an error if object is not a list.
(cdr-safe object)
≡
(let ((x object))
(if (consp x)
(cdr x)
nil))

pop listname [Macro]

This macro provides a convenient way to examine the car of a list, and take it off
the list, all at once. It operates on the list stored in listname. It removes the first
element from the list, saves the cdr into listname, then returns the removed element.
In the simplest case, listname is an unquoted symbol naming a list; in that case, this
macro is equivalent to (prog1 (car listname) (setq listname (cdr listname))).
x
⇒ (a b c)
(pop x)
⇒ a
x
⇒ (b c)
More generally, listname can be a generalized variable. In that case, this macro saves
into listname using setf. See Section 12.17 [Generalized Variables], page 200.
For the push macro, which adds an element to a list, See Section 5.5 [List Variables],
page 75.
Chapter 5: Lists 71

nth n list [Function]

This function returns the nth element of list. Elements are numbered starting with
zero, so the car of list is element number zero. If the length of list is n or less, the
value is nil.
(nth 2 '(1 2 3 4))
⇒ 3
(nth 10 '(1 2 3 4))
⇒ nil

(nth n x) ≡ (car (nthcdr n x))

The function elt is similar, but applies to any kind of sequence. For historical reasons,
it takes its arguments in the opposite order. See Section 6.1 [Sequence Functions],
page 91.

nthcdr n list [Function]

This function returns the nth cdr of list. In other words, it skips past the first n
links of list and returns what follows.
If n is zero, nthcdr returns all of list. If the length of list is n or less, nthcdr returns
nil.
(nthcdr 1 '(1 2 3 4))
⇒ (2 3 4)
(nthcdr 10 '(1 2 3 4))
⇒ nil
(nthcdr 0 '(1 2 3 4))
⇒ (1 2 3 4)

last list &optional n [Function]

This function returns the last link of list. The car of this link is the list’s last element.
If list is null, nil is returned. If n is non-nil, the nth-to-last link is returned instead,
or the whole of list if n is bigger than list’s length.

safe-length list [Function]

This function returns the length of list, with no risk of either an error or an infinite
loop. It generally returns the number of distinct cons cells in the list. However, for
circular lists, the value is just an upper bound; it is often too large.
If list is not nil or a cons cell, safe-length returns 0.

The most common way to compute the length of a list, when you are not worried that
it may be circular, is with length. See Section 6.1 [Sequence Functions], page 91.

caar cons-cell [Function]

This is the same as (car (car cons-cell)).

cadr cons-cell [Function]

This is the same as (car (cdr cons-cell)) or (nth 1 cons-cell).

cdar cons-cell [Function]

This is the same as (cdr (car cons-cell)).
Chapter 5: Lists 72

cddr cons-cell [Function]

This is the same as (cdr (cdr cons-cell)) or (nthcdr 2 cons-cell).

In addition to the above, 24 additional compositions of car and cdr are defined as
cxxxr and cxxxxr, where each x is either a or d. cadr, caddr, and cadddr pick out the
second, third or fourth elements of a list, respectively. cl-lib provides the same under the
names cl-second, cl-third, and cl-fourth. See Section “List Functions” in Common
Lisp Extensions.

butlast x &optional n [Function]

This function returns the list x with the last element, or the last n elements, removed.
If n is greater than zero it makes a copy of the list so as not to damage the original
list. In general, (append (butlast x n) (last x n)) will return a list equal to x.

nbutlast x &optional n [Function]

This is a version of butlast that works by destructively modifying the cdr of the
appropriate element, rather than making a copy of the list.

5.4 Building Cons Cells and Lists

Many functions build lists, as lists reside at the very heart of Lisp. cons is the fundamental
list-building function; however, it is interesting to note that list is used more times in the
source code for Emacs than cons.

cons object1 object2 [Function]

This function is the most basic function for building new list structure. It creates a
new cons cell, making object1 the car, and object2 the cdr. It then returns the new
cons cell. The arguments object1 and object2 may be any Lisp objects, but most
often object2 is a list.
(cons 1 '(2))
⇒ (1 2)
(cons 1 '())
⇒ (1)
(cons 1 2)
⇒ (1 . 2)
cons is often used to add a single element to the front of a list. This is called consing
the element onto the list.2 For example:
(setq list (cons newelt list))
Note that there is no conflict between the variable named list used in this example
and the function named list described below; any symbol can serve both purposes.

2
There is no strictly equivalent way to add an element to the end of a list. You can use (append listname
(list newelt)), which creates a whole new list by copying listname and adding newelt to its end. Or
you can use (nconc listname (list newelt)), which modifies listname by following all the cdrs and
then replacing the terminating nil. Compare this to adding an element to the beginning of a list with
cons, which neither copies nor modifies the list.
Chapter 5: Lists 73

list &rest objects [Function]

This function creates a list with objects as its elements. The resulting list is always
nil-terminated. If no objects are given, the empty list is returned.
(list 1 2 3 4 5)
⇒ (1 2 3 4 5)
(list 1 2 '(3 4 5) 'foo)
⇒ (1 2 (3 4 5) foo)
(list)
⇒ nil

make-list length object [Function]

This function creates a list of length elements, in which each element is object. Com-
pare make-list with make-string (see Section 4.3 [Creating Strings], page 51).
(make-list 3 'pigs)
⇒ (pigs pigs pigs)
(make-list 0 'pigs)
⇒ nil
(setq l (make-list 3 '(a b)))
⇒ ((a b) (a b) (a b))
(eq (car l) (cadr l))
⇒ t

append &rest sequences [Function]

This function returns a list containing all the elements of sequences. The sequences
may be lists, vectors, bool-vectors, or strings, but the last one should usually be a
list. All arguments except the last one are copied, so none of the arguments is altered.
(See nconc in Section 5.6.3 [Rearrangement], page 80, for a way to join lists with no
copying.)
More generally, the final argument to append may be any Lisp object. The final
argument is not copied or converted; it becomes the cdr of the last cons cell in
the new list. If the final argument is itself a list, then its elements become in effect
elements of the result list. If the final element is not a list, the result is a dotted list
since its final cdr is not nil as required in a proper list (see Section 5.1 [Cons Cells],
page 68).

Here is an example of using append:

(setq trees '(pine oak))
⇒ (pine oak)
(setq more-trees (append '(maple birch) trees))
⇒ (maple birch pine oak)

trees
⇒ (pine oak)
more-trees
⇒ (maple birch pine oak)
(eq trees (cdr (cdr more-trees)))
⇒ t
Chapter 5: Lists 74

You can see how append works by looking at a box diagram. The variable trees is set
to the list (pine oak) and then the variable more-trees is set to the list (maple birch
pine oak). However, the variable trees continues to refer to the original list:
more-trees trees
| |
| --- --- --- --- -> --- --- --- ---
--> | | |--> | | |--> | | |--> | | |--> nil
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
| | | |
| | | |
--> maple -->birch --> pine --> oak
An empty sequence contributes nothing to the value returned by append. As a conse-
quence of this, a final nil argument forces a copy of the previous argument:
trees
⇒ (pine oak)
(setq wood (append trees nil))
⇒ (pine oak)
wood
⇒ (pine oak)
(eq wood trees)
⇒ nil
This once was the usual way to copy a list, before the function copy-sequence was invented.
See Chapter 6 [Sequences Arrays Vectors], page 91.
Here we show the use of vectors and strings as arguments to append:
(append [a b] "cd" nil)
⇒ (a b 99 100)
With the help of apply (see Section 13.5 [Calling Functions], page 212), we can append
all the lists in a list of lists:
(apply 'append '((a b c) nil (x y z) nil))
⇒ (a b c x y z)
If no sequences are given, nil is returned:
(append)
⇒ nil
Here are some examples where the final argument is not a list:
(append '(x y) 'z)
⇒ (x y . z)
(append '(x y) [z])
⇒ (x y . [z])
The second example shows that when the final argument is a sequence but not a list, the
sequence’s elements do not become elements of the resulting list. Instead, the sequence
becomes the final cdr, like any other non-list final argument.

copy-tree tree &optional vecp [Function]

This function returns a copy of the tree tree. If tree is a cons cell, this makes a new
cons cell with the same car and cdr, then recursively copies the car and cdr in
the same way.
Chapter 5: Lists 75

Normally, when tree is anything other than a cons cell, copy-tree simply returns
tree. However, if vecp is non-nil, it copies vectors too (and operates recursively on
their elements).

number-sequence from &optional to separation [Function]

This returns a list of numbers starting with from and incrementing by separation, and
ending at or just before to. separation can be positive or negative and defaults to 1.
If to is nil or numerically equal to from, the value is the one-element list (from). If
to is less than from with a positive separation, or greater than from with a negative
separation, the value is nil because those arguments specify an empty sequence.
If separation is 0 and to is neither nil nor numerically equal to from,
number-sequence signals an error, since those arguments specify an infinite
sequence.
All arguments are numbers. Floating-point arguments can be tricky, because floating-
point arithmetic is inexact. For instance, depending on the machine, it may quite well
happen that (number-sequence 0.4 0.6 0.2) returns the one element list (0.4),
whereas (number-sequence 0.4 0.8 0.2) returns a list with three elements. The nth
element of the list is computed by the exact formula (+ from (* n separation)).
Thus, if one wants to make sure that to is included in the list, one can pass an
expression of this exact type for to. Alternatively, one can replace to with a slightly
larger value (or a slightly more negative value if separation is negative).
Some examples:
(number-sequence 4 9)
⇒ (4 5 6 7 8 9)
(number-sequence 9 4 -1)
⇒ (9 8 7 6 5 4)
(number-sequence 9 4 -2)
⇒ (9 7 5)
(number-sequence 8)
⇒ (8)
(number-sequence 8 5)
⇒ nil
(number-sequence 5 8 -1)
⇒ nil
(number-sequence 1.5 6 2)
⇒ (1.5 3.5 5.5)

5.5 Modifying List Variables

These functions, and one macro, provide convenient ways to modify a list which is stored
in a variable.

push element listname [Macro]

This macro creates a new list whose car is element and whose cdr is the list
specified by listname, and saves that list in listname. In the simplest case,
listname is an unquoted symbol naming a list, and this macro is equivalent to
(setq listname (cons element listname)).
Chapter 5: Lists 76

(setq l '(a b))

⇒ (a b)
(push 'c l)
⇒ (c a b)
l
⇒ (c a b)
More generally, listname can be a generalized variable. In that case, this macro does
the equivalent of (setf listname (cons element listname)). See Section 12.17
[Generalized Variables], page 200.
For the pop macro, which removes the first element from a list, See Section 5.3 [List
Elements], page 69.

Two functions modify lists that are the values of variables.

add-to-list symbol element &optional append compare-fn [Function]

This function sets the variable symbol by consing element onto the old value, if
element is not already a member of that value. It returns the resulting list, whether
updated or not. The value of symbol had better be a list already before the call.
add-to-list uses compare-fn to compare element against existing list members; if
compare-fn is nil, it uses equal.
Normally, if element is added, it is added to the front of symbol, but if the optional
argument append is non-nil, it is added at the end.
The argument symbol is not implicitly quoted; add-to-list is an ordinary function,
like set and unlike setq. Quote the argument yourself if that is what you want.

Here’s a scenario showing how to use add-to-list:

(setq foo '(a b))
⇒ (a b)

(add-to-list 'foo 'c) ;; Add c.

⇒ (c a b)

(add-to-list 'foo 'b) ;; No effect.

⇒ (c a b)

foo ;; foo was changed.

⇒ (c a b)
An equivalent expression for (add-to-list 'var value) is this:
(or (member value var)
(setq var (cons value var)))

add-to-ordered-list symbol element &optional order [Function]

This function sets the variable symbol by inserting element into the old value, which
must be a list, at the position specified by order. If element is already a member of
the list, its position in the list is adjusted according to order. Membership is tested
using eq. This function returns the resulting list, whether updated or not.
Chapter 5: Lists 77

The order is typically a number (integer or float), and the elements of the list are
sorted in non-decreasing numerical order.
order may also be omitted or nil. Then the numeric order of element stays unchanged
if it already has one; otherwise, element has no numeric order. Elements without a
numeric list order are placed at the end of the list, in no particular order.
Any other value for order removes the numeric order of element if it already has one;
otherwise, it is equivalent to nil.
The argument symbol is not implicitly quoted; add-to-ordered-list is an ordinary
function, like set and unlike setq. Quote the argument yourself if necessary.
The ordering information is stored in a hash table on symbol’s list-order property.

Here’s a scenario showing how to use add-to-ordered-list:

(setq foo '())
⇒ nil

(add-to-ordered-list 'foo 'a 1) ;; Add a.

⇒ (a)

(add-to-ordered-list 'foo 'c 3) ;; Add c.

⇒ (a c)

(add-to-ordered-list 'foo 'b 2) ;; Add b.

⇒ (a b c)

(add-to-ordered-list 'foo 'b 4) ;; Move b.

⇒ (a c b)

(add-to-ordered-list 'foo 'd) ;; Append d.

⇒ (a c b d)

(add-to-ordered-list 'foo 'e) ;; Add e.

⇒ (a c b e d)

foo ;; foo was changed.

⇒ (a c b e d)

5.6 Modifying Existing List Structure

You can modify the car and cdr contents of a cons cell with the primitives setcar and
setcdr. These are destructive operations because they change existing list structure.
Common Lisp note: Common Lisp uses functions rplaca and rplacd to alter
list structure; they change structure the same way as setcar and setcdr, but
the Common Lisp functions return the cons cell while setcar and setcdr return
the new car or cdr.
Chapter 5: Lists 78

5.6.1 Altering List Elements with setcar

Changing the car of a cons cell is done with setcar. When used on a list, setcar replaces
one element of a list with a different element.

setcar cons object [Function]

This function stores object as the new car of cons, replacing its previous car. In
other words, it changes the car slot of cons to refer to object. It returns the value
object. For example:

(setq x '(1 2))

⇒ (1 2)
(setcar x 4)
⇒ 4
x
⇒ (4 2)

When a cons cell is part of the shared structure of several lists, storing a new car into
the cons changes one element of each of these lists. Here is an example:

;; Create two lists that are partly shared.

(setq x1 '(a b c))
⇒ (a b c)
(setq x2 (cons 'z (cdr x1)))
⇒ (z b c)

;; Replace the car of a shared link.

(setcar (cdr x1) 'foo)
⇒ foo
x1 ; Both lists are changed.
⇒ (a foo c)
x2
⇒ (z foo c)

;; Replace the car of a link that is not shared.

(setcar x1 'baz)
⇒ baz
x1 ; Only one list is changed.
⇒ (baz foo c)
x2
⇒ (z foo c)

Here is a graphical depiction of the shared structure of the two lists in the variables x1
and x2, showing why replacing b changes them both:
Chapter 5: Lists 79

--- --- --- --- --- ---

x1---> | | |----> | | |--> | | |--> nil
--- --- --- --- --- ---
| --> | |
| | | |
--> a | --> b --> c
|
--- --- |
x2--> | | |--
--- ---
|
|
--> z
Here is an alternative form of box diagram, showing the same relationship:
x1:
-------------- -------------- --------------
| car | cdr | | car | cdr | | car | cdr |
| a | o------->| b | o------->| c | nil |
| | | -->| | | | | |
-------------- | -------------- --------------
|
x2: |
-------------- |
| car | cdr | |
| z | o----
| | |
--------------

5.6.2 Altering the CDR of a List

The lowest-level primitive for modifying a cdr is setcdr:

setcdr cons object [Function]

This function stores object as the new cdr of cons, replacing its previous cdr. In
other words, it changes the cdr slot of cons to refer to object. It returns the value
object.

Here is an example of replacing the cdr of a list with a different list. All but the first
element of the list are removed in favor of a different sequence of elements. The first element
is unchanged, because it resides in the car of the list, and is not reached via the cdr.
(setq x '(1 2 3))
⇒ (1 2 3)
(setcdr x '(4))
⇒ (4)
x
⇒ (1 4)
Chapter 5: Lists 80

You can delete elements from the middle of a list by altering the cdrs of the cons cells
in the list. For example, here we delete the second element, b, from the list (a b c), by
changing the cdr of the first cons cell:
(setq x1 '(a b c))
⇒ (a b c)
(setcdr x1 (cdr (cdr x1)))
⇒ (c)
x1
⇒ (a c)
Here is the result in box notation:
--------------------
| |
-------------- | -------------- | --------------
| car | cdr | | | car | cdr | -->| car | cdr |
| a | o----- | b | o-------->| c | nil |
| | | | | | | | |
-------------- -------------- --------------
The second cons cell, which previously held the element b, still exists and its car is still b,
but it no longer forms part of this list.
It is equally easy to insert a new element by changing cdrs:
(setq x1 '(a b c))
⇒ (a b c)
(setcdr x1 (cons 'd (cdr x1)))
⇒ (d b c)
x1
⇒ (a d b c)
Here is this result in box notation:
-------------- ------------- -------------
| car | cdr | | car | cdr | | car | cdr |
| a | o | -->| b | o------->| c | nil |
| | | | | | | | | | |
--------- | -- | ------------- -------------
| |
----- --------
| |
| --------------- |
| | car | cdr | |
-->| d | o------
| | |
---------------

5.6.3 Functions that Rearrange Lists

Here are some functions that rearrange lists destructively by modifying the cdrs of their
component cons cells. These functions are destructive because they chew up the original
lists passed to them as arguments, relinking their cons cells to form a new list that is the
returned value.
The function delq in the following section is another example of destructive list manip-
ulation.
Chapter 5: Lists 81

nconc &rest lists [Function]

This function returns a list containing all the elements of lists. Unlike append (see
Section 5.4 [Building Lists], page 72), the lists are not copied. Instead, the last cdr
of each of the lists is changed to refer to the following list. The last of the lists is not
altered. For example:
(setq x '(1 2 3))
⇒ (1 2 3)
(nconc x '(4 5))
⇒ (1 2 3 4 5)
x
⇒ (1 2 3 4 5)
Since the last argument of nconc is not itself modified, it is reasonable to use a
constant list, such as '(4 5), as in the above example. For the same reason, the last
argument need not be a list:
(setq x '(1 2 3))
⇒ (1 2 3)
(nconc x 'z)
⇒ (1 2 3 . z)
x
⇒ (1 2 3 . z)
However, the other arguments (all but the last) must be lists.
A common pitfall is to use a quoted constant list as a non-last argument to nconc. If
you do this, your program will change each time you run it! Here is what happens:
(defun add-foo (x) ; We want this function to add
(nconc '(foo) x)) ; foo to the front of its arg.

(symbol-function 'add-foo)
⇒ (lambda (x) (nconc (quote (foo)) x))

(setq xx (add-foo '(1 2))) ; It seems to work.

⇒ (foo 1 2)
(setq xy (add-foo '(3 4))) ; What happened?
⇒ (foo 1 2 3 4)
(eq xx xy)
⇒ t

(symbol-function 'add-foo)
⇒ (lambda (x) (nconc (quote (foo 1 2 3 4) x)))

5.7 Using Lists as Sets

A list can represent an unordered mathematical set—simply consider a value an element of
a set if it appears in the list, and ignore the order of the list. To form the union of two sets,
use append (as long as you don’t mind having duplicate elements). You can remove equal
duplicates using delete-dups. Other useful functions for sets include memq and delq, and
their equal versions, member and delete.
Common Lisp note: Common Lisp has functions union (which avoids dupli-
cate elements) and intersection for set operations. Although standard GNU
Chapter 5: Lists 82

Emacs Lisp does not have them, the cl-lib library provides versions. See
Section “Lists as Sets” in Common Lisp Extensions.
memq object list [Function]
This function tests to see whether object is a member of list. If it is, memq returns a
list starting with the first occurrence of object. Otherwise, it returns nil. The letter
‘q’ in memq says that it uses eq to compare object against the elements of the list. For
example:
(memq 'b '(a b c b a))
⇒ (b c b a)
(memq '(2) '((1) (2))) ; (2) and (2) are not eq.
⇒ nil
delq object list [Function]
This function destructively removes all elements eq to object from list, and returns
the resulting list. The letter ‘q’ in delq says that it uses eq to compare object against
the elements of the list, like memq and remq.
Typically, when you invoke delq, you should use the return value by assigning it to
the variable which held the original list. The reason for this is explained below.
The delq function deletes elements from the front of the list by simply advancing down
the list, and returning a sublist that starts after those elements. For example:
(delq 'a '(a b c)) ≡ (cdr '(a b c))
When an element to be deleted appears in the middle of the list, removing it involves
changing the cdrs (see Section 5.6.2 [Setcdr], page 79).
(setq sample-list '(a b c (4)))
⇒ (a b c (4))
(delq 'a sample-list)
⇒ (b c (4))
sample-list
⇒ (a b c (4))
(delq 'c sample-list)
⇒ (a b (4))
sample-list
⇒ (a b (4))
Note that (delq 'c sample-list) modifies sample-list to splice out the third element,
but (delq 'a sample-list) does not splice anything—it just returns a shorter list. Don’t
assume that a variable which formerly held the argument list now has fewer elements, or
that it still holds the original list! Instead, save the result of delq and use that. Most often
we store the result back into the variable that held the original list:
(setq flowers (delq 'rose flowers))
In the following example, the (4) that delq attempts to match and the (4) in the
sample-list are not eq:
(delq '(4) sample-list)
⇒ (a c (4))
If you want to delete elements that are equal to a given value, use delete (see below).
Chapter 5: Lists 83

remq object list [Function]

This function returns a copy of list, with all elements removed which are eq to object.
The letter ‘q’ in remq says that it uses eq to compare object against the elements of
list.
(setq sample-list '(a b c a b c))
⇒ (a b c a b c)
(remq 'a sample-list)
⇒ (b c b c)
sample-list
⇒ (a b c a b c)
memql object list [Function]
The function memql tests to see whether object is a member of list, comparing mem-
bers with object using eql, so floating-point elements are compared by value. If object
is a member, memql returns a list starting with its first occurrence in list. Otherwise,
it returns nil.
Compare this with memq:
(memql 1.2 '(1.1 1.2 1.3)) ; 1.2 and 1.2 are eql.
⇒ (1.2 1.3)
(memq 1.2 '(1.1 1.2 1.3)) ; 1.2 and 1.2 are not eq.
⇒ nil
The following three functions are like memq, delq and remq, but use equal rather than
eq to compare elements. See Section 2.7 [Equality Predicates], page 32.
member object list [Function]
The function member tests to see whether object is a member of list, comparing
members with object using equal. If object is a member, member returns a list
starting with its first occurrence in list. Otherwise, it returns nil.
Compare this with memq:
(member '(2) '((1) (2))) ; (2) and (2) are equal.
⇒ ((2))
(memq '(2) '((1) (2))) ; (2) and (2) are not eq.
⇒ nil
;; Two strings with the same contents are equal.
(member "foo" '("foo" "bar"))
⇒ ("foo" "bar")
delete object sequence [Function]
This function removes all elements equal to object from sequence, and returns the
resulting sequence.
If sequence is a list, delete is to delq as member is to memq: it uses equal to compare
elements with object, like member; when it finds an element that matches, it cuts the
element out just as delq would. As with delq, you should typically use the return
value by assigning it to the variable which held the original list.
If sequence is a vector or string, delete returns a copy of sequence with all elements
equal to object removed.
Chapter 5: Lists 84

For example:
(setq l '((2) (1) (2)))
(delete '(2) l)
⇒ ((1))
l
⇒ ((2) (1))
;; If you want to change l reliably,
;; write (setq l (delete '(2) l)).
(setq l '((2) (1) (2)))
(delete '(1) l)
⇒ ((2) (2))
l
⇒ ((2) (2))
;; In this case, it makes no difference whether you set l,
;; but you should do so for the sake of the other case.
(delete '(2) [(2) (1) (2)])
⇒ [(1)]

remove object sequence [Function]

This function is the non-destructive counterpart of delete. It returns a copy of
sequence, a list, vector, or string, with elements equal to object removed. For
example:
(remove '(2) '((2) (1) (2)))
⇒ ((1))
(remove '(2) [(2) (1) (2)])
⇒ [(1)]

Common Lisp note: The functions member, delete and remove in GNU Emacs
Lisp are derived from Maclisp, not Common Lisp. The Common Lisp versions
do not use equal to compare elements.

member-ignore-case object list [Function]

This function is like member, except that object should be a string and that it ignores
differences in letter-case and text representation: upper-case and lower-case letters are
treated as equal, and unibyte strings are converted to multibyte prior to comparison.

delete-dups list [Function]

This function destructively removes all equal duplicates from list, stores the result in
list and returns it. Of several equal occurrences of an element in list, delete-dups
keeps the first one.

See also the function add-to-list, in Section 5.5 [List Variables], page 75, for a way to
add an element to a list stored in a variable and used as a set.
Chapter 5: Lists 85

5.8 Association Lists

An association list, or alist for short, records a mapping from keys to values. It is a list
of cons cells called associations: the car of each cons cell is the key, and the cdr is the
associated value.3
Here is an example of an alist. The key pine is associated with the value cones; the key
oak is associated with acorns; and the key maple is associated with seeds.
((pine . cones)
(oak . acorns)
(maple . seeds))
Both the values and the keys in an alist may be any Lisp objects. For example, in
the following alist, the symbol a is associated with the number 1, and the string "b" is
associated with the list (2 3), which is the cdr of the alist element:
((a . 1) ("b" 2 3))
Sometimes it is better to design an alist to store the associated value in the car of the
cdr of the element. Here is an example of such an alist:
((rose red) (lily white) (buttercup yellow))
Here we regard red as the value associated with rose. One advantage of this kind of alist
is that you can store other related information—even a list of other items—in the cdr of
the cdr. One disadvantage is that you cannot use rassq (see below) to find the element
containing a given value. When neither of these considerations is important, the choice is
a matter of taste, as long as you are consistent about it for any given alist.
The same alist shown above could be regarded as having the associated value in the cdr
of the element; the value associated with rose would be the list (red).
Association lists are often used to record information that you might otherwise keep on
a stack, since new associations may be added easily to the front of the list. When searching
an association list for an association with a given key, the first one found is returned, if
there is more than one.
In Emacs Lisp, it is not an error if an element of an association list is not a cons cell.
The alist search functions simply ignore such elements. Many other versions of Lisp signal
errors in such cases.
Note that property lists are similar to association lists in several respects. A property
list behaves like an association list in which each key can occur only once. See Section 5.9
[Property Lists], page 89, for a comparison of property lists and association lists.

assoc key alist &optional testfn [Function]

This function returns the first association for key in alist, comparing key against
the alist elements using testfn if it is non-nil and equal otherwise (see Section 2.7
[Equality Predicates], page 32). It returns nil if no association in alist has a car
equal to key. For example:
(setq trees '((pine . cones) (oak . acorns) (maple . seeds)))
⇒ ((pine . cones) (oak . acorns) (maple . seeds))
(assoc 'oak trees)

3
This usage of “key” is not related to the term “key sequence”; it means a value used to look up an item
in a table. In this case, the table is the alist, and the alist associations are the items.
Chapter 5: Lists 86

⇒ (oak . acorns)
(cdr (assoc 'oak trees))
⇒ acorns
(assoc 'birch trees)
⇒ nil
Here is another example, in which the keys and values are not symbols:
(setq needles-per-cluster
'((2 "Austrian Pine" "Red Pine")
(3 "Pitch Pine")
(5 "White Pine")))

(cdr (assoc 3 needles-per-cluster))

⇒ ("Pitch Pine")
(cdr (assoc 2 needles-per-cluster))
⇒ ("Austrian Pine" "Red Pine")

The function assoc-string is much like assoc except that it ignores certain differences
between strings. See Section 4.5 [Text Comparison], page 55.

rassoc value alist [Function]

This function returns the first association with value value in alist. It returns nil if
no association in alist has a cdr equal to value.
rassoc is like assoc except that it compares the cdr of each alist association instead
of the car. You can think of this as reverse assoc, finding the key for a given value.

assq key alist [Function]

This function is like assoc in that it returns the first association for key in alist, but
it makes the comparison using eq. assq returns nil if no association in alist has a
car eq to key. This function is used more often than assoc, since eq is faster than
equal and most alists use symbols as keys. See Section 2.7 [Equality Predicates],
page 32.
(setq trees '((pine . cones) (oak . acorns) (maple . seeds)))
⇒ ((pine . cones) (oak . acorns) (maple . seeds))
(assq 'pine trees)
⇒ (pine . cones)
On the other hand, assq is not usually useful in alists where the keys may not be
symbols:
(setq leaves
'(("simple leaves" . oak)
("compound leaves" . horsechestnut)))

(assq "simple leaves" leaves)

⇒ nil
(assoc "simple leaves" leaves)
⇒ ("simple leaves" . oak)

alist-get key alist &optional default remove testfn [Function]

This function is similar to assq. It finds the first association (key . value) by
comparing key with alist elements, and, if found, returns the value of that association.
If no association is found, the function returns default. Comparison of key against
alist elements uses the function specified by testfn, defaulting to eq.
Chapter 5: Lists 87

This is a generalized variable (see Section 12.17 [Generalized Variables], page 200)
that can be used to change a value with setf. When using it to set a value, optional
argument remove non-nil means to remove key’s association from alist if the new
value is eql to default.

rassq value alist [Function]

This function returns the first association with value value in alist. It returns nil if
no association in alist has a cdr eq to value.
rassq is like assq except that it compares the cdr of each alist association instead
of the car. You can think of this as reverse assq, finding the key for a given value.
For example:
(setq trees '((pine . cones) (oak . acorns) (maple . seeds)))

(rassq 'acorns trees)

⇒ (oak . acorns)
(rassq 'spores trees)
⇒ nil
rassq cannot search for a value stored in the car of the cdr of an element:
(setq colors '((rose red) (lily white) (buttercup yellow)))

(rassq 'white colors)

⇒ nil
In this case, the cdr of the association (lily white) is not the symbol white, but
rather the list (white). This becomes clearer if the association is written in dotted
pair notation:
(lily white) ≡ (lily . (white))

assoc-default key alist &optional test default [Function]

This function searches alist for a match for key. For each element of alist, it compares
the element (if it is an atom) or the element’s car (if it is a cons) against key, by
calling test with two arguments: the element or its car, and key. The arguments are
passed in that order so that you can get useful results using string-match with an
alist that contains regular expressions (see Section 34.4 [Regexp Search], page 878).
If test is omitted or nil, equal is used for comparison.
If an alist element matches key by this criterion, then assoc-default returns a value
based on this element. If the element is a cons, then the value is the element’s cdr.
Otherwise, the return value is default.
If no alist element matches key, assoc-default returns nil.

copy-alist alist [Function]

This function returns a two-level deep copy of alist: it creates a new copy of each
association, so that you can alter the associations of the new alist without changing
the old one.
(setq needles-per-cluster
'((2 . ("Austrian Pine" "Red Pine"))
(3 . ("Pitch Pine"))
(5 . ("White Pine"))))
⇒
((2 "Austrian Pine" "Red Pine")
Chapter 5: Lists 88

(3 "Pitch Pine")
(5 "White Pine"))

(setq copy (copy-alist needles-per-cluster))

⇒
((2 "Austrian Pine" "Red Pine")
(3 "Pitch Pine")
(5 "White Pine"))

(eq needles-per-cluster copy)

⇒ nil
(equal needles-per-cluster copy)
⇒ t
(eq (car needles-per-cluster) (car copy))
⇒ nil
(cdr (car (cdr needles-per-cluster)))
⇒ ("Pitch Pine")
(eq (cdr (car (cdr needles-per-cluster)))
(cdr (car (cdr copy))))
⇒ t

This example shows how copy-alist makes it possible to change the associations of
one copy without affecting the other:
(setcdr (assq 3 copy) '("Martian Vacuum Pine"))
(cdr (assq 3 needles-per-cluster))
⇒ ("Pitch Pine")

assq-delete-all key alist [Function]

This function deletes from alist all the elements whose car is eq to key, much as
if you used delq to delete each such element one by one. It returns the shortened
alist, and often modifies the original list structure of alist. For correct results, use the
return value of assq-delete-all rather than looking at the saved value of alist.
(setq alist '((foo 1) (bar 2) (foo 3) (lose 4)))
⇒ ((foo 1) (bar 2) (foo 3) (lose 4))
(assq-delete-all 'foo alist)
⇒ ((bar 2) (lose 4))
alist
⇒ ((foo 1) (bar 2) (lose 4))

assoc-delete-all key alist [Function]

This function deletes from alist all the elements whose car is equal to key. It works
like assq-delete-all, except for the predicate used for comparing alist elements
with key.

rassq-delete-all value alist [Function]

This function deletes from alist all the elements whose cdr is eq to value. It
returns the shortened alist, and often modifies the original list structure of alist.
rassq-delete-all is like assq-delete-all except that it compares the cdr of each
alist association instead of the car.
Chapter 5: Lists 89

5.9 Property Lists

A property list (plist for short) is a list of paired elements. Each of the pairs associates
a property name (usually a symbol) with a property or value. Here is an example of a
property list:
(pine cones numbers (1 2 3) color "blue")
This property list associates pine with cones, numbers with (1 2 3), and color with
"blue". The property names and values can be any Lisp objects, but the names are usually
symbols (as they are in this example).
Property lists are used in several contexts. For instance, the function put-text-
property takes an argument which is a property list, specifying text properties and
associated values which are to be applied to text in a string or buffer. See Section 32.19
[Text Properties], page 802.
Another prominent use of property lists is for storing symbol properties. Every symbol
possesses a list of properties, used to record miscellaneous information about the symbol;
these properties are stored in the form of a property list. See Section 9.4 [Symbol Properties],
page 125.

5.9.1 Property Lists and Association Lists

Association lists (see Section 5.8 [Association Lists], page 85) are very similar to property
lists. In contrast to association lists, the order of the pairs in the property list is not
significant, since the property names must be distinct.
Property lists are better than association lists for attaching information to various Lisp
function names or variables. If your program keeps all such information in one association
list, it will typically need to search that entire list each time it checks for an association for a
particular Lisp function name or variable, which could be slow. By contrast, if you keep the
same information in the property lists of the function names or variables themselves, each
search will scan only the length of one property list, which is usually short. This is why the
documentation for a variable is recorded in a property named variable-documentation.
The byte compiler likewise uses properties to record those functions needing special treat-
ment.
However, association lists have their own advantages. Depending on your application,
it may be faster to add an association to the front of an association list than to update
a property. All properties for a symbol are stored in the same property list, so there is
a possibility of a conflict between different uses of a property name. (For this reason, it
is a good idea to choose property names that are probably unique, such as by beginning
the property name with the program’s usual name-prefix for variables and functions.) An
association list may be used like a stack where associations are pushed on the front of the
list and later discarded; this is not possible with a property list.

5.9.2 Property Lists Outside Symbols

The following functions can be used to manipulate property lists. They all compare property
names using eq.
 90

plist-get plist property [Function]

This returns the value of the property property stored in the property list plist. It
accepts a malformed plist argument. If property is not found in the plist, it returns
nil. For example,
(plist-get '(foo 4) 'foo)
⇒ 4
(plist-get '(foo 4 bad) 'foo)
⇒ 4
(plist-get '(foo 4 bad) 'bad)
⇒ nil
(plist-get '(foo 4 bad) 'bar)
⇒ nil

plist-put plist property value [Function]

This stores value as the value of the property property in the property list plist.
It may modify plist destructively, or it may construct a new list structure without
altering the old. The function returns the modified property list, so you can store
that back in the place where you got plist. For example,
(setq my-plist '(bar t foo 4))
⇒ (bar t foo 4)
(setq my-plist (plist-put my-plist 'foo 69))
⇒ (bar t foo 69)
(setq my-plist (plist-put my-plist 'quux '(a)))
⇒ (bar t foo 69 quux (a))

lax-plist-get plist property [Function]

Like plist-get except that it compares properties using equal instead of eq.

lax-plist-put plist property value [Function]

Like plist-put except that it compares properties using equal instead of eq.

plist-member plist property [Function]

This returns non-nil if plist contains the given property. Unlike plist-get, this
allows you to distinguish between a missing property and a property with the value
nil. The value is actually the tail of plist whose car is property.
 91

6 Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors

The sequence type is the union of two other Lisp types: lists and arrays. In other words,
any list is a sequence, and any array is a sequence. The common property that all sequences
have is that each is an ordered collection of elements.
An array is a fixed-length object with a slot for each of its elements. All the elements
are accessible in constant time. The four types of arrays are strings, vectors, char-tables
and bool-vectors.
A list is a sequence of elements, but it is not a single primitive object; it is made of cons
cells, one cell per element. Finding the nth element requires looking through n cons cells,
so elements farther from the beginning of the list take longer to access. But it is possible
to add elements to the list, or remove elements.
The following diagram shows the relationship between these types:
_____________________________________________
| |
| Sequence |
| ______ ________________________________ |
| | | | | |
| | List | | Array | |
| | | | ________ ________ | |
| |______| | | | | | | |
| | | Vector | | String | | |
| | |________| |________| | |
| | ____________ _____________ | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | Char-table | | Bool-vector | | |
| | |____________| |_____________| | |
| |________________________________| |
|_____________________________________________|

6.1 Sequences
This section describes functions that accept any kind of sequence.

sequencep object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a list, vector, string, bool-vector, or char-table,
nil otherwise. See also seqp below.

length sequence [Function]

This function returns the number of elements in sequence. The function signals the
wrong-type-argument error if the argument is not a sequence or is a dotted list; it
signals the circular-list error if the argument is a circular list. For a char-table,
the value returned is always one more than the maximum Emacs character code.
See [Definition of safe-length], page 71, for the related function safe-length.
(length '(1 2 3))
⇒ 3
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 92

(length ())
⇒ 0
(length "foobar")
⇒ 6
(length [1 2 3])
⇒ 3
(length (make-bool-vector 5 nil))
⇒ 5

See also string-bytes, in Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835.

If you need to compute the width of a string on display, you should use string-width
(see Section 39.10 [Size of Displayed Text], page 992), not length, since length only counts
the number of characters, but does not account for the display width of each character.

elt sequence index [Function]

This function returns the element of sequence indexed by index. Legitimate values
of index are integers ranging from 0 up to one less than the length of sequence. If
sequence is a list, out-of-range values behave as for nth. See [Definition of nth],
page 71. Otherwise, out-of-range values trigger an args-out-of-range error.
(elt [1 2 3 4] 2)
⇒ 3
(elt '(1 2 3 4) 2)
⇒ 3
;; We use string to show clearly which character elt returns.
(string (elt "1234" 2))
⇒ "3"
(elt [1 2 3 4] 4)
error Args out of range: [1 2 3 4], 4
(elt [1 2 3 4] -1)
error Args out of range: [1 2 3 4], -1
This function generalizes aref (see Section 6.3 [Array Functions], page 104) and nth
(see [Definition of nth], page 71).

copy-sequence seqr [Function]

This function returns a copy of seqr, which should be either a sequence or a record.
The copy is the same type of object as the original, and it has the same elements in
the same order. However, if seqr is empty, like a string or a vector of zero length, the
value returned by this function might not be a copy, but an empty object of the same
type and identical to seqr.
Storing a new element into the copy does not affect the original seqr, and vice versa.
However, the elements of the copy are not copies; they are identical (eq) to the
elements of the original. Therefore, changes made within these elements, as found via
the copy, are also visible in the original.
If the argument is a string with text properties, the property list in the copy is itself
a copy, not shared with the original’s property list. However, the actual values of the
properties are shared. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 93

This function does not work for dotted lists. Trying to copy a circular list may cause
an infinite loop.
See also append in Section 5.4 [Building Lists], page 72, concat in Section 4.3 [Cre-
ating Strings], page 51, and vconcat in Section 6.5 [Vector Functions], page 105, for
other ways to copy sequences.
(setq bar '(1 2))
⇒ (1 2)
(setq x (vector 'foo bar))
⇒ [foo (1 2)]
(setq y (copy-sequence x))
⇒ [foo (1 2)]

(eq x y)
⇒ nil
(equal x y)
⇒ t
(eq (elt x 1) (elt y 1))
⇒ t

;; Replacing an element of one sequence.

(aset x 0 'quux)
x ⇒ [quux (1 2)]
y ⇒ [foo (1 2)]

;; Modifying the inside of a shared element.

(setcar (aref x 1) 69)
x ⇒ [quux (69 2)]
y ⇒ [foo (69 2)]
reverse sequence [Function]
This function creates a new sequence whose elements are the elements of sequence, but
in reverse order. The original argument sequence is not altered. Note that char-tables
cannot be reversed.
(setq x '(1 2 3 4))
⇒ (1 2 3 4)
(reverse x)
⇒ (4 3 2 1)
x
⇒ (1 2 3 4)
(setq x [1 2 3 4])
⇒ [1 2 3 4]
(reverse x)
⇒ [4 3 2 1]
x
⇒ [1 2 3 4]
(setq x "xyzzy")
⇒ "xyzzy"
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 94

(reverse x)
⇒ "yzzyx"
x
⇒ "xyzzy"

nreverse sequence [Function]

This function reverses the order of the elements of sequence. Unlike reverse the
original sequence may be modified.
For example:
(setq x '(a b c))
⇒ (a b c)
x
⇒ (a b c)
(nreverse x)
⇒ (c b a)
;; The cons cell that was first is now last.
x
⇒ (a)
To avoid confusion, we usually store the result of nreverse back in the same variable
which held the original list:
(setq x (nreverse x))
Here is the nreverse of our favorite example, (a b c), presented graphically:
Original list head: Reversed list:
------------- ------------- ------------
| car | cdr | | car | cdr | | car | cdr |
| a | nil |<-- | b | o |<-- | c | o |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
------------- | --------- | - | -------- | -
| | | |
------------- ------------
For the vector, it is even simpler because you don’t need setq:
(setq x [1 2 3 4])
⇒ [1 2 3 4]
(nreverse x)
⇒ [4 3 2 1]
x
⇒ [4 3 2 1]
Note that unlike reverse, this function doesn’t work with strings. Although you can
alter string data by using aset, it is strongly encouraged to treat strings as immutable.

sort sequence predicate [Function]

This function sorts sequence stably. Note that this function doesn’t work for all
sequences; it may be used only for lists and vectors. If sequence is a list, it is modified
destructively. This functions returns the sorted sequence and compares elements using
predicate. A stable sort is one in which elements with equal sort keys maintain their
relative order before and after the sort. Stability is important when successive sorts
are used to order elements according to different criteria.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 95

The argument predicate must be a function that accepts two arguments. It is called
with two elements of sequence. To get an increasing order sort, the predicate should
return non-nil if the first element is “less” than the second, or nil if not.
The comparison function predicate must give reliable results for any given pair of
arguments, at least within a single call to sort. It must be antisymmetric; that is,
if a is less than b, b must not be less than a. It must be transitive—that is, if a is
less than b, and b is less than c, then a must be less than c. If you use a comparison
function which does not meet these requirements, the result of sort is unpredictable.
The destructive aspect of sort for lists is that it rearranges the cons cells forming
sequence by changing cdrs. A nondestructive sort function would create new cons
cells to store the elements in their sorted order. If you wish to make a sorted copy
without destroying the original, copy it first with copy-sequence and then sort.
Sorting does not change the cars of the cons cells in sequence; the cons cell that
originally contained the element a in sequence still has a in its car after sorting,
but it now appears in a different position in the list due to the change of cdrs. For
example:
(setq nums '(1 3 2 6 5 4 0))
⇒ (1 3 2 6 5 4 0)
(sort nums '<)
⇒ (0 1 2 3 4 5 6)
nums
⇒ (1 2 3 4 5 6)
Warning: Note that the list in nums no longer contains 0; this is the same cons cell
that it was before, but it is no longer the first one in the list. Don’t assume a variable
that formerly held the argument now holds the entire sorted list! Instead, save the
result of sort and use that. Most often we store the result back into the variable that
held the original list:
(setq nums (sort nums '<))
For the better understanding of what stable sort is, consider the following vector
example. After sorting, all items whose car is 8 are grouped at the beginning of
vector, but their relative order is preserved. All items whose car is 9 are grouped
at the end of vector, but their relative order is also preserved:
(setq
vector
(vector '(8 . "xxx") '(9 . "aaa") '(8 . "bbb") '(9 . "zzz")
'(9 . "ppp") '(8 . "ttt") '(8 . "eee") '(9 . "fff")))
⇒ [(8 . "xxx") (9 . "aaa") (8 . "bbb") (9 . "zzz")
(9 . "ppp") (8 . "ttt") (8 . "eee") (9 . "fff")]
(sort vector (lambda (x y) (< (car x) (car y))))
⇒ [(8 . "xxx") (8 . "bbb") (8 . "ttt") (8 . "eee")
(9 . "aaa") (9 . "zzz") (9 . "ppp") (9 . "fff")]
See Section 32.15 [Sorting], page 791, for more functions that perform sorting. See
documentation in Section 24.2 [Accessing Documentation], page 511, for a useful
example of sort.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 96

The seq.el library provides the following additional sequence manipulation macros and
functions, prefixed with seq-. To use them, you must first load the seq library.
All functions defined in this library are free of side-effects; i.e., they do not modify any
sequence (list, vector, or string) that you pass as an argument. Unless otherwise stated, the
result is a sequence of the same type as the input. For those functions that take a predicate,
this should be a function of one argument.
The seq.el library can be extended to work with additional types of sequential
data-structures. For that purpose, all functions are defined using cl-defgeneric. See
Section 13.8 [Generic Functions], page 217, for more details about using cl-defgeneric
for adding extensions.

seq-elt sequence index [Function]

This function returns the element of sequence at the specified index, which is an
integer whose valid value range is zero to one less than the length of sequence. For
out-of-range values on built-in sequence types, seq-elt behaves like elt. For the
details, see [Definition of elt], page 92.
(seq-elt [1 2 3 4] 2)
⇒ 3
seq-elt returns places settable using setf (see Section 12.17.1 [Setting Generalized
Variables], page 200).
(setq vec [1 2 3 4])
(setf (seq-elt vec 2) 5)
vec
⇒ [1 2 5 4]

seq-length sequence [Function]

This function returns the number of elements in sequence. For built-in sequence types,
seq-length behaves like length. See [Definition of length], page 91.

seqp object [Function]

This function returns non-nil if object is a sequence (a list or array), or any additional
type of sequence defined via seq.el generic functions. This is an extensible variant
of sequencep.
(seqp [1 2])
⇒ t
(seqp 2)
⇒ nil

seq-drop sequence n [Function]

This function returns all but the first n (an integer) elements of sequence. If n is
negative or zero, the result is sequence.
(seq-drop [1 2 3 4 5 6] 3)
⇒ [4 5 6]
(seq-drop "hello world" -4)
⇒ "hello world"
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 97

seq-take sequence n [Function]

This function returns the first n (an integer) elements of sequence. If n is negative or
zero, the result is nil.
(seq-take '(1 2 3 4) 3)
⇒ (1 2 3)
(seq-take [1 2 3 4] 0)
⇒ []

seq-take-while predicate sequence [Function]

This function returns the members of sequence in order, stopping before the first one
for which predicate returns nil.
(seq-take-while (lambda (elt) (> elt 0)) '(1 2 3 -1 -2))
⇒ (1 2 3)
(seq-take-while (lambda (elt) (> elt 0)) [-1 4 6])
⇒ []

seq-drop-while predicate sequence [Function]

This function returns the members of sequence in order, starting from the first one
for which predicate returns nil.
(seq-drop-while (lambda (elt) (> elt 0)) '(1 2 3 -1 -2))
⇒ (-1 -2)
(seq-drop-while (lambda (elt) (< elt 0)) [1 4 6])
⇒ [1 4 6]

seq-do function sequence [Function]

This function applies function to each element of sequence in turn (presumably for
side effects), and returns sequence.

seq-map function sequence [Function]

This function returns the result of applying function to each element of sequence.
The returned value is a list.
(seq-map #'1+ '(2 4 6))
⇒ (3 5 7)
(seq-map #'symbol-name [foo bar])
⇒ ("foo" "bar")

seq-map-indexed function sequence [Function]

This function returns the result of applying function to each element of sequence and
its index within seq. The returned value is a list.
(seq-map-indexed (lambda (elt idx)
(list idx elt))
'(a b c))
⇒ ((0 a) (b 1) (c 2))

seq-mapn function &rest sequences [Function]

This function returns the result of applying function to each element of sequences.
The arity (see Section 13.1 [What Is a Function], page 203) of function must match
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 98

the number of sequences. Mapping stops at the end of the shortest sequence, and the
returned value is a list.
(seq-mapn #'+ '(2 4 6) '(20 40 60))
⇒ (22 44 66)
(seq-mapn #'concat '("moskito" "bite") ["bee" "sting"])
⇒ ("moskitobee" "bitesting")

seq-filter predicate sequence [Function]

This function returns a list of all the elements in sequence for which predicate returns
non-nil.
(seq-filter (lambda (elt) (> elt 0)) [1 -1 3 -3 5])
⇒ (1 3 5)
(seq-filter (lambda (elt) (> elt 0)) '(-1 -3 -5))
⇒ nil

seq-remove predicate sequence [Function]

This function returns a list of all the elements in sequence for which predicate returns
nil.
(seq-remove (lambda (elt) (> elt 0)) [1 -1 3 -3 5])
⇒ (-1 -3)
(seq-remove (lambda (elt) (< elt 0)) '(-1 -3 -5))
⇒ nil

seq-reduce function sequence initial-value [Function]

This function returns the result of calling function with initial-value and the first
element of sequence, then calling function with that result and the second element
of sequence, then with that result and the third element of sequence, etc. function
should be a function of two arguments. If sequence is empty, this returns initial-value
without calling function.
(seq-reduce #'+ [1 2 3 4] 0)
⇒ 10
(seq-reduce #'+ '(1 2 3 4) 5)
⇒ 15
(seq-reduce #'+ '() 3)
⇒ 3

seq-some predicate sequence [Function]

This function returns the first non-nil value returned by applying predicate to each
element of sequence in turn.
(seq-some #'numberp ["abc" 1 nil])
⇒ t
(seq-some #'numberp ["abc" "def"])
⇒ nil
(seq-some #'null ["abc" 1 nil])
⇒ t
(seq-some #'1+ [2 4 6])
⇒ 3
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 99

seq-find predicate sequence &optional default [Function]

This function returns the first element in sequence for which predicate returns non-
nil. If no element matches predicate, the function returns default.
Note that this function has an ambiguity if the found element is identical to default,
as in that case it cannot be known whether an element was found or not.
(seq-find #'numberp ["abc" 1 nil])
⇒ 1
(seq-find #'numberp ["abc" "def"])
⇒ nil
seq-every-p predicate sequence [Function]
This function returns non-nil if applying predicate to every element of sequence
returns non-nil.
(seq-every-p #'numberp [2 4 6])
⇒ t
(seq-every-p #'numberp [2 4 "6"])
⇒ nil
seq-empty-p sequence [Function]
This function returns non-nil if sequence is empty.
(seq-empty-p "not empty")
⇒ nil
(seq-empty-p "")
⇒ t
seq-count predicate sequence [Function]
This function returns the number of elements in sequence for which predicate returns
non-nil.
(seq-count (lambda (elt) (> elt 0)) [-1 2 0 3 -2])
⇒ 2
seq-sort function sequence [Function]
This function returns a copy of sequence that is sorted according to function, a
function of two arguments that returns non-nil if the first argument should sort
before the second.
seq-sort-by function predicate sequence [Function]
This function is similar to seq-sort, but the elements of sequence are transformed by
applying function on them before being sorted. function is a function of one argument.
(seq-sort-by #'seq-length #'> ["a" "ab" "abc"])
⇒ ["abc" "ab" "a"]
seq-contains sequence elt &optional function [Function]
This function returns the first element in sequence that is equal to elt. If the optional
argument function is non-nil, it is a function of two arguments to use instead of the
default equal.
(seq-contains '(symbol1 symbol2) 'symbol1)
⇒ symbol1
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 100

(seq-contains '(symbol1 symbol2) 'symbol3)

⇒ nil
seq-set-equal-p sequence1 sequence2 &optional testfn [Function]
This function checks whether sequence1 and sequence2 contain the same elements,
regardless of the order. If the optional argument testfn is non-nil, it is a function of
two arguments to use instead of the default equal.
(seq-set-equal-p '(a b c) '(c b a))
⇒ t
(seq-set-equal-p '(a b c) '(c b))
⇒ nil
(seq-set-equal-p '("a" "b" "c") '("c" "b" "a"))
⇒ t
(seq-set-equal-p '("a" "b" "c") '("c" "b" "a") #'eq)
⇒ nil
seq-position sequence elt &optional function [Function]
This function returns the index of the first element in sequence that is equal to elt.
If the optional argument function is non-nil, it is a function of two arguments to use
instead of the default equal.
(seq-position '(a b c) 'b)
⇒ 1
(seq-position '(a b c) 'd)
⇒ nil
seq-uniq sequence &optional function [Function]
This function returns a list of the elements of sequence with duplicates removed. If
the optional argument function is non-nil, it is a function of two arguments to use
instead of the default equal.
(seq-uniq '(1 2 2 1 3))
⇒ (1 2 3)
(seq-uniq '(1 2 2.0 1.0) #'=)
⇒ (1 2)
seq-subseq sequence start &optional end [Function]
This function returns a subset of sequence from start to end, both integers (end
defaults to the last element). If start or end is negative, it counts from the end of
sequence.
(seq-subseq '(1 2 3 4 5) 1)
⇒ (2 3 4 5)
(seq-subseq '[1 2 3 4 5] 1 3)
⇒ [2 3]
(seq-subseq '[1 2 3 4 5] -3 -1)
⇒ [3 4]
seq-concatenate type &rest sequences [Function]
This function returns a sequence of type type made of the concatenation of sequences.
type may be: vector, list or string.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 101

(seq-concatenate 'list '(1 2) '(3 4) [5 6])

⇒ (1 2 3 4 5 6)
(seq-concatenate 'string "Hello " "world")
⇒ "Hello world"

seq-mapcat function sequence &optional type [Function]

This function returns the result of applying seq-concatenate to the result of applying
function to each element of sequence. The result is a sequence of type type, or a list
if type is nil.
(seq-mapcat #'seq-reverse '((3 2 1) (6 5 4)))
⇒ (1 2 3 4 5 6)

seq-partition sequence n [Function]

This function returns a list of the elements of sequence grouped into sub-sequences of
length n. The last sequence may contain less elements than n. n must be an integer.
If n is a negative integer or 0, the return value is nil.
(seq-partition '(0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7) 3)
⇒ ((0 1 2) (3 4 5) (6 7))

seq-intersection sequence1 sequence2 &optional function [Function]

This function returns a list of the elements that appear both in sequence1 and
sequence2. If the optional argument function is non-nil, it is a function of two
arguments to use to compare elements instead of the default equal.
(seq-intersection [2 3 4 5] [1 3 5 6 7])
⇒ (3 5)

seq-difference sequence1 sequence2 &optional function [Function]

This function returns a list of the elements that appear in sequence1 but not in
sequence2. If the optional argument function is non-nil, it is a function of two
arguments to use to compare elements instead of the default equal.
(seq-difference '(2 3 4 5) [1 3 5 6 7])
⇒ (2 4)

seq-group-by function sequence [Function]

This function separates the elements of sequence into an alist whose keys are the
result of applying function to each element of sequence. Keys are compared using
equal.
(seq-group-by #'integerp '(1 2.1 3 2 3.2))
⇒ ((t 1 3 2) (nil 2.1 3.2))
(seq-group-by #'car '((a 1) (b 2) (a 3) (c 4)))
⇒ ((b (b 2)) (a (a 1) (a 3)) (c (c 4)))

seq-into sequence type [Function]

This function converts the sequence sequence into a sequence of type type. type can
be one of the following symbols: vector, string or list.
(seq-into [1 2 3] 'list)
⇒ (1 2 3)
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 102

(seq-into nil 'vector)

⇒ []
(seq-into "hello" 'vector)
⇒ [104 101 108 108 111]

seq-min sequence [Function]

This function returns the smallest element of sequence. The elements of sequence
must be numbers or markers (see Chapter 31 [Markers], page 756).
(seq-min [3 1 2])
⇒ 1
(seq-min "Hello")
⇒ 72

seq-max sequence [Function]

This function returns the largest element of sequence. The elements of sequence must
be numbers or markers.
(seq-max [1 3 2])
⇒ 3
(seq-max "Hello")
⇒ 111

seq-doseq (var sequence) body. . . [Macro]

This macro is like dolist (see Section 11.5 [Iteration], page 155), except that sequence
can be a list, vector or string. This is primarily useful for side-effects.

seq-let var-sequence val-sequence body. . . [Macro]

This macro binds the variables defined in var-sequence to the values that are the
corresponding elements of val-sequence. This is known as destructuring binding.
The elements of var-sequence can themselves include sequences, allowing for nested
destructuring.
The var-sequence sequence can also include the &rest marker followed by a variable
name to be bound to the rest of val-sequence.
(seq-let [first second] [1 2 3 4]
(list first second))
⇒ (1 2)
(seq-let (_ a _ b) '(1 2 3 4)
(list a b))
⇒ (2 4)
(seq-let [a [b [c]]] [1 [2 [3]]]
(list a b c))
⇒ (1 2 3)
(seq-let [a b &rest others] [1 2 3 4]
others)
⇒ [3 4]
The pcase patterns provide an alternative facility for destructuring binding, see
Section 11.4.4 [Destructuring with pcase Patterns], page 153.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 103

seq-random-elt sequence [Function]

This function returns an element of sequence taken at random.
(seq-random-elt [1 2 3 4])
⇒ 3
(seq-random-elt [1 2 3 4])
⇒ 2
(seq-random-elt [1 2 3 4])
⇒ 4
(seq-random-elt [1 2 3 4])
⇒ 2
(seq-random-elt [1 2 3 4])
⇒ 1
If sequence is empty, this function signals an error.

6.2 Arrays
An array object has slots that hold a number of other Lisp objects, called the elements of
the array. Any element of an array may be accessed in constant time. In contrast, the time
to access an element of a list is proportional to the position of that element in the list.
Emacs defines four types of array, all one-dimensional: strings (see Section 2.3.8 [String
Type], page 18), vectors (see Section 2.3.9 [Vector Type], page 20), bool-vectors (see
Section 2.3.11 [Bool-Vector Type], page 21), and char-tables (see Section 2.3.10 [Char-
Table Type], page 21). Vectors and char-tables can hold elements of any type, but strings
can only hold characters, and bool-vectors can only hold t and nil.
All four kinds of array share these characteristics:
• The first element of an array has index zero, the second element has index 1, and so on.
This is called zero-origin indexing. For example, an array of four elements has indices
0, 1, 2, and 3.
• The length of the array is fixed once you create it; you cannot change the length of an
existing array.
• For purposes of evaluation, the array is a constant—i.e., it evaluates to itself.
• The elements of an array may be referenced or changed with the functions aref and
aset, respectively (see Section 6.3 [Array Functions], page 104).
When you create an array, other than a char-table, you must specify its length. You can-
not specify the length of a char-table, because that is determined by the range of character
codes.
In principle, if you want an array of text characters, you could use either a string or a
vector. In practice, we always choose strings for such applications, for four reasons:
• They occupy one-fourth the space of a vector of the same elements.
• Strings are printed in a way that shows the contents more clearly as text.
• Strings can hold text properties. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802.
• Many of the specialized editing and I/O facilities of Emacs accept only strings. For
example, you cannot insert a vector of characters into a buffer the way you can insert
a string. See Chapter 4 [Strings and Characters], page 50.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 104

By contrast, for an array of keyboard input characters (such as a key sequence), a vector
may be necessary, because many keyboard input characters are outside the range that will
fit in a string. See Section 21.8.1 [Key Sequence Input], page 397.

6.3 Functions that Operate on Arrays

In this section, we describe the functions that accept all types of arrays.

arrayp object [Function]

This function returns t if object is an array (i.e., a vector, a string, a bool-vector or
a char-table).
(arrayp [a])
⇒ t
(arrayp "asdf")
⇒ t
(arrayp (syntax-table)) ;; A char-table.
⇒ t

aref arr index [Function]

This function returns the indexth element of the array or record arr. The first element
is at index zero.
(setq primes [2 3 5 7 11 13])
⇒ [2 3 5 7 11 13]
(aref primes 4)
⇒ 11
(aref "abcdefg" 1)
⇒ 98 ; ‘b’ is ASCII code 98.
See also the function elt, in Section 6.1 [Sequence Functions], page 91.

aset array index object [Function]

This function sets the indexth element of array to be object. It returns object.
(setq w [foo bar baz])
⇒ [foo bar baz]
(aset w 0 'fu)
⇒ fu
w
⇒ [fu bar baz]

(setq x "asdfasfd")
⇒ "asdfasfd"
(aset x 3 ?Z)
⇒ 90
x
⇒ "asdZasfd"
If array is a string and object is not a character, a wrong-type-argument error results.
The function converts a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary to insert a character.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 105

fillarray array object [Function]

This function fills the array array with object, so that each element of array is object.
It returns array.
(setq a [a b c d e f g])
⇒ [a b c d e f g]
(fillarray a 0)
⇒ [0 0 0 0 0 0 0]
a
⇒ [0 0 0 0 0 0 0]
(setq s "When in the course")
⇒ "When in the course"
(fillarray s ?-)
⇒ "------------------"
If array is a string and object is not a character, a wrong-type-argument error results.
The general sequence functions copy-sequence and length are often useful for objects
known to be arrays. See Section 6.1 [Sequence Functions], page 91.

6.4 Vectors
A vector is a general-purpose array whose elements can be any Lisp objects. (By contrast,
the elements of a string can only be characters. See Chapter 4 [Strings and Characters],
page 50.) Vectors are used in Emacs for many purposes: as key sequences (see Section 22.1
[Key Sequences], page 415), as symbol-lookup tables (see Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols],
page 122), as part of the representation of a byte-compiled function (see Chapter 17 [Byte
Compilation], page 279), and more.
Like other arrays, vectors use zero-origin indexing: the first element has index 0.
Vectors are printed with square brackets surrounding the elements. Thus, a vector whose
elements are the symbols a, b and a is printed as [a b a]. You can write vectors in the
same way in Lisp input.
A vector, like a string or a number, is considered a constant for evaluation: the result
of evaluating it is the same vector. This does not evaluate or even examine the elements of
the vector. See Section 10.1.1 [Self-Evaluating Forms], page 130.
Here are examples illustrating these principles:
(setq avector [1 two '(three) "four" [five]])
⇒ [1 two (quote (three)) "four" [five]]
(eval avector)
⇒ [1 two (quote (three)) "four" [five]]
(eq avector (eval avector))
⇒ t

6.5 Functions for Vectors

Here are some functions that relate to vectors:
vectorp object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a vector.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 106

(vectorp [a])
⇒ t
(vectorp "asdf")
⇒ nil

vector &rest objects [Function]

This function creates and returns a vector whose elements are the arguments, objects.
(vector 'foo 23 [bar baz] "rats")
⇒ [foo 23 [bar baz] "rats"]
(vector)
⇒ []

make-vector length object [Function]

This function returns a new vector consisting of length elements, each initialized to
object.
(setq sleepy (make-vector 9 'Z))
⇒ [Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z]

vconcat &rest sequences [Function]

This function returns a new vector containing all the elements of sequences. The
arguments sequences may be proper lists, vectors, strings or bool-vectors. If no
sequences are given, the empty vector is returned.
The value is either the empty vector, or is a newly constructed nonempty vector that
is not eq to any existing vector.
(setq a (vconcat '(A B C) '(D E F)))
⇒ [A B C D E F]
(eq a (vconcat a))
⇒ nil
(vconcat)
⇒ []
(vconcat [A B C] "aa" '(foo (6 7)))
⇒ [A B C 97 97 foo (6 7)]
The vconcat function also allows byte-code function objects as arguments. This is a
special feature to make it easy to access the entire contents of a byte-code function
object. See Section 17.7 [Byte-Code Objects], page 285.
For other concatenation functions, see mapconcat in Section 13.6 [Mapping Func-
tions], page 214, concat in Section 4.3 [Creating Strings], page 51, and append in
Section 5.4 [Building Lists], page 72.

The append function also provides a way to convert a vector into a list with the same
elements:
(setq avector [1 two (quote (three)) "four" [five]])
⇒ [1 two (quote (three)) "four" [five]]
(append avector nil)
⇒ (1 two (quote (three)) "four" [five])
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 107

6.6 Char-Tables
A char-table is much like a vector, except that it is indexed by character codes. Any valid
character code, without modifiers, can be used as an index in a char-table. You can access
a char-table’s elements with aref and aset, as with any array. In addition, a char-table
can have extra slots to hold additional data not associated with particular character codes.
Like vectors, char-tables are constants when evaluated, and can hold elements of any type.
Each char-table has a subtype, a symbol, which serves two purposes:
• The subtype provides an easy way to tell what the char-table is for. For instance,
display tables are char-tables with display-table as the subtype, and syntax tables
are char-tables with syntax-table as the subtype. The subtype can be queried using
the function char-table-subtype, described below.
• The subtype controls the number of extra slots in the char-table. This number is
specified by the subtype’s char-table-extra-slots symbol property (see Section 9.4
[Symbol Properties], page 125), whose value should be an integer between 0 and 10. If
the subtype has no such symbol property, the char-table has no extra slots.
A char-table can have a parent, which is another char-table. If it does, then whenever
the char-table specifies nil for a particular character c, it inherits the value specified in
the parent. In other words, (aref char-table c) returns the value from the parent of
char-table if char-table itself specifies nil.
A char-table can also have a default value. If so, then (aref char-table c) returns the
default value whenever the char-table does not specify any other non-nil value.

make-char-table subtype &optional init [Function]

Return a newly-created char-table, with subtype subtype (a symbol). Each element is
initialized to init, which defaults to nil. You cannot alter the subtype of a char-table
after the char-table is created.
There is no argument to specify the length of the char-table, because all char-tables
have room for any valid character code as an index.
If subtype has the char-table-extra-slots symbol property, that specifies the num-
ber of extra slots in the char-table. This should be an integer between 0 and 10;
otherwise, make-char-table raises an error. If subtype has no char-table-extra-
slots symbol property (see Section 5.9 [Property Lists], page 89), the char-table has
no extra slots.

char-table-p object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a char-table, and nil otherwise.

char-table-subtype char-table [Function]

This function returns the subtype symbol of char-table.

There is no special function to access default values in a char-table. To do that, use

char-table-range (see below).

char-table-parent char-table [Function]

This function returns the parent of char-table. The parent is always either nil or
another char-table.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 108

set-char-table-parent char-table new-parent [Function]

This function sets the parent of char-table to new-parent.

char-table-extra-slot char-table n [Function]

This function returns the contents of extra slot n (zero based) of char-table. The
number of extra slots in a char-table is determined by its subtype.

set-char-table-extra-slot char-table n value [Function]

This function stores value in extra slot n (zero based) of char-table.

A char-table can specify an element value for a single character code; it can also specify
a value for an entire character set.

char-table-range char-table range [Function]

This returns the value specified in char-table for a range of characters range. Here
are the possibilities for range:
nil Refers to the default value.
char Refers to the element for character char (supposing char is a valid char-
acter code).
(from . to)
A cons cell refers to all the characters in the inclusive range ‘[from..to]’.

set-char-table-range char-table range value [Function]

This function sets the value in char-table for a range of characters range. Here are
the possibilities for range:
nil Refers to the default value.
t Refers to the whole range of character codes.
char Refers to the element for character char (supposing char is a valid char-
acter code).
(from . to)
A cons cell refers to all the characters in the inclusive range ‘[from..to]’.

map-char-table function char-table [Function]

This function calls its argument function for each element of char-table that has a
non-nil value. The call to function is with two arguments, a key and a value. The
key is a possible range argument for char-table-range—either a valid character or
a cons cell (from . to), specifying a range of characters that share the same value.
The value is what (char-table-range char-table key) returns.
Overall, the key-value pairs passed to function describe all the values stored in char-
table.
The return value is always nil; to make calls to map-char-table useful, function
should have side effects. For example, here is how to examine the elements of the
syntax table:
(let (accumulator)
(map-char-table
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 109

#'(lambda (key value)

(setq accumulator
(cons (list
(if (consp key)
(list (car key) (cdr key))
key)
value)
accumulator)))
(syntax-table))
accumulator)
⇒
(((2597602 4194303) (2)) ((2597523 2597601) (3))
... (65379 (5 . 65378)) (65378 (4 . 65379)) (65377 (1))
... (12 (0)) (11 (3)) (10 (12)) (9 (0)) ((0 8) (3)))

6.7 Bool-vectors
A bool-vector is much like a vector, except that it stores only the values t and nil. If you
try to store any non-nil value into an element of the bool-vector, the effect is to store t
there. As with all arrays, bool-vector indices start from 0, and the length cannot be changed
once the bool-vector is created. Bool-vectors are constants when evaluated.
Several functions work specifically with bool-vectors; aside from that, you manipulate
them with same functions used for other kinds of arrays.
make-bool-vector length initial [Function]
Return a new bool-vector of length elements, each one initialized to initial.
bool-vector &rest objects [Function]
This function creates and returns a bool-vector whose elements are the arguments,
objects.
bool-vector-p object [Function]
This returns t if object is a bool-vector, and nil otherwise.
There are also some bool-vector set operation functions, described below:
bool-vector-exclusive-or a b &optional c [Function]
Return bitwise exclusive or of bool vectors a and b. If optional argument c is given,
the result of this operation is stored into c. All arguments should be bool vectors of
the same length.
bool-vector-union a b &optional c [Function]
Return bitwise or of bool vectors a and b. If optional argument c is given, the result
of this operation is stored into c. All arguments should be bool vectors of the same
length.
bool-vector-intersection a b &optional c [Function]
Return bitwise and of bool vectors a and b. If optional argument c is given, the result
of this operation is stored into c. All arguments should be bool vectors of the same
length.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 110

bool-vector-set-difference a b &optional c [Function]

Return set difference of bool vectors a and b. If optional argument c is given, the
result of this operation is stored into c. All arguments should be bool vectors of the
same length.
bool-vector-not a &optional b [Function]
Return set complement of bool vector a. If optional argument b is given, the result
of this operation is stored into b. All arguments should be bool vectors of the same
length.
bool-vector-subsetp a b [Function]
Return t if every t value in a is also t in b, nil otherwise. All arguments should be
bool vectors of the same length.
bool-vector-count-consecutive a b i [Function]
Return the number of consecutive elements in a equal b starting at i. a is a bool
vector, b is t or nil, and i is an index into a.
bool-vector-count-population a [Function]
Return the number of elements that are t in bool vector a.
The printed form represents up to 8 boolean values as a single character:
(bool-vector t nil t nil)
⇒ #&4"^E"
(bool-vector)
⇒ #&0""
You can use vconcat to print a bool-vector like other vectors:
(vconcat (bool-vector nil t nil t))
⇒ [nil t nil t]
Here is another example of creating, examining, and updating a bool-vector:
(setq bv (make-bool-vector 5 t))
⇒ #&5"^_"
(aref bv 1)
⇒ t
(aset bv 3 nil)
⇒ nil
bv
⇒ #&5"^W"
These results make sense because the binary codes for control- and control-W are 11111
and 10111, respectively.

6.8 Managing a Fixed-Size Ring of Objects

A ring is a fixed-size data structure that supports insertion, deletion, rotation, and modulo-
indexed reference and traversal. An efficient ring data structure is implemented by the ring
package. It provides the functions listed in this section.
Note that several rings in Emacs, like the kill ring and the mark ring, are actually
implemented as simple lists, not using the ring package; thus the following functions won’t
work on them.
Chapter 6: Sequences, Arrays, and Vectors 111

make-ring size [Function]

This returns a new ring capable of holding size objects. size should be an integer.

ring-p object [Function]

This returns t if object is a ring, nil otherwise.

ring-size ring [Function]

This returns the maximum capacity of the ring.

ring-length ring [Function]

This returns the number of objects that ring currently contains. The value will never
exceed that returned by ring-size.

ring-elements ring [Function]

This returns a list of the objects in ring, in order, newest first.

ring-copy ring [Function]

This returns a new ring which is a copy of ring. The new ring contains the same (eq)
objects as ring.

ring-empty-p ring [Function]

This returns t if ring is empty, nil otherwise.

The newest element in the ring always has index 0. Higher indices correspond to older
elements. Indices are computed modulo the ring length. Index −1 corresponds to the oldest
element, −2 to the next-oldest, and so forth.

ring-ref ring index [Function]

This returns the object in ring found at index index. index may be negative or greater
than the ring length. If ring is empty, ring-ref signals an error.

ring-insert ring object [Function]

This inserts object into ring, making it the newest element, and returns object.
If the ring is full, insertion removes the oldest element to make room for the new
element.

ring-remove ring &optional index [Function]

Remove an object from ring, and return that object. The argument index specifies
which item to remove; if it is nil, that means to remove the oldest item. If ring is
empty, ring-remove signals an error.

ring-insert-at-beginning ring object [Function]

This inserts object into ring, treating it as the oldest element. The return value is
not significant.
If the ring is full, this function removes the newest element to make room for the
inserted element.

If you are careful not to exceed the ring size, you can use the ring as a first-in-first-out
queue. For example:
(let ((fifo (make-ring 5)))
 112

(mapc (lambda (obj) (ring-insert fifo obj))

'(0 one "two"))
(list (ring-remove fifo) t
(ring-remove fifo) t
(ring-remove fifo)))
⇒ (0 t one t "two")
 113

7 Records

The purpose of records is to allow programmers to create objects with new types that are
not built into Emacs. They are used as the underlying representation of cl-defstruct and
defclass instances.
Internally, a record object is much like a vector; its slots can be accessed using aref and
it can be copied using copy-sequence. However, the first slot is used to hold its type as
returned by type-of. Also, in the current implementation records can have at most 4096
slots, whereas vectors can be much larger. Like arrays, records use zero-origin indexing:
the first slot has index 0.
The type slot should be a symbol or a type descriptor. If it’s a type descriptor, the
symbol naming its type will be returned; Section 2.3.18 [Type Descriptors], page 23. Any
other kind of object is returned as-is.
The printed representation of records is ‘#s’ followed by a list specifying the contents.
The first list element must be the record type. The following elements are the record slots.
To avoid conflicts with other type names, Lisp programs that define new types of records
should normally use the naming conventions of the package where these record types are
introduced for the names of the types. Note that the names of the types which could
possibly conflict might not be known at the time the package defining a record type is
loaded; they could be loaded at some future point in time.
A record is considered a constant for evaluation: the result of evaluating it is the same
record. This does not evaluate or even examine the slots. See Section 10.1.1 [Self-Evaluating
Forms], page 130.

7.1 Record Functions

recordp object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a record.
(recordp #s(a))
⇒ t

record type &rest objects [Function]

This function creates and returns a record whose type is type and remaining slots are
the rest of the arguments, objects.
(record 'foo 23 [bar baz] "rats")
⇒ #s(foo 23 [bar baz] "rats")

make-record type length object [Function]

This function returns a new record with type type and length more slots, each ini-
tialized to object.
(setq sleepy (make-record 'foo 9 'Z))
⇒ #s(foo Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z)
Chapter 7: Records 114

7.2 Backward Compatibility

Code compiled with older versions of cl-defstruct that doesn’t use records may run
into problems when used in a new Emacs. To alleviate this, Emacs detects when an old
cl-defstruct is used, and enables a mode in which type-of handles old struct objects as
if they were records.

cl-old-struct-compat-mode arg [Function]

If arg is positive, enable backward compatibility with old-style structs.
 115

8 Hash Tables
A hash table is a very fast kind of lookup table, somewhat like an alist (see Section 5.8
[Association Lists], page 85) in that it maps keys to corresponding values. It differs from
an alist in these ways:
• Lookup in a hash table is extremely fast for large tables—in fact, the time required
is essentially independent of how many elements are stored in the table. For smaller
tables (a few tens of elements) alists may still be faster because hash tables have a
more-or-less constant overhead.
• The correspondences in a hash table are in no particular order.
• There is no way to share structure between two hash tables, the way two alists can
share a common tail.
Emacs Lisp provides a general-purpose hash table data type, along with a series of
functions for operating on them. Hash tables have a special printed representation, which
consists of ‘#s’ followed by a list specifying the hash table properties and contents. See
Section 8.1 [Creating Hash], page 115. (Hash notation, the initial ‘#’ character used in the
printed representations of objects with no read representation, has nothing to do with hash
tables. See Section 2.1 [Printed Representation], page 8.)
Obarrays are also a kind of hash table, but they are a different type of object and are
used only for recording interned symbols (see Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols], page 122).

8.1 Creating Hash Tables

The principal function for creating a hash table is make-hash-table.

make-hash-table &rest keyword-args [Function]

This function creates a new hash table according to the specified arguments. The
arguments should consist of alternating keywords (particular symbols recognized spe-
cially) and values corresponding to them.
Several keywords make sense in make-hash-table, but the only two that you really
need to know about are :test and :weakness.
:test test
This specifies the method of key lookup for this hash table. The default
is eql; eq and equal are other alternatives:
eql Keys which are numbers are the same if they are equal, that
is, if they are equal in value and either both are integers or
both are floating point; otherwise, two distinct objects are
never the same.
eq Any two distinct Lisp objects are different as keys.
equal Two Lisp objects are the same, as keys, if they are equal
according to equal.
You can use define-hash-table-test (see Section 8.3 [Defining Hash],
page 118) to define additional possibilities for test.
Chapter 8: Hash Tables 116

:weakness weak
The weakness of a hash table specifies whether the presence of a key or
value in the hash table preserves it from garbage collection.
The value, weak, must be one of nil, key, value, key-or-value,
key-and-value, or t which is an alias for key-and-value. If weak is
key then the hash table does not prevent its keys from being collected
as garbage (if they are not referenced anywhere else); if a particular key
does get collected, the corresponding association is removed from the
hash table.
If weak is value, then the hash table does not prevent values from being
collected as garbage (if they are not referenced anywhere else); if a par-
ticular value does get collected, the corresponding association is removed
from the hash table.
If weak is key-and-value or t, both the key and the value must be live in
order to preserve the association. Thus, the hash table does not protect
either keys or values from garbage collection; if either one is collected as
garbage, that removes the association.
If weak is key-or-value, either the key or the value can preserve the as-
sociation. Thus, associations are removed from the hash table when both
their key and value would be collected as garbage (if not for references
from weak hash tables).
The default for weak is nil, so that all keys and values referenced in the
hash table are preserved from garbage collection.
:size size
This specifies a hint for how many associations you plan to store in the
hash table. If you know the approximate number, you can make things
a little more efficient by specifying it this way. If you specify too small
a size, the hash table will grow automatically when necessary, but doing
that takes some extra time.
The default size is 65.
:rehash-size rehash-size
When you add an association to a hash table and the table is full, it grows
automatically. This value specifies how to make the hash table larger, at
that time.
If rehash-size is an integer, it should be positive, and the hash table grows
by adding approximately that much to the nominal size. If rehash-size is
floating point, it had better be greater than 1, and the hash table grows
by multiplying the old size by approximately that number.
The default value is 1.5.
:rehash-threshold threshold
This specifies the criterion for when the hash table is full (so it should be
made larger). The value, threshold, should be a positive floating-point
number, no greater than 1. The hash table is full whenever the actual
Chapter 8: Hash Tables 117

number of entries exceeds the nominal size multiplied by an approxima-

tion to this value. The default for threshold is 0.8125.
You can also create a new hash table using the printed representation for hash tables.
The Lisp reader can read this printed representation, provided each element in the specified
hash table has a valid read syntax (see Section 2.1 [Printed Representation], page 8). For
instance, the following specifies a new hash table containing the keys key1 and key2 (both
symbols) associated with val1 (a symbol) and 300 (a number) respectively.
#s(hash-table size 30 data (key1 val1 key2 300))
The printed representation for a hash table consists of ‘#s’ followed by a list beginning with
‘hash-table’. The rest of the list should consist of zero or more property-value pairs speci-
fying the hash table’s properties and initial contents. The properties and values are read lit-
erally. Valid property names are size, test, weakness, rehash-size, rehash-threshold,
and data. The data property should be a list of key-value pairs for the initial contents;
the other properties have the same meanings as the matching make-hash-table keywords
(:size, :test, etc.), described above.
Note that you cannot specify a hash table whose initial contents include objects that
have no read syntax, such as buffers and frames. Such objects may be added to the hash
table after it is created.

8.2 Hash Table Access

This section describes the functions for accessing and storing associations in a hash table. In
general, any Lisp object can be used as a hash key, unless the comparison method imposes
limits. Any Lisp object can also be used as the value.
gethash key table &optional default [Function]
This function looks up key in table, and returns its associated value—or default, if
key has no association in table.
puthash key value table [Function]
This function enters an association for key in table, with value value. If key already
has an association in table, value replaces the old associated value.
remhash key table [Function]
This function removes the association for key from table, if there is one. If key has
no association, remhash does nothing.
Common Lisp note: In Common Lisp, remhash returns non-nil if it actually removed
an association and nil otherwise. In Emacs Lisp, remhash always returns nil.
clrhash table [Function]
This function removes all the associations from hash table table, so that it becomes
empty. This is also called clearing the hash table.
Common Lisp note: In Common Lisp, clrhash returns the empty table. In Emacs
Lisp, it returns nil.
maphash function table [Function]
This function calls function once for each of the associations in table. The function
function should accept two arguments—a key listed in table, and its associated value.
maphash returns nil.
Chapter 8: Hash Tables 118

8.3 Defining Hash Comparisons

You can define new methods of key lookup by means of define-hash-table-test. In order
to use this feature, you need to understand how hash tables work, and what a hash code
means.
You can think of a hash table conceptually as a large array of many slots, each capable
of holding one association. To look up a key, gethash first computes an integer, the hash
code, from the key. It reduces this integer modulo the length of the array, to produce an
index in the array. Then it looks in that slot, and if necessary in other nearby slots, to see
if it has found the key being sought.
Thus, to define a new method of key lookup, you need to specify both a function to
compute the hash code from a key, and a function to compare two keys directly.
define-hash-table-test name test-fn hash-fn [Function]
This function defines a new hash table test, named name.
After defining name in this way, you can use it as the test argument in make-hash-
table. When you do that, the hash table will use test-fn to compare key values, and
hash-fn to compute a hash code from a key value.
The function test-fn should accept two arguments, two keys, and return non-nil if
they are considered the same.
The function hash-fn should accept one argument, a key, and return an integer that is
the hash code of that key. For good results, the function should use the whole range
of integers for hash codes, including negative integers.
The specified functions are stored in the property list of name under the property
hash-table-test; the property value’s form is (test-fn hash-fn).
sxhash-equal obj [Function]
This function returns a hash code for Lisp object obj. This is an integer which reflects
the contents of obj and the other Lisp objects it points to.
If two objects obj1 and obj2 are equal, then (sxhash-equal obj1) and
(sxhash-equal obj2) are the same integer.
If the two objects are not equal, the values returned by sxhash-equal are usually
different, but not always; once in a rare while, by luck, you will encounter two distinct-
looking objects that give the same result from sxhash-equal.
Common Lisp note: In Common Lisp a similar function is called sxhash. Emacs
provides this name as a compatibility alias for sxhash-equal.
sxhash-eq obj [Function]
This function returns a hash code for Lisp object obj. Its result reflects identity of
obj, but not its contents.
If two objects obj1 and obj2 are eq, then (sxhash-eq obj1) and (sxhash-eq obj2)
are the same integer.
sxhash-eql obj [Function]
This function returns a hash code for Lisp object obj suitable for eql comparison.
I.e. it reflects identity of obj except for the case where the object is a float number,
in which case hash code is generated for the value.
Chapter 8: Hash Tables 119

If two objects obj1 and obj2 are eql, then (sxhash-eql obj1) and (sxhash-eql
obj2) are the same integer.
This example creates a hash table whose keys are strings that are compared case-
insensitively.
(defun case-fold-string= (a b)
(eq t (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t)))
(defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
(sxhash-equal (upcase a)))

(define-hash-table-test 'case-fold
'case-fold-string= 'case-fold-string-hash)

(make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)

Here is how you could define a hash table test equivalent to the predefined test value
equal. The keys can be any Lisp object, and equal-looking objects are considered the same
key.
(define-hash-table-test 'contents-hash 'equal 'sxhash-equal)

(make-hash-table :test 'contents-hash)

8.4 Other Hash Table Functions

Here are some other functions for working with hash tables.
hash-table-p table [Function]
This returns non-nil if table is a hash table object.
copy-hash-table table [Function]
This function creates and returns a copy of table. Only the table itself is copied—the
keys and values are shared.
hash-table-count table [Function]
This function returns the actual number of entries in table.
hash-table-test table [Function]
This returns the test value that was given when table was created, to specify how
to hash and compare keys. See make-hash-table (see Section 8.1 [Creating Hash],
page 115).
hash-table-weakness table [Function]
This function returns the weak value that was specified for hash table table.
hash-table-rehash-size table [Function]
This returns the rehash size of table.
hash-table-rehash-threshold table [Function]
This returns the rehash threshold of table.
hash-table-size table [Function]
This returns the current nominal size of table.
 120

9 Symbols
A symbol is an object with a unique name. This chapter describes symbols, their com-
ponents, their property lists, and how they are created and interned. Separate chapters
describe the use of symbols as variables and as function names; see Chapter 12 [Variables],
page 169, and Chapter 13 [Functions], page 203. For the precise read syntax for symbols,
see Section 2.3.4 [Symbol Type], page 13.
You can test whether an arbitrary Lisp object is a symbol with symbolp:

symbolp object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a symbol, nil otherwise.

9.1 Symbol Components

Each symbol has four components (or “cells”), each of which references another object:
Print name
The symbol’s name.
Value The symbol’s current value as a variable.
Function The symbol’s function definition. It can also hold a symbol, a keymap, or a
keyboard macro.
Property list
The symbol’s property list.
The print name cell always holds a string, and cannot be changed. Each of the other three
cells can be set to any Lisp object.
The print name cell holds the string that is the name of a symbol. Since symbols are
represented textually by their names, it is important not to have two symbols with the same
name. The Lisp reader ensures this: every time it reads a symbol, it looks for an existing
symbol with the specified name before it creates a new one. To get a symbol’s name, use
the function symbol-name (see Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols], page 122).
The value cell holds a symbol’s value as a variable, which is what you get if the symbol
itself is evaluated as a Lisp expression. See Chapter 12 [Variables], page 169, for details
about how values are set and retrieved, including complications such as local bindings and
scoping rules. Most symbols can have any Lisp object as a value, but certain special symbols
have values that cannot be changed; these include nil and t, and any symbol whose name
starts with ‘:’ (those are called keywords). See Section 12.2 [Constant Variables], page 169.
The function cell holds a symbol’s function definition. Often, we refer to “the func-
tion foo” when we really mean the function stored in the function cell of foo; we make
the distinction explicit only when necessary. Typically, the function cell is used to hold
a function (see Chapter 13 [Functions], page 203) or a macro (see Chapter 14 [Macros],
page 236). However, it can also be used to hold a symbol (see Section 10.1.4 [Function
Indirection], page 131), keyboard macro (see Section 21.16 [Keyboard Macros], page 413),
keymap (see Chapter 22 [Keymaps], page 415), or autoload object (see Section 10.1.8 [Au-
toloading], page 134). To get the contents of a symbol’s function cell, use the function
symbol-function (see Section 13.9 [Function Cells], page 221).
Chapter 9: Symbols 121

The property list cell normally should hold a correctly formatted property list. To get a
symbol’s property list, use the function symbol-plist. See Section 9.4 [Symbol Properties],
page 125.
The function cell or the value cell may be void, which means that the cell does not
reference any object. (This is not the same thing as holding the symbol void, nor the same
as holding the symbol nil.) Examining a function or value cell that is void results in an
error, such as ‘Symbol's value as variable is void’.
Because each symbol has separate value and function cells, variables names and function
names do not conflict. For example, the symbol buffer-file-name has a value (the name
of the file being visited in the current buffer) as well as a function definition (a primitive
function that returns the name of the file):
buffer-file-name
⇒ "/gnu/elisp/symbols.texi"
(symbol-function 'buffer-file-name)
⇒ #<subr buffer-file-name>

9.2 Defining Symbols

A definition is a special kind of Lisp expression that announces your intention to use a
symbol in a particular way. It typically specifies a value or meaning for the symbol for
one kind of use, plus documentation for its meaning when used in this way. Thus, when
you define a symbol as a variable, you can supply an initial value for the variable, plus
documentation for the variable.
defvar and defconst are special forms that define a symbol as a global variable—a
variable that can be accessed at any point in a Lisp program. See Chapter 12 [Variables],
page 169, for details about variables. To define a customizable variable, use the defcustom
macro, which also calls defvar as a subroutine (see Chapter 15 [Customization], page 244).
In principle, you can assign a variable value to any symbol with setq, whether not it has
first been defined as a variable. However, you ought to write a variable definition for each
global variable that you want to use; otherwise, your Lisp program may not act correctly if
it is evaluated with lexical scoping enabled (see Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping], page 179).
defun defines a symbol as a function, creating a lambda expression and storing it in the
function cell of the symbol. This lambda expression thus becomes the function definition of
the symbol. (The term “function definition”, meaning the contents of the function cell, is
derived from the idea that defun gives the symbol its definition as a function.) defsubst
and defalias are two other ways of defining a function. See Chapter 13 [Functions],
page 203.
defmacro defines a symbol as a macro. It creates a macro object and stores it in the
function cell of the symbol. Note that a given symbol can be a macro or a function, but
not both at once, because both macro and function definitions are kept in the function cell,
and that cell can hold only one Lisp object at any given time. See Chapter 14 [Macros],
page 236.
As previously noted, Emacs Lisp allows the same symbol to be defined both as a variable
(e.g., with defvar) and as a function or macro (e.g., with defun). Such definitions do not
conflict.
Chapter 9: Symbols 122

These definitions also act as guides for programming tools. For example, the C-h f and
C-h v commands create help buffers containing links to the relevant variable, function, or
macro definitions. See Section “Name Help” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

9.3 Creating and Interning Symbols

To understand how symbols are created in GNU Emacs Lisp, you must know how Lisp
reads them. Lisp must ensure that it finds the same symbol every time it reads the same
set of characters. Failure to do so would cause complete confusion.
When the Lisp reader encounters a symbol, it reads all the characters of the name.
Then it hashes those characters to find an index in a table called an obarray. Hashing is
an efficient method of looking something up. For example, instead of searching a telephone
book cover to cover when looking up Jan Jones, you start with the J’s and go from there.
That is a simple version of hashing. Each element of the obarray is a bucket which holds
all the symbols with a given hash code; to look for a given name, it is sufficient to look
through all the symbols in the bucket for that name’s hash code. (The same idea is used for
general Emacs hash tables, but they are a different data type; see Chapter 8 [Hash Tables],
page 115.)
If a symbol with the desired name is found, the reader uses that symbol. If the obarray
does not contain a symbol with that name, the reader makes a new symbol and adds it to
the obarray. Finding or adding a symbol with a certain name is called interning it, and the
symbol is then called an interned symbol.
Interning ensures that each obarray has just one symbol with any particular name. Other
like-named symbols may exist, but not in the same obarray. Thus, the reader gets the same
symbols for the same names, as long as you keep reading with the same obarray.
Interning usually happens automatically in the reader, but sometimes other programs
need to do it. For example, after the M-x command obtains the command name as a string
using the minibuffer, it then interns the string, to get the interned symbol with that name.
No obarray contains all symbols; in fact, some symbols are not in any obarray. They are
called uninterned symbols. An uninterned symbol has the same four cells as other symbols;
however, the only way to gain access to it is by finding it in some other object or as the
value of a variable.
Creating an uninterned symbol is useful in generating Lisp code, because an uninterned
symbol used as a variable in the code you generate cannot clash with any variables used in
other Lisp programs.
In Emacs Lisp, an obarray is actually a vector. Each element of the vector is a bucket;
its value is either an interned symbol whose name hashes to that bucket, or 0 if the bucket is
empty. Each interned symbol has an internal link (invisible to the user) to the next symbol
in the bucket. Because these links are invisible, there is no way to find all the symbols in an
obarray except using mapatoms (below). The order of symbols in a bucket is not significant.
In an empty obarray, every element is 0, so you can create an obarray with (make-vector
length 0). This is the only valid way to create an obarray. Prime numbers as lengths tend
to result in good hashing; lengths one less than a power of two are also good.
Do not try to put symbols in an obarray yourself. This does not work—only intern
can enter a symbol in an obarray properly.
Chapter 9: Symbols 123

Common Lisp note: Unlike Common Lisp, Emacs Lisp does not provide for
interning a single symbol in several obarrays.
Most of the functions below take a name and sometimes an obarray as arguments. A
wrong-type-argument error is signaled if the name is not a string, or if the obarray is not
a vector.
symbol-name symbol [Function]
This function returns the string that is symbol’s name. For example:
(symbol-name 'foo)
⇒ "foo"
Warning: Changing the string by substituting characters does change the name of
the symbol, but fails to update the obarray, so don’t do it!
make-symbol name [Function]
This function returns a newly-allocated, uninterned symbol whose name is name
(which must be a string). Its value and function definition are void, and its property
list is nil. In the example below, the value of sym is not eq to foo because it is a
distinct uninterned symbol whose name is also ‘foo’.
(setq sym (make-symbol "foo"))
⇒ foo
(eq sym 'foo)
⇒ nil

gensym &optional prefix [Function]

This function returns a symbol using make-symbol, whose name is made by appending
gensym-counter to prefix. The prefix defaults to "g".
intern name &optional obarray [Function]
This function returns the interned symbol whose name is name. If there is no such
symbol in the obarray obarray, intern creates a new one, adds it to the obarray, and
returns it. If obarray is omitted, the value of the global variable obarray is used.
(setq sym (intern "foo"))
⇒ foo
(eq sym 'foo)
⇒ t

(setq sym1 (intern "foo" other-obarray))

⇒ foo
(eq sym1 'foo)
⇒ nil

Common Lisp note: In Common Lisp, you can intern an existing symbol in an
obarray. In Emacs Lisp, you cannot do this, because the argument to intern
must be a string, not a symbol.
intern-soft name &optional obarray [Function]
This function returns the symbol in obarray whose name is name, or nil if obarray
has no symbol with that name. Therefore, you can use intern-soft to test whether
Chapter 9: Symbols 124

a symbol with a given name is already interned. If obarray is omitted, the value of
the global variable obarray is used.
The argument name may also be a symbol; in that case, the function returns name
if name is interned in the specified obarray, and otherwise nil.
(intern-soft "frazzle") ; No such symbol exists.
⇒ nil
(make-symbol "frazzle") ; Create an uninterned one.
⇒ frazzle
(intern-soft "frazzle") ; That one cannot be found.
⇒ nil
(setq sym (intern "frazzle")) ; Create an interned one.
⇒ frazzle
(intern-soft "frazzle") ; That one can be found!
⇒ frazzle
(eq sym 'frazzle) ; And it is the same one.
⇒ t

obarray [Variable]
This variable is the standard obarray for use by intern and read.

mapatoms function &optional obarray [Function]

This function calls function once with each symbol in the obarray obarray. Then it
returns nil. If obarray is omitted, it defaults to the value of obarray, the standard
obarray for ordinary symbols.
(setq count 0)
⇒ 0
(defun count-syms (s)
(setq count (1+ count)))
⇒ count-syms
(mapatoms 'count-syms)
⇒ nil
count
⇒ 1871
See documentation in Section 24.2 [Accessing Documentation], page 511, for another
example using mapatoms.

unintern symbol obarray [Function]

This function deletes symbol from the obarray obarray. If symbol is not actually in
the obarray, unintern does nothing. If obarray is nil, the current obarray is used.
If you provide a string instead of a symbol as symbol, it stands for a symbol name.
Then unintern deletes the symbol (if any) in the obarray which has that name. If
there is no such symbol, unintern does nothing.
If unintern does delete a symbol, it returns t. Otherwise it returns nil.
Chapter 9: Symbols 125

9.4 Symbol Properties

A symbol may possess any number of symbol properties, which can be used to record mis-
cellaneous information about the symbol. For example, when a symbol has a risky-local-
variable property with a non-nil value, that means the variable which the symbol names
is a risky file-local variable (see Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191).
Each symbol’s properties and property values are stored in the symbol’s property list
cell (see Section 9.1 [Symbol Components], page 120), in the form of a property list (see
Section 5.9 [Property Lists], page 89).

9.4.1 Accessing Symbol Properties

The following functions can be used to access symbol properties.

get symbol property [Function]

This function returns the value of the property named property in symbol’s property
list. If there is no such property, it returns nil. Thus, there is no distinction between
a value of nil and the absence of the property.
The name property is compared with the existing property names using eq, so any
object is a legitimate property.
See put for an example.

put symbol property value [Function]

This function puts value onto symbol’s property list under the property name
property, replacing any previous property value. The put function returns value.
(put 'fly 'verb 'transitive)
⇒'transitive
(put 'fly 'noun '(a buzzing little bug))
⇒ (a buzzing little bug)
(get 'fly 'verb)
⇒ transitive
(symbol-plist 'fly)
⇒ (verb transitive noun (a buzzing little bug))

symbol-plist symbol [Function]

This function returns the property list of symbol.

setplist symbol plist [Function]

This function sets symbol’s property list to plist. Normally, plist should be a well-
formed property list, but this is not enforced. The return value is plist.
(setplist 'foo '(a 1 b (2 3) c nil))
⇒ (a 1 b (2 3) c nil)
(symbol-plist 'foo)
⇒ (a 1 b (2 3) c nil)
For symbols in special obarrays, which are not used for ordinary purposes, it may
make sense to use the property list cell in a nonstandard fashion; in fact, the abbrev
mechanism does so (see Chapter 36 [Abbrevs], page 908).
Chapter 9: Symbols 126

You could define put in terms of setplist and plist-put, as follows:

(defun put (symbol prop value)
(setplist symbol
(plist-put (symbol-plist symbol) prop value)))
function-get symbol property &optional autoload [Function]
This function is identical to get, except that if symbol is the name of a function alias,
it looks in the property list of the symbol naming the actual function. See Section 13.4
[Defining Functions], page 209. If the optional argument autoload is non-nil, and
symbol is auto-loaded, this function will try to autoload it, since autoloading might
set property of symbol. If autoload is the symbol macro, only try autoloading if
symbol is an auto-loaded macro.
function-put function property value [Function]
This function sets property of function to value. function should be a symbol. This
function is preferred to calling put for setting properties of a function, because it will
allow us some day to implement remapping of old properties to new ones.

9.4.2 Standard Symbol Properties

Here, we list the symbol properties which are used for special purposes in Emacs. In the
following table, whenever we say “the named function”, that means the function whose
name is the relevant symbol; similarly for “the named variable” etc.
:advertised-binding
This property value specifies the preferred key binding, when showing docu-
mentation, for the named function. See Section 24.3 [Keys in Documentation],
page 513.
char-table-extra-slots
The value, if non-nil, specifies the number of extra slots in the named char-
table type. See Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107.
customized-face
face-defface-spec
saved-face
theme-face
These properties are used to record a face’s standard, saved, customized, and
themed face specs. Do not set them directly; they are managed by defface
and related functions. See Section 39.12.2 [Defining Faces], page 1001.
customized-value
saved-value
standard-value
theme-value
These properties are used to record a customizable variable’s standard value,
saved value, customized-but-unsaved value, and themed values. Do not set
them directly; they are managed by defcustom and related functions. See
Section 15.3 [Variable Definitions], page 247.
disabled If the value is non-nil, the named function is disabled as a command. See
Section 21.14 [Disabling Commands], page 412.
Chapter 9: Symbols 127

face-documentation
The value stores the documentation string of the named face. This is set auto-
matically by defface. See Section 39.12.2 [Defining Faces], page 1001.
history-length
The value, if non-nil, specifies the maximum minibuffer history length for the
named history list variable. See Section 20.4 [Minibuffer History], page 340.
interactive-form
The value is an interactive form for the named function. Normally, you should
not set this directly; use the interactive special form instead. See Section 21.3
[Interactive Call], page 375.
menu-enable
The value is an expression for determining whether the named menu item should
be enabled in menus. See Section 22.17.1.1 [Simple Menu Items], page 440.
mode-class
If the value is special, the named major mode is special. See Section 23.2.1
[Major Mode Conventions], page 456.
permanent-local
If the value is non-nil, the named variable is a buffer-local variable whose value
should not be reset when changing major modes. See Section 12.11.2 [Creating
Buffer-Local], page 186.
permanent-local-hook
If the value is non-nil, the named function should not be deleted from the
local value of a hook variable when changing major modes. See Section 23.1.2
[Setting Hooks], page 454.
pure If the value is non-nil, the named function is considered to be pure (see
Section 13.1 [What Is a Function], page 203). Calls with constant arguments
can be evaluated at compile time. This may shift run time errors to compile
time. Not to be confused with pure storage (see Section E.2 [Pure Storage],
page 1157).
risky-local-variable
If the value is non-nil, the named variable is considered risky as a file-local
variable. See Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191.
safe-function
If the value is non-nil, the named function is considered generally safe for
evaluation. See Section 13.16 [Function Safety], page 233.
safe-local-eval-function
If the value is non-nil, the named function is safe to call in file-local evaluation
forms. See Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191.
safe-local-variable
The value specifies a function for determining safe file-local values for the named
variable. See Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191.
Chapter 9: Symbols 128

side-effect-free
A non-nil value indicates that the named function is free of side effects (see
Section 13.1 [What Is a Function], page 203), so the byte compiler may ig-
nore a call whose value is unused. If the property’s value is error-free, the
byte compiler may even delete such unused calls. In addition to byte compiler
optimizations, this property is also used for determining function safety (see
Section 13.16 [Function Safety], page 233).
variable-documentation
If non-nil, this specifies the named variable’s documentation string. This is set
automatically by defvar and related functions. See Section 39.12.2 [Defining
Faces], page 1001.
 129

10 Evaluation

The evaluation of expressions in Emacs Lisp is performed by the Lisp interpreter—a pro-
gram that receives a Lisp object as input and computes its value as an expression. How
it does this depends on the data type of the object, according to rules described in this
chapter. The interpreter runs automatically to evaluate portions of your program, but can
also be called explicitly via the Lisp primitive function eval.
A Lisp object that is intended for evaluation is called a form or expression1 . The fact that
forms are data objects and not merely text is one of the fundamental differences between
Lisp-like languages and typical programming languages. Any object can be evaluated, but
in practice only numbers, symbols, lists and strings are evaluated very often.
In subsequent sections, we will describe the details of what evaluation means for each
kind of form.
It is very common to read a Lisp form and then evaluate the form, but reading and
evaluation are separate activities, and either can be performed alone. Reading per se does
not evaluate anything; it converts the printed representation of a Lisp object to the object
itself. It is up to the caller of read to specify whether this object is a form to be evaluated,
or serves some entirely different purpose. See Section 19.3 [Input Functions], page 325.
Evaluation is a recursive process, and evaluating a form often involves evaluating parts
within that form. For instance, when you evaluate a function call form such as (car x),
Emacs first evaluates the argument (the subform x). After evaluating the argument, Emacs
executes the function (car), and if the function is written in Lisp, execution works by
evaluating the body of the function (in this example, however, car is not a Lisp function; it
is a primitive function implemented in C). See Chapter 13 [Functions], page 203, for more
information about functions and function calls.
Evaluation takes place in a context called the environment, which consists of the current
values and bindings of all Lisp variables (see Chapter 12 [Variables], page 169).2 Whenever
a form refers to a variable without creating a new binding for it, the variable evaluates to
the value given by the current environment. Evaluating a form may also temporarily alter
the environment by binding variables (see Section 12.3 [Local Variables], page 170).
Evaluating a form may also make changes that persist; these changes are called side
effects. An example of a form that produces a side effect is (setq foo 1).
Do not confuse evaluation with command key interpretation. The editor command loop
translates keyboard input into a command (an interactively callable function) using the
active keymaps, and then uses call-interactively to execute that command. Executing
the command usually involves evaluation, if the command is written in Lisp; however, this
step is not considered a part of command key interpretation. See Chapter 21 [Command
Loop], page 368.

1
It is sometimes also referred to as an S-expression or sexp, but we generally do not use this terminology
in this manual.
2
This definition of “environment” is specifically not intended to include all the data that can affect the
result of a program.
Chapter 10: Evaluation 130

10.1 Kinds of Forms

A Lisp object that is intended to be evaluated is called a form (or an expression). How
Emacs evaluates a form depends on its data type. Emacs has three different kinds of form
that are evaluated differently: symbols, lists, and all other types. This section describes all
three kinds, one by one, starting with the other types, which are self-evaluating forms.

10.1.1 Self-Evaluating Forms

A self-evaluating form is any form that is not a list or symbol. Self-evaluating forms evaluate
to themselves: the result of evaluation is the same object that was evaluated. Thus, the
number 25 evaluates to 25, and the string "foo" evaluates to the string "foo". Likewise,
evaluating a vector does not cause evaluation of the elements of the vector—it returns the
same vector with its contents unchanged.
'123 ; A number, shown without evaluation.
⇒ 123
123 ; Evaluated as usual—result is the same.
⇒ 123
(eval '123) ; Evaluated "by hand"—result is the same.
⇒ 123
(eval (eval '123)) ; Evaluating twice changes nothing.
⇒ 123
It is common to write numbers, characters, strings, and even vectors in Lisp code, taking
advantage of the fact that they self-evaluate. However, it is quite unusual to do this for
types that lack a read syntax, because there’s no way to write them textually. It is possible
to construct Lisp expressions containing these types by means of a Lisp program. Here is
an example:
;; Build an expression containing a buffer object.
(setq print-exp (list 'print (current-buffer)))
⇒ (print #<buffer eval.texi>)
;; Evaluate it.
(eval print-exp)
a #<buffer eval.texi>
⇒ #<buffer eval.texi>

10.1.2 Symbol Forms

When a symbol is evaluated, it is treated as a variable. The result is the variable’s value,
if it has one. If the symbol has no value as a variable, the Lisp interpreter signals an error.
For more information on the use of variables, see Chapter 12 [Variables], page 169.
In the following example, we set the value of a symbol with setq. Then we evaluate the
symbol, and get back the value that setq stored.
(setq a 123)
⇒ 123
(eval 'a)
⇒ 123
a
⇒ 123
Chapter 10: Evaluation 131

The symbols nil and t are treated specially, so that the value of nil is always nil, and
the value of t is always t; you cannot set or bind them to any other values. Thus, these two
symbols act like self-evaluating forms, even though eval treats them like any other symbol.
A symbol whose name starts with ‘:’ also self-evaluates in the same way; likewise, its value
ordinarily cannot be changed. See Section 12.2 [Constant Variables], page 169.

10.1.3 Classification of List Forms

A form that is a nonempty list is either a function call, a macro call, or a special form,
according to its first element. These three kinds of forms are evaluated in different ways,
described below. The remaining list elements constitute the arguments for the function,
macro, or special form.
The first step in evaluating a nonempty list is to examine its first element. This element
alone determines what kind of form the list is and how the rest of the list is to be processed.
The first element is not evaluated, as it would be in some Lisp dialects such as Scheme.

10.1.4 Symbol Function Indirection

If the first element of the list is a symbol then evaluation examines the symbol’s function
cell, and uses its contents instead of the original symbol. If the contents are another symbol,
this process, called symbol function indirection, is repeated until it obtains a non-symbol.
See Section 13.3 [Function Names], page 209, for more information about symbol function
indirection.
One possible consequence of this process is an infinite loop, in the event that a symbol’s
function cell refers to the same symbol. Otherwise, we eventually obtain a non-symbol,
which ought to be a function or other suitable object.
More precisely, we should now have a Lisp function (a lambda expression), a byte-code
function, a primitive function, a Lisp macro, a special form, or an autoload object. Each of
these types is a case described in one of the following sections. If the object is not one of
these types, Emacs signals an invalid-function error.
The following example illustrates the symbol indirection process. We use fset to set
the function cell of a symbol and symbol-function to get the function cell contents (see
Section 13.9 [Function Cells], page 221). Specifically, we store the symbol car into the
function cell of first, and the symbol first into the function cell of erste.
;; Build this function cell linkage:
;; ------------- ----- ------- -------
;; | #<subr car> | <-- | car | <-- | first | <-- | erste |
;; ------------- ----- ------- -------
(symbol-function 'car)
⇒ #<subr car>
(fset 'first 'car)
⇒ car
(fset 'erste 'first)
⇒ first
(erste '(1 2 3)) ; Call the function referenced by erste.
⇒ 1
By contrast, the following example calls a function without any symbol function indi-
rection, because the first element is an anonymous Lisp function, not a symbol.
Chapter 10: Evaluation 132

((lambda (arg) (erste arg))

'(1 2 3))
⇒ 1
Executing the function itself evaluates its body; this does involve symbol function indirection
when calling erste.
This form is rarely used and is now deprecated. Instead, you should write it as:
(funcall (lambda (arg) (erste arg))
'(1 2 3))
or just
(let ((arg '(1 2 3))) (erste arg))
The built-in function indirect-function provides an easy way to perform symbol func-
tion indirection explicitly.

indirect-function function &optional noerror [Function]

This function returns the meaning of function as a function. If function is a symbol,
then it finds function’s function definition and starts over with that value. If function
is not a symbol, then it returns function itself.
This function returns nil if the final symbol is unbound. It signals a
cyclic-function-indirection error if there is a loop in the chain of symbols.
The optional argument noerror is obsolete, kept for backward compatibility, and has
no effect.
Here is how you could define indirect-function in Lisp:
(defun indirect-function (function)
(if (symbolp function)
(indirect-function (symbol-function function))
function))

10.1.5 Evaluation of Function Forms

If the first element of a list being evaluated is a Lisp function object, byte-code object or
primitive function object, then that list is a function call. For example, here is a call to the
function +:
(+ 1 x)
The first step in evaluating a function call is to evaluate the remaining elements of
the list from left to right. The results are the actual argument values, one value for each
list element. The next step is to call the function with this list of arguments, effectively
using the function apply (see Section 13.5 [Calling Functions], page 212). If the function
is written in Lisp, the arguments are used to bind the argument variables of the function
(see Section 13.2 [Lambda Expressions], page 205); then the forms in the function body are
evaluated in order, and the value of the last body form becomes the value of the function
call.

10.1.6 Lisp Macro Evaluation

If the first element of a list being evaluated is a macro object, then the list is a macro
call. When a macro call is evaluated, the elements of the rest of the list are not initially
Chapter 10: Evaluation 133

evaluated. Instead, these elements themselves are used as the arguments of the macro. The
macro definition computes a replacement form, called the expansion of the macro, to be
evaluated in place of the original form. The expansion may be any sort of form: a self-
evaluating constant, a symbol, or a list. If the expansion is itself a macro call, this process
of expansion repeats until some other sort of form results.
Ordinary evaluation of a macro call finishes by evaluating the expansion. However, the
macro expansion is not necessarily evaluated right away, or at all, because other programs
also expand macro calls, and they may or may not evaluate the expansions.
Normally, the argument expressions are not evaluated as part of computing the macro
expansion, but instead appear as part of the expansion, so they are computed when the
expansion is evaluated.
For example, given a macro defined as follows:
(defmacro cadr (x)
(list 'car (list 'cdr x)))
an expression such as (cadr (assq 'handler list)) is a macro call, and its expansion is:
(car (cdr (assq 'handler list)))
Note that the argument (assq 'handler list) appears in the expansion.
See Chapter 14 [Macros], page 236, for a complete description of Emacs Lisp macros.

10.1.7 Special Forms

A special form is a primitive function specially marked so that its arguments are not all
evaluated. Most special forms define control structures or perform variable bindings—things
which functions cannot do.
Each special form has its own rules for which arguments are evaluated and which are
used without evaluation. Whether a particular argument is evaluated may depend on the
results of evaluating other arguments.
If an expression’s first symbol is that of a special form, the expression should follow
the rules of that special form; otherwise, Emacs’s behavior is not well-defined (though it
will not crash). For example, ((lambda (x) x . 3) 4) contains a subexpression that begins
with lambda but is not a well-formed lambda expression, so Emacs may signal an error, or
may return 3 or 4 or nil, or may behave in other ways.

special-form-p object [Function]

This predicate tests whether its argument is a special form, and returns t if so, nil
otherwise.

Here is a list, in alphabetical order, of all of the special forms in Emacs Lisp with a
reference to where each is described.
and see Section 11.3 [Combining Conditions], page 143,
catch see Section 11.7.1 [Catch and Throw], page 158,
cond see Section 11.2 [Conditionals], page 141,
condition-case
see Section 11.7.3.3 [Handling Errors], page 163,
Chapter 10: Evaluation 134

defconst see Section 12.5 [Defining Variables], page 173,

defvar see Section 12.5 [Defining Variables], page 173,
function see Section 13.7 [Anonymous Functions], page 216,
if see Section 11.2 [Conditionals], page 141,
interactive
see Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375,
lambda see Section 13.2 [Lambda Expressions], page 205,
let
let* see Section 12.3 [Local Variables], page 170,
or see Section 11.3 [Combining Conditions], page 143,
prog1
prog2
progn see Section 11.1 [Sequencing], page 140,
quote see Section 10.2 [Quoting], page 135,
save-current-buffer
see Section 27.2 [Current Buffer], page 581,
save-excursion
see Section 30.3 [Excursions], page 752,
save-restriction
see Section 30.4 [Narrowing], page 753,
setq see Section 12.8 [Setting Variables], page 177,
setq-default
see Section 12.11.2 [Creating Buffer-Local], page 186,
unwind-protect
see Section 11.7 [Nonlocal Exits], page 158,
while see Section 11.5 [Iteration], page 155,
Common Lisp note: Here are some comparisons of special forms in GNU Emacs
Lisp and Common Lisp. setq, if, and catch are special forms in both Emacs
Lisp and Common Lisp. save-excursion is a special form in Emacs Lisp,
but doesn’t exist in Common Lisp. throw is a special form in Common Lisp
(because it must be able to throw multiple values), but it is a function in Emacs
Lisp (which doesn’t have multiple values).

10.1.8 Autoloading
The autoload feature allows you to call a function or macro whose function definition has
not yet been loaded into Emacs. It specifies which file contains the definition. When an
autoload object appears as a symbol’s function definition, calling that symbol as a function
automatically loads the specified file; then it calls the real definition loaded from that file.
The way to arrange for an autoload object to appear as a symbol’s function definition is
described in Section 16.5 [Autoload], page 268.
Chapter 10: Evaluation 135

10.2 Quoting
The special form quote returns its single argument, as written, without evaluating it. This
provides a way to include constant symbols and lists, which are not self-evaluating objects,
in a program. (It is not necessary to quote self-evaluating objects such as numbers, strings,
and vectors.)

quote object [Special Form]

This special form returns object, without evaluating it.

Because quote is used so often in programs, Lisp provides a convenient read syntax for
it. An apostrophe character (‘'’) followed by a Lisp object (in read syntax) expands to a
list whose first element is quote, and whose second element is the object. Thus, the read
syntax 'x is an abbreviation for (quote x).
Here are some examples of expressions that use quote:
(quote (+ 1 2))
⇒ (+ 1 2)
(quote foo)
⇒ foo
'foo
⇒ foo
''foo
⇒ (quote foo)
'(quote foo)
⇒ (quote foo)
['foo]
⇒ [(quote foo)]
Other quoting constructs include function (see Section 13.7 [Anonymous Functions],
page 216), which causes an anonymous lambda expression written in Lisp to be compiled,
and ‘`’ (see Section 10.3 [Backquote], page 135), which is used to quote only part of a list,
while computing and substituting other parts.

10.3 Backquote
Backquote constructs allow you to quote a list, but selectively evaluate elements of that
list. In the simplest case, it is identical to the special form quote For example, these two
forms yield identical results:
`(a list of (+ 2 3) elements)
⇒ (a list of (+ 2 3) elements)
'(a list of (+ 2 3) elements)
⇒ (a list of (+ 2 3) elements)
The special marker ‘,’ inside of the argument to backquote indicates a value that isn’t
constant. The Emacs Lisp evaluator evaluates the argument of ‘,’, and puts the value in
the list structure:
`(a list of ,(+ 2 3) elements)
⇒ (a list of 5 elements)
Chapter 10: Evaluation 136

Substitution with ‘,’ is allowed at deeper levels of the list structure also. For example:
`(1 2 (3 ,(+ 4 5)))
⇒ (1 2 (3 9))
You can also splice an evaluated value into the resulting list, using the special marker
‘,@’. The elements of the spliced list become elements at the same level as the other elements
of the resulting list. The equivalent code without using ‘`’ is often unreadable. Here are
some examples:
(setq some-list '(2 3))
⇒ (2 3)
(cons 1 (append some-list '(4) some-list))
⇒ (1 2 3 4 2 3)
`(1 ,@some-list 4 ,@some-list)
⇒ (1 2 3 4 2 3)

(setq list '(hack foo bar))

⇒ (hack foo bar)
(cons 'use
(cons 'the
(cons 'words (append (cdr list) '(as elements)))))
⇒ (use the words foo bar as elements)
`(use the words ,@(cdr list) as elements)
⇒ (use the words foo bar as elements)

10.4 Eval
Most often, forms are evaluated automatically, by virtue of their occurrence in a program
being run. On rare occasions, you may need to write code that evaluates a form that is
computed at run time, such as after reading a form from text being edited or getting one
from a property list. On these occasions, use the eval function. Often eval is not needed
and something else should be used instead. For example, to get the value of a variable, while
eval works, symbol-value is preferable; or rather than store expressions in a property list
that then need to go through eval, it is better to store functions instead that are then
passed to funcall.
The functions and variables described in this section evaluate forms, specify limits to the
evaluation process, or record recently returned values. Loading a file also does evaluation
(see Chapter 16 [Loading], page 263).
It is generally cleaner and more flexible to store a function in a data structure, and call
it with funcall or apply, than to store an expression in the data structure and evaluate
it. Using functions provides the ability to pass information to them as arguments.

eval form &optional lexical [Function]

This is the basic function for evaluating an expression. It evaluates form in the current
environment, and returns the result. The type of the form object determines how it
is evaluated. See Section 10.1 [Forms], page 130.
The argument lexical specifies the scoping rule for local variables (see Section 12.10
[Variable Scoping], page 179). If it is omitted or nil, that means to evaluate form
Chapter 10: Evaluation 137

using the default dynamic scoping rule. If it is t, that means to use the lexical scoping
rule. The value of lexical can also be a non-empty alist specifying a particular lexical
environment for lexical bindings; however, this feature is only useful for specialized
purposes, such as in Emacs Lisp debuggers. See Section 12.10.3 [Lexical Binding],
page 182.
Since eval is a function, the argument expression that appears in a call to eval is
evaluated twice: once as preparation before eval is called, and again by the eval
function itself. Here is an example:
(setq foo 'bar)
⇒ bar
(setq bar 'baz)
⇒ baz
;; Here eval receives argument foo
(eval 'foo)
⇒ bar
;; Here eval receives argument bar, which is the value of foo
(eval foo)
⇒ baz
The number of currently active calls to eval is limited to max-lisp-eval-depth (see
below).

eval-region start end &optional stream read-function [Command]

This function evaluates the forms in the current buffer in the region defined by the
positions start and end. It reads forms from the region and calls eval on them until
the end of the region is reached, or until an error is signaled and not handled.
By default, eval-region does not produce any output. However, if stream is non-
nil, any output produced by output functions (see Section 19.5 [Output Functions],
page 329), as well as the values that result from evaluating the expressions in the
region are printed using stream. See Section 19.4 [Output Streams], page 327.
If read-function is non-nil, it should be a function, which is used instead of read to
read expressions one by one. This function is called with one argument, the stream
for reading input. You can also use the variable load-read-function (see [How
Programs Do Loading], page 265) to specify this function, but it is more robust to
use the read-function argument.
eval-region does not move point. It always returns nil.

eval-buffer &optional buffer-or-name stream filename unibyte [Command]

print
This is similar to eval-region, but the arguments provide different optional features.
eval-buffer operates on the entire accessible portion of buffer buffer-or-name (see
Section “Narrowing” in The GNU Emacs Manual). buffer-or-name can be a buffer,
a buffer name (a string), or nil (or omitted), which means to use the current buffer.
stream is used as in eval-region, unless stream is nil and print non-nil. In that
case, values that result from evaluating the expressions are still discarded, but the
output of the output functions is printed in the echo area. filename is the file name
to use for load-history (see Section 16.9 [Unloading], page 276), and defaults to
Chapter 10: Evaluation 138

buffer-file-name (see Section 27.4 [Buffer File Name], page 585). If unibyte is
non-nil, read converts strings to unibyte whenever possible.
eval-current-buffer is an alias for this command.

max-lisp-eval-depth [User Option]

This variable defines the maximum depth allowed in calls to eval, apply, and funcall
before an error is signaled (with error message "Lisp nesting exceeds max-lisp-
eval-depth").
This limit, with the associated error when it is exceeded, is one way Emacs Lisp avoids
infinite recursion on an ill-defined function. If you increase the value of max-lisp-
eval-depth too much, such code can cause stack overflow instead. On some systems,
this overflow can be handled. In that case, normal Lisp evaluation is interrupted and
control is transferred back to the top level command loop (top-level). Note that
there is no way to enter Emacs Lisp debugger in this situation. See Section 18.1.1
[Error Debugging], page 289.
The depth limit counts internal uses of eval, apply, and funcall, such as for calling
the functions mentioned in Lisp expressions, and recursive evaluation of function call
arguments and function body forms, as well as explicit calls in Lisp code.
The default value of this variable is 800. If you set it to a value less than 100, Lisp
will reset it to 100 if the given value is reached. Entry to the Lisp debugger increases
the value, if there is little room left, to make sure the debugger itself has room to
execute.
max-specpdl-size provides another limit on nesting. See [Local Variables], page 172.

values [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of the values returned by all the expressions that were
read, evaluated, and printed from buffers (including the minibuffer) by the standard
Emacs commands which do this. (Note that this does not include evaluation in
*ielm* buffers, nor evaluation using C-j, C-x C-e, and similar evaluation commands
in lisp-interaction-mode.) The elements are ordered most recent first.
(setq x 1)
⇒ 1
(list 'A (1+ 2) auto-save-default)
⇒ (A 3 t)
values
⇒ ((A 3 t) 1 ...)
This variable is useful for referring back to values of forms recently evaluated. It is
generally a bad idea to print the value of values itself, since this may be very long.
Instead, examine particular elements, like this:
;; Refer to the most recent evaluation result.
(nth 0 values)
⇒ (A 3 t)
;; That put a new element on,
;; so all elements move back one.
(nth 1 values)
⇒ (A 3 t)
 139

;; This gets the element that was next-to-most-recent

;; before this example.
(nth 3 values)
⇒ 1
 140

11 Control Structures

A Lisp program consists of a set of expressions, or forms (see Section 10.1 [Forms], page 130).
We control the order of execution of these forms by enclosing them in control structures.
Control structures are special forms which control when, whether, or how many times to
execute the forms they contain.
The simplest order of execution is sequential execution: first form a, then form b, and
so on. This is what happens when you write several forms in succession in the body of a
function, or at top level in a file of Lisp code—the forms are executed in the order written.
We call this textual order. For example, if a function body consists of two forms a and b,
evaluation of the function evaluates first a and then b. The result of evaluating b becomes
the value of the function.
Explicit control structures make possible an order of execution other than sequential.
Emacs Lisp provides several kinds of control structure, including other varieties of se-
quencing, conditionals, iteration, and (controlled) jumps—all discussed below. The built-in
control structures are special forms since their subforms are not necessarily evaluated or not
evaluated sequentially. You can use macros to define your own control structure constructs
(see Chapter 14 [Macros], page 236).

11.1 Sequencing
Evaluating forms in the order they appear is the most common way control passes from one
form to another. In some contexts, such as in a function body, this happens automatically.
Elsewhere you must use a control structure construct to do this: progn, the simplest control
construct of Lisp.
A progn special form looks like this:
(progn a b c ...)
and it says to execute the forms a, b, c, and so on, in that order. These forms are called
the body of the progn form. The value of the last form in the body becomes the value of
the entire progn. (progn) returns nil.
In the early days of Lisp, progn was the only way to execute two or more forms in
succession and use the value of the last of them. But programmers found they often needed
to use a progn in the body of a function, where (at that time) only one form was allowed.
So the body of a function was made into an implicit progn: several forms are allowed just as
in the body of an actual progn. Many other control structures likewise contain an implicit
progn. As a result, progn is not used as much as it was many years ago. It is needed now
most often inside an unwind-protect, and, or, or in the then-part of an if.

progn forms. . . [Special Form]

This special form evaluates all of the forms, in textual order, returning the result of
the final form.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 141

(progn (print "The first form")

(print "The second form")
(print "The third form"))
a "The first form"
a "The second form"
a "The third form"
⇒ "The third form"
Two other constructs likewise evaluate a series of forms but return different values:
prog1 form1 forms. . . [Special Form]
This special form evaluates form1 and all of the forms, in textual order, returning the
result of form1.
(prog1 (print "The first form")
(print "The second form")
(print "The third form"))
a "The first form"
a "The second form"
a "The third form"
⇒ "The first form"
Here is a way to remove the first element from a list in the variable x, then return
the value of that former element:
(prog1 (car x) (setq x (cdr x)))
prog2 form1 form2 forms. . . [Special Form]
This special form evaluates form1, form2, and all of the following forms, in textual
order, returning the result of form2.
(prog2 (print "The first form")
(print "The second form")
(print "The third form"))
a "The first form"
a "The second form"
a "The third form"
⇒ "The second form"

11.2 Conditionals
Conditional control structures choose among alternatives. Emacs Lisp has five conditional
forms: if, which is much the same as in other languages; when and unless, which are vari-
ants of if; cond, which is a generalized case statement; and pcase, which is a generalization
of cond (see Section 11.4 [Pattern-Matching Conditional], page 144).
if condition then-form else-forms. . . [Special Form]
if chooses between the then-form and the else-forms based on the value of condition.
If the evaluated condition is non-nil, then-form is evaluated and the result returned.
Otherwise, the else-forms are evaluated in textual order, and the value of the last one
is returned. (The else part of if is an example of an implicit progn. See Section 11.1
[Sequencing], page 140.)
Chapter 11: Control Structures 142

If condition has the value nil, and no else-forms are given, if returns nil.
if is a special form because the branch that is not selected is never evaluated—it is
ignored. Thus, in this example, true is not printed because print is never called:
(if nil
(print 'true)
'very-false)
⇒ very-false
when condition then-forms. . . [Macro]
This is a variant of if where there are no else-forms, and possibly several then-forms.
In particular,
(when condition a b c)
is entirely equivalent to
(if condition (progn a b c) nil)
unless condition forms. . . [Macro]
This is a variant of if where there is no then-form:
(unless condition a b c)
is entirely equivalent to
(if condition nil
a b c)
cond clause. . . [Special Form]
cond chooses among an arbitrary number of alternatives. Each clause in the cond
must be a list. The car of this list is the condition; the remaining elements, if any,
the body-forms. Thus, a clause looks like this:
(condition body-forms...)
cond tries the clauses in textual order, by evaluating the condition of each clause. If
the value of condition is non-nil, the clause succeeds; then cond evaluates its body-
forms, and returns the value of the last of body-forms. Any remaining clauses are
ignored.
If the value of condition is nil, the clause fails, so the cond moves on to the following
clause, trying its condition.
A clause may also look like this:
(condition)
Then, if condition is non-nil when tested, the cond form returns the value of
condition.
If every condition evaluates to nil, so that every clause fails, cond returns nil.
The following example has four clauses, which test for the cases where the value of x
is a number, string, buffer and symbol, respectively:
(cond ((numberp x) x)
((stringp x) x)
((bufferp x)
(setq temporary-hack x) ; multiple body-forms
(buffer-name x)) ; in one clause
((symbolp x) (symbol-value x)))
Chapter 11: Control Structures 143

Often we want to execute the last clause whenever none of the previous clauses was
successful. To do this, we use t as the condition of the last clause, like this: (t
body-forms). The form t evaluates to t, which is never nil, so this clause never
fails, provided the cond gets to it at all. For example:
(setq a 5)
(cond ((eq a 'hack) 'foo)
(t "default"))
⇒ "default"
This cond expression returns foo if the value of a is hack, and returns the string
"default" otherwise.
Any conditional construct can be expressed with cond or with if. Therefore, the choice
between them is a matter of style. For example:
(if a b c)
≡
(cond (a b) (t c))

11.3 Constructs for Combining Conditions

This section describes three constructs that are often used together with if and cond to
express complicated conditions. The constructs and and or can also be used individually
as kinds of multiple conditional constructs.
not condition [Function]
This function tests for the falsehood of condition. It returns t if condition is nil, and
nil otherwise. The function not is identical to null, and we recommend using the
name null if you are testing for an empty list.
and conditions. . . [Special Form]
The and special form tests whether all the conditions are true. It works by evaluating
the conditions one by one in the order written.
If any of the conditions evaluates to nil, then the result of the and must be nil
regardless of the remaining conditions; so and returns nil right away, ignoring the
remaining conditions.
If all the conditions turn out non-nil, then the value of the last of them becomes the
value of the and form. Just (and), with no conditions, returns t, appropriate because
all the conditions turned out non-nil. (Think about it; which one did not?)
Here is an example. The first condition returns the integer 1, which is not nil.
Similarly, the second condition returns the integer 2, which is not nil. The third
condition is nil, so the remaining condition is never evaluated.
(and (print 1) (print 2) nil (print 3))
a 1
a 2
⇒ nil
Here is a more realistic example of using and:
(if (and (consp foo) (eq (car foo) 'x))
(message "foo is a list starting with x"))
Chapter 11: Control Structures 144

Note that (car foo) is not executed if (consp foo) returns nil, thus avoiding an
error.
and expressions can also be written using either if or cond. Here’s how:
(and arg1 arg2 arg3)
≡
(if arg1 (if arg2 arg3))
≡
(cond (arg1 (cond (arg2 arg3))))
or conditions. . . [Special Form]
The or special form tests whether at least one of the conditions is true. It works by
evaluating all the conditions one by one in the order written.
If any of the conditions evaluates to a non-nil value, then the result of the or must
be non-nil; so or returns right away, ignoring the remaining conditions. The value
it returns is the non-nil value of the condition just evaluated.
If all the conditions turn out nil, then the or expression returns nil. Just (or),
with no conditions, returns nil, appropriate because all the conditions turned out
nil. (Think about it; which one did not?)
For example, this expression tests whether x is either nil or the integer zero:
(or (eq x nil) (eq x 0))
Like the and construct, or can be written in terms of cond. For example:
(or arg1 arg2 arg3)
≡
(cond (arg1)
(arg2)
(arg3))
You could almost write or in terms of if, but not quite:
(if arg1 arg1
(if arg2 arg2
arg3))
This is not completely equivalent because it can evaluate arg1 or arg2 twice. By
contrast, (or arg1 arg2 arg3) never evaluates any argument more than once.

11.4 Pattern-Matching Conditional

Aside from the four basic conditional forms, Emacs Lisp also has a pattern-matching con-
ditional form, the pcase macro, a hybrid of cond and cl-case (see Section “Conditionals”
in Common Lisp Extensions) that overcomes their limitations and introduces the pattern
matching programming style. The limitations that pcase overcomes are:
• The cond form chooses among alternatives by evaluating the predicate condition of
each of its clauses (see Section 11.2 [Conditionals], page 141). The primary limitation
is that variables let-bound in condition are not available to the clause’s body-forms.
Another annoyance (more an inconvenience than a limitation) is that when a series of
condition predicates implement equality tests, there is a lot of repeated code. (cl-case
solves this inconvenience.)
Chapter 11: Control Structures 145

• The cl-case macro chooses among alternatives by evaluating the equality of its first
argument against a set of specific values.
Its limitations are two-fold:
1. The equality tests use eql.
2. The values must be known and written in advance.
These render cl-case unsuitable for strings or compound data structures (e.g., lists or
vectors). (cond doesn’t have these limitations, but it has others, see above.)
Conceptually, the pcase macro borrows the first-arg focus of cl-case and the clause-
processing flow of cond, replacing condition with a generalization of the equality test which
is a variant of pattern matching, and adding facilities so that you can concisely express
a clause’s predicate, and arrange to share let-bindings between a clause’s predicate and
body-forms.
The concise expression of a predicate is known as a pattern. When the predicate, called
on the value of the first arg, returns non-nil, we say that “the pattern matches the value”
(or sometimes “the value matches the pattern”).

11.4.1 The pcase macro

For background, See Section 11.4 [Pattern-Matching Conditional], page 144.

pcase expression &rest clauses [Macro]

Each clause in clauses has the form: (pattern body-forms...).
Evaluate expression to determine its value, expval. Find the first clause in clauses
whose pattern matches expval and pass control to that clause’s body-forms.
If there is a match, the value of pcase is the value of the last of body-forms in the
successful clause. Otherwise, pcase evaluates to nil.

Each pattern has to be a pcase pattern, which can use either one of the core patterns
defined below, or one of the patterns defined via pcase-defmacro (see Section 11.4.2 [Ex-
tending pcase], page 151).
The rest of this subsection describes different forms of core patterns, presents some
examples, and concludes with important caveats on using the let-binding facility provided
by some pattern forms. A core pattern can have the following forms:
_ Matches any expval. This is also known as don’t care or wildcard.
'val Matches if expval equals val. The comparison is done as if by equal (see
Section 2.7 [Equality Predicates], page 32).
keyword
integer
string Matches if expval equals the literal object. This is a special case of 'val, above,
possible because literal objects of these types are self-quoting.
symbol Matches any expval, and additionally let-binds symbol to expval, such that
this binding is available to body-forms (see Section 12.10.1 [Dynamic Binding],
page 180).
Chapter 11: Control Structures 146

If symbol is part of a sequencing pattern seqpat (e.g., by using and, below),

the binding is also available to the portion of seqpat following the appearance
of symbol. This usage has some caveats, see [caveats], page 149.
Two symbols to avoid are t, which behaves like _ (above) and is deprecated,
and nil, which signals an error. Likewise, it makes no sense to bind keyword
symbols (see Section 12.2 [Constant Variables], page 169).
(pred function)
Matches if the predicate function returns non-nil when called on expval. the
predicate function can have one of the following forms:
function name (a symbol)
Call the named function with one argument, expval.
Example: integerp
lambda expression
Call the anonymous function with one argument, expval (see
Section 13.2 [Lambda Expressions], page 205).
Example: (lambda (n) (= 42 n))
function call with n args
Call the function (the first element of the function call) with n
arguments (the other elements) and an additional n+1-th argument
that is expval.
Example: (= 42)
In this example, the function is =, n is one, and the actual function
call becomes: (= 42 expval).
(app function pattern)
Matches if function called on expval returns a value that matches pattern.
function can take one of the forms described for pred, above. Unlike pred,
however, app tests the result against pattern, rather than against a boolean
truth value.
(guard boolean-expression)
Matches if boolean-expression evaluates to non-nil.
(let pattern expr)
Evaluates expr to get exprval and matches if exprval matches pattern. (It is
called let because pattern can bind symbols to values using symbol.)
A sequencing pattern (also known as seqpat) is a pattern that processes its sub-pattern
arguments in sequence. There are two for pcase: and and or. They behave in a similar
manner to the special forms that share their name (see Section 11.3 [Combining Conditions],
page 143), but instead of processing values, they process sub-patterns.
(and pattern1...)
Attempts to match pattern1 . . . , in order, until one of them fails to match. In
that case, and likewise fails to match, and the rest of the sub-patterns are not
tested. If all sub-patterns match, and matches.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 147

(or pattern1 pattern2...)

Attempts to match pattern1, pattern2, . . . , in order, until one of them succeeds.
In that case, or likewise matches, and the rest of the sub-patterns are not tested.
(Note that there must be at least two sub-patterns. Simply (or pattern1)
signals error.)
To present a consistent environment (see hundefinedi [Intro Eval], page hunde-
finedi) to body-forms (thus avoiding an evaluation error on match), if any of
the sub-patterns let-binds a set of symbols, they must all bind the same set of
symbols.

Example: Advantage Over cl-case

Here’s an example that highlights some advantages pcase has over cl-case (see Section
“Conditionals” in Common Lisp Extensions).
(pcase (get-return-code x)
;; string
((and (pred stringp) msg)
(message "%s" msg))
;; symbol
('success (message "Done!"))
('would-block (message "Sorry, can't do it now"))
('read-only (message "The shmliblick is read-only"))
('access-denied (message "You do not have the needed rights"))
;; default
(code (message "Unknown return code %S" code)))
With cl-case, you would need to explicitly declare a local variable code to hold the return
value of get-return-code. Also cl-case is difficult to use with strings because it uses eql
for comparison.

Example: Using and

A common idiom is to write a pattern starting with and, with one or more symbol sub-
patterns providing bindings to the sub-patterns that follow (as well as to the body forms).
For example, the following pattern matches single-digit integers.
(and
(pred integerp)
n ; bind n to expval
(guard (<= -9 n 9)))
First, pred matches if (integerp expval) evaluates to non-nil. Next, n is a symbol
pattern that matches anything and binds n to expval. Lastly, guard matches if the boolean
expression (<= -9 n 9) (note the reference to n) evaluates to non-nil. If all these sub-
patterns match, and matches.

Example: Reformulation with pcase

Here is another example that shows how to reformulate a simple matching task from its
traditional implementation (function grok/traditional) to one using pcase (function
grok/pcase). The docstring for both these functions is: “If OBJ is a string of the form
Chapter 11: Control Structures 148

"key:NUMBER", return NUMBER (a string). Otherwise, return the list ("149" default).”
First, the traditional implementation (see Section 34.3 [Regular Expressions], page 868):
(defun grok/traditional (obj)
(if (and (stringp obj)
(string-match "^key:\\([[:digit:]]+\\)$" obj))
(match-string 1 obj)
(list "149" 'default)))

(grok/traditional "key:0") ⇒ "0"

(grok/traditional "key:149") ⇒ "149"
(grok/traditional 'monolith) ⇒ ("149" default)
The reformulation demonstrates symbol binding as well as or, and, pred, app and let.
(defun grok/pcase (obj)
(pcase obj
((or ; line 1
(and ; line 2
(pred stringp) ; line 3
(pred (string-match ; line 4
"^key:\\([[:digit:]]+\\)$")) ; line 5
(app (match-string 1) ; line 6
val)) ; line 7
(let val (list "149" 'default))) ; line 8
val))) ; line 9

(grok/pcase "key:0") ⇒ "0"

(grok/pcase "key:149") ⇒ "149"
(grok/pcase 'monolith) ⇒ ("149" default)
The bulk of grok/pcase is a single clause of a pcase form, the pattern on lines 1-8, the
(single) body form on line 9. The pattern is or, which tries to match in turn its argument
sub-patterns, first and (lines 2-7), then let (line 8), until one of them succeeds.
As in the previous example (see [Example 1], page 147), and begins with a pred sub-
pattern to ensure the following sub-patterns work with an object of the correct type (string,
in this case). If (stringp expval) returns nil, pred fails, and thus and fails, too.
The next pred (lines 4-5) evaluates (string-match RX expval) and matches if the result
is non-nil, which means that expval has the desired form: key:NUMBER. Again, failing this,
pred fails and and, too.
Lastly (in this series of and sub-patterns), app evaluates (match-string 1 expval) (line
6) to get a temporary value tmp (i.e., the “NUMBER” substring) and tries to match tmp
against pattern val (line 7). Since that is a symbol pattern, it matches unconditionally and
additionally binds val to tmp.
Now that app has matched, all and sub-patterns have matched, and so and matches.
Likewise, once and has matched, or matches and does not proceed to try sub-pattern let
(line 8).
Chapter 11: Control Structures 149

Let’s consider the situation where obj is not a string, or it is a string but has the wrong
form. In this case, one of the pred (lines 3-5) fails to match, thus and (line 2) fails to match,
thus or (line 1) proceeds to try sub-pattern let (line 8).

First, let evaluates (list "149" 'default) to get ("149" default), the exprval, and
then tries to match exprval against pattern val. Since that is a symbol pattern, it matches
unconditionally and additionally binds val to exprval. Now that let has matched, or
matches.

Note how both and and let sub-patterns finish in the same way: by trying (always
successfully) to match against the symbol pattern val, in the process binding val. Thus,
or always matches and control always passes to the body form (line 9). Because that is the
last body form in a successfully matched pcase clause, it is the value of pcase and likewise
the return value of grok/pcase (see Section 13.1 [What Is a Function], page 203).

Caveats for symbol in Sequencing Patterns

The preceding examples all use sequencing patterns which include the symbol sub-pattern
in some way. Here are some important details about that usage.

1. When symbol occurs more than once in seqpat, the second and subsequent occurrences
do not expand to re-binding, but instead expand to an equality test using eq.
The following example features a pcase form with two clauses and two seqpat, A and
B. Both A and B first check that expval is a pair (using pred), and then bind symbols
to the car and cdr of expval (using one app each).
For A, because symbol st is mentioned twice, the second mention becomes an equality
test using eq. On the other hand, B uses two separate symbols, s1 and s2, both of
which become independent bindings.
(defun grok (object)
(pcase object
((and (pred consp) ; seqpat A
(app car st) ; first mention: st
(app cdr st)) ; second mention: st
(list 'eq st))
((and (pred consp) ; seqpat B
(app car s1) ; first mention: s1
(app cdr s2)) ; first mention: s2
(list 'not-eq s1 s2))))

(let ((s "yow!"))

(grok (cons s s))) ⇒ (eq "yow!")
(grok (cons "yo!" "yo!")) ⇒ (not-eq "yo!" "yo!")
(grok '(4 2)) ⇒ (not-eq 4 (2))
2. Side-effecting code referencing symbol is undefined. Avoid. For example, here are two
similar functions. Both use and, symbol and guard:
Chapter 11: Control Structures 150

(defun square-double-digit-p/CLEAN (integer)

(pcase (* integer integer)
((and n (guard (< 9 n 100))) (list 'yes n))
(sorry (list 'no sorry))))

(square-double-digit-p/CLEAN 9) ⇒ (yes 81)

(square-double-digit-p/CLEAN 3) ⇒ (no 9)

(defun square-double-digit-p/MAYBE (integer)

(pcase (* integer integer)
((and n (guard (< 9 (incf n) 100))) (list 'yes n))
(sorry (list 'no sorry))))

(square-double-digit-p/MAYBE 9) ⇒ (yes 81)

(square-double-digit-p/MAYBE 3) ⇒ (yes 9) ; WRONG!
The difference is in boolean-expression in guard: CLEAN references n simply and directly,
while MAYBE references n with a side-effect, in the expression (incf n). When integer
is 3, here’s what happens:
• The first n binds it to expval, i.e., the result of evaluating (* 3 3), or 9.
• boolean-expression is evaluated:
start: (< 9 (incf n) 100)
becomes: (< 9 (setq n (1+ n)) 100)
becomes: (< 9 (setq n (1+ 9)) 100)
becomes: (< 9 (setq n 10) 100)
; side-effect here!
becomes: (< 9 n 100) ; n now bound to 10
becomes: (< 9 10 100)
becomes: t
• Because the result of the evaluation is non-nil, guard matches, and matches, and
control passes to that clause’s body forms.
Aside from the mathematical incorrectness of asserting that 9 is a double-digit integer,
there is another problem with MAYBE. The body form references n once more, yet we
do not see the updated value—10—at all. What happened to it?
To sum up, it’s best to avoid side-effecting references to symbol patterns entirely, not
only in boolean-expression (in guard), but also in expr (in let) and function (in pred
and app).
3. On match, the clause’s body forms can reference the set of symbols the pattern let-
binds. When seqpat is and, this set is the union of all the symbols each of its sub-
patterns let-binds. This makes sense because, for and to match, all the sub-patterns
must match.
When seqpat is or, things are different: or matches at the first sub-pattern that
matches; the rest of the sub-patterns are ignored. It makes no sense for each sub-
pattern to let-bind a different set of symbols because the body forms have no way
to distinguish which sub-pattern matched and choose among the different sets. For
example, the following is invalid:
Chapter 11: Control Structures 151

(pcase (read-number "Enter an integer: ")

((or (and (pred evenp)
e-num) ; bind e-num to expval
o-num) ; bind o-num to expval
(list e-num o-num)))

Enter an integer: 42
error Symbol’s value as variable is void: o-num
Enter an integer: 149
error Symbol’s value as variable is void: e-num
Evaluating body form (list e-num o-num) signals error. To distinguish between sub-
patterns, you can use another symbol, identical in name in all sub-patterns but differing
in value. Reworking the above example:
(pcase (read-number "Enter an integer: ")
((and num ; line 1
(or (and (pred evenp) ; line 2
(let spin 'even)) ; line 3
(let spin 'odd))) ; line 4
(list spin num))) ; line 5

Enter an integer: 42
⇒ (even 42)
Enter an integer: 149
⇒ (odd 149)
Line 1 “factors out” the expval binding with and and symbol (in this case, num). On
line 2, or begins in the same way as before, but instead of binding different symbols,
uses let twice (lines 3-4) to bind the same symbol spin in both sub-patterns. The
value of spin distinguishes the sub-patterns. The body form references both symbols
(line 5).

11.4.2 Extending pcase

The pcase macro supports several kinds of patterns (see Section 11.4 [Pattern-Matching
Conditional], page 144). You can add support for other kinds of patterns using the
pcase-defmacro macro.
pcase-defmacro name args [doc] &rest body [Macro]
Define a new kind of pattern for pcase, to be invoked as (name actual-args). The
pcase macro expands this into a function call that evaluates body, whose job it is to
rewrite the invoked pattern into some other pattern, in an environment where args
are bound to actual-args.
Additionally, arrange to display doc along with the docstring of pcase. By convention,
doc should use EXPVAL to stand for the result of evaluating expression (first arg to
pcase).
Typically, body rewrites the invoked pattern to use more basic patterns. Although all
patterns eventually reduce to core patterns, body need not use core patterns straight away.
The following example defines two patterns, named less-than and integer-less-than.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 152

(pcase-defmacro less-than (n)

"Matches if EXPVAL is a number less than N."
`(pred (> ,n)))

(pcase-defmacro integer-less-than (n)

"Matches if EXPVAL is an integer less than N."
`(and (pred integerp)
(less-than ,n)))
Note that the docstrings mention args (in this case, only one: n) in the usual way, and
also mention EXPVAL by convention. The first rewrite (i.e., body for less-than) uses one
core pattern: pred. The second uses two core patterns: and and pred, as well as the
newly-defined pattern less-than. Both use a single backquote construct (see Section 10.3
[Backquote], page 135).

11.4.3 Backquote-Style Patterns

This subsection describes backquote-style patterns, a set of builtin patterns that eases
structural matching. For background, see Section 11.4 [Pattern-Matching Conditional],
page 144.
Backquote-style patterns are a powerful set of pcase pattern extensions (created using
pcase-defmacro) that make it easy to match expval against specifications of its structure.
For example, to match expval that must be a list of two elements whose first element is
a specific string and the second element is any value, you can write a core pattern:
(and (pred listp)
ls
(guard (= 2 (length ls)))
(guard (string= "first" (car ls)))
(let second-elem (cadr ls)))
or you can write the equivalent backquote-style pattern:
`("first" ,second-elem)
The backquote-style pattern is more concise, resembles the structure of expval, and avoids
binding ls.
A backquote-style pattern has the form `qpat where qpat can have the following forms:
(qpat1 . qpat2)
Matches if expval is a cons cell whose car matches qpat1 and whose cdr matches
qpat2. This readily generalizes to lists as in (qpat1 qpat2 ...).
[qpat1 qpat2 ... qpatm]
Matches if expval is a vector of length m whose 0..(m-1)th elements match
qpat1, qpat2 . . . qpatm, respectively.
symbol
keyword
integer
string Matches if the corresponding element of expval is equal to the specified literal
object. Note that, aside from symbol, this is the same set of self-quoting literal
objects that are acceptable as a core pattern.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 153

,pattern Matches if the corresponding element of expval matches pattern. Note that
pattern is any kind that pcase supports. (In the example above, second-elem
is a symbol core pattern; it therefore matches anything, and let-binds
second-elem.)

The corresponding element is the portion of expval that is in the same structural position
as the structural position of qpat in the backquote-style pattern. (In the example above,
the corresponding element of second-elem is the second element of expval.)
Here is an example of using pcase to implement a simple interpreter for a little expression
language (note that this requires lexical binding for the lambda expression in the fn clause
to properly capture body and arg (see Section 12.10.3 [Lexical Binding], page 182):
(defun evaluate (form env)
(pcase form
(`(add ,x ,y) (+ (evaluate x env)
(evaluate y env)))
(`(call ,fun ,arg) (funcall (evaluate fun env)
(evaluate arg env)))
(`(fn ,arg ,body) (lambda (val)
(evaluate body (cons (cons arg val)
env))))
((pred numberp) form)
((pred symbolp) (cdr (assq form env)))
(_ (error "Syntax error: %S" form))))
The first three clauses use backquote-style patterns. `(add ,x ,y) is a pattern that checks
that form is a three-element list starting with the literal symbol add, then extracts the
second and third elements and binds them to symbols x and y, respectively. The clause
body evaluates x and y and adds the results. Similarly, the call clause implements a
function call, and the fn clause implements an anonymous function definition.
The remaining clauses use core patterns. (pred numberp) matches if form is a number.
On match, the body evaluates it. (pred symbolp) matches if form is a symbol. On match,
the body looks up the symbol in env and returns its association. Finally, _ is the catch-all
pattern that matches anything, so it’s suitable for reporting syntax errors.
Here are some sample programs in this small language, including their evaluation results:
(evaluate '(add 1 2) nil) ⇒ 3
(evaluate '(add x y) '((x . 1) (y . 2))) ⇒ 3
(evaluate '(call (fn x (add 1 x)) 2) nil) ⇒ 3
(evaluate '(sub 1 2) nil) ⇒ error

11.4.4 Destructuring with pcase Patterns

Pcase patterns not only express a condition on the form of the objects they can match, but
they can also extract sub-fields of those objects. For example we can extract 2 elements
from a list that is the value of the variable my-list with the following code:
(pcase my-list
(`(add ,x ,y) (message "Contains %S and %S" x y)))
Chapter 11: Control Structures 154

This will not only extract x and y but will additionally test that my-list is a list
containing exactly 3 elements and whose first element is the symbol add. If any of those
tests fail, pcase will immediately return nil without calling message.
Extraction of multiple values stored in an object is known as destructuring. Using pcase
patterns allows to perform destructuring binding, which is similar to a local binding (see
Section 12.3 [Local Variables], page 170), but gives values to multiple elements of a variable
by extracting those values from an object of compatible structure.
The macros described in this section use pcase patterns to perform destructuring bind-
ing. The condition of the object to be of compatible structure means that the object must
match the pattern, because only then the object’s subfields can be extracted. For example:
(pcase-let ((`(add ,x ,y) my-list))
(message "Contains %S and %S" x y))
does the same as the previous example, except that it directly tries to extract x and y from
my-list without first verifying if my-list is a list which has the right number of elements
and has add as its first element. The precise behavior when the object does not actually
match the pattern is undefined, although the body will not be silently skipped: either an
error is signaled or the body is run with some of the variables potentially bound to arbitrary
values like nil.
The pcase patterns that are useful for destructuring bindings are generally those de-
scribed in Section 11.4.3 [Backquote Patterns], page 152, since they express a specification
of the structure of objects that will match.
For an alternative facility for destructuring binding, see [seq-let], page 102.

pcase-let bindings body. . . [Macro]

Perform destructuring binding of variables according to bindings, and then evaluate
body.
bindings is a list of bindings of the form (pattern exp), where exp is an expression
to evaluate and pattern is a pcase pattern.
All exps are evaluated first, after which they are matched against their respective
pattern, introducing new variable bindings that can then be used inside body. The
variable bindings are produced by destructuring binding of elements of pattern to the
values of the corresponding elements of the evaluated exp.

pcase-let* bindings body. . . [Macro]

Perform destructuring binding of variables according to bindings, and then evaluate
body.
bindings is a list of bindings of the form (pattern exp), where exp is an expression
to evaluate and pattern is a pcase pattern. The variable bindings are produced
by destructuring binding of elements of pattern to the values of the corresponding
elements of the evaluated exp.
Unlike pcase-let, but similarly to let*, each exp is matched against its correspond-
ing pattern before processing the next element of bindings, so the variable bindings
introduced in each one of the bindings are available in the exps of the bindings that
follow it, additionally to being available in body.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 155

pcase-dolist (pattern list) body. . . [Macro]

Execute body once for each element of list, on each iteration performing a destructur-
ing binding of variables in pattern to the values of the corresponding subfields of the
element of list. The bindings are performed as if by pcase-let. When pattern is a
simple variable, this ends up being equivalent to dolist (see Section 11.5 [Iteration],
page 155).

11.5 Iteration
Iteration means executing part of a program repetitively. For example, you might want to
repeat some computation once for each element of a list, or once for each integer from 0 to
n. You can do this in Emacs Lisp with the special form while:

while condition forms. . . [Special Form]

while first evaluates condition. If the result is non-nil, it evaluates forms in textual
order. Then it reevaluates condition, and if the result is non-nil, it evaluates forms
again. This process repeats until condition evaluates to nil.
There is no limit on the number of iterations that may occur. The loop will continue
until either condition evaluates to nil or until an error or throw jumps out of it (see
Section 11.7 [Nonlocal Exits], page 158).
The value of a while form is always nil.
(setq num 0)
⇒ 0
(while (< num 4)
(princ (format "Iteration %d." num))
(setq num (1+ num)))
a Iteration 0.
a Iteration 1.
a Iteration 2.
a Iteration 3.
⇒ nil
To write a repeat-until loop, which will execute something on each iteration and then
do the end-test, put the body followed by the end-test in a progn as the first argument
of while, as shown here:
(while (progn
(forward-line 1)
(not (looking-at "^$"))))
This moves forward one line and continues moving by lines until it reaches an empty
line. It is peculiar in that the while has no body, just the end test (which also does
the real work of moving point).

The dolist and dotimes macros provide convenient ways to write two common kinds
of loops.

dolist (var list [result]) body. . . [Macro]

This construct executes body once for each element of list, binding the variable var
locally to hold the current element. Then it returns the value of evaluating result, or
Chapter 11: Control Structures 156

nil if result is omitted. For example, here is how you could use dolist to define the
reverse function:
(defun reverse (list)
(let (value)
(dolist (elt list value)
(setq value (cons elt value)))))
dotimes (var count [result]) body. . . [Macro]
This construct executes body once for each integer from 0 (inclusive) to count (exclu-
sive), binding the variable var to the integer for the current iteration. Then it returns
the value of evaluating result, or nil if result is omitted. Here is an example of using
dotimes to do something 100 times:
(dotimes (i 100)
(insert "I will not obey absurd orders\n"))

11.6 Generators
A generator is a function that produces a potentially-infinite stream of values. Each time
the function produces a value, it suspends itself and waits for a caller to request the next
value.
iter-defun name args [doc] [declare] [interactive] body. . . [Macro]
iter-defun defines a generator function. A generator function has the same signature
as a normal function, but works differently. Instead of executing body when called,
a generator function returns an iterator object. That iterator runs body to generate
values, emitting a value and pausing where iter-yield or iter-yield-from appears.
When body returns normally, iter-next signals iter-end-of-sequence with body’s
result as its condition data.
Any kind of Lisp code is valid inside body, but iter-yield and iter-yield-from
cannot appear inside unwind-protect forms.
iter-lambda args [doc] [interactive] body. . . [Macro]
iter-lambda produces an unnamed generator function that works just like a generator
function produced with iter-defun.
iter-yield value [Macro]
When it appears inside a generator function, iter-yield indicates that the current
iterator should pause and return value from iter-next. iter-yield evaluates to the
value parameter of next call to iter-next.
iter-yield-from iterator [Macro]
iter-yield-from yields all the values that iterator produces and evaluates to the
value that iterator’s generator function returns normally. While it has control, itera-
tor receives values sent to the iterator using iter-next.
To use a generator function, first call it normally, producing a iterator object. An
iterator is a specific instance of a generator. Then use iter-next to retrieve values from
this iterator. When there are no more values to pull from an iterator, iter-next raises an
iter-end-of-sequence condition with the iterator’s final value.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 157

It’s important to note that generator function bodies only execute inside calls to
iter-next. A call to a function defined with iter-defun produces an iterator; you must
drive this iterator with iter-next for anything interesting to happen. Each call to a
generator function produces a different iterator, each with its own state.

iter-next iterator value [Function]

Retrieve the next value from iterator. If there are no more values to be generated
(because iterator’s generator function returned), iter-next signals the iter-end-
of-sequence condition; the data value associated with this condition is the value
with which iterator’s generator function returned.
value is sent into the iterator and becomes the value to which iter-yield evaluates.
value is ignored for the first iter-next call to a given iterator, since at the start of
iterator’s generator function, the generator function is not evaluating any iter-yield
form.

iter-close iterator [Function]

If iterator is suspended inside an unwind-protect’s bodyform and becomes unreach-
able, Emacs will eventually run unwind handlers after a garbage collection pass. (Note
that iter-yield is illegal inside an unwind-protect’s unwindforms.) To ensure that
these handlers are run before then, use iter-close.

Some convenience functions are provided to make working with iterators easier:

iter-do (var iterator) body . . . [Macro]

Run body with var bound to each value that iterator produces.

The Common Lisp loop facility also contains features for working with iterators. See
Section “Loop Facility” in Common Lisp Extensions.
The following piece of code demonstrates some important principles of working with
iterators.
(require 'generator)
(iter-defun my-iter (x)
(iter-yield (1+ (iter-yield (1+ x))))
;; Return normally
-1)

(let* ((iter (my-iter 5))

(iter2 (my-iter 0)))
;; Prints 6
(print (iter-next iter))
;; Prints 9
(print (iter-next iter 8))
;; Prints 1; iter and iter2 have distinct states
(print (iter-next iter2 nil))

;; We expect the iter sequence to end now

(condition-case x
(iter-next iter)
Chapter 11: Control Structures 158

(iter-end-of-sequence
;; Prints -1, which my-iter returned normally
(print (cdr x)))))

11.7 Nonlocal Exits

A nonlocal exit is a transfer of control from one point in a program to another remote point.
Nonlocal exits can occur in Emacs Lisp as a result of errors; you can also use them under
explicit control. Nonlocal exits unbind all variable bindings made by the constructs being
exited.

11.7.1 Explicit Nonlocal Exits: catch and throw

Most control constructs affect only the flow of control within the construct itself. The
function throw is the exception to this rule of normal program execution: it performs a
nonlocal exit on request. (There are other exceptions, but they are for error handling only.)
throw is used inside a catch, and jumps back to that catch. For example:
(defun foo-outer ()
(catch 'foo
(foo-inner)))

(defun foo-inner ()
...
(if x
(throw 'foo t))
...)
The throw form, if executed, transfers control straight back to the corresponding catch,
which returns immediately. The code following the throw is not executed. The second
argument of throw is used as the return value of the catch.
The function throw finds the matching catch based on the first argument: it searches for
a catch whose first argument is eq to the one specified in the throw. If there is more than
one applicable catch, the innermost one takes precedence. Thus, in the above example, the
throw specifies foo, and the catch in foo-outer specifies the same symbol, so that catch
is the applicable one (assuming there is no other matching catch in between).
Executing throw exits all Lisp constructs up to the matching catch, including function
calls. When binding constructs such as let or function calls are exited in this way, the
bindings are unbound, just as they are when these constructs exit normally (see Section 12.3
[Local Variables], page 170). Likewise, throw restores the buffer and position saved by
save-excursion (see Section 30.3 [Excursions], page 752), and the narrowing status saved
by save-restriction. It also runs any cleanups established with the unwind-protect
special form when it exits that form (see Section 11.7.4 [Cleanups], page 167).
The throw need not appear lexically within the catch that it jumps to. It can equally
well be called from another function called within the catch. As long as the throw takes
place chronologically after entry to the catch, and chronologically before exit from it, it has
access to that catch. This is why throw can be used in commands such as exit-recursive-
edit that throw back to the editor command loop (see Section 21.13 [Recursive Editing],
page 410).
Chapter 11: Control Structures 159

Common Lisp note: Most other versions of Lisp, including Common Lisp, have
several ways of transferring control nonsequentially: return, return-from, and
go, for example. Emacs Lisp has only throw. The cl-lib library provides
versions of some of these. See Section “Blocks and Exits” in Common Lisp
Extensions.

catch tag body. . . [Special Form]

catch establishes a return point for the throw function. The return point is distin-
guished from other such return points by tag, which may be any Lisp object except
nil. The argument tag is evaluated normally before the return point is established.
With the return point in effect, catch evaluates the forms of the body in textual
order. If the forms execute normally (without error or nonlocal exit) the value of the
last body form is returned from the catch.
If a throw is executed during the execution of body, specifying the same value tag,
the catch form exits immediately; the value it returns is whatever was specified as
the second argument of throw.

throw tag value [Function]

The purpose of throw is to return from a return point previously established with
catch. The argument tag is used to choose among the various existing return points;
it must be eq to the value specified in the catch. If multiple return points match tag,
the innermost one is used.
The argument value is used as the value to return from that catch.
If no return point is in effect with tag tag, then a no-catch error is signaled with
data (tag value).

11.7.2 Examples of catch and throw

One way to use catch and throw is to exit from a doubly nested loop. (In most languages,
this would be done with a goto.) Here we compute (foo i j) for i and j varying from 0 to
9:
(defun search-foo ()
(catch 'loop
(let ((i 0))
(while (< i 10)
(let ((j 0))
(while (< j 10)
(if (foo i j)
(throw 'loop (list i j)))
(setq j (1+ j))))
(setq i (1+ i))))))
If foo ever returns non-nil, we stop immediately and return a list of i and j. If foo always
returns nil, the catch returns normally, and the value is nil, since that is the result of the
while.
Here are two tricky examples, slightly different, showing two return points at once. First,
two return points with the same tag, hack:
Chapter 11: Control Structures 160

(defun catch2 (tag)

(catch tag
(throw 'hack 'yes)))
⇒ catch2

(catch 'hack
(print (catch2 'hack))
'no)
a yes
⇒ no
Since both return points have tags that match the throw, it goes to the inner one, the one
established in catch2. Therefore, catch2 returns normally with value yes, and this value
is printed. Finally the second body form in the outer catch, which is 'no, is evaluated and
returned from the outer catch.
Now let’s change the argument given to catch2:
(catch 'hack
(print (catch2 'quux))
'no)
⇒ yes
We still have two return points, but this time only the outer one has the tag hack; the inner
one has the tag quux instead. Therefore, throw makes the outer catch return the value
yes. The function print is never called, and the body-form 'no is never evaluated.

11.7.3 Errors
When Emacs Lisp attempts to evaluate a form that, for some reason, cannot be evaluated,
it signals an error.
When an error is signaled, Emacs’s default reaction is to print an error message and
terminate execution of the current command. This is the right thing to do in most cases,
such as if you type C-f at the end of the buffer.
In complicated programs, simple termination may not be what you want. For example,
the program may have made temporary changes in data structures, or created temporary
buffers that should be deleted before the program is finished. In such cases, you would
use unwind-protect to establish cleanup expressions to be evaluated in case of error. (See
Section 11.7.4 [Cleanups], page 167.) Occasionally, you may wish the program to continue
execution despite an error in a subroutine. In these cases, you would use condition-case
to establish error handlers to recover control in case of error.
Resist the temptation to use error handling to transfer control from one part of the
program to another; use catch and throw instead. See Section 11.7.1 [Catch and Throw],
page 158.

11.7.3.1 How to Signal an Error

Signaling an error means beginning error processing. Error processing normally aborts all
or part of the running program and returns to a point that is set up to handle the error (see
Section 11.7.3.2 [Processing of Errors], page 162). Here we describe how to signal an error.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 161

Most errors are signaled automatically within Lisp primitives which you call for other
purposes, such as if you try to take the car of an integer or move forward a character at
the end of the buffer. You can also signal errors explicitly with the functions error and
signal.
Quitting, which happens when the user types C-g, is not considered an error, but it is
handled almost like an error. See Section 21.11 [Quitting], page 407.
Every error specifies an error message, one way or another. The message should state
what is wrong (“File does not exist”), not how things ought to be (“File must exist”).
The convention in Emacs Lisp is that error messages should start with a capital letter, but
should not end with any sort of punctuation.
error format-string &rest args [Function]
This function signals an error with an error message constructed by applying
format-message (see Section 4.7 [Formatting Strings], page 60) to format-string
and args.
These examples show typical uses of error:
(error "That is an error -- try something else")
error That is an error -- try something else

(error "Invalid name `%s'" "A%%B")

error Invalid name ‘A%%B’
error works by calling signal with two arguments: the error symbol error, and a
list containing the string returned by format-message.
Typically grave accent and apostrophe in the format translate to matching curved
quotes, e.g., "Missing ‘%s’" might result in "Missing ‘foo’". See Section 24.4
[Text Quoting Style], page 515, for how to influence or inhibit this translation.
Warning: If you want to use your own string as an error message verbatim, don’t just
write (error string). If string string contains ‘%’, ‘`’, or ‘'’ it may be reformatted,
with undesirable results. Instead, use (error "%s" string).
signal error-symbol data [Function]
This function signals an error named by error-symbol. The argument data is a list of
additional Lisp objects relevant to the circumstances of the error.
The argument error-symbol must be an error symbol—a symbol defined with
define-error. This is how Emacs Lisp classifies different sorts of errors. See
Section 11.7.3.4 [Error Symbols], page 166, for a description of error symbols, error
conditions and condition names.
If the error is not handled, the two arguments are used in printing the error message.
Normally, this error message is provided by the error-message property of error-
symbol. If data is non-nil, this is followed by a colon and a comma separated list of
the unevaluated elements of data. For error, the error message is the car of data
(that must be a string). Subcategories of file-error are handled specially.
The number and significance of the objects in data depends on error-symbol. For
example, with a wrong-type-argument error, there should be two objects in the list:
a predicate that describes the type that was expected, and the object that failed to
fit that type.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 162

Both error-symbol and data are available to any error handlers that handle the error:
condition-case binds a local variable to a list of the form (error-symbol . data)
(see Section 11.7.3.3 [Handling Errors], page 163).
The function signal never returns.
(signal 'wrong-number-of-arguments '(x y))
error Wrong number of arguments: x, y

(signal 'no-such-error '("My unknown error condition"))

error peculiar error: "My unknown error condition"

user-error format-string &rest args [Function]

This function behaves exactly like error, except that it uses the error symbol
user-error rather than error. As the name suggests, this is intended to report
errors on the part of the user, rather than errors in the code itself. For example, if
you try to use the command Info-history-back (l) to move back beyond the start
of your Info browsing history, Emacs signals a user-error. Such errors do not cause
entry to the debugger, even when debug-on-error is non-nil. See Section 18.1.1
[Error Debugging], page 289.

Common Lisp note: Emacs Lisp has nothing like the Common Lisp concept of
continuable errors.

11.7.3.2 How Emacs Processes Errors

When an error is signaled, signal searches for an active handler for the error. A handler
is a sequence of Lisp expressions designated to be executed if an error happens in part
of the Lisp program. If the error has an applicable handler, the handler is executed, and
control resumes following the handler. The handler executes in the environment of the
condition-case that established it; all functions called within that condition-case have
already been exited, and the handler cannot return to them.
If there is no applicable handler for the error, it terminates the current command and
returns control to the editor command loop. (The command loop has an implicit handler
for all kinds of errors.) The command loop’s handler uses the error symbol and associated
data to print an error message. You can use the variable command-error-function to
control how this is done:

command-error-function [Variable]
This variable, if non-nil, specifies a function to use to handle errors that return
control to the Emacs command loop. The function should take three arguments:
data, a list of the same form that condition-case would bind to its variable; context,
a string describing the situation in which the error occurred, or (more often) nil; and
caller, the Lisp function which called the primitive that signaled the error.

An error that has no explicit handler may call the Lisp debugger. The debugger is
enabled if the variable debug-on-error (see Section 18.1.1 [Error Debugging], page 289) is
non-nil. Unlike error handlers, the debugger runs in the environment of the error, so that
you can examine values of variables precisely as they were at the time of the error.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 163

11.7.3.3 Writing Code to Handle Errors

The usual effect of signaling an error is to terminate the command that is running and
return immediately to the Emacs editor command loop. You can arrange to trap errors
occurring in a part of your program by establishing an error handler, with the special form
condition-case. A simple example looks like this:
(condition-case nil
(delete-file filename)
(error nil))
This deletes the file named filename, catching any error and returning nil if an error occurs.
(You can use the macro ignore-errors for a simple case like this; see below.)
The condition-case construct is often used to trap errors that are predictable, such as
failure to open a file in a call to insert-file-contents. It is also used to trap errors that
are totally unpredictable, such as when the program evaluates an expression read from the
user.
The second argument of condition-case is called the protected form. (In the example
above, the protected form is a call to delete-file.) The error handlers go into effect when
this form begins execution and are deactivated when this form returns. They remain in
effect for all the intervening time. In particular, they are in effect during the execution
of functions called by this form, in their subroutines, and so on. This is a good thing,
since, strictly speaking, errors can be signaled only by Lisp primitives (including signal
and error) called by the protected form, not by the protected form itself.
The arguments after the protected form are handlers. Each handler lists one or more
condition names (which are symbols) to specify which errors it will handle. The error
symbol specified when an error is signaled also defines a list of condition names. A handler
applies to an error if they have any condition names in common. In the example above,
there is one handler, and it specifies one condition name, error, which covers all errors.
The search for an applicable handler checks all the established handlers starting with the
most recently established one. Thus, if two nested condition-case forms offer to handle
the same error, the inner of the two gets to handle it.
If an error is handled by some condition-case form, this ordinarily prevents the de-
bugger from being run, even if debug-on-error says this error should invoke the debugger.
If you want to be able to debug errors that are caught by a condition-case, set the
variable debug-on-signal to a non-nil value. You can also specify that a particular
handler should let the debugger run first, by writing debug among the conditions, like this:
(condition-case nil
(delete-file filename)
((debug error) nil))
The effect of debug here is only to prevent condition-case from suppressing the call to the
debugger. Any given error will invoke the debugger only if debug-on-error and the other
usual filtering mechanisms say it should. See Section 18.1.1 [Error Debugging], page 289.
condition-case-unless-debug var protected-form handlers. . . [Macro]
The macro condition-case-unless-debug provides another way to handle debug-
ging of such forms. It behaves exactly like condition-case, unless the variable
debug-on-error is non-nil, in which case it does not handle any errors at all.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 164

Once Emacs decides that a certain handler handles the error, it returns control to that
handler. To do so, Emacs unbinds all variable bindings made by binding constructs that
are being exited, and executes the cleanups of all unwind-protect forms that are being
exited. Once control arrives at the handler, the body of the handler executes normally.
After execution of the handler body, execution returns from the condition-case form.
Because the protected form is exited completely before execution of the handler, the handler
cannot resume execution at the point of the error, nor can it examine variable bindings that
were made within the protected form. All it can do is clean up and proceed.
Error signaling and handling have some resemblance to throw and catch (see
Section 11.7.1 [Catch and Throw], page 158), but they are entirely separate facilities. An
error cannot be caught by a catch, and a throw cannot be handled by an error handler
(though using throw when there is no suitable catch signals an error that can be handled).

condition-case var protected-form handlers. . . [Special Form]

This special form establishes the error handlers handlers around the execution of
protected-form. If protected-form executes without error, the value it returns becomes
the value of the condition-case form; in this case, the condition-case has no effect.
The condition-case form makes a difference when an error occurs during protected-
form.
Each of the handlers is a list of the form (conditions body...). Here conditions is
an error condition name to be handled, or a list of condition names (which can include
debug to allow the debugger to run before the handler); body is one or more Lisp
expressions to be executed when this handler handles an error. Here are examples of
handlers:
(error nil)

(arith-error (message "Division by zero"))

((arith-error file-error)
(message
"Either division by zero or failure to open a file"))
Each error that occurs has an error symbol that describes what kind of error it
is, and which describes also a list of condition names (see Section 11.7.3.4 [Error
Symbols], page 166). Emacs searches all the active condition-case forms for a
handler that specifies one or more of these condition names; the innermost matching
condition-case handles the error. Within this condition-case, the first applicable
handler handles the error.
After executing the body of the handler, the condition-case returns normally, using
the value of the last form in the handler body as the overall value.
The argument var is a variable. condition-case does not bind this variable when
executing the protected-form, only when it handles an error. At that time, it binds
var locally to an error description, which is a list giving the particulars of the error.
The error description has the form (error-symbol . data). The handler can refer to
this list to decide what to do. For example, if the error is for failure opening a file, the
file name is the second element of data—the third element of the error description.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 165

If var is nil, that means no variable is bound. Then the error symbol and associated
data are not available to the handler.

Sometimes it is necessary to re-throw a signal caught by condition-case, for some

outer-level handler to catch. Here’s how to do that:

(signal (car err) (cdr err))

where err is the error description variable, the first argument to condition-case
whose error condition you want to re-throw. See [Definition of signal], page 161.

error-message-string error-descriptor [Function]

This function returns the error message string for a given error descriptor. It is useful
if you want to handle an error by printing the usual error message for that error. See
[Definition of signal], page 161.

Here is an example of using condition-case to handle the error that results from
dividing by zero. The handler displays the error message (but without a beep), then returns
a very large number.

(defun safe-divide (dividend divisor)

(condition-case err
;; Protected form.
(/ dividend divisor)
;; The handler.
(arith-error ; Condition.
;; Display the usual message for this error.
(message "%s" (error-message-string err))
1000000)))
⇒ safe-divide

(safe-divide 5 0)
a Arithmetic error: (arith-error)
⇒ 1000000

The handler specifies condition name arith-error so that it will handle only division-by-
zero errors. Other kinds of errors will not be handled (by this condition-case). Thus:

(safe-divide nil 3)
error Wrong type argument: number-or-marker-p, nil

Here is a condition-case that catches all kinds of errors, including those from error:

(setq baz 34)

⇒ 34
Chapter 11: Control Structures 166

(condition-case err
(if (eq baz 35)
t
;; This is a call to the function error.
(error "Rats! The variable %s was %s, not 35" 'baz baz))
;; This is the handler; it is not a form.
(error (princ (format "The error was: %s" err))
2))
a The error was: (error "Rats! The variable baz was 34, not 35")
⇒ 2

ignore-errors body. . . [Macro]

This construct executes body, ignoring any errors that occur during its execution. If
the execution is without error, ignore-errors returns the value of the last form in
body; otherwise, it returns nil.
Here’s the example at the beginning of this subsection rewritten using
ignore-errors:
(ignore-errors
(delete-file filename))

with-demoted-errors format body. . . [Macro]

This macro is like a milder version of ignore-errors. Rather than suppressing
errors altogether, it converts them into messages. It uses the string format to format
the message. format should contain a single ‘%’-sequence; e.g., "Error: %S". Use
with-demoted-errors around code that is not expected to signal errors, but should
be robust if one does occur. Note that this macro uses condition-case-unless-
debug rather than condition-case.

11.7.3.4 Error Symbols and Condition Names

When you signal an error, you specify an error symbol to specify the kind of error you have
in mind. Each error has one and only one error symbol to categorize it. This is the finest
classification of errors defined by the Emacs Lisp language.
These narrow classifications are grouped into a hierarchy of wider classes called error
conditions, identified by condition names. The narrowest such classes belong to the error
symbols themselves: each error symbol is also a condition name. There are also condition
names for more extensive classes, up to the condition name error which takes in all kinds
of errors (but not quit). Thus, each error has one or more condition names: error, the
error symbol if that is distinct from error, and perhaps some intermediate classifications.

define-error name message &optional parent [Function]

In order for a symbol to be an error symbol, it must be defined with define-error
which takes a parent condition (defaults to error). This parent defines the conditions
that this kind of error belongs to. The transitive set of parents always includes the
error symbol itself, and the symbol error. Because quitting is not considered an
error, the set of parents of quit is just (quit).
Chapter 11: Control Structures 167

In addition to its parents, the error symbol has a message which is a string to be printed
when that error is signaled but not handled. If that message is not valid, the error message
‘peculiar error’ is used. See [Definition of signal], page 161.
Internally, the set of parents is stored in the error-conditions property of the error
symbol and the message is stored in the error-message property of the error symbol.
Here is how we define a new error symbol, new-error:
(define-error 'new-error "A new error" 'my-own-errors)
This error has several condition names: new-error, the narrowest classification; my-own-
errors, which we imagine is a wider classification; and all the conditions of my-own-errors
which should include error, which is the widest of all.
The error string should start with a capital letter but it should not end with a period.
This is for consistency with the rest of Emacs.
Naturally, Emacs will never signal new-error on its own; only an explicit call to signal
(see [Definition of signal], page 161) in your code can do this:
(signal 'new-error '(x y))
error A new error: x, y
This error can be handled through any of its condition names. This example handles
new-error and any other errors in the class my-own-errors:
(condition-case foo
(bar nil t)
(my-own-errors nil))
The significant way that errors are classified is by their condition names—the names
used to match errors with handlers. An error symbol serves only as a convenient way to
specify the intended error message and list of condition names. It would be cumbersome to
give signal a list of condition names rather than one error symbol.
By contrast, using only error symbols without condition names would seriously decrease
the power of condition-case. Condition names make it possible to categorize errors at
various levels of generality when you write an error handler. Using error symbols alone
would eliminate all but the narrowest level of classification.
See Appendix F [Standard Errors], page 1192, for a list of the main error symbols and
their conditions.

11.7.4 Cleaning Up from Nonlocal Exits

The unwind-protect construct is essential whenever you temporarily put a data structure
in an inconsistent state; it permits you to make the data consistent again in the event of
an error or throw. (Another more specific cleanup construct that is used only for changes
in buffer contents is the atomic change group; Section 32.29 [Atomic Changes], page 831.)

unwind-protect body-form cleanup-forms. . . [Special Form]

unwind-protect executes body-form with a guarantee that the cleanup-forms will be
evaluated if control leaves body-form, no matter how that happens. body-form may
complete normally, or execute a throw out of the unwind-protect, or cause an error;
in all cases, the cleanup-forms will be evaluated.
Chapter 11: Control Structures 168

If body-form finishes normally, unwind-protect returns the value of body-form, after

it evaluates the cleanup-forms. If body-form does not finish, unwind-protect does
not return any value in the normal sense.
Only body-form is protected by the unwind-protect. If any of the cleanup-forms
themselves exits nonlocally (via a throw or an error), unwind-protect is not guar-
anteed to evaluate the rest of them. If the failure of one of the cleanup-forms has the
potential to cause trouble, then protect it with another unwind-protect around that
form.
The number of currently active unwind-protect forms counts, together with the
number of local variable bindings, against the limit max-specpdl-size (see [Local
Variables], page 172).

For example, here we make an invisible buffer for temporary use, and make sure to kill
it before finishing:
(let ((buffer (get-buffer-create " *temp*")))
(with-current-buffer buffer
(unwind-protect
body-form
(kill-buffer buffer))))
You might think that we could just as well write (kill-buffer (current-buffer)) and
dispense with the variable buffer. However, the way shown above is safer, if body-form
happens to get an error after switching to a different buffer! (Alternatively, you could write
a save-current-buffer around body-form, to ensure that the temporary buffer becomes
current again in time to kill it.)
Emacs includes a standard macro called with-temp-buffer which expands into more or
less the code shown above (see [Current Buffer], page 583). Several of the macros defined
in this manual use unwind-protect in this way.
Here is an actual example derived from an FTP package. It creates a process (see
Chapter 38 [Processes], page 919) to try to establish a connection to a remote machine.
As the function ftp-login is highly susceptible to numerous problems that the writer of
the function cannot anticipate, it is protected with a form that guarantees deletion of the
process in the event of failure. Otherwise, Emacs might fill up with useless subprocesses.
(let ((win nil))
(unwind-protect
(progn
(setq process (ftp-setup-buffer host file))
(if (setq win (ftp-login process host user password))
(message "Logged in")
(error "Ftp login failed")))
(or win (and process (delete-process process)))))
This example has a small bug: if the user types C-g to quit, and the quit happens
immediately after the function ftp-setup-buffer returns but before the variable process
is set, the process will not be killed. There is no easy way to fix this bug, but at least it is
very unlikely.
 169

12 Variables
A variable is a name used in a program to stand for a value. In Lisp, each variable is
represented by a Lisp symbol (see Chapter 9 [Symbols], page 120). The variable name is
simply the symbol’s name, and the variable’s value is stored in the symbol’s value cell1 .
See Section 9.1 [Symbol Components], page 120. In Emacs Lisp, the use of a symbol as a
variable is independent of its use as a function name.
As previously noted in this manual, a Lisp program is represented primarily by Lisp
objects, and only secondarily as text. The textual form of a Lisp program is given by the
read syntax of the Lisp objects that constitute the program. Hence, the textual form of a
variable in a Lisp program is written using the read syntax for the symbol representing the
variable.

12.1 Global Variables

The simplest way to use a variable is globally. This means that the variable has just one
value at a time, and this value is in effect (at least for the moment) throughout the Lisp
system. The value remains in effect until you specify a new one. When a new value replaces
the old one, no trace of the old value remains in the variable.
You specify a value for a symbol with setq. For example,
(setq x '(a b))
gives the variable x the value (a b). Note that setq is a special form (see Section 10.1.7
[Special Forms], page 133); it does not evaluate its first argument, the name of the variable,
but it does evaluate the second argument, the new value.
Once the variable has a value, you can refer to it by using the symbol itself as an
expression. Thus,
x ⇒ (a b)
assuming the setq form shown above has already been executed.
If you do set the same variable again, the new value replaces the old one:
x
⇒ (a b)
(setq x 4)
⇒ 4
x
⇒ 4

12.2 Variables that Never Change

In Emacs Lisp, certain symbols normally evaluate to themselves. These include nil and
t, as well as any symbol whose name starts with ‘:’ (these are called keywords). These
symbols cannot be rebound, nor can their values be changed. Any attempt to set or bind
nil or t signals a setting-constant error. The same is true for a keyword (a symbol
1
To be precise, under the default dynamic scoping rule, the value cell always holds the variable’s current
value, but this is not the case under the lexical scoping rule. See Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping],
page 179, for details.
Chapter 12: Variables 170

whose name starts with ‘:’), if it is interned in the standard obarray, except that setting
such a symbol to itself is not an error.
nil ≡ 'nil
⇒ nil
(setq nil 500)
error Attempt to set constant symbol: nil

keywordp object [Function]

function returns t if object is a symbol whose name starts with ‘:’, interned in the
standard obarray, and returns nil otherwise.

These constants are fundamentally different from the constants defined using the
defconst special form (see Section 12.5 [Defining Variables], page 173). A defconst form
serves to inform human readers that you do not intend to change the value of a variable,
but Emacs does not raise an error if you actually change it.
A small number of additional symbols are made read-only for various practical reasons.
These include enable-multibyte-characters, most-positive-fixnum, most-negative-
fixnum, and a few others. Any attempt to set or bind these also signals a setting-constant
error.

12.3 Local Variables

Global variables have values that last until explicitly superseded with new values. Some-
times it is useful to give a variable a local value—a value that takes effect only within a
certain part of a Lisp program. When a variable has a local value, we say that it is locally
bound to that value, and that it is a local variable.
For example, when a function is called, its argument variables receive local values, which
are the actual arguments supplied to the function call; these local bindings take effect
within the body of the function. To take another example, the let special form explicitly
establishes local bindings for specific variables, which take effect only within the body of
the let form.
We also speak of the global binding, which is where (conceptually) the global value is
kept.
Establishing a local binding saves away the variable’s previous value (or lack of one). We
say that the previous value is shadowed. Both global and local values may be shadowed.
If a local binding is in effect, using setq on the local variable stores the specified value in
the local binding. When that local binding is no longer in effect, the previously shadowed
value (or lack of one) comes back.
A variable can have more than one local binding at a time (e.g., if there are nested let
forms that bind the variable). The current binding is the local binding that is actually in
effect. It determines the value returned by evaluating the variable symbol, and it is the
binding acted on by setq.
For most purposes, you can think of the current binding as the innermost local binding,
or the global binding if there is no local binding. To be more precise, a rule called the scoping
rule determines where in a program a local binding takes effect. The default scoping rule
in Emacs Lisp is called dynamic scoping, which simply states that the current binding at
Chapter 12: Variables 171

any given point in the execution of a program is the most recently-created binding for that
variable that still exists. For details about dynamic scoping, and an alternative scoping rule
called lexical scoping, See Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping], page 179.
The special forms let and let* exist to create local bindings:
let (bindings. . . ) forms. . . [Special Form]
This special form sets up local bindings for a certain set of variables, as specified by
bindings, and then evaluates all of the forms in textual order. Its return value is the
value of the last form in forms. The local bindings set up by let will be in effect only
within the body of forms.
Each of the bindings is either (i) a symbol, in which case that symbol is locally bound
to nil; or (ii) a list of the form (symbol value-form), in which case symbol is locally
bound to the result of evaluating value-form. If value-form is omitted, nil is used.
All of the value-forms in bindings are evaluated in the order they appear and before
binding any of the symbols to them. Here is an example of this: z is bound to the
old value of y, which is 2, not the new value of y, which is 1.
(setq y 2)
⇒ 2

(let ((y 1)
(z y))
(list y z))
⇒ (1 2)
On the other hand, the order of bindings is unspecified: in the following example,
either 1 or 2 might be printed.
(let ((x 1)
(x 2))
(print x))
Therefore, avoid binding a variable more than once in a single let form.
let* (bindings. . . ) forms. . . [Special Form]
This special form is like let, but it binds each variable right after computing its local
value, before computing the local value for the next variable. Therefore, an expression
in bindings can refer to the preceding symbols bound in this let* form. Compare
the following example with the example above for let.
(setq y 2)
⇒ 2

(let* ((y 1)
(z y)) ; Use the just-established value of y.
(list y z))
⇒ (1 1)
Here is a complete list of the other facilities that create local bindings:
• Function calls (see Chapter 13 [Functions], page 203).
• Macro calls (see Chapter 14 [Macros], page 236).
Chapter 12: Variables 172

• condition-case (see Section 11.7.3 [Errors], page 160).

Variables can also have buffer-local bindings (see Section 12.11 [Buffer-Local Variables],
page 185); a few variables have terminal-local bindings (see Section 29.2 [Multiple Termi-
nals], page 685). These kinds of bindings work somewhat like ordinary local bindings, but
they are localized depending on where you are in Emacs.

max-specpdl-size [User Option]

This variable defines the limit on the total number of local variable bindings and
unwind-protect cleanups (see Section 11.7.4 [Cleaning Up from Nonlocal Exits],
page 167) that are allowed before Emacs signals an error (with data "Variable
binding depth exceeds max-specpdl-size").
This limit, with the associated error when it is exceeded, is one way that Lisp avoids
infinite recursion on an ill-defined function. max-lisp-eval-depth provides another
limit on depth of nesting. See [Eval], page 138.
The default value is 1300. Entry to the Lisp debugger increases the value, if there is
little room left, to make sure the debugger itself has room to execute.

12.4 When a Variable is Void

We say that a variable is void if its symbol has an unassigned value cell (see Section 9.1
[Symbol Components], page 120).
Under Emacs Lisp’s default dynamic scoping rule (see Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping],
page 179), the value cell stores the variable’s current (local or global) value. Note that an
unassigned value cell is not the same as having nil in the value cell. The symbol nil is
a Lisp object and can be the value of a variable, just as any other object can be; but it is
still a value. If a variable is void, trying to evaluate the variable signals a void-variable
error, instead of returning a value.
Under the optional lexical scoping rule, the value cell only holds the variable’s global
value—the value outside of any lexical binding construct. When a variable is lexically
bound, the local value is determined by the lexical environment; hence, variables can have
local values even if their symbols’ value cells are unassigned.

makunbound symbol [Function]

This function empties out the value cell of symbol, making the variable void. It
returns symbol.
If symbol has a dynamic local binding, makunbound voids the current binding, and
this voidness lasts only as long as the local binding is in effect. Afterwards, the
previously shadowed local or global binding is reexposed; then the variable will no
longer be void, unless the reexposed binding is void too.
Here are some examples (assuming dynamic binding is in effect):
(setq x 1) ; Put a value in the global binding.
⇒ 1
(let ((x 2)) ; Locally bind it.
(makunbound 'x) ; Void the local binding.
x)
error Symbol's value as variable is void: x
Chapter 12: Variables 173

x ; The global binding is unchanged.

⇒ 1

(let ((x 2)) ; Locally bind it.

(let ((x 3)) ; And again.
(makunbound 'x) ; Void the innermost-local binding.
x)) ; And refer: it’s void.
error Symbol's value as variable is void: x

(let ((x 2))

(let ((x 3))
(makunbound 'x)) ; Void inner binding, then remove it.
x) ; Now outer let binding is visible.
⇒ 2

boundp variable [Function]

This function returns t if variable (a symbol) is not void, and nil if it is void.
Here are some examples (assuming dynamic binding is in effect):
(boundp 'abracadabra) ; Starts out void.
⇒ nil
(let ((abracadabra 5)) ; Locally bind it.
(boundp 'abracadabra))
⇒ t
(boundp 'abracadabra) ; Still globally void.
⇒ nil
(setq abracadabra 5) ; Make it globally nonvoid.
⇒ 5
(boundp 'abracadabra)
⇒ t

12.5 Defining Global Variables

A variable definition is a construct that announces your intention to use a symbol as a global
variable. It uses the special forms defvar or defconst, which are documented below.
A variable definition serves three purposes. First, it informs people who read the code
that the symbol is intended to be used a certain way (as a variable). Second, it informs
the Lisp system of this, optionally supplying an initial value and a documentation string.
Third, it provides information to programming tools such as etags, allowing them to find
where the variable was defined.
The difference between defconst and defvar is mainly a matter of intent, serving to
inform human readers of whether the value should ever change. Emacs Lisp does not
actually prevent you from changing the value of a variable defined with defconst. One
notable difference between the two forms is that defconst unconditionally initializes the
variable, whereas defvar initializes it only if it is originally void.
To define a customizable variable, you should use defcustom (which calls defvar as a
subroutine). See Section 15.3 [Variable Definitions], page 247.
defvar symbol [value [doc-string]] [Special Form]
This special form defines symbol as a variable. Note that symbol is not evaluated;
the symbol to be defined should appear explicitly in the defvar form. The vari-
able is marked as special, meaning that it should always be dynamically bound (see
Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping], page 179).
Chapter 12: Variables 174

If value is specified, and symbol is void (i.e., it has no dynamically bound value; see
Section 12.4 [Void Variables], page 172), then value is evaluated and symbol is set to
the result. But if symbol is not void, value is not evaluated, and symbol’s value is
left unchanged. If value is omitted, the value of symbol is not changed in any case.
Note that specifying a value, even nil, marks the variable as special permanently.
Whereas if value is omitted then the variable is only marked special locally (i.e. within
the current lexical scope, or file if at the top-level). This can be useful for suppressing
byte compilation warnings, see Section 17.6 [Compiler Errors], page 284.
If symbol has a buffer-local binding in the current buffer, defvar acts on the default
value, which is buffer-independent, rather than the buffer-local binding. It sets the
default value if the default value is void. See Section 12.11 [Buffer-Local Variables],
page 185.
If symbol is already lexically bound (e.g., if the defvar form occurs in a let form with
lexical binding enabled), then defvar sets the dynamic value. The lexical binding
remains in effect until its binding construct exits. See Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping],
page 179.
When you evaluate a top-level defvar form with C-M-x in Emacs Lisp mode
(eval-defun), a special feature of eval-defun arranges to set the variable
unconditionally, without testing whether its value is void.
If the doc-string argument is supplied, it specifies the documentation string for the
variable (stored in the symbol’s variable-documentation property). See Chapter 24
[Documentation], page 510.
Here are some examples. This form defines foo but does not initialize it:
(defvar foo)
⇒ foo
This example initializes the value of bar to 23, and gives it a documentation string:
(defvar bar 23
"The normal weight of a bar.")
⇒ bar
The defvar form returns symbol, but it is normally used at top level in a file where
its value does not matter.
For a more elaborate example of using defvar without a value, see [Local defvar
example], page 184.
defconst symbol value [doc-string] [Special Form]
This special form defines symbol as a value and initializes it. It informs a person
reading your code that symbol has a standard global value, established here, that
should not be changed by the user or by other programs. Note that symbol is not
evaluated; the symbol to be defined must appear explicitly in the defconst.
The defconst form, like defvar, marks the variable as special, meaning that it
should always be dynamically bound (see Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping], page 179).
In addition, it marks the variable as risky (see Section 12.12 [File Local Variables],
page 191).
defconst always evaluates value, and sets the value of symbol to the result. If symbol
does have a buffer-local binding in the current buffer, defconst sets the default value,
Chapter 12: Variables 175

not the buffer-local value. (But you should not be making buffer-local bindings for a
symbol that is defined with defconst.)
An example of the use of defconst is Emacs’s definition of float-pi—the math-
ematical constant pi, which ought not to be changed by anyone (attempts by the
Indiana State Legislature notwithstanding). As the second form illustrates, however,
defconst is only advisory.
(defconst float-pi 3.141592653589793 "The value of Pi.")
⇒ float-pi
(setq float-pi 3)
⇒ float-pi
float-pi
⇒ 3

Warning: If you use a defconst or defvar special form while the variable has a local
binding (made with let, or a function argument), it sets the local binding rather than the
global binding. This is not what you usually want. To prevent this, use these special forms
at top level in a file, where normally no local binding is in effect, and make sure to load the
file before making a local binding for the variable.

12.6 Tips for Defining Variables Robustly

When you define a variable whose value is a function, or a list of functions, use a name that
ends in ‘-function’ or ‘-functions’, respectively.
There are several other variable name conventions; here is a complete list:
‘...-hook’
The variable is a normal hook (see Section 23.1 [Hooks], page 453).
‘...-function’
The value is a function.
‘...-functions’
The value is a list of functions.
‘...-form’
The value is a form (an expression).
‘...-forms’
The value is a list of forms (expressions).
‘...-predicate’
The value is a predicate—a function of one argument that returns non-nil for
success and nil for failure.
‘...-flag’
The value is significant only as to whether it is nil or not. Since such variables
often end up acquiring more values over time, this convention is not strongly
recommended.
‘...-program’
The value is a program name.
Chapter 12: Variables 176

‘...-command’
The value is a whole shell command.

‘...-switches’
The value specifies options for a command.

‘prefix--...’
The variable is intended for internal use and is defined in the file prefix.el.
(Emacs code contributed before 2018 may follow other conventions, which are
being phased out.)

‘...-internal’
The variable is intended for internal use and is defined in C code. (Emacs code
contributed before 2018 may follow other conventions, which are being phased
out.)

When you define a variable, always consider whether you should mark it as safe or risky;
see Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191.
When defining and initializing a variable that holds a complicated value (such as a
keymap with bindings in it), it’s best to put the entire computation of the value into the
defvar, like this:
(defvar my-mode-map
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(define-key map "\C-c\C-a" 'my-command)
...
map)
docstring)
This method has several benefits. First, if the user quits while loading the file, the variable
is either still uninitialized or initialized properly, never in-between. If it is still uninitialized,
reloading the file will initialize it properly. Second, reloading the file once the variable is
initialized will not alter it; that is important if the user has run hooks to alter part of
the contents (such as, to rebind keys). Third, evaluating the defvar form with C-M-x will
reinitialize the map completely.
Putting so much code in the defvar form has one disadvantage: it puts the documen-
tation string far away from the line which names the variable. Here’s a safe way to avoid
that:
(defvar my-mode-map nil
docstring)
(unless my-mode-map
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(define-key map "\C-c\C-a" 'my-command)
...
(setq my-mode-map map)))
This has all the same advantages as putting the initialization inside the defvar, except that
you must type C-M-x twice, once on each form, if you do want to reinitialize the variable.
Chapter 12: Variables 177

12.7 Accessing Variable Values

The usual way to reference a variable is to write the symbol which names it. See
Section 10.1.2 [Symbol Forms], page 130.
Occasionally, you may want to reference a variable which is only determined at run time.
In that case, you cannot specify the variable name in the text of the program. You can use
the symbol-value function to extract the value.
symbol-value symbol [Function]
This function returns the value stored in symbol’s value cell. This is where the
variable’s current (dynamic) value is stored. If the variable has no local binding, this
is simply its global value. If the variable is void, a void-variable error is signaled.
If the variable is lexically bound, the value reported by symbol-value is not nec-
essarily the same as the variable’s lexical value, which is determined by the lexical
environment rather than the symbol’s value cell. See Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping],
page 179.
(setq abracadabra 5)
⇒ 5
(setq foo 9)
⇒ 9

;; Here the symbol abracadabra

;; is the symbol whose value is examined.
(let ((abracadabra 'foo))
(symbol-value 'abracadabra))
⇒ foo

;; Here, the value of abracadabra,

;; which is foo,
;; is the symbol whose value is examined.
(let ((abracadabra 'foo))
(symbol-value abracadabra))
⇒ 9

(symbol-value 'abracadabra)
⇒ 5

12.8 Setting Variable Values

The usual way to change the value of a variable is with the special form setq. When you
need to compute the choice of variable at run time, use the function set.
setq [symbol form]. . . [Special Form]
This special form is the most common method of changing a variable’s value. Each
symbol is given a new value, which is the result of evaluating the corresponding form.
The current binding of the symbol is changed.
setq does not evaluate symbol; it sets the symbol that you write. We say that this
argument is automatically quoted. The ‘q’ in setq stands for “quoted”.
Chapter 12: Variables 178

The value of the setq form is the value of the last form.
(setq x (1+ 2))
⇒ 3
x ; x now has a global value.
⇒ 3
(let ((x 5))
(setq x 6) ; The local binding of x is set.
x)
⇒ 6
x ; The global value is unchanged.
⇒ 3
Note that the first form is evaluated, then the first symbol is set, then the second
form is evaluated, then the second symbol is set, and so on:
(setq x 10 ; Notice that x is set before
y (1+ x)) ; the value of y is computed.
⇒ 11

set symbol value [Function]

This function puts value in the value cell of symbol. Since it is a function rather than
a special form, the expression written for symbol is evaluated to obtain the symbol
to set. The return value is value.
When dynamic variable binding is in effect (the default), set has the same effect as
setq, apart from the fact that set evaluates its symbol argument whereas setq does
not. But when a variable is lexically bound, set affects its dynamic value, whereas
setq affects its current (lexical) value. See Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping], page 179.
(set one 1)
error Symbol's value as variable is void: one
(set 'one 1)
⇒ 1
(set 'two 'one)
⇒ one
(set two 2) ; two evaluates to symbol one.
⇒ 2
one ; So it is one that was set.
⇒ 2
(let ((one 1)) ; This binding of one is set,
(set 'one 3) ; not the global value.
one)
⇒ 3
one
⇒ 2
If symbol is not actually a symbol, a wrong-type-argument error is signaled.
(set '(x y) 'z)
error Wrong type argument: symbolp, (x y)
Chapter 12: Variables 179

12.9 Running a function when a variable is changed.

It is sometimes useful to take some action when a variable changes its value. The watchpoint
facility provides the means to do so. Some possible uses for this feature include keeping
display in sync with variable settings, and invoking the debugger to track down unexpected
changes to variables (see Section 18.1.4 [Variable Debugging], page 292).
The following functions may be used to manipulate and query the watch functions for a
variable.

add-variable-watcher symbol watch-function [Function]

This function arranges for watch-function to be called whenever symbol is modified.
Modifications through aliases (see Section 12.15 [Variable Aliases], page 198) will have
the same effect.
watch-function will be called with 4 arguments: (symbol newval operation where).
symbol is the variable being changed. newval is the value it will be changed to.
operation is a symbol representing the kind of change, one of: ‘set’, ‘let’, ‘unlet’,
‘makunbound’, and ‘defvaralias’. where is a buffer if the buffer-local value of the
variable is being changed, nil otherwise.

remove-variable-watch symbol watch-function [Function]

This function removes watch-function from symbol’s list of watchers.

get-variable-watchers symbol [Function]

This function returns the list of symbol’s active watcher functions.

12.9.1 Limitations
There are a couple of ways in which a variable could be modified (or at least appear to be
modified) without triggering a watchpoint.
Since watchpoints are attached to symbols, modification to the objects contained within
variables (e.g., by a list modification function see Section 5.6 [Modifying Lists], page 77) is
not caught by this mechanism.
Additionally, C code can modify the value of variables directly, bypassing the watchpoint
mechanism.
A minor limitation of this feature, again because it targets symbols, is that only variables
of dynamic scope may be watched. This poses little difficulty, since modifications to lexical
variables can be discovered easily by inspecting the code within the scope of the variable
(unlike dynamic variables, which can be modified by any code at all, see Section 12.10
[Variable Scoping], page 179).

12.10 Scoping Rules for Variable Bindings

When you create a local binding for a variable, that binding takes effect only within a
limited portion of the program (see Section 12.3 [Local Variables], page 170). This section
describes exactly what this means.
Each local binding has a certain scope and extent. Scope refers to where in the textual
source code the binding can be accessed. Extent refers to when, as the program is executing,
the binding exists.
Chapter 12: Variables 180

By default, the local bindings that Emacs creates are dynamic bindings. Such a binding
has dynamic scope, meaning that any part of the program can potentially access the variable
binding. It also has dynamic extent, meaning that the binding lasts only while the binding
construct (such as the body of a let form) is being executed.

Emacs can optionally create lexical bindings. A lexical binding has lexical scope, meaning
that any reference to the variable must be located textually within the binding construct2 .
It also has indefinite extent, meaning that under some circumstances the binding can live on
even after the binding construct has finished executing, by means of special objects called
closures.

The following subsections describe dynamic binding and lexical binding in greater detail,
and how to enable lexical binding in Emacs Lisp programs.

12.10.1 Dynamic Binding

By default, the local variable bindings made by Emacs are dynamic bindings. When a
variable is dynamically bound, its current binding at any point in the execution of the Lisp
program is simply the most recently-created dynamic local binding for that symbol, or the
global binding if there is no such local binding.

Dynamic bindings have dynamic scope and extent, as shown by the following example:

(defvar x -99) ; x receives an initial value of −99.

(defun getx ()
x) ; x is used free in this function.

(let ((x 1)) ; x is dynamically bound.

(getx))
⇒ 1

;; After the let form finishes, x reverts to its

;; previous value, which is −99.

(getx)
⇒ -99

The function getx refers to x. This is a free reference, in the sense that there is no binding
for x within that defun construct itself. When we call getx from within a let form in
which x is (dynamically) bound, it retrieves the local value (i.e., 1). But when we call getx
outside the let form, it retrieves the global value (i.e., −99).

Here is another example, which illustrates setting a dynamically bound variable using
setq:

2
With some exceptions; for instance, a lexical binding can also be accessed from the Lisp debugger.
Chapter 12: Variables 181

(defvar x -99) ; x receives an initial value of −99.

(defun addx ()
(setq x (1+ x))) ; Add 1 to x and return its new value.

(let ((x 1))

(addx)
(addx))
⇒ 3 ; The two addx calls add to x twice.

;; After the let form finishes, x reverts to its

;; previous value, which is −99.

(addx)
⇒ -98

Dynamic binding is implemented in Emacs Lisp in a simple way. Each symbol has a
value cell, which specifies its current dynamic value (or absence of value). See Section 9.1
[Symbol Components], page 120. When a symbol is given a dynamic local binding, Emacs
records the contents of the value cell (or absence thereof) in a stack, and stores the new
local value in the value cell. When the binding construct finishes executing, Emacs pops
the old value off the stack, and puts it in the value cell.

12.10.2 Proper Use of Dynamic Binding

Dynamic binding is a powerful feature, as it allows programs to refer to variables that are
not defined within their local textual scope. However, if used without restraint, this can
also make programs hard to understand. There are two clean ways to use this technique:

• If a variable has no global definition, use it as a local variable only within a binding
construct, such as the body of the let form where the variable was bound. If this
convention is followed consistently throughout a program, the value of the variable will
not affect, nor be affected by, any uses of the same variable symbol elsewhere in the
program.
• Otherwise, define the variable with defvar, defconst (see Section 12.5 [Defining Vari-
ables], page 173), or defcustom (see Section 15.3 [Variable Definitions], page 247).
Usually, the definition should be at top-level in an Emacs Lisp file. As far as possible,
it should include a documentation string which explains the meaning and purpose of
the variable. You should also choose the variable’s name to avoid name conflicts (see
Section D.1 [Coding Conventions], page 1142).
Then you can bind the variable anywhere in a program, knowing reliably what the
effect will be. Wherever you encounter the variable, it will be easy to refer back to
the definition, e.g., via the C-h v command (provided the variable definition has been
loaded into Emacs). See Section “Name Help” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
For example, it is common to use local bindings for customizable variables like
case-fold-search:
Chapter 12: Variables 182

(defun search-for-abc ()
"Search for the string \"abc\", ignoring case differences."
(let ((case-fold-search t))
(re-search-forward "abc")))

12.10.3 Lexical Binding

Lexical binding was introduced to Emacs, as an optional feature, in version 24.1. We expect
its importance to increase with time. Lexical binding opens up many more opportunities for
optimization, so programs using it are likely to run faster in future Emacs versions. Lexical
binding is also more compatible with concurrency, which was added to Emacs in version
26.1.
A lexically-bound variable has lexical scope, meaning that any reference to the variable
must be located textually within the binding construct. Here is an example (see the next
subsection, for how to actually enable lexical binding):
(let ((x 1)) ; x is lexically bound.
(+ x 3))
⇒ 4

(defun getx ()
x) ; x is used free in this function.

(let ((x 1)) ; x is lexically bound.

(getx))
error Symbol's value as variable is void: x
Here, the variable x has no global value. When it is lexically bound within a let form, it
can be used in the textual confines of that let form. But it can not be used from within a
getx function called from the let form, since the function definition of getx occurs outside
the let form itself.
Here is how lexical binding works. Each binding construct defines a lexical environment,
specifying the variables that are bound within the construct and their local values. When the
Lisp evaluator wants the current value of a variable, it looks first in the lexical environment;
if the variable is not specified in there, it looks in the symbol’s value cell, where the dynamic
value is stored.
(Internally, the lexical environment is an alist of symbol-value pairs, with the final ele-
ment in the alist being the symbol t rather than a cons cell. Such an alist can be passed
as the second argument to the eval function, in order to specify a lexical environment in
which to evaluate a form. See Section 10.4 [Eval], page 136. Most Emacs Lisp programs,
however, should not interact directly with lexical environments in this way; only specialized
programs like debuggers.)
Lexical bindings have indefinite extent. Even after a binding construct has finished
executing, its lexical environment can be “kept around” in Lisp objects called closures. A
closure is created when you define a named or anonymous function with lexical binding
enabled. See Section 13.10 [Closures], page 222, for details.
When a closure is called as a function, any lexical variable references within its definition
use the retained lexical environment. Here is an example:
Chapter 12: Variables 183

(defvar my-ticker nil) ; We will use this dynamically bound

; variable to store a closure.

(let ((x 0)) ; x is lexically bound.

(setq my-ticker (lambda ()
(setq x (1+ x)))))
⇒ (closure ((x . 0) t) ()
(setq x (1+ x)))

(funcall my-ticker)
⇒ 1

(funcall my-ticker)
⇒ 2

(funcall my-ticker)
⇒ 3

x ; Note that x has no global value.

error Symbol's value as variable is void: x
The let binding defines a lexical environment in which the variable x is locally bound to
0. Within this binding construct, we define a lambda expression which increments x by one
and returns the incremented value. This lambda expression is automatically turned into a
closure, in which the lexical environment lives on even after the let binding construct has
exited. Each time we evaluate the closure, it increments x, using the binding of x in that
lexical environment.
Note that unlike dynamic variables which are tied to the symbol object itself, the relation-
ship between lexical variables and symbols is only present in the interpreter (or compiler).
Therefore, functions which take a symbol argument (like symbol-value, boundp, and set)
can only retrieve or modify a variable’s dynamic binding (i.e., the contents of its symbol’s
value cell).

12.10.4 Using Lexical Binding

When loading an Emacs Lisp file or evaluating a Lisp buffer, lexical binding is enabled if
the buffer-local variable lexical-binding is non-nil:

lexical-binding [Variable]
If this buffer-local variable is non-nil, Emacs Lisp files and buffers are evaluated
using lexical binding instead of dynamic binding. (However, special variables are still
dynamically bound; see below.) If nil, dynamic binding is used for all local variables.
This variable is typically set for a whole Emacs Lisp file, as a file local variable (see
Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191). Note that unlike other such variables,
this one must be set in the first line of a file.

When evaluating Emacs Lisp code directly using an eval call, lexical binding is enabled if
the lexical argument to eval is non-nil. See Section 10.4 [Eval], page 136.
Chapter 12: Variables 184

Even when lexical binding is enabled, certain variables will continue to be dynamically
bound. These are called special variables. Every variable that has been defined with
defvar, defcustom or defconst is a special variable (see Section 12.5 [Defining Variables],
page 173). All other variables are subject to lexical binding.
Using defvar without a value, it is possible to bind a variable dynamically just in one
file, or in just one part of a file while still binding it lexically elsewhere. For example:
(let (_)
(defvar x) ; Let-bindings of x will be dynamic within this let.
(let ((x -99)) ; This is a dynamic binding of x.
(defun get-dynamic-x ()
x)))

(let ((x 'lexical)) ; This is a lexical binding of x.

(defun get-lexical-x ()
x))

(let (_)
(defvar x)
(let ((x 'dynamic))
(list (get-lexical-x)
(get-dynamic-x))))
⇒ (lexical dynamic)

special-variable-p symbol [Function]

This function returns non-nil if symbol is a special variable (i.e., it has a defvar,
defcustom, or defconst variable definition). Otherwise, the return value is nil.

The use of a special variable as a formal argument in a function is discouraged. Doing so

gives rise to unspecified behavior when lexical binding mode is enabled (it may use lexical
binding sometimes, and dynamic binding other times).
Converting an Emacs Lisp program to lexical binding is easy. First, add a file-local
variable setting of lexical-binding to t in the header line of the Emacs Lisp source file
(see Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191). Second, check that every variable in
the program which needs to be dynamically bound has a variable definition, so that it is
not inadvertently bound lexically.
A simple way to find out which variables need a variable definition is to byte-compile
the source file. See Chapter 17 [Byte Compilation], page 279. If a non-special variable
is used outside of a let form, the byte-compiler will warn about reference or assignment
to a free variable. If a non-special variable is bound but not used within a let form, the
byte-compiler will warn about an unused lexical variable. The byte-compiler will also issue
a warning if you use a special variable as a function argument.
(To silence byte-compiler warnings about unused variables, just use a variable name that
starts with an underscore. The byte-compiler interprets this as an indication that this is a
variable known not to be used.)
Chapter 12: Variables 185

12.11 Buffer-Local Variables

Global and local variable bindings are found in most programming languages in one form
or another. Emacs, however, also supports additional, unusual kinds of variable binding,
such as buffer-local bindings, which apply only in one buffer. Having different values for a
variable in different buffers is an important customization method. (Variables can also have
bindings that are local to each terminal. See Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685.)

12.11.1 Introduction to Buffer-Local Variables

A buffer-local variable has a buffer-local binding associated with a particular buffer. The
binding is in effect when that buffer is current; otherwise, it is not in effect. If you set
the variable while a buffer-local binding is in effect, the new value goes in that binding, so
its other bindings are unchanged. This means that the change is visible only in the buffer
where you made it.
The variable’s ordinary binding, which is not associated with any specific buffer, is called
the default binding. In most cases, this is the global binding.
A variable can have buffer-local bindings in some buffers but not in other buffers. The
default binding is shared by all the buffers that don’t have their own bindings for the
variable. (This includes all newly-created buffers.) If you set the variable in a buffer that
does not have a buffer-local binding for it, this sets the default binding, so the new value is
visible in all the buffers that see the default binding.
The most common use of buffer-local bindings is for major modes to change variables
that control the behavior of commands. For example, C mode and Lisp mode both set the
variable paragraph-start to specify that only blank lines separate paragraphs. They do
this by making the variable buffer-local in the buffer that is being put into C mode or Lisp
mode, and then setting it to the new value for that mode. See Section 23.2 [Major Modes],
page 455.
The usual way to make a buffer-local binding is with make-local-variable, which is
what major mode commands typically use. This affects just the current buffer; all other
buffers (including those yet to be created) will continue to share the default value unless
they are explicitly given their own buffer-local bindings.
A more powerful operation is to mark the variable as automatically buffer-local by
calling make-variable-buffer-local. You can think of this as making the variable local
in all buffers, even those yet to be created. More precisely, the effect is that setting the
variable automatically makes the variable local to the current buffer if it is not already
so. All buffers start out by sharing the default value of the variable as usual, but setting
the variable creates a buffer-local binding for the current buffer. The new value is stored
in the buffer-local binding, leaving the default binding untouched. This means that the
default value cannot be changed with setq in any buffer; the only way to change it is with
setq-default.
Warning: When a variable has buffer-local bindings in one or more buffers, let rebinds
the binding that’s currently in effect. For instance, if the current buffer has a buffer-local
value, let temporarily rebinds that. If no buffer-local bindings are in effect, let rebinds
the default value. If inside the let you then change to a different current buffer in which a
different binding is in effect, you won’t see the let binding any more. And if you exit the
Chapter 12: Variables 186

let while still in the other buffer, you won’t see the unbinding occur (though it will occur
properly). Here is an example to illustrate:
(setq foo 'g)
(set-buffer "a")
(make-local-variable 'foo)
(setq foo 'a)
(let ((foo 'temp))
;; foo ⇒ 'temp ; let binding in buffer ‘a’
(set-buffer "b")
;; foo ⇒ 'g ; the global value since foo is not local in ‘b’
body...)
foo ⇒ 'g ; exiting restored the local value in buffer ‘a’,
; but we don’t see that in buffer ‘b’
(set-buffer "a") ; verify the local value was restored
foo ⇒ 'a
Note that references to foo in body access the buffer-local binding of buffer ‘b’.
When a file specifies local variable values, these become buffer-local values when you
visit the file. See Section “File Variables” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
A buffer-local variable cannot be made terminal-local (see Section 29.2 [Multiple Termi-
nals], page 685).

12.11.2 Creating and Deleting Buffer-Local Bindings

make-local-variable variable [Command]
This function creates a buffer-local binding in the current buffer for variable (a sym-
bol). Other buffers are not affected. The value returned is variable.
The buffer-local value of variable starts out as the same value variable previously
had. If variable was void, it remains void.
;; In buffer ‘b1’:
(setq foo 5) ; Affects all buffers.
⇒ 5
(make-local-variable 'foo) ; Now it is local in ‘b1’.
⇒ foo
foo ; That did not change
⇒ 5 ; the value.
(setq foo 6) ; Change the value
⇒ 6 ; in ‘b1’.
foo
⇒ 6

;; In buffer ‘b2’, the value hasn’t changed.

(with-current-buffer "b2"
foo)
⇒ 5
Making a variable buffer-local within a let-binding for that variable does not work
reliably, unless the buffer in which you do this is not current either on entry to or
Chapter 12: Variables 187

exit from the let. This is because let does not distinguish between different kinds
of bindings; it knows only which variable the binding was made for.
It is an error to make a constant or a read-only variable buffer-local. See Section 12.2
[Constant Variables], page 169.
If the variable is terminal-local (see Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685), this
function signals an error. Such variables cannot have buffer-local bindings as well.
Warning: do not use make-local-variable for a hook variable. The hook vari-
ables are automatically made buffer-local as needed if you use the local argument to
add-hook or remove-hook.

setq-local variable value [Macro]

This macro creates a buffer-local binding in the current buffer for variable, and gives it
the buffer-local value value. It is equivalent to calling make-local-variable followed
by setq. variable should be an unquoted symbol.

make-variable-buffer-local variable [Command]

This function marks variable (a symbol) automatically buffer-local, so that any sub-
sequent attempt to set it will make it local to the current buffer at the time. Unlike
make-local-variable, with which it is often confused, this cannot be undone, and
affects the behavior of the variable in all buffers.
A peculiar wrinkle of this feature is that binding the variable (with let or other
binding constructs) does not create a buffer-local binding for it. Only setting the
variable (with set or setq), while the variable does not have a let-style binding that
was made in the current buffer, does so.
If variable does not have a default value, then calling this command will give it a
default value of nil. If variable already has a default value, that value remains
unchanged. Subsequently calling makunbound on variable will result in a void buffer-
local value and leave the default value unaffected.
The value returned is variable.
It is an error to make a constant or a read-only variable buffer-local. See Section 12.2
[Constant Variables], page 169.
Warning: Don’t assume that you should use make-variable-buffer-local for user-
option variables, simply because users might want to customize them differently in
different buffers. Users can make any variable local, when they wish to. It is better
to leave the choice to them.
The time to use make-variable-buffer-local is when it is crucial that no two
buffers ever share the same binding. For example, when a variable is used for internal
purposes in a Lisp program which depends on having separate values in separate
buffers, then using make-variable-buffer-local can be the best solution.

defvar-local variable value &optional docstring [Macro]

This macro defines variable as a variable with initial value value and docstring, and
marks it as automatically buffer-local. It is equivalent to calling defvar followed by
make-variable-buffer-local. variable should be an unquoted symbol.
Chapter 12: Variables 188

local-variable-p variable &optional buffer [Function]

This returns t if variable is buffer-local in buffer buffer (which defaults to the current
buffer); otherwise, nil.

local-variable-if-set-p variable &optional buffer [Function]

This returns t if variable either has a buffer-local value in buffer buffer, or is auto-
matically buffer-local. Otherwise, it returns nil. If omitted or nil, buffer defaults
to the current buffer.

buffer-local-value variable buffer [Function]

This function returns the buffer-local binding of variable (a symbol) in buffer buffer.
If variable does not have a buffer-local binding in buffer buffer, it returns the default
value (see Section 12.11.3 [Default Value], page 189) of variable instead.

buffer-local-variables &optional buffer [Function]

This function returns a list describing the buffer-local variables in buffer buffer. (If
buffer is omitted, the current buffer is used.) Normally, each list element has the form
(sym . val), where sym is a buffer-local variable (a symbol) and val is its buffer-local
value. But when a variable’s buffer-local binding in buffer is void, its list element is
just sym.
(make-local-variable 'foobar)
(makunbound 'foobar)
(make-local-variable 'bind-me)
(setq bind-me 69)
(setq lcl (buffer-local-variables))
;; First, built-in variables local in all buffers:
⇒ ((mark-active . nil)
(buffer-undo-list . nil)
(mode-name . "Fundamental")
...
;; Next, non-built-in buffer-local variables.
;; This one is buffer-local and void:
foobar
;; This one is buffer-local and nonvoid:
(bind-me . 69))
Note that storing new values into the cdrs of cons cells in this list does not change
the buffer-local values of the variables.

kill-local-variable variable [Command]

This function deletes the buffer-local binding (if any) for variable (a symbol) in the
current buffer. As a result, the default binding of variable becomes visible in this
buffer. This typically results in a change in the value of variable, since the default
value is usually different from the buffer-local value just eliminated.
If you kill the buffer-local binding of a variable that automatically becomes buffer-
local when set, this makes the default value visible in the current buffer. However, if
you set the variable again, that will once again create a buffer-local binding for it.
kill-local-variable returns variable.
Chapter 12: Variables 189

This function is a command because it is sometimes useful to kill one buffer-local

variable interactively, just as it is useful to create buffer-local variables interactively.

kill-all-local-variables [Function]
This function eliminates all the buffer-local variable bindings of the current buffer
except for variables marked as permanent and local hook functions that have a non-
nil permanent-local-hook property (see Section 23.1.2 [Setting Hooks], page 454).
As a result, the buffer will see the default values of most variables.
This function also resets certain other information pertaining to the buffer: it sets
the local keymap to nil, the syntax table to the value of (standard-syntax-table),
the case table to (standard-case-table), and the abbrev table to the value of
fundamental-mode-abbrev-table.
The very first thing this function does is run the normal hook change-major-mode-
hook (see below).
Every major mode command begins by calling this function, which has the effect of
switching to Fundamental mode and erasing most of the effects of the previous major
mode. To ensure that this does its job, the variables that major modes set should
not be marked permanent.
kill-all-local-variables returns nil.

change-major-mode-hook [Variable]
The function kill-all-local-variables runs this normal hook before it does any-
thing else. This gives major modes a way to arrange for something special to be done
if the user switches to a different major mode. It is also useful for buffer-specific
minor modes that should be forgotten if the user changes the major mode.
For best results, make this variable buffer-local, so that it will disappear after doing its
job and will not interfere with the subsequent major mode. See Section 23.1 [Hooks],
page 453.

A buffer-local variable is permanent if the variable name (a symbol) has a

permanent-local property that is non-nil. Such variables are unaffected by kill-all-
local-variables, and their local bindings are therefore not cleared by changing major
modes. Permanent locals are appropriate for data pertaining to where the file came from
or how to save it, rather than with how to edit the contents.

12.11.3 The Default Value of a Buffer-Local Variable

The global value of a variable with buffer-local bindings is also called the default value,
because it is the value that is in effect whenever neither the current buffer nor the selected
frame has its own binding for the variable.
The functions default-value and setq-default access and change a variable’s default
value regardless of whether the current buffer has a buffer-local binding. For example, you
could use setq-default to change the default setting of paragraph-start for most buffers;
and this would work even when you are in a C or Lisp mode buffer that has a buffer-local
value for this variable.
The special forms defvar and defconst also set the default value (if they set the variable
at all), rather than any buffer-local value.
Chapter 12: Variables 190

default-value symbol [Function]

This function returns symbol’s default value. This is the value that is seen in buffers
and frames that do not have their own values for this variable. If symbol is not
buffer-local, this is equivalent to symbol-value (see Section 12.7 [Accessing Vari-
ables], page 177).

default-boundp symbol [Function]

The function default-boundp tells you whether symbol’s default value is nonvoid.
If (default-boundp 'foo) returns nil, then (default-value 'foo) would get an
error.
default-boundp is to default-value as boundp is to symbol-value.

setq-default [symbol form]. . . [Special Form]

This special form gives each symbol a new default value, which is the result of eval-
uating the corresponding form. It does not evaluate symbol, but does evaluate form.
The value of the setq-default form is the value of the last form.
If a symbol is not buffer-local for the current buffer, and is not marked automatically
buffer-local, setq-default has the same effect as setq. If symbol is buffer-local for
the current buffer, then this changes the value that other buffers will see (as long as
they don’t have a buffer-local value), but not the value that the current buffer sees.
;; In buffer ‘foo’:
(make-local-variable 'buffer-local)
⇒ buffer-local
(setq buffer-local 'value-in-foo)
⇒ value-in-foo
(setq-default buffer-local 'new-default)
⇒ new-default
buffer-local
⇒ value-in-foo
(default-value 'buffer-local)
⇒ new-default

;; In (the new) buffer ‘bar’:

buffer-local
⇒ new-default
(default-value 'buffer-local)
⇒ new-default
(setq buffer-local 'another-default)
⇒ another-default
(default-value 'buffer-local)
⇒ another-default

;; Back in buffer ‘foo’:

buffer-local
⇒ value-in-foo
(default-value 'buffer-local)
⇒ another-default
Chapter 12: Variables 191

set-default symbol value [Function]

This function is like setq-default, except that symbol is an ordinary evaluated
argument.
(set-default (car '(a b c)) 23)
⇒ 23
(default-value 'a)
⇒ 23

A variable can be let-bound (see Section 12.3 [Local Variables], page 170) to a value.
This makes its global value shadowed by the binding; default-value will then return the
value from that binding, not the global value, and set-default will be prevented from
setting the global value (it will change the let-bound value instead). The following two
functions allow to reference the global value even if it’s shadowed by a let-binding.

default-toplevel-value symbol [Function]

This function returns the top-level default value of symbol, which is its value outside
of any let-binding.
(defvar variable 'global-value)
⇒ variable
(let ((variable 'let-binding))
(default-value 'variable))
⇒ let-binding
(let ((variable 'let-binding))
(default-toplevel-value 'variable))
⇒ global-value

set-default-toplevel-value symbol value [Function]

This function sets the top-level default value of symbol to the specified value. This
comes in handy when you want to set the global value of symbol regardless of whether
your code runs in the context of symbol’s let-binding.

12.12 File Local Variables

A file can specify local variable values; Emacs uses these to create buffer-local bindings for
those variables in the buffer visiting that file. See Section “Local Variables in Files” in The
GNU Emacs Manual, for basic information about file-local variables. This section describes
the functions and variables that affect how file-local variables are processed.
If a file-local variable could specify an arbitrary function or Lisp expression that would
be called later, visiting a file could take over your Emacs. Emacs protects against this by
automatically setting only those file-local variables whose specified values are known to be
safe. Other file-local variables are set only if the user agrees.
For additional safety, read-circle is temporarily bound to nil when Emacs reads file-
local variables (see Section 19.3 [Input Functions], page 325). This prevents the Lisp reader
from recognizing circular and shared Lisp structures (see Section 2.5 [Circular Objects],
page 28).
Chapter 12: Variables 192

enable-local-variables [User Option]

This variable controls whether to process file-local variables. The possible values are:
t (the default)
Set the safe variables, and query (once) about any unsafe variables.
:safe Set only the safe variables and do not query.
:all Set all the variables and do not query.
nil Don’t set any variables.
anything else
Query (once) about all the variables.

inhibit-local-variables-regexps [Variable]
This is a list of regular expressions. If a file has a name matching an element of this
list, then it is not scanned for any form of file-local variable. For examples of why
you might want to use this, see Section 23.2.2 [Auto Major Mode], page 459.

hack-local-variables &optional handle-mode [Function]

This function parses, and binds or evaluates as appropriate, any local variables spec-
ified by the contents of the current buffer. The variable enable-local-variables
has its effect here. However, this function does not look for the ‘mode:’ local variable
in the ‘-*-’ line. set-auto-mode does that, also taking enable-local-variables
into account (see Section 23.2.2 [Auto Major Mode], page 459).
This function works by walking the alist stored in file-local-variables-alist and
applying each local variable in turn. It calls before-hack-local-variables-hook
and hack-local-variables-hook before and after applying the variables, respec-
tively. It only calls the before-hook if the alist is non-nil; it always calls the other
hook. This function ignores a ‘mode’ element if it specifies the same major mode as
the buffer already has.
If the optional argument handle-mode is t, then all this function does is return a
symbol specifying the major mode, if the ‘-*-’ line or the local variables list specifies
one, and nil otherwise. It does not set the mode or any other file-local variable. If
handle-mode has any value other than nil or t, any settings of ‘mode’ in the ‘-*-’
line or the local variables list are ignored, and the other settings are applied. If
handle-mode is nil, all the file local variables are set.

file-local-variables-alist [Variable]
This buffer-local variable holds the alist of file-local variable settings. Each element of
the alist is of the form (var . value), where var is a symbol of the local variable and
value is its value. When Emacs visits a file, it first collects all the file-local variables
into this alist, and then the hack-local-variables function applies them one by
one.

before-hack-local-variables-hook [Variable]
Emacs calls this hook immediately before applying file-local variables stored in
file-local-variables-alist.
Chapter 12: Variables 193

hack-local-variables-hook [Variable]
Emacs calls this hook immediately after it finishes applying file-local variables stored
in file-local-variables-alist.
You can specify safe values for a variable with a safe-local-variable property. The
property has to be a function of one argument; any value is safe if the function returns
non-nil given that value. Many commonly-encountered file variables have safe-local-
variable properties; these include fill-column, fill-prefix, and indent-tabs-mode.
For boolean-valued variables that are safe, use booleanp as the property value.
If you want to define safe-local-variable properties for variables defined in C source
code, add the names and the properties of those variables to the list in the “Safe local
variables” section of files.el.
When defining a user option using defcustom, you can set its safe-local-variable
property by adding the arguments :safe function to defcustom (see Section 15.3 [Variable
Definitions], page 247). However, a safety predicate defined using :safe will only be known
once the package that contains the defcustom is loaded, which is often too late. As an
alternative, you can use the autoload cookie (see Section 16.5 [Autoload], page 268) to
assign the option its safety predicate, like this:
;;;###autoload (put 'var 'safe-local-variable 'pred)
The safe value definitions specified with autoload are copied into the package’s autoloads
file (loaddefs.el for most packages bundled with Emacs), and are known to Emacs since
the beginning of a session.
safe-local-variable-values [User Option]
This variable provides another way to mark some variable values as safe. It is a list
of cons cells (var . val), where var is a variable name and val is a value which is
safe for that variable.
When Emacs asks the user whether or not to obey a set of file-local variable specifica-
tions, the user can choose to mark them as safe. Doing so adds those variable/value
pairs to safe-local-variable-values, and saves it to the user’s custom file.
safe-local-variable-p sym val [Function]
This function returns non-nil if it is safe to give sym the value val, based on the
above criteria.
Some variables are considered risky. If a variable is risky, it is never entered auto-
matically into safe-local-variable-values; Emacs always queries before setting a risky
variable, unless the user explicitly allows a value by customizing safe-local-variable-
values directly.
Any variable whose name has a non-nil risky-local-variable property is
considered risky. When you define a user option using defcustom, you can set its
risky-local-variable property by adding the arguments :risky value to defcustom
(see Section 15.3 [Variable Definitions], page 247). In addition, any variable whose
name ends in any of ‘-command’, ‘-frame-alist’, ‘-function’, ‘-functions’, ‘-hook’,
‘-hooks’, ‘-form’, ‘-forms’, ‘-map’, ‘-map-alist’, ‘-mode-alist’, ‘-program’, or
‘-predicate’ is automatically considered risky. The variables ‘font-lock-keywords’,
‘font-lock-keywords’ followed by a digit, and ‘font-lock-syntactic-keywords’ are
also considered risky.
Chapter 12: Variables 194

risky-local-variable-p sym [Function]

This function returns non-nil if sym is a risky variable, based on the above criteria.

ignored-local-variables [Variable]
This variable holds a list of variables that should not be given local values by files.
Any value specified for one of these variables is completely ignored.

The ‘Eval:’ “variable” is also a potential loophole, so Emacs normally asks for confir-
mation before handling it.

enable-local-eval [User Option]

This variable controls processing of ‘Eval:’ in ‘-*-’ lines or local variables lists in files
being visited. A value of t means process them unconditionally; nil means ignore
them; anything else means ask the user what to do for each file. The default value is
maybe.

safe-local-eval-forms [User Option]

This variable holds a list of expressions that are safe to evaluate when found in the
‘Eval:’ “variable” in a file local variables list.

If the expression is a function call and the function has a safe-local-eval-function

property, the property value determines whether the expression is safe to evaluate. The
property value can be a predicate to call to test the expression, a list of such predicates (it’s
safe if any predicate succeeds), or t (always safe provided the arguments are constant).
Text properties are also potential loopholes, since their values could include functions to
call. So Emacs discards all text properties from string values specified for file-local variables.

12.13 Directory Local Variables

A directory can specify local variable values common to all files in that directory; Emacs
uses these to create buffer-local bindings for those variables in buffers visiting any file in
that directory. This is useful when the files in the directory belong to some project and
therefore share the same local variables.
There are two different methods for specifying directory local variables: by putting them
in a special file, or by defining a project class for that directory.

dir-locals-file [Constant]
This constant is the name of the file where Emacs expects to find the directory-
local variables. The name of the file is .dir-locals.el3 . A file by that name in
a directory causes Emacs to apply its settings to any file in that directory or any
of its subdirectories (optionally, you can exclude subdirectories; see below). If some
of the subdirectories have their own .dir-locals.el files, Emacs uses the settings
from the deepest file it finds starting from the file’s directory and moving up the
directory tree. This constant is also used to derive the name of a second dir-locals
file .dir-locals-2.el. If this second dir-locals file is present, then that is loaded
instead of .dir-locals.el. This is useful when .dir-locals.el is under version
3
The MS-DOS version of Emacs uses _dir-locals.el instead, due to limitations of the DOS filesystems.
Chapter 12: Variables 195

control in a shared repository and cannot be used for personal customizations. The
file specifies local variables as a specially formatted list; see Section “Per-directory
Local Variables” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for more details.

hack-dir-local-variables [Function]
This function reads the .dir-locals.el file and stores the directory-local vari-
ables in file-local-variables-alist that is local to the buffer visiting any file
in the directory, without applying them. It also stores the directory-local settings in
dir-locals-class-alist, where it defines a special class for the directory in which
.dir-locals.el file was found. This function works by calling dir-locals-set-
class-variables and dir-locals-set-directory-class, described below.

hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer [Function]
This function looks for directory-local variables, and immediately applies them in
the current buffer. It is intended to be called in the mode commands for non-file
buffers, such as Dired buffers, to let them obey directory-local variable settings. For
non-file buffers, Emacs looks for directory-local variables in default-directory and
its parent directories.

dir-locals-set-class-variables class variables [Function]

This function defines a set of variable settings for the named class, which is a symbol.
You can later assign the class to one or more directories, and Emacs will apply those
variable settings to all files in those directories. The list in variables can be of one
of the two forms: (major-mode . alist) or (directory . list). With the first
form, if the file’s buffer turns on a mode that is derived from major-mode, then all
the variables in the associated alist are applied; alist should be of the form (name
. value). A special value nil for major-mode means the settings are applicable to
any mode. In alist, you can use a special name: subdirs. If the associated value
is nil, the alist is only applied to files in the relevant directory, not to those in any
subdirectories.
With the second form of variables, if directory is the initial substring of the file’s
directory, then list is applied recursively by following the above rules; list should be
of one of the two forms accepted by this function in variables.

dir-locals-set-directory-class directory class &optional mtime [Function]

This function assigns class to all the files in directory and its subdirectories. There-
after, all the variable settings specified for class will be applied to any visited file in
directory and its children. class must have been already defined by dir-locals-set-
class-variables.
Emacs uses this function internally when it loads directory variables from a
.dir-locals.el file. In that case, the optional argument mtime holds the file
modification time (as returned by file-attributes). Emacs uses this time to check
stored local variables are still valid. If you are assigning a class directly, not via a
file, this argument should be nil.

dir-locals-class-alist [Variable]
This alist holds the class symbols and the associated variable settings. It is updated
by dir-locals-set-class-variables.
Chapter 12: Variables 196

dir-locals-directory-cache [Variable]
This alist holds directory names, their assigned class names, and modification times of
the associated directory local variables file (if there is one). The function dir-locals-
set-directory-class updates this list.

enable-dir-local-variables [Variable]
If nil, directory-local variables are ignored. This variable may be useful for modes
that want to ignore directory-locals while still respecting file-local variables (see
Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191).

12.14 Connection Local Variables

Connection-local variables provide a general mechanism for different variable settings in
buffers with a remote connection. They are bound and set depending on the remote con-
nection a buffer is dedicated to.

connection-local-set-profile-variables profile variables [Function]

This function defines a set of variable settings for the connection profile, which is a
symbol. You can later assign the connection profile to one or more remote connec-
tions, and Emacs will apply those variable settings to all process buffers for those
connections. The list in variables is an alist of the form (name . value). Example:
(connection-local-set-profile-variables
'remote-bash
'((shell-file-name . "/bin/bash")
(shell-command-switch . "-c")
(shell-interactive-switch . "-i")
(shell-login-switch . "-l")))

(connection-local-set-profile-variables
'remote-ksh
'((shell-file-name . "/bin/ksh")
(shell-command-switch . "-c")
(shell-interactive-switch . "-i")
(shell-login-switch . "-l")))

(connection-local-set-profile-variables
'remote-null-device
'((null-device . "/dev/null")))

connection-local-profile-alist [Variable]
This alist holds the connection profile symbols and the associated variable settings.
It is updated by connection-local-set-profile-variables.

connection-local-set-profiles criteria &rest profiles [Function]

This function assigns profiles, which are symbols, to all remote connections identified
by criteria. criteria is a plist identifying a connection and the application using
this connection. Property names might be :application, :protocol, :user and
Chapter 12: Variables 197

:machine. The property value of :application is a symbol, all other property values
are strings. All properties are optional; if criteria is nil, it always applies. Example:
(connection-local-set-profiles
'(:application 'tramp :protocol "ssh" :machine "localhost")
'remote-bash 'remote-null-device)

(connection-local-set-profiles
'(:application 'tramp :protocol "sudo"
:user "root" :machine "localhost")
'remote-ksh 'remote-null-device)
If criteria is nil, it applies for all remote connections. Therefore, the example above
would be equivalent to
(connection-local-set-profiles
'(:application 'tramp :protocol "ssh" :machine "localhost")
'remote-bash)

(connection-local-set-profiles
'(:application 'tramp :protocol "sudo"
:user "root" :machine "localhost")
'remote-ksh)

(connection-local-set-profiles
nil 'remote-null-device)
Any connection profile of profiles must have been already defined by
connection-local-set-profile-variables.

connection-local-criteria-alist [Variable]
This alist contains connection criteria and their assigned profile names. The function
connection-local-set-profiles updates this list.

hack-connection-local-variables criteria [Function]

This function collects applicable connection-local variables associated with criteria in
connection-local-variables-alist, without applying them. Example:
(hack-connection-local-variables
'(:application 'tramp :protocol "ssh" :machine "localhost"))

connection-local-variables-alist
⇒ ((null-device . "/dev/null")
(shell-login-switch . "-l")
(shell-interactive-switch . "-i")
(shell-command-switch . "-c")
(shell-file-name . "/bin/bash"))

hack-connection-local-variables-apply criteria [Function]

This function looks for connection-local variables according to criteria, and immedi-
ately applies them in the current buffer.
Chapter 12: Variables 198

with-connection-local-profiles profiles &rest body [Macro]

All connection-local variables, which are specified by a connection profile in profiles,
are applied.
After that, body is executed, and the connection-local variables are unwound. Ex-
ample:
(connection-local-set-profile-variables
'remote-perl
'((perl-command-name . "/usr/local/bin/perl")
(perl-command-switch . "-e %s")))

(with-connection-local-profiles '(remote-perl)
do something useful)
enable-connection-local-variables [Variable]
If nil, connection-local variables are ignored. This variable shall be changed tem-
porarily only in special modes.

12.15 Variable Aliases

It is sometimes useful to make two variables synonyms, so that both variables always have
the same value, and changing either one also changes the other. Whenever you change the
name of a variable—either because you realize its old name was not well chosen, or because
its meaning has partly changed—it can be useful to keep the old name as an alias of the
new one for compatibility. You can do this with defvaralias.
defvaralias new-alias base-variable &optional docstring [Function]
This function defines the symbol new-alias as a variable alias for symbol base-variable.
This means that retrieving the value of new-alias returns the value of base-variable,
and changing the value of new-alias changes the value of base-variable. The two
aliased variable names always share the same value and the same bindings.
If the docstring argument is non-nil, it specifies the documentation for new-alias;
otherwise, the alias gets the same documentation as base-variable has, if any, unless
base-variable is itself an alias, in which case new-alias gets the documentation of the
variable at the end of the chain of aliases.
This function returns base-variable.
Variable aliases are convenient for replacing an old name for a variable with a new name.
make-obsolete-variable declares that the old name is obsolete and therefore that it may
be removed at some stage in the future.
make-obsolete-variable obsolete-name current-name when [Function]
&optional access-type
This function makes the byte compiler warn that the variable obsolete-name is ob-
solete. If current-name is a symbol, it is the variable’s new name; then the warning
message says to use current-name instead of obsolete-name. If current-name is a
string, this is the message and there is no replacement variable. when should be a
string indicating when the variable was first made obsolete (usually a version number
string).
Chapter 12: Variables 199

The optional argument access-type, if non-nil, should specify the kind of access that
will trigger obsolescence warnings; it can be either get or set.
You can make two variables synonyms and declare one obsolete at the same time using
the macro define-obsolete-variable-alias.
define-obsolete-variable-alias obsolete-name current-name [Macro]
&optional when docstring
This macro marks the variable obsolete-name as obsolete and also makes it an alias
for the variable current-name. It is equivalent to the following:
(defvaralias obsolete-name current-name docstring)
(make-obsolete-variable obsolete-name current-name when)
indirect-variable variable [Function]
This function returns the variable at the end of the chain of aliases of variable. If
variable is not a symbol, or if variable is not defined as an alias, the function returns
variable.
This function signals a cyclic-variable-indirection error if there is a loop in the
chain of symbols.
(defvaralias 'foo 'bar)
(indirect-variable 'foo)
⇒ bar
(indirect-variable 'bar)
⇒ bar
(setq bar 2)
bar
⇒ 2
foo
⇒ 2
(setq foo 0)
bar
⇒ 0
foo
⇒ 0

12.16 Variables with Restricted Values

Ordinary Lisp variables can be assigned any value that is a valid Lisp object. However,
certain Lisp variables are not defined in Lisp, but in C. Most of these variables are defined
in the C code using DEFVAR_LISP. Like variables defined in Lisp, these can take on any
value. However, some variables are defined using DEFVAR_INT or DEFVAR_BOOL. See [Writing
Emacs Primitives], page 1167, in particular the description of functions of the type syms_
of_filename, for a brief discussion of the C implementation.
Variables of type DEFVAR_BOOL can only take on the values nil or t. Attempting to
assign them any other value will set them to t:
(let ((display-hourglass 5))
display-hourglass)
⇒ t
Chapter 12: Variables 200

byte-boolean-vars [Variable]
This variable holds a list of all variables of type DEFVAR_BOOL.

Variables of type DEFVAR_INT can take on only integer values. Attempting to assign
them any other value will result in an error:
(setq undo-limit 1000.0)
error Wrong type argument: integerp, 1000.0

12.17 Generalized Variables

A generalized variable or place form is one of the many places in Lisp memory where values
can be stored using the setf macro (see Section 12.17.1 [Setting Generalized Variables],
page 200). The simplest place form is a regular Lisp variable. But the cars and cdrs of
lists, elements of arrays, properties of symbols, and many other locations are also places
where Lisp values get stored.
Generalized variables are analogous to lvalues in the C language, where ‘x = a[i]’ gets
an element from an array and ‘a[i] = x’ stores an element using the same notation. Just as
certain forms like a[i] can be lvalues in C, there is a set of forms that can be generalized
variables in Lisp.

12.17.1 The setf Macro

The setf macro is the most basic way to operate on generalized variables. The setf form
is like setq, except that it accepts arbitrary place forms on the left side rather than just
symbols. For example, (setf (car a) b) sets the car of a to b, doing the same operation
as (setcar a b), but without you having to use two separate functions for setting and
accessing this type of place.

setf [place form]. . . [Macro]

This macro evaluates form and stores it in place, which must be a valid generalized
variable form. If there are several place and form pairs, the assignments are done
sequentially just as with setq. setf returns the value of the last form.

The following Lisp forms are the forms in Emacs that will work as generalized variables,
and so may appear in the place argument of setf:
• A symbol. In other words, (setf x y) is exactly equivalent to (setq x y), and setq
itself is strictly speaking redundant given that setf exists. Most programmers will
continue to prefer setq for setting simple variables, though, for stylistic and histor-
ical reasons. The macro (setf x y) actually expands to (setq x y), so there is no
performance penalty for using it in compiled code.
• A call to any of the following standard Lisp functions:
aref cddr symbol-function
car elt symbol-plist
caar get symbol-value
cadr gethash
cdr nth
cdar nthcdr
• A call to any of the following Emacs-specific functions:
alist-get process-get
Chapter 12: Variables 201

frame-parameter process-sentinel
terminal-parameter window-buffer
keymap-parent window-display-table
match-data window-dedicated-p
overlay-get window-hscroll
overlay-start window-parameter
overlay-end window-point
process-buffer window-start
process-filter default-value

setf signals an error if you pass a place form that it does not know how to handle.
Note that for nthcdr, the list argument of the function must itself be a valid place form.
For example, (setf (nthcdr 0 foo) 7) will set foo itself to 7.
The macros push (see Section 5.5 [List Variables], page 75) and pop (see Section 5.3
[List Elements], page 69) can manipulate generalized variables, not just lists. (pop place)
removes and returns the first element of the list stored in place. It is analogous to (prog1
(car place) (setf place (cdr place))), except that it takes care to evaluate all subforms
only once. (push x place) inserts x at the front of the list stored in place. It is analogous
to (setf place (cons x place)), except for evaluation of the subforms. Note that push
and pop on an nthcdr place can be used to insert or delete at any position in a list.
The cl-lib library defines various extensions for generalized variables, including addi-
tional setf places. See Section “Generalized Variables” in Common Lisp Extensions.

12.17.2 Defining new setf forms

This section describes how to define new forms that setf can operate on.
gv-define-simple-setter name setter &optional fix-return [Macro]
This macro enables you to easily define setf methods for simple cases. name is
the name of a function, macro, or special form. You can use this macro whenever
name has a directly corresponding setter function that updates it, e.g., (gv-define-
simple-setter car setcar).
This macro translates a call of the form
(setf (name args...) value)
into
(setter args... value)
Such a setf call is documented to return value. This is no problem with, e.g., car
and setcar, because setcar returns the value that it set. If your setter function
does not return value, use a non-nil value for the fix-return argument of gv-define-
simple-setter. This expands into something equivalent to
(let ((temp value))
(setter args... temp)
temp)
so ensuring that it returns the correct result.
gv-define-setter name arglist &rest body [Macro]
This macro allows for more complex setf expansions than the previous form. You
may need to use this form, for example, if there is no simple setter function to call,
or if there is one but it requires different arguments to the place form.
 202

This macro expands the form (setf (name args...) value) by first binding the
setf argument forms (value args...) according to arglist, and then executing body.
body should return a Lisp form that does the assignment, and finally returns the value
that was set. An example of using this macro is:
(gv-define-setter caar (val x) `(setcar (car ,x) ,val))

For more control over the expansion, see the macro gv-define-expander. The macro
gv-letplace can be useful in defining macros that perform similarly to setf; for example,
the incf macro of Common Lisp. Consult the source file gv.el for more details.
Common Lisp note: Common Lisp defines another way to specify the setf
behavior of a function, namely setf functions, whose names are lists (setf
name) rather than symbols. For example, (defun (setf foo) ...) defines the
function that is used when setf is applied to foo. Emacs does not support
this. It is a compile-time error to use setf on a form that has not already had
an appropriate expansion defined. In Common Lisp, this is not an error since
the function (setf func) might be defined later.
 203

13 Functions
A Lisp program is composed mainly of Lisp functions. This chapter explains what functions
are, how they accept arguments, and how to define them.

13.1 What Is a Function?

In a general sense, a function is a rule for carrying out a computation given input values
called arguments. The result of the computation is called the value or return value of the
function. The computation can also have side effects, such as lasting changes in the values
of variables or the contents of data structures (see [Definition of side effect], page 129). A
pure function is a function which, in addition to having no side effects, always returns the
same value for the same combination of arguments, regardless of external factors such as
machine type or system state.
In most computer languages, every function has a name. But in Lisp, a function in
the strictest sense has no name: it is an object which can optionally be associated with a
symbol (e.g., car) that serves as the function name. See Section 13.3 [Function Names],
page 209. When a function has been given a name, we usually also refer to that symbol as
a “function” (e.g., we refer to “the function car”). In this manual, the distinction between
a function name and the function object itself is usually unimportant, but we will take note
wherever it is relevant.
Certain function-like objects, called special forms and macros, also accept arguments to
carry out computations. However, as explained below, these are not considered functions
in Emacs Lisp.
Here are important terms for functions and function-like objects:
lambda expression
A function (in the strict sense, i.e., a function object) which is written in Lisp.
These are described in the following section.
primitive A function which is callable from Lisp but is actually written in C. Primitives
are also called built-in functions, or subrs. Examples include functions like
car and append. In addition, all special forms (see below) are also considered
primitives.
Usually, a function is implemented as a primitive because it is a fundamental
part of Lisp (e.g., car), or because it provides a low-level interface to operating
system services, or because it needs to run fast. Unlike functions defined in
Lisp, primitives can be modified or added only by changing the C sources and
recompiling Emacs. See Section E.7 [Writing Emacs Primitives], page 1164.
special form
A primitive that is like a function but does not evaluate all of its arguments in
the usual way. It may evaluate only some of the arguments, or may evaluate
them in an unusual order, or several times. Examples include if, and, and
while. See Section 10.1.7 [Special Forms], page 133.
macro A construct defined in Lisp, which differs from a function in that it translates a
Lisp expression into another expression which is to be evaluated instead of the
Chapter 13: Functions 204

original expression. Macros enable Lisp programmers to do the sorts of things

that special forms can do. See Chapter 14 [Macros], page 236.
command An object which can be invoked via the command-execute primitive, usually due
to the user typing in a key sequence bound to that command. See Section 21.3
[Interactive Call], page 375. A command is usually a function; if the function
is written in Lisp, it is made into a command by an interactive form in the
function definition (see Section 21.2 [Defining Commands], page 369). Com-
mands that are functions can also be called from Lisp expressions, just like
other functions.
Keyboard macros (strings and vectors) are commands also, even though they
are not functions. See Section 21.16 [Keyboard Macros], page 413. We say that
a symbol is a command if its function cell contains a command (see Section 9.1
[Symbol Components], page 120); such a named command can be invoked with
M-x.
closure A function object that is much like a lambda expression, except that it also en-
closes an environment of lexical variable bindings. See Section 13.10 [Closures],
page 222.
byte-code function
A function that has been compiled by the byte compiler. See Section 2.3.16
[Byte-Code Type], page 23.
autoload object
A place-holder for a real function. If the autoload object is called, Emacs loads
the file containing the definition of the real function, and then calls the real
function. See Section 16.5 [Autoload], page 268.
You can use the function functionp to test if an object is a function:
functionp object [Function]
This function returns t if object is any kind of function, i.e., can be passed to funcall.
Note that functionp returns t for symbols that are function names, and returns nil
for special forms.
It is also possible to find out how many arguments an arbitrary function expects:
func-arity function [Function]
This function provides information about the argument list of the specified function.
The returned value is a cons cell of the form (min . max), where min is the minimum
number of arguments, and max is either the maximum number of arguments, or the
symbol many for functions with &rest arguments, or the symbol unevalled if function
is a special form.
Note that this function might return inaccurate results in some situations, such as
the following:
− Functions defined using apply-partially (see Section 13.5 [Calling Functions],
page 212).
− Functions that are advised using advice-add (see Section 13.11.2 [Advising
Named Functions], page 225).
Chapter 13: Functions 205

− Functions that determine the argument list dynamically, as part of their code.
Unlike functionp, the next three functions do not treat a symbol as its function definition.
subrp object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a built-in function (i.e., a Lisp primitive).
(subrp 'message) ; message is a symbol,
⇒ nil ; not a subr object.
(subrp (symbol-function 'message))
⇒ t
byte-code-function-p object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a byte-code function. For example:
(byte-code-function-p (symbol-function 'next-line))
⇒ t
subr-arity subr [Function]
This works like func-arity, but only for built-in functions and without symbol
indirection. It signals an error for non-built-in functions. We recommend to use
func-arity instead.

13.2 Lambda Expressions

A lambda expression is a function object written in Lisp. Here is an example:
(lambda (x)
"Return the hyperbolic cosine of X."
(* 0.5 (+ (exp x) (exp (- x)))))
In Emacs Lisp, such a list is a valid expression which evaluates to a function object.
A lambda expression, by itself, has no name; it is an anonymous function. Although
lambda expressions can be used this way (see Section 13.7 [Anonymous Functions],
page 216), they are more commonly associated with symbols to make named functions (see
Section 13.3 [Function Names], page 209). Before going into these details, the following
subsections describe the components of a lambda expression and what they do.

13.2.1 Components of a Lambda Expression

A lambda expression is a list that looks like this:
(lambda (arg-variables...)
[documentation-string]
[interactive-declaration]
body-forms...)
The first element of a lambda expression is always the symbol lambda. This indicates
that the list represents a function. The reason functions are defined to start with lambda
is so that other lists, intended for other uses, will not accidentally be valid as functions.
The second element is a list of symbols—the argument variable names. This is called the
lambda list. When a Lisp function is called, the argument values are matched up against
the variables in the lambda list, which are given local bindings with the values provided.
See Section 12.3 [Local Variables], page 170.
Chapter 13: Functions 206

The documentation string is a Lisp string object placed within the function definition
to describe the function for the Emacs help facilities. See Section 13.2.4 [Function Docu-
mentation], page 208.
The interactive declaration is a list of the form (interactive code-string). This
declares how to provide arguments if the function is used interactively. Functions with
this declaration are called commands; they can be called using M-x or bound to a key.
Functions not intended to be called in this way should not have interactive declarations.
See Section 21.2 [Defining Commands], page 369, for how to write an interactive declaration.
The rest of the elements are the body of the function: the Lisp code to do the work of
the function (or, as a Lisp programmer would say, “a list of Lisp forms to evaluate”). The
value returned by the function is the value returned by the last element of the body.

13.2.2 A Simple Lambda Expression Example

Consider the following example:
(lambda (a b c) (+ a b c))
We can call this function by passing it to funcall, like this:
(funcall (lambda (a b c) (+ a b c))
1 2 3)
This call evaluates the body of the lambda expression with the variable a bound to 1, b
bound to 2, and c bound to 3. Evaluation of the body adds these three numbers, producing
the result 6; therefore, this call to the function returns the value 6.
Note that the arguments can be the results of other function calls, as in this example:
(funcall (lambda (a b c) (+ a b c))
1 (* 2 3) (- 5 4))
This evaluates the arguments 1, (* 2 3), and (- 5 4) from left to right. Then it applies
the lambda expression to the argument values 1, 6 and 1 to produce the value 8.
As these examples show, you can use a form with a lambda expression as its car to make
local variables and give them values. In the old days of Lisp, this technique was the only
way to bind and initialize local variables. But nowadays, it is clearer to use the special form
let for this purpose (see Section 12.3 [Local Variables], page 170). Lambda expressions
are mainly used as anonymous functions for passing as arguments to other functions (see
Section 13.7 [Anonymous Functions], page 216), or stored as symbol function definitions to
produce named functions (see Section 13.3 [Function Names], page 209).

13.2.3 Other Features of Argument Lists

Our simple sample function, (lambda (a b c) (+ a b c)), specifies three argument vari-
ables, so it must be called with three arguments: if you try to call it with only two argu-
ments or four arguments, you get a wrong-number-of-arguments error (see Section 11.7.3
[Errors], page 160).
It is often convenient to write a function that allows certain arguments to be omitted.
For example, the function substring accepts three arguments—a string, the start index
and the end index—but the third argument defaults to the length of the string if you omit
it. It is also convenient for certain functions to accept an indefinite number of arguments,
as the functions list and + do.
Chapter 13: Functions 207

To specify optional arguments that may be omitted when a function is called, simply
include the keyword &optional before the optional arguments. To specify a list of zero or
more extra arguments, include the keyword &rest before one final argument.
Thus, the complete syntax for an argument list is as follows:
(required-vars...
[&optional optional-vars...]
[&rest rest-var])
The square brackets indicate that the &optional and &rest clauses, and the variables that
follow them, are optional.
A call to the function requires one actual argument for each of the required-vars. There
may be actual arguments for zero or more of the optional-vars, and there cannot be any
actual arguments beyond that unless the lambda list uses &rest. In that case, there may
be any number of extra actual arguments.
If actual arguments for the optional and rest variables are omitted, then they always
default to nil. There is no way for the function to distinguish between an explicit argument
of nil and an omitted argument. However, the body of the function is free to consider nil
an abbreviation for some other meaningful value. This is what substring does; nil as the
third argument to substring means to use the length of the string supplied.
Common Lisp note: Common Lisp allows the function to specify what default
value to use when an optional argument is omitted; Emacs Lisp always uses
nil. Emacs Lisp does not support supplied-p variables that tell you whether
an argument was explicitly passed.
For example, an argument list that looks like this:
(a b &optional c d &rest e)
binds a and b to the first two actual arguments, which are required. If one or two more
arguments are provided, c and d are bound to them respectively; any arguments after the
first four are collected into a list and e is bound to that list. Thus, if there are only two
arguments, c, d and e are nil; if two or three arguments, d and e are nil; if four arguments
or fewer, e is nil. Note that exactly five arguments with an explicit nil argument provided
for e will cause that nil argument to be passed as a list with one element, (nil), as with
any other single value for e.
There is no way to have required arguments following optional ones—it would not make
sense. To see why this must be so, suppose that c in the example were optional and d
were required. Suppose three actual arguments are given; which variable would the third
argument be for? Would it be used for the c, or for d? One can argue for both possibilities.
Similarly, it makes no sense to have any more arguments (either required or optional) after
a &rest argument.
Here are some examples of argument lists and proper calls:
(funcall (lambda (n) (1+ n)) ; One required:
1) ; requires exactly one argument.
⇒ 2
(funcall (lambda (n &optional n1) ; One required and one optional:
(if n1 (+ n n1) (1+ n))) ; 1 or 2 arguments.
1 2)
Chapter 13: Functions 208

⇒ 3
(funcall (lambda (n &rest ns) ; One required and one rest:
(+ n (apply '+ ns))) ; 1 or more arguments.
1 2 3 4 5)
⇒ 15

13.2.4 Documentation Strings of Functions

A lambda expression may optionally have a documentation string just after the lambda
list. This string does not affect execution of the function; it is a kind of comment, but
a systematized comment which actually appears inside the Lisp world and can be used
by the Emacs help facilities. See Chapter 24 [Documentation], page 510, for how the
documentation string is accessed.
It is a good idea to provide documentation strings for all the functions in your program,
even those that are called only from within your program. Documentation strings are like
comments, except that they are easier to access.
The first line of the documentation string should stand on its own, because apropos
displays just this first line. It should consist of one or two complete sentences that summarize
the function’s purpose.
The start of the documentation string is usually indented in the source file, but since
these spaces come before the starting double-quote, they are not part of the string. Some
people make a practice of indenting any additional lines of the string so that the text lines
up in the program source. That is a mistake. The indentation of the following lines is inside
the string; what looks nice in the source code will look ugly when displayed by the help
commands.
You may wonder how the documentation string could be optional, since there are re-
quired components of the function that follow it (the body). Since evaluation of a string
returns that string, without any side effects, it has no effect if it is not the last form in the
body. Thus, in practice, there is no confusion between the first form of the body and the
documentation string; if the only body form is a string then it serves both as the return
value and as the documentation.
The last line of the documentation string can specify calling conventions different from
the actual function arguments. Write text like this:
\(fn arglist)
following a blank line, at the beginning of the line, with no newline following it inside the
documentation string. (The ‘\’ is used to avoid confusing the Emacs motion commands.)
The calling convention specified in this way appears in help messages in place of the one
derived from the actual arguments of the function.
This feature is particularly useful for macro definitions, since the arguments written in
a macro definition often do not correspond to the way users think of the parts of the macro
call.
Do not use this feature if you want to deprecate the calling convention and favor the
one you advertise by the above specification. Instead, use the advertised-calling-
convention declaration (see Section 13.14 [Declare Form], page 231) or set-advertised-
calling-convention (see Section 13.12 [Obsolete Functions], page 229), because these two
Chapter 13: Functions 209

will cause the byte compiler emit a warning message when it compiles Lisp programs which
use the deprecated calling convention.

13.3 Naming a Function

A symbol can serve as the name of a function. This happens when the symbol’s function
cell (see Section 9.1 [Symbol Components], page 120) contains a function object (e.g., a
lambda expression). Then the symbol itself becomes a valid, callable function, equivalent
to the function object in its function cell.
The contents of the function cell are also called the symbol’s function definition. The
procedure of using a symbol’s function definition in place of the symbol is called symbol
function indirection; see Section 10.1.4 [Function Indirection], page 131. If you have not
given a symbol a function definition, its function cell is said to be void, and it cannot be
used as a function.
In practice, nearly all functions have names, and are referred to by their names. You can
create a named Lisp function by defining a lambda expression and putting it in a function
cell (see Section 13.9 [Function Cells], page 221). However, it is more common to use the
defun special form, described in the next section.
We give functions names because it is convenient to refer to them by their names in
Lisp expressions. Also, a named Lisp function can easily refer to itself—it can be recursive.
Furthermore, primitives can only be referred to textually by their names, since primitive
function objects (see Section 2.3.15 [Primitive Function Type], page 22) have no read syntax.
A function need not have a unique name. A given function object usually appears in
the function cell of only one symbol, but this is just a convention. It is easy to store it in
several symbols using fset; then each of the symbols is a valid name for the same function.
Note that a symbol used as a function name may also be used as a variable; these two
uses of a symbol are independent and do not conflict. (This is not the case in some dialects
of Lisp, like Scheme.)
By convention, if a function’s symbol consists of two names separated by ‘--’, the
function is intended for internal use and the first part names the file defining the func-
tion. For example, a function named vc-git--rev-parse is an internal function defined
in vc-git.el. Internal-use functions written in C have names ending in ‘-internal’, e.g.,
bury-buffer-internal. Emacs code contributed before 2018 may follow other internal-use
naming conventions, which are being phased out.

13.4 Defining Functions

We usually give a name to a function when it is first created. This is called defining a
function, and it is done with the defun macro.

defun name args [doc] [declare] [interactive] body. . . [Macro]

defun is the usual way to define new Lisp functions. It defines the symbol name as
a function with argument list args and body forms given by body. Neither name nor
args should be quoted.
doc, if present, should be a string specifying the function’s documentation string
(see Section 13.2.4 [Function Documentation], page 208). declare, if present, should
Chapter 13: Functions 210

be a declare form specifying function metadata (see Section 13.14 [Declare Form],
page 231). interactive, if present, should be an interactive form specifying how the
function is to be called interactively (see Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375).
The return value of defun is undefined.
Here are some examples:
(defun foo () 5)
(foo)
⇒ 5

(defun bar (a &optional b &rest c)

(list a b c))
(bar 1 2 3 4 5)
⇒ (1 2 (3 4 5))
(bar 1)
⇒ (1 nil nil)
(bar)
error Wrong number of arguments.

(defun capitalize-backwards ()
"Upcase the last letter of the word at point."
(interactive)
(backward-word 1)
(forward-word 1)
(backward-char 1)
(capitalize-word 1))
Be careful not to redefine existing functions unintentionally. defun redefines even
primitive functions such as car without any hesitation or notification. Emacs does
not prevent you from doing this, because redefining a function is sometimes done de-
liberately, and there is no way to distinguish deliberate redefinition from unintentional
redefinition.
defalias name definition &optional doc [Function]
This function defines the symbol name as a function, with definition definition (which
can be any valid Lisp function). Its return value is undefined.
If doc is non-nil, it becomes the function documentation of name. Otherwise, any
documentation provided by definition is used.
Internally, defalias normally uses fset to set the definition. If name has a
defalias-fset-function property, however, the associated value is used as a
function to call in place of fset.
The proper place to use defalias is where a specific function name is being defined—
especially where that name appears explicitly in the source file being loaded. This
is because defalias records which file defined the function, just like defun (see
Section 16.9 [Unloading], page 276).
By contrast, in programs that manipulate function definitions for other purposes, it
is better to use fset, which does not keep such records. See Section 13.9 [Function
Cells], page 221.
Chapter 13: Functions 211

You cannot create a new primitive function with defun or defalias, but you can use
them to change the function definition of any symbol, even one such as car or x-popup-
menu whose normal definition is a primitive. However, this is risky: for instance, it is next
to impossible to redefine car without breaking Lisp completely. Redefining an obscure
function such as x-popup-menu is less dangerous, but it still may not work as you expect. If
there are calls to the primitive from C code, they call the primitive’s C definition directly,
so changing the symbol’s definition will have no effect on them.
See also defsubst, which defines a function like defun and tells the Lisp compiler to
perform inline expansion on it. See Section 13.13 [Inline Functions], page 230.
Alternatively, you can define a function by providing the code which will inline it as a
compiler macro. The following macros make this possible.

define-inline name args [doc] [declare] body. . . [Macro]

Define a function name by providing code that does its inlining, as a compiler macro.
The function will accept the argument list args and will have the specified body.
If present, doc should be the function’s documentation string (see Section 13.2.4
[Function Documentation], page 208); declare, if present, should be a declare form
(see Section 13.14 [Declare Form], page 231) specifying the function’s metadata.

Functions defined via define-inline have several advantages with respect to macros
defined by defsubst or defmacro:
− They can be passed to mapcar (see Section 13.6 [Mapping Functions], page 214).
− They are more efficient.
− They can be used as place forms to store values (see Section 12.17 [Generalized Vari-
ables], page 200).
− They behave in a more predictable way than cl-defsubst (see Section “Argument
Lists” in Common Lisp Extensions for GNU Emacs Lisp).
Like defmacro, a function inlined with define-inline inherits the scoping rules, either
dynamic or lexical, from the call site. See Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping], page 179.
The following macros should be used in the body of a function defined by define-inline.

inline-quote expression [Macro]

Quote expression for define-inline. This is similar to the backquote (see
Section 10.3 [Backquote], page 135), but quotes code and accepts only ,, not ,@.

inline-letevals (bindings. . . ) body. . . [Macro]

This is similar to let (see Section 12.3 [Local Variables], page 170): it sets up local
variables as specified by bindings, and then evaluates body with those bindings in
effect. Each element of bindings should be either a symbol or a list of the form
(var expr); the result is to evaluate expr and bind var to the result. The tail of
bindings can be either nil or a symbol which should hold a list of arguments, in
which case each argument is evaluated, and the symbol is bound to the resulting list.

inline-const-p expression [Macro]

Return non-nil if the value of expression is already known.
Chapter 13: Functions 212

inline-const-val expression [Macro]

Return the value of expression.
inline-error format &rest args [Macro]
Signal an error, formatting args according to format.
Here’s an example of using define-inline:
(define-inline myaccessor (obj)
(inline-letevals (obj)
(inline-quote (if (foo-p ,obj) (aref (cdr ,obj) 3) (aref ,obj 2)))))
This is equivalent to
(defsubst myaccessor (obj)
(if (foo-p obj) (aref (cdr obj) 3) (aref obj 2)))

13.5 Calling Functions

Defining functions is only half the battle. Functions don’t do anything until you call them,
i.e., tell them to run. Calling a function is also known as invocation.
The most common way of invoking a function is by evaluating a list. For example,
evaluating the list (concat "a" "b") calls the function concat with arguments "a" and
"b". See Chapter 10 [Evaluation], page 129, for a description of evaluation.
When you write a list as an expression in your program, you specify which function to
call, and how many arguments to give it, in the text of the program. Usually that’s just
what you want. Occasionally you need to compute at run time which function to call. To
do that, use the function funcall. When you also need to determine at run time how many
arguments to pass, use apply.
funcall function &rest arguments [Function]
funcall calls function with arguments, and returns whatever function returns.
Since funcall is a function, all of its arguments, including function, are evaluated
before funcall is called. This means that you can use any expression to obtain
the function to be called. It also means that funcall does not see the expressions
you write for the arguments, only their values. These values are not evaluated a
second time in the act of calling function; the operation of funcall is like the normal
procedure for calling a function, once its arguments have already been evaluated.
The argument function must be either a Lisp function or a primitive function. Special
forms and macros are not allowed, because they make sense only when given the
unevaluated argument expressions. funcall cannot provide these because, as we saw
above, it never knows them in the first place.
If you need to use funcall to call a command and make it behave as if invoked inter-
actively, use funcall-interactively (see Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375).
(setq f 'list)
⇒ list
(funcall f 'x 'y 'z)
⇒ (x y z)
(funcall f 'x 'y '(z))
⇒ (x y (z))
Chapter 13: Functions 213

(funcall 'and t nil)

error Invalid function: #<subr and>
Compare these examples with the examples of apply.

apply function &rest arguments [Function]

apply calls function with arguments, just like funcall but with one difference: the
last of arguments is a list of objects, which are passed to function as separate ar-
guments, rather than a single list. We say that apply spreads this list so that each
individual element becomes an argument.
apply returns the result of calling function. As with funcall, function must either
be a Lisp function or a primitive function; special forms and macros do not make
sense in apply.
(setq f 'list)
⇒ list
(apply f 'x 'y 'z)
error Wrong type argument: listp, z
(apply '+ 1 2 '(3 4))
⇒ 10
(apply '+ '(1 2 3 4))
⇒ 10

(apply 'append '((a b c) nil (x y z) nil))

⇒ (a b c x y z)
For an interesting example of using apply, see [Definition of mapcar], page 214.

Sometimes it is useful to fix some of the function’s arguments at certain values, and
leave the rest of arguments for when the function is actually called. The act of fixing some
of the function’s arguments is called partial application of the function1 . The result is a
new function that accepts the rest of arguments and calls the original function with all the
arguments combined.
Here’s how to do partial application in Emacs Lisp:

apply-partially func &rest args [Function]

This function returns a new function which, when called, will call func with the list
of arguments composed from args and additional arguments specified at the time of
the call. If func accepts n arguments, then a call to apply-partially with m < n
arguments will produce a new function of n - m arguments.
Here’s how we could define the built-in function 1+, if it didn’t exist, using
apply-partially and +, another built-in function:
(defalias '1+ (apply-partially '+ 1)
"Increment argument by one.")
(1+ 10)
⇒ 11
1
This is related to, but different from currying, which transforms a function that takes multiple arguments
in such a way that it can be called as a chain of functions, each one with a single argument.
Chapter 13: Functions 214

It is common for Lisp functions to accept functions as arguments or find them in data
structures (especially in hook variables and property lists) and call them using funcall or
apply. Functions that accept function arguments are often called functionals.
Sometimes, when you call a functional, it is useful to supply a no-op function as the
argument. Here are two different kinds of no-op function:

identity arg [Function]

This function returns arg and has no side effects.

ignore &rest args [Function]

This function ignores any arguments and returns nil.

Some functions are user-visible commands, which can be called interactively (usually by
a key sequence). It is possible to invoke such a command exactly as though it was called
interactively, by using the call-interactively function. See Section 21.3 [Interactive
Call], page 375.

13.6 Mapping Functions

A mapping function applies a given function (not a special form or macro) to each element
of a list or other collection. Emacs Lisp has several such functions; this section describes
mapcar, mapc, mapconcat, and mapcan, which map over a list. See [Definition of mapatoms],
page 124, for the function mapatoms which maps over the symbols in an obarray. See
[Definition of maphash], page 117, for the function maphash which maps over key/value
associations in a hash table.
These mapping functions do not allow char-tables because a char-table is a sparse array
whose nominal range of indices is very large. To map over a char-table in a way that
deals properly with its sparse nature, use the function map-char-table (see Section 6.6
[Char-Tables], page 107).

mapcar function sequence [Function]

mapcar applies function to each element of sequence in turn, and returns a list of the
results.
The argument sequence can be any kind of sequence except a char-table; that is, a
list, a vector, a bool-vector, or a string. The result is always a list. The length of the
result is the same as the length of sequence. For example:
(mapcar 'car '((a b) (c d) (e f)))
⇒ (a c e)
(mapcar '1+ [1 2 3])
⇒ (2 3 4)
(mapcar 'string "abc")
⇒ ("a" "b" "c")

;; Call each function in my-hooks.

(mapcar 'funcall my-hooks)
Chapter 13: Functions 215

(defun mapcar* (function &rest args)

"Apply FUNCTION to successive cars of all ARGS.
Return the list of results."
;; If no list is exhausted,
(if (not (memq nil args))
;; apply function to cars.
(cons (apply function (mapcar 'car args))
(apply 'mapcar* function
;; Recurse for rest of elements.
(mapcar 'cdr args)))))

(mapcar* 'cons '(a b c) '(1 2 3 4))

⇒ ((a . 1) (b . 2) (c . 3))

mapcan function sequence [Function]

This function applies function to each element of sequence, like mapcar, but instead
of collecting the results into a list, it returns a single list with all the elements of the
results (which must be lists), by altering the results (using nconc; see Section 5.6.3
[Rearrangement], page 80). Like with mapcar, sequence can be of any type except a
char-table.
;; Contrast this:
(mapcar 'list '(a b c d))
⇒ ((a) (b) (c) (d))
;; with this:
(mapcan 'list '(a b c d))
⇒ (a b c d)

mapc function sequence [Function]

mapc is like mapcar except that function is used for side-effects only—the values it
returns are ignored, not collected into a list. mapc always returns sequence.

mapconcat function sequence separator [Function]

mapconcat applies function to each element of sequence; the results, which must be
sequences of characters (strings, vectors, or lists), are concatenated into a single string
return value. Between each pair of result sequences, mapconcat inserts the characters
from separator, which also must be a string, or a vector or list of characters. See
Chapter 6 [Sequences Arrays Vectors], page 91.
The argument function must be a function that can take one argument and returns
a sequence of characters: a string, a vector, or a list. The argument sequence can be
any kind of sequence except a char-table; that is, a list, a vector, a bool-vector, or a
string.
(mapconcat 'symbol-name
'(The cat in the hat)
" ")
⇒ "The cat in the hat"
Chapter 13: Functions 216

(mapconcat (function (lambda (x) (format "%c" (1+ x))))

"HAL-8000"
"")
⇒ "IBM.9111"

13.7 Anonymous Functions

Although functions are usually defined with defun and given names at the same time,
it is sometimes convenient to use an explicit lambda expression—an anonymous function.
Anonymous functions are valid wherever function names are. They are often assigned as
variable values, or as arguments to functions; for instance, you might pass one as the function
argument to mapcar, which applies that function to each element of a list (see Section 13.6
[Mapping Functions], page 214). See [describe-symbols example], page 511, for a realistic
example of this.
When defining a lambda expression that is to be used as an anonymous function, you
can in principle use any method to construct the list. But typically you should use the
lambda macro, or the function special form, or the #' read syntax:

lambda args [doc] [interactive] body. . . [Macro]

This macro returns an anonymous function with argument list args, documentation
string doc (if any), interactive spec interactive (if any), and body forms given by
body.
Under dynamic binding, this macro effectively makes lambda forms self-quoting: eval-
uating a form whose car is lambda yields the form itself:
(lambda (x) (* x x))
⇒ (lambda (x) (* x x))
Note that when evaluating under lexical binding the result is a closure object (see
Section 13.10 [Closures], page 222).
The lambda form has one other effect: it tells the Emacs evaluator and byte-compiler
that its argument is a function, by using function as a subroutine (see below).

function function-object [Special Form]

This special form returns function-object without evaluating it. In this, it is similar
to quote (see Section 10.2 [Quoting], page 135). But unlike quote, it also serves as a
note to the Emacs evaluator and byte-compiler that function-object is intended to be
used as a function. Assuming function-object is a valid lambda expression, this has
two effects:
• When the code is byte-compiled, function-object is compiled into a byte-code
function object (see Chapter 17 [Byte Compilation], page 279).
• When lexical binding is enabled, function-object is converted into a closure. See
Section 13.10 [Closures], page 222.

The read syntax #' is a short-hand for using function. The following forms are all
equivalent:
(lambda (x) (* x x))
(function (lambda (x) (* x x)))
Chapter 13: Functions 217

#'(lambda (x) (* x x))

In the following example, we define a change-property function that takes a func-
tion as its third argument, followed by a double-property function that makes use of
change-property by passing it an anonymous function:
(defun change-property (symbol prop function)
(let ((value (get symbol prop)))
(put symbol prop (funcall function value))))

(defun double-property (symbol prop)

(change-property symbol prop (lambda (x) (* 2 x))))
Note that we do not quote the lambda form.
If you compile the above code, the anonymous function is also compiled. This would not
happen if, say, you had constructed the anonymous function by quoting it as a list:
(defun double-property (symbol prop)
(change-property symbol prop '(lambda (x) (* 2 x))))
In that case, the anonymous function is kept as a lambda expression in the compiled code.
The byte-compiler cannot assume this list is a function, even though it looks like one, since
it does not know that change-property intends to use it as a function.

13.8 Generic Functions

Functions defined using defun have a hard-coded set of assumptions about the types and
expected values of their arguments. For example, a function that was designed to handle
values of its argument that are either numbers or lists of numbers will fail or signal an
error if called with a value of any other type, such as a vector or a string. This happens
because the implementation of the function is not prepared to deal with types other than
those assumed during the design.
By contrast, object-oriented programs use polymorphic functions: a set of specialized
functions having the same name, each one of which was written for a certain specific set of
argument types. Which of the functions is actually called is decided at run time based on
the types of the actual arguments.
Emacs provides support for polymorphism. Like other Lisp environments, notably Com-
mon Lisp and its Common Lisp Object System (CLOS), this support is based on generic
functions. The Emacs generic functions closely follow CLOS, including use of similar names,
so if you have experience with CLOS, the rest of this section will sound very familiar.
A generic function specifies an abstract operation, by defining its name and list of ar-
guments, but (usually) no implementation. The actual implementation for several specific
classes of arguments is provided by methods, which should be defined separately. Each
method that implements a generic function has the same name as the generic function, but
the method’s definition indicates what kinds of arguments it can handle by specializing the
arguments defined by the generic function. These argument specializers can be more or
less specific; for example, a string type is more specific than a more general type, such as
sequence.
Chapter 13: Functions 218

Note that, unlike in message-based OO languages, such as C++ and Simula, methods that
implement generic functions don’t belong to a class, they belong to the generic function they
implement.
When a generic function is invoked, it selects the applicable methods by comparing the
actual arguments passed by the caller with the argument specializers of each method. A
method is applicable if the actual arguments of the call are compatible with the method’s
specializers. If more than one method is applicable, they are combined using certain rules,
described below, and the combination then handles the call.

cl-defgeneric name arguments [documentation] [Macro]

[options-and-methods. . . ] &rest body
This macro defines a generic function with the specified name and arguments. If
body is present, it provides the default implementation. If documentation is present
(it should always be), it specifies the documentation string for the generic function,
in the form (:documentation docstring). The optional options-and-methods can
be one of the following forms:

(declare declarations)
A declare form, as described in Section 13.14 [Declare Form], page 231.

(:argument-precedence-order &rest args)

This form affects the sorting order for combining applicable methods.
Normally, when two methods are compared during combination, method
arguments are examined left to right, and the first method whose ar-
gument specializer is more specific will come before the other one. The
order defined by this form overrides that, and the arguments are examined
according to their order in this form, and not left to right.

(:method [qualifiers...] args &rest body)

This form defines a method like cl-defmethod does.

cl-defmethod name [qualifier] arguments &rest [docstring] body [Macro]

This macro defines a particular implementation for the generic function called name.
The implementation code is given by body. If present, docstring is the documenta-
tion string for the method. The arguments list, which must be identical in all the
methods that implement a generic function, and must match the argument list of
that function, provides argument specializers of the form (arg spec), where arg is
the argument name as specified in the cl-defgeneric call, and spec is one of the
following specializer forms:

type This specializer requires the argument to be of the given type, one of the
types from the type hierarchy described below.

(eql object)
This specializer requires the argument be eql to the given object.

(head object)
The argument must be a cons cell whose car is eql to object.
Chapter 13: Functions 219

struct-type
The argument must be an instance of a class named struct-type defined
with cl-defstruct (see Section “Structures” in Common Lisp Exten-
sions for GNU Emacs Lisp), or of one of its child classes.
Alternatively, the argument specializer can be of the form &context (expr spec),
in which case the value of expr must be compatible with the specializer provided by
spec; spec can be any of the forms described above. In other words, this form of
specializer uses the value of expr instead of arguments for the decision whether the
method is applicable. For example, &context (overwrite-mode (eql t)) will make
the method compatible only when overwrite-mode is turned on.
The type specializer, (arg type), can specify one of the system types in the following
list. When a parent type is specified, an argument whose type is any of its more
specific child types, as well as grand-children, grand-grand-children, etc. will also be
compatible.
integer Parent type: number.
number
null Parent type: symbol
symbol
string Parent type: array.
array Parent type: sequence.
cons Parent type: list.
list Parent type: sequence.
marker
overlay
float Parent type: number.
window-configuration
process
window
subr
compiled-function
buffer
char-table
Parent type: array.
bool-vector
Parent type: array.
vector Parent type: array.
frame
Chapter 13: Functions 220

hash-table
font-spec
font-entity
font-object
The optional qualifier allows combining several applicable methods. If it is not
present, the defined method is a primary method, responsible for providing the pri-
mary implementation of the generic function for the specialized arguments. You can
also define auxiliary methods, by using one of the following values as qualifier:
:before This auxiliary method will run before the primary method. More ac-
curately, all the :before methods will run before the primary, in the
most-specific-first order.
:after This auxiliary method will run after the primary method. More accu-
rately, all such methods will run after the primary, in the most-specific-
last order.
:around This auxiliary method will run instead of the primary method. The
most specific of such methods will be run before any other method. Such
methods normally use cl-call-next-method, described below, to invoke
the other auxiliary or primary methods.
:extra string
This allows you to add more methods, distinguished by string, for the
same specializers and qualifiers.
Functions defined using cl-defmethod cannot be made interactive, i.e. commands
(see Section 21.2 [Defining Commands], page 369), by adding the interactive form
to them. If you need a polymorphic command, we recommend defining a nor-
mal command that calls a polymorphic function defined via cl-defgeneric and
cl-defmethod.
Each time a generic function is called, it builds the effective method which will handle
this invocation by combining the applicable methods defined for the function. The process
of finding the applicable methods and producing the effective method is called dispatch.
The applicable methods are those all of whose specializers are compatible with the actual
arguments of the call. Since all of the arguments must be compatible with the specializers,
they all determine whether a method is applicable. Methods that explicitly specialize more
than one argument are called multiple-dispatch methods.
The applicable methods are sorted into the order in which they will be combined. The
method whose left-most argument specializer is the most specific one will come first in
the order. (Specifying :argument-precedence-order as part of cl-defmethod overrides
that, as described above.) If the method body calls cl-call-next-method, the next most-
specific method will run. If there are applicable :around methods, the most-specific of them
will run first; it should call cl-call-next-method to run any of the less specific :around
methods. Next, the :before methods run in the order of their specificity, followed by the
primary method, and lastly the :after methods in the reverse order of their specificity.
cl-call-next-method &rest args [Function]
When invoked from within the lexical body of a primary or an :around auxiliary
method, call the next applicable method for the same generic function. Normally, it
Chapter 13: Functions 221

is called with no arguments, which means to call the next applicable method with
the same arguments that the calling method was invoked. Otherwise, the specified
arguments are used instead.

cl-next-method-p [Function]
This function, when called from within the lexical body of a primary or an :around
auxiliary method, returns non-nil if there is a next method to call.

13.9 Accessing Function Cell Contents

The function definition of a symbol is the object stored in the function cell of the symbol.
The functions described here access, test, and set the function cell of symbols.
See also the function indirect-function. See [Definition of indirect-function], page 132.

symbol-function symbol [Function]

This returns the object in the function cell of symbol. It does not check that the
returned object is a legitimate function.
If the function cell is void, the return value is nil. To distinguish between a function
cell that is void and one set to nil, use fboundp (see below).
(defun bar (n) (+ n 2))
(symbol-function 'bar)
⇒ (lambda (n) (+ n 2))
(fset 'baz 'bar)
⇒ bar
(symbol-function 'baz)
⇒ bar

If you have never given a symbol any function definition, we say that that symbol’s
function cell is void. In other words, the function cell does not have any Lisp object in it.
If you try to call the symbol as a function, Emacs signals a void-function error.
Note that void is not the same as nil or the symbol void. The symbols nil and void
are Lisp objects, and can be stored into a function cell just as any other object can be (and
they can be valid functions if you define them in turn with defun). A void function cell
contains no object whatsoever.
You can test the voidness of a symbol’s function definition with fboundp. After you have
given a symbol a function definition, you can make it void once more using fmakunbound.

fboundp symbol [Function]

This function returns t if the symbol has an object in its function cell, nil otherwise.
It does not check that the object is a legitimate function.

fmakunbound symbol [Function]

This function makes symbol’s function cell void, so that a subsequent attempt to
access this cell will cause a void-function error. It returns symbol. (See also
makunbound, in Section 12.4 [Void Variables], page 172.)
(defun foo (x) x)
(foo 1)
⇒1
Chapter 13: Functions 222

(fmakunbound 'foo)
⇒ foo
(foo 1)
error Symbol's function definition is void: foo

fset symbol definition [Function]

This function stores definition in the function cell of symbol. The result is definition.
Normally definition should be a function or the name of a function, but this is not
checked. The argument symbol is an ordinary evaluated argument.
The primary use of this function is as a subroutine by constructs that define or
alter functions, like defun or advice-add (see Section 13.11 [Advising Functions],
page 222). You can also use it to give a symbol a function definition that is not a
function, e.g., a keyboard macro (see Section 21.16 [Keyboard Macros], page 413):
;; Define a named keyboard macro.
(fset 'kill-two-lines "\^u2\^k")
⇒ "\^u2\^k"
It you wish to use fset to make an alternate name for a function, consider using
defalias instead. See [Definition of defalias], page 210.

13.10 Closures
As explained in Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping], page 179, Emacs can optionally enable
lexical binding of variables. When lexical binding is enabled, any named function that you
create (e.g., with defun), as well as any anonymous function that you create using the
lambda macro or the function special form or the #' syntax (see Section 13.7 [Anonymous
Functions], page 216), is automatically converted into a closure.
A closure is a function that also carries a record of the lexical environment that existed
when the function was defined. When it is invoked, any lexical variable references within
its definition use the retained lexical environment. In all other respects, closures behave
much like ordinary functions; in particular, they can be called in the same way as ordinary
functions.
See Section 12.10.3 [Lexical Binding], page 182, for an example of using a closure.
Currently, an Emacs Lisp closure object is represented by a list with the symbol closure
as the first element, a list representing the lexical environment as the second element, and
the argument list and body forms as the remaining elements:
;; lexical binding is enabled.
(lambda (x) (* x x))
⇒ (closure (t) (x) (* x x))
However, the fact that the internal structure of a closure is exposed to the rest of the
Lisp world is considered an internal implementation detail. For this reason, we recommend
against directly examining or altering the structure of closure objects.

13.11 Advising Emacs Lisp Functions

When you need to modify a function defined in another library, or when you need to modify
a hook like foo-function, a process filter, or basically any variable or object field which
Chapter 13: Functions 223

holds a function value, you can use the appropriate setter function, such as fset or defun
for named functions, setq for hook variables, or set-process-filter for process filters,
but those are often too blunt, completely throwing away the previous value.
The advice feature lets you add to the existing definition of a function, by advising the
function. This is a cleaner method than redefining the whole function.
Emacs’s advice system provides two sets of primitives for that: the core set, for func-
tion values held in variables and object fields (with the corresponding primitives being
add-function and remove-function) and another set layered on top of it for named func-
tions (with the main primitives being advice-add and advice-remove).
For example, in order to trace the calls to the process filter of a process proc, you could
use:
(defun my-tracing-function (proc string)
(message "Proc %S received %S" proc string))

(add-function :before (process-filter proc) #'my-tracing-function)

This will cause the process’s output to be passed to my-tracing-function before being
passed to the original process filter. my-tracing-function receives the same arguments as
the original function. When you’re done with it, you can revert to the untraced behavior
with:
(remove-function (process-filter proc) #'my-tracing-function)
Similarly, if you want to trace the execution of the function named display-buffer,
you could use:
(defun his-tracing-function (orig-fun &rest args)
(message "display-buffer called with args %S" args)
(let ((res (apply orig-fun args)))
(message "display-buffer returned %S" res)
res))

(advice-add 'display-buffer :around #'his-tracing-function)

Here, his-tracing-function is called instead of the original function and receives the
original function (additionally to that function’s arguments) as argument, so it can call it
if and when it needs to. When you’re tired of seeing this output, you can revert to the
untraced behavior with:
(advice-remove 'display-buffer #'his-tracing-function)
The arguments :before and :around used in the above examples specify how the two
functions are composed, since there are many different ways to do it. The added function
is also called a piece of advice.

13.11.1 Primitives to manipulate advices

add-function where place function &optional props [Macro]
This macro is the handy way to add the advice function to the function stored in
place (see Section 12.17 [Generalized Variables], page 200).
where determines how function is composed with the existing function, e.g., whether
function should be called before, or after the original function. See Section 13.11.3
Chapter 13: Functions 224

[Advice combinators], page 226, for the list of available ways to compose the two
functions.
When modifying a variable (whose name will usually end with -function), you can
choose whether function is used globally or only in the current buffer: if place is just
a symbol, then function is added to the global value of place. Whereas if place is of
the form (local symbol), where symbol is an expression which returns the variable
name, then function will only be added in the current buffer. Finally, if you want to
modify a lexical variable, you will have to use (var variable).
Every function added with add-function can be accompanied by an association list
of properties props. Currently only two of those properties have a special meaning:
name This gives a name to the advice, which remove-function can use to
identify which function to remove. Typically used when function is an
anonymous function.
depth This specifies how to order the advice, should several pieces of advice be
present. By default, the depth is 0. A depth of 100 indicates that this
piece of advice should be kept as deep as possible, whereas a depth of
−100 indicates that it should stay as the outermost piece. When two
pieces of advice specify the same depth, the most recently added one will
be outermost.
For :before advice, being outermost means that this advice will be run
first, before any other advice, whereas being innermost means that it will
run right before the original function, with no other advice run between
itself and the original function. Similarly, for :after advice innermost
means that it will run right after the original function, with no other
advice run in between, whereas outermost means that it will be run right
at the end after all other advice. An innermost :override piece of advice
will only override the original function and other pieces of advice will
apply to it, whereas an outermost :override piece of advice will override
not only the original function but all other advice applied to it as well.
If function is not interactive, then the combined function will inherit the interactive
spec, if any, of the original function. Else, the combined function will be interactive
and will use the interactive spec of function. One exception: if the interactive spec
of function is a function (rather than an expression or a string), then the interactive
spec of the combined function will be a call to that function with as sole argument the
interactive spec of the original function. To interpret the spec received as argument,
use advice-eval-interactive-spec.
Note: The interactive spec of function will apply to the combined function and
should hence obey the calling convention of the combined function rather than that
of function. In many cases, it makes no difference since they are identical, but it does
matter for :around, :filter-args, and :filter-return, where function receives
different arguments than the original function stored in place.

remove-function place function [Macro]

This macro removes function from the function stored in place. This only works if
function was added to place using add-function.
Chapter 13: Functions 225

function is compared with functions added to place using equal, to try and make it
work also with lambda expressions. It is additionally compared also with the name
property of the functions added to place, which can be more reliable than comparing
lambda expressions using equal.

advice-function-member-p advice function-def [Function]

Return non-nil if advice is already in function-def. Like for remove-function above,
instead of advice being the actual function, it can also be the name of the piece of
advice.

advice-function-mapc f function-def [Function]

Call the function f for every piece of advice that was added to function-def. f is called
with two arguments: the advice function and its properties.

advice-eval-interactive-spec spec [Function]

Evaluate the interactive spec just like an interactive call to a function with such
a spec would, and then return the corresponding list of arguments that was built.
E.g., (advice-eval-interactive-spec "r\nP") will return a list of three elements,
containing the boundaries of the region and the current prefix argument.

13.11.2 Advising Named Functions

A common use of advice is for named functions and macros. You could just use
add-function as in:
(add-function :around (symbol-function 'fun) #'his-tracing-function)
But you should use advice-add and advice-remove for that instead. This separate set
of functions to manipulate pieces of advice applied to named functions, offers the following
extra features compared to add-function: they know how to deal with macros and au-
toloaded functions, they let describe-function preserve the original docstring as well as
document the added advice, and they let you add and remove advice before a function is
even defined.
advice-add can be useful for altering the behavior of existing calls to an existing function
without having to redefine the whole function. However, it can be a source of bugs, since
existing callers to the function may assume the old behavior, and work incorrectly when the
behavior is changed by advice. Advice can also cause confusion in debugging, if the person
doing the debugging does not notice or remember that the function has been modified by
advice.
For these reasons, advice should be reserved for the cases where you cannot modify a
function’s behavior in any other way. If it is possible to do the same thing via a hook,
that is preferable (see Section 23.1 [Hooks], page 453). If you simply want to change
what a particular key does, it may be better to write a new command, and remap the
old command’s key bindings to the new one (see Section 22.13 [Remapping Commands],
page 433). In particular, Emacs’s own source files should not put advice on functions in
Emacs. (There are currently a few exceptions to this convention, but we aim to correct
them.)
Special forms (see Section 10.1.7 [Special Forms], page 133) cannot be advised, however
macros can be advised, in much the same way as functions. Of course, this will not affect
Chapter 13: Functions 226

code that has already been macro-expanded, so you need to make sure the advice is installed
before the macro is expanded.
It is possible to advise a primitive (see Section 13.1 [What Is a Function], page 203), but
one should typically not do so, for two reasons. Firstly, some primitives are used by the
advice mechanism, and advising them could cause an infinite recursion. Secondly, many
primitives are called directly from C, and such calls ignore advice; hence, one ends up in a
confusing situation where some calls (occurring from Lisp code) obey the advice and other
calls (from C code) do not.

define-advice symbol (where lambda-list &optional name depth) [Macro]

&rest body
This macro defines a piece of advice and adds it to the function named symbol. The
advice is an anonymous function if name is nil or a function named symbol@name.
See advice-add for explanation of other arguments.

advice-add symbol where function &optional props [Function]

Add the advice function to the named function symbol. where and props have the
same meaning as for add-function (see Section 13.11.1 [Core Advising Primitives],
page 223).

advice-remove symbol function [Function]

Remove the advice function from the named function symbol. function can also be
the name of a piece of advice.

advice-member-p function symbol [Function]

Return non-nil if the advice function is already in the named function symbol. func-
tion can also be the name of a piece of advice.

advice-mapc function symbol [Function]

Call function for every piece of advice that was added to the named function symbol.
function is called with two arguments: the advice function and its properties.

13.11.3 Ways to compose advice

Here are the different possible values for the where argument of add-function and
advice-add, specifying how the advice function and the original function should be
composed.
:before Call function before the old function. Both functions receive the same argu-
ments, and the return value of the composition is the return value of the old
function. More specifically, the composition of the two functions behaves like:
(lambda (&rest r) (apply function r) (apply oldfun r))
(add-function :before funvar function) is comparable for single-function
hooks to (add-hook 'hookvar function) for normal hooks.
:after Call function after the old function. Both functions receive the same arguments,
and the return value of the composition is the return value of the old function.
More specifically, the composition of the two functions behaves like:
(lambda (&rest r) (prog1 (apply oldfun r) (apply function r)))
Chapter 13: Functions 227

(add-function :after funvar function) is comparable for single-function

hooks to (add-hook 'hookvar function 'append) for normal hooks.
:override
This completely replaces the old function with the new one. The old function
can of course be recovered if you later call remove-function.
:around Call function instead of the old function, but provide the old function as an extra
argument to function. This is the most flexible composition. For example, it
lets you call the old function with different arguments, or many times, or within
a let-binding, or you can sometimes delegate the work to the old function and
sometimes override it completely. More specifically, the composition of the two
functions behaves like:
(lambda (&rest r) (apply function oldfun r))
:before-while
Call function before the old function and don’t call the old function if function
returns nil. Both functions receive the same arguments, and the return value
of the composition is the return value of the old function. More specifically, the
composition of the two functions behaves like:
(lambda (&rest r) (and (apply function r) (apply oldfun r)))
(add-function :before-while funvar function) is comparable for single-
function hooks to (add-hook 'hookvar function) when hookvar is run via
run-hook-with-args-until-failure.
:before-until
Call function before the old function and only call the old function if function
returns nil. More specifically, the composition of the two functions behaves
like:
(lambda (&rest r) (or (apply function r) (apply oldfun r)))
(add-function :before-until funvar function) is comparable for single-
function hooks to (add-hook 'hookvar function) when hookvar is run via
run-hook-with-args-until-success.
:after-while
Call function after the old function and only if the old function returned non-
nil. Both functions receive the same arguments, and the return value of the
composition is the return value of function. More specifically, the composition
of the two functions behaves like:
(lambda (&rest r) (and (apply oldfun r) (apply function r)))
(add-function :after-while funvar function) is comparable for
single-function hooks to (add-hook 'hookvar function 'append) when
hookvar is run via run-hook-with-args-until-failure.
:after-until
Call function after the old function and only if the old function returned nil.
More specifically, the composition of the two functions behaves like:
(lambda (&rest r) (or (apply oldfun r) (apply function r)))
Chapter 13: Functions 228

(add-function :after-until funvar function) is comparable for

single-function hooks to (add-hook 'hookvar function 'append) when
hookvar is run via run-hook-with-args-until-success.
:filter-args
Call function first and use the result (which should be a list) as the new argu-
ments to pass to the old function. More specifically, the composition of the two
functions behaves like:
(lambda (&rest r) (apply oldfun (funcall function r)))
:filter-return
Call the old function first and pass the result to function. More specifically, the
composition of the two functions behaves like:
(lambda (&rest r) (funcall function (apply oldfun r)))

13.11.4 Adapting code using the old defadvice

A lot of code uses the old defadvice mechanism, which is largely made obsolete by the
new advice-add, whose implementation and semantics is significantly simpler.
An old piece of advice such as:
(defadvice previous-line (before next-line-at-end
(&optional arg try-vscroll))
"Insert an empty line when moving up from the top line."
(if (and next-line-add-newlines (= arg 1)
(save-excursion (beginning-of-line) (bobp)))
(progn
(beginning-of-line)
(newline))))
could be translated in the new advice mechanism into a plain function:
(defun previous-line--next-line-at-end (&optional arg try-vscroll)
"Insert an empty line when moving up from the top line."
(if (and next-line-add-newlines (= arg 1)
(save-excursion (beginning-of-line) (bobp)))
(progn
(beginning-of-line)
(newline))))
Obviously, this does not actually modify previous-line. For that the old advice needed:
(ad-activate 'previous-line)
whereas the new advice mechanism needs:
(advice-add 'previous-line :before #'previous-line--next-line-at-end)
Note that ad-activate had a global effect: it activated all pieces of advice enabled for
that specified function. If you wanted to only activate or deactivate a particular piece, you
needed to enable or disable it with ad-enable-advice and ad-disable-advice. The new
mechanism does away with this distinction.
Around advice such as:
(defadvice foo (around foo-around)
Chapter 13: Functions 229

"Ignore case in `foo'."

(let ((case-fold-search t))
ad-do-it))
(ad-activate 'foo)
could translate into:
(defun foo--foo-around (orig-fun &rest args)
"Ignore case in `foo'."
(let ((case-fold-search t))
(apply orig-fun args)))
(advice-add 'foo :around #'foo--foo-around)
Regarding the advice’s class, note that the new :before is not quite equivalent to the
old before, because in the old advice you could modify the function’s arguments (e.g.,
with ad-set-arg), and that would affect the argument values seen by the original function,
whereas in the new :before, modifying an argument via setq in the advice has no effect
on the arguments seen by the original function. When porting before advice which relied
on this behavior, you’ll need to turn it into new :around or :filter-args advice instead.
Similarly old after advice could modify the returned value by changing ad-return-
value, whereas new :after advice cannot, so when porting such old after advice, you’ll
need to turn it into new :around or :filter-return advice instead.

13.12 Declaring Functions Obsolete

You can mark a named function as obsolete, meaning that it may be removed at some
point in the future. This causes Emacs to warn that the function is obsolete whenever it
byte-compiles code containing that function, and whenever it displays the documentation
for that function. In all other respects, an obsolete function behaves like any other function.
The easiest way to mark a function as obsolete is to put a (declare (obsolete ...))
form in the function’s defun definition. See Section 13.14 [Declare Form], page 231. Alter-
natively, you can use the make-obsolete function, described below.
A macro (see Chapter 14 [Macros], page 236) can also be marked obsolete with
make-obsolete; this has the same effects as for a function. An alias for a function or
macro can also be marked as obsolete; this makes the alias itself obsolete, not the function
or macro which it resolves to.

make-obsolete obsolete-name current-name &optional when [Function]

This function marks obsolete-name as obsolete. obsolete-name should be a symbol
naming a function or macro, or an alias for a function or macro.
If current-name is a symbol, the warning message says to use current-name instead of
obsolete-name. current-name does not need to be an alias for obsolete-name; it can
be a different function with similar functionality. current-name can also be a string,
which serves as the warning message. The message should begin in lower case, and
end with a period. It can also be nil, in which case the warning message provides no
additional details.
If provided, when should be a string indicating when the function was first made
obsolete—for example, a date or a release number.
Chapter 13: Functions 230

define-obsolete-function-alias obsolete-name current-name [Macro]

&optional when doc
This convenience macro marks the function obsolete-name obsolete and also defines
it as an alias for the function current-name. It is equivalent to the following:
(defalias obsolete-name current-name doc)
(make-obsolete obsolete-name current-name when)
In addition, you can mark a particular calling convention for a function as obsolete:
set-advertised-calling-convention function signature when [Function]
This function specifies the argument list signature as the correct way to call function.
This causes the Emacs byte compiler to issue a warning whenever it comes across an
Emacs Lisp program that calls function any other way (however, it will still allow the
code to be byte compiled). when should be a string indicating when the variable was
first made obsolete (usually a version number string).
For instance, in old versions of Emacs the sit-for function accepted three arguments,
like this
(sit-for seconds milliseconds nodisp)
However, calling sit-for this way is considered obsolete (see Section 21.10 [Waiting],
page 406). The old calling convention is deprecated like this:
(set-advertised-calling-convention
'sit-for '(seconds &optional nodisp) "22.1")

13.13 Inline Functions

An inline function is a function that works just like an ordinary function, except for one
thing: when you byte-compile a call to the function (see Chapter 17 [Byte Compilation],
page 279), the function’s definition is expanded into the caller. To define an inline function,
use defsubst instead of defun.
defsubst name args [doc] [declare] [interactive] body. . . [Macro]
This macro defines an inline function. Its syntax is exactly the same as defun (see
Section 13.4 [Defining Functions], page 209).
Making a function inline often makes its function calls run faster. But it also has
disadvantages. For one thing, it reduces flexibility; if you change the definition of the
function, calls already inlined still use the old definition until you recompile them.
Another disadvantage is that making a large function inline can increase the size of
compiled code both in files and in memory. Since the speed advantage of inline functions
is greatest for small functions, you generally should not make large functions inline.
Also, inline functions do not behave well with respect to debugging, tracing, and ad-
vising (see Section 13.11 [Advising Functions], page 222). Since ease of debugging and the
flexibility of redefining functions are important features of Emacs, you should not make a
function inline, even if it’s small, unless its speed is really crucial, and you’ve timed the
code to verify that using defun actually has performance problems.
After an inline function is defined, its inline expansion can be performed later on in the
same file, just like macros.
Chapter 13: Functions 231

It’s possible to use defmacro to define a macro to expand into the same code that an
inline function would execute (see Chapter 14 [Macros], page 236). But the macro would
be limited to direct use in expressions—a macro cannot be called with apply, mapcar and
so on. Also, it takes some work to convert an ordinary function into a macro. To convert it
into an inline function is easy; just replace defun with defsubst. Since each argument of
an inline function is evaluated exactly once, you needn’t worry about how many times the
body uses the arguments, as you do for macros.
As an alternative to defsubst, you can use define-inline to define functions via their
exhaustive compiler macro. See Section 13.4 [Defining Functions], page 209.

13.14 The declare Form

declare is a special macro which can be used to add meta properties to a function or
macro: for example, marking it as obsolete, or giving its forms a special TAB indentation
convention in Emacs Lisp mode.

declare specs. . . [Macro]

This macro ignores its arguments and evaluates to nil; it has no run-time effect. How-
ever, when a declare form occurs in the declare argument of a defun or defsubst
function definition (see Section 13.4 [Defining Functions], page 209) or a defmacro
macro definition (see Section 14.4 [Defining Macros], page 238), it appends the prop-
erties specified by specs to the function or macro. This work is specially performed
by defun, defsubst, and defmacro.
Each element in specs should have the form (property args...), which should not
be quoted. These have the following effects:
(advertised-calling-convention signature when)
This acts like a call to set-advertised-calling-convention (see
Section 13.12 [Obsolete Functions], page 229); signature specifies the
correct argument list for calling the function or macro, and when should
be a string indicating when the old argument list was first made obsolete.
(debug edebug-form-spec)
This is valid for macros only. When stepping through the macro with Ede-
bug, use edebug-form-spec. See Section 18.2.15.1 [Instrumenting Macro
Calls], page 312.
(doc-string n)
This is used when defining a function or macro which itself will be used
to define entities like functions, macros, or variables. It indicates that the
nth argument, if any, should be considered as a documentation string.
(indent indent-spec)
Indent calls to this function or macro according to indent-spec. This
is typically used for macros, though it works for functions too. See
Section 14.6 [Indenting Macros], page 243.
(interactive-only value)
Set the function’s interactive-only property to value. See [The
interactive-only property], page 369.
Chapter 13: Functions 232

(obsolete current-name when)

Mark the function or macro as obsolete, similar to a call to
make-obsolete (see Section 13.12 [Obsolete Functions], page 229).
current-name should be a symbol (in which case the warning message
says to use that instead), a string (specifying the warning message), or
nil (in which case the warning message gives no extra details). when
should be a string indicating when the function or macro was first made
obsolete.
(compiler-macro expander)
This can only be used for functions, and tells the compiler to use expander
as an optimization function. When encountering a call to the function,
of the form (function args...), the macro expander will call expander
with that form as well as with args . . . , and expander can either return
a new expression to use instead of the function call, or it can return
just the form unchanged, to indicate that the function call should be left
alone. expander can be a symbol, or it can be a form (lambda (arg)
body) in which case arg will hold the original function call expression,
and the (unevaluated) arguments to the function can be accessed using
the function’s formal arguments.
(gv-expander expander)
Declare expander to be the function to handle calls to the macro (or
function) as a generalized variable, similarly to gv-define-expander.
expander can be a symbol or it can be of the form (lambda (arg) body)
in which case that function will additionally have access to the macro (or
function)’s arguments.
(gv-setter setter)
Declare setter to be the function to handle calls to the macro (or function)
as a generalized variable. setter can be a symbol in which case it will be
passed to gv-define-simple-setter, or it can be of the form (lambda
(arg) body) in which case that function will additionally have access to
the macro (or function)’s arguments and it will passed to gv-define-
setter.

13.15 Telling the Compiler that a Function is Defined

Byte-compiling a file often produces warnings about functions that the compiler doesn’t
know about (see Section 17.6 [Compiler Errors], page 284). Sometimes this indicates a real
problem, but usually the functions in question are defined in other files which would be
loaded if that code is run. For example, byte-compiling simple.el used to warn:
simple.el:8727:1:Warning: the function ‘shell-mode’ is not known to be
defined.
In fact, shell-mode is used only in a function that executes (require 'shell) before
calling shell-mode, so shell-mode will be defined properly at run-time. When you know
that such a warning does not indicate a real problem, it is good to suppress the warning.
That makes new warnings which might mean real problems more visible. You do that with
declare-function.
Chapter 13: Functions 233

All you need to do is add a declare-function statement before the first use of the
function in question:
(declare-function shell-mode "shell" ())
This says that shell-mode is defined in shell.el (the ‘.el’ can be omitted). The
compiler takes for granted that that file really defines the function, and does not check.
The optional third argument specifies the argument list of shell-mode. In this case, it
takes no arguments (nil is different from not specifying a value). In other cases, this might
be something like (file &optional overwrite). You don’t have to specify the argument
list, but if you do the byte compiler can check that the calls match the declaration.

declare-function function file &optional arglist fileonly [Macro]

Tell the byte compiler to assume that function is defined in the file file. The optional
third argument arglist is either t, meaning the argument list is unspecified, or a list
of formal parameters in the same style as defun. An omitted arglist defaults to t, not
nil; this is atypical behavior for omitted arguments, and it means that to supply a
fourth but not third argument one must specify t for the third-argument placeholder
instead of the usual nil. The optional fourth argument fileonly non-nil means check
only that file exists, not that it actually defines function.

To verify that these functions really are declared where declare-function says they
are, use check-declare-file to check all declare-function calls in one source file, or use
check-declare-directory check all the files in and under a certain directory.
These commands find the file that ought to contain a function’s definition using
locate-library; if that finds no file, they expand the definition file name relative to the
directory of the file that contains the declare-function call.
You can also say that a function is a primitive by specifying a file name ending in ‘.c’ or
‘.m’. This is useful only when you call a primitive that is defined only on certain systems.
Most primitives are always defined, so they will never give you a warning.
Sometimes a file will optionally use functions from an external package. If you prefix
the filename in the declare-function statement with ‘ext:’, then it will be checked if it
is found, otherwise skipped without error.
There are some function definitions that ‘check-declare’ does not understand (e.g.,
defstruct and some other macros). In such cases, you can pass a non-nil fileonly argument
to declare-function, meaning to only check that the file exists, not that it actually defines
the function. Note that to do this without having to specify an argument list, you should
set the arglist argument to t (because nil means an empty argument list, as opposed to
an unspecified one).

13.16 Determining whether a Function is Safe to Call

Some major modes, such as SES, call functions that are stored in user files. (See Info file
ses, node ‘Top’, for more information on SES.) User files sometimes have poor pedigrees—
you can get a spreadsheet from someone you’ve just met, or you can get one through email
from someone you’ve never met. So it is risky to call a function whose source code is stored
in a user file until you have determined that it is safe.
Chapter 13: Functions 234

unsafep form &optional unsafep-vars [Function]

Returns nil if form is a safe Lisp expression, or returns a list that describes why
it might be unsafe. The argument unsafep-vars is a list of symbols known to have
temporary bindings at this point; it is mainly used for internal recursive calls. The
current buffer is an implicit argument, which provides a list of buffer-local bindings.

Being quick and simple, unsafep does a very light analysis and rejects many Lisp ex-
pressions that are actually safe. There are no known cases where unsafep returns nil for
an unsafe expression. However, a safe Lisp expression can return a string with a display
property, containing an associated Lisp expression to be executed after the string is inserted
into a buffer. This associated expression can be a virus. In order to be safe, you must delete
properties from all strings calculated by user code before inserting them into buffers.

13.17 Other Topics Related to Functions

Here is a table of several functions that do things related to function calling and function
definitions. They are documented elsewhere, but we provide cross references here.
apply See Section 13.5 [Calling Functions], page 212.
autoload See Section 16.5 [Autoload], page 268.
call-interactively
See Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375.
called-interactively-p
See Section 21.4 [Distinguish Interactive], page 377.
commandp See Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375.
documentation
See Section 24.2 [Accessing Documentation], page 511.
eval See Section 10.4 [Eval], page 136.
funcall See Section 13.5 [Calling Functions], page 212.
function See Section 13.7 [Anonymous Functions], page 216.
ignore See Section 13.5 [Calling Functions], page 212.
indirect-function
See Section 10.1.4 [Function Indirection], page 131.
interactive
See Section 21.2.1 [Using Interactive], page 369.
interactive-p
See Section 21.4 [Distinguish Interactive], page 377.
mapatoms See Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols], page 122.
mapcar See Section 13.6 [Mapping Functions], page 214.
map-char-table
See Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107.
Chapter 13: Functions 235

mapconcat
See Section 13.6 [Mapping Functions], page 214.
undefined
See Section 22.11 [Functions for Key Lookup], page 428.
 236

14 Macros
Macros enable you to define new control constructs and other language features. A macro
is defined much like a function, but instead of telling how to compute a value, it tells how
to compute another Lisp expression which will in turn compute the value. We call this
expression the expansion of the macro.
Macros can do this because they operate on the unevaluated expressions for the ar-
guments, not on the argument values as functions do. They can therefore construct an
expansion containing these argument expressions or parts of them.
If you are using a macro to do something an ordinary function could do, just for the sake
of speed, consider using an inline function instead. See Section 13.13 [Inline Functions],
page 230.

14.1 A Simple Example of a Macro

Suppose we would like to define a Lisp construct to increment a variable value, much like
the ++ operator in C. We would like to write (inc x) and have the effect of (setq x (1+
x)). Here’s a macro definition that does the job:
(defmacro inc (var)
(list 'setq var (list '1+ var)))
When this is called with (inc x), the argument var is the symbol x—not the value of x,
as it would be in a function. The body of the macro uses this to construct the expansion,
which is (setq x (1+ x)). Once the macro definition returns this expansion, Lisp proceeds
to evaluate it, thus incrementing x.

macrop object [Function]

This predicate tests whether its argument is a macro, and returns t if so, nil other-
wise.

14.2 Expansion of a Macro Call

A macro call looks just like a function call in that it is a list which starts with the name of
the macro. The rest of the elements of the list are the arguments of the macro.
Evaluation of the macro call begins like evaluation of a function call except for one
crucial difference: the macro arguments are the actual expressions appearing in the macro
call. They are not evaluated before they are given to the macro definition. By contrast, the
arguments of a function are results of evaluating the elements of the function call list.
Having obtained the arguments, Lisp invokes the macro definition just as a function is
invoked. The argument variables of the macro are bound to the argument values from the
macro call, or to a list of them in the case of a &rest argument. And the macro body
executes and returns its value just as a function body does.
The second crucial difference between macros and functions is that the value returned by
the macro body is an alternate Lisp expression, also known as the expansion of the macro.
The Lisp interpreter proceeds to evaluate the expansion as soon as it comes back from the
macro.
Chapter 14: Macros 237

Since the expansion is evaluated in the normal manner, it may contain calls to other
macros. It may even be a call to the same macro, though this is unusual.
Note that Emacs tries to expand macros when loading an uncompiled Lisp file. This is
not always possible, but if it is, it speeds up subsequent execution. See Section 16.1 [How
Programs Do Loading], page 263.
You can see the expansion of a given macro call by calling macroexpand.

macroexpand form &optional environment [Function]

This function expands form, if it is a macro call. If the result is another macro call,
it is expanded in turn, until something which is not a macro call results. That is
the value returned by macroexpand. If form is not a macro call to begin with, it is
returned as given.
Note that macroexpand does not look at the subexpressions of form (although some
macro definitions may do so). Even if they are macro calls themselves, macroexpand
does not expand them.
The function macroexpand does not expand calls to inline functions. Normally there
is no need for that, since a call to an inline function is no harder to understand than
a call to an ordinary function.
If environment is provided, it specifies an alist of macro definitions that shadow the
currently defined macros. Byte compilation uses this feature.
(defmacro inc (var)
(list 'setq var (list '1+ var)))

(macroexpand '(inc r))

⇒ (setq r (1+ r))

(defmacro inc2 (var1 var2)

(list 'progn (list 'inc var1) (list 'inc var2)))

(macroexpand '(inc2 r s))

⇒ (progn (inc r) (inc s)) ; inc not expanded here.

macroexpand-all form &optional environment [Function]

macroexpand-all expands macros like macroexpand, but will look for and expand
all macros in form, not just at the top-level. If no macros are expanded, the return
value is eq to form.
Repeating the example used for macroexpand above with macroexpand-all, we see
that macroexpand-all does expand the embedded calls to inc:
(macroexpand-all '(inc2 r s))
⇒ (progn (setq r (1+ r)) (setq s (1+ s)))

macroexpand-1 form &optional environment [Function]

This function expands macros like macroexpand, but it only performs one step of the
expansion: if the result is another macro call, macroexpand-1 will not expand it.
Chapter 14: Macros 238

14.3 Macros and Byte Compilation

You might ask why we take the trouble to compute an expansion for a macro and then
evaluate the expansion. Why not have the macro body produce the desired results directly?
The reason has to do with compilation.
When a macro call appears in a Lisp program being compiled, the Lisp compiler calls
the macro definition just as the interpreter would, and receives an expansion. But instead
of evaluating this expansion, it compiles the expansion as if it had appeared directly in the
program. As a result, the compiled code produces the value and side effects intended for
the macro, but executes at full compiled speed. This would not work if the macro body
computed the value and side effects itself—they would be computed at compile time, which
is not useful.
In order for compilation of macro calls to work, the macros must already be defined in
Lisp when the calls to them are compiled. The compiler has a special feature to help you
do this: if a file being compiled contains a defmacro form, the macro is defined temporarily
for the rest of the compilation of that file.
Byte-compiling a file also executes any require calls at top-level in the file, so you can
ensure that necessary macro definitions are available during compilation by requiring the
files that define them (see Section 16.7 [Named Features], page 273). To avoid loading the
macro definition files when someone runs the compiled program, write eval-when-compile
around the require calls (see Section 17.5 [Eval During Compile], page 283).

14.4 Defining Macros

A Lisp macro object is a list whose car is macro, and whose cdr is a function. Expansion of
the macro works by applying the function (with apply) to the list of unevaluated arguments
from the macro call.
It is possible to use an anonymous Lisp macro just like an anonymous function, but this
is never done, because it does not make sense to pass an anonymous macro to functionals
such as mapcar. In practice, all Lisp macros have names, and they are almost always defined
with the defmacro macro.

defmacro name args [doc] [declare] body. . . [Macro]

defmacro defines the symbol name (which should not be quoted) as a macro that
looks like this:
(macro lambda args . body)
(Note that the cdr of this list is a lambda expression.) This macro object is stored
in the function cell of name. The meaning of args is the same as in a function, and
the keywords &rest and &optional may be used (see Section 13.2.3 [Argument List],
page 206). Neither name nor args should be quoted. The return value of defmacro
is undefined.
doc, if present, should be a string specifying the macro’s documentation string.
declare, if present, should be a declare form specifying metadata for the macro (see
Section 13.14 [Declare Form], page 231). Note that macros cannot have interactive
declarations, since they cannot be called interactively.
Chapter 14: Macros 239

Macros often need to construct large list structures from a mixture of constants and
nonconstant parts. To make this easier, use the ‘`’ syntax (see Section 10.3 [Backquote],
page 135). For example:
(defmacro t-becomes-nil (variable)
`(if (eq ,variable t)
(setq ,variable nil)))

(t-becomes-nil foo)
≡ (if (eq foo t) (setq foo nil))

14.5 Common Problems Using Macros

Macro expansion can have counterintuitive consequences. This section describes some im-
portant consequences that can lead to trouble, and rules to follow to avoid trouble.

14.5.1 Wrong Time

The most common problem in writing macros is doing some of the real work prematurely—
while expanding the macro, rather than in the expansion itself. For instance, one real
package had this macro definition:
(defmacro my-set-buffer-multibyte (arg)
(if (fboundp 'set-buffer-multibyte)
(set-buffer-multibyte arg)))
With this erroneous macro definition, the program worked fine when interpreted but
failed when compiled. This macro definition called set-buffer-multibyte during compi-
lation, which was wrong, and then did nothing when the compiled package was run. The
definition that the programmer really wanted was this:
(defmacro my-set-buffer-multibyte (arg)
(if (fboundp 'set-buffer-multibyte)
`(set-buffer-multibyte ,arg)))
This macro expands, if appropriate, into a call to set-buffer-multibyte that will be
executed when the compiled program is actually run.

14.5.2 Evaluating Macro Arguments Repeatedly

When defining a macro you must pay attention to the number of times the arguments
will be evaluated when the expansion is executed. The following macro (used to facilitate
iteration) illustrates the problem. This macro allows us to write a for-loop construct.
(defmacro for (var from init to final do &rest body)
"Execute a simple \"for\" loop.
For example, (for i from 1 to 10 do (print i))."
(list 'let (list (list var init))
(cons 'while
(cons (list '<= var final)
(append body (list (list 'inc var)))))))
Chapter 14: Macros 240

(for i from 1 to 3 do
(setq square (* i i))
(princ (format "\n%d %d" i square)))
7→
(let ((i 1))
(while (<= i 3)
(setq square (* i i))
(princ (format "\n%d %d" i square))
(inc i)))

a1 1
a2 4
a3 9
⇒ nil

The arguments from, to, and do in this macro are syntactic sugar; they are entirely ignored.
The idea is that you will write noise words (such as from, to, and do) in those positions in
the macro call.

Here’s an equivalent definition simplified through use of backquote:

(defmacro for (var from init to final do &rest body)

"Execute a simple \"for\" loop.
For example, (for i from 1 to 10 do (print i))."
`(let ((,var ,init))
(while (<= ,var ,final)
,@body
(inc ,var))))

Both forms of this definition (with backquote and without) suffer from the defect that
final is evaluated on every iteration. If final is a constant, this is not a problem. If it is a
more complex form, say (long-complex-calculation x), this can slow down the execution
significantly. If final has side effects, executing it more than once is probably incorrect.

A well-designed macro definition takes steps to avoid this problem by producing an

expansion that evaluates the argument expressions exactly once unless repeated evaluation
is part of the intended purpose of the macro. Here is a correct expansion for the for macro:

(let ((i 1)
(max 3))
(while (<= i max)
(setq square (* i i))
(princ (format "%d %d" i square))
(inc i)))

Here is a macro definition that creates this expansion:

Chapter 14: Macros 241

(defmacro for (var from init to final do &rest body)

"Execute a simple for loop: (for i from 1 to 10 do (print i))."
`(let ((,var ,init)
(max ,final))
(while (<= ,var max)
,@body
(inc ,var))))
Unfortunately, this fix introduces another problem, described in the following section.

14.5.3 Local Variables in Macro Expansions

The new definition of for has a new problem: it introduces a local variable named max
which the user does not expect. This causes trouble in examples such as the following:
(let ((max 0))
(for x from 0 to 10 do
(let ((this (frob x)))
(if (< max this)
(setq max this)))))
The references to max inside the body of the for, which are supposed to refer to the user’s
binding of max, really access the binding made by for.
The way to correct this is to use an uninterned symbol instead of max (see Section 9.3
[Creating Symbols], page 122). The uninterned symbol can be bound and referred to just
like any other symbol, but since it is created by for, we know that it cannot already appear
in the user’s program. Since it is not interned, there is no way the user can put it into the
program later. It will never appear anywhere except where put by for. Here is a definition
of for that works this way:
(defmacro for (var from init to final do &rest body)
"Execute a simple for loop: (for i from 1 to 10 do (print i))."
(let ((tempvar (make-symbol "max")))
`(let ((,var ,init)
(,tempvar ,final))
(while (<= ,var ,tempvar)
,@body
(inc ,var)))))
This creates an uninterned symbol named max and puts it in the expansion instead of the
usual interned symbol max that appears in expressions ordinarily.

14.5.4 Evaluating Macro Arguments in Expansion

Another problem can happen if the macro definition itself evaluates any of the macro ar-
gument expressions, such as by calling eval (see Section 10.4 [Eval], page 136). If the
argument is supposed to refer to the user’s variables, you may have trouble if the user
happens to use a variable with the same name as one of the macro arguments. Inside the
macro body, the macro argument binding is the most local binding of this variable, so any
references inside the form being evaluated do refer to it. Here is an example:
(defmacro foo (a)
(list 'setq (eval a) t))
Chapter 14: Macros 242

(setq x 'b)
(foo x) 7→ (setq b t)
⇒ t ; and b has been set.
;; but
(setq a 'c)
(foo a) 7→ (setq a t)
⇒ t ; but this set a, not c.

It makes a difference whether the user’s variable is named a or x, because a conflicts

with the macro argument variable a.
Another problem with calling eval in a macro definition is that it probably won’t do
what you intend in a compiled program. The byte compiler runs macro definitions while
compiling the program, when the program’s own computations (which you might have
wished to access with eval) don’t occur and its local variable bindings don’t exist.
To avoid these problems, don’t evaluate an argument expression while computing the
macro expansion. Instead, substitute the expression into the macro expansion, so that its
value will be computed as part of executing the expansion. This is how the other examples
in this chapter work.

14.5.5 How Many Times is the Macro Expanded?

Occasionally problems result from the fact that a macro call is expanded each time it is
evaluated in an interpreted function, but is expanded only once (during compilation) for
a compiled function. If the macro definition has side effects, they will work differently
depending on how many times the macro is expanded.
Therefore, you should avoid side effects in computation of the macro expansion, unless
you really know what you are doing.
One special kind of side effect can’t be avoided: constructing Lisp objects. Almost all
macro expansions include constructed lists; that is the whole point of most macros. This is
usually safe; there is just one case where you must be careful: when the object you construct
is part of a quoted constant in the macro expansion.
If the macro is expanded just once, in compilation, then the object is constructed just
once, during compilation. But in interpreted execution, the macro is expanded each time
the macro call runs, and this means a new object is constructed each time.
In most clean Lisp code, this difference won’t matter. It can matter only if you perform
side-effects on the objects constructed by the macro definition. Thus, to avoid trouble,
avoid side effects on objects constructed by macro definitions. Here is an example of how
such side effects can get you into trouble:
(defmacro empty-object ()
(list 'quote (cons nil nil)))

(defun initialize (condition)

(let ((object (empty-object)))
(if condition
(setcar object condition))
object))
Chapter 14: Macros 243

If initialize is interpreted, a new list (nil) is constructed each time initialize is

called. Thus, no side effect survives between calls. If initialize is compiled, then the
macro empty-object is expanded during compilation, producing a single constant (nil)
that is reused and altered each time initialize is called.
One way to avoid pathological cases like this is to think of empty-object as a funny
kind of constant, not as a memory allocation construct. You wouldn’t use setcar on a
constant such as '(nil), so naturally you won’t use it on (empty-object) either.

14.6 Indenting Macros

Within a macro definition, you can use the declare form (see Section 14.4 [Defining Macros],
page 238) to specify how TAB should indent calls to the macro. An indentation specification
is written like this:
(declare (indent indent-spec))
This results in the lisp-indent-function property being set on the macro name.
Here are the possibilities for indent-spec:
nil This is the same as no property—use the standard indentation pattern.
defun Handle this function like a ‘def’ construct: treat the second line as the start of
a body.
an integer, number
The first number arguments of the function are distinguished arguments; the
rest are considered the body of the expression. A line in the expression is
indented according to whether the first argument on it is distinguished or not.
If the argument is part of the body, the line is indented lisp-body-indent
more columns than the open-parenthesis starting the containing expression. If
the argument is distinguished and is either the first or second argument, it is
indented twice that many extra columns. If the argument is distinguished and
not the first or second argument, the line uses the standard pattern.
a symbol, symbol
symbol should be a function name; that function is called to calculate the in-
dentation of a line within this expression. The function receives two arguments:
pos The position at which the line being indented begins.
state The value returned by parse-partial-sexp (a Lisp primitive for
indentation and nesting computation) when it parses up to the
beginning of this line.
It should return either a number, which is the number of columns of indentation
for that line, or a list whose car is such a number. The difference between
returning a number and returning a list is that a number says that all following
lines at the same nesting level should be indented just like this one; a list says
that following lines might call for different indentations. This makes a difference
when the indentation is being computed by C-M-q; if the value is a number,
C-M-q need not recalculate indentation for the following lines until the end of
the list.
 244

15 Customization Settings
Users of Emacs can customize variables and faces without writing Lisp code, by using the
Customize interface. See Section “Easy Customization” in The GNU Emacs Manual. This
chapter describes how to define customization items that users can interact with through
the Customize interface.
Customization items include customizable variables, which are defined with the
defcustom macro; customizable faces, which are defined with defface (described
separately in Section 39.12.2 [Defining Faces], page 1001); and customization groups,
defined with defgroup, which act as containers for groups of related customization items.

15.1 Common Item Keywords

The customization declarations that we will describe in the next few sections—defcustom,
defgroup, etc.—all accept keyword arguments (see Section 12.2 [Constant Variables],
page 169) for specifying various information. This section describes keywords that apply
to all types of customization declarations.
All of these keywords, except :tag, can be used more than once in a given item. Each
use of the keyword has an independent effect. The keyword :tag is an exception because
any given item can only display one name.
:tag label
Use label, a string, instead of the item’s name, to label the item in customization
menus and buffers. Don’t use a tag which is substantially different from the
item’s real name; that would cause confusion.
:group group
Put this customization item in group group. If this keyword is missing from a
customization item, it’ll be placed in the same group that was last defined (in
the current file).
When you use :group in a defgroup, it makes the new group a subgroup of
group.
If you use this keyword more than once, you can put a single item into more
than one group. Displaying any of those groups will show this item. Please
don’t overdo this, since the result would be annoying.
:link link-data
Include an external link after the documentation string for this item. This is a
sentence containing a button that references some other documentation.
There are several alternatives you can use for link-data:
(custom-manual info-node)
Link to an Info node; info-node is a string which specifies the node
name, as in "(emacs)Top". The link appears as ‘[Manual]’ in the
customization buffer and enters the built-in Info reader on info-
node.
(info-link info-node)
Like custom-manual except that the link appears in the customiza-
tion buffer with the Info node name.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 245

(url-link url)
Link to a web page; url is a string which specifies the URL. The link
appears in the customization buffer as url and invokes the WWW
browser specified by browse-url-browser-function.

(emacs-commentary-link library)
Link to the commentary section of a library; library is a string
which specifies the library name. See Section D.8 [Library Headers],
page 1152.

(emacs-library-link library)
Link to an Emacs Lisp library file; library is a string which specifies
the library name.

(file-link file)
Link to a file; file is a string which specifies the name of the file to
visit with find-file when the user invokes this link.

(function-link function)
Link to the documentation of a function; function is a string
which specifies the name of the function to describe with
describe-function when the user invokes this link.

(variable-link variable)
Link to the documentation of a variable; variable is a string
which specifies the name of the variable to describe with
describe-variable when the user invokes this link.

(custom-group-link group)
Link to another customization group. Invoking it creates a new
customization buffer for group.

You can specify the text to use in the customization buffer by adding :tag name
after the first element of the link-data; for example, (info-link :tag "foo"
"(emacs)Top") makes a link to the Emacs manual which appears in the buffer
as ‘foo’.
You can use this keyword more than once, to add multiple links.

:load file
Load file file (a string) before displaying this customization item (see Chapter 16
[Loading], page 263). Loading is done with load, and only if the file is not
already loaded.

:require feature
Execute (require 'feature) when your saved customizations set the value of
this item. feature should be a symbol.
The most common reason to use :require is when a variable enables a feature
such as a minor mode, and just setting the variable won’t have any effect unless
the code which implements the mode is loaded.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 246

:version version
This keyword specifies that the item was first introduced in Emacs version
version, or that its default value was changed in that version. The value version
must be a string.
:package-version '(package . version)
This keyword specifies that the item was first introduced in package version
version, or that its meaning or default value was changed in that version. This
keyword takes priority over :version.
package should be the official name of the package, as a symbol (e.g., MH-E).
version should be a string. If the package package is released as part of Emacs,
package and version should appear in the value of customize-package-emacs-
version-alist.

Packages distributed as part of Emacs that use the :package-version keyword must
also update the customize-package-emacs-version-alist variable.

customize-package-emacs-version-alist [Variable]
This alist provides a mapping for the versions of Emacs that are associated with
versions of a package listed in the :package-version keyword. Its elements are:
(package (pversion . eversion)...)
For each package, which is a symbol, there are one or more elements that contain a
package version pversion with an associated Emacs version eversion. These versions
are strings. For example, the MH-E package updates this alist with the following:
(add-to-list 'customize-package-emacs-version-alist
'(MH-E ("6.0" . "22.1") ("6.1" . "22.1") ("7.0" . "22.1")
("7.1" . "22.1") ("7.2" . "22.1") ("7.3" . "22.1")
("7.4" . "22.1") ("8.0" . "22.1")))

The value of package needs to be unique and it needs to match the package value
appearing in the :package-version keyword. Since the user might see the value in
an error message, a good choice is the official name of the package, such as MH-E or
Gnus.

15.2 Defining Customization Groups

Each Emacs Lisp package should have one main customization group which contains all
the options, faces and other groups in the package. If the package has a small number of
options and faces, use just one group and put everything in it. When there are more than
twenty or so options and faces, then you should structure them into subgroups, and put
the subgroups under the package’s main customization group. It is OK to put some of the
options and faces in the package’s main group alongside the subgroups.
The package’s main or only group should be a member of one or more of the standard
customization groups. (To display the full list of them, use M-x customize.) Choose one
or more of them (but not too many), and add your group to each of them using the :group
keyword.
The way to declare new customization groups is with defgroup.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 247

defgroup group members doc [keyword value]. . . [Macro]

Declare group as a customization group containing members. Do not quote the symbol
group. The argument doc specifies the documentation string for the group.
The argument members is a list specifying an initial set of customization items to
be members of the group. However, most often members is nil, and you specify the
group’s members by using the :group keyword when defining those members.
If you want to specify group members through members, each element should have the
form (name widget). Here name is a symbol, and widget is a widget type for editing
that symbol. Useful widgets are custom-variable for a variable, custom-face for a
face, and custom-group for a group.
When you introduce a new group into Emacs, use the :version keyword in the
defgroup; then you need not use it for the individual members of the group.
In addition to the common keywords (see Section 15.1 [Common Keywords],
page 244), you can also use this keyword in defgroup:
:prefix prefix
If the name of an item in the group starts with prefix, and the cus-
tomizable variable custom-unlispify-remove-prefixes is non-nil, the
item’s tag will omit prefix. A group can have any number of prefixes.
The variables and subgroups of a group are stored in the custom-group property of
the group’s symbol. See Section 9.4.1 [Symbol Plists], page 125. The value of that
property is a list of pairs whose car is the variable or subgroup symbol and the cdr
is either custom-variable or custom-group.

custom-unlispify-remove-prefixes [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, the prefixes specified by a group’s :prefix keyword are
omitted from tag names, whenever the user customizes the group.
The default value is nil, i.e., the prefix-discarding feature is disabled. This is because
discarding prefixes often leads to confusing names for options and faces.

15.3 Defining Customization Variables

Customizable variables, also called user options, are global Lisp variables whose values can
be set through the Customize interface. Unlike other global variables, which are defined with
defvar (see Section 12.5 [Defining Variables], page 173), customizable variables are defined
using the defcustom macro. In addition to calling defvar as a subroutine, defcustom states
how the variable should be displayed in the Customize interface, the values it is allowed to
take, etc.

defcustom option standard doc [keyword value]. . . [Macro]

This macro declares option as a user option (i.e., a customizable variable). You should
not quote option.
The argument standard is an expression that specifies the standard value for option.
Evaluating the defcustom form evaluates standard, but does not necessarily bind the
option to that value. If option already has a default value, it is left unchanged. If
the user has already saved a customization for option, the user’s customized value is
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 248

installed as the default value. Otherwise, the result of evaluating standard is installed
as the default value.
Like defvar, this macro marks option as a special variable, meaning that it should
always be dynamically bound. If option is already lexically bound, that lexical bind-
ing remains in effect until the binding construct exits. See Section 12.10 [Variable
Scoping], page 179.
The expression standard can be evaluated at various other times, too—whenever the
customization facility needs to know option’s standard value. So be sure to use an
expression which is harmless to evaluate at any time.
The argument doc specifies the documentation string for the variable.
If a defcustom does not specify any :group, the last group defined with defgroup in
the same file will be used. This way, most defcustom do not need an explicit :group.
When you evaluate a defcustom form with C-M-x in Emacs Lisp mode (eval-defun),
a special feature of eval-defun arranges to set the variable unconditionally, without
testing whether its value is void. (The same feature applies to defvar, see Section 12.5
[Defining Variables], page 173.) Using eval-defun on a defcustom that is already
defined calls the :set function (see below), if there is one.
If you put a defcustom in a pre-loaded Emacs Lisp file (see Section E.1 [Building
Emacs], page 1156), the standard value installed at dump time might be incorrect,
e.g., because another variable that it depends on has not been assigned the right value
yet. In that case, use custom-reevaluate-setting, described below, to re-evaluate
the standard value after Emacs starts up.

In addition to the keywords listed in Section 15.1 [Common Keywords], page 244, this
macro accepts the following keywords:
:type type
Use type as the data type for this option. It specifies which values are legitimate,
and how to display the value (see Section 15.4 [Customization Types], page 251).
Every defcustom should specify a value for this keyword.
:options value-list
Specify the list of reasonable values for use in this option. The user is not
restricted to using only these values, but they are offered as convenient alter-
natives.
This is meaningful only for certain types, currently including hook, plist and
alist. See the definition of the individual types for a description of how to use
:options.
:set setfunction
Specify setfunction as the way to change the value of this option when using
the Customize interface. The function setfunction should take two arguments,
a symbol (the option name) and the new value, and should do whatever is
necessary to update the value properly for this option (which may not mean
simply setting the option as a Lisp variable); preferably, though, it should
not modify its value argument destructively. The default for setfunction is
set-default.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 249

If you specify this keyword, the variable’s documentation string should describe
how to do the same job in hand-written Lisp code.
:get getfunction
Specify getfunction as the way to extract the value of this option. The function
getfunction should take one argument, a symbol, and should return whatever
customize should use as the current value for that symbol (which need not be
the symbol’s Lisp value). The default is default-value.
You have to really understand the workings of Custom to use :get correctly. It
is meant for values that are treated in Custom as variables but are not actually
stored in Lisp variables. It is almost surely a mistake to specify getfunction for
a value that really is stored in a Lisp variable.
:initialize function
function should be a function used to initialize the variable when the defcustom
is evaluated. It should take two arguments, the option name (a symbol) and
the value. Here are some predefined functions meant for use in this way:
custom-initialize-set
Use the variable’s :set function to initialize the variable, but do
not reinitialize it if it is already non-void.
custom-initialize-default
Like custom-initialize-set, but use the function set-default
to set the variable, instead of the variable’s :set function. This
is the usual choice for a variable whose :set function enables or
disables a minor mode; with this choice, defining the variable will
not call the minor mode function, but customizing the variable will
do so.
custom-initialize-reset
Always use the :set function to initialize the variable. If the vari-
able is already non-void, reset it by calling the :set function using
the current value (returned by the :get method). This is the de-
fault :initialize function.
custom-initialize-changed
Use the :set function to initialize the variable, if it is already set
or has been customized; otherwise, just use set-default.
custom-initialize-delay
This functions behaves like custom-initialize-set, but it delays
the actual initialization to the next Emacs start. This should be
used in files that are preloaded (or for autoloaded variables), so that
the initialization is done in the run-time context rather than the
build-time context. This also has the side-effect that the (delayed)
initialization is performed with the :set function. See Section E.1
[Building Emacs], page 1156.
:risky value
Set the variable’s risky-local-variable property to value (see Section 12.12
[File Local Variables], page 191).
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 250

:safe function
Set the variable’s safe-local-variable property to function (see Section 12.12
[File Local Variables], page 191).
:set-after variables
When setting variables according to saved customizations, make sure to set the
variables variables before this one; i.e., delay setting this variable until after
those others have been handled. Use :set-after if setting this variable won’t
work properly unless those other variables already have their intended values.

It is useful to specify the :require keyword for an option that turns on a certain feature.
This causes Emacs to load the feature, if it is not already loaded, whenever the option is
set. See Section 15.1 [Common Keywords], page 244. Here is an example:
(defcustom frobnicate-automatically nil
"Non-nil means automatically frobnicate all buffers."
:type 'boolean
:require 'frobnicate-mode
:group 'frobnicate)
If a customization item has a type such as hook or alist, which supports :options,
you can add additional values to the list from outside the defcustom declaration by call-
ing custom-add-frequent-value. For example, if you define a function my-lisp-mode-
initialization intended to be called from emacs-lisp-mode-hook, you might want to
add that to the list of reasonable values for emacs-lisp-mode-hook, but not by editing its
definition. You can do it thus:
(custom-add-frequent-value 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook
'my-lisp-mode-initialization)

custom-add-frequent-value symbol value [Function]

For the customization option symbol, add value to the list of reasonable values.
The precise effect of adding a value depends on the customization type of symbol.

Internally, defcustom uses the symbol property standard-value to record the expres-
sion for the standard value, saved-value to record the value saved by the user with the
customization buffer, and customized-value to record the value set by the user with the
customization buffer, but not saved. See Section 9.4 [Symbol Properties], page 125. These
properties are lists, the car of which is an expression that evaluates to the value.

custom-reevaluate-setting symbol [Function]

This function re-evaluates the standard value of symbol, which should be a user option
declared via defcustom. If the variable was customized, this function re-evaluates the
saved value instead. Then it sets the user option to that value (using the option’s
:set property if that is defined).
This is useful for customizable options that are defined before their value could be
computed correctly. For example, during startup Emacs calls this function for some
user options that were defined in pre-loaded Emacs Lisp files, but whose initial values
depend on information available only at run-time.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 251

custom-variable-p arg [Function]

This function returns non-nil if arg is a customizable variable. A customizable vari-
able is either a variable that has a standard-value or custom-autoload property
(usually meaning it was declared with defcustom), or an alias for another customiz-
able variable.

15.4 Customization Types

When you define a user option with defcustom, you must specify its customization type.
That is a Lisp object which describes (1) which values are legitimate and (2) how to display
the value in the customization buffer for editing.
You specify the customization type in defcustom with the :type keyword. The argument
of :type is evaluated, but only once when the defcustom is executed, so it isn’t useful for
the value to vary. Normally we use a quoted constant. For example:
(defcustom diff-command "diff"
"The command to use to run diff."
:type '(string)
:group 'diff)
In general, a customization type is a list whose first element is a symbol, one of the cus-
tomization type names defined in the following sections. After this symbol come a number
of arguments, depending on the symbol. Between the type symbol and its arguments, you
can optionally write keyword-value pairs (see Section 15.4.4 [Type Keywords], page 257).
Some type symbols do not use any arguments; those are called simple types. For a simple
type, if you do not use any keyword-value pairs, you can omit the parentheses around the
type symbol. For example just string as a customization type is equivalent to (string).
All customization types are implemented as widgets; see Section “Introduction” in The
Emacs Widget Library, for details.

15.4.1 Simple Types

This section describes all the simple customization types. For several of these customization
types, the customization widget provides inline completion with C-M-i or M-TAB.
sexp The value may be any Lisp object that can be printed and read back. You can
use sexp as a fall-back for any option, if you don’t want to take the time to
work out a more specific type to use.
integer The value must be an integer.
number The value must be a number (floating point or integer).
float The value must be floating point.
string The value must be a string. The customization buffer shows the string without
delimiting ‘"’ characters or ‘\’ quotes.
regexp Like string except that the string must be a valid regular expression.
character
The value must be a character code. A character code is actually an integer,
but this type shows the value by inserting the character in the buffer, rather
than by showing the number.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 252

file The value must be a file name. The widget provides completion.
(file :must-match t)
The value must be a file name for an existing file. The widget provides com-
pletion.
directory
The value must be a directory. The widget provides completion.
hook The value must be a list of functions. This customization type is used for hook
variables. You can use the :options keyword in a hook variable’s defcustom
to specify a list of functions recommended for use in the hook; See Section 15.3
[Variable Definitions], page 247.
symbol The value must be a symbol. It appears in the customization buffer as the
symbol name. The widget provides completion.
function The value must be either a lambda expression or a function name. The widget
provides completion for function names.
variable The value must be a variable name. The widget provides completion.
face The value must be a symbol which is a face name. The widget provides com-
pletion.
boolean The value is boolean—either nil or t. Note that by using choice and const
together (see the next section), you can specify that the value must be nil or
t, but also specify the text to describe each value in a way that fits the specific
meaning of the alternative.
key-sequence
The value is a key sequence. The customization buffer shows the key sequence
using the same syntax as the kbd function. See Section 22.1 [Key Sequences],
page 415.
coding-system
The value must be a coding-system name, and you can do completion with
M-TAB.
color The value must be a valid color name. The widget provides completion for color
names, as well as a sample and a button for selecting a color name from a list
of color names shown in a *Colors* buffer.

15.4.2 Composite Types

When none of the simple types is appropriate, you can use composite types, which build
new types from other types or from specified data. The specified types or data are called
the arguments of the composite type. The composite type normally looks like this:
(constructor arguments...)
but you can also add keyword-value pairs before the arguments, like this:
(constructor {keyword value}... arguments...)
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 253

Here is a table of constructors and how to use them to write composite types:
(cons car-type cdr-type)
The value must be a cons cell, its car must fit car-type, and its cdr must fit
cdr-type. For example, (cons string symbol) is a customization type which
matches values such as ("foo" . foo).
In the customization buffer, the car and cdr are displayed and edited sepa-
rately, each according to their specified type.
(list element-types...)
The value must be a list with exactly as many elements as the element-types
given; and each element must fit the corresponding element-type.
For example, (list integer string function) describes a list of three ele-
ments; the first element must be an integer, the second a string, and the third
a function.
In the customization buffer, each element is displayed and edited separately,
according to the type specified for it.
(group element-types...)
This works like list except for the formatting of text in the Custom buffer.
list labels each element value with its tag; group does not.
(vector element-types...)
Like list except that the value must be a vector instead of a list. The elements
work the same as in list.
(alist :key-type key-type :value-type value-type)
The value must be a list of cons-cells, the car of each cell representing a key of
customization type key-type, and the cdr of the same cell representing a value
of customization type value-type. The user can add and delete key/value pairs,
and edit both the key and the value of each pair.
If omitted, key-type and value-type default to sexp.
The user can add any key matching the specified key type, but you can give
some keys a preferential treatment by specifying them with the :options (see
Section 15.3 [Variable Definitions], page 247). The specified keys will always be
shown in the customize buffer (together with a suitable value), with a checkbox
to include or exclude or disable the key/value pair from the alist. The user will
not be able to edit the keys specified by the :options keyword argument.
The argument to the :options keywords should be a list of specifications for
reasonable keys in the alist. Ordinarily, they are simply atoms, which stand for
themselves. For example:
:options '("foo" "bar" "baz")
specifies that there are three known keys, namely "foo", "bar" and "baz",
which will always be shown first.
You may want to restrict the value type for specific keys, for example, the value
associated with the "bar" key can only be an integer. You can specify this by
using a list instead of an atom in the list. The first element will specify the key,
like before, while the second element will specify the value type. For example:
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 254

:options '("foo" ("bar" integer) "baz")

Finally, you may want to change how the key is presented. By default, the
key is simply shown as a const, since the user cannot change the special keys
specified with the :options keyword. However, you may want to use a more
specialized type for presenting the key, like function-item if you know it is a
symbol with a function binding. This is done by using a customization type
specification instead of a symbol for the key.
:options '("foo"
((function-item some-function) integer)
"baz")
Many alists use lists with two elements, instead of cons cells. For example,
(defcustom list-alist
'(("foo" 1) ("bar" 2) ("baz" 3))
"Each element is a list of the form (KEY VALUE).")
instead of
(defcustom cons-alist
'(("foo" . 1) ("bar" . 2) ("baz" . 3))
"Each element is a cons-cell (KEY . VALUE).")
Because of the way lists are implemented on top of cons cells, you can treat
list-alist in the example above as a cons cell alist, where the value type is a
list with a single element containing the real value.
(defcustom list-alist '(("foo" 1) ("bar" 2) ("baz" 3))
"Each element is a list of the form (KEY VALUE)."
:type '(alist :value-type (group integer)))
The group widget is used here instead of list only because the formatting is
better suited for the purpose.
Similarly, you can have alists with more values associated with each key, using
variations of this trick:
(defcustom person-data '(("brian" 50 t)
("dorith" 55 nil)
("ken" 52 t))
"Alist of basic info about people.
Each element has the form (NAME AGE MALE-FLAG)."
:type '(alist :value-type (group integer boolean)))
(plist :key-type key-type :value-type value-type)
This customization type is similar to alist (see above), except that (i) the in-
formation is stored as a property list, (see Section 5.9 [Property Lists], page 89),
and (ii) key-type, if omitted, defaults to symbol rather than sexp.
(choice alternative-types...)
The value must fit one of alternative-types. For example, (choice integer
string) allows either an integer or a string.
In the customization buffer, the user selects an alternative using a menu, and
can then edit the value in the usual way for that alternative.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 255

Normally the strings in this menu are determined automatically from the
choices; however, you can specify different strings for the menu by including
the :tag keyword in the alternatives. For example, if an integer stands for a
number of spaces, while a string is text to use verbatim, you might write the
customization type this way,
(choice (integer :tag "Number of spaces")
(string :tag "Literal text"))
so that the menu offers ‘Number of spaces’ and ‘Literal text’.
In any alternative for which nil is not a valid value, other than a const, you
should specify a valid default for that alternative using the :value keyword.
See Section 15.4.4 [Type Keywords], page 257.
If some values are covered by more than one of the alternatives, customize will
choose the first alternative that the value fits. This means you should always
list the most specific types first, and the most general last. Here’s an example
of proper usage:
(choice (const :tag "Off" nil)
symbol (sexp :tag "Other"))
This way, the special value nil is not treated like other symbols, and symbols
are not treated like other Lisp expressions.
(radio element-types...)
This is similar to choice, except that the choices are displayed using radio
buttons rather than a menu. This has the advantage of displaying documenta-
tion for the choices when applicable and so is often a good choice for a choice
between constant functions (function-item customization types).
(const value)
The value must be value—nothing else is allowed.
The main use of const is inside of choice. For example, (choice integer
(const nil)) allows either an integer or nil.
:tag is often used with const, inside of choice. For example,
(choice (const :tag "Yes" t)
(const :tag "No" nil)
(const :tag "Ask" foo))
describes a variable for which t means yes, nil means no, and foo means “ask”.
(other value)
This alternative can match any Lisp value, but if the user chooses this alterna-
tive, that selects the value value.
The main use of other is as the last element of choice. For example,
(choice (const :tag "Yes" t)
(const :tag "No" nil)
(other :tag "Ask" foo))
describes a variable for which t means yes, nil means no, and anything else
means “ask”. If the user chooses ‘Ask’ from the menu of alternatives, that
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 256

specifies the value foo; but any other value (not t, nil or foo) displays as
‘Ask’, just like foo.
(function-item function)
Like const, but used for values which are functions. This displays the docu-
mentation string as well as the function name. The documentation string is
either the one you specify with :doc, or function’s own documentation string.
(variable-item variable)
Like const, but used for values which are variable names. This displays the
documentation string as well as the variable name. The documentation string
is either the one you specify with :doc, or variable’s own documentation string.
(set types...)
The value must be a list, and each element of the list must match one of the
types specified.
This appears in the customization buffer as a checklist, so that each of types
may have either one corresponding element or none. It is not possible to specify
two different elements that match the same one of types. For example, (set
integer symbol) allows one integer and/or one symbol in the list; it does
not allow multiple integers or multiple symbols. As a result, it is rare to use
nonspecific types such as integer in a set.
Most often, the types in a set are const types, as shown here:
(set (const :bold) (const :italic))
Sometimes they describe possible elements in an alist:
(set (cons :tag "Height" (const height) integer)
(cons :tag "Width" (const width) integer))
That lets the user specify a height value optionally and a width value optionally.
(repeat element-type)
The value must be a list and each element of the list must fit the type element-
type. This appears in the customization buffer as a list of elements, with ‘[INS]’
and ‘[DEL]’ buttons for adding more elements or removing elements.
(restricted-sexp :match-alternatives criteria)
This is the most general composite type construct. The value may be any Lisp
object that satisfies one of criteria. criteria should be a list, and each element
should be one of these possibilities:
• A predicate—that is, a function of one argument that returns either nil
or non-nil according to the argument. Using a predicate in the list says
that objects for which the predicate returns non-nil are acceptable.
• A quoted constant—that is, 'object. This sort of element in the list says
that object itself is an acceptable value.
For example,
(restricted-sexp :match-alternatives
(integerp 't 'nil))
allows integers, t and nil as legitimate values.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 257

The customization buffer shows all legitimate values using their read syntax,
and the user edits them textually.
Here is a table of the keywords you can use in keyword-value pairs in a composite type:
:tag tag Use tag as the name of this alternative, for user communication purposes. This
is useful for a type that appears inside of a choice.
:match-alternatives criteria
Use criteria to match possible values. This is used only in restricted-sexp.
:args argument-list
Use the elements of argument-list as the arguments of the type construct. For
instance, (const :args (foo)) is equivalent to (const foo). You rarely need
to write :args explicitly, because normally the arguments are recognized auto-
matically as whatever follows the last keyword-value pair.

15.4.3 Splicing into Lists

The :inline feature lets you splice a variable number of elements into the middle of a
list or vector customization type. You use it by adding :inline t to a type specification
which is contained in a list or vector specification.
Normally, each entry in a list or vector type specification describes a single element
type. But when an entry contains :inline t, the value it matches is merged directly into
the containing sequence. For example, if the entry matches a list with three elements, those
become three elements of the overall sequence. This is analogous to ‘,@’ in a backquote
construct (see Section 10.3 [Backquote], page 135).
For example, to specify a list whose first element must be baz and whose remaining
arguments should be zero or more of foo and bar, use this customization type:
(list (const baz) (set :inline t (const foo) (const bar)))
This matches values such as (baz), (baz foo), (baz bar) and (baz foo bar).
When the element-type is a choice, you use :inline not in the choice itself, but in
(some of) the alternatives of the choice. For example, to match a list which must start
with a file name, followed either by the symbol t or two strings, use this customization
type:
(list file
(choice (const t)
(list :inline t string string)))
If the user chooses the first alternative in the choice, then the overall list has two elements
and the second element is t. If the user chooses the second alternative, then the overall list
has three elements and the second and third must be strings.

15.4.4 Type Keywords

You can specify keyword-argument pairs in a customization type after the type name sym-
bol. Here are the keywords you can use, and their meanings:
:value default
Provide a default value.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 258

If nil is not a valid value for the alternative, then it is essential to specify a
valid default with :value.
If you use this for a type that appears as an alternative inside of choice; it
specifies the default value to use, at first, if and when the user selects this
alternative with the menu in the customization buffer.
Of course, if the actual value of the option fits this alternative, it will appear
showing the actual value, not default.
:format format-string
This string will be inserted in the buffer to represent the value corresponding
to the type. The following ‘%’ escapes are available for use in format-string:
‘%[button%]’
Display the text button marked as a button. The :action attribute
specifies what the button will do if the user invokes it; its value is a
function which takes two arguments—the widget which the button
appears in, and the event.
There is no way to specify two different buttons with different ac-
tions.
‘%{sample%}’
Show sample in a special face specified by :sample-face.
‘%v’ Substitute the item’s value. How the value is represented depends
on the kind of item, and (for variables) on the customization type.
‘%d’ Substitute the item’s documentation string.
‘%h’ Like ‘%d’, but if the documentation string is more than one line,
add a button to control whether to show all of it or just the first
line.
‘%t’ Substitute the tag here. You specify the tag with the :tag keyword.
‘%%’ Display a literal ‘%’.
:action action
Perform action if the user clicks on a button.
:button-face face
Use the face face (a face name or a list of face names) for button text displayed
with ‘%[...%]’.
:button-prefix prefix
:button-suffix suffix
These specify the text to display before and after a button. Each can be:
nil No text is inserted.
a string The string is inserted literally.
a symbol The symbol’s value is used.
:tag tag Use tag (a string) as the tag for the value (or part of the value) that corresponds
to this type.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 259

:doc doc Use doc as the documentation string for this value (or part of the value) that
corresponds to this type. In order for this to work, you must specify a value
for :format, and use ‘%d’ or ‘%h’ in that value.
The usual reason to specify a documentation string for a type is to provide
more information about the meanings of alternatives inside a :choice type or
the parts of some other composite type.
:help-echo motion-doc
When you move to this item with widget-forward or widget-backward, it
will display the string motion-doc in the echo area. In addition, motion-doc is
used as the mouse help-echo string and may actually be a function or form
evaluated to yield a help string. If it is a function, it is called with one argument,
the widget.
:match function
Specify how to decide whether a value matches the type. The corresponding
value, function, should be a function that accepts two arguments, a widget and
a value; it should return non-nil if the value is acceptable.
:validate function
Specify a validation function for input. function takes a widget as an argument,
and should return nil if the widget’s current value is valid for the widget.
Otherwise, it should return the widget containing the invalid data, and set that
widget’s :error property to a string explaining the error.

15.4.5 Defining New Types

In the previous sections we have described how to construct elaborate type specifications
for defcustom. In some cases you may want to give such a type specification a name. The
obvious case is when you are using the same type for many user options: rather than repeat
the specification for each option, you can give the type specification a name, and use that
name each defcustom. The other case is when a user option’s value is a recursive data
structure. To make it possible for a datatype to refer to itself, it needs to have a name.
Since custom types are implemented as widgets, the way to define a new customize type
is to define a new widget. We are not going to describe the widget interface here in details,
see Section “Introduction” in The Emacs Widget Library, for that. Instead we are going to
demonstrate the minimal functionality needed for defining new customize types by a simple
example.
(define-widget 'binary-tree-of-string 'lazy
"A binary tree made of cons-cells and strings."
:offset 4
:tag "Node"
:type '(choice (string :tag "Leaf" :value "")
(cons :tag "Interior"
:value ("" . "")
binary-tree-of-string
binary-tree-of-string)))

(defcustom foo-bar ""

Chapter 15: Customization Settings 260

"Sample variable holding a binary tree of strings."

:type 'binary-tree-of-string)
The function to define a new widget is called define-widget. The first argument is the
symbol we want to make a new widget type. The second argument is a symbol representing
an existing widget, the new widget is going to be defined in terms of difference from the
existing widget. For the purpose of defining new customization types, the lazy widget is
perfect, because it accepts a :type keyword argument with the same syntax as the keyword
argument to defcustom with the same name. The third argument is a documentation string
for the new widget. You will be able to see that string with the M-x widget-browse RET
binary-tree-of-string RET command.
After these mandatory arguments follow the keyword arguments. The most impor-
tant is :type, which describes the data type we want to match with this widget. Here a
binary-tree-of-string is described as being either a string, or a cons-cell whose car and
cdr are themselves both binary-tree-of-string. Note the reference to the widget type
we are currently in the process of defining. The :tag attribute is a string to name the
widget in the user interface, and the :offset argument is there to ensure that child nodes
are indented four spaces relative to the parent node, making the tree structure apparent in
the customization buffer.
The defcustom shows how the new widget can be used as an ordinary customization
type.
The reason for the name lazy is that the other composite widgets convert their inferior
widgets to internal form when the widget is instantiated in a buffer. This conversion is
recursive, so the inferior widgets will convert their inferior widgets. If the data structure
is itself recursive, this conversion is an infinite recursion. The lazy widget prevents the
recursion: it convert its :type argument only when needed.

15.5 Applying Customizations

The following functions are responsible for installing the user’s customization settings for
variables and faces, respectively. When the user invokes ‘Save for future sessions’ in
the Customize interface, that takes effect by writing a custom-set-variables and/or a
custom-set-faces form into the custom file, to be evaluated the next time Emacs starts.
custom-set-variables &rest args [Function]
This function installs the variable customizations specified by args. Each argument
in args should have the form
(var expression [now [request [comment]]])
var is a variable name (a symbol), and expression is an expression which evaluates to
the desired customized value.
If the defcustom form for var has been evaluated prior to this custom-set-variables
call, expression is immediately evaluated, and the variable’s value is set to the result.
Otherwise, expression is stored into the variable’s saved-value property, to be eval-
uated when the relevant defcustom is called (usually when the library defining that
variable is loaded into Emacs).
The now, request, and comment entries are for internal use only, and may be omitted.
now, if non-nil, means to set the variable’s value now, even if the variable’s defcustom
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 261

form has not been evaluated. request is a list of features to be loaded immediately
(see Section 16.7 [Named Features], page 273). comment is a string describing the
customization.

custom-set-faces &rest args [Function]

This function installs the face customizations specified by args. Each argument in
args should have the form
(face spec [now [comment]])
face is a face name (a symbol), and spec is the customized face specification for that
face (see Section 39.12.2 [Defining Faces], page 1001).
The now and comment entries are for internal use only, and may be omitted. now,
if non-nil, means to install the face specification now, even if the defface form has
not been evaluated. comment is a string describing the customization.

15.6 Custom Themes

Custom themes are collections of settings that can be enabled or disabled as a unit. See
Section “Custom Themes” in The GNU Emacs Manual. Each Custom theme is defined by
an Emacs Lisp source file, which should follow the conventions described in this section.
(Instead of writing a Custom theme by hand, you can also create one using a Customize-like
interface; see Section “Creating Custom Themes” in The GNU Emacs Manual.)
A Custom theme file should be named foo-theme.el, where foo is the theme name.
The first Lisp form in the file should be a call to deftheme, and the last form should be a
call to provide-theme.

deftheme theme &optional doc [Macro]

This macro declares theme (a symbol) as the name of a Custom theme. The optional
argument doc should be a string describing the theme; this is the description shown
when the user invokes the describe-theme command or types ? in the ‘*Custom
Themes*’ buffer.
Two special theme names are disallowed (using them causes an error): user is a
dummy theme that stores the user’s direct customization settings, and changed is a
dummy theme that stores changes made outside of the Customize system.

provide-theme theme [Macro]

This macro declares that the theme named theme has been fully specified.

In between deftheme and provide-theme are Lisp forms specifying the theme settings:
usually a call to custom-theme-set-variables and/or a call to custom-theme-set-faces.

custom-theme-set-variables theme &rest args [Function]

This function specifies the Custom theme theme’s variable settings. theme should be
a symbol. Each argument in args should be a list of the form
(var expression [now [request [comment]]])
where the list entries have the same meanings as in custom-set-variables. See
Section 15.5 [Applying Customizations], page 260.
Chapter 15: Customization Settings 262

custom-theme-set-faces theme &rest args [Function]

This function specifies the Custom theme theme’s face settings. theme should be a
symbol. Each argument in args should be a list of the form
(face spec [now [comment]])
where the list entries have the same meanings as in custom-set-faces. See
Section 15.5 [Applying Customizations], page 260.

In theory, a theme file can also contain other Lisp forms, which would be evaluated when
loading the theme, but that is bad form. To protect against loading themes containing
malicious code, Emacs displays the source file and asks for confirmation from the user
before loading any non-built-in theme for the first time. As such, themes are not ordinarily
byte-compiled, and source files always take precedence when Emacs is looking for a theme
to load.
The following functions are useful for programmatically enabling and disabling themes:

custom-theme-p theme [Function]

This function return a non-nil value if theme (a symbol) is the name of a Custom
theme (i.e., a Custom theme which has been loaded into Emacs, whether or not the
theme is enabled). Otherwise, it returns nil.

custom-known-themes [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of themes loaded into Emacs. Each theme is
represented by a Lisp symbol (the theme name). The default value of this variable
is a list containing two dummy themes: (user changed). The changed theme stores
settings made before any Custom themes are applied (e.g., variables set outside of
Customize). The user theme stores settings the user has customized and saved. Any
additional themes declared with the deftheme macro are added to the front of this
list.

load-theme theme &optional no-confirm no-enable [Command]

This function loads the Custom theme named theme from its source file, looking
for the source file in the directories specified by the variable custom-theme-load-
path. See Section “Custom Themes” in The GNU Emacs Manual. It also enables
the theme (unless the optional argument no-enable is non-nil), causing its variable
and face settings to take effect. It prompts the user for confirmation before loading
the theme, unless the optional argument no-confirm is non-nil.

enable-theme theme [Command]

This function enables the Custom theme named theme. It signals an error if no such
theme has been loaded.

disable-theme theme [Command]

This function disables the Custom theme named theme. The theme remains loaded,
so that a subsequent call to enable-theme will re-enable it.
 263

16 Loading
Loading a file of Lisp code means bringing its contents into the Lisp environment in the
form of Lisp objects. Emacs finds and opens the file, reads the text, evaluates each form,
and then closes the file. Such a file is also called a Lisp library.
The load functions evaluate all the expressions in a file just as the eval-buffer function
evaluates all the expressions in a buffer. The difference is that the load functions read and
evaluate the text in the file as found on disk, not the text in an Emacs buffer.
The loaded file must contain Lisp expressions, either as source code or as byte-compiled
code. Each form in the file is called a top-level form. There is no special format for the
forms in a loadable file; any form in a file may equally well be typed directly into a buffer
and evaluated there. (Indeed, most code is tested this way.) Most often, the forms are
function definitions and variable definitions.
Emacs can also load compiled dynamic modules: shared libraries that provide additional
functionality for use in Emacs Lisp programs, just like a package written in Emacs Lisp
would. When a dynamic module is loaded, Emacs calls a specially-named initialization
function which the module needs to implement, and which exposes the additional functions
and variables to Emacs Lisp programs.
For on-demand loading of external libraries which are known in advance to be required
by certain Emacs primitives, see Section 40.21 [Dynamic Libraries], page 1110.

16.1 How Programs Do Loading

Emacs Lisp has several interfaces for loading. For example, autoload creates a placeholder
object for a function defined in a file; trying to call the autoloading function loads the file
to get the function’s real definition (see Section 16.5 [Autoload], page 268). require loads
a file if it isn’t already loaded (see Section 16.7 [Named Features], page 273). Ultimately,
all these facilities call the load function to do the work.

load filename &optional missing-ok nomessage nosuffix must-suffix [Function]

This function finds and opens a file of Lisp code, evaluates all the forms in it, and
closes the file.
To find the file, load first looks for a file named filename.elc, that is, for a file
whose name is filename with the extension ‘.elc’ appended. If such a file exists,
it is loaded. If there is no file by that name, then load looks for a file named
filename.el. If that file exists, it is loaded. If Emacs was compiled with support for
dynamic modules (see Section 16.11 [Dynamic Modules], page 278), load next looks
for a file named filename.ext, where ext is a system-dependent file-name extension
of shared libraries. Finally, if neither of those names is found, load looks for a file
named filename with nothing appended, and loads it if it exists. (The load function is
not clever about looking at filename. In the perverse case of a file named foo.el.el,
evaluation of (load "foo.el") will indeed find it.)
If Auto Compression mode is enabled, as it is by default, then if load can not find a
file, it searches for a compressed version of the file before trying other file names. It
decompresses and loads it if it exists. It looks for compressed versions by appending
Chapter 16: Loading 264

each of the suffixes in jka-compr-load-suffixes to the file name. The value of this
variable must be a list of strings. Its standard value is (".gz").
If the optional argument nosuffix is non-nil, then load does not try the suffixes ‘.elc’
and ‘.el’. In this case, you must specify the precise file name you want, except that, if
Auto Compression mode is enabled, load will still use jka-compr-load-suffixes to
find compressed versions. By specifying the precise file name and using t for nosuffix,
you can prevent file names like foo.el.el from being tried.
If the optional argument must-suffix is non-nil, then load insists that the file name
used must end in either ‘.el’ or ‘.elc’ (possibly extended with a compression suffix)
or the shared-library extension, unless it contains an explicit directory name.
If the option load-prefer-newer is non-nil, then when searching suffixes, load
selects whichever version of a file (‘.elc’, ‘.el’, etc.) has been modified most recently.
If filename is a relative file name, such as foo or baz/foo.bar, load searches for
the file using the variable load-path. It appends filename to each of the directories
listed in load-path, and loads the first file it finds whose name matches. The current
default directory is tried only if it is specified in load-path, where nil stands for
the default directory. load tries all three possible suffixes in the first directory in
load-path, then all three suffixes in the second directory, and so on. See Section 16.3
[Library Search], page 266.
Whatever the name under which the file is eventually found, and the directory where
Emacs found it, Emacs sets the value of the variable load-file-name to that file’s
name.
If you get a warning that foo.elc is older than foo.el, it means you should consider
recompiling foo.el. See Chapter 17 [Byte Compilation], page 279.
When loading a source file (not compiled), load performs character set translation
just as Emacs would do when visiting the file. See Section 33.10 [Coding Systems],
page 848.
When loading an uncompiled file, Emacs tries to expand any macros that the file
contains (see Chapter 14 [Macros], page 236). We refer to this as eager macro expan-
sion. Doing this (rather than deferring the expansion until the relevant code runs)
can significantly speed up the execution of uncompiled code. Sometimes, this macro
expansion cannot be done, owing to a cyclic dependency. In the simplest example of
this, the file you are loading refers to a macro defined in another file, and that file
in turn requires the file you are loading. This is generally harmless. Emacs prints a
warning (‘Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle...’) giving details of the
problem, but it still loads the file, just leaving the macro unexpanded for now. You
may wish to restructure your code so that this does not happen. Loading a com-
piled file does not cause macroexpansion, because this should already have happened
during compilation. See Section 14.3 [Compiling Macros], page 238.
Messages like ‘Loading foo...’ and ‘Loading foo...done’ appear in the echo area
during loading unless nomessage is non-nil.
Any unhandled errors while loading a file terminate loading. If the load was done for
the sake of autoload, any function definitions made during the loading are undone.
If load can’t find the file to load, then normally it signals a file-error (with ‘Cannot
open load file filename’). But if missing-ok is non-nil, then load just returns nil.
Chapter 16: Loading 265

You can use the variable load-read-function to specify a function for load to use
instead of read for reading expressions. See below.
load returns t if the file loads successfully.

load-file filename [Command]

This command loads the file filename. If filename is a relative file name, then the
current default directory is assumed. This command does not use load-path, and
does not append suffixes. However, it does look for compressed versions (if Auto
Compression Mode is enabled). Use this command if you wish to specify precisely
the file name to load.

load-library library [Command]

This command loads the library named library. It is equivalent to load, except for
the way it reads its argument interactively. See Section “Lisp Libraries” in The GNU
Emacs Manual.

load-in-progress [Variable]
This variable is non-nil if Emacs is in the process of loading a file, and it is nil
otherwise.

load-file-name [Variable]
When Emacs is in the process of loading a file, this variable’s value is the name of
that file, as Emacs found it during the search described earlier in this section.

load-read-function [Variable]
This variable specifies an alternate expression-reading function for load and
eval-region to use instead of read. The function should accept one argument, just
as read does.
By default, this variable’s value is read. See Section 19.3 [Input Functions], page 325.
Instead of using this variable, it is cleaner to use another, newer feature: to pass the
function as the read-function argument to eval-region. See [Eval], page 137.

For information about how load is used in building Emacs, see Section E.1 [Building
Emacs], page 1156.

16.2 Load Suffixes

We now describe some technical details about the exact suffixes that load tries.

load-suffixes [Variable]
This is a list of suffixes indicating (compiled or source) Emacs Lisp files. It should
not include the empty string. load uses these suffixes in order when it appends
Lisp suffixes to the specified file name. The standard value is (".elc" ".el") which
produces the behavior described in the previous section.

load-file-rep-suffixes [Variable]
This is a list of suffixes that indicate representations of the same file. This list should
normally start with the empty string. When load searches for a file it appends the
suffixes in this list, in order, to the file name, before searching for another file.
Chapter 16: Loading 266

Enabling Auto Compression mode appends the suffixes in jka-compr-load-suffixes

to this list and disabling Auto Compression mode removes them again. The standard
value of load-file-rep-suffixes if Auto Compression mode is disabled is ("").
Given that the standard value of jka-compr-load-suffixes is (".gz"), the stan-
dard value of load-file-rep-suffixes if Auto Compression mode is enabled is (""
".gz").
get-load-suffixes [Function]
This function returns the list of all suffixes that load should try, in order, when its
must-suffix argument is non-nil. This takes both load-suffixes and load-file-
rep-suffixes into account. If load-suffixes, jka-compr-load-suffixes and
load-file-rep-suffixes all have their standard values, this function returns
(".elc" ".elc.gz" ".el" ".el.gz") if Auto Compression mode is enabled and
(".elc" ".el") if Auto Compression mode is disabled.
To summarize, load normally first tries the suffixes in the value of (get-load-suffixes)
and then those in load-file-rep-suffixes. If nosuffix is non-nil, it skips the former
group, and if must-suffix is non-nil, it skips the latter group.
load-prefer-newer [User Option]
If this option is non-nil, then rather than stopping at the first suffix that exists, load
tests them all, and uses whichever file is the newest.

16.3 Library Search

When Emacs loads a Lisp library, it searches for the library in a list of directories specified
by the variable load-path.
load-path [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of directories to search when loading files with load.
Each element is a string (which must be a directory) or nil (which stands for the
current working directory).
When Emacs starts up, it sets up the value of load-path in several steps. First, it
initializes load-path using default locations set when Emacs was compiled. Normally, this
is a directory something like
"/usr/local/share/emacs/version/lisp"
(In this and the following examples, replace /usr/local with the installation prefix
appropriate for your Emacs.) These directories contain the standard Lisp files that come
with Emacs. If Emacs cannot find them, it will not start correctly.
If you run Emacs from the directory where it was built—that is, an executable that has
not been formally installed—Emacs instead initializes load-path using the lisp directory
in the directory containing the sources from which it was built. If you built Emacs in a
separate directory from the sources, it also adds the lisp directories from the build directory.
(In all cases, elements are represented as absolute file names.)
Unless you start Emacs with the --no-site-lisp option, it then adds two more
site-lisp directories to the front of load-path. These are intended for locally installed
Lisp files, and are normally of the form:
"/usr/local/share/emacs/version/site-lisp"
Chapter 16: Loading 267

and
"/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp"
The first one is for locally installed files for a specific Emacs version; the second is for
locally installed files meant for use with all installed Emacs versions. (If Emacs is running
uninstalled, it also adds site-lisp directories from the source and build directories, if they
exist. Normally these directories do not contain site-lisp directories.)
If the environment variable EMACSLOADPATH is set, it modifies the above initialization
procedure. Emacs initializes load-path based on the value of the environment variable.
The syntax of EMACSLOADPATH is the same as used for PATH; directories are separated by
‘:’ (or ‘;’, on some operating systems). Here is an example of how to set EMACSLOADPATH
variable (from a sh-style shell):
export EMACSLOADPATH=/home/foo/.emacs.d/lisp:
An empty element in the value of the environment variable, whether trailing (as in the
above example), leading, or embedded, is replaced by the default value of load-path as
determined by the standard initialization procedure. If there are no such empty elements,
then EMACSLOADPATH specifies the entire load-path. You must include either an empty
element, or the explicit path to the directory containing the standard Lisp files, else Emacs
will not function. (Another way to modify load-path is to use the -L command-line option
when starting Emacs; see below.)
For each directory in load-path, Emacs then checks to see if it contains a file
subdirs.el, and if so, loads it. The subdirs.el file is created when Emacs is
built/installed, and contains code that causes Emacs to add any subdirectories of those
directories to load-path. Both immediate subdirectories and subdirectories multiple levels
down are added. But it excludes subdirectories whose names do not start with a letter or
digit, and subdirectories named RCS or CVS, and subdirectories containing a file named
.nosearch.
Next, Emacs adds any extra load directories that you specify using the -L command-
line option (see Section “Action Arguments” in The GNU Emacs Manual). It also adds
the directories where optional packages are installed, if any (see Section 41.1 [Packaging
Basics], page 1114).
It is common to add code to one’s init file (see Section 40.1.2 [Init File], page 1075) to
add one or more directories to load-path. For example:
(push "~/.emacs.d/lisp" load-path)
Dumping Emacs uses a special value of load-path. If you use a site-load.el or
site-init.el file to customize the dumped Emacs (see Section E.1 [Building Emacs],
page 1156), any changes to load-path that these files make will be lost after dumping.
locate-library library &optional nosuffix path interactive-call [Command]
This command finds the precise file name for library library. It searches for the library
in the same way load does, and the argument nosuffix has the same meaning as in
load: don’t add suffixes ‘.elc’ or ‘.el’ to the specified name library.
If the path is non-nil, that list of directories is used instead of load-path.
When locate-library is called from a program, it returns the file name as a string.
When the user runs locate-library interactively, the argument interactive-call is t,
and this tells locate-library to display the file name in the echo area.
Chapter 16: Loading 268

list-load-path-shadows &optional stringp [Command]

This command shows a list of shadowed Emacs Lisp files. A shadowed file is one that
will not normally be loaded, despite being in a directory on load-path, due to the
existence of another similarly-named file in a directory earlier on load-path.
For instance, suppose load-path is set to
("/opt/emacs/site-lisp" "/usr/share/emacs/23.3/lisp")
and that both these directories contain a file named foo.el. Then (require 'foo)
never loads the file in the second directory. Such a situation might indicate a problem
in the way Emacs was installed.
When called from Lisp, this function prints a message listing the shadowed files,
instead of displaying them in a buffer. If the optional argument stringp is non-nil,
it instead returns the shadowed files as a string.

16.4 Loading Non-ASCII Characters

When Emacs Lisp programs contain string constants with non-ASCII characters, these
can be represented within Emacs either as unibyte strings or as multibyte strings (see
Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835). Which representation is used depends on
how the file is read into Emacs. If it is read with decoding into multibyte representation, the
text of the Lisp program will be multibyte text, and its string constants will be multibyte
strings. If a file containing Latin-1 characters (for example) is read without decoding, the
text of the program will be unibyte text, and its string constants will be unibyte strings.
See Section 33.10 [Coding Systems], page 848.
In most Emacs Lisp programs, the fact that non-ASCII strings are multibyte strings
should not be noticeable, since inserting them in unibyte buffers converts them to unibyte
automatically. However, if this does make a difference, you can force a particular Lisp file to
be interpreted as unibyte by writing ‘coding: raw-text’ in a local variables section. With
that designator, the file will unconditionally be interpreted as unibyte. This can matter
when making keybindings to non-ASCII characters written as ?vliteral.

16.5 Autoload
The autoload facility lets you register the existence of a function or macro, but put off
loading the file that defines it. The first call to the function automatically loads the proper
library, in order to install the real definition and other associated code, then runs the real
definition as if it had been loaded all along. Autoloading can also be triggered by looking
up the documentation of the function or macro (see Section 24.1 [Documentation Basics],
page 510), and completion of variable and function names (see Section 16.5.1 [Autoload by
Prefix], page 272, below).
There are two ways to set up an autoloaded function: by calling autoload, and by
writing a “magic” comment in the source before the real definition. autoload is the low-
level primitive for autoloading; any Lisp program can call autoload at any time. Magic
comments are the most convenient way to make a function autoload, for packages installed
along with Emacs. These comments do nothing on their own, but they serve as a guide for
the command update-file-autoloads, which constructs calls to autoload and arranges
to execute them when Emacs is built.
Chapter 16: Loading 269

autoload function filename &optional docstring interactive type [Function]

This function defines the function (or macro) named function so as to load automat-
ically from filename. The string filename specifies the file to load to get the real
definition of function.
If filename does not contain either a directory name, or the suffix .el or .elc, this
function insists on adding one of these suffixes, and it will not load from a file whose
name is just filename with no added suffix. (The variable load-suffixes specifies
the exact required suffixes.)
The argument docstring is the documentation string for the function. Specifying
the documentation string in the call to autoload makes it possible to look at the
documentation without loading the function’s real definition. Normally, this should
be identical to the documentation string in the function definition itself. If it isn’t,
the function definition’s documentation string takes effect when it is loaded.
If interactive is non-nil, that says function can be called interactively. This lets
completion in M-x work without loading function’s real definition. The complete
interactive specification is not given here; it’s not needed unless the user actually
calls function, and when that happens, it’s time to load the real definition.
You can autoload macros and keymaps as well as ordinary functions. Specify type
as macro if function is really a macro. Specify type as keymap if function is really a
keymap. Various parts of Emacs need to know this information without loading the
real definition.
An autoloaded keymap loads automatically during key lookup when a prefix key’s
binding is the symbol function. Autoloading does not occur for other kinds of access
to the keymap. In particular, it does not happen when a Lisp program gets the
keymap from the value of a variable and calls define-key; not even if the variable
name is the same symbol function.
If function already has a non-void function definition that is not an autoload object,
this function does nothing and returns nil. Otherwise, it constructs an autoload
object (see Section 2.3.19 [Autoload Type], page 23), and stores it as the function
definition for function. The autoload object has this form:
(autoload filename docstring interactive type)
For example,
(symbol-function 'run-prolog)
⇒ (autoload "prolog" 169681 t nil)
In this case, "prolog" is the name of the file to load, 169681 refers to the docu-
mentation string in the emacs/etc/DOC file (see Section 24.1 [Documentation Basics],
page 510), t means the function is interactive, and nil that it is not a macro or a
keymap.

autoloadp object [Function]

This function returns non-nil if object is an autoload object. For example, to check
if run-prolog is defined as an autoloaded function, evaluate
(autoloadp (symbol-function 'run-prolog))
Chapter 16: Loading 270

The autoloaded file usually contains other definitions and may require or provide one
or more features. If the file is not completely loaded (due to an error in the evaluation of
its contents), any function definitions or provide calls that occurred during the load are
undone. This is to ensure that the next attempt to call any function autoloading from this
file will try again to load the file. If not for this, then some of the functions in the file might
be defined by the aborted load, but fail to work properly for the lack of certain subroutines
not loaded successfully because they come later in the file.
If the autoloaded file fails to define the desired Lisp function or macro, then an error is
signaled with data "Autoloading failed to define function function-name".
A magic autoload comment (often called an autoload cookie) consists of
‘;;;###autoload’, on a line by itself, just before the real definition of the function
in its autoloadable source file. The command M-x update-file-autoloads writes a
corresponding autoload call into loaddefs.el. (The string that serves as the autoload
cookie and the name of the file generated by update-file-autoloads can be changed
from the above defaults, see below.) Building Emacs loads loaddefs.el and thus calls
autoload. M-x update-directory-autoloads is even more powerful; it updates autoloads
for all files in the current directory.
The same magic comment can copy any kind of form into loaddefs.el. The form
following the magic comment is copied verbatim, except if it is one of the forms which the
autoload facility handles specially (e.g., by conversion into an autoload call). The forms
which are not copied verbatim are the following:
Definitions for function or function-like objects:
defun and defmacro; also cl-defun and cl-defmacro (see Section “Argument
Lists” in Common Lisp Extensions), and define-overloadable-function (see
the commentary in mode-local.el).
Definitions for major or minor modes:
define-minor-mode, define-globalized-minor-mode, define-generic-
mode, define-derived-mode, easy-mmode-define-minor-mode,
easy-mmode-define-global-mode, define-compilation-mode, and
define-global-minor-mode.
Other definition types:
defcustom, defgroup, defclass (see EIEIO), and define-skeleton (see
Autotyping).
You can also use a magic comment to execute a form at build time without executing
it when the file itself is loaded. To do this, write the form on the same line as the magic
comment. Since it is in a comment, it does nothing when you load the source file; but
M-x update-file-autoloads copies it to loaddefs.el, where it is executed while building
Emacs.
The following example shows how doctor is prepared for autoloading with a magic
comment:
;;;###autoload
(defun doctor ()
"Switch to *doctor* buffer and start giving psychotherapy."
(interactive)
Chapter 16: Loading 271

(switch-to-buffer "*doctor*")
(doctor-mode))
Here’s what that produces in loaddefs.el:
(autoload (quote doctor) "doctor" "\
Switch to *doctor* buffer and start giving psychotherapy.

\(fn)" t nil)
The backslash and newline immediately following the double-quote are a convention used
only in the preloaded uncompiled Lisp files such as loaddefs.el; they tell make-docfile
to put the documentation string in the etc/DOC file. See Section E.1 [Building Emacs],
page 1156. See also the commentary in lib-src/make-docfile.c. ‘(fn)’ in the usage part
of the documentation string is replaced with the function’s name when the various help
functions (see Section 24.6 [Help Functions], page 517) display it.
If you write a function definition with an unusual macro that is not one of the known
and recognized function definition methods, use of an ordinary magic autoload comment
would copy the whole definition into loaddefs.el. That is not desirable. You can put the
desired autoload call into loaddefs.el instead by writing this:
;;;###autoload (autoload 'foo "myfile")
(mydefunmacro foo
...)
You can use a non-default string as the autoload cookie and have the corresponding
autoload calls written into a file whose name is different from the default loaddefs.el.
Emacs provides two variables to control this:

generate-autoload-cookie [Variable]
The value of this variable should be a string whose syntax is a Lisp comment. M-x
update-file-autoloads copies the Lisp form that follows the cookie into the au-
toload file it generates. The default value of this variable is ";;;###autoload".

generated-autoload-file [Variable]
The value of this variable names an Emacs Lisp file where the autoload calls should
go. The default value is loaddefs.el, but you can override that, e.g., in the local
variables section of a .el file (see Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191). The
autoload file is assumed to contain a trailer starting with a formfeed character.

The following function may be used to explicitly load the library specified by an autoload
object:

autoload-do-load autoload &optional name macro-only [Function]

This function performs the loading specified by autoload, which should be an autoload
object. The optional argument name, if non-nil, should be a symbol whose function
value is autoload; in that case, the return value of this function is the symbol’s
new function value. If the value of the optional argument macro-only is macro, this
function avoids loading a function, only a macro.
Chapter 16: Loading 272

16.5.1 Autoload by Prefix

During completion for the commands describe-variable and describe-function, Emacs
will try to load files which may contain definitions matching the prefix being completed.
The variable definition-prefixes holds a hashtable which maps a prefix to the cor-
responding list of files to load for it. Entries to this mapping are added by calls to
register-definition-prefixes which are generated by update-file-autoloads (see
Section 16.5 [Autoload], page 268). Files which don’t contain any definitions worth load-
ing (test files, for examples), should set autoload-compute-prefixes to nil as a file-local
variable.

16.5.2 When to Use Autoload

Do not add an autoload comment unless it is really necessary. Autoloading code means
it is always globally visible. Once an item is autoloaded, there is no compatible way to
transition back to it not being autoloaded (after people become accustomed to being able
to use it without an explicit load).
• The most common items to autoload are the interactive entry points to a library. For
example, if python.el is a library defining a major-mode for editing Python code,
autoload the definition of the python-mode function, so that people can simply use M-x
python-mode to load the library.
• Variables usually don’t need to be autoloaded. An exception is if the variable on its
own is generally useful without the whole defining library being loaded. (An example
of this might be something like find-exec-terminator.)
• Don’t autoload a user option just so that a user can set it.
• Never add an autoload comment to silence a compiler warning in another file. In
the file that produces the warning, use (defvar foo) to silence an undefined variable
warning, and declare-function (see Section 13.15 [Declaring Functions], page 232) to
silence an undefined function warning; or require the relevant library; or use an explicit
autoload statement.

16.6 Repeated Loading

You can load a given file more than once in an Emacs session. For example, after you have
rewritten and reinstalled a function definition by editing it in a buffer, you may wish to
return to the original version; you can do this by reloading the file it came from.
When you load or reload files, bear in mind that the load and load-library functions
automatically load a byte-compiled file rather than a non-compiled file of similar name.
If you rewrite a file that you intend to save and reinstall, you need to byte-compile the
new version; otherwise Emacs will load the older, byte-compiled file instead of your newer,
non-compiled file! If that happens, the message displayed when loading the file includes,
‘(compiled; note, source is newer)’, to remind you to recompile it.
When writing the forms in a Lisp library file, keep in mind that the file might be loaded
more than once. For example, think about whether each variable should be reinitialized
when you reload the library; defvar does not change the value if the variable is already
initialized. (See Section 12.5 [Defining Variables], page 173.)
The simplest way to add an element to an alist is like this:
Chapter 16: Loading 273

(push '(leif-mode " Leif") minor-mode-alist)

But this would add multiple elements if the library is reloaded. To avoid the problem, use
add-to-list (see Section 5.5 [List Variables], page 75):
(add-to-list 'minor-mode-alist '(leif-mode " Leif"))
Occasionally you will want to test explicitly whether a library has already been loaded.
If the library uses provide to provide a named feature, you can use featurep earlier in
the file to test whether the provide call has been executed before (see Section 16.7 [Named
Features], page 273). Alternatively, you could use something like this:
(defvar foo-was-loaded nil)

(unless foo-was-loaded
execute-first-time-only
(setq foo-was-loaded t))

16.7 Features
provide and require are an alternative to autoload for loading files automatically. They
work in terms of named features. Autoloading is triggered by calling a specific function,
but a feature is loaded the first time another program asks for it by name.
A feature name is a symbol that stands for a collection of functions, variables, etc. The
file that defines them should provide the feature. Another program that uses them may
ensure they are defined by requiring the feature. This loads the file of definitions if it hasn’t
been loaded already.
To require the presence of a feature, call require with the feature name as argument.
require looks in the global variable features to see whether the desired feature has been
provided already. If not, it loads the feature from the appropriate file. This file should call
provide at the top level to add the feature to features; if it fails to do so, require signals
an error.
For example, in idlwave.el, the definition for idlwave-complete-filename includes
the following code:
(defun idlwave-complete-filename ()
"Use the comint stuff to complete a file name."
(require 'comint)
(let* ((comint-file-name-chars "~/A-Za-z0-9+@:_.$#%={}\\-")
(comint-completion-addsuffix nil)
...)
(comint-dynamic-complete-filename)))
The expression (require 'comint) loads the file comint.el if it has not yet been loaded,
ensuring that comint-dynamic-complete-filename is defined. Features are normally
named after the files that provide them, so that require need not be given the file name.
(Note that it is important that the require statement be outside the body of the let.
Loading a library while its variables are let-bound can have unintended consequences,
namely the variables becoming unbound after the let exits.)
The comint.el file contains the following top-level expression:
(provide 'comint)
Chapter 16: Loading 274

This adds comint to the global features list, so that (require 'comint) will henceforth
know that nothing needs to be done.
When require is used at top level in a file, it takes effect when you byte-compile that
file (see Chapter 17 [Byte Compilation], page 279) as well as when you load it. This is in
case the required package contains macros that the byte compiler must know about. It also
avoids byte compiler warnings for functions and variables defined in the file loaded with
require.
Although top-level calls to require are evaluated during byte compilation, provide
calls are not. Therefore, you can ensure that a file of definitions is loaded before it is byte-
compiled by including a provide followed by a require for the same feature, as in the
following example.
(provide 'my-feature) ; Ignored by byte compiler,
; evaluated by load.
(require 'my-feature) ; Evaluated by byte compiler.
The compiler ignores the provide, then processes the require by loading the file in ques-
tion. Loading the file does execute the provide call, so the subsequent require call does
nothing when the file is loaded.

provide feature &optional subfeatures [Function]

This function announces that feature is now loaded, or being loaded, into the current
Emacs session. This means that the facilities associated with feature are or will be
available for other Lisp programs.
The direct effect of calling provide is to add feature to the front of features if
it is not already in that list and call any eval-after-load code waiting for it (see
Section 16.10 [Hooks for Loading], page 277). The argument feature must be a symbol.
provide returns feature.
If provided, subfeatures should be a list of symbols indicating a set of specific subfea-
tures provided by this version of feature. You can test the presence of a subfeature
using featurep. The idea of subfeatures is that you use them when a package (which
is one feature) is complex enough to make it useful to give names to various parts or
functionalities of the package, which might or might not be loaded, or might or might
not be present in a given version. See Section 38.17.3 [Network Feature Testing],
page 957, for an example.
features
⇒ (bar bish)

(provide 'foo)
⇒ foo
features
⇒ (foo bar bish)
When a file is loaded to satisfy an autoload, and it stops due to an error in the
evaluation of its contents, any function definitions or provide calls that occurred
during the load are undone. See Section 16.5 [Autoload], page 268.
Chapter 16: Loading 275

require feature &optional filename noerror [Function]

This function checks whether feature is present in the current Emacs session (using
(featurep feature); see below). The argument feature must be a symbol.
If the feature is not present, then require loads filename with load. If filename is
not supplied, then the name of the symbol feature is used as the base file name to
load. However, in this case, require insists on finding feature with an added ‘.el’
or ‘.elc’ suffix (possibly extended with a compression suffix); a file whose name is
just feature won’t be used. (The variable load-suffixes specifies the exact required
Lisp suffixes.)
If noerror is non-nil, that suppresses errors from actual loading of the file. In that
case, require returns nil if loading the file fails. Normally, require returns feature.
If loading the file succeeds but does not provide feature, require signals an error
about the missing feature.
featurep feature &optional subfeature [Function]
This function returns t if feature has been provided in the current Emacs session
(i.e., if feature is a member of features.) If subfeature is non-nil, then the function
returns t only if that subfeature is provided as well (i.e., if subfeature is a member of
the subfeature property of the feature symbol.)
features [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of symbols that are the features loaded in the
current Emacs session. Each symbol was put in this list with a call to provide. The
order of the elements in the features list is not significant.

16.8 Which File Defined a Certain Symbol

symbol-file symbol &optional type [Function]
This function returns the name of the file that defined symbol. If type is nil, then any
kind of definition is acceptable. If type is defun, defvar, or defface, that specifies
function definition, variable definition, or face definition only.
The value is normally an absolute file name. It can also be nil, if the definition is
not associated with any file. If symbol specifies an autoloaded function, the value can
be a relative file name without extension.
The basis for symbol-file is the data in the variable load-history.
load-history [Variable]
The value of this variable is an alist that associates the names of loaded library files
with the names of the functions and variables they defined, as well as the features
they provided or required.
Each element in this alist describes one loaded library (including libraries that are
preloaded at startup). It is a list whose car is the absolute file name of the library
(a string). The rest of the list elements have these forms:
var The symbol var was defined as a variable.
(defun . fun)
The function fun was defined.
Chapter 16: Loading 276

(t . fun) The function fun was previously an autoload before this library redefined
it as a function. The following element is always (defun . fun), which
represents defining fun as a function.
(autoload . fun)
The function fun was defined as an autoload.
(defface . face)
The face face was defined.
(require . feature)
The feature feature was required.
(provide . feature)
The feature feature was provided.
(cl-defmethod method specializers)
The named method was defined by using cl-defmethod, with specializers
as its specializers.
(define-type . type)
The type type was defined.
The value of load-history may have one element whose car is nil. This element
describes definitions made with eval-buffer on a buffer that is not visiting a file.

The command eval-region updates load-history, but does so by adding the symbols
defined to the element for the file being visited, rather than replacing that element. See
Section 10.4 [Eval], page 136.

16.9 Unloading
You can discard the functions and variables loaded by a library to reclaim memory for other
Lisp objects. To do this, use the function unload-feature:

unload-feature feature &optional force [Command]

This command unloads the library that provided feature feature. It undefines all func-
tions, macros, and variables defined in that library with defun, defalias, defsubst,
defmacro, defconst, defvar, and defcustom. It then restores any autoloads for-
merly associated with those symbols. (Loading saves these in the autoload property
of the symbol.)
Before restoring the previous definitions, unload-feature runs remove-hook to re-
move functions in the library from certain hooks. These hooks include variables
whose names end in ‘-hook’ (or the deprecated suffix ‘-hooks’), plus those listed in
unload-feature-special-hooks, as well as auto-mode-alist. This is to prevent
Emacs from ceasing to function because important hooks refer to functions that are
no longer defined.
Standard unloading activities also undoes ELP profiling of functions in that library,
unprovides any features provided by the library, and cancels timers held in variables
defined by the library.
Chapter 16: Loading 277

If these measures are not sufficient to prevent malfunction, a library can define an ex-
plicit unloader named feature-unload-function. If that symbol is defined as a func-
tion, unload-feature calls it with no arguments before doing anything else. It can
do whatever is appropriate to unload the library. If it returns nil, unload-feature
proceeds to take the normal unload actions. Otherwise it considers the job to be
done.
Ordinarily, unload-feature refuses to unload a library on which other loaded libraries
depend. (A library a depends on library b if a contains a require for b.) If the
optional argument force is non-nil, dependencies are ignored and you can unload
any library.

The unload-feature function is written in Lisp; its actions are based on the variable
load-history.

unload-feature-special-hooks [Variable]
This variable holds a list of hooks to be scanned before unloading a library, to remove
functions defined in the library.

16.10 Hooks for Loading

You can ask for code to be executed each time Emacs loads a library, by using the variable
after-load-functions:

after-load-functions [Variable]
This abnormal hook is run after loading a file. Each function in the hook is called
with a single argument, the absolute filename of the file that was just loaded.

If you want code to be executed when a particular library is loaded, use the macro
with-eval-after-load:

with-eval-after-load library body. . . [Macro]

This macro arranges to evaluate body at the end of loading the file library, each time
library is loaded. If library is already loaded, it evaluates body right away.
You don’t need to give a directory or extension in the file name library. Normally,
you just give a bare file name, like this:
(with-eval-after-load "edebug" (def-edebug-spec c-point t))
To restrict which files can trigger the evaluation, include a directory or an extension
or both in library. Only a file whose absolute true name (i.e., the name with all
symbolic links chased out) matches all the given name components will match. In the
following example, my_inst.elc or my_inst.elc.gz in some directory ..../foo/bar
will trigger the evaluation, but not my_inst.el:
(with-eval-after-load "foo/bar/my_inst.elc" ...)
library can also be a feature (i.e., a symbol), in which case body is evaluated at the
end of any file where (provide library) is called.
An error in body does not undo the load, but does prevent execution of the rest of
body.
Chapter 16: Loading 278

Normally, well-designed Lisp programs should not use with-eval-after-load. If you

need to examine and set the variables defined in another library (those meant for outside
use), you can do it immediately—there is no need to wait until the library is loaded. If you
need to call functions defined by that library, you should load the library, preferably with
require (see Section 16.7 [Named Features], page 273).

16.11 Emacs Dynamic Modules

A dynamic Emacs module is a shared library that provides additional functionality for use
in Emacs Lisp programs, just like a package written in Emacs Lisp would.
Functions that load Emacs Lisp packages can also load dynamic modules. They recognize
dynamic modules by looking at their file-name extension, a.k.a. “suffix”. This suffix is
platform-dependent.
module-file-suffix [Variable]
This variable holds the system-dependent value of the file-name extension of the
module files. Its value is .so on POSIX hosts and .dll on MS-Windows.
Every dynamic module should export a C-callable function named emacs_module_init,
which Emacs will call as part of the call to load or require which loads the module. It
should also export a symbol named plugin_is_GPL_compatible to indicate that its code
is released under the GPL or compatible license; Emacs will signal an error if your program
tries to load modules that don’t export such a symbol.
If a module needs to call Emacs functions, it should do so through the API (Application
Programming Interface) defined and documented in the header file emacs-module.h that
is part of the Emacs distribution. See Section E.8 [Writing Dynamic Modules], page 1168,
for details of using that API when writing your own modules.
Modules can create user-ptr Lisp objects that embed pointers to C struct’s defined by
the module. This is useful for keeping around complex data structures created by a module,
to be passed back to the module’s functions. User-ptr objects can also have associated
finalizers – functions to be run when the object is GC’ed; this is useful for freeing any
resources allocated for the underlying data structure, such as memory, open file descriptors,
etc. See Section E.8.3 [Module Values], page 1172.
user-ptrp object [Function]
This function returns t if its argument is a user-ptr object.
module-load file [Function]
Emacs calls this low-level primitive to load a module from the specified file and
perform the necessary initialization of the module. This is the primitive which makes
sure the module exports the plugin_is_GPL_compatible symbol, calls the module’s
emacs_module_init function, and signals an error if that function returns an error
indication, or if the use typed C-g during the initialization. If the initialization
succeeds, module-load returns t. Note that file must already have the proper file-
name extension, as this function doesn’t try looking for files with known extensions,
unlike load.
Loadable modules in Emacs are enabled by using the --with-modules option at config-
ure time.
 279

17 Byte Compilation
Emacs Lisp has a compiler that translates functions written in Lisp into a special represen-
tation called byte-code that can be executed more efficiently. The compiler replaces Lisp
function definitions with byte-code. When a byte-code function is called, its definition is
evaluated by the byte-code interpreter.
Because the byte-compiled code is evaluated by the byte-code interpreter, instead of
being executed directly by the machine’s hardware (as true compiled code is), byte-code
is completely transportable from machine to machine without recompilation. It is not,
however, as fast as true compiled code.
In general, any version of Emacs can run byte-compiled code produced by recent earlier
versions of Emacs, but the reverse is not true.
If you do not want a Lisp file to be compiled, ever, put a file-local variable binding for
no-byte-compile into it, like this:
;; -*-no-byte-compile: t; -*-

17.1 Performance of Byte-Compiled Code

A byte-compiled function is not as efficient as a primitive function written in C, but runs
much faster than the version written in Lisp. Here is an example:
(defun silly-loop (n)
"Return the time, in seconds, to run N iterations of a loop."
(let ((t1 (float-time)))
(while (> (setq n (1- n)) 0))
(- (float-time) t1)))
⇒ silly-loop

(silly-loop 50000000)
⇒ 10.235304117202759

(byte-compile 'silly-loop)
⇒ [Compiled code not shown]

(silly-loop 50000000)
⇒ 3.705854892730713
In this example, the interpreted code required 10 seconds to run, whereas the byte-
compiled code required less than 4 seconds. These results are representative, but actual
results may vary.

17.2 Byte-Compilation Functions

You can byte-compile an individual function or macro definition with the byte-compile
function. You can compile a whole file with byte-compile-file, or several files with
byte-recompile-directory or batch-byte-compile.
Sometimes, the byte compiler produces warning and/or error messages (see Section 17.6
[Compiler Errors], page 284, for details). These messages are normally recorded in a buffer
Chapter 17: Byte Compilation 280

called *Compile-Log*, which uses Compilation mode. See Section “Compilation Mode” in
The GNU Emacs Manual. However, if the variable byte-compile-debug is non-nil, error
messages will be signaled as Lisp errors instead (see Section 11.7.3 [Errors], page 160).
Be careful when writing macro calls in files that you intend to byte-compile. Since macro
calls are expanded when they are compiled, the macros need to be loaded into Emacs or
the byte compiler will not do the right thing. The usual way to handle this is with require
forms which specify the files containing the needed macro definitions (see Section 16.7
[Named Features], page 273). Normally, the byte compiler does not evaluate the code that
it is compiling, but it handles require forms specially, by loading the specified libraries.
To avoid loading the macro definition files when someone runs the compiled program, write
eval-when-compile around the require calls (see Section 17.5 [Eval During Compile],
page 283). For more details, See Section 14.3 [Compiling Macros], page 238.
Inline (defsubst) functions are less troublesome; if you compile a call to such a function
before its definition is known, the call will still work right, it will just run slower.

byte-compile symbol [Function]

This function byte-compiles the function definition of symbol, replacing the previous
definition with the compiled one. The function definition of symbol must be the actual
code for the function; byte-compile does not handle function indirection. The return
value is the byte-code function object which is the compiled definition of symbol (see
Section 17.7 [Byte-Code Objects], page 285).
(defun factorial (integer)
"Compute factorial of INTEGER."
(if (= 1 integer) 1
(* integer (factorial (1- integer)))))
⇒ factorial

(byte-compile 'factorial)
⇒
#[(integer)
"^H\301U\203^H^@\301\207\302^H\303^HS!\"\207"
[integer 1 * factorial]
4 "Compute factorial of INTEGER."]
If symbol’s definition is a byte-code function object, byte-compile does nothing and
returns nil. It does not compile the symbol’s definition again, since the original
(non-compiled) code has already been replaced in the symbol’s function cell by the
byte-compiled code.
The argument to byte-compile can also be a lambda expression. In that case, the
function returns the corresponding compiled code but does not store it anywhere.

compile-defun &optional arg [Command]

This command reads the defun containing point, compiles it, and evaluates the result.
If you use this on a defun that is actually a function definition, the effect is to install
a compiled version of that function.
compile-defun normally displays the result of evaluation in the echo area, but if arg
is non-nil, it inserts the result in the current buffer after the form it has compiled.
Chapter 17: Byte Compilation 281

byte-compile-file filename &optional load [Command]

This function compiles a file of Lisp code named filename into a file of byte-code. The
output file’s name is made by changing the ‘.el’ suffix into ‘.elc’; if filename does
not end in ‘.el’, it adds ‘.elc’ to the end of filename.
Compilation works by reading the input file one form at a time. If it is a definition
of a function or macro, the compiled function or macro definition is written out.
Other forms are batched together, then each batch is compiled, and written so that
its compiled code will be executed when the file is read. All comments are discarded
when the input file is read.
This command returns t if there were no errors and nil otherwise. When called
interactively, it prompts for the file name.
If load is non-nil, this command loads the compiled file after compiling it. Interac-
tively, load is the prefix argument.
$ ls -l push*
-rw-r--r-- 1 lewis lewis 791 Oct 5 20:31 push.el

(byte-compile-file "~/emacs/push.el")
⇒ t

$ ls -l push*
-rw-r--r-- 1 lewis lewis 791 Oct 5 20:31 push.el
-rw-rw-rw- 1 lewis lewis 638 Oct 8 20:25 push.elc

byte-recompile-directory directory &optional flag force [Command]

This command recompiles every ‘.el’ file in directory (or its subdirectories) that
needs recompilation. A file needs recompilation if a ‘.elc’ file exists but is older than
the ‘.el’ file.
When a ‘.el’ file has no corresponding ‘.elc’ file, flag says what to do. If it is nil,
this command ignores these files. If flag is 0, it compiles them. If it is neither nil nor
0, it asks the user whether to compile each such file, and asks about each subdirectory
as well.
Interactively, byte-recompile-directory prompts for directory and flag is the prefix
argument.
If force is non-nil, this command recompiles every ‘.el’ file that has a ‘.elc’ file.
The returned value is unpredictable.

batch-byte-compile &optional noforce [Function]

This function runs byte-compile-file on files specified on the command line. This
function must be used only in a batch execution of Emacs, as it kills Emacs on
completion. An error in one file does not prevent processing of subsequent files, but
no output file will be generated for it, and the Emacs process will terminate with a
nonzero status code.
If noforce is non-nil, this function does not recompile files that have an up-to-date
‘.elc’ file.
$ emacs -batch -f batch-byte-compile *.el
Chapter 17: Byte Compilation 282

17.3 Documentation Strings and Compilation

When Emacs loads functions and variables from a byte-compiled file, it normally does not
load their documentation strings into memory. Each documentation string is dynamically
loaded from the byte-compiled file only when needed. This saves memory, and speeds up
loading by skipping the processing of the documentation strings.
This feature has a drawback: if you delete, move, or alter the compiled file (such as by
compiling a new version), Emacs may no longer be able to access the documentation string
of previously-loaded functions or variables. Such a problem normally only occurs if you
build Emacs yourself, and happen to edit and/or recompile the Lisp source files. To solve
it, just reload each file after recompilation.
Dynamic loading of documentation strings from byte-compiled files is determined, at
compile time, for each byte-compiled file. It can be disabled via the option byte-compile-
dynamic-docstrings.

byte-compile-dynamic-docstrings [User Option]

If this is non-nil, the byte compiler generates compiled files that are set up for
dynamic loading of documentation strings.
To disable the dynamic loading feature for a specific file, set this option to nil in its
header line (see Section “Local Variables in Files” in The GNU Emacs Manual), like
this:
-*-byte-compile-dynamic-docstrings: nil;-*-
This is useful mainly if you expect to change the file, and you want Emacs sessions
that have already loaded it to keep working when the file changes.

Internally, the dynamic loading of documentation strings is accomplished by writing

compiled files with a special Lisp reader construct, ‘#@count’. This construct skips the next
count characters. It also uses the ‘#$’ construct, which stands for the name of this file, as
a string. Do not use these constructs in Lisp source files; they are not designed to be clear
to humans reading the file.

17.4 Dynamic Loading of Individual Functions

When you compile a file, you can optionally enable the dynamic function loading feature
(also known as lazy loading). With dynamic function loading, loading the file doesn’t
fully read the function definitions in the file. Instead, each function definition contains a
place-holder which refers to the file. The first time each function is called, it reads the full
definition from the file, to replace the place-holder.
The advantage of dynamic function loading is that loading the file becomes much faster.
This is a good thing for a file which contains many separate user-callable functions, if using
one of them does not imply you will probably also use the rest. A specialized mode which
provides many keyboard commands often has that usage pattern: a user may invoke the
mode, but use only a few of the commands it provides.
The dynamic loading feature has certain disadvantages:
• If you delete or move the compiled file after loading it, Emacs can no longer load the
remaining function definitions not already loaded.
Chapter 17: Byte Compilation 283

• If you alter the compiled file (such as by compiling a new version), then trying to load
any function not already loaded will usually yield nonsense results.
These problems will never happen in normal circumstances with installed Emacs files.
But they are quite likely to happen with Lisp files that you are changing. The easiest
way to prevent these problems is to reload the new compiled file immediately after each
recompilation.
The byte compiler uses the dynamic function loading feature if the variable
byte-compile-dynamic is non-nil at compilation time. Do not set this variable globally,
since dynamic loading is desirable only for certain files. Instead, enable the feature for
specific source files with file-local variable bindings. For example, you could do it by
writing this text in the source file’s first line:
-*-byte-compile-dynamic: t;-*-

byte-compile-dynamic [Variable]
If this is non-nil, the byte compiler generates compiled files that are set up for
dynamic function loading.

fetch-bytecode function [Function]

If function is a byte-code function object, this immediately finishes loading the byte
code of function from its byte-compiled file, if it is not fully loaded already. Otherwise,
it does nothing. It always returns function.

17.5 Evaluation During Compilation

These features permit you to write code to be evaluated during compilation of a program.

eval-and-compile body. . . [Special Form]

This form marks body to be evaluated both when you compile the containing code
and when you run it (whether compiled or not).
You can get a similar result by putting body in a separate file and referring to that
file with require. That method is preferable when body is large. Effectively require
is automatically eval-and-compile, the package is loaded both when compiling and
executing.
autoload is also effectively eval-and-compile too. It’s recognized when compiling,
so uses of such a function don’t produce “not known to be defined” warnings.
Most uses of eval-and-compile are fairly sophisticated.
If a macro has a helper function to build its result, and that macro is used both locally
and outside the package, then eval-and-compile should be used to get the helper
both when compiling and then later when running.
If functions are defined programmatically (with fset say), then eval-and-compile
can be used to have that done at compile-time as well as run-time, so calls to those
functions are checked (and warnings about “not known to be defined” suppressed).

eval-when-compile body. . . [Special Form]

This form marks body to be evaluated at compile time but not when the compiled
program is loaded. The result of evaluation by the compiler becomes a constant which
Chapter 17: Byte Compilation 284

appears in the compiled program. If you load the source file, rather than compiling
it, body is evaluated normally.
If you have a constant that needs some calculation to produce, eval-when-compile
can do that at compile-time. For example,
(defvar my-regexp
(eval-when-compile (regexp-opt '("aaa" "aba" "abb"))))
If you’re using another package, but only need macros from it (the byte compiler will
expand those), then eval-when-compile can be used to load it for compiling, but
not executing. For example,
(eval-when-compile
(require 'my-macro-package))
The same sort of thing goes for macros and defsubst functions defined locally and
only for use within the file. They are needed for compiling the file, but in most cases
they are not needed for execution of the compiled file. For example,
(eval-when-compile
(unless (fboundp 'some-new-thing)
(defmacro 'some-new-thing ()
(compatibility code))))
This is often good for code that’s only a fallback for compatibility with other versions
of Emacs.
Common Lisp Note: At top level, eval-when-compile is analogous to the Common
Lisp idiom (eval-when (compile eval) ...). Elsewhere, the Common Lisp ‘#.’
reader macro (but not when interpreting) is closer to what eval-when-compile does.

17.6 Compiler Errors

Error and warning messages from byte compilation are printed in a buffer named
*Compile-Log*. These messages include file names and line numbers identifying the
location of the problem. The usual Emacs commands for operating on compiler output
can be used on these messages.
When an error is due to invalid syntax in the program, the byte compiler might get
confused about the error’s exact location. One way to investigate is to switch to the buffer
*Compiler Input*. (This buffer name starts with a space, so it does not show up in the
Buffer Menu.) This buffer contains the program being compiled, and point shows how far
the byte compiler was able to read; the cause of the error might be nearby. See Section 18.3
[Syntax Errors], page 320, for some tips for locating syntax errors.
A common type of warning issued by the byte compiler is for functions and variables
that were used but not defined. Such warnings report the line number for the end of the
file, not the locations where the missing functions or variables were used; to find these, you
must search the file manually.
If you are sure that a warning message about a missing function or variable is unjustified,
there are several ways to suppress it:
• You can suppress the warning for a specific call to a function func by conditionalizing
it on an fboundp test, like this:
(if (fboundp 'func) ...(func ...)...)
Chapter 17: Byte Compilation 285

The call to func must be in the then-form of the if, and func must appear quoted in
the call to fboundp. (This feature operates for cond as well.)
• Likewise, you can suppress the warning for a specific use of a variable variable by
conditionalizing it on a boundp test:
(if (boundp 'variable) ...variable...)
The reference to variable must be in the then-form of the if, and variable must appear
quoted in the call to boundp.
• You can tell the compiler that a function is defined using declare-function. See
Section 13.15 [Declaring Functions], page 232.
• Likewise, you can tell the compiler that a variable is defined using defvar with no
initial value. (Note that this marks the variable as special, i.e. dynamically bound, but
only within the current lexical scope, or file if at top-level.) See Section 12.5 [Defining
Variables], page 173.
You can also suppress any and all compiler warnings within a certain expression using
the construct with-no-warnings:

with-no-warnings body. . . [Special Form]

In execution, this is equivalent to (progn body...), but the compiler does not issue
warnings for anything that occurs inside body.
We recommend that you use this construct around the smallest possible piece of code,
to avoid missing possible warnings other than one you intend to suppress.

Byte compiler warnings can be controlled more precisely by setting the variable
byte-compile-warnings. See its documentation string for details.
Sometimes you may wish the byte-compiler warnings to be reported using error. If so,
set byte-compile-error-on-warn to a non-nil value.

17.7 Byte-Code Function Objects

Byte-compiled functions have a special data type: they are byte-code function objects.
Whenever such an object appears as a function to be called, Emacs uses the byte-code
interpreter to execute the byte-code.
Internally, a byte-code function object is much like a vector; its elements can be accessed
using aref. Its printed representation is like that for a vector, with an additional ‘#’ before
the opening ‘[’. It must have at least four elements; there is no maximum number, but only
the first six elements have any normal use. They are:
argdesc The descriptor of the arguments. This can either be a list of arguments, as
described in Section 13.2.3 [Argument List], page 206, or an integer encoding
the required number of arguments. In the latter case, the value of the descriptor
specifies the minimum number of arguments in the bits zero to 6, and the
maximum number of arguments in bits 8 to 14. If the argument list uses &rest,
then bit 7 is set; otherwise it’s cleared.
If argdesc is a list, the arguments will be dynamically bound before executing
the byte code. If argdesc is an integer, the arguments will be instead pushed
onto the stack of the byte-code interpreter, before executing the code.
Chapter 17: Byte Compilation 286

byte-code The string containing the byte-code instructions.

constants The vector of Lisp objects referenced by the byte code. These include symbols
used as function names and variable names.
stacksize The maximum stack size this function needs.
docstring The documentation string (if any); otherwise, nil. The value may be a number
or a list, in case the documentation string is stored in a file. Use the function
documentation to get the real documentation string (see Section 24.2 [Access-
ing Documentation], page 511).
interactive
The interactive spec (if any). This can be a string or a Lisp expression. It is
nil for a function that isn’t interactive.
Here’s an example of a byte-code function object, in printed representation. It is the
definition of the command backward-sexp.
#[256
"\211\204^G^@\300\262^A\301^A[!\207"
[1 forward-sexp]
3
1793299
"^p"]
The primitive way to create a byte-code object is with make-byte-code:

make-byte-code &rest elements [Function]

This function constructs and returns a byte-code function object with elements as its
elements.

You should not try to come up with the elements for a byte-code function yourself,
because if they are inconsistent, Emacs may crash when you call the function. Always leave
it to the byte compiler to create these objects; it makes the elements consistent (we hope).

17.8 Disassembled Byte-Code

People do not write byte-code; that job is left to the byte compiler. But we provide a
disassembler to satisfy a cat-like curiosity. The disassembler converts the byte-compiled
code into human-readable form.
The byte-code interpreter is implemented as a simple stack machine. It pushes values
onto a stack of its own, then pops them off to use them in calculations whose results are
themselves pushed back on the stack. When a byte-code function returns, it pops a value
off the stack and returns it as the value of the function.
In addition to the stack, byte-code functions can use, bind, and set ordinary Lisp vari-
ables, by transferring values between variables and the stack.

disassemble object &optional buffer-or-name [Command]

This command displays the disassembled code for object. In interactive use, or if
buffer-or-name is nil or omitted, the output goes in a buffer named *Disassemble*.
Chapter 17: Byte Compilation 287

If buffer-or-name is non-nil, it must be a buffer or the name of an existing buffer.

Then the output goes there, at point, and point is left before the output.
The argument object can be a function name, a lambda expression (see Section 13.2
[Lambda Expressions], page 205), or a byte-code object (see Section 17.7 [Byte-Code
Objects], page 285). If it is a lambda expression, disassemble compiles it and disas-
sembles the resulting compiled code.

Here are two examples of using the disassemble function. We have added explanatory
comments to help you relate the byte-code to the Lisp source; these do not appear in the
output of disassemble.
(defun factorial (integer)
"Compute factorial of an integer."
(if (= 1 integer) 1
(* integer (factorial (1- integer)))))
⇒ factorial

(factorial 4)
⇒ 24

(disassemble 'factorial)
a byte-code for factorial:
doc: Compute factorial of an integer.
args: (integer)

0 varref integer ; Get the value of integer and

; push it onto the stack.
1 constant 1 ; Push 1 onto stack.
2 eqlsign ; Pop top two values off stack, compare
; them, and push result onto stack.
3 goto-if-nil 1 ; Pop and test top of stack;
; if nil, go to 1, else continue.
6 constant 1 ; Push 1 onto top of stack.
7 return ; Return the top element of the stack.
8:1 varref integer ; Push value of integer onto stack.
9 constant factorial ; Push factorial onto stack.
10 varref integer ; Push value of integer onto stack.
11 sub1 ; Pop integer, decrement value,
; push new value onto stack.
12 call 1 ; Call function factorial using first
; (i.e., top) stack element as argument;
; push returned value onto stack.
13 mult ; Pop top two values off stack, multiply
; them, and push result onto stack.
14 return ; Return the top element of the stack.
The silly-loop function is somewhat more complex:
 288

(defun silly-loop (n)

"Return time before and after N iterations of a loop."
(let ((t1 (current-time-string)))
(while (> (setq n (1- n))
0))
(list t1 (current-time-string))))
⇒ silly-loop

(disassemble 'silly-loop)
a byte-code for silly-loop:
doc: Return time before and after N iterations of a loop.
args: (n)

0 constant current-time-string ; Push current-time-string

; onto top of stack.
1 call 0 ; Call current-time-string with no
; argument, push result onto stack.
2 varbind t1 ; Pop stack and bind t1 to popped value.
3:1 varref n ; Get value of n from the environment
; and push the value on the stack.
4 sub1 ; Subtract 1 from top of stack.
5 dup ; Duplicate top of stack; i.e., copy the top
; of the stack and push copy onto stack.
6 varset n ; Pop the top of the stack,
; and bind n to the value.

;; (In effect, the sequence dup varset copies the top of the stack
;; into the value of n without popping it.)

7 constant 0 ; Push 0 onto stack.

8 gtr ; Pop top two values off stack,
; test if n is greater than 0
; and push result onto stack.
9 goto-if-not-nil 1 ; Goto 1 if n > 0
; (this continues the while loop)
; else continue.
12 varref t1 ; Push value of t1 onto stack.
13 constant current-time-string ; Push current-time-string
; onto the top of the stack.
14 call 0 ; Call current-time-string again.
15 unbind 1 ; Unbind t1 in local environment.
16 list2 ; Pop top two elements off stack, create a
; list of them, and push it onto stack.
17 return ; Return value of the top of stack.
 289

18 Debugging Lisp Programs

There are several ways to find and investigate problems in an Emacs Lisp program.
• If a problem occurs when you run the program, you can use the built-in Emacs Lisp
debugger to suspend the Lisp evaluator, and examine and/or alter its internal state.
• You can use Edebug, a source-level debugger for Emacs Lisp.
• You can trace the execution of functions involved in the problem using the tracing
facilities provided by the trace.el package. This package provides the functions
trace-function-foreground and trace-function-background for tracing function
calls, and trace-values for adding values of select variables to the trace. For the
details, see the documentation of these facilities in trace.el.
• If a syntactic problem is preventing Lisp from even reading the program, you can locate
it using Lisp editing commands.
• You can look at the error and warning messages produced by the byte compiler when
it compiles the program. See Section 17.6 [Compiler Errors], page 284.
• You can use the Testcover package to perform coverage testing on the program.
• You can use the ERT package to write regression tests for the program. See ERT:
Emacs Lisp Regression Testing.
• You can profile the program to get hints about how to make it more efficient.
Other useful tools for debugging input and output problems are the dribble file (see
Section 40.13 [Terminal Input], page 1097) and the open-termscript function (see
Section 40.14 [Terminal Output], page 1099).

18.1 The Lisp Debugger

The ordinary Lisp debugger provides the ability to suspend evaluation of a form. While
evaluation is suspended (a state that is commonly known as a break), you may examine the
run time stack, examine the values of local or global variables, or change those values. Since
a break is a recursive edit, all the usual editing facilities of Emacs are available; you can
even run programs that will enter the debugger recursively. See Section 21.13 [Recursive
Editing], page 410.

18.1.1 Entering the Debugger on an Error

The most important time to enter the debugger is when a Lisp error happens. This allows
you to investigate the immediate causes of the error.
However, entry to the debugger is not a normal consequence of an error. Many commands
signal Lisp errors when invoked inappropriately, and during ordinary editing it would be very
inconvenient to enter the debugger each time this happens. So if you want errors to enter
the debugger, set the variable debug-on-error to non-nil. (The command toggle-debug-
on-error provides an easy way to do this.)

debug-on-error [User Option]

This variable determines whether the debugger is called when an error is signaled and
not handled. If debug-on-error is t, all kinds of errors call the debugger, except those
listed in debug-ignored-errors (see below). If it is nil, none call the debugger.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 290

The value can also be a list of error conditions (see Section 11.7.3.1 [Signaling Errors],
page 160). Then the debugger is called only for error conditions in this list (except
those also listed in debug-ignored-errors). For example, if you set debug-on-error
to the list (void-variable), the debugger is only called for errors about a variable
that has no value.
Note that eval-expression-debug-on-error overrides this variable in some cases;
see below.
When this variable is non-nil, Emacs does not create an error handler around process
filter functions and sentinels. Therefore, errors in these functions also invoke the
debugger. See Chapter 38 [Processes], page 919.

debug-ignored-errors [User Option]

This variable specifies errors which should not enter the debugger, regardless of the
value of debug-on-error. Its value is a list of error condition symbols and/or regular
expressions. If the error has any of those condition symbols, or if the error message
matches any of the regular expressions, then that error does not enter the debugger.
The normal value of this variable includes user-error, as well as several errors that
happen often during editing but rarely result from bugs in Lisp programs. However,
“rarely” is not “never”; if your program fails with an error that matches this list,
you may try changing this list to debug the error. The easiest way is usually to set
debug-ignored-errors to nil.

eval-expression-debug-on-error [User Option]

If this variable has a non-nil value (the default), running the command
eval-expression causes debug-on-error to be temporarily bound to t. See
Section “Evaluating Emacs-Lisp Expressions” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
If eval-expression-debug-on-error is nil, then the value of debug-on-error is
not changed during eval-expression.

debug-on-signal [User Option]

Normally, errors caught by condition-case never invoke the debugger. The
condition-case gets a chance to handle the error before the debugger gets a chance.
If you change debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, the debugger gets the first
chance at every error, regardless of the presence of condition-case. (To invoke
the debugger, the error must still fulfill the criteria specified by debug-on-error and
debug-ignored-errors.)
For example, setting this variable is useful to get a backtrace from code evaluated by
emacsclient’s --eval option. If Lisp code evaluated by emacsclient signals an error
while this variable is non-nil, the backtrace will popup in the running Emacs.
Warning: Setting this variable to non-nil may have annoying effects. Various parts of
Emacs catch errors in the normal course of affairs, and you may not even realize that
errors happen there. If you need to debug code wrapped in condition-case, con-
sider using condition-case-unless-debug (see Section 11.7.3.3 [Handling Errors],
page 163).
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 291

debug-on-event [User Option]

If you set debug-on-event to a special event (see Section 21.9 [Special Events],
page 405), Emacs will try to enter the debugger as soon as it receives this event,
bypassing special-event-map. At present, the only supported values correspond
to the signals SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2 (this is the default). This can be helpful when
inhibit-quit is set and Emacs is not otherwise responding.

debug-on-message [Variable]
If you set debug-on-message to a regular expression, Emacs will enter the debugger
if it displays a matching message in the echo area. For example, this can be useful
when trying to find the cause of a particular message.

To debug an error that happens during loading of the init file, use the option
‘--debug-init’. This binds debug-on-error to t while loading the init file, and bypasses
the condition-case which normally catches errors in the init file.

18.1.2 Debugging Infinite Loops

When a program loops infinitely and fails to return, your first problem is to stop the loop.
On most operating systems, you can do this with C-g, which causes a quit. See Section 21.11
[Quitting], page 407.
Ordinary quitting gives no information about why the program was looping. To get
more information, you can set the variable debug-on-quit to non-nil. Once you have the
debugger running in the middle of the infinite loop, you can proceed from the debugger
using the stepping commands. If you step through the entire loop, you may get enough
information to solve the problem.
Quitting with C-g is not considered an error, and debug-on-error has no effect on the
handling of C-g. Likewise, debug-on-quit has no effect on errors.

debug-on-quit [User Option]

This variable determines whether the debugger is called when quit is signaled and
not handled. If debug-on-quit is non-nil, then the debugger is called whenever you
quit (that is, type C-g). If debug-on-quit is nil (the default), then the debugger is
not called when you quit.

18.1.3 Entering the Debugger on a Function Call

To investigate a problem that happens in the middle of a program, one useful technique is
to enter the debugger whenever a certain function is called. You can do this to the function
in which the problem occurs, and then step through the function, or you can do this to a
function called shortly before the problem, step quickly over the call to that function, and
then step through its caller.

debug-on-entry function-name [Command]

This function requests function-name to invoke the debugger each time it is called.
Any function or macro defined as Lisp code may be set to break on entry, regardless
of whether it is interpreted code or compiled code. If the function is a command, it
will enter the debugger when called from Lisp and when called interactively (after the
reading of the arguments). You can also set debug-on-entry for primitive functions
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 292

(i.e., those written in C) this way, but it only takes effect when the primitive is called
from Lisp code. Debug-on-entry is not allowed for special forms.
When debug-on-entry is called interactively, it prompts for function-name in
the minibuffer. If the function is already set up to invoke the debugger on entry,
debug-on-entry does nothing. debug-on-entry always returns function-name.
Here’s an example to illustrate use of this function:
(defun fact (n)
(if (zerop n) 1
(* n (fact (1- n)))))
⇒ fact
(debug-on-entry 'fact)
⇒ fact
(fact 3)

------ Buffer: *Backtrace* ------

Debugger entered--entering a function:
* fact(3)
eval((fact 3))
eval-last-sexp-1(nil)
eval-last-sexp(nil)
call-interactively(eval-last-sexp)
------ Buffer: *Backtrace* ------

cancel-debug-on-entry &optional function-name [Command]

This function undoes the effect of debug-on-entry on function-name. When called
interactively, it prompts for function-name in the minibuffer. If function-name is
omitted or nil, it cancels break-on-entry for all functions. Calling cancel-debug-
on-entry does nothing to a function which is not currently set up to break on entry.

18.1.4 Entering the debugger when a variable is modified

Sometimes a problem with a function is due to a wrong setting of a variable. Setting up
the debugger to trigger whenever the variable is changed is a quick way to find the origin
of the setting.
debug-on-variable-change variable [Command]
This function arranges for the debugger to be called whenever variable is modified.
It is implemented using the watchpoint mechanism, so it inherits the same character-
istics and limitations: all aliases of variable will be watched together, only dynamic
variables can be watched, and changes to the objects referenced by variables are not
detected. For details, see Section 12.9 [Watching Variables], page 179.
cancel-debug-on-variable-change &optional variable [Command]
This function undoes the effect of debug-on-variable-change on variable. When
called interactively, it prompts for variable in the minibuffer. If variable is omit-
ted or nil, it cancels break-on-change for all variables. Calling cancel-debug-on-
variable-change does nothing to a variable which is not currently set up to break
on change.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 293

18.1.5 Explicit Entry to the Debugger

You can cause the debugger to be called at a certain point in your program by writing the
expression (debug) at that point. To do this, visit the source file, insert the text ‘(debug)’
at the proper place, and type C-M-x (eval-defun, a Lisp mode key binding). Warning: if
you do this for temporary debugging purposes, be sure to undo this insertion before you
save the file!
The place where you insert ‘(debug)’ must be a place where an additional form can
be evaluated and its value ignored. (If the value of (debug) isn’t ignored, it will alter the
execution of the program!) The most common suitable places are inside a progn or an
implicit progn (see Section 11.1 [Sequencing], page 140).
If you don’t know exactly where in the source code you want to put the debug statement,
but you want to display a backtrace when a certain message is displayed, you can set
debug-on-message to a regular expression matching the desired message.

18.1.6 Using the Debugger

When the debugger is entered, it displays the previously selected buffer in one window and
a buffer named *Backtrace* in another window. The backtrace buffer contains one line for
each level of Lisp function execution currently going on. At the beginning of this buffer is
a message describing the reason that the debugger was invoked (such as the error message
and associated data, if it was invoked due to an error).
The backtrace buffer is read-only and uses a special major mode, Debugger mode, in
which letters are defined as debugger commands. The usual Emacs editing commands are
available; thus, you can switch windows to examine the buffer that was being edited at the
time of the error, switch buffers, visit files, or do any other sort of editing. However, the
debugger is a recursive editing level (see Section 21.13 [Recursive Editing], page 410) and
it is wise to go back to the backtrace buffer and exit the debugger (with the q command)
when you are finished with it. Exiting the debugger gets out of the recursive edit and buries
the backtrace buffer. (You can customize what the q command does with the backtrace
buffer by setting the variable debugger-bury-or-kill. For example, set it to kill if you
prefer to kill the buffer rather than bury it. Consult the variable’s documentation for more
possibilities.)
When the debugger has been entered, the debug-on-error variable is temporarily set ac-
cording to eval-expression-debug-on-error. If the latter variable is non-nil, debug-on-
error will temporarily be set to t. This means that any further errors that occur while
doing a debugging session will (by default) trigger another backtrace. If this is not what you
want, you can either set eval-expression-debug-on-error to nil, or set debug-on-error
to nil in debugger-mode-hook.
The backtrace buffer shows you the functions that are executing and their argument
values. It also allows you to specify a stack frame by moving point to the line describing
that frame. (A stack frame is the place where the Lisp interpreter records information
about a particular invocation of a function.) The frame whose line point is on is considered
the current frame. Some of the debugger commands operate on the current frame. If a line
starts with a star, that means that exiting that frame will call the debugger again. This is
useful for examining the return value of a function.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 294

If a function name is underlined, that means the debugger knows where its source code
is located. You can click with the mouse on that name, or move to it and type RET, to visit
the source code.
The debugger itself must be run byte-compiled, since it makes assumptions about how
many stack frames are used for the debugger itself. These assumptions are false if the
debugger is running interpreted.

18.1.7 Debugger Commands

The debugger buffer (in Debugger mode) provides special commands in addition to the
usual Emacs commands. The most important use of debugger commands is for stepping
through code, so that you can see how control flows. The debugger can step through the
control structures of an interpreted function, but cannot do so in a byte-compiled function.
If you would like to step through a byte-compiled function, replace it with an interpreted
definition of the same function. (To do this, visit the source for the function and type C-M-x
on its definition.) You cannot use the Lisp debugger to step through a primitive function.
Here is a list of Debugger mode commands:
c Exit the debugger and continue execution. This resumes execution of the pro-
gram as if the debugger had never been entered (aside from any side-effects
that you caused by changing variable values or data structures while inside the
debugger).
d Continue execution, but enter the debugger the next time any Lisp function is
called. This allows you to step through the subexpressions of an expression,
seeing what values the subexpressions compute, and what else they do.
The stack frame made for the function call which enters the debugger in this
way will be flagged automatically so that the debugger will be called again when
the frame is exited. You can use the u command to cancel this flag.
b Flag the current frame so that the debugger will be entered when the frame
is exited. Frames flagged in this way are marked with stars in the backtrace
buffer.
u Don’t enter the debugger when the current frame is exited. This cancels a b
command on that frame. The visible effect is to remove the star from the line
in the backtrace buffer.
j Flag the current frame like b. Then continue execution like c, but temporarily
disable break-on-entry for all functions that are set up to do so by debug-on-
entry.
e Read a Lisp expression in the minibuffer, evaluate it (with the relevant lexical
environment, if applicable), and print the value in the echo area. The debugger
alters certain important variables, and the current buffer, as part of its opera-
tion; e temporarily restores their values from outside the debugger, so you can
examine and change them. This makes the debugger more transparent. By
contrast, M-: does nothing special in the debugger; it shows you the variable
values within the debugger.
R Like e, but also save the result of evaluation in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 295

q Terminate the program being debugged; return to top-level Emacs command

execution.
If the debugger was entered due to a C-g but you really want to quit, and not
debug, use the q command.
r Return a value from the debugger. The value is computed by reading an ex-
pression with the minibuffer and evaluating it.
The r command is useful when the debugger was invoked due to exit from a
Lisp call frame (as requested with b or by entering the frame with d); then the
value specified in the r command is used as the value of that frame. It is also
useful if you call debug and use its return value. Otherwise, r has the same
effect as c, and the specified return value does not matter.
You can’t use r when the debugger was entered due to an error.
l Display a list of functions that will invoke the debugger when called. This is a
list of functions that are set to break on entry by means of debug-on-entry.
v Toggle the display of local variables of the current stack frame.

18.1.8 Invoking the Debugger

Here we describe in full detail the function debug that is used to invoke the debugger.

debug &rest debugger-args [Command]

This function enters the debugger. It switches buffers to a buffer named *Backtrace*
(or *Backtrace*<2> if it is the second recursive entry to the debugger, etc.), and fills
it with information about the stack of Lisp function calls. It then enters a recursive
edit, showing the backtrace buffer in Debugger mode.
The Debugger mode c, d, j, and r commands exit the recursive edit; then debug
switches back to the previous buffer and returns to whatever called debug. This is
the only way the function debug can return to its caller.
The use of the debugger-args is that debug displays the rest of its arguments at the
top of the *Backtrace* buffer, so that the user can see them. Except as described
below, this is the only way these arguments are used.
However, certain values for first argument to debug have a special significance. (Nor-
mally, these values are used only by the internals of Emacs, and not by programmers
calling debug.) Here is a table of these special values:
lambda A first argument of lambda means debug was called because of entry to a
function when debug-on-next-call was non-nil. The debugger displays
‘Debugger entered--entering a function:’ as a line of text at the top
of the buffer.
debug debug as first argument means debug was called because of entry to a
function that was set to debug on entry. The debugger displays the string
‘Debugger entered--entering a function:’, just as in the lambda case.
It also marks the stack frame for that function so that it will invoke the
debugger when exited.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 296

t When the first argument is t, this indicates a call to debug due to eval-
uation of a function call form when debug-on-next-call is non-nil.
The debugger displays ‘Debugger entered--beginning evaluation of
function call form:’ as the top line in the buffer.
exit When the first argument is exit, it indicates the exit of a stack frame
previously marked to invoke the debugger on exit. The second argument
given to debug in this case is the value being returned from the frame.
The debugger displays ‘Debugger entered--returning value:’ in the
top line of the buffer, followed by the value being returned.
error When the first argument is error, the debugger indicates that it is being
entered because an error or quit was signaled and not handled, by dis-
playing ‘Debugger entered--Lisp error:’ followed by the error signaled
and any arguments to signal. For example,
(let ((debug-on-error t))
(/ 1 0))

------ Buffer: *Backtrace* ------

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (arith-error)
/(1 0)
...
------ Buffer: *Backtrace* ------
If an error was signaled, presumably the variable debug-on-error is non-
nil. If quit was signaled, then presumably the variable debug-on-quit
is non-nil.
nil Use nil as the first of the debugger-args when you want to enter the
debugger explicitly. The rest of the debugger-args are printed on the
top line of the buffer. You can use this feature to display messages—for
example, to remind yourself of the conditions under which debug is called.

18.1.9 Internals of the Debugger

This section describes functions and variables used internally by the debugger.
debugger [Variable]
The value of this variable is the function to call to invoke the debugger. Its value
must be a function of any number of arguments, or, more typically, the name of a
function. This function should invoke some kind of debugger. The default value of
the variable is debug.
The first argument that Lisp hands to the function indicates why it was called. The
convention for arguments is detailed in the description of debug (see Section 18.1.8
[Invoking the Debugger], page 295).
backtrace [Function]
This function prints a trace of Lisp function calls currently active. This is the function
used by debug to fill up the *Backtrace* buffer. It is written in C, since it must have
access to the stack to determine which function calls are active. The return value is
always nil.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 297

In the following example, a Lisp expression calls backtrace explicitly. This prints
the backtrace to the stream standard-output, which, in this case, is the buffer
‘backtrace-output’.
Each line of the backtrace represents one function call. The line shows the values of
the function’s arguments if they are all known; if they are still being computed, the
line says so. The arguments of special forms are elided.
(with-output-to-temp-buffer "backtrace-output"
(let ((var 1))
(save-excursion
(setq var (eval '(progn
(1+ var)
(list 'testing (backtrace))))))))

⇒ (testing nil)

----------- Buffer: backtrace-output ------------

backtrace()
(list ...computing arguments...)
(progn ...)
eval((progn (1+ var) (list (quote testing) (backtrace))))
(setq ...)
(save-excursion ...)
(let ...)
(with-output-to-temp-buffer ...)
eval((with-output-to-temp-buffer ...))
eval-last-sexp-1(nil)
eval-last-sexp(nil)
call-interactively(eval-last-sexp)
----------- Buffer: backtrace-output ------------

debugger-stack-frame-as-list [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, every stack frame of the backtrace is displayed as a list.
This aims at improving the backtrace readability at the cost of special forms no longer
being visually different from regular function calls.
With debugger-stack-frame-as-list non-nil, the above example would look as
follows:
----------- Buffer: backtrace-output ------------
(backtrace)
(list ...computing arguments...)
(progn ...)
(eval (progn (1+ var) (list (quote testing) (backtrace))))
(setq ...)
(save-excursion ...)
(let ...)
(with-output-to-temp-buffer ...)
(eval (with-output-to-temp-buffer ...))
(eval-last-sexp-1 nil)
(eval-last-sexp nil)
(call-interactively eval-last-sexp)
----------- Buffer: backtrace-output ------------

debug-on-next-call [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, it says to call the debugger before the next eval, apply
or funcall. Entering the debugger sets debug-on-next-call to nil.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 298

The d command in the debugger works by setting this variable.

backtrace-debug level flag [Function]

This function sets the debug-on-exit flag of the stack frame level levels down the stack,
giving it the value flag. If flag is non-nil, this will cause the debugger to be entered
when that frame later exits. Even a nonlocal exit through that frame will enter the
debugger.
This function is used only by the debugger.

command-debug-status [Variable]
This variable records the debugging status of the current interactive command. Each
time a command is called interactively, this variable is bound to nil. The debugger
can set this variable to leave information for future debugger invocations during the
same command invocation.
The advantage of using this variable rather than an ordinary global variable is that
the data will never carry over to a subsequent command invocation.
This variable is obsolete and will be removed in future versions.

backtrace-frame frame-number &optional base [Function]

The function backtrace-frame is intended for use in Lisp debuggers. It returns
information about what computation is happening in the stack frame frame-number
levels down.
If that frame has not evaluated the arguments yet, or is a special form, the value is
(nil function arg-forms...).
If that frame has evaluated its arguments and called its function already, the return
value is (t function arg-values...).
In the return value, function is whatever was supplied as the car of the evaluated
list, or a lambda expression in the case of a macro call. If the function has a &rest
argument, that is represented as the tail of the list arg-values.
If base is specified, frame-number counts relative to the topmost frame whose function
is base.
If frame-number is out of range, backtrace-frame returns nil.

mapbacktrace function &optional base [Function]

The function mapbacktrace calls function once for each frame in the backtrace, start-
ing at the first frame whose function is base (or from the top if base is omitted or
nil).
function is called with four arguments: evald, func, args, and flags.
If a frame has not evaluated its arguments yet or is a special form, evald is nil and
args is a list of forms.
If a frame has evaluated its arguments and called its function already, evald is t and
args is a list of values. flags is a plist of properties of the current frame: currently, the
only supported property is :debug-on-exit, which is t if the stack frame’s debug-on-
exit flag is set.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 299

18.2 Edebug
Edebug is a source-level debugger for Emacs Lisp programs, with which you can:
• Step through evaluation, stopping before and after each expression.
• Set conditional or unconditional breakpoints.
• Stop when a specified condition is true (the global break event).
• Trace slow or fast, stopping briefly at each stop point, or at each breakpoint.
• Display expression results and evaluate expressions as if outside of Edebug.
• Automatically re-evaluate a list of expressions and display their results each time Ede-
bug updates the display.
• Output trace information on function calls and returns.
• Stop when an error occurs.
• Display a backtrace, omitting Edebug’s own frames.
• Specify argument evaluation for macros and defining forms.
• Obtain rudimentary coverage testing and frequency counts.
The first three sections below should tell you enough about Edebug to start using it.

18.2.1 Using Edebug

To debug a Lisp program with Edebug, you must first instrument the Lisp code that you
want to debug. A simple way to do this is to first move point into the definition of a function
or macro and then do C-u C-M-x (eval-defun with a prefix argument). See Section 18.2.2
[Instrumenting], page 300, for alternative ways to instrument code.
Once a function is instrumented, any call to the function activates Edebug. Depending
on which Edebug execution mode you have selected, activating Edebug may stop execution
and let you step through the function, or it may update the display and continue execution
while checking for debugging commands. The default execution mode is step, which stops
execution. See Section 18.2.3 [Edebug Execution Modes], page 301.
Within Edebug, you normally view an Emacs buffer showing the source of the Lisp code
you are debugging. This is referred to as the source code buffer, and it is temporarily
read-only.
An arrow in the left fringe indicates the line where the function is executing. Point
initially shows where within the line the function is executing, but this ceases to be true if
you move point yourself.
If you instrument the definition of fac (shown below) and then execute (fac 3), here is
what you would normally see. Point is at the open-parenthesis before if.
(defun fac (n)
=>?(if (< 0 n)
(* n (fac (1- n)))
1))
The places within a function where Edebug can stop execution are called stop points.
These occur both before and after each subexpression that is a list, and also after each
variable reference. Here we use periods to show the stop points in the function fac:
(defun fac (n)
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 300

.(if .(< 0 n.).

.(* n. .(fac .(1- n.).).).
1).)
The special commands of Edebug are available in the source code buffer in addition to
the commands of Emacs Lisp mode. For example, you can type the Edebug command SPC
to execute until the next stop point. If you type SPC once after entry to fac, here is the
display you will see:
(defun fac (n)
=>(if ?(< 0 n)
(* n (fac (1- n)))
1))
When Edebug stops execution after an expression, it displays the expression’s value in
the echo area.
Other frequently used commands are b to set a breakpoint at a stop point, g to execute
until a breakpoint is reached, and q to exit Edebug and return to the top-level command
loop. Type ? to display a list of all Edebug commands.

18.2.2 Instrumenting for Edebug

In order to use Edebug to debug Lisp code, you must first instrument the code. Instru-
menting code inserts additional code into it, to invoke Edebug at the proper places.
When you invoke command C-M-x (eval-defun) with a prefix argument on a function
definition, it instruments the definition before evaluating it. (This does not modify the
source code itself.) If the variable edebug-all-defs is non-nil, that inverts the meaning
of the prefix argument: in this case, C-M-x instruments the definition unless it has a prefix
argument. The default value of edebug-all-defs is nil. The command M-x edebug-all-
defs toggles the value of the variable edebug-all-defs.
If edebug-all-defs is non-nil, then the commands eval-region, eval-current-
buffer, and eval-buffer also instrument any definitions they evaluate. Similarly,
edebug-all-forms controls whether eval-region should instrument any form, even
non-defining forms. This doesn’t apply to loading or evaluations in the minibuffer. The
command M-x edebug-all-forms toggles this option.
Another command, M-x edebug-eval-top-level-form, is available to instrument
any top-level form regardless of the values of edebug-all-defs and edebug-all-forms.
edebug-defun is an alias for edebug-eval-top-level-form.
While Edebug is active, the command I (edebug-instrument-callee) instruments the
definition of the function or macro called by the list form after point, if it is not already in-
strumented. This is possible only if Edebug knows where to find the source for that function;
for this reason, after loading Edebug, eval-region records the position of every definition
it evaluates, even if not instrumenting it. See also the i command (see Section 18.2.4
[Jumping], page 302), which steps into the call after instrumenting the function.
Edebug knows how to instrument all the standard special forms, interactive forms
with an expression argument, anonymous lambda expressions, and other defining forms.
However, Edebug cannot determine on its own what a user-defined macro will do with the
arguments of a macro call, so you must provide that information using Edebug specifications;
for details, see Section 18.2.15 [Edebug and Macros], page 312.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 301

When Edebug is about to instrument code for the first time in a session, it runs the hook
edebug-setup-hook, then sets it to nil. You can use this to load Edebug specifications
associated with a package you are using, but only when you use Edebug.
If Edebug detects a syntax error while instrumenting, it leaves point at the erroneous
code and signals an invalid-read-syntax error. Example:
error Invalid read syntax: "Expected lambda expression"
One potential reason for such a failure to instrument is that some macro definitions are
not yet known to Emacs. To work around this, load the file which defines the function you
are about to instrument.
To remove instrumentation from a definition, simply re-evaluate its definition in a way
that does not instrument. There are two ways of evaluating forms that never instrument
them: from a file with load, and from the minibuffer with eval-expression (M-:).
See Section 18.2.9 [Edebug Eval], page 306, for other evaluation functions available inside
of Edebug.

18.2.3 Edebug Execution Modes

Edebug supports several execution modes for running the program you are debugging. We
call these alternatives Edebug execution modes; do not confuse them with major or minor
modes. The current Edebug execution mode determines how far Edebug continues execution
before stopping—whether it stops at each stop point, or continues to the next breakpoint,
for example—and how much Edebug displays the progress of the evaluation before it stops.
Normally, you specify the Edebug execution mode by typing a command to continue the
program in a certain mode. Here is a table of these commands; all except for S resume
execution of the program, at least for a certain distance.
S Stop: don’t execute any more of the program, but wait for more Edebug com-
mands (edebug-stop).
SPC Step: stop at the next stop point encountered (edebug-step-mode).
n Next: stop at the next stop point encountered after an expression
(edebug-next-mode). Also see edebug-forward-sexp in Section 18.2.4
[Jumping], page 302.
t Trace: pause (normally one second) at each Edebug stop point (edebug-trace-
mode).
T Rapid trace: update the display at each stop point, but don’t actually pause
(edebug-Trace-fast-mode).
g Go: run until the next breakpoint (edebug-go-mode). See Section 18.2.6.1
[Breakpoints], page 304.
c Continue: pause one second at each breakpoint, and then continue
(edebug-continue-mode).
C Rapid continue: move point to each breakpoint, but don’t pause
(edebug-Continue-fast-mode).
G Go non-stop: ignore breakpoints (edebug-Go-nonstop-mode). You can still
stop the program by typing S, or any editing command.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 302

In general, the execution modes earlier in the above list run the program more slowly or
stop sooner than the modes later in the list.
When you enter a new Edebug level, Edebug will normally stop at the first instrumented
function it encounters. If you prefer to stop only at a break point, or not at all (for example,
when gathering coverage data), change the value of edebug-initial-mode from its default
step to go, or Go-nonstop, or one of its other values (see Section 18.2.16 [Edebug Options],
page 317). You can do this readily with C-x C-a C-m (edebug-set-initial-mode):

edebug-set-initial-mode [Command]
This command, bound to C-x C-a C-m, sets edebug-initial-mode. It prompts you
for a key to indicate the mode. You should enter one of the eight keys listed above,
which sets the corresponding mode.

Note that you may reenter the same Edebug level several times if, for example, an
instrumented function is called several times from one command.
While executing or tracing, you can interrupt the execution by typing any Edebug com-
mand. Edebug stops the program at the next stop point and then executes the command
you typed. For example, typing t during execution switches to trace mode at the next stop
point. You can use S to stop execution without doing anything else.
If your function happens to read input, a character you type intending to interrupt
execution may be read by the function instead. You can avoid such unintended results by
paying attention to when your program wants input.
Keyboard macros containing the commands in this section do not completely work:
exiting from Edebug, to resume the program, loses track of the keyboard macro. This is not
easy to fix. Also, defining or executing a keyboard macro outside of Edebug does not affect
commands inside Edebug. This is usually an advantage. See also the edebug-continue-
kbd-macro option in Section 18.2.16 [Edebug Options], page 317.

edebug-sit-for-seconds [User Option]

This option specifies how many seconds to wait between execution steps in trace mode
or continue mode. The default is 1 second.

18.2.4 Jumping
The commands described in this section execute until they reach a specified location. All
except i make a temporary breakpoint to establish the place to stop, then switch to go mode.
Any other breakpoint reached before the intended stop point will also stop execution. See
Section 18.2.6.1 [Breakpoints], page 304, for the details on breakpoints.
These commands may fail to work as expected in case of nonlocal exit, as that can bypass
the temporary breakpoint where you expected the program to stop.
h Proceed to the stop point near where point is (edebug-goto-here).
f Run the program for one expression (edebug-forward-sexp).
o Run the program until the end of the containing sexp (edebug-step-out).
i Step into the function or macro called by the form after point (edebug-step-
in).
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 303

The h command proceeds to the stop point at or after the current location of point,
using a temporary breakpoint.
The f command runs the program forward over one expression. More precisely, it sets
a temporary breakpoint at the position that forward-sexp would reach, then executes in
go mode so that the program will stop at breakpoints.
With a prefix argument n, the temporary breakpoint is placed n sexps beyond point. If
the containing list ends before n more elements, then the place to stop is after the containing
expression.
You must check that the position forward-sexp finds is a place that the program will
really get to. In cond, for example, this may not be true.
For flexibility, the f command does forward-sexp starting at point, rather than at the
stop point. If you want to execute one expression from the current stop point, first type w
(edebug-where) to move point there, and then type f.
The o command continues out of an expression. It places a temporary breakpoint at
the end of the sexp containing point. If the containing sexp is a function definition itself, o
continues until just before the last sexp in the definition. If that is where you are now, it
returns from the function and then stops. In other words, this command does not exit the
currently executing function unless you are positioned after the last sexp.
Normally, the h, f, and o commands display “Break” and pause for edebug-sit-for-
seconds before showing the result of the form just evaluated. You can avoid this pause by
setting edebug-sit-on-break to nil. See Section 18.2.16 [Edebug Options], page 317.
The i command steps into the function or macro called by the list form after point, and
stops at its first stop point. Note that the form need not be the one about to be evaluated.
But if the form is a function call about to be evaluated, remember to use this command
before any of the arguments are evaluated, since otherwise it will be too late.
The i command instruments the function or macro it’s supposed to step into, if it isn’t
instrumented already. This is convenient, but keep in mind that the function or macro
remains instrumented unless you explicitly arrange to deinstrument it.

18.2.5 Miscellaneous Edebug Commands

Some miscellaneous Edebug commands are described here.
? Display the help message for Edebug (edebug-help).
C-] Abort one level back to the previous command level (abort-recursive-edit).
q Return to the top level editor command loop (top-level). This exits all re-
cursive editing levels, including all levels of Edebug activity. However, instru-
mented code protected with unwind-protect or condition-case forms may
resume debugging.
Q Like q, but don’t stop even for protected code (edebug-top-level-nonstop).
r Redisplay the most recently known expression result in the echo area
(edebug-previous-result).
d Display a backtrace, excluding Edebug’s own functions for clarity
(edebug-backtrace).
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 304

You cannot use debugger commands in the backtrace buffer in Edebug as you
would in the standard debugger.
The backtrace buffer is killed automatically when you continue execution.
You can invoke commands from Edebug that activate Edebug again recursively. When-
ever Edebug is active, you can quit to the top level with q or abort one recursive edit level
with C-]. You can display a backtrace of all the pending evaluations with d.

18.2.6 Breaks
Edebug’s step mode stops execution when the next stop point is reached. There are three
other ways to stop Edebug execution once it has started: breakpoints, the global break
condition, and source breakpoints.

18.2.6.1 Edebug Breakpoints

While using Edebug, you can specify breakpoints in the program you are testing: these are
places where execution should stop. You can set a breakpoint at any stop point, as defined
in Section 18.2.1 [Using Edebug], page 299. For setting and unsetting breakpoints, the stop
point that is affected is the first one at or after point in the source code buffer. Here are
the Edebug commands for breakpoints:
b Set a breakpoint at the stop point at or after point (edebug-set-breakpoint).
If you use a prefix argument, the breakpoint is temporary—it turns off the first
time it stops the program.
u Unset the breakpoint (if any) at the stop point at or after point (edebug-unset-
breakpoint).
x condition RET
Set a conditional breakpoint which stops the program only if evaluating condi-
tion produces a non-nil value (edebug-set-conditional-breakpoint). With
a prefix argument, the breakpoint is temporary.
B Move point to the next breakpoint in the current definition (edebug-next-
breakpoint).
While in Edebug, you can set a breakpoint with b and unset one with u. First move
point to the Edebug stop point of your choice, then type b or u to set or unset a breakpoint
there. Unsetting a breakpoint where none has been set has no effect.
Re-evaluating or reinstrumenting a definition removes all of its previous breakpoints.
A conditional breakpoint tests a condition each time the program gets there. Any errors
that occur as a result of evaluating the condition are ignored, as if the result were nil. To
set a conditional breakpoint, use x, and specify the condition expression in the minibuffer.
Setting a conditional breakpoint at a stop point that has a previously established conditional
breakpoint puts the previous condition expression in the minibuffer so you can edit it.
You can make a conditional or unconditional breakpoint temporary by using a prefix
argument with the command to set the breakpoint. When a temporary breakpoint stops
the program, it is automatically unset.
Edebug always stops or pauses at a breakpoint, except when the Edebug mode is Go-
nonstop. In that mode, it ignores breakpoints entirely.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 305

To find out where your breakpoints are, use the B command, which moves point to the
next breakpoint following point, within the same function, or to the first breakpoint if there
are no following breakpoints. This command does not continue execution—it just moves
point in the buffer.

18.2.6.2 Global Break Condition

A global break condition stops execution when a specified condition is satisfied, no matter
where that may occur. Edebug evaluates the global break condition at every stop point; if
it evaluates to a non-nil value, then execution stops or pauses depending on the execution
mode, as if a breakpoint had been hit. If evaluating the condition gets an error, execution
does not stop.
The condition expression is stored in edebug-global-break-condition. You can spec-
ify a new expression using the X command from the source code buffer while Edebug is active,
or using C-x X X from any buffer at any time, as long as Edebug is loaded (edebug-set-
global-break-condition).
The global break condition is the simplest way to find where in your code some event
occurs, but it makes code run much more slowly. So you should reset the condition to nil
when not using it.

18.2.6.3 Source Breakpoints

All breakpoints in a definition are forgotten each time you reinstrument it. If you wish to
make a breakpoint that won’t be forgotten, you can write a source breakpoint, which is
simply a call to the function edebug in your source code. You can, of course, make such
a call conditional. For example, in the fac function, you can insert the first line as shown
below, to stop when the argument reaches zero:
(defun fac (n)
(if (= n 0) (edebug))
(if (< 0 n)
(* n (fac (1- n)))
1))
When the fac definition is instrumented and the function is called, the call to edebug
acts as a breakpoint. Depending on the execution mode, Edebug stops or pauses there.
If no instrumented code is being executed when edebug is called, that function calls
debug.

18.2.7 Trapping Errors

Emacs normally displays an error message when an error is signaled and not handled with
condition-case. While Edebug is active and executing instrumented code, it normally
responds to all unhandled errors. You can customize this with the options edebug-on-
error and edebug-on-quit; see Section 18.2.16 [Edebug Options], page 317.
When Edebug responds to an error, it shows the last stop point encountered before the
error. This may be the location of a call to a function which was not instrumented, and
within which the error actually occurred. For an unbound variable error, the last known
stop point might be quite distant from the offending variable reference. In that case, you
might want to display a full backtrace (see Section 18.2.5 [Edebug Misc], page 303).
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 306

If you change debug-on-error or debug-on-quit while Edebug is active, these changes

will be forgotten when Edebug becomes inactive. Furthermore, during Edebug’s recursive
edit, these variables are bound to the values they had outside of Edebug.

18.2.8 Edebug Views

These Edebug commands let you view aspects of the buffer and window status as they were
before entry to Edebug. The outside window configuration is the collection of windows and
contents that were in effect outside of Edebug.
v Switch to viewing the outside window configuration (edebug-view-outside).
Type C-x X w to return to Edebug.
p Temporarily display the outside current buffer with point at its outside position
(edebug-bounce-point), pausing for one second before returning to Edebug.
With a prefix argument n, pause for n seconds instead.
w Move point back to the current stop point in the source code buffer
(edebug-where).
If you use this command in a different window displaying the same buffer, that
window will be used instead to display the current definition in the future.
W Toggle whether Edebug saves and restores the outside window configuration
(edebug-toggle-save-windows).
With a prefix argument, W only toggles saving and restoring of the selected
window. To specify a window that is not displaying the source code buffer, you
must use C-x X W from the global keymap.
You can view the outside window configuration with v or just bounce to the point in the
current buffer with p, even if it is not normally displayed.
After moving point, you may wish to jump back to the stop point. You can do that with
w from a source code buffer. You can jump back to the stop point in the source code buffer
from any buffer using C-x X w.
Each time you use W to turn saving off, Edebug forgets the saved outside window
configuration—so that even if you turn saving back on, the current window configuration
remains unchanged when you next exit Edebug (by continuing the program). However, the
automatic redisplay of *edebug* and *edebug-trace* may conflict with the buffers you
wish to see unless you have enough windows open.

18.2.9 Evaluation
While within Edebug, you can evaluate expressions as if Edebug were not running. Edebug
tries to be invisible to the expression’s evaluation and printing. Evaluation of expressions
that cause side effects will work as expected, except for changes to data that Edebug ex-
plicitly saves and restores. See Section 18.2.14 [The Outside Context], page 310, for details
on this process.
e exp RET Evaluate expression exp in the context outside of Edebug (edebug-eval-
expression). That is, Edebug tries to minimize its interference with the
evaluation.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 307

M-: exp RET

Evaluate expression exp in the context of Edebug itself (eval-expression).
C-x C-e Evaluate the expression before point, in the context outside of Edebug
(edebug-eval-last-sexp).
Edebug supports evaluation of expressions containing references to lexically bound
symbols created by the following constructs in cl.el: lexical-let, macrolet, and
symbol-macrolet.

18.2.10 Evaluation List Buffer

You can use the evaluation list buffer, called *edebug*, to evaluate expressions interactively.
You can also set up the evaluation list of expressions to be evaluated automatically each
time Edebug updates the display.
E Switch to the evaluation list buffer *edebug* (edebug-visit-eval-list).
In the *edebug* buffer you can use the commands of Lisp Interaction mode (see Section
“Lisp Interaction” in The GNU Emacs Manual) as well as these special commands:
C-j Evaluate the expression before point, in the outside context, and insert the
value in the buffer (edebug-eval-print-last-sexp).
C-x C-e Evaluate the expression before point, in the context outside of Edebug
(edebug-eval-last-sexp).
C-c C-u Build a new evaluation list from the contents of the buffer (edebug-update-
eval-list).
C-c C-d Delete the evaluation list group that point is in (edebug-delete-eval-item).
C-c C-w Switch back to the source code buffer at the current stop point (edebug-where).
You can evaluate expressions in the evaluation list window with C-j or C-x C-e, just as
you would in *scratch*; but they are evaluated in the context outside of Edebug.
The expressions you enter interactively (and their results) are lost when you continue
execution; but you can set up an evaluation list consisting of expressions to be evaluated
each time execution stops.
To do this, write one or more evaluation list groups in the evaluation list buffer. An
evaluation list group consists of one or more Lisp expressions. Groups are separated by
comment lines.
The command C-c C-u (edebug-update-eval-list) rebuilds the evaluation list, scan-
ning the buffer and using the first expression of each group. (The idea is that the second
expression of the group is the value previously computed and displayed.)
Each entry to Edebug redisplays the evaluation list by inserting each expression in the
buffer, followed by its current value. It also inserts comment lines so that each expression
becomes its own group. Thus, if you type C-c C-u again without changing the buffer text,
the evaluation list is effectively unchanged.
If an error occurs during an evaluation from the evaluation list, the error message is
displayed in a string as if it were the result. Therefore, expressions using variables that are
not currently valid do not interrupt your debugging.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 308

Here is an example of what the evaluation list window looks like after several expressions
have been added to it:
(current-buffer)
#<buffer *scratch*>
;---------------------------------------------------------------
(selected-window)
#<window 16 on *scratch*>
;---------------------------------------------------------------
(point)
196
;---------------------------------------------------------------
bad-var
"Symbol's value as variable is void: bad-var"
;---------------------------------------------------------------
(recursion-depth)
0
;---------------------------------------------------------------
this-command
eval-last-sexp
;---------------------------------------------------------------
To delete a group, move point into it and type C-c C-d, or simply delete the text for
the group and update the evaluation list with C-c C-u. To add a new expression to the
evaluation list, insert the expression at a suitable place, insert a new comment line, then
type C-c C-u. You need not insert dashes in the comment line—its contents don’t matter.
After selecting *edebug*, you can return to the source code buffer with C-c C-w. The
*edebug* buffer is killed when you continue execution, and recreated next time it is needed.

18.2.11 Printing in Edebug

If an expression in your program produces a value containing circular list structure, you
may get an error when Edebug attempts to print it.
One way to cope with circular structure is to set print-length or print-level to
truncate the printing. Edebug does this for you; it binds print-length and print-level
to the values of the variables edebug-print-length and edebug-print-level (so long as
they have non-nil values). See Section 19.6 [Output Variables], page 331.
edebug-print-length [User Option]
If non-nil, Edebug binds print-length to this value while printing results. The
default value is 50.
edebug-print-level [User Option]
If non-nil, Edebug binds print-level to this value while printing results. The
default value is 50.
You can also print circular structures and structures that share elements more informa-
tively by binding print-circle to a non-nil value.
Here is an example of code that creates a circular structure:
(setq a '(x y))
(setcar a a)
Custom printing prints this as ‘Result: #1=(#1# y)’. The ‘#1=’ notation labels the struc-
ture that follows it with the label ‘1’, and the ‘#1#’ notation references the previously labeled
structure. This notation is used for any shared elements of lists or vectors.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 309

edebug-print-circle [User Option]

If non-nil, Edebug binds print-circle to this value while printing results. The
default value is t.

Other programs can also use custom printing; see cust-print.el for details.

18.2.12 Trace Buffer

Edebug can record an execution trace, storing it in a buffer named *edebug-trace*. This
is a log of function calls and returns, showing the function names and their arguments and
values. To enable trace recording, set edebug-trace to a non-nil value.
Making a trace buffer is not the same thing as using trace execution mode (see
Section 18.2.3 [Edebug Execution Modes], page 301).
When trace recording is enabled, each function entry and exit adds lines to the trace
buffer. A function entry record consists of ‘::::{’, followed by the function name and
argument values. A function exit record consists of ‘::::}’, followed by the function name
and result of the function.
The number of ‘:’s in an entry shows its recursion depth. You can use the braces in the
trace buffer to find the matching beginning or end of function calls.
You can customize trace recording for function entry and exit by redefining the functions
edebug-print-trace-before and edebug-print-trace-after.

edebug-tracing string body. . . [Macro]

This macro requests additional trace information around the execution of the body
forms. The argument string specifies text to put in the trace buffer, after the ‘{’ or
‘}’. All the arguments are evaluated, and edebug-tracing returns the value of the
last form in body.

edebug-trace format-string &rest format-args [Function]

This function inserts text in the trace buffer. It computes the text with (apply
'format format-string format-args). It also appends a newline to separate en-
tries.

edebug-tracing and edebug-trace insert lines in the trace buffer whenever they are
called, even if Edebug is not active. Adding text to the trace buffer also scrolls its window
to show the last lines inserted.

18.2.13 Coverage Testing

Edebug provides rudimentary coverage testing and display of execution frequency.
Coverage testing works by comparing the result of each expression with the previous
result; each form in the program is considered covered if it has returned two different values
since you began testing coverage in the current Emacs session. Thus, to do coverage testing
on your program, execute it under various conditions and note whether it behaves correctly;
Edebug will tell you when you have tried enough different conditions that each form has
returned two different values.
Coverage testing makes execution slower, so it is only done if edebug-test-coverage is
non-nil. Frequency counting is performed for all executions of an instrumented function,
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 310

even if the execution mode is Go-nonstop, and regardless of whether coverage testing is
enabled.
Use C-x X = (edebug-display-freq-count) to display both the coverage information
and the frequency counts for a definition. Just = (edebug-temp-display-freq-count)
displays the same information temporarily, only until you type another key.
edebug-display-freq-count [Command]
This command displays the frequency count data for each line of the current definition.
It inserts frequency counts as comment lines after each line of code. You can undo
all insertions with one undo command. The counts appear under the ‘(’ before an
expression or the ‘)’ after an expression, or on the last character of a variable. To
simplify the display, a count is not shown if it is equal to the count of an earlier
expression on the same line.
The character ‘=’ following the count for an expression says that the expression has
returned the same value each time it was evaluated. In other words, it is not yet
covered for coverage testing purposes.
To clear the frequency count and coverage data for a definition, simply reinstrument
it with eval-defun.
For example, after evaluating (fac 5) with a source breakpoint, and setting
edebug-test-coverage to t, when the breakpoint is reached, the frequency data looks
like this:
(defun fac (n)
(if (= n 0) (edebug))
;#6 1 = =5
(if (< 0 n)
;#5 =
(* n (fac (1- n)))
;# 5 0
1))
;# 0
The comment lines show that fac was called 6 times. The first if statement returned
5 times with the same result each time; the same is true of the condition on the second if.
The recursive call of fac did not return at all.

18.2.14 The Outside Context

Edebug tries to be transparent to the program you are debugging, but it does not succeed
completely. Edebug also tries to be transparent when you evaluate expressions with e or
with the evaluation list buffer, by temporarily restoring the outside context. This section
explains precisely what context Edebug restores, and how Edebug fails to be completely
transparent.

18.2.14.1 Checking Whether to Stop

Whenever Edebug is entered, it needs to save and restore certain data before even deciding
whether to make trace information or stop the program.
• max-lisp-eval-depth (see Section 10.4 [Eval], page 136) and max-specpdl-size (see
Section 12.3 [Local Variables], page 170) are both increased to reduce Edebug’s impact
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 311

on the stack. You could, however, still run out of stack space when using Edebug.
You can also enlarge the value of edebug-max-depth if Edebug reaches the limit of
recursion depth instrumenting code that contains very large quoted lists.
• The state of keyboard macro execution is saved and restored. While Edebug is active,
executing-kbd-macro is bound to nil unless edebug-continue-kbd-macro is non-
nil.

18.2.14.2 Edebug Display Update

When Edebug needs to display something (e.g., in trace mode), it saves the current window
configuration from outside Edebug (see Section 28.26 [Window Configurations], page 676).
When you exit Edebug, it restores the previous window configuration.
Emacs redisplays only when it pauses. Usually, when you continue execution, the pro-
gram re-enters Edebug at a breakpoint or after stepping, without pausing or reading input
in between. In such cases, Emacs never gets a chance to redisplay the outside configuration.
Consequently, what you see is the same window configuration as the last time Edebug was
active, with no interruption.
Entry to Edebug for displaying something also saves and restores the following data
(though some of them are deliberately not restored if an error or quit signal occurs).
• Which buffer is current, and the positions of point and the mark in the current buffer,
are saved and restored.
• The outside window configuration is saved and restored if edebug-save-windows is
non-nil (see Section 18.2.16 [Edebug Options], page 317).
The window configuration is not restored on error or quit, but the outside selected
window is reselected even on error or quit in case a save-excursion is active. If the
value of edebug-save-windows is a list, only the listed windows are saved and restored.
The window start and horizontal scrolling of the source code buffer are not restored,
however, so that the display remains coherent within Edebug.
• The value of point in each displayed buffer is saved and restored if edebug-save-
displayed-buffer-points is non-nil.
• The variables overlay-arrow-position and overlay-arrow-string are saved and
restored, so you can safely invoke Edebug from the recursive edit elsewhere in the same
buffer.
• cursor-in-echo-area is locally bound to nil so that the cursor shows up in the
window.

18.2.14.3 Edebug Recursive Edit

When Edebug is entered and actually reads commands from the user, it saves (and later
restores) these additional data:
• The current match data. See Section 34.6 [Match Data], page 882.
• The variables last-command, this-command, last-command-event, last-input-
event, last-event-frame, last-nonmenu-event, and track-mouse. Commands in
Edebug do not affect these variables outside of Edebug.
Executing commands within Edebug can change the key sequence that would be re-
turned by this-command-keys, and there is no way to reset the key sequence from
Lisp.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 312

Edebug cannot save and restore the value of unread-command-events. Entering Ede-
bug while this variable has a nontrivial value can interfere with execution of the program
you are debugging.
• Complex commands executed while in Edebug are added to the variable
command-history. In rare cases this can alter execution.
• Within Edebug, the recursion depth appears one deeper than the recursion depth
outside Edebug. This is not true of the automatically updated evaluation list window.
• standard-output and standard-input are bound to nil by the recursive-edit, but
Edebug temporarily restores them during evaluations.
• The state of keyboard macro definition is saved and restored. While Edebug is active,
defining-kbd-macro is bound to edebug-continue-kbd-macro.

18.2.15 Edebug and Macros

To make Edebug properly instrument expressions that call macros, some extra care is
needed. This subsection explains the details.

18.2.15.1 Instrumenting Macro Calls

When Edebug instruments an expression that calls a Lisp macro, it needs additional infor-
mation about the macro to do the job properly. This is because there is no a-priori way
to tell which subexpressions of the macro call are forms to be evaluated. (Evaluation may
occur explicitly in the macro body, or when the resulting expansion is evaluated, or any
time later.)
Therefore, you must define an Edebug specification for each macro that Edebug will
encounter, to explain the format of calls to that macro. To do this, add a debug declaration
to the macro definition. Here is a simple example that shows the specification for the for
example macro (see Section 14.5.2 [Argument Evaluation], page 239).
(defmacro for (var from init to final do &rest body)
"Execute a simple \"for\" loop.
For example, (for i from 1 to 10 do (print i))."
(declare (debug (symbolp "from" form "to" form "do" &rest form)))
...)

The Edebug specification says which parts of a call to the macro are forms to be evalu-
ated. For simple macros, the specification often looks very similar to the formal argument
list of the macro definition, but specifications are much more general than macro arguments.
See Section 14.4 [Defining Macros], page 238, for more explanation of the declare form.
Take care to ensure that the specifications are known to Edebug when you instrument
code. If you are instrumenting a function which uses a macro defined in another file, you
may first need to either evaluate the require forms in the file containing your function,
or explicitly load the file containing the macro. If the definition of a macro is wrapped by
eval-when-compile, you may need to evaluate it.
You can also define an edebug specification for a macro separately from the macro defini-
tion with def-edebug-spec. Adding debug declarations is preferred, and more convenient,
for macro definitions in Lisp, but def-edebug-spec makes it possible to define Edebug
specifications for special forms implemented in C.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 313

def-edebug-spec macro specification [Macro]

Specify which expressions of a call to macro macro are forms to be evaluated. speci-
fication should be the edebug specification. Neither argument is evaluated.
The macro argument can actually be any symbol, not just a macro name.
Here is a table of the possibilities for specification and how each directs processing of
arguments.
t All arguments are instrumented for evaluation.
0 None of the arguments is instrumented.
a symbol The symbol must have an Edebug specification, which is used instead. This
indirection is repeated until another kind of specification is found. This allows
you to inherit the specification from another macro.
a list The elements of the list describe the types of the arguments of a calling form.
The possible elements of a specification list are described in the following sec-
tions.
If a macro has no Edebug specification, neither through a debug declaration nor through
a def-edebug-spec call, the variable edebug-eval-macro-args comes into play.
edebug-eval-macro-args [User Option]
This controls the way Edebug treats macro arguments with no explicit Edebug specifi-
cation. If it is nil (the default), none of the arguments is instrumented for evaluation.
Otherwise, all arguments are instrumented.

18.2.15.2 Specification List

A specification list is required for an Edebug specification if some arguments of a macro call
are evaluated while others are not. Some elements in a specification list match one or more
arguments, but others modify the processing of all following elements. The latter, called
specification keywords, are symbols beginning with ‘&’ (such as &optional).
A specification list may contain sublists, which match arguments that are themselves
lists, or it may contain vectors used for grouping. Sublists and groups thus subdivide
the specification list into a hierarchy of levels. Specification keywords apply only to the
remainder of the sublist or group they are contained in.
When a specification list involves alternatives or repetition, matching it against an actual
macro call may require backtracking. For more details, see Section 18.2.15.3 [Backtracking],
page 316.
Edebug specifications provide the power of regular expression matching, plus some
context-free grammar constructs: the matching of sublists with balanced parentheses, re-
cursive processing of forms, and recursion via indirect specifications.
Here’s a table of the possible elements of a specification list, with their meanings (see
Section 18.2.15.4 [Specification Examples], page 316, for the referenced examples):
sexp A single unevaluated Lisp object, which is not instrumented.
form A single evaluated expression, which is instrumented. If your macro wraps
the expression with lambda before it is evaluated, use def-form instead. See
def-form below.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 314

place A generalized variable. See Section 12.17 [Generalized Variables], page 200.
body Short for &rest form. See &rest below. If your macro wraps its body of code
with lambda before it is evaluated, use def-body instead. See def-body below.
function-form
A function form: either a quoted function symbol, a quoted lambda expression,
or a form (that should evaluate to a function symbol or lambda expression).
This is useful when an argument that’s a lambda expression might be quoted
with quote rather than function, since it instruments the body of the lambda
expression either way.
lambda-expr
A lambda expression with no quoting.
&optional
All following elements in the specification list are optional; as soon as one does
not match, Edebug stops matching at this level.
To make just a few elements optional, followed by non-optional elements, use
[&optional specs...]. To specify that several elements must all match or
none, use &optional [specs...]. See the defun example.
&rest All following elements in the specification list are repeated zero or more times.
In the last repetition, however, it is not a problem if the expression runs out
before matching all of the elements of the specification list.
To repeat only a few elements, use [&rest specs...]. To specify several ele-
ments that must all match on every repetition, use &rest [specs...].
&or Each of the following elements in the specification list is an alternative. One of
the alternatives must match, or the &or specification fails.
Each list element following &or is a single alternative. To group two or more
list elements as a single alternative, enclose them in [...].
&not Each of the following elements is matched as alternatives as if by using &or, but
if any of them match, the specification fails. If none of them match, nothing is
matched, but the &not specification succeeds.
&define Indicates that the specification is for a defining form. Edebug’s definition of a
defining form is a form containing one or more code forms which are saved and
executed later, after the execution of the defining form.
The defining form itself is not instrumented (that is, Edebug does not stop
before and after the defining form), but forms inside it typically will be instru-
mented. The &define keyword should be the first element in a list specification.
nil This is successful when there are no more arguments to match at the current ar-
gument list level; otherwise it fails. See sublist specifications and the backquote
example.
gate No argument is matched but backtracking through the gate is disabled while
matching the remainder of the specifications at this level. This is primarily
used to generate more specific syntax error messages. See Section 18.2.15.3
[Backtracking], page 316, for more details. Also see the let example.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 315

other-symbol
Any other symbol in a specification list may be a predicate or an indirect
specification.
If the symbol has an Edebug specification, this indirect specification should
be either a list specification that is used in place of the symbol, or a function
that is called to process the arguments. The specification may be defined with
def-edebug-spec just as for macros. See the defun example.
Otherwise, the symbol should be a predicate. The predicate is called with
the argument, and if the predicate returns nil, the specification fails and the
argument is not instrumented.
Some suitable predicates include symbolp, integerp, stringp, vectorp, and
atom.
[elements...]
A vector of elements groups the elements into a single group specification. Its
meaning has nothing to do with vectors.
"string" The argument should be a symbol named string. This specification is equivalent
to the quoted symbol, 'symbol, where the name of symbol is the string, but
the string form is preferred.
(vector elements...)
The argument should be a vector whose elements must match the elements in
the specification. See the backquote example.
(elements...)
Any other list is a sublist specification and the argument must be a list whose
elements match the specification elements.
A sublist specification may be a dotted list and the corresponding list argu-
ment may then be a dotted list. Alternatively, the last cdr of a dotted list
specification may be another sublist specification (via a grouping or an indi-
rect specification, e.g., (spec . [(more specs...)])) whose elements match
the non-dotted list arguments. This is useful in recursive specifications such as
in the backquote example. Also see the description of a nil specification above
for terminating such recursion.
Note that a sublist specification written as (specs . nil) is equivalent to
(specs), and (specs . (sublist-elements...)) is equivalent to (specs
sublist-elements...).
Here is a list of additional specifications that may appear only after &define. See the
defun example.
name The argument, a symbol, is the name of the defining form.
A defining form is not required to have a name field; and it may have multiple
name fields.
:name This construct does not actually match an argument. The element following
:name should be a symbol; it is used as an additional name component for the
definition. You can use this to add a unique, static component to the name of
the definition. It may be used more than once.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 316

arg The argument, a symbol, is the name of an argument of the defining form.
However, lambda-list keywords (symbols starting with ‘&’) are not allowed.
lambda-list
This matches a lambda list—the argument list of a lambda expression.
def-body The argument is the body of code in a definition. This is like body, described
above, but a definition body must be instrumented with a different Edebug call
that looks up information associated with the definition. Use def-body for the
highest level list of forms within the definition.
def-form The argument is a single, highest-level form in a definition. This is like
def-body, except it is used to match a single form rather than a list of forms.
As a special case, def-form also means that tracing information is not output
when the form is executed. See the interactive example.

18.2.15.3 Backtracking in Specifications

If a specification fails to match at some point, this does not necessarily mean a syntax
error will be signaled; instead, backtracking will take place until all alternatives have been
exhausted. Eventually every element of the argument list must be matched by some ele-
ment in the specification, and every required element in the specification must match some
argument.
When a syntax error is detected, it might not be reported until much later, after higher-
level alternatives have been exhausted, and with the point positioned further from the real
error. But if backtracking is disabled when an error occurs, it can be reported immediately.
Note that backtracking is also reenabled automatically in several situations; when a new
alternative is established by &optional, &rest, or &or, or at the start of processing a
sublist, group, or indirect specification. The effect of enabling or disabling backtracking is
limited to the remainder of the level currently being processed and lower levels.
Backtracking is disabled while matching any of the form specifications (that is, form,
body, def-form, and def-body). These specifications will match any form so any error
must be in the form itself rather than at a higher level.
Backtracking is also disabled after successfully matching a quoted symbol or string spec-
ification, since this usually indicates a recognized construct. But if you have a set of alter-
native constructs that all begin with the same symbol, you can usually work around this
constraint by factoring the symbol out of the alternatives, e.g., ["foo" &or [first case]
[second case] ...].
Most needs are satisfied by these two ways that backtracking is automatically disabled,
but occasionally it is useful to explicitly disable backtracking by using the gate specification.
This is useful when you know that no higher alternatives could apply. See the example of
the let specification.

18.2.15.4 Specification Examples

It may be easier to understand Edebug specifications by studying the examples provided
here.
A let special form has a sequence of bindings and a body. Each of the bindings is either
a symbol or a sublist with a symbol and optional expression. In the specification below,
notice the gate inside of the sublist to prevent backtracking once a sublist is found.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 317

(def-edebug-spec let
((&rest
&or symbolp (gate symbolp &optional form))
body))
Edebug uses the following specifications for defun and the associated argument list and
interactive specifications. It is necessary to handle interactive forms specially since an
expression argument is actually evaluated outside of the function body. (The specification
for defmacro is very similar to that for defun, but allows for the declare statement.)
(def-edebug-spec defun
(&define name lambda-list
[&optional stringp] ; Match the doc string, if present.
[&optional ("interactive" interactive)]
def-body))

(def-edebug-spec lambda-list
(([&rest arg]
[&optional ["&optional" arg &rest arg]]
&optional ["&rest" arg]
)))

(def-edebug-spec interactive
(&optional &or stringp def-form)) ; Notice: def-form

The specification for backquote below illustrates how to match dotted lists and use nil to
terminate recursion. It also illustrates how components of a vector may be matched. (The
actual specification defined by Edebug is a little different, and does not support dotted lists
because doing so causes very deep recursion that could fail.)
(def-edebug-spec \` (backquote-form)) ; Alias just for clarity.

(def-edebug-spec backquote-form
(&or ([&or "," ",@"] &or ("quote" backquote-form) form)
(backquote-form . [&or nil backquote-form])
(vector &rest backquote-form)
sexp))

18.2.16 Edebug Options

These options affect the behavior of Edebug:

edebug-setup-hook [User Option]

Functions to call before Edebug is used. Each time it is set to a new value, Edebug
will call those functions once and then reset edebug-setup-hook to nil. You could
use this to load up Edebug specifications associated with a package you are using,
but only when you also use Edebug. See Section 18.2.2 [Instrumenting], page 300.

edebug-all-defs [User Option]

If this is non-nil, normal evaluation of defining forms such as defun and defmacro
instruments them for Edebug. This applies to eval-defun, eval-region,
eval-buffer, and eval-current-buffer.
Use the command M-x edebug-all-defs to toggle the value of this option. See
Section 18.2.2 [Instrumenting], page 300.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 318

edebug-all-forms [User Option]

If this is non-nil, the commands eval-defun, eval-region, eval-buffer, and
eval-current-buffer instrument all forms, even those that don’t define anything.
This doesn’t apply to loading or evaluations in the minibuffer.
Use the command M-x edebug-all-forms to toggle the value of this option. See
Section 18.2.2 [Instrumenting], page 300.
edebug-eval-macro-args [User Option]
When this is non-nil, all macro arguments will be instrumented in the generated code.
For any macro, an edebug-form-spec overrides this option. So to specify exceptions
for macros that have some arguments evaluated and some not, use def-edebug-spec
to specify an edebug-form-spec.
edebug-save-windows [User Option]
If this is non-nil, Edebug saves and restores the window configuration. That takes
some time, so if your program does not care what happens to the window configura-
tions, it is better to set this variable to nil.
If the value is a list, only the listed windows are saved and restored.
You can use the W command in Edebug to change this variable interactively. See
Section 18.2.14.2 [Edebug Display Update], page 311.
edebug-save-displayed-buffer-points [User Option]
If this is non-nil, Edebug saves and restores point in all displayed buffers.
Saving and restoring point in other buffers is necessary if you are debugging code that
changes the point of a buffer that is displayed in a non-selected window. If Edebug
or the user then selects the window, point in that buffer will move to the window’s
value of point.
Saving and restoring point in all buffers is expensive, since it requires selecting each
window twice, so enable this only if you need it. See Section 18.2.14.2 [Edebug Display
Update], page 311.
edebug-initial-mode [User Option]
If this variable is non-nil, it specifies the initial execution mode for Edebug when it is
first activated. Possible values are step, next, go, Go-nonstop, trace, Trace-fast,
continue, and Continue-fast.
The default value is step. This variable can be set interactively with C-x C-a
C-m (edebug-set-initial-mode). See Section 18.2.3 [Edebug Execution Modes],
page 301.
edebug-trace [User Option]
If this is non-nil, trace each function entry and exit. Tracing output is displayed in
a buffer named *edebug-trace*, one function entry or exit per line, indented by the
recursion level.
Also see edebug-tracing, in Section 18.2.12 [Trace Buffer], page 309.
edebug-test-coverage [User Option]
If non-nil, Edebug tests coverage of all expressions debugged. See Section 18.2.13
[Coverage Testing], page 309.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 319

edebug-continue-kbd-macro [User Option]

If non-nil, continue defining or executing any keyboard macro that is executing
outside of Edebug. Use this with caution since it is not debugged. See Section 18.2.3
[Edebug Execution Modes], page 301.

edebug-print-length [User Option]

If non-nil, the default value of print-length for printing results in Edebug. See
Section 19.6 [Output Variables], page 331.

edebug-print-level [User Option]

If non-nil, the default value of print-level for printing results in Edebug. See
Section 19.6 [Output Variables], page 331.

edebug-print-circle [User Option]

If non-nil, the default value of print-circle for printing results in Edebug. See
Section 19.6 [Output Variables], page 331.

edebug-unwrap-results [User Option]

If non-nil, Edebug tries to remove any of its own instrumentation when showing the
results of expressions. This is relevant when debugging macros where the results of
expressions are themselves instrumented expressions. As a very artificial example,
suppose that the example function fac has been instrumented, and consider a macro
of the form:
(defmacro test () "Edebug example."
(if (symbol-function 'fac)
...))
If you instrument the test macro and step through it, then by default the result of
the symbol-function call has numerous edebug-after and edebug-before forms,
which can make it difficult to see the actual result. If edebug-unwrap-results is
non-nil, Edebug tries to remove these forms from the result.

edebug-on-error [User Option]

Edebug binds debug-on-error to this value, if debug-on-error was previously nil.
See Section 18.2.7 [Trapping Errors], page 305.

edebug-on-quit [User Option]

Edebug binds debug-on-quit to this value, if debug-on-quit was previously nil.
See Section 18.2.7 [Trapping Errors], page 305.

If you change the values of edebug-on-error or edebug-on-quit while Edebug is active,

their values won’t be used until the next time Edebug is invoked via a new command.

edebug-global-break-condition [User Option]

If non-nil, an expression to test for at every stop point. If the result is non-nil, then
break. Errors are ignored. See Section 18.2.6.2 [Global Break Condition], page 305.

edebug-sit-for-seconds [User Option]

Number of seconds to pause when a breakpoint is reached and the execution mode is
trace or continue. See Section 18.2.3 [Edebug Execution Modes], page 301.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 320

edebug-sit-on-break [User Option]

Whether or not to pause for edebug-sit-for-seconds on reaching a breakpoint. Set
to nil to prevent the pause, non-nil to allow it.

18.3 Debugging Invalid Lisp Syntax

The Lisp reader reports invalid syntax, but cannot say where the real problem is. For
example, the error ‘End of file during parsing’ in evaluating an expression indicates an
excess of open parentheses (or square brackets). The reader detects this imbalance at
the end of the file, but it cannot figure out where the close parenthesis should have been.
Likewise, ‘Invalid read syntax: ")"’ indicates an excess close parenthesis or missing open
parenthesis, but does not say where the missing parenthesis belongs. How, then, to find
what to change?
If the problem is not simply an imbalance of parentheses, a useful technique is to try
C-M-e (end-of-defun, see Section “Moving by Defuns” in The GNU Emacs Manual) at
the beginning of each defun, and see if it goes to the place where that defun appears to end.
If it does not, there is a problem in that defun.
However, unmatched parentheses are the most common syntax errors in Lisp, and we
can give further advice for those cases. (In addition, just moving point through the code
with Show Paren mode enabled might find the mismatch.)

18.3.1 Excess Open Parentheses

The first step is to find the defun that is unbalanced. If there is an excess open parenthesis,
the way to do this is to go to the end of the file and type C-u C-M-u (backward-up-list,
see Section “Moving by Parens” in The GNU Emacs Manual). This will move you to the
beginning of the first defun that is unbalanced.
The next step is to determine precisely what is wrong. There is no way to be sure of this
except by studying the program, but often the existing indentation is a clue to where the
parentheses should have been. The easiest way to use this clue is to reindent with C-M-q
(indent-pp-sexp, see Section “Multi-line Indent” in The GNU Emacs Manual) and see
what moves. But don’t do this yet! Keep reading, first.
Before you do this, make sure the defun has enough close parentheses. Otherwise, C-M-q
will get an error, or will reindent all the rest of the file until the end. So move to the end of
the defun and insert a close parenthesis there. Don’t use C-M-e (end-of-defun) to move
there, since that too will fail to work until the defun is balanced.
Now you can go to the beginning of the defun and type C-M-q. Usually all the lines from
a certain point to the end of the function will shift to the right. There is probably a missing
close parenthesis, or a superfluous open parenthesis, near that point. (However, don’t
assume this is true; study the code to make sure.) Once you have found the discrepancy,
undo the C-M-q with C-_ (undo), since the old indentation is probably appropriate to the
intended parentheses.
After you think you have fixed the problem, use C-M-q again. If the old indentation
actually fit the intended nesting of parentheses, and you have put back those parentheses,
C-M-q should not change anything.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 321

18.3.2 Excess Close Parentheses

To deal with an excess close parenthesis, first go to the beginning of the file, then type
C-u -1 C-M-u (backward-up-list with an argument of −1) to find the end of the first
unbalanced defun.
Then find the actual matching close parenthesis by typing C-M-f (forward-sexp, see
Section “Expressions” in The GNU Emacs Manual) at the beginning of that defun. This
will leave you somewhere short of the place where the defun ought to end. It is possible
that you will find a spurious close parenthesis in that vicinity.
If you don’t see a problem at that point, the next thing to do is to type C-M-q
(indent-pp-sexp) at the beginning of the defun. A range of lines will probably shift left;
if so, the missing open parenthesis or spurious close parenthesis is probably near the first
of those lines. (However, don’t assume this is true; study the code to make sure.) Once
you have found the discrepancy, undo the C-M-q with C-_ (undo), since the old indentation
is probably appropriate to the intended parentheses.
After you think you have fixed the problem, use C-M-q again. If the old indentation
actually fits the intended nesting of parentheses, and you have put back those parentheses,
C-M-q should not change anything.

18.4 Test Coverage

You can do coverage testing for a file of Lisp code by loading the testcover library and
using the command M-x testcover-start RET file RET to instrument the code. Then test
your code by calling it one or more times. Then use the command M-x testcover-mark-
all to display colored highlights on the code to show where coverage is insufficient. The
command M-x testcover-next-mark will move point forward to the next highlighted spot.
Normally, a red highlight indicates the form was never completely evaluated; a brown
highlight means it always evaluated to the same value (meaning there has been little testing
of what is done with the result). However, the red highlight is skipped for forms that can’t
possibly complete their evaluation, such as error. The brown highlight is skipped for forms
that are expected to always evaluate to the same value, such as (setq x 14).
For difficult cases, you can add do-nothing macros to your code to give advice to the
test coverage tool.

1value form [Macro]

Evaluate form and return its value, but inform coverage testing that form’s value
should always be the same.

noreturn form [Macro]

Evaluate form, informing coverage testing that form should never return. If it ever
does return, you get a run-time error.

Edebug also has a coverage testing feature (see Section 18.2.13 [Coverage Testing],
page 309). These features partly duplicate each other, and it would be cleaner to com-
bine them.
Chapter 18: Debugging Lisp Programs 322

18.5 Profiling
If your program is working correctly, but not fast enough, and you want to make it run
more quickly or efficiently, the first thing to do is profile your code so that you know where
it spends most of the execution time. If you find that one particular function is responsible
for a significant portion of the execution time, you can start looking for ways to optimize
that piece.
Emacs has built-in support for this. To begin profiling, type M-x profiler-start. You
can choose to profile by processor usage, memory usage, or both. Then run the code you’d
like to speed up. After that, type M-x profiler-report to display a summary buffer
for each resource (cpu and memory) that you chose to profile. The names of the report
buffers include the times at which the reports were generated, so you can generate another
report later on without erasing previous results. When you have finished profiling, type M-x
profiler-stop (there is a small overhead associated with profiling, so we don’t recommend
leaving it active except when you are actually running the code you want to examine).
The profiler report buffer shows, on each line, a function that was called, followed by how
much resources (cpu or memory) it used in absolute and percentage terms since profiling
started. If a given line has a ‘+’ symbol at the left-hand side, you can expand that line by
typing RET, in order to see the function(s) called by the higher-level function. Use a prefix
argument (C-u RET) to see the whole call tree below a function. Pressing RET again will
collapse back to the original state.
Press j or mouse-2 to jump to the definition of a function at point. Press d to view a
function’s documentation. You can save a profile to a file using C-x C-w. You can compare
two profiles using =.
The elp library offers an alternative approach, which is useful when you know in ad-
vance which Lisp function(s) you want to profile. Using that library, you begin by setting
elp-function-list to the list of function symbols—those are the functions you want to
profile. Then type M-x elp-instrument-list RET nil RET to arrange for profiling those
functions. After running the code you want to profile, invoke M-x elp-results to display
the current results. See the file elp.el for more detailed instructions. This approach is
limited to profiling functions written in Lisp, it cannot profile Emacs primitives.
You can measure the time it takes to evaluate individual Emacs Lisp forms using
the benchmark library. See the macros benchmark-run and benchmark-run-compiled in
benchmark.el. You can also use the benchmark command for timing forms interactively.
 323

19 Reading and Printing Lisp Objects

Printing and reading are the operations of converting Lisp objects to textual form and vice
versa. They use the printed representations and read syntax described in Chapter 2 [Lisp
Data Types], page 8.
This chapter describes the Lisp functions for reading and printing. It also describes
streams, which specify where to get the text (if reading) or where to put it (if printing).

19.1 Introduction to Reading and Printing

Reading a Lisp object means parsing a Lisp expression in textual form and producing a
corresponding Lisp object. This is how Lisp programs get into Lisp from files of Lisp code.
We call the text the read syntax of the object. For example, the text ‘(a . 5)’ is the read
syntax for a cons cell whose car is a and whose cdr is the number 5.
Printing a Lisp object means producing text that represents that object—converting
the object to its printed representation (see Section 2.1 [Printed Representation], page 8).
Printing the cons cell described above produces the text ‘(a . 5)’.
Reading and printing are more or less inverse operations: printing the object that results
from reading a given piece of text often produces the same text, and reading the text that
results from printing an object usually produces a similar-looking object. For example,
printing the symbol foo produces the text ‘foo’, and reading that text returns the symbol
foo. Printing a list whose elements are a and b produces the text ‘(a b)’, and reading that
text produces a list (but not the same list) with elements a and b.
However, these two operations are not precisely inverse to each other. There are three
kinds of exceptions:
• Printing can produce text that cannot be read. For example, buffers, windows, frames,
subprocesses and markers print as text that starts with ‘#’; if you try to read this text,
you get an error. There is no way to read those data types.
• One object can have multiple textual representations. For example, ‘1’ and ‘01’ rep-
resent the same integer, and ‘(a b)’ and ‘(a . (b))’ represent the same list. Reading
will accept any of the alternatives, but printing must choose one of them.
• Comments can appear at certain points in the middle of an object’s read sequence
without affecting the result of reading it.

19.2 Input Streams

Most of the Lisp functions for reading text take an input stream as an argument. The input
stream specifies where or how to get the characters of the text to be read. Here are the
possible types of input stream:
buffer The input characters are read from buffer, starting with the character directly
after point. Point advances as characters are read.
marker The input characters are read from the buffer that marker is in, starting with the
character directly after the marker. The marker position advances as characters
are read. The value of point in the buffer has no effect when the stream is a
marker.
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 324

string The input characters are taken from string, starting at the first character in the
string and using as many characters as required.
function The input characters are generated by function, which must support two kinds
of calls:
• When it is called with no arguments, it should return the next character.
• When it is called with one argument (always a character), function should
save the argument and arrange to return it on the next call. This is called
unreading the character; it happens when the Lisp reader reads one char-
acter too many and wants to put it back where it came from. In this case,
it makes no difference what value function returns.
t t used as a stream means that the input is read from the minibuffer. In fact,
the minibuffer is invoked once and the text given by the user is made into a
string that is then used as the input stream. If Emacs is running in batch mode,
standard input is used instead of the minibuffer. For example,
(message "%s" (read t))
will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result to standard
output.
nil nil supplied as an input stream means to use the value of standard-input
instead; that value is the default input stream, and must be a non-nil input
stream.
symbol A symbol as input stream is equivalent to the symbol’s function definition (if
any).
Here is an example of reading from a stream that is a buffer, showing where point is
located before and after:
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This? is the contents of foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(read (get-buffer "foo"))

⇒ is
(read (get-buffer "foo"))
⇒ the

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

This is the? contents of foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
Note that the first read skips a space. Reading skips any amount of whitespace preceding
the significant text.
Here is an example of reading from a stream that is a marker, initially positioned at the
beginning of the buffer shown. The value read is the symbol This.

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

This is the contents of foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 325

(setq m (set-marker (make-marker) 1 (get-buffer "foo")))

⇒ #<marker at 1 in foo>
(read m)
⇒ This
m
⇒ #<marker at 5 in foo> ;; Before the first space.
Here we read from the contents of a string:
(read "(When in) the course")
⇒ (When in)
The following example reads from the minibuffer. The prompt is: ‘Lisp expression: ’.
(That is always the prompt used when you read from the stream t.) The user’s input is
shown following the prompt.
(read t)
⇒ 23
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
Lisp expression: 23 RET
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
Finally, here is an example of a stream that is a function, named useless-stream.
Before we use the stream, we initialize the variable useless-list to a list of characters.
Then each call to the function useless-stream obtains the next character in the list or
unreads a character by adding it to the front of the list.
(setq useless-list (append "XY()" nil))
⇒ (88 89 40 41)

(defun useless-stream (&optional unread)

(if unread
(setq useless-list (cons unread useless-list))
(prog1 (car useless-list)
(setq useless-list (cdr useless-list)))))
⇒ useless-stream
Now we read using the stream thus constructed:
(read 'useless-stream)
⇒ XY

useless-list
⇒ (40 41)
Note that the open and close parentheses remain in the list. The Lisp reader encountered
the open parenthesis, decided that it ended the input, and unread it. Another attempt to
read from the stream at this point would read ‘()’ and return nil.

19.3 Input Functions

This section describes the Lisp functions and variables that pertain to reading.
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 326

In the functions below, stream stands for an input stream (see the previous section). If
stream is nil or omitted, it defaults to the value of standard-input.
An end-of-file error is signaled if reading encounters an unterminated list, vector, or
string.

read &optional stream [Function]

This function reads one textual Lisp expression from stream, returning it as a Lisp
object. This is the basic Lisp input function.

read-from-string string &optional start end [Function]

This function reads the first textual Lisp expression from the text in string. It returns
a cons cell whose car is that expression, and whose cdr is an integer giving the
position of the next remaining character in the string (i.e., the first one not read).
If start is supplied, then reading begins at index start in the string (where the first
character is at index 0). If you specify end, then reading is forced to stop just before
that index, as if the rest of the string were not there.
For example:
(read-from-string "(setq x 55) (setq y 5)")
⇒ ((setq x 55) . 11)
(read-from-string "\"A short string\"")
⇒ ("A short string" . 16)

;; Read starting at the first character.

(read-from-string "(list 112)" 0)
⇒ ((list 112) . 10)
;; Read starting at the second character.
(read-from-string "(list 112)" 1)
⇒ (list . 5)
;; Read starting at the seventh character,
;; and stopping at the ninth.
(read-from-string "(list 112)" 6 8)
⇒ (11 . 8)

standard-input [Variable]
This variable holds the default input stream—the stream that read uses when the
stream argument is nil. The default is t, meaning use the minibuffer.

read-circle [Variable]
If non-nil, this variable enables the reading of circular and shared structures. See
Section 2.5 [Circular Objects], page 28. Its default value is t.

When reading or writing from the standard input/output streams of the Emacs process
in batch mode, it is sometimes required to make sure any arbitrary binary data will be
read/written verbatim, and/or that no translation of newlines to or from CR-LF pairs is
performed. This issue does not exist on POSIX hosts, only on MS-Windows and MS-DOS.
The following function allows you to control the I/O mode of any standard stream of the
Emacs process.
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 327

set-binary-mode stream mode [Function]

Switch stream into binary or text I/O mode. If mode is non-nil, switch to binary
mode, otherwise switch to text mode. The value of stream can be one of stdin,
stdout, or stderr. This function flushes any pending output data of stream as a
side effect, and returns the previous value of I/O mode for stream. On POSIX hosts,
it always returns a non-nil value and does nothing except flushing pending output.

19.4 Output Streams

An output stream specifies what to do with the characters produced by printing. Most
print functions accept an output stream as an optional argument. Here are the possible
types of output stream:

buffer The output characters are inserted into buffer at point. Point advances as
characters are inserted.
marker The output characters are inserted into the buffer that marker points into, at
the marker position. The marker position advances as characters are inserted.
The value of point in the buffer has no effect on printing when the stream is a
marker, and this kind of printing does not move point (except that if the marker
points at or before the position of point, point advances with the surrounding
text, as usual).
function The output characters are passed to function, which is responsible for storing
them away. It is called with a single character as argument, as many times as
there are characters to be output, and is responsible for storing the characters
wherever you want to put them.
t The output characters are displayed in the echo area.
nil nil specified as an output stream means to use the value of standard-output
instead; that value is the default output stream, and must not be nil.
symbol A symbol as output stream is equivalent to the symbol’s function definition (if
any).

Many of the valid output streams are also valid as input streams. The difference between
input and output streams is therefore more a matter of how you use a Lisp object, than of
different types of object.
Here is an example of a buffer used as an output stream. Point is initially located as
shown immediately before the ‘h’ in ‘the’. At the end, point is located directly before that
same ‘h’.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This is t?he contents of foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(print "This is the output" (get-buffer "foo"))

⇒ "This is the output"
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 328

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

This is t
"This is the output"
?he contents of foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
Now we show a use of a marker as an output stream. Initially, the marker is in buffer
foo, between the ‘t’ and the ‘h’ in the word ‘the’. At the end, the marker has advanced over
the inserted text so that it remains positioned before the same ‘h’. Note that the location
of point, shown in the usual fashion, has no effect.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This is the ?output
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(setq m (copy-marker 10))

⇒ #<marker at 10 in foo>

(print "More output for foo." m)

⇒ "More output for foo."

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

This is t
"More output for foo."
he ?output
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

m
⇒ #<marker at 34 in foo>
The following example shows output to the echo area:
(print "Echo Area output" t)
⇒ "Echo Area output"
---------- Echo Area ----------
"Echo Area output"
---------- Echo Area ----------
Finally, we show the use of a function as an output stream. The function eat-output
takes each character that it is given and conses it onto the front of the list last-output
(see Section 5.4 [Building Lists], page 72). At the end, the list contains all the characters
output, but in reverse order.
(setq last-output nil)
⇒ nil

(defun eat-output (c)

(setq last-output (cons c last-output)))
⇒ eat-output

(print "This is the output" #'eat-output)

⇒ "This is the output"
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 329

last-output
⇒ (10 34 116 117 112 116 117 111 32 101 104
116 32 115 105 32 115 105 104 84 34 10)
Now we can put the output in the proper order by reversing the list:
(concat (nreverse last-output))
⇒ "
\"This is the output\"
"
Calling concat converts the list to a string so you can see its contents more clearly.

external-debugging-output character [Function]

This function can be useful as an output stream when debugging. It writes character
to the standard error stream.
For example
(print "This is the output" #'external-debugging-output)
a This is the output
⇒ "This is the output"

19.5 Output Functions

This section describes the Lisp functions for printing Lisp objects—converting objects into
their printed representation.
Some of the Emacs printing functions add quoting characters to the output when nec-
essary so that it can be read properly. The quoting characters used are ‘"’ and ‘\’; they
distinguish strings from symbols, and prevent punctuation characters in strings and sym-
bols from being taken as delimiters when reading. See Section 2.1 [Printed Representation],
page 8, for full details. You specify quoting or no quoting by the choice of printing function.
If the text is to be read back into Lisp, then you should print with quoting characters
to avoid ambiguity. Likewise, if the purpose is to describe a Lisp object clearly for a Lisp
programmer. However, if the purpose of the output is to look nice for humans, then it is
usually better to print without quoting.
Lisp objects can refer to themselves. Printing a self-referential object in the normal way
would require an infinite amount of text, and the attempt could cause infinite recursion.
Emacs detects such recursion and prints ‘#level’ instead of recursively printing an object
already being printed. For example, here ‘#0’ indicates a recursive reference to the object
at level 0 of the current print operation:
(setq foo (list nil))
⇒ (nil)
(setcar foo foo)
⇒ (#0)
In the functions below, stream stands for an output stream. (See the previous section
for a description of output streams. Also See [external-debugging-output], page 329, a
useful stream value for debugging.) If stream is nil or omitted, it defaults to the value of
standard-output.
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 330

print object &optional stream [Function]

The print function is a convenient way of printing. It outputs the printed represen-
tation of object to stream, printing in addition one newline before object and another
after it. Quoting characters are used. print returns object. For example:
(progn (print 'The\ cat\ in)
(print "the hat")
(print " came back"))
a
a The\ cat\ in
a
a "the hat"
a
a " came back"
⇒ " came back"

prin1 object &optional stream [Function]

This function outputs the printed representation of object to stream. It does not
print newlines to separate output as print does, but it does use quoting characters
just like print. It returns object.
(progn (prin1 'The\ cat\ in)
(prin1 "the hat")
(prin1 " came back"))
a The\ cat\ in"the hat"" came back"
⇒ " came back"

princ object &optional stream [Function]

This function outputs the printed representation of object to stream. It returns
object.
This function is intended to produce output that is readable by people, not by read,
so it doesn’t insert quoting characters and doesn’t put double-quotes around the
contents of strings. It does not add any spacing between calls.
(progn
(princ 'The\ cat)
(princ " in the \"hat\""))
a The cat in the "hat"
⇒ " in the \"hat\""

terpri &optional stream ensure [Function]

This function outputs a newline to stream. The name stands for “terminate print”.
If ensure is non-nil no newline is printed if stream is already at the beginning of a
line. Note in this case stream can not be a function and an error is signaled if it is.
This function returns t if a newline is printed.

write-char character &optional stream [Function]

This function outputs character to stream. It returns character.
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 331

prin1-to-string object &optional noescape [Function]

This function returns a string containing the text that prin1 would have printed for
the same argument.
(prin1-to-string 'foo)
⇒ "foo"
(prin1-to-string (mark-marker))
⇒ "#<marker at 2773 in strings.texi>"
If noescape is non-nil, that inhibits use of quoting characters in the output. (This
argument is supported in Emacs versions 19 and later.)
(prin1-to-string "foo")
⇒ "\"foo\""
(prin1-to-string "foo" t)
⇒ "foo"
See format, in Section 4.7 [Formatting Strings], page 60, for other ways to obtain the
printed representation of a Lisp object as a string.
with-output-to-string body. . . [Macro]
This macro executes the body forms with standard-output set up to feed output
into a string. Then it returns that string.
For example, if the current buffer name is ‘foo’,
(with-output-to-string
(princ "The buffer is ")
(princ (buffer-name)))
returns "The buffer is foo".
pp object &optional stream [Function]
This function outputs object to stream, just like prin1, but does it in a prettier way.
That is, it’ll indent and fill the object to make it more readable for humans.
If you need to use binary I/O in batch mode, e.g., use the functions described in this
section to write out arbitrary binary data or avoid conversion of newlines on non-POSIX
hosts, see Section 19.3 [Input Functions], page 325.

19.6 Variables Affecting Output

standard-output [Variable]
The value of this variable is the default output stream—the stream that print func-
tions use when the stream argument is nil. The default is t, meaning display in the
echo area.
print-quoted [Variable]
If this is non-nil, that means to print quoted forms using abbreviated reader syntax,
e.g., (quote foo) prints as 'foo, and (function foo) as #'foo.
print-escape-newlines [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, then newline characters in strings are printed as ‘\n’ and
formfeeds are printed as ‘\f’. Normally these characters are printed as actual newlines
and formfeeds.
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 332

This variable affects the print functions prin1 and print that print with quoting. It
does not affect princ. Here is an example using prin1:
(prin1 "a\nb")
a "a
a b"
⇒ "a
b"

(let ((print-escape-newlines t))

(prin1 "a\nb"))
a "a\nb"
⇒ "a
b"
In the second expression, the local binding of print-escape-newlines is in effect
during the call to prin1, but not during the printing of the result.
print-escape-control-characters [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, control characters in strings are printed as backslash se-
quences by the print functions prin1 and print that print with quoting. If this
variable and print-escape-newlines are both non-nil, the latter takes precedences
for newlines and formfeeds.
print-escape-nonascii [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, then unibyte non-ASCII characters in strings are uncondi-
tionally printed as backslash sequences by the print functions prin1 and print that
print with quoting.
Those functions also use backslash sequences for unibyte non-ASCII characters, re-
gardless of the value of this variable, when the output stream is a multibyte buffer or
a marker pointing into one.
print-escape-multibyte [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, then multibyte non-ASCII characters in strings are un-
conditionally printed as backslash sequences by the print functions prin1 and print
that print with quoting.
Those functions also use backslash sequences for multibyte non-ASCII characters,
regardless of the value of this variable, when the output stream is a unibyte buffer or
a marker pointing into one.
print-length [Variable]
The value of this variable is the maximum number of elements to print in any list,
vector or bool-vector. If an object being printed has more than this many elements,
it is abbreviated with an ellipsis.
If the value is nil (the default), then there is no limit.
(setq print-length 2)
⇒ 2
(print '(1 2 3 4 5))
a (1 2 ...)
⇒ (1 2 ...)
Chapter 19: Reading and Printing Lisp Objects 333

print-level [Variable]
The value of this variable is the maximum depth of nesting of parentheses and brackets
when printed. Any list or vector at a depth exceeding this limit is abbreviated with
an ellipsis. A value of nil (which is the default) means no limit.

eval-expression-print-length [User Option]

eval-expression-print-level [User Option]
These are the values for print-length and print-level used by eval-expression,
and thus, indirectly, by many interactive evaluation commands (see Section “Evalu-
ating Emacs-Lisp Expressions” in The GNU Emacs Manual).

These variables are used for detecting and reporting circular and shared structure:

print-circle [Variable]
If non-nil, this variable enables detection of circular and shared structure in printing.
See Section 2.5 [Circular Objects], page 28.

print-gensym [Variable]
If non-nil, this variable enables detection of uninterned symbols (see Section 9.3
[Creating Symbols], page 122) in printing. When this is enabled, uninterned symbols
print with the prefix ‘#:’, which tells the Lisp reader to produce an uninterned symbol.

print-continuous-numbering [Variable]
If non-nil, that means number continuously across print calls. This affects the num-
bers printed for ‘#n=’ labels and ‘#m#’ references. Don’t set this variable with setq;
you should only bind it temporarily to t with let. When you do that, you should
also bind print-number-table to nil.

print-number-table [Variable]
This variable holds a vector used internally by printing to implement the
print-circle feature. You should not use it except to bind it to nil when you bind
print-continuous-numbering.

float-output-format [Variable]
This variable specifies how to print floating-point numbers. The default is nil, mean-
ing use the shortest output that represents the number without losing information.
To control output format more precisely, you can put a string in this variable. The
string should hold a ‘%’-specification to be used in the C function sprintf. For further
restrictions on what you can use, see the variable’s documentation string.
 334

20 Minibuffers
A minibuffer is a special buffer that Emacs commands use to read arguments more compli-
cated than the single numeric prefix argument. These arguments include file names, buffer
names, and command names (as in M-x). The minibuffer is displayed on the bottom line of
the frame, in the same place as the echo area (see Section 39.4 [The Echo Area], page 969),
but only while it is in use for reading an argument.

20.1 Introduction to Minibuffers

In most ways, a minibuffer is a normal Emacs buffer. Most operations within a buffer,
such as editing commands, work normally in a minibuffer. However, many operations for
managing buffers do not apply to minibuffers. The name of a minibuffer always has the
form ‘ *Minibuf-number*’, and it cannot be changed. Minibuffers are displayed only in
special windows used only for minibuffers; these windows always appear at the bottom of
a frame. (Sometimes frames have no minibuffer window, and sometimes a special kind of
frame contains nothing but a minibuffer window; see Section 29.9 [Minibuffers and Frames],
page 719.)
The text in the minibuffer always starts with the prompt string, the text that was spec-
ified by the program that is using the minibuffer to tell the user what sort of input to type.
This text is marked read-only so you won’t accidentally delete or change it. It is also marked
as a field (see Section 32.19.9 [Fields], page 819), so that certain motion functions, including
beginning-of-line, forward-word, forward-sentence, and forward-paragraph, stop at
the boundary between the prompt and the actual text.
The minibuffer’s window is normally a single line; it grows automatically if the contents
require more space. Whilst the minibuffer is active, you can explicitly resize its window
temporarily with the window sizing commands; the window reverts to its normal size when
the minibuffer is exited. When the minibuffer is not active, you can resize its window
permanently by using the window sizing commands in the frame’s other window, or dragging
the mode line with the mouse. (Due to details of the current implementation, for this to
work resize-mini-windows must be nil.) If the frame contains just a minibuffer window,
you can change its size by changing the frame’s size.
Use of the minibuffer reads input events, and that alters the values of variables such as
this-command and last-command (see Section 21.5 [Command Loop Info], page 378). Your
program should bind them around the code that uses the minibuffer, if you do not want
that to change them.
Under some circumstances, a command can use a minibuffer even if there is an active
minibuffer; such a minibuffer is called a recursive minibuffer. The first minibuffer is named
‘ *Minibuf-1*’. Recursive minibuffers are named by incrementing the number at the end
of the name. (The names begin with a space so that they won’t show up in normal buffer
lists.) Of several recursive minibuffers, the innermost (or most recently entered) is the active
minibuffer. We usually call this the minibuffer. You can permit or forbid recursive mini-
buffers by setting the variable enable-recursive-minibuffers, or by putting properties
of that name on command symbols (See Section 20.13 [Recursive Mini], page 365.)
Like other buffers, a minibuffer uses a local keymap (see Chapter 22 [Keymaps], page 415)
to specify special key bindings. The function that invokes the minibuffer also sets up its
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 335

local map according to the job to be done. See Section 20.2 [Text from Minibuffer], page 335,
for the non-completion minibuffer local maps. See Section 20.6.3 [Completion Commands],
page 347, for the minibuffer local maps for completion.
When a minibuffer is inactive, its major mode is minibuffer-inactive-mode, with
keymap minibuffer-inactive-mode-map. This is only really useful if the minibuffer is in
a separate frame. See Section 29.9 [Minibuffers and Frames], page 719.
When Emacs is running in batch mode, any request to read from the minibuffer actually
reads a line from the standard input descriptor that was supplied when Emacs was started.
This supports only basic input: none of the special minibuffer features (history, completion,
etc.) are available in batch mode.

20.2 Reading Text Strings with the Minibuffer

The most basic primitive for minibuffer input is read-from-minibuffer, which can be used
to read either a string or a Lisp object in textual form. The function read-regexp is used
for reading regular expressions (see Section 34.3 [Regular Expressions], page 868), which
are a special kind of string. There are also specialized functions for reading commands,
variables, file names, etc. (see Section 20.6 [Completion], page 342).
In most cases, you should not call minibuffer input functions in the middle of a Lisp
function. Instead, do all minibuffer input as part of reading the arguments for a command,
in the interactive specification. See Section 21.2 [Defining Commands], page 369.
read-from-minibuffer prompt &optional initial keymap read [Function]
history default inherit-input-method
This function is the most general way to get input from the minibuffer. By default, it
accepts arbitrary text and returns it as a string; however, if read is non-nil, then it
uses read to convert the text into a Lisp object (see Section 19.3 [Input Functions],
page 325).
The first thing this function does is to activate a minibuffer and display it with prompt
(which must be a string) as the prompt. Then the user can edit text in the minibuffer.
When the user types a command to exit the minibuffer, read-from-minibuffer
constructs the return value from the text in the minibuffer. Normally it returns a
string containing that text. However, if read is non-nil, read-from-minibuffer
reads the text and returns the resulting Lisp object, unevaluated. (See Section 19.3
[Input Functions], page 325, for information about reading.)
The argument default specifies default values to make available through the history
commands. It should be a string, a list of strings, or nil. The string or strings
become the minibuffer’s “future history”, available to the user with M-n.
If read is non-nil, then default is also used as the input to read, if the user enters
empty input. If default is a list of strings, the first string is used as the input. If
default is nil, empty input results in an end-of-file error. However, in the usual
case (where read is nil), read-from-minibuffer ignores default when the user enters
empty input and returns an empty string, "". In this respect, it differs from all the
other minibuffer input functions in this chapter.
If keymap is non-nil, that keymap is the local keymap to use in the minibuffer.
If keymap is omitted or nil, the value of minibuffer-local-map is used as the
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 336

keymap. Specifying a keymap is the most important way to customize the minibuffer
for various applications such as completion.
The argument history specifies a history list variable to use for saving the input and for
history commands used in the minibuffer. It defaults to minibuffer-history. You
can optionally specify a starting position in the history list as well. See Section 20.4
[Minibuffer History], page 340.
If the variable minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil, then the string that
is returned includes whatever text properties were present in the minibuffer. Other-
wise all the text properties are stripped when the value is returned.
The text properties in minibuffer-prompt-properties are applied to the prompt.
By default, this property list defines a face to use for the prompt. This face, if present,
is applied to the end of the face list and merged before display.
If the user wants to completely control the look of the prompt, the most convenient
way to do that is to specify the default face at the end of all face lists. For instance:
(read-from-minibuffer
(concat
(propertize "Bold" 'face '(bold default))
(propertize " and normal: " 'face '(default))))
If the argument inherit-input-method is non-nil, then the minibuffer inherits the
current input method (see Section 33.11 [Input Methods], page 862) and the setting of
enable-multibyte-characters (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835)
from whichever buffer was current before entering the minibuffer.
Use of initial is mostly deprecated; we recommend using a non-nil value only in
conjunction with specifying a cons cell for history. See Section 20.5 [Initial Input],
page 342.

read-string prompt &optional initial history default [Function]

inherit-input-method
This function reads a string from the minibuffer and returns it. The ar-
guments prompt, initial, history and inherit-input-method are used as in
read-from-minibuffer. The keymap used is minibuffer-local-map.
The optional argument default is used as in read-from-minibuffer, except that, if
non-nil, it also specifies a default value to return if the user enters null input. As
in read-from-minibuffer it should be a string, a list of strings, or nil, which is
equivalent to an empty string. When default is a string, that string is the default
value. When it is a list of strings, the first string is the default value. (All these
strings are available to the user in the “future minibuffer history”.)
This function works by calling the read-from-minibuffer function:
(read-string prompt initial history default inherit)
≡
(let ((value
(read-from-minibuffer prompt initial nil nil
history default inherit)))
(if (and (equal value "") default)
(if (consp default) (car default) default)
value))
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 337

read-regexp prompt &optional defaults history [Function]

This function reads a regular expression as a string from the minibuffer and returns
it. If the minibuffer prompt string prompt does not end in ‘:’ (followed by optional
whitespace), the function adds ‘: ’ to the end, preceded by the default return value
(see below), if that is non-empty.
The optional argument defaults controls the default value to return if the user enters
null input, and should be one of: a string; nil, which is equivalent to an empty string;
a list of strings; or a symbol.
If defaults is a symbol, read-regexp consults the value of the variable read-regexp-
defaults-function (see below), and if that is non-nil uses it in preference to
defaults. The value in this case should be either:
− regexp-history-last, which means to use the first element of the appropriate
minibuffer history list (see below).
− A function of no arguments, whose return value (which should be nil, a string,
or a list of strings) becomes the value of defaults.
read-regexp now ensures that the result of processing defaults is a list (i.e., if
the value is nil or a string, it converts it to a list of one element). To this list,
read-regexp then appends a few potentially useful candidates for input. These are:
− The word or symbol at point.
− The last regexp used in an incremental search.
− The last string used in an incremental search.
− The last string or pattern used in query-replace commands.
The function now has a list of regular expressions that it passes to read-from-
minibuffer to obtain the user’s input. The first element of the list is the default
result in case of empty input. All elements of the list are available to the user as the
“future minibuffer history” list (see Section “Minibuffer History” in The GNU Emacs
Manual).
The optional argument history, if non-nil, is a symbol specifying a minibuffer history
list to use (see Section 20.4 [Minibuffer History], page 340). If it is omitted or nil,
the history list defaults to regexp-history.
read-regexp-defaults-function [User Option]
The function read-regexp may use the value of this variable to determine its list of
default regular expressions. If non-nil, the value of this variable should be either:
− The symbol regexp-history-last.
− A function of no arguments that returns either nil, a string, or a list of strings.
See read-regexp above for details of how these values are used.
minibuffer-allow-text-properties [Variable]
If this variable is nil, then read-from-minibuffer and read-string strip all text
properties from the minibuffer input before returning it. However, read-no-blanks-
input (see below), as well as read-minibuffer and related functions (see Section 20.3
[Reading Lisp Objects With the Minibuffer], page 338), and all functions that do
minibuffer input with completion, discard text properties unconditionally, regardless
of the value of this variable.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 338

minibuffer-local-map [Variable]
This is the default local keymap for reading from the minibuffer. By default, it makes
the following bindings:
C-j exit-minibuffer
RET exit-minibuffer
C-g abort-recursive-edit
M-n
DOWN next-history-element
M-p
UP previous-history-element
M-s next-matching-history-element
M-r previous-matching-history-element

read-no-blanks-input prompt &optional initial [Function]

inherit-input-method
This function reads a string from the minibuffer, but does not allow whitespace char-
acters as part of the input: instead, those characters terminate the input. The
arguments prompt, initial, and inherit-input-method are used as in read-from-
minibuffer.
This is a simplified interface to the read-from-minibuffer function, and passes the
value of the minibuffer-local-ns-map keymap as the keymap argument for that
function. Since the keymap minibuffer-local-ns-map does not rebind C-q, it is
possible to put a space into the string, by quoting it.
This function discards text properties, regardless of the value of minibuffer-allow-
text-properties.
(read-no-blanks-input prompt initial)
≡
(let (minibuffer-allow-text-properties)
(read-from-minibuffer prompt initial minibuffer-local-ns-map))

minibuffer-local-ns-map [Variable]
This built-in variable is the keymap used as the minibuffer local keymap in the func-
tion read-no-blanks-input. By default, it makes the following bindings, in addition
to those of minibuffer-local-map:
SPC exit-minibuffer
TAB exit-minibuffer
? self-insert-and-exit

20.3 Reading Lisp Objects with the Minibuffer

This section describes functions for reading Lisp objects with the minibuffer.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 339

read-minibuffer prompt &optional initial [Function]

This function reads a Lisp object using the minibuffer, and returns it without evalu-
ating it. The arguments prompt and initial are used as in read-from-minibuffer.
This is a simplified interface to the read-from-minibuffer function:
(read-minibuffer prompt initial)
≡
(let (minibuffer-allow-text-properties)
(read-from-minibuffer prompt initial nil t))

Here is an example in which we supply the string "(testing)" as initial input:

(read-minibuffer
"Enter an expression: " (format "%s" '(testing)))

;; Here is how the minibuffer is displayed:

---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

Enter an expression: (testing)?
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

The user can type RET immediately to use the initial input as a default, or can edit
the input.

eval-minibuffer prompt &optional initial [Function]

This function reads a Lisp expression using the minibuffer, evaluates it, then returns
the result. The arguments prompt and initial are used as in read-from-minibuffer.
This function simply evaluates the result of a call to read-minibuffer:
(eval-minibuffer prompt initial)
≡
(eval (read-minibuffer prompt initial))

edit-and-eval-command prompt form [Function]

This function reads a Lisp expression in the minibuffer, evaluates it, then returns
the result. The difference between this command and eval-minibuffer is that here
the initial form is not optional and it is treated as a Lisp object to be converted to
printed representation rather than as a string of text. It is printed with prin1, so if
it is a string, double-quote characters (‘"’) appear in the initial text. See Section 19.5
[Output Functions], page 329.
In the following example, we offer the user an expression with initial text that is
already a valid form:
(edit-and-eval-command "Please edit: " '(forward-word 1))

;; After evaluation of the preceding expression,

;; the following appears in the minibuffer:

---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

Please edit: (forward-word 1)?
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

Typing RET right away would exit the minibuffer and evaluate the expression, thus
moving point forward one word.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 340

20.4 Minibuffer History

A minibuffer history list records previous minibuffer inputs so the user can reuse them
conveniently. It is a variable whose value is a list of strings (previous inputs), most recent
first.
There are many separate minibuffer history lists, used for different kinds of inputs. It’s
the Lisp programmer’s job to specify the right history list for each use of the minibuffer.
You specify a minibuffer history list with the optional history argument to read-from-
minibuffer or completing-read. Here are the possible values for it:

variable Use variable (a symbol) as the history list.

(variable . startpos)
Use variable (a symbol) as the history list, and assume that the initial history
position is startpos (a nonnegative integer).
Specifying 0 for startpos is equivalent to just specifying the symbol variable.
previous-history-element will display the most recent element of the history
list in the minibuffer. If you specify a positive startpos, the minibuffer history
functions behave as if (elt variable (1- startpos)) were the history element
currently shown in the minibuffer.
For consistency, you should also specify that element of the history as the initial
minibuffer contents, using the initial argument to the minibuffer input function
(see Section 20.5 [Initial Input], page 342).

If you don’t specify history, then the default history list minibuffer-history is used.
For other standard history lists, see below. You can also create your own history list
variable; just initialize it to nil before the first use.
Both read-from-minibuffer and completing-read add new elements to the history
list automatically, and provide commands to allow the user to reuse items on the list. The
only thing your program needs to do to use a history list is to initialize it and to pass its
name to the input functions when you wish. But it is safe to modify the list by hand when
the minibuffer input functions are not using it.
Emacs functions that add a new element to a history list can also delete old elements
if the list gets too long. The variable history-length specifies the maximum length for
most history lists. To specify a different maximum length for a particular history list,
put the length in the history-length property of the history list symbol. The variable
history-delete-duplicates specifies whether to delete duplicates in history.

add-to-history history-var newelt &optional maxelt keep-all [Function]

This function adds a new element newelt, if it isn’t the empty string, to the history list
stored in the variable history-var, and returns the updated history list. It limits the list
length to the value of maxelt (if non-nil) or history-length (described below). The
possible values of maxelt have the same meaning as the values of history-length.
Normally, add-to-history removes duplicate members from the history list if
history-delete-duplicates is non-nil. However, if keep-all is non-nil, that says
not to remove duplicates, and to add newelt to the list even if it is empty.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 341

history-add-new-input [Variable]
If the value of this variable is nil, standard functions that read from the minibuffer
don’t add new elements to the history list. This lets Lisp programs explicitly manage
input history by using add-to-history. The default value is t.

history-length [User Option]

The value of this variable specifies the maximum length for all history lists that
don’t specify their own maximum lengths. If the value is t, that means there is no
maximum (don’t delete old elements). If a history list variable’s symbol has a non-nil
history-length property, it overrides this variable for that particular history list.

history-delete-duplicates [User Option]

If the value of this variable is t, that means when adding a new history element, all
previous identical elements are deleted.

Here are some of the standard minibuffer history list variables:

minibuffer-history [Variable]
The default history list for minibuffer history input.

query-replace-history [Variable]
A history list for arguments to query-replace (and similar arguments to other com-
mands).

file-name-history [Variable]
A history list for file-name arguments.

buffer-name-history [Variable]
A history list for buffer-name arguments.

regexp-history [Variable]
A history list for regular expression arguments.

extended-command-history [Variable]
A history list for arguments that are names of extended commands.

shell-command-history [Variable]
A history list for arguments that are shell commands.

read-expression-history [Variable]
A history list for arguments that are Lisp expressions to evaluate.

face-name-history [Variable]
A history list for arguments that are faces.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 342

20.5 Initial Input

Several of the functions for minibuffer input have an argument called initial. This is a
mostly-deprecated feature for specifying that the minibuffer should start out with certain
text, instead of empty as usual.
If initial is a string, the minibuffer starts out containing the text of the string, with point
at the end, when the user starts to edit the text. If the user simply types RET to exit the
minibuffer, it will use the initial input string to determine the value to return.
We discourage use of a non-nil value for initial, because initial input is an intrusive
interface. History lists and default values provide a much more convenient method to offer
useful default inputs to the user.
There is just one situation where you should specify a string for an initial argument.
This is when you specify a cons cell for the history argument. See Section 20.4 [Minibuffer
History], page 340.
initial can also be a cons cell of the form (string . position). This means to insert
string in the minibuffer but put point at position within the string’s text.
As a historical accident, position was implemented inconsistently in different functions.
In completing-read, position’s value is interpreted as origin-zero; that is, a value of 0 means
the beginning of the string, 1 means after the first character, etc. In read-minibuffer, and
the other non-completion minibuffer input functions that support this argument, 1 means
the beginning of the string, 2 means after the first character, etc.
Use of a cons cell as the value for initial arguments is deprecated.

20.6 Completion
Completion is a feature that fills in the rest of a name starting from an abbreviation for
it. Completion works by comparing the user’s input against a list of valid names and
determining how much of the name is determined uniquely by what the user has typed. For
example, when you type C-x b (switch-to-buffer) and then type the first few letters of the
name of the buffer to which you wish to switch, and then type TAB (minibuffer-complete),
Emacs extends the name as far as it can.
Standard Emacs commands offer completion for names of symbols, files, buffers, and
processes; with the functions in this section, you can implement completion for other kinds
of names.
The try-completion function is the basic primitive for completion: it returns the longest
determined completion of a given initial string, with a given set of strings to match against.
The function completing-read provides a higher-level interface for completion. A call
to completing-read specifies how to determine the list of valid names. The function then
activates the minibuffer with a local keymap that binds a few keys to commands useful for
completion. Other functions provide convenient simple interfaces for reading certain kinds
of names with completion.

20.6.1 Basic Completion Functions

The following completion functions have nothing in themselves to do with minibuffers. We
describe them here to keep them near the higher-level completion features that do use the
minibuffer.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 343

try-completion string collection &optional predicate [Function]

This function returns the longest common substring of all possible completions of
string in collection.
collection is called the completion table. Its value must be a list of strings or cons
cells, an obarray, a hash table, or a completion function.
try-completion compares string against each of the permissible completions speci-
fied by the completion table. If no permissible completions match, it returns nil. If
there is just one matching completion, and the match is exact, it returns t. Otherwise,
it returns the longest initial sequence common to all possible matching completions.
If collection is a list, the permissible completions are specified by the elements of the
list, each of which should be either a string, or a cons cell whose car is either a
string or a symbol (a symbol is converted to a string using symbol-name). If the list
contains elements of any other type, those are ignored.
If collection is an obarray (see Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols], page 122), the names
of all symbols in the obarray form the set of permissible completions.
If collection is a hash table, then the keys that are strings or symbols are the possible
completions. Other keys are ignored.
You can also use a function as collection. Then the function is solely responsible for
performing completion; try-completion returns whatever this function returns. The
function is called with three arguments: string, predicate and nil (the third argument
is so that the same function can be used in all-completions and do the appropriate
thing in either case). See Section 20.6.7 [Programmed Completion], page 356.
If the argument predicate is non-nil, then it must be a function of one argument,
unless collection is a hash table, in which case it should be a function of two arguments.
It is used to test each possible match, and the match is accepted only if predicate
returns non-nil. The argument given to predicate is either a string or a cons cell
(the car of which is a string) from the alist, or a symbol (not a symbol name) from
the obarray. If collection is a hash table, predicate is called with two arguments, the
string key and the associated value.
In addition, to be acceptable, a completion must also match all the regular expressions
in completion-regexp-list. (Unless collection is a function, in which case that
function has to handle completion-regexp-list itself.)
In the first of the following examples, the string ‘foo’ is matched by three of the alist
cars. All of the matches begin with the characters ‘fooba’, so that is the result. In
the second example, there is only one possible match, and it is exact, so the return
value is t.
(try-completion
"foo"
'(("foobar1" 1) ("barfoo" 2) ("foobaz" 3) ("foobar2" 4)))
⇒ "fooba"

(try-completion "foo" '(("barfoo" 2) ("foo" 3)))

⇒ t
In the following example, numerous symbols begin with the characters ‘forw’, and all
of them begin with the word ‘forward’. In most of the symbols, this is followed with
a ‘-’, but not in all, so no more than ‘forward’ can be completed.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 344

(try-completion "forw" obarray)

⇒ "forward"
Finally, in the following example, only two of the three possible matches pass the
predicate test (the string ‘foobaz’ is too short). Both of those begin with the string
‘foobar’.
(defun test (s)
(> (length (car s)) 6))
⇒ test
(try-completion
"foo"
'(("foobar1" 1) ("barfoo" 2) ("foobaz" 3) ("foobar2" 4))
'test)
⇒ "foobar"

all-completions string collection &optional predicate [Function]

This function returns a list of all possible completions of string. The arguments to this
function are the same as those of try-completion, and it uses completion-regexp-
list in the same way that try-completion does.
If collection is a function, it is called with three arguments: string, predicate and
t; then all-completions returns whatever the function returns. See Section 20.6.7
[Programmed Completion], page 356.
Here is an example, using the function test shown in the example for
try-completion:
(defun test (s)
(> (length (car s)) 6))
⇒ test

(all-completions
"foo"
'(("foobar1" 1) ("barfoo" 2) ("foobaz" 3) ("foobar2" 4))
'test)
⇒ ("foobar1" "foobar2")

test-completion string collection &optional predicate [Function]

This function returns non-nil if string is a valid completion alternative specified by
collection and predicate. The arguments are the same as in try-completion. For
instance, if collection is a list of strings, this is true if string appears in the list and
predicate is satisfied.
This function uses completion-regexp-list in the same way that try-completion
does.
If predicate is non-nil and if collection contains several strings that are equal to each
other, as determined by compare-strings according to completion-ignore-case,
then predicate should accept either all or none of them. Otherwise, the return value
of test-completion is essentially unpredictable.
If collection is a function, it is called with three arguments, the values string, predicate
and lambda; whatever it returns, test-completion returns in turn.
completion-boundaries string collection predicate suffix [Function]
This function returns the boundaries of the field on which collection will operate,
assuming that string holds the text before point and suffix holds the text after point.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 345

Normally completion operates on the whole string, so for all normal collections,
this will always return (0 . (length suffix)). But more complex completion
such as completion on files is done one field at a time. For example, completion
of "/usr/sh" will include "/usr/share/" but not "/usr/share/doc" even if
"/usr/share/doc" exists. Also all-completions on "/usr/sh" will not include
"/usr/share/" but only "share/". So if string is "/usr/sh" and suffix is "e/doc",
completion-boundaries will return (5 . 1) which tells us that the collection will
only return completion information that pertains to the area after "/usr/" and
before "/doc".

If you store a completion alist in a variable, you should mark the variable as risky
by giving it a non-nil risky-local-variable property. See Section 12.12 [File Local
Variables], page 191.

completion-ignore-case [Variable]
If the value of this variable is non-nil, case is not considered significant in
completion. Within read-file-name, this variable is overridden by read-file-
name-completion-ignore-case (see Section 20.6.5 [Reading File Names], page 351);
within read-buffer, it is overridden by read-buffer-completion-ignore-case
(see Section 20.6.4 [High-Level Completion], page 349).

completion-regexp-list [Variable]
This is a list of regular expressions. The completion functions only consider a com-
pletion acceptable if it matches all regular expressions in this list, with case-fold-
search (see Section 34.2 [Searching and Case], page 867) bound to the value of
completion-ignore-case.

lazy-completion-table var fun [Macro]

This macro provides a way to initialize the variable var as a collection for completion
in a lazy way, not computing its actual contents until they are first needed. You use
this macro to produce a value that you store in var. The actual computation of the
proper value is done the first time you do completion using var. It is done by calling
fun with no arguments. The value fun returns becomes the permanent value of var.
Here is an example:
(defvar foo (lazy-completion-table foo make-my-alist))

There are several functions that take an existing completion table and return
a modified version. completion-table-case-fold returns a case-insensitive table.
completion-table-in-turn and completion-table-merge combine multiple input
tables in different ways. completion-table-subvert alters a table to use a different
initial prefix. completion-table-with-quoting returns a table suitable for operating on
quoted text. completion-table-with-predicate filters a table with a predicate function.
completion-table-with-terminator adds a terminating string.

20.6.2 Completion and the Minibuffer

This section describes the basic interface for reading from the minibuffer with completion.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 346

completing-read prompt collection &optional predicate [Function]

require-match initial history default inherit-input-method
This function reads a string in the minibuffer, assisting the user by providing com-
pletion. It activates the minibuffer with prompt prompt, which must be a string.
The actual completion is done by passing the completion table collection and the
completion predicate predicate to the function try-completion (see Section 20.6.1
[Basic Completion], page 342). This happens in certain commands bound in the local
keymaps used for completion. Some of these commands also call test-completion.
Thus, if predicate is non-nil, it should be compatible with collection and
completion-ignore-case. See [Definition of test-completion], page 344.
See Section 20.6.7 [Programmed Completion], page 356, for detailed requirements
when collection is a function.
The value of the optional argument require-match determines how the user may exit
the minibuffer:
• If nil, the usual minibuffer exit commands work regardless of the input in the
minibuffer.
• If t, the usual minibuffer exit commands won’t exit unless the input completes
to an element of collection.
• If confirm, the user can exit with any input, but is asked for confirmation if the
input is not an element of collection.
• If confirm-after-completion, the user can exit with any input, but is asked
for confirmation if the preceding command was a completion command (i.e., one
of the commands in minibuffer-confirm-exit-commands) and the resulting
input is not an element of collection. See Section 20.6.3 [Completion Commands],
page 347.
• Any other value of require-match behaves like t, except that the exit commands
won’t exit if it performs completion.
However, empty input is always permitted, regardless of the value of require-match;
in that case, completing-read returns the first element of default, if it is a list; "",
if default is nil; or default. The string or strings in default are also available to the
user through the history commands.
The function completing-read uses minibuffer-local-completion-map as the
keymap if require-match is nil, and uses minibuffer-local-must-match-map if
require-match is non-nil. See Section 20.6.3 [Completion Commands], page 347.
The argument history specifies which history list variable to use for saving the in-
put and for minibuffer history commands. It defaults to minibuffer-history. See
Section 20.4 [Minibuffer History], page 340.
The argument initial is mostly deprecated; we recommend using a non-nil value only
in conjunction with specifying a cons cell for history. See Section 20.5 [Initial Input],
page 342. For default input, use default instead.
If the argument inherit-input-method is non-nil, then the minibuffer inherits the
current input method (see Section 33.11 [Input Methods], page 862) and the setting of
enable-multibyte-characters (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835)
from whichever buffer was current before entering the minibuffer.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 347

If the variable completion-ignore-case is non-nil, completion ignores case when

comparing the input against the possible matches. See Section 20.6.1 [Basic Comple-
tion], page 342. In this mode of operation, predicate must also ignore case, or you
will get surprising results.
Here’s an example of using completing-read:
(completing-read
"Complete a foo: "
'(("foobar1" 1) ("barfoo" 2) ("foobaz" 3) ("foobar2" 4))
nil t "fo")

;; After evaluation of the preceding expression,

;; the following appears in the minibuffer:

---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

Complete a foo: fo?
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
If the user then types DEL DEL b RET, completing-read returns barfoo.
The completing-read function binds variables to pass information to the commands
that actually do completion. They are described in the following section.

completing-read-function [Variable]
The value of this variable must be a function, which is called by completing-read
to actually do its work. It should accept the same arguments as completing-read.
This can be bound to a different function to completely override the normal behavior
of completing-read.

20.6.3 Minibuffer Commands that Do Completion

This section describes the keymaps, commands and user options used in the minibuffer to
do completion.

minibuffer-completion-table [Variable]
The value of this variable is the completion table (see Section 20.6.1 [Basic Comple-
tion], page 342) used for completion in the minibuffer. This is the global variable that
contains what completing-read passes to try-completion. It is used by minibuffer
completion commands such as minibuffer-complete-word.

minibuffer-completion-predicate [Variable]
This variable’s value is the predicate that completing-read passes to
try-completion. The variable is also used by the other minibuffer completion
functions.

minibuffer-completion-confirm [Variable]
This variable determines whether Emacs asks for confirmation before exit-
ing the minibuffer; completing-read binds this variable, and the function
minibuffer-complete-and-exit checks the value before exiting. If the value
is nil, confirmation is not required. If the value is confirm, the user may exit
with an input that is not a valid completion alternative, but Emacs asks for
confirmation. If the value is confirm-after-completion, the user may exit with
an input that is not a valid completion alternative, but Emacs asks for confirmation
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 348

if the user submitted the input right after any of the completion commands in
minibuffer-confirm-exit-commands.
minibuffer-confirm-exit-commands [Variable]
This variable holds a list of commands that cause Emacs to ask for confirmation
before exiting the minibuffer, if the require-match argument to completing-read is
confirm-after-completion. The confirmation is requested if the user attempts to
exit the minibuffer immediately after calling any command in this list.
minibuffer-complete-word [Command]
This function completes the minibuffer contents by at most a single word. Even if
the minibuffer contents have only one completion, minibuffer-complete-word does
not add any characters beyond the first character that is not a word constituent. See
Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892.
minibuffer-complete [Command]
This function completes the minibuffer contents as far as possible.
minibuffer-complete-and-exit [Command]
This function completes the minibuffer contents, and exits if confirmation is not
required, i.e., if minibuffer-completion-confirm is nil. If confirmation is required,
it is given by repeating this command immediately—the command is programmed to
work without confirmation when run twice in succession.
minibuffer-completion-help [Command]
This function creates a list of the possible completions of the current minibuffer
contents. It works by calling all-completions using the value of the variable
minibuffer-completion-table as the collection argument, and the value of
minibuffer-completion-predicate as the predicate argument. The list of
completions is displayed as text in a buffer named *Completions*.
display-completion-list completions [Function]
This function displays completions to the stream in standard-output, usually a
buffer. (See Chapter 19 [Read and Print], page 323, for more information about
streams.) The argument completions is normally a list of completions just returned
by all-completions, but it does not have to be. Each element may be a symbol or
a string, either of which is simply printed. It can also be a list of two strings, which is
printed as if the strings were concatenated. The first of the two strings is the actual
completion, the second string serves as annotation.
This function is called by minibuffer-completion-help. A common way to use it
is together with with-output-to-temp-buffer, like this:
(with-output-to-temp-buffer "*Completions*"
(display-completion-list
(all-completions (buffer-string) my-alist)))
completion-auto-help [User Option]
If this variable is non-nil, the completion commands automatically display a list of
possible completions whenever nothing can be completed because the next character
is not uniquely determined.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 349

minibuffer-local-completion-map [Variable]
completing-read uses this value as the local keymap when an exact match of one
of the completions is not required. By default, this keymap makes the following
bindings:
? minibuffer-completion-help
SPC minibuffer-complete-word
TAB minibuffer-complete
and uses minibuffer-local-map as its parent keymap (see [Definition of minibuffer-
local-map], page 338).

minibuffer-local-must-match-map [Variable]
completing-read uses this value as the local keymap when an exact match of one of
the completions is required. Therefore, no keys are bound to exit-minibuffer, the
command that exits the minibuffer unconditionally. By default, this keymap makes
the following bindings:
C-j minibuffer-complete-and-exit
RET minibuffer-complete-and-exit
and uses minibuffer-local-completion-map as its parent keymap.

minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map [Variable]
This is a sparse keymap that simply unbinds SPC; because filenames can
contain spaces. The function read-file-name combines this keymap with either
minibuffer-local-completion-map or minibuffer-local-must-match-map.

20.6.4 High-Level Completion Functions

This section describes the higher-level convenience functions for reading certain sorts of
names with completion.
In most cases, you should not call these functions in the middle of a Lisp function. When
possible, do all minibuffer input as part of reading the arguments for a command, in the
interactive specification. See Section 21.2 [Defining Commands], page 369.

read-buffer prompt &optional default require-match predicate [Function]

This function reads the name of a buffer and returns it as a string. It prompts with
prompt. The argument default is the default name to use, the value to return if
the user exits with an empty minibuffer. If non-nil, it should be a string, a list of
strings, or a buffer. If it is a list, the default value is the first element of this list. It
is mentioned in the prompt, but is not inserted in the minibuffer as initial input.
The argument prompt should be a string ending with a colon and a space. If default
is non-nil, the function inserts it in prompt before the colon to follow the convention
for reading from the minibuffer with a default value (see Section D.3 [Programming
Tips], page 1145).
The optional argument require-match has the same meaning as in completing-read.
See Section 20.6.2 [Minibuffer Completion], page 345.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 350

The optional argument predicate, if non-nil, specifies a function to filter the buffers
that should be considered: the function will be called with every potential candidate
as its argument, and should return nil to reject the candidate, non-nil to accept it.
In the following example, the user enters ‘minibuffer.t’, and then types RET. The
argument require-match is t, and the only buffer name starting with the given input
is ‘minibuffer.texi’, so that name is the value.
(read-buffer "Buffer name: " "foo" t)
;; After evaluation of the preceding expression,
;; the following prompt appears,
;; with an empty minibuffer:

---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

Buffer name (default foo): ?
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

;; The user types minibuffer.t RET.

⇒ "minibuffer.texi"

read-buffer-function [User Option]

This variable, if non-nil, specifies a function for reading buffer names. read-buffer
calls this function instead of doing its usual work, with the same arguments passed
to read-buffer.
read-buffer-completion-ignore-case [User Option]
If this variable is non-nil, read-buffer ignores case when performing completion
while reading the buffer name.
read-command prompt &optional default [Function]
This function reads the name of a command and returns it as a Lisp symbol. The
argument prompt is used as in read-from-minibuffer. Recall that a command is
anything for which commandp returns t, and a command name is a symbol for which
commandp returns t. See Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375.
The argument default specifies what to return if the user enters null input. It can be
a symbol, a string or a list of strings. If it is a string, read-command interns it before
returning it. If it is a list, read-command interns the first element of this list. If default
is nil, that means no default has been specified; then if the user enters null input,
the return value is (intern ""), that is, a symbol whose name is an empty string,
and whose printed representation is ## (see Section 2.3.4 [Symbol Type], page 13).
(read-command "Command name? ")

;; After evaluation of the preceding expression,

;; the following prompt appears with an empty minibuffer:

---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

Command name?
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
If the user types forward-c RET, then this function returns forward-char.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 351

The read-command function is a simplified interface to completing-read. It uses the

variable obarray so as to complete in the set of extant Lisp symbols, and it uses the
commandp predicate so as to accept only command names:
(read-command prompt)
≡
(intern (completing-read prompt obarray
'commandp t nil))

read-variable prompt &optional default [Function]

This function reads the name of a customizable variable and returns it as a sym-
bol. Its arguments have the same form as those of read-command. It behaves just
like read-command, except that it uses the predicate custom-variable-p instead of
commandp.

read-color &optional prompt convert allow-empty display [Command]

This function reads a string that is a color specification, either the color’s name or an
RGB hex value such as #RRRGGGBBB. It prompts with prompt (default: "Color (name
or #RGB triplet):") and provides completion for color names, but not for hex RGB
values. In addition to names of standard colors, completion candidates include the
foreground and background colors at point.
Valid RGB values are described in Section 29.22 [Color Names], page 735.
The function’s return value is the string typed by the user in the minibuffer. However,
when called interactively or if the optional argument convert is non-nil, it converts
any input color name into the corresponding RGB value string and instead returns
that. This function requires a valid color specification to be input. Empty color
names are allowed when allow-empty is non-nil and the user enters null input.
Interactively, or when display is non-nil, the return value is also displayed in the
echo area.

See also the functions read-coding-system and read-non-nil-coding-system, in

Section 33.10.4 [User-Chosen Coding Systems], page 853, and read-input-method-name,
in Section 33.11 [Input Methods], page 862.

20.6.5 Reading File Names

The high-level completion functions read-file-name, read-directory-name, and
read-shell-command are designed to read file names, directory names, and shell
commands, respectively. They provide special features, including automatic insertion of
the default directory.

read-file-name prompt &optional directory default require-match [Function]

initial predicate
This function reads a file name, prompting with prompt and providing completion.
As an exception, this function reads a file name using a graphical file dialog instead
of the minibuffer, if all of the following are true:
1. It is invoked via a mouse command.
2. The selected frame is on a graphical display supporting such dialogs.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 352

3. The variable use-dialog-box is non-nil. See Section “Dialog Boxes” in The

GNU Emacs Manual.
4. The directory argument, described below, does not specify a remote file. See
Section “Remote Files” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

The exact behavior when using a graphical file dialog is platform-dependent. Here,
we simply document the behavior when using the minibuffer.
read-file-name does not automatically expand the returned file name. You can call
expand-file-name yourself if an absolute file name is required.
The optional argument require-match has the same meaning as in completing-read.
See Section 20.6.2 [Minibuffer Completion], page 345.
The argument directory specifies the directory to use for completing relative file
names. It should be an absolute directory name. If the variable insert-default-
directory is non-nil, directory is also inserted in the minibuffer as initial input. It
defaults to the current buffer’s value of default-directory.
If you specify initial, that is an initial file name to insert in the buffer (after directory,
if that is inserted). In this case, point goes at the beginning of initial. The default for
initial is nil—don’t insert any file name. To see what initial does, try the command
C-x C-v in a buffer visiting a file. Please note: we recommend using default rather
than initial in most cases.
If default is non-nil, then the function returns default if the user exits the minibuffer
with the same non-empty contents that read-file-name inserted initially. The initial
minibuffer contents are always non-empty if insert-default-directory is non-nil,
as it is by default. default is not checked for validity, regardless of the value of require-
match. However, if require-match is non-nil, the initial minibuffer contents should
be a valid file (or directory) name. Otherwise read-file-name attempts completion
if the user exits without any editing, and does not return default. default is also
available through the history commands.
If default is nil, read-file-name tries to find a substitute default to use in its place,
which it treats in exactly the same way as if it had been specified explicitly. If default
is nil, but initial is non-nil, then the default is the absolute file name obtained from
directory and initial. If both default and initial are nil and the buffer is visiting a
file, read-file-name uses the absolute file name of that file as default. If the buffer
is not visiting a file, then there is no default. In that case, if the user types RET
without any editing, read-file-name simply returns the pre-inserted contents of the
minibuffer.
If the user types RET in an empty minibuffer, this function returns an empty string,
regardless of the value of require-match. This is, for instance, how the user can make
the current buffer visit no file using M-x set-visited-file-name.
If predicate is non-nil, it specifies a function of one argument that decides which file
names are acceptable completion alternatives. A file name is an acceptable value if
predicate returns non-nil for it.
Here is an example of using read-file-name:
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 353

(read-file-name "The file is ")

;; After evaluation of the preceding expression,

;; the following appears in the minibuffer:

---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

The file is /gp/gnu/elisp/?
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
Typing manual TAB results in the following:
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
The file is /gp/gnu/elisp/manual.texi?
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
If the user types RET, read-file-name returns the file name as the string
"/gp/gnu/elisp/manual.texi".

read-file-name-function [Variable]
If non-nil, this should be a function that accepts the same arguments as read-file-
name. When read-file-name is called, it calls this function with the supplied argu-
ments instead of doing its usual work.

read-file-name-completion-ignore-case [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, read-file-name ignores case when performing completion.

read-directory-name prompt &optional directory default [Function]

require-match initial
This function is like read-file-name but allows only directory names as completion
alternatives.
If default is nil and initial is non-nil, read-directory-name constructs a substitute
default by combining directory (or the current buffer’s default directory if directory
is nil) and initial. If both default and initial are nil, this function uses directory as
substitute default, or the current buffer’s default directory if directory is nil.

insert-default-directory [User Option]

This variable is used by read-file-name, and thus, indirectly, by most commands
reading file names. (This includes all commands that use the code letters ‘f’ or
‘F’ in their interactive form. See Section 21.2.2 [Code Characters for interactive],
page 371.) Its value controls whether read-file-name starts by placing the name
of the default directory in the minibuffer, plus the initial file name, if any. If the
value of this variable is nil, then read-file-name does not place any initial input
in the minibuffer (unless you specify initial input with the initial argument). In that
case, the default directory is still used for completion of relative file names, but is not
displayed.
If this variable is nil and the initial minibuffer contents are empty, the user may have
to explicitly fetch the next history element to access a default value. If the variable
is non-nil, the initial minibuffer contents are always non-empty and the user can
always request a default value by immediately typing RET in an unedited minibuffer.
(See above.)
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 354

For example:
;; Here the minibuffer starts out with the default directory.
(let ((insert-default-directory t))
(read-file-name "The file is "))

---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

The file is ~lewis/manual/?
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

;; Here the minibuffer is empty and only the prompt

;; appears on its line.
(let ((insert-default-directory nil))
(read-file-name "The file is "))

---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

The file is ?
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
read-shell-command prompt &optional initial history &rest args [Function]
This function reads a shell command from the minibuffer, prompting with prompt and
providing intelligent completion. It completes the first word of the command using
candidates that are appropriate for command names, and the rest of the command
words as file names.
This function uses minibuffer-local-shell-command-map as the keymap for mini-
buffer input. The history argument specifies the history list to use; if is omitted or
nil, it defaults to shell-command-history (see Section 20.4 [Minibuffer History],
page 340). The optional argument initial specifies the initial content of the minibuf-
fer (see Section 20.5 [Initial Input], page 342). The rest of args, if present, are used
as the default and inherit-input-method arguments in read-from-minibuffer (see
Section 20.2 [Text from Minibuffer], page 335).
minibuffer-local-shell-command-map [Variable]
This keymap is used by read-shell-command for completing command and file names
that are part of a shell command. It uses minibuffer-local-map as its parent
keymap, and binds TAB to completion-at-point.

20.6.6 Completion Variables

Here are some variables that can be used to alter the default completion behavior.
completion-styles [User Option]
The value of this variable is a list of completion style (symbols) to use for performing
completion. A completion style is a set of rules for generating completions. Each
symbol occurring this list must have a corresponding entry in completion-styles-
alist.
completion-styles-alist [Variable]
This variable stores a list of available completion styles. Each element in the list has
the form
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 355

(style try-completion all-completions doc)

Here, style is the name of the completion style (a symbol), which may be used in the
completion-styles variable to refer to this style; try-completion is the function that
does the completion; all-completions is the function that lists the completions; and
doc is a string describing the completion style.
The try-completion and all-completions functions should each accept four arguments:
string, collection, predicate, and point. The string, collection, and predicate ar-
guments have the same meanings as in try-completion (see Section 20.6.1 [Basic
Completion], page 342), and the point argument is the position of point within string.
Each function should return a non-nil value if it performed its job, and nil if it did
not (e.g., if there is no way to complete string according to the completion style).
When the user calls a completion command like minibuffer-complete (see
Section 20.6.3 [Completion Commands], page 347), Emacs looks for the first
style listed in completion-styles and calls its try-completion function. If this
function returns nil, Emacs moves to the next listed completion style and calls
its try-completion function, and so on until one of the try-completion functions
successfully performs completion and returns a non-nil value. A similar procedure
is used for listing completions, via the all-completions functions.
See Section “Completion Styles” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for a description of the
available completion styles.

completion-category-overrides [User Option]

This variable specifies special completion styles and other completion behaviors to use
when completing certain types of text. Its value should be an alist with elements of the
form (category . alist). category is a symbol describing what is being completed;
currently, the buffer, file, and unicode-name categories are defined, but others
can be defined via specialized completion functions (see Section 20.6.7 [Programmed
Completion], page 356). alist is an association list describing how completion should
behave for the corresponding category. The following alist keys are supported:

styles The value should be a list of completion styles (symbols).

cycle The value should be a value for completion-cycle-threshold (see
Section “Completion Options” in The GNU Emacs Manual) for this
category.

Additional alist entries may be defined in the future.

completion-extra-properties [Variable]
This variable is used to specify extra properties of the current completion command.
It is intended to be let-bound by specialized completion commands. Its value should
be a list of property and value pairs. The following properties are supported:

:annotation-function
The value should be a function to add annotations in the completions
buffer. This function must accept one argument, a completion, and should
either return nil or a string to be displayed next to the completion.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 356

:exit-function
The value should be a function to run after performing completion. The
function should accept two arguments, string and status, where string
is the text to which the field was completed, and status indicates what
kind of operation happened: finished if text is now complete, sole if
the text cannot be further completed but completion is not finished, or
exact if the text is a valid completion but may be further completed.

20.6.7 Programmed Completion

Sometimes it is not possible or convenient to create an alist or an obarray containing all
the intended possible completions ahead of time. In such a case, you can supply your own
function to compute the completion of a given string. This is called programmed completion.
Emacs uses programmed completion when completing file names (see Section 25.9.6 [File
Name Completion], page 554), among many other cases.
To use this feature, pass a function as the collection argument to completing-read.
The function completing-read arranges to pass your completion function along to
try-completion, all-completions, and other basic completion functions, which will
then let your function do all the work.
The completion function should accept three arguments:
• The string to be completed.
• A predicate function with which to filter possible matches, or nil if none. The function
should call the predicate for each possible match, and ignore the match if the predicate
returns nil.
• A flag specifying the type of completion operation to perform; see Section 20.6.1 [Basic
Completion], page 342, for the details of those operations. This flag may be one of the
following values.
nil This specifies a try-completion operation. The function should return
nil if there are no matches; it should return t if the specified string is a
unique and exact match; and it should return the longest common prefix
substring of all matches otherwise.
t This specifies an all-completions operation. The function should return
a list of all possible completions of the specified string.
lambda This specifies a test-completion operation. The function should return
t if the specified string is an exact match for some completion alternative;
nil otherwise.
(boundaries . suffix)
This specifies a completion-boundaries operation. The function should
return (boundaries start . end), where start is the position of the be-
ginning boundary in the specified string, and end is the position of the end
boundary in suffix.
metadata This specifies a request for information about the state of the current com-
pletion. The return value should have the form (metadata . alist), where
alist is an alist whose elements are described below.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 357

If the flag has any other value, the completion function should return nil.
The following is a list of metadata entries that a completion function may return in
response to a metadata flag argument:
category The value should be a symbol describing what kind of text the completion
function is trying to complete. If the symbol matches one of the keys in
completion-category-overrides, the usual completion behavior is overrid-
den. See Section 20.6.6 [Completion Variables], page 354.
annotation-function
The value should be a function for annotating completions. The function should
take one argument, string, which is a possible completion. It should return a
string, which is displayed after the completion string in the *Completions*
buffer.
display-sort-function
The value should be a function for sorting completions. The function should
take one argument, a list of completion strings, and return a sorted list of
completion strings. It is allowed to alter the input list destructively.
cycle-sort-function
The value should be a function for sorting completions, when
completion-cycle-threshold is non-nil and the user is cycling through
completion alternatives. See Section “Completion Options” in The GNU
Emacs Manual. Its argument list and return value are the same as for
display-sort-function.
completion-table-dynamic function &optional switch-buffer [Function]
This function is a convenient way to write a function that can act as a programmed
completion function. The argument function should be a function that takes one
argument, a string, and returns a completion table (see Section 20.6.1 [Basic Com-
pletion], page 342) containing all the possible completions. The table returned by
function can also include elements that don’t match the string argument; they are
automatically filtered out by completion-table-dynamic. In particular, function
can ignore its argument and return a full list of all possible completions. You can
think of completion-table-dynamic as a transducer between function and the in-
terface for programmed completion functions.
If the optional argument switch-buffer is non-nil, and completion is performed in the
minibuffer, function will be called with current buffer set to the buffer from which
the minibuffer was entered.
The return value of completion-table-dynamic is a function that can be used as
the 2nd argument to try-completion and all-completions. Note that this func-
tion will always return empty metadata and trivial boundaries (see Section 20.6.7
[Programmed Completion], page 356).
completion-table-with-cache function &optional ignore-case [Function]
This is a wrapper for completion-table-dynamic that saves the last argument-result
pair. This means that multiple lookups with the same argument only need to call
function once. This can be useful when a slow operation is involved, such as calling
an external process.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 358

20.6.8 Completion in Ordinary Buffers

Although completion is usually done in the minibuffer, the completion facility can also be
used on the text in ordinary Emacs buffers. In many major modes, in-buffer completion is
performed by the C-M-i or M-TAB command, bound to completion-at-point. See Section
“Symbol Completion” in The GNU Emacs Manual. This command uses the abnormal hook
variable completion-at-point-functions:

completion-at-point-functions [Variable]
The value of this abnormal hook should be a list of functions, which are used to
compute a completion table (see Section 20.6.1 [Basic Completion], page 342) for
completing the text at point. It can be used by major modes to provide mode-specific
completion tables (see Section 23.2.1 [Major Mode Conventions], page 456).
When the command completion-at-point runs, it calls the functions in the list one
by one, without any argument. Each function should return nil unless it can and
wants to take responsibility for the completion data for the text at point. Otherwise
it should return a list of the following form:
(start end collection . props)
start and end delimit the text to complete (which should enclose point). collection is
a completion table for completing that text, in a form suitable for passing as the sec-
ond argument to try-completion (see Section 20.6.1 [Basic Completion], page 342);
completion alternatives will be generated from this completion table in the usual way,
via the completion styles defined in completion-styles (see Section 20.6.6 [Comple-
tion Variables], page 354). props is a property list for additional information; any of
the properties in completion-extra-properties are recognized (see Section 20.6.6
[Completion Variables], page 354), as well as the following additional ones:
:predicate
The value should be a predicate that completion candidates need to sat-
isfy.
:exclusive
If the value is no, then if the completion table fails to match the text
at point, completion-at-point moves on to the next function in
completion-at-point-functions instead of reporting a completion
failure.
The functions on this hook should generally return quickly, since they may be called
very often (e.g., from post-command-hook). Supplying a function for collection is
strongly recommended if generating the list of completions is an expensive opera-
tion. Emacs may internally call functions in completion-at-point-functions many
times, but care about the value of collection for only some of these calls. By supply-
ing a function for collection, Emacs can defer generating completions until necessary.
You can use completion-table-dynamic to create a wrapper function:
;; Avoid this pattern.
(let ((beg ...) (end ...) (my-completions (my-make-completions)))
(list beg end my-completions))

;; Use this instead.

(let ((beg ...) (end ...))
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 359

(list beg
end
(completion-table-dynamic
(lambda (_)
(my-make-completions)))))
Additionally, the collection should generally not be pre-filtered based on the cur-
rent text between start and end, because that is the responsibility of the caller of
completion-at-point-functions to do that according to the completion styles it
decides to use.
A function in completion-at-point-functions may also return a function instead
of a list as described above. In that case, that returned function is called, with no
argument, and it is entirely responsible for performing the completion. We discourage
this usage; it is only intended to help convert old code to using completion-at-point.
The first function in completion-at-point-functions to return a non-nil value
is used by completion-at-point. The remaining functions are not called. The
exception to this is when there is an :exclusive specification, as described above.

The following function provides a convenient way to perform completion on an arbitrary

stretch of text in an Emacs buffer:

completion-in-region start end collection &optional predicate [Function]

This function completes the text in the current buffer between the positions start
and end, using collection. The argument collection has the same meaning as in
try-completion (see Section 20.6.1 [Basic Completion], page 342).
This function inserts the completion text directly into the current buffer. Unlike
completing-read (see Section 20.6.2 [Minibuffer Completion], page 345), it does not
activate the minibuffer.
For this function to work, point must be somewhere between start and end.

20.7 Yes-or-No Queries

This section describes functions used to ask the user a yes-or-no question. The function
y-or-n-p can be answered with a single character; it is useful for questions where an
inadvertent wrong answer will not have serious consequences. yes-or-no-p is suitable for
more momentous questions, since it requires three or four characters to answer.
If either of these functions is called in a command that was invoked using the mouse—
more precisely, if last-nonmenu-event (see Section 21.5 [Command Loop Info], page 378)
is either nil or a list—then it uses a dialog box or pop-up menu to ask the question.
Otherwise, it uses keyboard input. You can force use either of the mouse or of keyboard
input by binding last-nonmenu-event to a suitable value around the call.
Strictly speaking, yes-or-no-p uses the minibuffer and y-or-n-p does not; but it seems
best to describe them together.

y-or-n-p prompt [Function]

This function asks the user a question, expecting input in the echo area. It returns t
if the user types y, nil if the user types n. This function also accepts SPC to mean
yes and DEL to mean no. It accepts C-] to quit, like C-g, because the question might
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 360

look like a minibuffer and for that reason the user might try to use C-] to get out.
The answer is a single character, with no RET needed to terminate it. Upper and
lower case are equivalent.
“Asking the question” means printing prompt in the echo area, followed by the string
‘(y or n) ’. If the input is not one of the expected answers (y, n, SPC, DEL, or
something that quits), the function responds ‘Please answer y or n.’, and repeats
the request.
This function does not actually use the minibuffer, since it does not allow editing
of the answer. It actually uses the echo area (see Section 39.4 [The Echo Area],
page 969), which uses the same screen space as the minibuffer. The cursor moves to
the echo area while the question is being asked.
The answers and their meanings, even ‘y’ and ‘n’, are not hardwired, and are spec-
ified by the keymap query-replace-map (see Section 34.7 [Search and Replace],
page 887). In particular, if the user enters the special responses recenter, scroll-up,
scroll-down, scroll-other-window, or scroll-other-window-down (respectively
bound to C-l, C-v, M-v, C-M-v and C-M-S-v in query-replace-map), this function
performs the specified window recentering or scrolling operation, and poses the ques-
tion again.
We show successive lines of echo area messages, but only one actually appears on the
screen at a time.

y-or-n-p-with-timeout prompt seconds default [Function]

Like y-or-n-p, except that if the user fails to answer within seconds seconds, this
function stops waiting and returns default. It works by setting up a timer; see
Section 40.11 [Timers], page 1094. The argument seconds should be a number.

yes-or-no-p prompt [Function]

This function asks the user a question, expecting input in the minibuffer. It returns t
if the user enters ‘yes’, nil if the user types ‘no’. The user must type RET to finalize
the response. Upper and lower case are equivalent.
yes-or-no-p starts by displaying prompt in the echo area, followed by ‘(yes or no) ’.
The user must type one of the expected responses; otherwise, the function responds
‘Please answer yes or no.’, waits about two seconds and repeats the request.
yes-or-no-p requires more work from the user than y-or-n-p and is appropriate for
more crucial decisions.
Here is an example:
(yes-or-no-p "Do you really want to remove everything? ")

;; After evaluation of the preceding expression,

;; the following prompt appears,
;; with an empty minibuffer:

---------- Buffer: minibuffer ----------

Do you really want to remove everything? (yes or no)
---------- Buffer: minibuffer ----------
If the user first types y RET, which is invalid because this function demands the entire
word ‘yes’, it responds by displaying these prompts, with a brief pause between them:
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 361

---------- Buffer: minibuffer ----------

Please answer yes or no.
Do you really want to remove everything? (yes or no)
---------- Buffer: minibuffer ----------

20.8 Asking Multiple-Choice Questions

This section describes facilities for asking the user more complex questions or several similar
questions.
When you have a series of similar questions to ask, such as “Do you want to save
this buffer?” for each buffer in turn, you should use map-y-or-n-p to ask the collection
of questions, rather than asking each question individually. This gives the user certain
convenient facilities such as the ability to answer the whole series at once.
map-y-or-n-p prompter actor list &optional help action-alist [Function]
no-cursor-in-echo-area
This function asks the user a series of questions, reading a single-character answer in
the echo area for each one.
The value of list specifies the objects to ask questions about. It should be either a list
of objects or a generator function. If it is a function, it should expect no arguments,
and should return either the next object to ask about, or nil, meaning to stop asking
questions.
The argument prompter specifies how to ask each question. If prompter is a string,
the question text is computed like this:
(format prompter object)
where object is the next object to ask about (as obtained from list).
If not a string, prompter should be a function of one argument (the next object to
ask about) and should return the question text. If the value is a string, that is the
question to ask the user. The function can also return t, meaning do act on this
object (and don’t ask the user), or nil, meaning ignore this object (and don’t ask
the user).
The argument actor says how to act on the answers that the user gives. It should be
a function of one argument, and it is called with each object that the user says yes
for. Its argument is always an object obtained from list.
If the argument help is given, it should be a list of this form:
(singular plural action)
where singular is a string containing a singular noun that describes the objects con-
ceptually being acted on, plural is the corresponding plural noun, and action is a
transitive verb describing what actor does.
If you don’t specify help, the default is ("object" "objects" "act on").
Each time a question is asked, the user may enter y, Y, or SPC to act on that object;
n, N, or DEL to skip that object; ! to act on all following objects; ESC or q to exit
(skip all following objects); . (period) to act on the current object and then exit;
or C-h to get help. These are the same answers that query-replace accepts. The
keymap query-replace-map defines their meaning for map-y-or-n-p as well as for
query-replace; see Section 34.7 [Search and Replace], page 887.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 362

You can use action-alist to specify additional possible answers and what they mean.
It is an alist of elements of the form (char function help), each of which defines
one additional answer. In this element, char is a character (the answer); function is
a function of one argument (an object from list); help is a string.
When the user responds with char, map-y-or-n-p calls function. If it returns non-
nil, the object is considered acted upon, and map-y-or-n-p advances to the next
object in list. If it returns nil, the prompt is repeated for the same object.
Normally, map-y-or-n-p binds cursor-in-echo-area while prompting. But if no-
cursor-in-echo-area is non-nil, it does not do that.
If map-y-or-n-p is called in a command that was invoked using the mouse—more
precisely, if last-nonmenu-event (see Section 21.5 [Command Loop Info], page 378)
is either nil or a list—then it uses a dialog box or pop-up menu to ask the question.
In this case, it does not use keyboard input or the echo area. You can force use either
of the mouse or of keyboard input by binding last-nonmenu-event to a suitable
value around the call.
The return value of map-y-or-n-p is the number of objects acted on.

If you need to ask the user a question that might have more than just 2 answers, use
read-answer.

read-answer question answers [Function]

This function prompts the user with text in question, which should end in the ‘SPC’
character. The function includes in the prompt the possible responses in answers
by appending them to the end of question. The possible responses are provided in
answers as an alist whose elements are of the following form:
(long-answer short-answer help-message)
where long-answer is the complete text of the user response, a string; short-answer
is a short form of the same response, a single character; and help-message is the text
that describes the meaning of the answer. If the variable read-answer-short is non-
nil, the prompt will show the short variants of the possible answers and the user is
expected to type the single characters shown in the prompt; otherwise the prompt
will show the long variants of the answers, and the user is expected to type the full
text of one of the answers and end by pressing RET. If use-dialog-box is non-nil,
and this function was invoked by mouse events, the question and the answers will be
displayed in a GUI dialog box.
The function returns the text of the long-answer selected by the user, regardless of
whether long or short answers were shown in the prompt and typed by the user.
Here is an example of using this function:
(let ((read-answer-short t))
(read-answer "Foo "
'(("yes" ?y "perform the action")
("no" ?n "skip to the next")
("all" ?! "perform for the rest without more questions")
("help" ?h "show help")
("quit" ?q "exit"))))
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 363

20.9 Reading a Password

To read a password to pass to another program, you can use the function read-passwd.

read-passwd prompt &optional confirm default [Function]

This function reads a password, prompting with prompt. It does not echo the pass-
word as the user types it; instead, it echoes ‘.’ for each character in the password.
If you want to apply another character to hide the password, let-bind the variable
read-hide-char with that character.
The optional argument confirm, if non-nil, says to read the password twice and insist
it must be the same both times. If it isn’t the same, the user has to type it over and
over until the last two times match.
The optional argument default specifies the default password to return if the user
enters empty input. If default is nil, then read-passwd returns the null string in
that case.

20.10 Minibuffer Commands

This section describes some commands meant for use in the minibuffer.

exit-minibuffer [Command]
This command exits the active minibuffer. It is normally bound to keys in minibuffer
local keymaps.

self-insert-and-exit [Command]
This command exits the active minibuffer after inserting the last character typed on
the keyboard (found in last-command-event; see Section 21.5 [Command Loop Info],
page 378).

previous-history-element n [Command]
This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth previous
(older) history element.

next-history-element n [Command]
This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth more recent
history element.

previous-matching-history-element pattern n [Command]

This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth previous
(older) history element that matches pattern (a regular expression).

next-matching-history-element pattern n [Command]

This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth next (newer)
history element that matches pattern (a regular expression).

previous-complete-history-element n [Command]
This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth previous
(older) history element that completes the current contents of the minibuffer before
the point.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 364

next-complete-history-element n [Command]
This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth next (newer)
history element that completes the current contents of the minibuffer before the point.

20.11 Minibuffer Windows

These functions access and select minibuffer windows, test whether they are active and
control how they get resized.

minibuffer-window &optional frame [Function]

This function returns the minibuffer window used for frame frame. If frame is nil,
that stands for the selected frame.
Note that the minibuffer window used by a frame need not be part of that frame—a
frame that has no minibuffer of its own necessarily uses some other frame’s minibuffer
window. The minibuffer window of a minibuffer-less frame can be changed by setting
that frame’s minibuffer frame parameter (see Section 29.4.3.5 [Buffer Parameters],
page 708).

set-minibuffer-window window [Function]

This function specifies window as the minibuffer window to use. This affects where
the minibuffer is displayed if you put text in it without invoking the usual minibuffer
commands. It has no effect on the usual minibuffer input functions because they all
start by choosing the minibuffer window according to the selected frame.

window-minibuffer-p &optional window [Function]

This function returns non-nil if window is a minibuffer window. window defaults to
the selected window.

The following function returns the window showing the currently active minibuffer.

active-minibuffer-window [Function]
This function returns the window of the currently active minibuffer, or nil if there
is no active minibuffer.

It is not sufficient to determine whether a given window shows the currently active
minibuffer by comparing it with the result of (minibuffer-window), because there can be
more than one minibuffer window if there is more than one frame.

minibuffer-window-active-p window [Function]

This function returns non-nil if window shows the currently active minibuffer.

The following two options control whether minibuffer windows are resized automatically
and how large they can get in the process.

resize-mini-windows [User Option]

This option specifies whether minibuffer windows are resized automatically. The
default value is grow-only, which means that a minibuffer window by default expands
automatically to accommodate the text it displays and shrinks back to one line as
soon as the minibuffer gets empty. If the value is t, Emacs will always try to fit the
height of a minibuffer window to the text it displays (with a minimum of one line). If
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 365

the value is nil, a minibuffer window never changes size automatically. In that case
the window resizing commands (see Section 28.4 [Resizing Windows], page 608) can
be used to adjust its height.
max-mini-window-height [User Option]
This option provides a maximum height for resizing minibuffer windows automatically.
A floating-point number specifies a fraction of the frame’s height; an integer specifies
the maximum number of lines. The default value is 0.25.
Note that the values of the above two variables take effect at display time, so let-binding
them around code which produces echo-area messages will not work. If you want to prevent
resizing of minibuffer windows when displaying long messages, bind the message-truncate-
lines variable instead (see Section 39.4.4 [Echo Area Customization], page 973).

20.12 Minibuffer Contents

These functions access the minibuffer prompt and contents.
minibuffer-prompt [Function]
This function returns the prompt string of the currently active minibuffer. If no
minibuffer is active, it returns nil.
minibuffer-prompt-end [Function]
This function returns the current position of the end of the minibuffer prompt, if a
minibuffer is current. Otherwise, it returns the minimum valid buffer position.
minibuffer-prompt-width [Function]
This function returns the current display-width of the minibuffer prompt, if a mini-
buffer is current. Otherwise, it returns zero.
minibuffer-contents [Function]
This function returns the editable contents of the minibuffer (that is, everything
except the prompt) as a string, if a minibuffer is current. Otherwise, it returns the
entire contents of the current buffer.
minibuffer-contents-no-properties [Function]
This is like minibuffer-contents, except that it does not copy text properties, just
the characters themselves. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802.
delete-minibuffer-contents [Command]
This command erases the editable contents of the minibuffer (that is, everything
except the prompt), if a minibuffer is current. Otherwise, it erases the entire current
buffer.

20.13 Recursive Minibuffers

These functions and variables deal with recursive minibuffers (see Section 21.13 [Recursive
Editing], page 410):
minibuffer-depth [Function]
This function returns the current depth of activations of the minibuffer, a nonnegative
integer. If no minibuffers are active, it returns zero.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 366

enable-recursive-minibuffers [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, you can invoke commands (such as find-file) that use
minibuffers even while the minibuffer is active. Such invocation produces a recursive
editing level for a new minibuffer. The outer-level minibuffer is invisible while you
are editing the inner one.
If this variable is nil, you cannot invoke minibuffer commands when the minibuffer
is active, not even if you switch to another window to do it.
If a command name has a property enable-recursive-minibuffers that is non-nil,
then the command can use the minibuffer to read arguments even if it is invoked from the
minibuffer. A command can also achieve this by binding enable-recursive-minibuffers
to t in the interactive declaration (see Section 21.2.1 [Using Interactive], page 369). The
minibuffer command next-matching-history-element (normally M-s in the minibuffer)
does the latter.

20.14 Minibuffer Miscellany

minibufferp &optional buffer-or-name [Function]
This function returns non-nil if buffer-or-name is a minibuffer. If buffer-or-name is
omitted, it tests the current buffer.
minibuffer-setup-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook that is run whenever the minibuffer is entered. See Section 23.1
[Hooks], page 453.
minibuffer-with-setup-hook function &rest body [Macro]
This macro executes body after arranging for the specified function to be called via
minibuffer-setup-hook. By default, function is called before the other functions
in the minibuffer-setup-hook list, but if function is of the form (:append func),
func will be called after the other hook functions.
The body forms should not use the minibuffer more than once. If the minibuffer is
re-entered recursively, function will only be called once, for the outermost use of the
minibuffer.
minibuffer-exit-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook that is run whenever the minibuffer is exited. See Section 23.1
[Hooks], page 453.
minibuffer-help-form [Variable]
The current value of this variable is used to rebind help-form locally inside the
minibuffer (see Section 24.6 [Help Functions], page 517).
minibuffer-scroll-window [Variable]
If the value of this variable is non-nil, it should be a window object. When the
function scroll-other-window is called in the minibuffer, it scrolls this window.
minibuffer-selected-window [Function]
This function returns the window that was selected just before the minibuffer window
was selected. If the selected window is not a minibuffer window, it returns nil.
Chapter 20: Minibuffers 367

minibuffer-message string &rest args [Function]

This function displays string temporarily at the end of the minibuffer text, for a few
seconds, or until the next input event arrives, whichever comes first. The variable
minibuffer-message-timeout specifies the number of seconds to wait in the absence
of input. It defaults to 2. If args is non-nil, the actual message is obtained by pass-
ing string and args through format-message. See Section 4.7 [Formatting Strings],
page 60.

minibuffer-inactive-mode [Command]
This is the major mode used in inactive minibuffers. It uses keymap
minibuffer-inactive-mode-map. This can be useful if the minibuffer is in a
separate frame. See Section 29.9 [Minibuffers and Frames], page 719.
 368

21 Command Loop
When you run Emacs, it enters the editor command loop almost immediately. This loop
reads key sequences, executes their definitions, and displays the results. In this chapter,
we describe how these things are done, and the subroutines that allow Lisp programs to do
them.

21.1 Command Loop Overview

The first thing the command loop must do is read a key sequence, which is a sequence
of input events that translates into a command. It does this by calling the function
read-key-sequence. Lisp programs can also call this function (see Section 21.8.1 [Key
Sequence Input], page 397). They can also read input at a lower level with read-key or
read-event (see Section 21.8.2 [Reading One Event], page 399), or discard pending input
with discard-input (see Section 21.8.6 [Event Input Misc], page 404).
The key sequence is translated into a command through the currently active keymaps.
See Section 22.10 [Key Lookup], page 427, for information on how this is done. The result
should be a keyboard macro or an interactively callable function. If the key is M-x, then
it reads the name of another command, which it then calls. This is done by the command
execute-extended-command (see Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375).
Prior to executing the command, Emacs runs undo-boundary to create an undo bound-
ary. See Section 32.10 [Maintaining Undo], page 784.
To execute a command, Emacs first reads its arguments by calling command-execute (see
Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375). For commands written in Lisp, the interactive
specification says how to read the arguments. This may use the prefix argument (see
Section 21.12 [Prefix Command Arguments], page 408) or may read with prompting in the
minibuffer (see Chapter 20 [Minibuffers], page 334). For example, the command find-file
has an interactive specification which says to read a file name using the minibuffer. The
function body of find-file does not use the minibuffer, so if you call find-file as a
function from Lisp code, you must supply the file name string as an ordinary Lisp function
argument.
If the command is a keyboard macro (i.e., a string or vector), Emacs executes it using
execute-kbd-macro (see Section 21.16 [Keyboard Macros], page 413).
pre-command-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run by the editor command loop before it executes each com-
mand. At that time, this-command contains the command that is about to run, and
last-command describes the previous command. See Section 21.5 [Command Loop
Info], page 378.
post-command-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run by the editor command loop after it executes each command
(including commands terminated prematurely by quitting or by errors). At that time,
this-command refers to the command that just ran, and last-command refers to the
command before that.
This hook is also run when Emacs first enters the command loop (at which point
this-command and last-command are both nil).
Chapter 21: Command Loop 369

Quitting is suppressed while running pre-command-hook and post-command-hook. If

an error happens while executing one of these hooks, it does not terminate execution of the
hook; instead the error is silenced and the function in which the error occurred is removed
from the hook.
A request coming into the Emacs server (see Section “Emacs Server” in The GNU Emacs
Manual) runs these two hooks just as a keyboard command does.

21.2 Defining Commands

The special form interactive turns a Lisp function into a command. The interactive
form must be located at top-level in the function body, usually as the first form in the
body; this applies to both lambda expressions (see Section 13.2 [Lambda Expressions],
page 205) and defun forms (see Section 13.4 [Defining Functions], page 209). This form
does nothing during the actual execution of the function; its presence serves as a flag, telling
the Emacs command loop that the function can be called interactively. The argument of
the interactive form specifies how the arguments for an interactive call should be read.
Alternatively, an interactive form may be specified in a function symbol’s
interactive-form property. A non-nil value for this property takes precedence over any
interactive form in the function body itself. This feature is seldom used.
Sometimes, a function is only intended to be called interactively, never directly from
Lisp. In that case, give the function a non-nil interactive-only property, either directly
or via declare (see Section 13.14 [Declare Form], page 231). This causes the byte compiler
to warn if the command is called from Lisp. The output of describe-function will include
similar information. The value of the property can be: a string, which the byte-compiler
will use directly in its warning (it should end with a period, and not start with a capital,
e.g., "use (system-name) instead."); t; any other symbol, which should be an alternative
function to use in Lisp code.
Generic functions (see Section 13.8 [Generic Functions], page 217) cannot be turned into
commands by adding the interactive form to them.

21.2.1 Using interactive

This section describes how to write the interactive form that makes a Lisp function an
interactively-callable command, and how to examine a command’s interactive form.

interactive arg-descriptor [Special Form]

This special form declares that a function is a command, and that it may therefore
be called interactively (via M-x or by entering a key sequence bound to it). The
argument arg-descriptor declares how to compute the arguments to the command
when the command is called interactively.
A command may be called from Lisp programs like any other function, but then the
caller supplies the arguments and arg-descriptor has no effect.
The interactive form must be located at top-level in the function body, or in the
function symbol’s interactive-form property (see Section 9.4 [Symbol Properties],
page 125). It has its effect because the command loop looks for it before calling the
function (see Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375). Once the function is called,
Chapter 21: Command Loop 370

all its body forms are executed; at this time, if the interactive form occurs within
the body, the form simply returns nil without even evaluating its argument.
By convention, you should put the interactive form in the function body, as the
first top-level form. If there is an interactive form in both the interactive-form
symbol property and the function body, the former takes precedence. The
interactive-form symbol property can be used to add an interactive form to an
existing function, or change how its arguments are processed interactively, without
redefining the function.

There are three possibilities for the argument arg-descriptor:

• It may be omitted or nil; then the command is called with no arguments. This leads
quickly to an error if the command requires one or more arguments.
• It may be a string; its contents are a sequence of elements separated by newlines, one
for each argument1 . Each element consists of a code character (see Section 21.2.2 [Inter-
active Codes], page 371) optionally followed by a prompt (which some code characters
use and some ignore). Here is an example:
(interactive "P\nbFrobnicate buffer: ")
The code letter ‘P’ sets the command’s first argument to the raw command prefix
(see Section 21.12 [Prefix Command Arguments], page 408). ‘bFrobnicate buffer: ’
prompts the user with ‘Frobnicate buffer: ’ to enter the name of an existing buffer,
which becomes the second and final argument.
The prompt string can use ‘%’ to include previous argument values (starting with the
first argument) in the prompt. This is done using format-message (see Section 4.7
[Formatting Strings], page 60). For example, here is how you could read the name of
an existing buffer followed by a new name to give to that buffer:
(interactive "bBuffer to rename: \nsRename buffer %s to: ")
If ‘*’ appears at the beginning of the string, then an error is signaled if the buffer is
read-only.
If ‘@’ appears at the beginning of the string, and if the key sequence used to invoke
the command includes any mouse events, then the window associated with the first of
those events is selected before the command is run.
If ‘^’ appears at the beginning of the string, and if the command was invoked through
shift-translation, set the mark and activate the region temporarily, or extend an al-
ready active region, before the command is run. If the command was invoked without
shift-translation, and the region is temporarily active, deactivate the region before the
command is run. Shift-translation is controlled on the user level by shift-select-
mode; see Section “Shift Selection” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
You can use ‘*’, ‘@’, and ^ together; the order does not matter. Actual reading of
arguments is controlled by the rest of the prompt string (starting with the first character
that is not ‘*’, ‘@’, or ‘^’).
• It may be a Lisp expression that is not a string; then it should be a form that is
evaluated to get a list of arguments to pass to the command. Usually this form will
call various functions to read input from the user, most often through the minibuffer
1
Some elements actually supply two arguments.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 371

(see Chapter 20 [Minibuffers], page 334) or directly from the keyboard (see Section 21.8
[Reading Input], page 397).
Providing point or the mark as an argument value is also common, but if you do this
and read input (whether using the minibuffer or not), be sure to get the integer values
of point or the mark after reading. The current buffer may be receiving subprocess
output; if subprocess output arrives while the command is waiting for input, it could
relocate point and the mark.
Here’s an example of what not to do:
(interactive
(list (region-beginning) (region-end)
(read-string "Foo: " nil 'my-history)))
Here’s how to avoid the problem, by examining point and the mark after reading the
keyboard input:
(interactive
(let ((string (read-string "Foo: " nil 'my-history)))
(list (region-beginning) (region-end) string)))
Warning: the argument values should not include any data types that can’t be printed
and then read. Some facilities save command-history in a file to be read in the subse-
quent sessions; if a command’s arguments contain a data type that prints using ‘#<...>’
syntax, those facilities won’t work.
There are, however, a few exceptions: it is ok to use a limited set of expressions such as
(point), (mark), (region-beginning), and (region-end), because Emacs recognizes
them specially and puts the expression (rather than its value) into the command history.
To see whether the expression you wrote is one of these exceptions, run the command,
then examine (car command-history).
interactive-form function [Function]
This function returns the interactive form of function. If function is an interac-
tively callable function (see Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375), the value is the
command’s interactive form (interactive spec), which specifies how to compute
its arguments. Otherwise, the value is nil. If function is a symbol, its function
definition is used.

21.2.2 Code Characters for interactive

The code character descriptions below contain a number of key words, defined here as
follows:
Completion
Provide completion. TAB, SPC, and RET perform name completion because
the argument is read using completing-read (see Section 20.6 [Completion],
page 342). ? displays a list of possible completions.
Existing Require the name of an existing object. An invalid name is not accepted; the
commands to exit the minibuffer do not exit if the current input is not valid.
Default A default value of some sort is used if the user enters no text in the minibuffer.
The default depends on the code character.
No I/O This code letter computes an argument without reading any input. Therefore,
it does not use a prompt string, and any prompt string you supply is ignored.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 372

Even though the code letter doesn’t use a prompt string, you must follow it
with a newline if it is not the last code character in the string.
Prompt A prompt immediately follows the code character. The prompt ends either with
the end of the string or with a newline.
Special This code character is meaningful only at the beginning of the interactive string,
and it does not look for a prompt or a newline. It is a single, isolated character.
Here are the code character descriptions for use with interactive:
‘*’ Signal an error if the current buffer is read-only. Special.
‘@’ Select the window mentioned in the first mouse event in the key sequence that
invoked this command. Special.
‘^’ If the command was invoked through shift-translation, set the mark and activate
the region temporarily, or extend an already active region, before the command
is run. If the command was invoked without shift-translation, and the region is
temporarily active, deactivate the region before the command is run. Special.
‘a’ A function name (i.e., a symbol satisfying fboundp). Existing, Completion,
Prompt.
‘b’ The name of an existing buffer. By default, uses the name of the current buffer
(see Chapter 27 [Buffers], page 581). Existing, Completion, Default, Prompt.
‘B’ A buffer name. The buffer need not exist. By default, uses the name of a re-
cently used buffer other than the current buffer. Completion, Default, Prompt.
‘c’ A character. The cursor does not move into the echo area. Prompt.
‘C’ A command name (i.e., a symbol satisfying commandp). Existing, Completion,
Prompt.
‘d’ The position of point, as an integer (see Section 30.1 [Point], page 742). No
I/O.
‘D’ A directory. The default is the current default directory of the current buffer,
default-directory (see Section 25.9.4 [File Name Expansion], page 550). Ex-
isting, Completion, Default, Prompt.
‘e’ The first or next non-keyboard event in the key sequence that invoked the
command. More precisely, ‘e’ gets events that are lists, so you can look at the
data in the lists. See Section 21.7 [Input Events], page 381. No I/O.
You use ‘e’ for mouse events and for special system events (see Section 21.7.10
[Misc Events], page 388). The event list that the command receives depends on
the event. See Section 21.7 [Input Events], page 381, which describes the forms
of the list for each event in the corresponding subsections.
You can use ‘e’ more than once in a single command’s interactive specification.
If the key sequence that invoked the command has n events that are lists, the
nth ‘e’ provides the nth such event. Events that are not lists, such as function
keys and ASCII characters, do not count where ‘e’ is concerned.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 373

‘f’ A file name of an existing file (see Section 25.9 [File Names], page 546). The de-
fault directory is default-directory. Existing, Completion, Default, Prompt.
‘F’ A file name. The file need not exist. Completion, Default, Prompt.
‘G’ A file name. The file need not exist. If the user enters just a directory name,
then the value is just that directory name, with no file name within the directory
added. Completion, Default, Prompt.
‘i’ An irrelevant argument. This code always supplies nil as the argument’s value.
No I/O.
‘k’ A key sequence (see Section 22.1 [Key Sequences], page 415). This keeps reading
events until a command (or undefined command) is found in the current key
maps. The key sequence argument is represented as a string or vector. The
cursor does not move into the echo area. Prompt.
If ‘k’ reads a key sequence that ends with a down-event, it also reads and
discards the following up-event. You can get access to that up-event with the
‘U’ code character.
This kind of input is used by commands such as describe-key and
global-set-key.
‘K’ A key sequence, whose definition you intend to change. This works like ‘k’,
except that it suppresses, for the last input event in the key sequence, the
conversions that are normally used (when necessary) to convert an undefined
key into a defined one.
‘m’ The position of the mark, as an integer. No I/O.
‘M’ Arbitrary text, read in the minibuffer using the current buffer’s input method,
and returned as a string (see Section “Input Methods” in The GNU Emacs
Manual). Prompt.
‘n’ A number, read with the minibuffer. If the input is not a number, the user has
to try again. ‘n’ never uses the prefix argument. Prompt.
‘N’ The numeric prefix argument; but if there is no prefix argument, read a number
as with n. The value is always a number. See Section 21.12 [Prefix Command
Arguments], page 408. Prompt.
‘p’ The numeric prefix argument. (Note that this ‘p’ is lower case.) No I/O.
‘P’ The raw prefix argument. (Note that this ‘P’ is upper case.) No I/O.
‘r’ Point and the mark, as two numeric arguments, smallest first. This is the only
code letter that specifies two successive arguments rather than one. This will
signal an error if the mark is not set in the buffer which is current when the
command is invoked. No I/O.
‘s’ Arbitrary text, read in the minibuffer and returned as a string (see Section 20.2
[Text from Minibuffer], page 335). Terminate the input with either C-j or RET.
(C-q may be used to include either of these characters in the input.) Prompt.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 374

‘S’ An interned symbol whose name is read in the minibuffer. Terminate the input
with either C-j or RET. Other characters that normally terminate a symbol
(e.g., whitespace, parentheses and brackets) do not do so here. Prompt.
‘U’ A key sequence or nil. Can be used after a ‘k’ or ‘K’ argument to get the
up-event that was discarded (if any) after ‘k’ or ‘K’ read a down-event. If no
up-event has been discarded, ‘U’ provides nil as the argument. No I/O.
‘v’ A variable declared to be a user option (i.e., satisfying the predicate
custom-variable-p). This reads the variable using read-variable. See
[Definition of read-variable], page 351. Existing, Completion, Prompt.
‘x’ A Lisp object, specified with its read syntax, terminated with a C-j or RET. The
object is not evaluated. See Section 20.3 [Object from Minibuffer], page 338.
Prompt.
‘X’ A Lisp form’s value. ‘X’ reads as ‘x’ does, then evaluates the form so that its
value becomes the argument for the command. Prompt.
‘z’ A coding system name (a symbol). If the user enters null input, the argu-
ment value is nil. See Section 33.10 [Coding Systems], page 848. Completion,
Existing, Prompt.
‘Z’ A coding system name (a symbol)—but only if this command has a prefix
argument. With no prefix argument, ‘Z’ provides nil as the argument value.
Completion, Existing, Prompt.

21.2.3 Examples of Using interactive

Here are some examples of interactive:
(defun foo1 () ; foo1 takes no arguments,
(interactive) ; just moves forward two words.
(forward-word 2))
⇒ foo1

(defun foo2 (n) ; foo2 takes one argument,

(interactive "^p") ; which is the numeric prefix.
; under shift-select-mode,
; will activate or extend region.
(forward-word (* 2 n)))
⇒ foo2

(defun foo3 (n) ; foo3 takes one argument,

(interactive "nCount:") ; which is read with the Minibuffer.
(forward-word (* 2 n)))
⇒ foo3

(defun three-b (b1 b2 b3)

"Select three existing buffers.
Put them into three windows, selecting the last one."
(interactive "bBuffer1:\nbBuffer2:\nbBuffer3:")
Chapter 21: Command Loop 375

(delete-other-windows)
(split-window (selected-window) 8)
(switch-to-buffer b1)
(other-window 1)
(split-window (selected-window) 8)
(switch-to-buffer b2)
(other-window 1)
(switch-to-buffer b3))
⇒ three-b
(three-b "*scratch*" "declarations.texi" "*mail*")
⇒ nil

21.2.4 Select among Command Alternatives

The macro define-alternatives can be used to define generic commands. These are
interactive functions whose implementation can be selected from several alternatives, as a
matter of user preference.

define-alternatives command &rest customizations [Macro]

Define the new command command, a symbol.
When a user runs M-x command RET for the first time, Emacs prompts for which real
form of the command to use, and records the selection by way of a custom variable.
Using a prefix argument repeats this process of choosing an alternative.
The variable command-alternatives should contain an alist with alternative imple-
mentations of command. Until this variable is set, define-alternatives has no
effect.
If customizations is non-nil, it should consist of alternating defcustom keywords
(typically :group and :version) and values to add to the declaration of
command-alternatives.

21.3 Interactive Call

After the command loop has translated a key sequence into a command, it invokes
that command using the function command-execute. If the command is a function,
command-execute calls call-interactively, which reads the arguments and calls the
command. You can also call these functions yourself.
Note that the term “command”, in this context, refers to an interactively callable func-
tion (or function-like object), or a keyboard macro. It does not refer to the key sequence
used to invoke a command (see Chapter 22 [Keymaps], page 415).

commandp object &optional for-call-interactively [Function]

This function returns t if object is a command. Otherwise, it returns nil.
Commands include strings and vectors (which are treated as keyboard macros),
lambda expressions that contain a top-level interactive form (see Section 21.2.1
[Using Interactive], page 369), byte-code function objects made from such lambda ex-
pressions, autoload objects that are declared as interactive (non-nil fourth argument
to autoload), and some primitive functions. Also, a symbol is considered a command
Chapter 21: Command Loop 376

if it has a non-nil interactive-form property, or if its function definition satisfies

commandp.
If for-call-interactively is non-nil, then commandp returns t only for objects that
call-interactively could call—thus, not for keyboard macros.
See documentation in Section 24.2 [Accessing Documentation], page 511, for a real-
istic example of using commandp.
call-interactively command &optional record-flag keys [Function]
This function calls the interactively callable function command, providing arguments
according to its interactive calling specifications. It returns whatever command re-
turns.
If, for instance, you have a function with the following signature:
(defun foo (begin end)
(interactive "r")
...)
then saying
(call-interactively 'foo)
will call foo with the region (point and mark) as the arguments.
An error is signaled if command is not a function or if it cannot be called interactively
(i.e., is not a command). Note that keyboard macros (strings and vectors) are not
accepted, even though they are considered commands, because they are not functions.
If command is a symbol, then call-interactively uses its function definition.
If record-flag is non-nil, then this command and its arguments are unconditionally
added to the list command-history. Otherwise, the command is added only if it uses
the minibuffer to read an argument. See Section 21.15 [Command History], page 413.
The argument keys, if given, should be a vector which specifies the sequence of events
to supply if the command inquires which events were used to invoke it. If keys is
omitted or nil, the default is the return value of this-command-keys-vector. See
[Definition of this-command-keys-vector], page 380.
funcall-interactively function &rest arguments [Function]
This function works like funcall (see Section 13.5 [Calling Functions], page 212), but
it makes the call look like an interactive invocation: a call to called-interactively-
p inside function will return t. If function is not a command, it is called without
signaling an error.
command-execute command &optional record-flag keys special [Function]
This function executes command. The argument command must satisfy the commandp
predicate; i.e., it must be an interactively callable function or a keyboard macro.
A string or vector as command is executed with execute-kbd-macro. A function
is passed to call-interactively (see above), along with the record-flag and keys
arguments.
If command is a symbol, its function definition is used in its place. A symbol with an
autoload definition counts as a command if it was declared to stand for an interac-
tively callable function. Such a definition is handled by loading the specified library
and then rechecking the definition of the symbol.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 377

The argument special, if given, means to ignore the prefix argument and not clear it.
This is used for executing special events (see Section 21.9 [Special Events], page 405).
execute-extended-command prefix-argument [Command]
This function reads a command name from the minibuffer using completing-read
(see Section 20.6 [Completion], page 342). Then it uses command-execute to call
the specified command. Whatever that command returns becomes the value of
execute-extended-command.
If the command asks for a prefix argument, it receives the value prefix-argument. If
execute-extended-command is called interactively, the current raw prefix argument
is used for prefix-argument, and thus passed on to whatever command is run.
execute-extended-command is the normal definition of M-x, so it uses the string
‘M-x ’ as a prompt. (It would be better to take the prompt from the events used to
invoke execute-extended-command, but that is painful to implement.) A description
of the value of the prefix argument, if any, also becomes part of the prompt.
(execute-extended-command 3)
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
3 M-x forward-word RET
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
⇒ t

21.4 Distinguish Interactive Calls

Sometimes a command should display additional visual feedback (such as an informative
message in the echo area) for interactive calls only. There are three ways to do this. The
recommended way to test whether the function was called using call-interactively is
to give it an optional argument print-message and use the interactive spec to make it
non-nil in interactive calls. Here’s an example:
(defun foo (&optional print-message)
(interactive "p")
(when print-message
(message "foo")))
We use "p" because the numeric prefix argument is never nil. Defined in this way, the
function does display the message when called from a keyboard macro.
The above method with the additional argument is usually best, because it allows
callers to say “treat this call as interactive”. But you can also do the job by testing
called-interactively-p.
called-interactively-p kind [Function]
This function returns t when the calling function was called using
call-interactively.
The argument kind should be either the symbol interactive or the symbol any.
If it is interactive, then called-interactively-p returns t only if the call was
made directly by the user—e.g., if the user typed a key sequence bound to the calling
function, but not if the user ran a keyboard macro that called the function (see
Section 21.16 [Keyboard Macros], page 413). If kind is any, called-interactively-
p returns t for any kind of interactive call, including keyboard macros.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 378

If in doubt, use any; the only known proper use of interactive is if you need to
decide whether to display a helpful message while a function is running.
A function is never considered to be called interactively if it was called via Lisp
evaluation (or with apply or funcall).

Here is an example of using called-interactively-p:

(defun foo ()
(interactive)
(when (called-interactively-p 'any)
(message "Interactive!")
'foo-called-interactively))

;; Type M-x foo.

a Interactive!

(foo)
⇒ nil
Here is another example that contrasts direct and indirect calls to called-interactively-
p.
(defun bar ()
(interactive)
(message "%s" (list (foo) (called-interactively-p 'any))))

;; Type M-x bar.

a (nil t)

21.5 Information from the Command Loop

The editor command loop sets several Lisp variables to keep status records for itself and
for commands that are run. With the exception of this-command and last-command it’s
generally a bad idea to change any of these variables in a Lisp program.

last-command [Variable]
This variable records the name of the previous command executed by the command
loop (the one before the current command). Normally the value is a symbol with a
function definition, but this is not guaranteed.
The value is copied from this-command when a command returns to the command
loop, except when the command has specified a prefix argument for the following
command.
This variable is always local to the current terminal and cannot be buffer-local. See
Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685.

real-last-command [Variable]
This variable is set up by Emacs just like last-command, but never altered by Lisp
programs.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 379

last-repeatable-command [Variable]
This variable stores the most recently executed command that was not part of an
input event. This is the command repeat will try to repeat, See Section “Repeating”
in The GNU Emacs Manual.
this-command [Variable]
This variable records the name of the command now being executed by the editor
command loop. Like last-command, it is normally a symbol with a function definition.
The command loop sets this variable just before running a command, and copies its
value into last-command when the command finishes (unless the command specified
a prefix argument for the following command).
Some commands set this variable during their execution, as a flag for whatever com-
mand runs next. In particular, the functions for killing text set this-command to
kill-region so that any kill commands immediately following will know to append
the killed text to the previous kill.
If you do not want a particular command to be recognized as the previous command in
the case where it got an error, you must code that command to prevent this. One way is
to set this-command to t at the beginning of the command, and set this-command back to
its proper value at the end, like this:
(defun foo (args...)
(interactive ...)
(let ((old-this-command this-command))
(setq this-command t)
. . . do the work. . .
(setq this-command old-this-command)))
We do not bind this-command with let because that would restore the old value in case
of error—a feature of let which in this case does precisely what we want to avoid.
this-original-command [Variable]
This has the same value as this-command except when command remapping occurs
(see Section 22.13 [Remapping Commands], page 433). In that case, this-command
gives the command actually run (the result of remapping), and this-original-
command gives the command that was specified to run but remapped into another
command.
this-command-keys [Function]
This function returns a string or vector containing the key sequence that invoked the
present command, plus any previous commands that generated the prefix argument
for this command. Any events read by the command using read-event without a
timeout get tacked on to the end.
However, if the command has called read-key-sequence, it returns the last read key
sequence. See Section 21.8.1 [Key Sequence Input], page 397. The value is a string if
all events in the sequence were characters that fit in a string. See Section 21.7 [Input
Events], page 381.
(this-command-keys)
;; Now use C-u C-x C-e to evaluate that.
⇒ "^U^X^E"
Chapter 21: Command Loop 380

this-command-keys-vector [Function]
Like this-command-keys, except that it always returns the events in a vector, so
you don’t need to deal with the complexities of storing input events in a string (see
Section 21.7.15 [Strings of Events], page 396).
clear-this-command-keys &optional keep-record [Function]
This function empties out the table of events for this-command-keys to return. Un-
less keep-record is non-nil, it also empties the records that the function recent-keys
(see Section 40.13.2 [Recording Input], page 1098) will subsequently return. This is
useful after reading a password, to prevent the password from echoing inadvertently
as part of the next command in certain cases.
last-nonmenu-event [Variable]
This variable holds the last input event read as part of a key sequence, not counting
events resulting from mouse menus.
One use of this variable is for telling x-popup-menu where to pop up a menu. It is
also used internally by y-or-n-p (see Section 20.7 [Yes-or-No Queries], page 359).
last-command-event [Variable]
This variable is set to the last input event that was read by the command loop as
part of a command. The principal use of this variable is in self-insert-command,
which uses it to decide which character to insert.
last-command-event
;; Now use C-u C-x C-e to evaluate that.
⇒ 5
The value is 5 because that is the ASCII code for C-e.
last-event-frame [Variable]
This variable records which frame the last input event was directed to. Usually this
is the frame that was selected when the event was generated, but if that frame has
redirected input focus to another frame, the value is the frame to which the event was
redirected. See Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720.
If the last event came from a keyboard macro, the value is macro.

21.6 Adjusting Point After Commands

Emacs cannot display the cursor when point is in the middle of a sequence of text that
has the display or composition property, or is invisible. Therefore, after a command
finishes and returns to the command loop, if point is within such a sequence, the command
loop normally moves point to the edge of the sequence, making this sequence effectively
intangible.
A command can inhibit this feature by setting the variable disable-point-adjustment:
disable-point-adjustment [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil when a command returns to the command loop, then the
command loop does not check for those text properties, and does not move point out
of sequences that have them.
The command loop sets this variable to nil before each command, so if a command
sets it, the effect applies only to that command.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 381

global-disable-point-adjustment [Variable]
If you set this variable to a non-nil value, the feature of moving point out of these
sequences is completely turned off.

21.7 Input Events

The Emacs command loop reads a sequence of input events that represent keyboard or
mouse activity, or system events sent to Emacs. The events for keyboard activity are char-
acters or symbols; other events are always lists. This section describes the representation
and meaning of input events in detail.
eventp object [Function]
This function returns non-nil if object is an input event or event type.
Note that any symbol might be used as an event or an event type. eventp cannot
distinguish whether a symbol is intended by Lisp code to be used as an event. Instead,
it distinguishes whether the symbol has actually been used in an event that has been
read as input in the current Emacs session. If a symbol has not yet been so used,
eventp returns nil.

21.7.1 Keyboard Events

There are two kinds of input you can get from the keyboard: ordinary keys, and function
keys. Ordinary keys correspond to (possibly modified) characters; the events they generate
are represented in Lisp as characters. The event type of a character event is the character
itself (an integer), which might have some modifier bits set; see Section 21.7.12 [Classifying
Events], page 391.
An input character event consists of a basic code between 0 and 524287, plus any or all
of these modifier bits:
meta The 227 bit in the character code indicates a character typed with the meta key
held down.
control The 226 bit in the character code indicates a non-ASCII control character.
ascii control characters such as C-a have special basic codes of their own, so
Emacs needs no special bit to indicate them. Thus, the code for C-a is just 1.
But if you type a control combination not in ASCII, such as % with the control
key, the numeric value you get is the code for % plus 226 (assuming the terminal
supports non-ASCII control characters), i.e. with the 27th bit set.
shift The 225 bit (the 26th bit) in the character event code indicates an ASCII control
character typed with the shift key held down.
For letters, the basic code itself indicates upper versus lower case; for digits and
punctuation, the shift key selects an entirely different character with a different
basic code. In order to keep within the ASCII character set whenever possible,
Emacs avoids using the 225 bit for those character events.
However, ASCII provides no way to distinguish C-A from C-a, so Emacs uses
the 225 bit in C-A and not in C-a.
hyper The 224 bit in the character event code indicates a character typed with the
hyper key held down.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 382

super The 223 bit in the character event code indicates a character typed with the
super key held down.
alt The 222 bit in the character event code indicates a character typed with the alt
key held down. (The key labeled Alt on most keyboards is actually treated as
the meta key, not this.)
It is best to avoid mentioning specific bit numbers in your program. To test the modifier
bits of a character, use the function event-modifiers (see Section 21.7.12 [Classifying
Events], page 391). When making key bindings, you can use the read syntax for characters
with modifier bits (‘\C-’, ‘\M-’, and so on). For making key bindings with define-key,
you can use lists such as (control hyper ?x) to specify the characters (see Section 22.12
[Changing Key Bindings], page 430). The function event-convert-list converts such a
list into an event type (see Section 21.7.12 [Classifying Events], page 391).

21.7.2 Function Keys

Most keyboards also have function keys—keys that have names or symbols that are not
characters. Function keys are represented in Emacs Lisp as symbols; the symbol’s name is
the function key’s label, in lower case. For example, pressing a key labeled F1 generates an
input event represented by the symbol f1.
The event type of a function key event is the event symbol itself. See Section 21.7.12
[Classifying Events], page 391.
Here are a few special cases in the symbol-naming convention for function keys:
backspace, tab, newline, return, delete
These keys correspond to common ASCII control characters that have special
keys on most keyboards.
In ASCII, C-i and TAB are the same character. If the terminal can distinguish
between them, Emacs conveys the distinction to Lisp programs by representing
the former as the integer 9, and the latter as the symbol tab.
Most of the time, it’s not useful to distinguish the two. So normally
local-function-key-map (see Section 22.14 [Translation Keymaps],
page 434) is set up to map tab into 9. Thus, a key binding for character code 9
(the character C-i) also applies to tab. Likewise for the other symbols in this
group. The function read-char likewise converts these events into characters.
In ASCII, BS is really C-h. But backspace converts into the character code 127
(DEL), not into code 8 (BS). This is what most users prefer.
left, up, right, down
Cursor arrow keys
kp-add, kp-decimal, kp-divide, . . .
Keypad keys (to the right of the regular keyboard).
kp-0, kp-1, . . .
Keypad keys with digits.
kp-f1, kp-f2, kp-f3, kp-f4
Keypad PF keys.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 383

kp-home, kp-left, kp-up, kp-right, kp-down

Keypad arrow keys. Emacs normally translates these into the corresponding
non-keypad keys home, left, . . .
kp-prior, kp-next, kp-end, kp-begin, kp-insert, kp-delete
Additional keypad duplicates of keys ordinarily found elsewhere. Emacs nor-
mally translates these into the like-named non-keypad keys.
You can use the modifier keys ALT, CTRL, HYPER, META, SHIFT, and SUPER with function
keys. The way to represent them is with prefixes in the symbol name:
‘A-’ The alt modifier.
‘C-’ The control modifier.
‘H-’ The hyper modifier.
‘M-’ The meta modifier.
‘S-’ The shift modifier.
‘s-’ The super modifier.
Thus, the symbol for the key F3 with META held down is M-f3. When you use more than
one prefix, we recommend you write them in alphabetical order; but the order does not
matter in arguments to the key-binding lookup and modification functions.

21.7.3 Mouse Events

Emacs supports four kinds of mouse events: click events, drag events, button-down events,
and motion events. All mouse events are represented as lists. The car of the list is the event
type; this says which mouse button was involved, and which modifier keys were used with
it. The event type can also distinguish double or triple button presses (see Section 21.7.7
[Repeat Events], page 386). The rest of the list elements give position and time information.
For key lookup, only the event type matters: two events of the same type necessarily
run the same command. The command can access the full values of these events using the
‘e’ interactive code. See Section 21.2.2 [Interactive Codes], page 371.
A key sequence that starts with a mouse event is read using the keymaps of the buffer
in the window that the mouse was in, not the current buffer. This does not imply that
clicking in a window selects that window or its buffer—that is entirely under the control of
the command binding of the key sequence.

21.7.4 Click Events

When the user presses a mouse button and releases it at the same location, that generates
a click event. All mouse click event share the same format:
(event-type position click-count)
event-type This is a symbol that indicates which mouse button was used. It is one of the
symbols mouse-1, mouse-2, . . . , where the buttons are numbered left to right.
You can also use prefixes ‘A-’, ‘C-’, ‘H-’, ‘M-’, ‘S-’ and ‘s-’ for modifiers alt,
control, hyper, meta, shift and super, just as you would with function keys.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 384

This symbol also serves as the event type of the event. Key bindings describe
events by their types; thus, if there is a key binding for mouse-1, that binding
would apply to all events whose event-type is mouse-1.
position This is a mouse position list specifying where the mouse click occurred; see
below for details.
click-count
This is the number of rapid repeated presses so far of the same mouse button.
See Section 21.7.7 [Repeat Events], page 386.
To access the contents of a mouse position list in the position slot of a click event,
you should typically use the functions documented in Section 21.7.13 [Accessing Mouse],
page 393. The explicit format of the list depends on where the click occurred. For clicks in
the text area, mode line, header line, or in the fringe or marginal areas, the mouse position
list has the form
(window pos-or-area (x . y) timestamp
object text-pos (col . row)
image (dx . dy) (width . height))
The meanings of these list elements are as follows:
window The window in which the click occurred.
pos-or-area
The buffer position of the character clicked on in the text area; or, if the click was
outside the text area, the window area where it occurred. It is one of the sym-
bols mode-line, header-line, vertical-line, left-margin, right-margin,
left-fringe, or right-fringe.
In one special case, pos-or-area is a list containing a symbol (one of the symbols
listed above) instead of just the symbol. This happens after the imaginary prefix
keys for the event are registered by Emacs. See Section 21.8.1 [Key Sequence
Input], page 397.
x, y The relative pixel coordinates of the click. For clicks in the text area of a
window, the coordinate origin (0 . 0) is taken to be the top left corner of the
text area. See Section 28.3 [Window Sizes], page 603. For clicks in a mode
line or header line, the coordinate origin is the top left corner of the window
itself. For fringes, margins, and the vertical border, x does not have meaningful
data. For fringes and margins, y is relative to the bottom edge of the header
line. In all cases, the x and y coordinates increase rightward and downward
respectively.
timestamp
The time at which the event occurred, as an integer number of milliseconds
since a system-dependent initial time.
object Either nil, which means the click occurred on buffer text, or a cons cell of the
form (string . string-pos) if there is a string from a text property or an overlay
at the click position.
string The string which was clicked on, including any properties.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 385

string-pos The position in the string where the click occurred.

text-pos For clicks on a marginal area or on a fringe, this is the buffer position of the
first visible character in the corresponding line in the window. For clicks on
the mode line or the header line, this is nil. For other events, it is the buffer
position closest to the click.
col, row These are the actual column and row coordinate numbers of the glyph under
the x, y position. If x lies beyond the last column of actual text on its line, col
is reported by adding fictional extra columns that have the default character
width. Row 0 is taken to be the header line if the window has one, or the
topmost row of the text area otherwise. Column 0 is taken to be the leftmost
column of the text area for clicks on a window text area, or the leftmost mode
line or header line column for clicks there. For clicks on fringes or vertical
borders, these have no meaningful data. For clicks on margins, col is measured
from the left edge of the margin area and row is measured from the top of the
margin area.
image If there is an image at the click location, this is the image object as returned by
find-image (see Section 39.17.8 [Defining Images], page 1043); otherwise this
is nil.
dx, dy These are the pixel coordinates of the click, relative to the top left corner
of object, which is (0 . 0). If object is nil, which stands for a buffer, the
coordinates are relative to the top left corner of the character glyph clicked on.
width, height
These are the pixel width and height of object or, if this is nil, those of the
character glyph clicked on.
For clicks on a scroll bar, position has this form:
(window area (portion . whole) timestamp part)
window The window whose scroll bar was clicked on.
area This is the symbol vertical-scroll-bar.
portion The number of pixels from the top of the scroll bar to the click position. On
some toolkits, including GTK+, Emacs cannot extract this data, so the value
is always 0.
whole The total length, in pixels, of the scroll bar. On some toolkits, including GTK+,
Emacs cannot extract this data, so the value is always 0.
timestamp
The time at which the event occurred, in milliseconds. On some toolkits, in-
cluding GTK+, Emacs cannot extract this data, so the value is always 0.
part The part of the scroll bar on which the click occurred. It is one of the symbols
handle (the scroll bar handle), above-handle (the area above the handle),
below-handle (the area below the handle), up (the up arrow at one end of the
scroll bar), or down (the down arrow at one end of the scroll bar).
Chapter 21: Command Loop 386

21.7.5 Drag Events

With Emacs, you can have a drag event without even changing your clothes. A drag
event happens every time the user presses a mouse button and then moves the mouse to a
different character position before releasing the button. Like all mouse events, drag events
are represented in Lisp as lists. The lists record both the starting mouse position and the
final position, like this:
(event-type
(window1 START-POSITION)
(window2 END-POSITION))
For a drag event, the name of the symbol event-type contains the prefix ‘drag-’. For
example, dragging the mouse with button 2 held down generates a drag-mouse-2 event.
The second and third elements of the event give the starting and ending position of the
drag, as mouse position lists (see Section 21.7.4 [Click Events], page 383). You can access
the second element of any mouse event in the same way. However, the drag event may
end outside the boundaries of the frame that was initially selected. In that case, the third
element’s position list contains that frame in place of a window.
The ‘drag-’ prefix follows the modifier key prefixes such as ‘C-’ and ‘M-’.
If read-key-sequence receives a drag event that has no key binding, and the corre-
sponding click event does have a binding, it changes the drag event into a click event at the
drag’s starting position. This means that you don’t have to distinguish between click and
drag events unless you want to.

21.7.6 Button-Down Events

Click and drag events happen when the user releases a mouse button. They cannot happen
earlier, because there is no way to distinguish a click from a drag until the button is released.
If you want to take action as soon as a button is pressed, you need to handle button-down
events.2 These occur as soon as a button is pressed. They are represented by lists that
look exactly like click events (see Section 21.7.4 [Click Events], page 383), except that the
event-type symbol name contains the prefix ‘down-’. The ‘down-’ prefix follows modifier
key prefixes such as ‘C-’ and ‘M-’.
The function read-key-sequence ignores any button-down events that don’t have com-
mand bindings; therefore, the Emacs command loop ignores them too. This means that you
need not worry about defining button-down events unless you want them to do something.
The usual reason to define a button-down event is so that you can track mouse motion (by
reading motion events) until the button is released. See Section 21.7.8 [Motion Events],
page 388.

21.7.7 Repeat Events

If you press the same mouse button more than once in quick succession without moving the
mouse, Emacs generates special repeat mouse events for the second and subsequent presses.
The most common repeat events are double-click events. Emacs generates a double-click
event when you click a button twice; the event happens when you release the button (as is
normal for all click events).
2
Button-down is the conservative antithesis of drag.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 387

The event type of a double-click event contains the prefix ‘double-’. Thus, a double click
on the second mouse button with meta held down comes to the Lisp program as M-double-
mouse-2. If a double-click event has no binding, the binding of the corresponding ordinary
click event is used to execute it. Thus, you need not pay attention to the double click
feature unless you really want to.
When the user performs a double click, Emacs generates first an ordinary click event, and
then a double-click event. Therefore, you must design the command binding of the double
click event to assume that the single-click command has already run. It must produce the
desired results of a double click, starting from the results of a single click.
This is convenient, if the meaning of a double click somehow builds on the meaning of a
single click—which is recommended user interface design practice for double clicks.
If you click a button, then press it down again and start moving the mouse with the
button held down, then you get a double-drag event when you ultimately release the button.
Its event type contains ‘double-drag’ instead of just ‘drag’. If a double-drag event has no
binding, Emacs looks for an alternate binding as if the event were an ordinary drag.
Before the double-click or double-drag event, Emacs generates a double-down event when
the user presses the button down for the second time. Its event type contains ‘double-down’
instead of just ‘down’. If a double-down event has no binding, Emacs looks for an alternate
binding as if the event were an ordinary button-down event. If it finds no binding that way
either, the double-down event is ignored.
To summarize, when you click a button and then press it again right away, Emacs
generates a down event and a click event for the first click, a double-down event when you
press the button again, and finally either a double-click or a double-drag event.
If you click a button twice and then press it again, all in quick succession, Emacs gener-
ates a triple-down event, followed by either a triple-click or a triple-drag. The event types
of these events contain ‘triple’ instead of ‘double’. If any triple event has no binding,
Emacs uses the binding that it would use for the corresponding double event.
If you click a button three or more times and then press it again, the events for the
presses beyond the third are all triple events. Emacs does not have separate event types
for quadruple, quintuple, etc. events. However, you can look at the event list to find out
precisely how many times the button was pressed.

event-click-count event [Function]

This function returns the number of consecutive button presses that led up to event.
If event is a double-down, double-click or double-drag event, the value is 2. If event
is a triple event, the value is 3 or greater. If event is an ordinary mouse event (not a
repeat event), the value is 1.

double-click-fuzz [User Option]

To generate repeat events, successive mouse button presses must be at approximately
the same screen position. The value of double-click-fuzz specifies the maximum
number of pixels the mouse may be moved (horizontally or vertically) between two
successive clicks to make a double-click.
This variable is also the threshold for motion of the mouse to count as a drag.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 388

double-click-time [User Option]

To generate repeat events, the number of milliseconds between successive button
presses must be less than the value of double-click-time. Setting double-click-
time to nil disables multi-click detection entirely. Setting it to t removes the time
limit; Emacs then detects multi-clicks by position only.

21.7.8 Motion Events

Emacs sometimes generates mouse motion events to describe motion of the mouse without
any button activity. Mouse motion events are represented by lists that look like this:
(mouse-movement POSITION)
position is a mouse position list (see Section 21.7.4 [Click Events], page 383), specifying the
current position of the mouse cursor. As with the end-position of a drag event, this position
list may represent a location outside the boundaries of the initially selected frame, in which
case the list contains that frame in place of a window.
The special form track-mouse enables generation of motion events within its body.
Outside of track-mouse forms, Emacs does not generate events for mere motion of the
mouse, and these events do not appear. See Section 29.15 [Mouse Tracking], page 729.

21.7.9 Focus Events

Window systems provide general ways for the user to control which window gets keyboard
input. This choice of window is called the focus. When the user does something to switch
between Emacs frames, that generates a focus event. The normal definition of a focus event,
in the global keymap, is to select a new frame within Emacs, as the user would expect. See
Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720, which also describes hooks related to focus events.
Focus events are represented in Lisp as lists that look like this:
(switch-frame new-frame)
where new-frame is the frame switched to.
Some X window managers are set up so that just moving the mouse into a window is
enough to set the focus there. Usually, there is no need for a Lisp program to know about
the focus change until some other kind of input arrives. Emacs generates a focus event only
when the user actually types a keyboard key or presses a mouse button in the new frame;
just moving the mouse between frames does not generate a focus event.
A focus event in the middle of a key sequence would garble the sequence. So Emacs
never generates a focus event in the middle of a key sequence. If the user changes focus in
the middle of a key sequence—that is, after a prefix key—then Emacs reorders the events
so that the focus event comes either before or after the multi-event key sequence, and not
within it.

21.7.10 Miscellaneous System Events

A few other event types represent occurrences within the system.
(delete-frame (frame))
This kind of event indicates that the user gave the window manager a command
to delete a particular window, which happens to be an Emacs frame.
The standard definition of the delete-frame event is to delete frame.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 389

(iconify-frame (frame))
This kind of event indicates that the user iconified frame using the window
manager. Its standard definition is ignore; since the frame has already been
iconified, Emacs has no work to do. The purpose of this event type is so that
you can keep track of such events if you want to.
(make-frame-visible (frame))
This kind of event indicates that the user deiconified frame using the window
manager. Its standard definition is ignore; since the frame has already been
made visible, Emacs has no work to do.
(wheel-up position)
(wheel-down position)
These kinds of event are generated by moving a mouse wheel. The position
element is a mouse position list (see Section 21.7.4 [Click Events], page 383),
specifying the position of the mouse cursor when the event occurred.
This kind of event is generated only on some kinds of systems. On some systems,
mouse-4 and mouse-5 are used instead. For portable code, use the variables
mouse-wheel-up-event and mouse-wheel-down-event defined in mwheel.el
to determine what event types to expect for the mouse wheel.
(drag-n-drop position files)
This kind of event is generated when a group of files is selected in an application
outside of Emacs, and then dragged and dropped onto an Emacs frame.
The element position is a list describing the position of the event, in the
same format as used in a mouse-click event (see Section 21.7.4 [Click Events],
page 383), and files is the list of file names that were dragged and dropped.
The usual way to handle this event is by visiting these files.
This kind of event is generated, at present, only on some kinds of systems.
help-echo
This kind of event is generated when a mouse pointer moves onto a portion of
buffer text which has a help-echo text property. The generated event has this
form:
(help-echo frame help window object pos)
The precise meaning of the event parameters and the way these parameters are
used to display the help-echo text are described in [Text help-echo], page 809.
sigusr1
sigusr2 These events are generated when the Emacs process receives the signals SIGUSR1
and SIGUSR2. They contain no additional data because signals do not carry
additional information. They can be useful for debugging (see Section 18.1.1
[Error Debugging], page 289).
To catch a user signal, bind the corresponding event to an interactive command
in the special-event-map (see Section 22.7 [Active Keymaps], page 422). The
command is called with no arguments, and the specific signal event is available
in last-input-event. For example:
(defun sigusr-handler ()
Chapter 21: Command Loop 390

(interactive)
(message "Caught signal %S" last-input-event))

(define-key special-event-map [sigusr1] 'sigusr-handler)

To test the signal handler, you can make Emacs send a signal to itself:
(signal-process (emacs-pid) 'sigusr1)

language-change
This kind of event is generated on MS-Windows when the input language has
changed. This typically means that the keyboard keys will send to Emacs
characters from a different language. The generated event has this form:
(language-change frame codepage language-id)
Here frame is the frame which was current when the input language changed;
codepage is the new codepage number; and language-id is the numerical
ID of the new input language. The coding-system (see Section 33.10
[Coding Systems], page 848) that corresponds to codepage is cpcodepage or
windows-codepage. To convert language-id to a string (e.g., to use it for
various language-dependent features, such as set-language-environment),
use the w32-get-locale-info function, like this:
;; Get the abbreviated language name, such as "ENU" for English
(w32-get-locale-info language-id)
;; Get the full English name of the language,
;; such as "English (United States)"
(w32-get-locale-info language-id 4097)
;; Get the full localized name of the language
(w32-get-locale-info language-id t)

If one of these events arrives in the middle of a key sequence—that is, after a prefix
key—then Emacs reorders the events so that this event comes either before or after the
multi-event key sequence, not within it.

21.7.11 Event Examples

If the user presses and releases the left mouse button over the same location, that generates
a sequence of events like this:
(down-mouse-1 (#<window 18 on NEWS> 2613 (0 . 38) -864320))
(mouse-1 (#<window 18 on NEWS> 2613 (0 . 38) -864180))

While holding the control key down, the user might hold down the second mouse button,
and drag the mouse from one line to the next. That produces two events, as shown here:
(C-down-mouse-2 (#<window 18 on NEWS> 3440 (0 . 27) -731219))
(C-drag-mouse-2 (#<window 18 on NEWS> 3440 (0 . 27) -731219)
(#<window 18 on NEWS> 3510 (0 . 28) -729648))

While holding down the meta and shift keys, the user might press the second mouse
button on the window’s mode line, and then drag the mouse into another window. That
produces a pair of events like these:
(M-S-down-mouse-2 (#<window 18 on NEWS> mode-line (33 . 31) -457844))
(M-S-drag-mouse-2 (#<window 18 on NEWS> mode-line (33 . 31) -457844)
(#<window 20 on carlton-sanskrit.tex> 161 (33 . 3)
-453816))
Chapter 21: Command Loop 391

The frame with input focus might not take up the entire screen, and the user might
move the mouse outside the scope of the frame. Inside the track-mouse special form, that
produces an event like this:
(mouse-movement (#<frame *ielm* 0x102849a30> nil (563 . 205) 532301936))
To handle a SIGUSR1 signal, define an interactive function, and bind it to the signal
usr1 event sequence:
(defun usr1-handler ()
(interactive)
(message "Got USR1 signal"))
(global-set-key [signal usr1] 'usr1-handler)

21.7.12 Classifying Events

Every event has an event type, which classifies the event for key binding purposes. For a
keyboard event, the event type equals the event value; thus, the event type for a character
is the character, and the event type for a function key symbol is the symbol itself. For
events that are lists, the event type is the symbol in the car of the list. Thus, the event
type is always a symbol or a character.
Two events of the same type are equivalent where key bindings are concerned; thus, they
always run the same command. That does not necessarily mean they do the same things,
however, as some commands look at the whole event to decide what to do. For example,
some commands use the location of a mouse event to decide where in the buffer to act.
Sometimes broader classifications of events are useful. For example, you might want to
ask whether an event involved the META key, regardless of which other key or mouse button
was used.
The functions event-modifiers and event-basic-type are provided to get such infor-
mation conveniently.

event-modifiers event [Function]

This function returns a list of the modifiers that event has. The modifiers are symbols;
they include shift, control, meta, alt, hyper and super. In addition, the modifiers
list of a mouse event symbol always contains one of click, drag, and down. For double
or triple events, it also contains double or triple.
The argument event may be an entire event object, or just an event type. If event
is a symbol that has never been used in an event that has been read as input in
the current Emacs session, then event-modifiers can return nil, even when event
actually has modifiers.
Here are some examples:
(event-modifiers ?a)
⇒ nil
(event-modifiers ?A)
⇒ (shift)
(event-modifiers ?\C-a)
⇒ (control)
(event-modifiers ?\C-%)
⇒ (control)
(event-modifiers ?\C-\S-a)
Chapter 21: Command Loop 392

⇒ (control shift)
(event-modifiers 'f5)
⇒ nil
(event-modifiers 's-f5)
⇒ (super)
(event-modifiers 'M-S-f5)
⇒ (meta shift)
(event-modifiers 'mouse-1)
⇒ (click)
(event-modifiers 'down-mouse-1)
⇒ (down)
The modifiers list for a click event explicitly contains click, but the event symbol
name itself does not contain ‘click’. Similarly, the modifiers list for an ASCII control
character, such as ‘C-a’, contains control, even though reading such an event via
read-char will return the value 1 with the control modifier bit removed.

event-basic-type event [Function]

This function returns the key or mouse button that event describes, with all modifiers
removed. The event argument is as in event-modifiers. For example:
(event-basic-type ?a)
⇒ 97
(event-basic-type ?A)
⇒ 97
(event-basic-type ?\C-a)
⇒ 97
(event-basic-type ?\C-\S-a)
⇒ 97
(event-basic-type 'f5)
⇒ f5
(event-basic-type 's-f5)
⇒ f5
(event-basic-type 'M-S-f5)
⇒ f5
(event-basic-type 'down-mouse-1)
⇒ mouse-1

mouse-movement-p object [Function]

This function returns non-nil if object is a mouse movement event. See Section 21.7.8
[Motion Events], page 388.

event-convert-list list [Function]

This function converts a list of modifier names and a basic event type to an event
type which specifies all of them. The basic event type must be the last element of the
list. For example,
(event-convert-list '(control ?a))
⇒ 1
(event-convert-list '(control meta ?a))
Chapter 21: Command Loop 393

⇒ -134217727
(event-convert-list '(control super f1))
⇒ C-s-f1

21.7.13 Accessing Mouse Events

This section describes convenient functions for accessing the data in a mouse button or
motion event. Keyboard event data can be accessed using the same functions, but data
elements that aren’t applicable to keyboard events are zero or nil.
The following two functions return a mouse position list (see Section 21.7.4 [Click Events],
page 383), specifying the position of a mouse event.

event-start event [Function]

This returns the starting position of event.
If event is a click or button-down event, this returns the location of the event. If
event is a drag event, this returns the drag’s starting position.

event-end event [Function]

This returns the ending position of event.
If event is a drag event, this returns the position where the user released the mouse
button. If event is a click or button-down event, the value is actually the starting
position, which is the only position such events have.

posnp object [Function]

This function returns non-nil if object is a mouse position list, in the format docu-
mented in Section 21.7.4 [Click Events], page 383); and nil otherwise.

These functions take a mouse position list as argument, and return various parts of it:

posn-window position [Function]

Return the window that position is in. If position represents a location outside the
frame where the event was initiated, return that frame instead.

posn-area position [Function]

Return the window area recorded in position. It returns nil when the event occurred
in the text area of the window; otherwise, it is a symbol identifying the area in which
the event occurred.

posn-point position [Function]

Return the buffer position in position. When the event occurred in the text area of
the window, in a marginal area, or on a fringe, this is an integer specifying a buffer
position. Otherwise, the value is undefined.

posn-x-y position [Function]

Return the pixel-based x and y coordinates in position, as a cons cell (x . y). These
coordinates are relative to the window given by posn-window.
This example shows how to convert the window-relative coordinates in the text area
of a window into frame-relative coordinates:
(defun frame-relative-coordinates (position)
Chapter 21: Command Loop 394

"Return frame-relative coordinates from POSITION.

POSITION is assumed to lie in a window text area."
(let* ((x-y (posn-x-y position))
(window (posn-window position))
(edges (window-inside-pixel-edges window)))
(cons (+ (car x-y) (car edges))
(+ (cdr x-y) (cadr edges)))))

posn-col-row position [Function]

This function returns a cons cell (col . row), containing the estimated column and
row corresponding to buffer position described by position. The return value is given
in units of the frame’s default character width and default line height (including
spacing), as computed from the x and y values corresponding to position. (So, if the
actual characters have non-default sizes, the actual row and column may differ from
these computed values.)
Note that row is counted from the top of the text area. If the window given by
position possesses a header line (see Section 23.4.7 [Header Lines], page 484), it is not
included in the row count.

posn-actual-col-row position [Function]

Return the actual row and column in position, as a cons cell (col . row). The
values are the actual row and column numbers in the window given by position.
See Section 21.7.4 [Click Events], page 383, for details. The function returns nil if
position does not include actual position values; in that case posn-col-row can be
used to get approximate values.
Note that this function doesn’t account for the visual width of characters on display,
like the number of visual columns taken by a tab character or an image. If you need
the coordinates in canonical character units, use posn-col-row instead.

posn-string position [Function]

Return the string object described by position, either nil (which means position
describes buffer text), or a cons cell (string . string-pos).

posn-image position [Function]

Return the image object in position, either nil (if there’s no image at position), or
an image spec (image ...).

posn-object position [Function]

Return the image or string object described by position, either nil (which
means position describes buffer text), an image (image ...), or a cons cell
(string . string-pos).

posn-object-x-y position [Function]

Return the pixel-based x and y coordinates relative to the upper left corner of the
object described by position, as a cons cell (dx . dy). If the position describes buffer
text, return the relative coordinates of the buffer-text character closest to that posi-
tion.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 395

posn-object-width-height position [Function]

Return the pixel width and height of the object described by position, as a cons cell
(width . height). If the position describes a buffer position, return the size of the
character at that position.

posn-timestamp position [Function]

Return the timestamp in position. This is the time at which the event occurred, in
milliseconds.

These functions compute a position list given particular buffer position or screen position.
You can access the data in this position list with the functions described above.

posn-at-point &optional pos window [Function]

This function returns a position list for position pos in window. pos defaults to point
in window; window defaults to the selected window.
posn-at-point returns nil if pos is not visible in window.

posn-at-x-y x y &optional frame-or-window whole [Function]

This function returns position information corresponding to pixel coordinates x and
y in a specified frame or window, frame-or-window, which defaults to the selected
window. The coordinates x and y are relative to the frame or window used. If whole
is nil, the coordinates are relative to the window text area, otherwise they are relative
to the entire window area including scroll bars, margins and fringes.

21.7.14 Accessing Scroll Bar Events

These functions are useful for decoding scroll bar events.

scroll-bar-event-ratio event [Function]

This function returns the fractional vertical position of a scroll bar event within the
scroll bar. The value is a cons cell (portion . whole) containing two integers whose
ratio is the fractional position.

scroll-bar-scale ratio total [Function]

This function multiplies (in effect) ratio by total, rounding the result to an integer.
The argument ratio is not a number, but rather a pair (num . denom)—typically a
value returned by scroll-bar-event-ratio.
This function is handy for scaling a position on a scroll bar into a buffer position.
Here’s how to do that:
(+ (point-min)
(scroll-bar-scale
(posn-x-y (event-start event))
(- (point-max) (point-min))))
Recall that scroll bar events have two integers forming a ratio, in place of a pair of x
and y coordinates.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 396

21.7.15 Putting Keyboard Events in Strings

In most of the places where strings are used, we conceptualize the string as containing
text characters—the same kind of characters found in buffers or files. Occasionally Lisp
programs use strings that conceptually contain keyboard characters; for example, they may
be key sequences or keyboard macro definitions. However, storing keyboard characters in
a string is a complex matter, for reasons of historical compatibility, and it is not always
possible.
We recommend that new programs avoid dealing with these complexities by not storing
keyboard events in strings. Here is how to do that:
• Use vectors instead of strings for key sequences, when you plan to use them for any-
thing other than as arguments to lookup-key and define-key. For example, you can
use read-key-sequence-vector instead of read-key-sequence, and this-command-
keys-vector instead of this-command-keys.
• Use vectors to write key sequence constants containing meta characters, even when
passing them directly to define-key.
• When you have to look at the contents of a key sequence that might be a string,
use listify-key-sequence (see Section 21.8.6 [Event Input Misc], page 404) first, to
convert it to a list.

The complexities stem from the modifier bits that keyboard input characters can include.
Aside from the Meta modifier, none of these modifier bits can be included in a string, and
the Meta modifier is allowed only in special cases.
The earliest GNU Emacs versions represented meta characters as codes in the range of
128 to 255. At that time, the basic character codes ranged from 0 to 127, so all keyboard
character codes did fit in a string. Many Lisp programs used ‘\M-’ in string constants to
stand for meta characters, especially in arguments to define-key and similar functions,
and key sequences and sequences of events were always represented as strings.
When we added support for larger basic character codes beyond 127, and additional
modifier bits, we had to change the representation of meta characters. Now the flag that
represents the Meta modifier in a character is 227 and such numbers cannot be included in
a string.
To support programs with ‘\M-’ in string constants, there are special rules for including
certain meta characters in a string. Here are the rules for interpreting a string as a sequence
of input characters:
• If the keyboard character value is in the range of 0 to 127, it can go in the string
unchanged.
• The meta variants of those characters, with codes in the range of 227 to 227 + 127, can
also go in the string, but you must change their numeric values. You must set the 27
bit instead of the 227 bit, resulting in a value between 128 and 255. Only a unibyte
string can include these codes.
• Non-ASCII characters above 256 can be included in a multibyte string.
• Other keyboard character events cannot fit in a string. This includes keyboard events
in the range of 128 to 255.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 397

Functions such as read-key-sequence that construct strings of keyboard input charac-

ters follow these rules: they construct vectors instead of strings, when the events won’t fit
in a string.
When you use the read syntax ‘\M-’ in a string, it produces a code in the range of 128
to 255—the same code that you get if you modify the corresponding keyboard event to put
it in the string. Thus, meta events in strings work consistently regardless of how they get
into the strings.
However, most programs would do well to avoid these issues by following the recommen-
dations at the beginning of this section.

21.8 Reading Input

The editor command loop reads key sequences using the function read-key-sequence,
which uses read-event. These and other functions for event input are also available for
use in Lisp programs. See also momentary-string-display in Section 39.8 [Temporary
Displays], page 981, and sit-for in Section 21.10 [Waiting], page 406. See Section 40.13
[Terminal Input], page 1097, for functions and variables for controlling terminal input modes
and debugging terminal input.
For higher-level input facilities, see Chapter 20 [Minibuffers], page 334.

21.8.1 Key Sequence Input

The command loop reads input a key sequence at a time, by calling read-key-sequence.
Lisp programs can also call this function; for example, describe-key uses it to read the
key to describe.

read-key-sequence prompt &optional continue-echo [Function]

dont-downcase-last switch-frame-ok command-loop
This function reads a key sequence and returns it as a string or vector. It keeps
reading events until it has accumulated a complete key sequence; that is, enough to
specify a non-prefix command using the currently active keymaps. (Remember that
a key sequence that starts with a mouse event is read using the keymaps of the buffer
in the window that the mouse was in, not the current buffer.)
If the events are all characters and all can fit in a string, then read-key-sequence
returns a string (see Section 21.7.15 [Strings of Events], page 396). Otherwise, it
returns a vector, since a vector can hold all kinds of events—characters, symbols, and
lists. The elements of the string or vector are the events in the key sequence.
Reading a key sequence includes translating the events in various ways. See
Section 22.14 [Translation Keymaps], page 434.
The argument prompt is either a string to be displayed in the echo area as a prompt,
or nil, meaning not to display a prompt. The argument continue-echo, if non-nil,
means to echo this key as a continuation of the previous key.
Normally any upper case event is converted to lower case if the original event is
undefined and the lower case equivalent is defined. The argument dont-downcase-last,
if non-nil, means do not convert the last event to lower case. This is appropriate for
reading a key sequence to be defined.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 398

The argument switch-frame-ok, if non-nil, means that this function should process
a switch-frame event if the user switches frames before typing anything. If the user
switches frames in the middle of a key sequence, or at the start of the sequence but
switch-frame-ok is nil, then the event will be put off until after the current key
sequence.
The argument command-loop, if non-nil, means that this key sequence is being read
by something that will read commands one after another. It should be nil if the
caller will read just one key sequence.
In the following example, Emacs displays the prompt ‘?’ in the echo area, and then
the user types C-x C-f.
(read-key-sequence "?")

---------- Echo Area ----------

?C-x C-f
---------- Echo Area ----------

⇒ "^X^F"
The function read-key-sequence suppresses quitting: C-g typed while reading with
this function works like any other character, and does not set quit-flag. See
Section 21.11 [Quitting], page 407.

read-key-sequence-vector prompt &optional continue-echo [Function]

dont-downcase-last switch-frame-ok command-loop
This is like read-key-sequence except that it always returns the key sequence as a
vector, never as a string. See Section 21.7.15 [Strings of Events], page 396.

If an input character is upper-case (or has the shift modifier) and has no key binding,
but its lower-case equivalent has one, then read-key-sequence converts the character to
lower case. Note that lookup-key does not perform case conversion in this way.
When reading input results in such a shift-translation, Emacs sets the variable
this-command-keys-shift-translated to a non-nil value. Lisp programs can examine
this variable if they need to modify their behavior when invoked by shift-translated keys.
For example, the function handle-shift-selection examines the value of this variable to
determine how to activate or deactivate the region (see Section 31.7 [The Mark], page 760).
The function read-key-sequence also transforms some mouse events. It converts un-
bound drag events into click events, and discards unbound button-down events entirely. It
also reshuffles focus events and miscellaneous window events so that they never appear in
a key sequence with any other events.
When mouse events occur in special parts of a window, such as a mode line or a scroll bar,
the event type shows nothing special—it is the same symbol that would normally represent
that combination of mouse button and modifier keys. The information about the window
part is kept elsewhere in the event—in the coordinates. But read-key-sequence trans-
lates this information into imaginary prefix keys, all of which are symbols: header-line,
horizontal-scroll-bar, menu-bar, mode-line, vertical-line, and vertical-scroll-
bar. You can define meanings for mouse clicks in special window parts by defining key
sequences using these imaginary prefix keys.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 399

For example, if you call read-key-sequence and then click the mouse on the window’s
mode line, you get two events, like this:
(read-key-sequence "Click on the mode line: ")
⇒ [mode-line
(mouse-1
(#<window 6 on NEWS> mode-line
(40 . 63) 5959987))]
num-input-keys [Variable]
This variable’s value is the number of key sequences processed so far in this Emacs
session. This includes key sequences read from the terminal and key sequences read
from keyboard macros being executed.

21.8.2 Reading One Event

The lowest level functions for command input are read-event, read-char, and read-char-
exclusive.
read-event &optional prompt inherit-input-method seconds [Function]
This function reads and returns the next event of command input, waiting if necessary
until an event is available.
The returned event may come directly from the user, or from a keyboard macro. It
is not decoded by the keyboard’s input coding system (see Section 33.10.8 [Terminal
I/O Encoding], page 861).
If the optional argument prompt is non-nil, it should be a string to display in the echo
area as a prompt. Otherwise, read-event does not display any message to indicate
it is waiting for input; instead, it prompts by echoing: it displays descriptions of the
events that led to or were read by the current command. See Section 39.4 [The Echo
Area], page 969.
If inherit-input-method is non-nil, then the current input method (if any) is employed
to make it possible to enter a non-ASCII character. Otherwise, input method handling
is disabled for reading this event.
If cursor-in-echo-area is non-nil, then read-event moves the cursor temporarily
to the echo area, to the end of any message displayed there. Otherwise read-event
does not move the cursor.
If seconds is non-nil, it should be a number specifying the maximum time to wait
for input, in seconds. If no input arrives within that time, read-event stops waiting
and returns nil. A floating point seconds means to wait for a fractional number of
seconds. Some systems support only a whole number of seconds; on these systems,
seconds is rounded down. If seconds is nil, read-event waits as long as necessary
for input to arrive.
If seconds is nil, Emacs is considered idle while waiting for user input to arrive. Idle
timers—those created with run-with-idle-timer (see Section 40.12 [Idle Timers],
page 1096)—can run during this period. However, if seconds is non-nil, the state
of idleness remains unchanged. If Emacs is non-idle when read-event is called, it
remains non-idle throughout the operation of read-event; if Emacs is idle (which
can happen if the call happens inside an idle timer), it remains idle.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 400

If read-event gets an event that is defined as a help character, then in some cases
read-event processes the event directly without returning. See Section 24.6 [Help
Functions], page 517. Certain other events, called special events, are also processed
directly within read-event (see Section 21.9 [Special Events], page 405).
Here is what happens if you call read-event and then press the right-arrow function
key:
(read-event)
⇒ right

read-char &optional prompt inherit-input-method seconds [Function]

This function reads and returns a character input event. If the user generates an
event which is not a character (i.e., a mouse click or function key event), read-char
signals an error. The arguments work as in read-event.
If the event has modifiers, Emacs attempts to resolve them and return the code of
the corresponding character. For example, if the user types C-a, the function returns
1, which is the ASCII code of the ‘C-a’ character. If some of the modifiers cannot
be reflected in the character code, read-char leaves the unresolved modifier bits
set in the returned event. For example, if the user types C-M-a, the function returns
134217729, 8000001 in hex, i.e. ‘C-a’ with the Meta modifier bit set. This value is not a
valid character code: it fails the characterp test (see Section 33.5 [Character Codes],
page 839). Use event-basic-type (see Section 21.7.12 [Classifying Events], page 391)
to recover the character code with the modifier bits removed; use event-modifiers
to test for modifiers in the character event returned by read-char.
In the first example below, the user types the character 1 (ASCII code 49). The second
example shows a keyboard macro definition that calls read-char from the minibuffer
using eval-expression. read-char reads the keyboard macro’s very next character,
which is 1. Then eval-expression displays its return value in the echo area.
(read-char)
⇒ 49

;; We assume here you use M-: to evaluate this.

(symbol-function 'foo)
⇒ "^[:(read-char)^M1"
(execute-kbd-macro 'foo)
a 49
⇒ nil

read-char-exclusive &optional prompt inherit-input-method [Function]

seconds
This function reads and returns a character input event. If the user generates an event
which is not a character event, read-char-exclusive ignores it and reads another
event, until it gets a character. The arguments work as in read-event. The returned
value may include modifier bits, as with read-char.

None of the above functions suppress quitting.

Chapter 21: Command Loop 401

num-nonmacro-input-events [Variable]
This variable holds the total number of input events received so far from the
terminal—not counting those generated by keyboard macros.

We emphasize that, unlike read-key-sequence, the functions read-event, read-char,

and read-char-exclusive do not perform the translations described in Section 22.14
[Translation Keymaps], page 434. If you wish to read a single key taking these transla-
tions into account, use the function read-key:

read-key &optional prompt [Function]

This function reads a single key. It is intermediate between read-key-sequence and
read-event. Unlike the former, it reads a single key, not a key sequence. Unlike
the latter, it does not return a raw event, but decodes and translates the user input
according to input-decode-map, local-function-key-map, and key-translation-
map (see Section 22.14 [Translation Keymaps], page 434).
The argument prompt is either a string to be displayed in the echo area as a prompt,
or nil, meaning not to display a prompt.

read-char-choice prompt chars &optional inhibit-quit [Function]

This function uses read-key to read and return a single character. It ignores any
input that is not a member of chars, a list of accepted characters. Optionally, it
will also ignore keyboard-quit events while it is waiting for valid input. If you bind
help-form (see Section 24.6 [Help Functions], page 517) to a non-nil value while
calling read-char-choice, then pressing help-char causes it to evaluate help-form
and display the result. It then continues to wait for a valid input character, or
keyboard-quit.

read-multiple-choice prompt choices [Function]

Ask user a multiple choice question. prompt should be a string that will be displayed
as the prompt.
choices is an alist where the first element in each entry is a character to be entered,
the second element is a short name for the entry to be displayed while prompting
(if there’s room, it might be shortened), and the third, optional entry is a longer
explanation that will be displayed in a help buffer if the user requests more help.
The return value is the matching value from choices.
(read-multiple-choice
"Continue connecting?"
'((?a "always" "Accept certificate for this and future sessions.")
(?s "session only" "Accept certificate this session only.")
(?n "no" "Refuse to use certificate, close connection.")))
The read-multiple-choice-face face is used to highlight the matching characters
in the name string on graphical terminals.

21.8.3 Modifying and Translating Input Events

Emacs modifies every event it reads according to extra-keyboard-modifiers, then
translates it through keyboard-translate-table (if applicable), before returning it from
read-event.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 402

extra-keyboard-modifiers [Variable]
This variable lets Lisp programs “press” the modifier keys on the keyboard. The
value is a character. Only the modifiers of the character matter. Each time the user
types a keyboard key, it is altered as if those modifier keys were held down. For
instance, if you bind extra-keyboard-modifiers to ?\C-\M-a, then all keyboard
input characters typed during the scope of the binding will have the control and meta
modifiers applied to them. The character ?\C-@, equivalent to the integer 0, does not
count as a control character for this purpose, but as a character with no modifiers.
Thus, setting extra-keyboard-modifiers to zero cancels any modification.
When using a window system, the program can press any of the modifier keys in this
way. Otherwise, only the CTL and META keys can be virtually pressed.
Note that this variable applies only to events that really come from the keyboard,
and has no effect on mouse events or any other events.
keyboard-translate-table [Variable]
This terminal-local variable is the translate table for keyboard characters. It lets you
reshuffle the keys on the keyboard without changing any command bindings. Its value
is normally a char-table, or else nil. (It can also be a string or vector, but this is
considered obsolete.)
If keyboard-translate-table is a char-table (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables],
page 107), then each character read from the keyboard is looked up in this
char-table. If the value found there is non-nil, then it is used instead of the actual
input character.
Note that this translation is the first thing that happens to a character after it is read
from the terminal. Record-keeping features such as recent-keys and dribble files
record the characters after translation.
Note also that this translation is done before the characters are supplied to input
methods (see Section 33.11 [Input Methods], page 862). Use translation-table-
for-input (see Section 33.9 [Translation of Characters], page 847), if you want to
translate characters after input methods operate.
keyboard-translate from to [Function]
This function modifies keyboard-translate-table to translate character code from
into character code to. It creates the keyboard translate table if necessary.
Here’s an example of using the keyboard-translate-table to make C-x, C-c and C-v
perform the cut, copy and paste operations:
(keyboard-translate ?\C-x 'control-x)
(keyboard-translate ?\C-c 'control-c)
(keyboard-translate ?\C-v 'control-v)
(global-set-key [control-x] 'kill-region)
(global-set-key [control-c] 'kill-ring-save)
(global-set-key [control-v] 'yank)
On a graphical terminal that supports extended ASCII input, you can still get the standard
Emacs meanings of one of those characters by typing it with the shift key. That makes it
a different character as far as keyboard translation is concerned, but it has the same usual
meaning.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 403

See Section 22.14 [Translation Keymaps], page 434, for mechanisms that translate event
sequences at the level of read-key-sequence.

21.8.4 Invoking the Input Method

The event-reading functions invoke the current input method, if any (see Section 33.11
[Input Methods], page 862). If the value of input-method-function is non-nil, it should
be a function; when read-event reads a printing character (including SPC) with no modifier
bits, it calls that function, passing the character as an argument.

input-method-function [Variable]
If this is non-nil, its value specifies the current input method function.
Warning: don’t bind this variable with let. It is often buffer-local, and if you bind
it around reading input (which is exactly when you would bind it), switching buffers
asynchronously while Emacs is waiting will cause the value to be restored in the wrong
buffer.

The input method function should return a list of events which should be used as input.
(If the list is nil, that means there is no input, so read-event waits for another event.)
These events are processed before the events in unread-command-events (see Section 21.8.6
[Event Input Misc], page 404). Events returned by the input method function are not passed
to the input method function again, even if they are printing characters with no modifier
bits.
If the input method function calls read-event or read-key-sequence, it should bind
input-method-function to nil first, to prevent recursion.
The input method function is not called when reading the second and subsequent
events of a key sequence. Thus, these characters are not subject to input method pro-
cessing. The input method function should test the values of overriding-local-map and
overriding-terminal-local-map; if either of these variables is non-nil, the input method
should put its argument into a list and return that list with no further processing.

21.8.5 Quoted Character Input

You can use the function read-quoted-char to ask the user to specify a character, and
allow the user to specify a control or meta character conveniently, either literally or as an
octal character code. The command quoted-insert uses this function.

read-quoted-char &optional prompt [Function]

This function is like read-char, except that if the first character read is an octal
digit (0–7), it reads any number of octal digits (but stopping if a non-octal digit is
found), and returns the character represented by that numeric character code. If the
character that terminates the sequence of octal digits is RET, it is discarded. Any
other terminating character is used as input after this function returns.
Quitting is suppressed when the first character is read, so that the user can enter a
C-g. See Section 21.11 [Quitting], page 407.
If prompt is supplied, it specifies a string for prompting the user. The prompt string
is always displayed in the echo area, followed by a single ‘-’.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 404

In the following example, the user types in the octal number 177 (which is 127 in
decimal).
(read-quoted-char "What character")

---------- Echo Area ----------

What character 1 7 7-
---------- Echo Area ----------

⇒ 127

21.8.6 Miscellaneous Event Input Features

This section describes how to peek ahead at events without using them up, how to check
for pending input, and how to discard pending input. See also the function read-passwd
(see Section 20.9 [Reading a Password], page 363).
unread-command-events [Variable]
This variable holds a list of events waiting to be read as command input. The events
are used in the order they appear in the list, and removed one by one as they are
used.
The variable is needed because in some cases a function reads an event and then
decides not to use it. Storing the event in this variable causes it to be processed
normally, by the command loop or by the functions to read command input.
For example, the function that implements numeric prefix arguments reads any num-
ber of digits. When it finds a non-digit event, it must unread the event so that it
can be read normally by the command loop. Likewise, incremental search uses this
feature to unread events with no special meaning in a search, because these events
should exit the search and then execute normally.
The reliable and easy way to extract events from a key sequence so as to put them in
unread-command-events is to use listify-key-sequence (see below).
Normally you add events to the front of this list, so that the events most recently
unread will be reread first.
Events read from this list are not normally added to the current command’s key se-
quence (as returned by, e.g., this-command-keys), as the events will already have
been added once as they were read for the first time. An element of the form
(t . event) forces event to be added to the current command’s key sequence.
listify-key-sequence key [Function]
This function converts the string or vector key to a list of individual events, which
you can put in unread-command-events.
input-pending-p &optional check-timers [Function]
This function determines whether any command input is currently available to be
read. It returns immediately, with value t if there is available input, nil otherwise.
On rare occasions it may return t when no input is available.
If the optional argument check-timers is non-nil, then if no input is available, Emacs
runs any timers which are ready. See Section 40.11 [Timers], page 1094.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 405

last-input-event [Variable]
This variable records the last terminal input event read, whether as part of a command
or explicitly by a Lisp program.
In the example below, the Lisp program reads the character 1, ASCII code 49. It
becomes the value of last-input-event, while C-e (we assume C-x C-e command is
used to evaluate this expression) remains the value of last-command-event.
(progn (print (read-char))
(print last-command-event)
last-input-event)
a 49
a 5
⇒ 49
while-no-input body. . . [Macro]
This construct runs the body forms and returns the value of the last one—but only
if no input arrives. If any input arrives during the execution of the body forms, it
aborts them (working much like a quit). The while-no-input form returns nil if
aborted by a real quit, and returns t if aborted by arrival of other input.
If a part of body binds inhibit-quit to non-nil, arrival of input during those parts
won’t cause an abort until the end of that part.
If you want to be able to distinguish all possible values computed by body from both
kinds of abort conditions, write the code like this:
(while-no-input
(list
(progn . body)))
while-no-input-ignore-events [Variable]
This variable allow setting which special events while-no-input should ignore. It is
a list of symbols.
discard-input [Function]
This function discards the contents of the terminal input buffer and cancels any
keyboard macro that might be in the process of definition. It returns nil.
In the following example, the user may type a number of characters right after starting
the evaluation of the form. After the sleep-for finishes sleeping, discard-input
discards any characters typed during the sleep.
(progn (sleep-for 2)
(discard-input))
⇒ nil

21.9 Special Events

Certain special events are handled at a very low level—as soon as they are read. The
read-event function processes these events itself, and never returns them. Instead, it
keeps waiting for the first event that is not special and returns that one.
Special events do not echo, they are never grouped into key sequences, and they never
appear in the value of last-command-event or (this-command-keys). They do not discard
Chapter 21: Command Loop 406

a numeric argument, they cannot be unread with unread-command-events, they may not
appear in a keyboard macro, and they are not recorded in a keyboard macro while you are
defining one.
Special events do, however, appear in last-input-event immediately after they are
read, and this is the way for the event’s definition to find the actual event.
The events types iconify-frame, make-frame-visible, delete-frame, drag-n-drop,
language-change, and user signals like sigusr1 are normally handled in this way. The
keymap which defines how to handle special events—and which events are special—is in the
variable special-event-map (see Section 22.7 [Active Keymaps], page 422).

21.10 Waiting for Elapsed Time or Input

The wait functions are designed to wait for a certain amount of time to pass or until there
is input. For example, you may wish to pause in the middle of a computation to allow
the user time to view the display. sit-for pauses and updates the screen, and returns
immediately if input comes in, while sleep-for pauses without updating the screen.
sit-for seconds &optional nodisp [Function]
This function performs redisplay (provided there is no pending input from the user),
then waits seconds seconds, or until input is available. The usual purpose of sit-for
is to give the user time to read text that you display. The value is t if sit-for waited
the full time with no input arriving (see Section 21.8.6 [Event Input Misc], page 404).
Otherwise, the value is nil.
The argument seconds need not be an integer. If it is floating point, sit-for waits
for a fractional number of seconds. Some systems support only a whole number of
seconds; on these systems, seconds is rounded down.
The expression (sit-for 0) is equivalent to (redisplay), i.e., it requests a redisplay,
without any delay, if there is no pending input. See Section 39.2 [Forcing Redisplay],
page 967.
If nodisp is non-nil, then sit-for does not redisplay, but it still returns as soon as
input is available (or when the timeout elapses).
In batch mode (see Section 40.17 [Batch Mode], page 1101), sit-for cannot be
interrupted, even by input from the standard input descriptor. It is thus equivalent
to sleep-for, which is described below.
It is also possible to call sit-for with three arguments, as (sit-for seconds mil-
lisec nodisp), but that is considered obsolete.
sleep-for seconds &optional millisec [Function]
This function simply pauses for seconds seconds without updating the display. It
pays no attention to available input. It returns nil.
The argument seconds need not be an integer. If it is floating point, sleep-for waits
for a fractional number of seconds. Some systems support only a whole number of
seconds; on these systems, seconds is rounded down.
The optional argument millisec specifies an additional waiting period measured in
milliseconds. This adds to the period specified by seconds. If the system doesn’t
support waiting fractions of a second, you get an error if you specify nonzero millisec.
Use sleep-for when you wish to guarantee a delay.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 407

See Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086, for functions to get the current time.

21.11 Quitting
Typing C-g while a Lisp function is running causes Emacs to quit whatever it is doing. This
means that control returns to the innermost active command loop.
Typing C-g while the command loop is waiting for keyboard input does not cause a quit;
it acts as an ordinary input character. In the simplest case, you cannot tell the difference,
because C-g normally runs the command keyboard-quit, whose effect is to quit. However,
when C-g follows a prefix key, they combine to form an undefined key. The effect is to
cancel the prefix key as well as any prefix argument.
In the minibuffer, C-g has a different definition: it aborts out of the minibuffer. This
means, in effect, that it exits the minibuffer and then quits. (Simply quitting would return
to the command loop within the minibuffer.) The reason why C-g does not quit directly
when the command reader is reading input is so that its meaning can be redefined in the
minibuffer in this way. C-g following a prefix key is not redefined in the minibuffer, and it
has its normal effect of canceling the prefix key and prefix argument. This too would not
be possible if C-g always quit directly.
When C-g does directly quit, it does so by setting the variable quit-flag to t. Emacs
checks this variable at appropriate times and quits if it is not nil. Setting quit-flag
non-nil in any way thus causes a quit.
At the level of C code, quitting cannot happen just anywhere; only at the special places
that check quit-flag. The reason for this is that quitting at other places might leave
an inconsistency in Emacs’s internal state. Because quitting is delayed until a safe place,
quitting cannot make Emacs crash.
Certain functions such as read-key-sequence or read-quoted-char prevent quitting
entirely even though they wait for input. Instead of quitting, C-g serves as the requested
input. In the case of read-key-sequence, this serves to bring about the special behavior
of C-g in the command loop. In the case of read-quoted-char, this is so that C-q can be
used to quote a C-g.
You can prevent quitting for a portion of a Lisp function by binding the variable
inhibit-quit to a non-nil value. Then, although C-g still sets quit-flag to t as usual,
the usual result of this—a quit—is prevented. Eventually, inhibit-quit will become nil
again, such as when its binding is unwound at the end of a let form. At that time, if
quit-flag is still non-nil, the requested quit happens immediately. This behavior is ideal
when you wish to make sure that quitting does not happen within a critical section of the
program.
In some functions (such as read-quoted-char), C-g is handled in a special way that
does not involve quitting. This is done by reading the input with inhibit-quit bound to
t, and setting quit-flag to nil before inhibit-quit becomes nil again. This excerpt
from the definition of read-quoted-char shows how this is done; it also shows that normal
quitting is permitted after the first character of input.
(defun read-quoted-char (&optional prompt)
"...documentation..."
(let ((message-log-max nil) done (first t) (code 0) char)
Chapter 21: Command Loop 408

(while (not done)

(let ((inhibit-quit first)
...)
(and prompt (message "%s-" prompt))
(setq char (read-event))
(if inhibit-quit (setq quit-flag nil)))
. . . set the variable code. . . )
code))

quit-flag [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, then Emacs quits immediately, unless inhibit-quit is
non-nil. Typing C-g ordinarily sets quit-flag non-nil, regardless of inhibit-quit.

inhibit-quit [Variable]
This variable determines whether Emacs should quit when quit-flag is set to a value
other than nil. If inhibit-quit is non-nil, then quit-flag has no special effect.

with-local-quit body. . . [Macro]

This macro executes body forms in sequence, but allows quitting, at least locally,
within body even if inhibit-quit was non-nil outside this construct. It returns the
value of the last form in body, unless exited by quitting, in which case it returns nil.
If inhibit-quit is nil on entry to with-local-quit, it only executes the body,
and setting quit-flag causes a normal quit. However, if inhibit-quit is non-nil
so that ordinary quitting is delayed, a non-nil quit-flag triggers a special kind of
local quit. This ends the execution of body and exits the with-local-quit body
with quit-flag still non-nil, so that another (ordinary) quit will happen as soon as
that is allowed. If quit-flag is already non-nil at the beginning of body, the local
quit happens immediately and the body doesn’t execute at all.
This macro is mainly useful in functions that can be called from timers, process filters,
process sentinels, pre-command-hook, post-command-hook, and other places where
inhibit-quit is normally bound to t.

keyboard-quit [Command]
This function signals the quit condition with (signal 'quit nil). This is the same
thing that quitting does. (See signal in Section 11.7.3 [Errors], page 160.)

You can specify a character other than C-g to use for quitting. See the function
set-input-mode in Section 40.13.1 [Input Modes], page 1098.

21.12 Prefix Command Arguments

Most Emacs commands can use a prefix argument, a number specified before the command
itself. (Don’t confuse prefix arguments with prefix keys.) The prefix argument is at all times
represented by a value, which may be nil, meaning there is currently no prefix argument.
Each command may use the prefix argument or ignore it.
There are two representations of the prefix argument: raw and numeric. The editor
command loop uses the raw representation internally, and so do the Lisp variables that
store the information, but commands can request either representation.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 409

Here are the possible values of a raw prefix argument:

• nil, meaning there is no prefix argument. Its numeric value is 1, but numerous com-
mands make a distinction between nil and the integer 1.
• An integer, which stands for itself.
• A list of one element, which is an integer. This form of prefix argument results from
one or a succession of C-us with no digits. The numeric value is the integer in the list,
but some commands make a distinction between such a list and an integer alone.
• The symbol -. This indicates that M-- or C-u - was typed, without following digits.
The equivalent numeric value is −1, but some commands make a distinction between
the integer −1 and the symbol -.

We illustrate these possibilities by calling the following function with various prefixes:
(defun display-prefix (arg)
"Display the value of the raw prefix arg."
(interactive "P")
(message "%s" arg))
Here are the results of calling display-prefix with various raw prefix arguments:
M-x display-prefix a nil

C-u M-x display-prefix a (4)

C-u C-u M-x display-prefix a (16)

C-u 3 M-x display-prefix a 3

M-3 M-x display-prefix a 3 ; (Same as C-u 3.)

C-u - M-x display-prefix a -

M-- M-x display-prefix a - ; (Same as C-u -.)

C-u - 7 M-x display-prefix a -7

M-- 7 M-x display-prefix a -7 ; (Same as C-u -7.)

Emacs uses two variables to store the prefix argument: prefix-arg and
current-prefix-arg. Commands such as universal-argument that set up prefix argu-
ments for other commands store them in prefix-arg. In contrast, current-prefix-arg
conveys the prefix argument to the current command, so setting it has no effect on the
prefix arguments for future commands.
Normally, commands specify which representation to use for the prefix argument, either
numeric or raw, in the interactive specification. (See Section 21.2.1 [Using Interactive],
page 369.) Alternatively, functions may look at the value of the prefix argument directly in
the variable current-prefix-arg, but this is less clean.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 410

prefix-numeric-value arg [Function]

This function returns the numeric meaning of a valid raw prefix argument value,
arg. The argument may be a symbol, a number, or a list. If it is nil, the value 1 is
returned; if it is -, the value −1 is returned; if it is a number, that number is returned;
if it is a list, the car of that list (which should be a number) is returned.

current-prefix-arg [Variable]
This variable holds the raw prefix argument for the current command. Commands
may examine it directly, but the usual method for accessing it is with (interactive
"P").

prefix-arg [Variable]
The value of this variable is the raw prefix argument for the next editing command.
Commands such as universal-argument that specify prefix arguments for the fol-
lowing command work by setting this variable.

last-prefix-arg [Variable]
The raw prefix argument value used by the previous command.

The following commands exist to set up prefix arguments for the following command.
Do not call them for any other reason.

universal-argument [Command]
This command reads input and specifies a prefix argument for the following command.
Don’t call this command yourself unless you know what you are doing.

digit-argument arg [Command]

This command adds to the prefix argument for the following command. The argument
arg is the raw prefix argument as it was before this command; it is used to compute
the updated prefix argument. Don’t call this command yourself unless you know what
you are doing.

negative-argument arg [Command]

This command adds to the numeric argument for the next command. The argument
arg is the raw prefix argument as it was before this command; its value is negated
to form the new prefix argument. Don’t call this command yourself unless you know
what you are doing.

21.13 Recursive Editing

The Emacs command loop is entered automatically when Emacs starts up. This top-level
invocation of the command loop never exits; it keeps running as long as Emacs does. Lisp
programs can also invoke the command loop. Since this makes more than one activation of
the command loop, we call it recursive editing. A recursive editing level has the effect of
suspending whatever command invoked it and permitting the user to do arbitrary editing
before resuming that command.
The commands available during recursive editing are the same ones available in the
top-level editing loop and defined in the keymaps. Only a few special commands exit
the recursive editing level; the others return to the recursive editing level when they finish.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 411

(The special commands for exiting are always available, but they do nothing when recursive
editing is not in progress.)
All command loops, including recursive ones, set up all-purpose error handlers so that
an error in a command run from the command loop will not exit the loop.
Minibuffer input is a special kind of recursive editing. It has a few special wrinkles, such
as enabling display of the minibuffer and the minibuffer window, but fewer than you might
suppose. Certain keys behave differently in the minibuffer, but that is only because of the
minibuffer’s local map; if you switch windows, you get the usual Emacs commands.
To invoke a recursive editing level, call the function recursive-edit. This function
contains the command loop; it also contains a call to catch with tag exit, which makes it
possible to exit the recursive editing level by throwing to exit (see Section 11.7.1 [Catch
and Throw], page 158). If you throw a value other than t, then recursive-edit returns
normally to the function that called it. The command C-M-c (exit-recursive-edit) does
this. Throwing a t value causes recursive-edit to quit, so that control returns to the
command loop one level up. This is called aborting, and is done by C-] (abort-recursive-
edit).
Most applications should not use recursive editing, except as part of using the minibuffer.
Usually it is more convenient for the user if you change the major mode of the current
buffer temporarily to a special major mode, which should have a command to go back to
the previous mode. (The e command in Rmail uses this technique.) Or, if you wish to give
the user different text to edit recursively, create and select a new buffer in a special mode.
In this mode, define a command to complete the processing and go back to the previous
buffer. (The m command in Rmail does this.)
Recursive edits are useful in debugging. You can insert a call to debug into a function
definition as a sort of breakpoint, so that you can look around when the function gets there.
debug invokes a recursive edit but also provides the other features of the debugger.
Recursive editing levels are also used when you type C-r in query-replace or use C-x
q (kbd-macro-query).

recursive-edit [Command]
This function invokes the editor command loop. It is called automatically by the ini-
tialization of Emacs, to let the user begin editing. When called from a Lisp program,
it enters a recursive editing level.
If the current buffer is not the same as the selected window’s buffer, recursive-edit
saves and restores the current buffer. Otherwise, if you switch buffers, the buffer you
switched to is current after recursive-edit returns.
In the following example, the function simple-rec first advances point one word,
then enters a recursive edit, printing out a message in the echo area. The user can
then do any editing desired, and then type C-M-c to exit and continue executing
simple-rec.
(defun simple-rec ()
(forward-word 1)
(message "Recursive edit in progress")
(recursive-edit)
(forward-word 1))
Chapter 21: Command Loop 412

⇒ simple-rec
(simple-rec)
⇒ nil

exit-recursive-edit [Command]
This function exits from the innermost recursive edit (including minibuffer input).
Its definition is effectively (throw 'exit nil).

abort-recursive-edit [Command]
This function aborts the command that requested the innermost recursive edit (includ-
ing minibuffer input), by signaling quit after exiting the recursive edit. Its definition
is effectively (throw 'exit t). See Section 21.11 [Quitting], page 407.

top-level [Command]
This function exits all recursive editing levels; it does not return a value, as it jumps
completely out of any computation directly back to the main command loop.

recursion-depth [Function]
This function returns the current depth of recursive edits. When no recursive edit is
active, it returns 0.

21.14 Disabling Commands

Disabling a command marks the command as requiring user confirmation before it can be
executed. Disabling is used for commands which might be confusing to beginning users, to
prevent them from using the commands by accident.
The low-level mechanism for disabling a command is to put a non-nil disabled property
on the Lisp symbol for the command. These properties are normally set up by the user’s
init file (see Section 40.1.2 [Init File], page 1075) with Lisp expressions such as this:
(put 'upcase-region 'disabled t)
For a few commands, these properties are present by default (you can remove them in your
init file if you wish).
If the value of the disabled property is a string, the message saying the command is
disabled includes that string. For example:
(put 'delete-region 'disabled
"Text deleted this way cannot be yanked back!\n")
See Section “Disabling” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for the details on what happens
when a disabled command is invoked interactively. Disabling a command has no effect on
calling it as a function from Lisp programs.

enable-command command [Command]

Allow command (a symbol) to be executed without special confirmation from now
on, and alter the user’s init file (see Section 40.1.2 [Init File], page 1075) so that this
will apply to future sessions.

disable-command command [Command]

Require special confirmation to execute command from now on, and alter the user’s
init file so that this will apply to future sessions.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 413

disabled-command-function [Variable]
The value of this variable should be a function. When the user invokes a disabled
command interactively, this function is called instead of the disabled command. It
can use this-command-keys to determine what the user typed to run the command,
and thus find the command itself.
The value may also be nil. Then all commands work normally, even disabled ones.
By default, the value is a function that asks the user whether to proceed.

21.15 Command History

The command loop keeps a history of the complex commands that have been executed, to
make it convenient to repeat these commands. A complex command is one for which the
interactive argument reading uses the minibuffer. This includes any M-x command, any M-:
command, and any command whose interactive specification reads an argument from the
minibuffer. Explicit use of the minibuffer during the execution of the command itself does
not cause the command to be considered complex.
command-history [Variable]
This variable’s value is a list of recent complex commands, each represented as a form
to evaluate. It continues to accumulate all complex commands for the duration of the
editing session, but when it reaches the maximum size (see Section 20.4 [Minibuffer
History], page 340), the oldest elements are deleted as new ones are added.
command-history
⇒ ((switch-to-buffer "chistory.texi")
(describe-key "^X^[")
(visit-tags-table "~/emacs/src/")
(find-tag "repeat-complex-command"))
This history list is actually a special case of minibuffer history (see Section 20.4 [Mini-
buffer History], page 340), with one special twist: the elements are expressions rather than
strings.
There are a number of commands devoted to the editing and recall of previous com-
mands. The commands repeat-complex-command, and list-command-history are de-
scribed in the user manual (see Section “Repetition” in The GNU Emacs Manual). Within
the minibuffer, the usual minibuffer history commands are available.

21.16 Keyboard Macros

A keyboard macro is a canned sequence of input events that can be considered a command
and made the definition of a key. The Lisp representation of a keyboard macro is a string
or vector containing the events. Don’t confuse keyboard macros with Lisp macros (see
Chapter 14 [Macros], page 236).
execute-kbd-macro kbdmacro &optional count loopfunc [Function]
This function executes kbdmacro as a sequence of events. If kbdmacro is a string or
vector, then the events in it are executed exactly as if they had been input by the
user. The sequence is not expected to be a single key sequence; normally a keyboard
macro definition consists of several key sequences concatenated.
Chapter 21: Command Loop 414

If kbdmacro is a symbol, then its function definition is used in place of kbdmacro. If

that is another symbol, this process repeats. Eventually the result should be a string
or vector. If the result is not a symbol, string, or vector, an error is signaled.
The argument count is a repeat count; kbdmacro is executed that many times. If
count is omitted or nil, kbdmacro is executed once. If it is 0, kbdmacro is executed
over and over until it encounters an error or a failing search.
If loopfunc is non-nil, it is a function that is called, without arguments, prior to
each iteration of the macro. If loopfunc returns nil, then this stops execution of the
macro.
See Section 21.8.2 [Reading One Event], page 399, for an example of using
execute-kbd-macro.

executing-kbd-macro [Variable]
This variable contains the string or vector that defines the keyboard macro that is
currently executing. It is nil if no macro is currently executing. A command can
test this variable so as to behave differently when run from an executing macro. Do
not set this variable yourself.

defining-kbd-macro [Variable]
This variable is non-nil if and only if a keyboard macro is being defined. A command
can test this variable so as to behave differently while a macro is being defined. The
value is append while appending to the definition of an existing macro. The commands
start-kbd-macro, kmacro-start-macro and end-kbd-macro set this variable—do
not set it yourself.
The variable is always local to the current terminal and cannot be buffer-local. See
Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685.

last-kbd-macro [Variable]
This variable is the definition of the most recently defined keyboard macro. Its value
is a string or vector, or nil.
The variable is always local to the current terminal and cannot be buffer-local. See
Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685.

kbd-macro-termination-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run when a keyboard macro terminates, regardless of what caused
it to terminate (reaching the macro end or an error which ended the macro prema-
turely).
 415

22 Keymaps
The command bindings of input events are recorded in data structures called keymaps.
Each entry in a keymap associates (or binds) an individual event type, either to another
keymap or to a command. When an event type is bound to a keymap, that keymap is
used to look up the next input event; this continues until a command is found. The whole
process is called key lookup.

22.1 Key Sequences

A key sequence, or key for short, is a sequence of one or more input events that form a unit.
Input events include characters, function keys, mouse actions, or system events external to
Emacs, such as iconify-frame (see Section 21.7 [Input Events], page 381). The Emacs Lisp
representation for a key sequence is a string or vector. Unless otherwise stated, any Emacs
Lisp function that accepts a key sequence as an argument can handle both representations.
In the string representation, alphanumeric characters ordinarily stand for themselves;
for example, "a" represents a and "2" represents 2. Control character events are prefixed
by the substring "\C-", and meta characters by "\M-"; for example, "\C-x" represents
the key C-x. In addition, the TAB, RET, ESC, and DEL events are represented by "\t",
"\r", "\e", and "\d" respectively. The string representation of a complete key sequence
is the concatenation of the string representations of the constituent events; thus, "\C-xl"
represents the key sequence C-x l.
Key sequences containing function keys, mouse button events, system events, or non-
ASCII characters such as C-= or H-a cannot be represented as strings; they have to be
represented as vectors.
In the vector representation, each element of the vector represents an input event, in its
Lisp form. See Section 21.7 [Input Events], page 381. For example, the vector [?\C-x ?l]
represents the key sequence C-x l.
For examples of key sequences written in string and vector representations, Section “Init
Rebinding” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

kbd keyseq-text [Function]

This function converts the text keyseq-text (a string constant) into a key sequence
(a string or vector constant). The contents of keyseq-text should use the same syn-
tax as in the buffer invoked by the C-x C-k RET (kmacro-edit-macro) command; in
particular, you must surround function key names with ‘<...>’. See Section “Edit
Keyboard Macro” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
(kbd "C-x") ⇒ "\C-x"
(kbd "C-x C-f") ⇒ "\C-x\C-f"
(kbd "C-x 4 C-f") ⇒ "\C-x4\C-f"
(kbd "X") ⇒ "X"
(kbd "RET") ⇒ "\^M"
(kbd "C-c SPC") ⇒ "\C-c "
(kbd "<f1> SPC") ⇒ [f1 32]
(kbd "C-M-<down>") ⇒ [C-M-down]
Chapter 22: Keymaps 416

22.2 Keymap Basics

A keymap is a Lisp data structure that specifies key bindings for various key sequences.
A single keymap directly specifies definitions for individual events. When a key sequence
consists of a single event, its binding in a keymap is the keymap’s definition for that event.
The binding of a longer key sequence is found by an iterative process: first find the definition
of the first event (which must itself be a keymap); then find the second event’s definition in
that keymap, and so on until all the events in the key sequence have been processed.
If the binding of a key sequence is a keymap, we call the key sequence a prefix key.
Otherwise, we call it a complete key (because no more events can be added to it). If the
binding is nil, we call the key undefined. Examples of prefix keys are C-c, C-x, and C-x
4. Examples of defined complete keys are X, RET, and C-x 4 C-f. Examples of undefined
complete keys are C-x C-g, and C-c 3. See Section 22.6 [Prefix Keys], page 421, for more
details.
The rule for finding the binding of a key sequence assumes that the intermediate bindings
(found for the events before the last) are all keymaps; if this is not so, the sequence of events
does not form a unit—it is not really one key sequence. In other words, removing one or
more events from the end of any valid key sequence must always yield a prefix key. For
example, C-f C-n is not a key sequence; C-f is not a prefix key, so a longer sequence starting
with C-f cannot be a key sequence.
The set of possible multi-event key sequences depends on the bindings for prefix keys;
therefore, it can be different for different keymaps, and can change when bindings are
changed. However, a one-event sequence is always a key sequence, because it does not
depend on any prefix keys for its well-formedness.
At any time, several primary keymaps are active—that is, in use for finding key bindings.
These are the global map, which is shared by all buffers; the local keymap, which is usually
associated with a specific major mode; and zero or more minor mode keymaps, which belong
to currently enabled minor modes. (Not all minor modes have keymaps.) The local keymap
bindings shadow (i.e., take precedence over) the corresponding global bindings. The minor
mode keymaps shadow both local and global keymaps. See Section 22.7 [Active Keymaps],
page 422, for details.

22.3 Format of Keymaps

Each keymap is a list whose car is the symbol keymap. The remaining elements of the list
define the key bindings of the keymap. A symbol whose function definition is a keymap is
also a keymap. Use the function keymapp (see below) to test whether an object is a keymap.
Several kinds of elements may appear in a keymap, after the symbol keymap that begins
it:

(type . binding)
This specifies one binding, for events of type type. Each ordinary binding
applies to events of a particular event type, which is always a character or a
symbol. See Section 21.7.12 [Classifying Events], page 391. In this kind of
binding, binding is a command.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 417

(type item-name . binding)

This specifies a binding which is also a simple menu item that displays as item-
name in the menu. See Section 22.17.1.1 [Simple Menu Items], page 440.
(type item-name help-string . binding)
This is a simple menu item with help string help-string.
(type menu-item . details)
This specifies a binding which is also an extended menu item. This allows use
of other features. See Section 22.17.1.2 [Extended Menu Items], page 441.
(t . binding)
This specifies a default key binding; any event not bound by other elements of
the keymap is given binding as its binding. Default bindings allow a keymap to
bind all possible event types without having to enumerate all of them. A keymap
that has a default binding completely masks any lower-precedence keymap,
except for events explicitly bound to nil (see below).
char-table
If an element of a keymap is a char-table, it counts as holding bindings for
all character events with no modifier bits (see [modifier bits], page 13): the
element whose index is c is the binding for the character c. This is a compact
way to record lots of bindings. A keymap with such a char-table is called a full
keymap. Other keymaps are called sparse keymaps.
vector This kind of element is similar to a char-table: the element whose index is c
is the binding for the character c. Since the range of characters that can be
bound this way is limited by the vector size, and vector creation allocates space
for all character codes from 0 up, this format should not be used except for
creating menu keymaps (see Section 22.17 [Menu Keymaps], page 439), where
the bindings themselves don’t matter.
string Aside from elements that specify bindings for keys, a keymap can also have
a string as an element. This is called the overall prompt string and makes it
possible to use the keymap as a menu. See Section 22.17.1 [Defining Menus],
page 439.
(keymap ...)
If an element of a keymap is itself a keymap, it counts as if this inner keymap
were inlined in the outer keymap. This is used for multiple-inheritance, such
as in make-composed-keymap.
When the binding is nil, it doesn’t constitute a definition but it does take precedence
over a default binding or a binding in the parent keymap. On the other hand, a binding of
nil does not override lower-precedence keymaps; thus, if the local map gives a binding of
nil, Emacs uses the binding from the global map.
Keymaps do not directly record bindings for the meta characters. Instead, meta char-
acters are regarded for purposes of key lookup as sequences of two characters, the first of
which is ESC (or whatever is currently the value of meta-prefix-char). Thus, the key
M-a is internally represented as ESC a, and its global binding is found at the slot for a in
esc-map (see Section 22.6 [Prefix Keys], page 421).
Chapter 22: Keymaps 418

This conversion applies only to characters, not to function keys or other input events;
thus, M-end has nothing to do with ESC end.
Here as an example is the local keymap for Lisp mode, a sparse keymap. It defines
bindings for DEL, C-c C-z, C-M-q, and C-M-x (the actual value also contains a menu binding,
which is omitted here for the sake of brevity).
lisp-mode-map
⇒
(keymap
(3 keymap
;; C-c C-z
(26 . run-lisp))
(27 keymap
;; C-M-x, treated as ESC C-x
(24 . lisp-send-defun))
;; This part is inherited from lisp-mode-shared-map.
keymap
;; DEL
(127 . backward-delete-char-untabify)
(27 keymap
;; C-M-q, treated as ESC C-q
(17 . indent-sexp)))
keymapp object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a keymap, nil otherwise. More precisely, this
function tests for a list whose car is keymap, or for a symbol whose function definition
satisfies keymapp.
(keymapp '(keymap))
⇒ t
(fset 'foo '(keymap))
(keymapp 'foo)
⇒ t
(keymapp (current-global-map))
⇒ t

22.4 Creating Keymaps

Here we describe the functions for creating keymaps.
make-sparse-keymap &optional prompt [Function]
This function creates and returns a new sparse keymap with no entries. (A sparse
keymap is the kind of keymap you usually want.) The new keymap does not contain
a char-table, unlike make-keymap, and does not bind any events.
(make-sparse-keymap)
⇒ (keymap)
If you specify prompt, that becomes the overall prompt string for the keymap. You
should specify this only for menu keymaps (see Section 22.17.1 [Defining Menus],
page 439). A keymap with an overall prompt string will always present a mouse
Chapter 22: Keymaps 419

menu or a keyboard menu if it is active for looking up the next input event. Don’t
specify an overall prompt string for the main map of a major or minor mode, because
that would cause the command loop to present a keyboard menu every time.
make-keymap &optional prompt [Function]
This function creates and returns a new full keymap. That keymap contains a char-
table (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107) with slots for all characters without
modifiers. The new keymap initially binds all these characters to nil, and does not
bind any other kind of event. The argument prompt specifies a prompt string, as in
make-sparse-keymap.
(make-keymap)
⇒ (keymap #^[nil nil keymap nil nil nil ...])
A full keymap is more efficient than a sparse keymap when it holds lots of bindings;
for just a few, the sparse keymap is better.
copy-keymap keymap [Function]
This function returns a copy of keymap. This is almost never needed. If you want a
keymap that’s like another yet with a few changes, you should use map inheritance
rather than copying. I.e., something like:
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(set-keymap-parent map <theirmap>)
(define-key map ...)
...)
When performing copy-keymap, any keymaps that appear directly as bindings in
keymap are also copied recursively, and so on to any number of levels. However,
recursive copying does not take place when the definition of a character is a symbol
whose function definition is a keymap; the same symbol appears in the new copy.
(setq map (copy-keymap (current-local-map)))
⇒ (keymap
;; (This implements meta characters.)
(27 keymap
(83 . center-paragraph)
(115 . center-line))
(9 . tab-to-tab-stop))

(eq map (current-local-map))

⇒ nil
(equal map (current-local-map))
⇒ t

22.5 Inheritance and Keymaps

A keymap can inherit the bindings of another keymap, which we call the parent keymap.
Such a keymap looks like this:
(keymap elements... . parent-keymap)
The effect is that this keymap inherits all the bindings of parent-keymap, whatever they
may be at the time a key is looked up, but can add to them or override them with elements.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 420

If you change the bindings in parent-keymap using define-key or other key-binding

functions, these changed bindings are visible in the inheriting keymap, unless shadowed by
the bindings made by elements. The converse is not true: if you use define-key to change
bindings in the inheriting keymap, these changes are recorded in elements, but have no
effect on parent-keymap.
The proper way to construct a keymap with a parent is to use set-keymap-parent; if
you have code that directly constructs a keymap with a parent, please convert the program
to use set-keymap-parent instead.

keymap-parent keymap [Function]

This returns the parent keymap of keymap. If keymap has no parent, keymap-parent
returns nil.

set-keymap-parent keymap parent [Function]

This sets the parent keymap of keymap to parent, and returns parent. If parent is
nil, this function gives keymap no parent at all.
If keymap has submaps (bindings for prefix keys), they too receive new parent
keymaps that reflect what parent specifies for those prefix keys.

Here is an example showing how to make a keymap that inherits from text-mode-map:
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(set-keymap-parent map text-mode-map)
map)
A non-sparse keymap can have a parent too, but this is not very useful. A non-sparse
keymap always specifies something as the binding for every numeric character code without
modifier bits, even if it is nil, so these character’s bindings are never inherited from the
parent keymap.
Sometimes you want to make a keymap that inherits from more than one map. You can
use the function make-composed-keymap for this.

make-composed-keymap maps &optional parent [Function]

This function returns a new keymap composed of the existing keymap(s) maps, and
optionally inheriting from a parent keymap parent. maps can be a single keymap or
a list of more than one. When looking up a key in the resulting new map, Emacs
searches in each of the maps in turn, and then in parent, stopping at the first match.
A nil binding in any one of maps overrides any binding in parent, but it does not
override any non-nil binding in any other of the maps.

For example, here is how Emacs sets the parent of help-mode-map, such that it inherits
from both button-buffer-map and special-mode-map:
(defvar help-mode-map
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(set-keymap-parent map
(make-composed-keymap button-buffer-map special-mode-map))
... map) ... )
Chapter 22: Keymaps 421

22.6 Prefix Keys

A prefix key is a key sequence whose binding is a keymap. The keymap defines what to do
with key sequences that extend the prefix key. For example, C-x is a prefix key, and it uses
a keymap that is also stored in the variable ctl-x-map. This keymap defines bindings for
key sequences starting with C-x.
Some of the standard Emacs prefix keys use keymaps that are also found in Lisp variables:
• esc-map is the global keymap for the ESC prefix key. Thus, the global definitions of
all meta characters are actually found here. This map is also the function definition of
ESC-prefix.
• help-map is the global keymap for the C-h prefix key.
• mode-specific-map is the global keymap for the prefix key C-c. This map is actually
global, not mode-specific, but its name provides useful information about C-c in the
output of C-h b (display-bindings), since the main use of this prefix key is for mode-
specific bindings.
• ctl-x-map is the global keymap used for the C-x prefix key. This map is found via the
function cell of the symbol Control-X-prefix.
• mule-keymap is the global keymap used for the C-x RET prefix key.
• ctl-x-4-map is the global keymap used for the C-x 4 prefix key.
• ctl-x-5-map is the global keymap used for the C-x 5 prefix key.
• 2C-mode-map is the global keymap used for the C-x 6 prefix key.
• vc-prefix-map is the global keymap used for the C-x v prefix key.
• goto-map is the global keymap used for the M-g prefix key.
• search-map is the global keymap used for the M-s prefix key.
• facemenu-keymap is the global keymap used for the M-o prefix key.
• The other Emacs prefix keys are C-x @, C-x a i, C-x ESC and ESC ESC. They use
keymaps that have no special names.
The keymap binding of a prefix key is used for looking up the event that follows the
prefix key. (It may instead be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. The effect is
the same, but the symbol serves as a name for the prefix key.) Thus, the binding of C-x is
the symbol Control-X-prefix, whose function cell holds the keymap for C-x commands.
(The same keymap is also the value of ctl-x-map.)
Prefix key definitions can appear in any active keymap. The definitions of C-c, C-x, C-h
and ESC as prefix keys appear in the global map, so these prefix keys are always available.
Major and minor modes can redefine a key as a prefix by putting a prefix key definition for
it in the local map or the minor mode’s map. See Section 22.7 [Active Keymaps], page 422.
If a key is defined as a prefix in more than one active map, then its various definitions
are in effect merged: the commands defined in the minor mode keymaps come first, followed
by those in the local map’s prefix definition, and then by those from the global map.
In the following example, we make C-p a prefix key in the local keymap, in such a way
that C-p is identical to C-x. Then the binding for C-p C-f is the function find-file, just
like C-x C-f. The key sequence C-p 6 is not found in any active keymap.
(use-local-map (make-sparse-keymap))
⇒ nil
Chapter 22: Keymaps 422

(local-set-key "\C-p" ctl-x-map)

⇒ nil
(key-binding "\C-p\C-f")
⇒ find-file

(key-binding "\C-p6")
⇒ nil

define-prefix-command symbol &optional mapvar prompt [Function]

This function prepares symbol for use as a prefix key’s binding: it creates a sparse
keymap and stores it as symbol’s function definition. Subsequently binding a key
sequence to symbol will make that key sequence into a prefix key. The return value
is symbol.
This function also sets symbol as a variable, with the keymap as its value. But if
mapvar is non-nil, it sets mapvar as a variable instead.
If prompt is non-nil, that becomes the overall prompt string for the keymap. The
prompt string should be given for menu keymaps (see Section 22.17.1 [Defining
Menus], page 439).

22.7 Active Keymaps

Emacs contains many keymaps, but at any time only a few keymaps are active. When
Emacs receives user input, it translates the input event (see Section 22.14 [Translation
Keymaps], page 434), and looks for a key binding in the active keymaps.
Usually, the active keymaps are: (i) the keymap specified by the keymap property, (ii)
the keymaps of enabled minor modes, (iii) the current buffer’s local keymap, and (iv) the
global keymap, in that order. Emacs searches for each input key sequence in all these
keymaps.
Of these usual keymaps, the highest-precedence one is specified by the keymap text or
overlay property at point, if any. (For a mouse input event, Emacs uses the event position
instead of point; see the next section for details.)
Next in precedence are keymaps specified by enabled minor modes. These keymaps, if
any, are specified by the variables emulation-mode-map-alists, minor-mode-overriding-
map-alist, and minor-mode-map-alist. See Section 22.9 [Controlling Active Maps],
page 424.
Next in precedence is the buffer’s local keymap, containing key bindings specific to the
buffer. The minibuffer also has a local keymap (see Section 20.1 [Intro to Minibuffers],
page 334). If there is a local-map text or overlay property at point, that specifies the local
keymap to use, in place of the buffer’s default local keymap.
The local keymap is normally set by the buffer’s major mode, and every buffer with
the same major mode shares the same local keymap. Hence, if you call local-set-key
(see Section 22.15 [Key Binding Commands], page 436) to change the local keymap in one
buffer, that also affects the local keymaps in other buffers with the same major mode.
Finally, the global keymap contains key bindings that are defined regardless of the current
buffer, such as C-f. It is always active, and is bound to the variable global-map.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 423

Apart from the above usual keymaps, Emacs provides special ways for programs to make
other keymaps active. Firstly, the variable overriding-local-map specifies a keymap
that replaces the usual active keymaps, except for the global keymap. Secondly, the
terminal-local variable overriding-terminal-local-map specifies a keymap that takes
precedence over all other keymaps (including overriding-local-map); this is normally
used for modal/transient keybindings (the function set-transient-map provides a conve-
nient interface for this). See Section 22.9 [Controlling Active Maps], page 424, for details.
Making keymaps active is not the only way to use them. Keymaps are also used in
other ways, such as for translating events within read-key-sequence. See Section 22.14
[Translation Keymaps], page 434.
See Appendix G [Standard Keymaps], page 1196, for a list of some standard keymaps.

current-active-maps &optional olp position [Function]

This returns the list of active keymaps that would be used by the command loop
in the current circumstances to look up a key sequence. Normally it ignores
overriding-local-map and overriding-terminal-local-map, but if olp is
non-nil then it pays attention to them. position can optionally be either an event
position as returned by event-start or a buffer position, and may change the
keymaps as described for key-binding.

key-binding key &optional accept-defaults no-remap position [Function]

This function returns the binding for key according to the current active keymaps.
The result is nil if key is undefined in the keymaps.
The argument accept-defaults controls checking for default bindings, as in lookup-key
(see Section 22.11 [Functions for Key Lookup], page 428).
When commands are remapped (see Section 22.13 [Remapping Commands],
page 433), key-binding normally processes command remappings so as to return
the remapped command that will actually be executed. However, if no-remap is
non-nil, key-binding ignores remappings and returns the binding directly specified
for key.
If key starts with a mouse event (perhaps following a prefix event), the maps to
be consulted are determined based on the event’s position. Otherwise, they are de-
termined based on the value of point. However, you can override either of them
by specifying position. If position is non-nil, it should be either a buffer position
or an event position like the value of event-start. Then the maps consulted are
determined based on position.
Emacs signals an error if key is not a string or a vector.
(key-binding "\C-x\C-f")
⇒ find-file

22.8 Searching the Active Keymaps

Here is a pseudo-Lisp summary of how Emacs searches the active keymaps:
(or (if overriding-terminal-local-map
(find-in overriding-terminal-local-map))
(if overriding-local-map
Chapter 22: Keymaps 424

(find-in overriding-local-map)
(or (find-in (get-char-property (point) 'keymap))
(find-in-any emulation-mode-map-alists)
(find-in-any minor-mode-overriding-map-alist)
(find-in-any minor-mode-map-alist)
(if (get-text-property (point) 'local-map)
(find-in (get-char-property (point) 'local-map))
(find-in (current-local-map)))))
(find-in (current-global-map)))
Here, find-in and find-in-any are pseudo functions that search in one keymap and in an
alist of keymaps, respectively. Note that the set-transient-map function works by setting
overriding-terminal-local-map (see Section 22.9 [Controlling Active Maps], page 424).
In the above pseudo-code, if a key sequence starts with a mouse event (see Section 21.7.3
[Mouse Events], page 383), that event’s position is used instead of point, and the event’s
buffer is used instead of the current buffer. In particular, this affects how the keymap and
local-map properties are looked up. If a mouse event occurs on a string embedded with a
display, before-string, or after-string property (see Section 32.19.4 [Special Proper-
ties], page 808), and the string has a non-nil keymap or local-map property, that overrides
the corresponding property in the underlying buffer text (i.e., the property specified by the
underlying text is ignored).
When a key binding is found in one of the active keymaps, and that binding is a com-
mand, the search is over—the command is executed. However, if the binding is a symbol
with a value or a string, Emacs replaces the input key sequences with the variable’s value or
the string, and restarts the search of the active keymaps. See Section 22.10 [Key Lookup],
page 427.
The command which is finally found might also be remapped. See Section 22.13 [Remap-
ping Commands], page 433.

22.9 Controlling the Active Keymaps

global-map [Variable]
This variable contains the default global keymap that maps Emacs keyboard input to
commands. The global keymap is normally this keymap. The default global keymap
is a full keymap that binds self-insert-command to all of the printing characters.
It is normal practice to change the bindings in the global keymap, but you should not
assign this variable any value other than the keymap it starts out with.

current-global-map [Function]
This function returns the current global keymap. This is the same as the value of
global-map unless you change one or the other. The return value is a reference, not
a copy; if you use define-key or other functions on it you will alter global bindings.
(current-global-map)
⇒ (keymap [set-mark-command beginning-of-line ...
delete-backward-char])
Chapter 22: Keymaps 425

current-local-map [Function]
This function returns the current buffer’s local keymap, or nil if it has none. In
the following example, the keymap for the *scratch* buffer (using Lisp Interaction
mode) is a sparse keymap in which the entry for ESC, ASCII code 27, is another sparse
keymap.
(current-local-map)
⇒ (keymap
(10 . eval-print-last-sexp)
(9 . lisp-indent-line)
(127 . backward-delete-char-untabify)
(27 keymap
(24 . eval-defun)
(17 . indent-sexp)))

current-local-map returns a reference to the local keymap, not a copy of it; if you use
define-key or other functions on it you will alter local bindings.

current-minor-mode-maps [Function]
This function returns a list of the keymaps of currently enabled minor modes.

use-global-map keymap [Function]

This function makes keymap the new current global keymap. It returns nil.
It is very unusual to change the global keymap.

use-local-map keymap [Function]

This function makes keymap the new local keymap of the current buffer. If keymap is
nil, then the buffer has no local keymap. use-local-map returns nil. Most major
mode commands use this function.

minor-mode-map-alist [Variable]
This variable is an alist describing keymaps that may or may not be active according
to the values of certain variables. Its elements look like this:
(variable . keymap)
The keymap keymap is active whenever variable has a non-nil value. Typically
variable is the variable that enables or disables a minor mode. See Section 23.3.2
[Keymaps and Minor Modes], page 473.
Note that elements of minor-mode-map-alist do not have the same structure as
elements of minor-mode-alist. The map must be the cdr of the element; a list with
the map as the second element will not do. The cdr can be either a keymap (a list)
or a symbol whose function definition is a keymap.
When more than one minor mode keymap is active, the earlier one in minor-mode-
map-alist takes priority. But you should design minor modes so that they don’t
interfere with each other. If you do this properly, the order will not matter.
See Section 23.3.2 [Keymaps and Minor Modes], page 473, for more information about
minor modes. See also minor-mode-key-binding (see Section 22.11 [Functions for
Key Lookup], page 428).
Chapter 22: Keymaps 426

minor-mode-overriding-map-alist [Variable]
This variable allows major modes to override the key bindings for particular minor
modes. The elements of this alist look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist:
(variable . keymap).
If a variable appears as an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist, the map
specified by that element totally replaces any map specified for the same variable in
minor-mode-map-alist.
minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically buffer-local in all buffers.
overriding-local-map [Variable]
If non-nil, this variable holds a keymap to use instead of the buffer’s local keymap,
any text property or overlay keymaps, and any minor mode keymaps. This keymap, if
specified, overrides all other maps that would have been active, except for the current
global map.
overriding-terminal-local-map [Variable]
If non-nil, this variable holds a keymap to use instead of overriding-local-map,
the buffer’s local keymap, text property or overlay keymaps, and all the minor mode
keymaps.
This variable is always local to the current terminal and cannot be buffer-local. See
Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685. It is used to implement incremental
search mode.
overriding-local-map-menu-flag [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, the value of overriding-local-map or
overriding-terminal-local-map can affect the display of the menu bar.
The default value is nil, so those map variables have no effect on the menu bar.
Note that these two map variables do affect the execution of key sequences entered
using the menu bar, even if they do not affect the menu bar display. So if a menu
bar key sequence comes in, you should clear the variables before looking up and
executing that key sequence. Modes that use the variables would typically do this
anyway; normally they respond to events that they do not handle by “unreading”
them and exiting.
special-event-map [Variable]
This variable holds a keymap for special events. If an event type has a binding in this
keymap, then it is special, and the binding for the event is run directly by read-event.
See Section 21.9 [Special Events], page 405.
emulation-mode-map-alists [Variable]
This variable holds a list of keymap alists to use for emulation modes. It is intended
for modes or packages using multiple minor-mode keymaps. Each element is a keymap
alist which has the same format and meaning as minor-mode-map-alist, or a symbol
with a variable binding which is such an alist. The active keymaps in each alist are
used before minor-mode-map-alist and minor-mode-overriding-map-alist.
set-transient-map keymap &optional keep-pred on-exit [Function]
This function adds keymap as a transient keymap, which takes precedence over other
keymaps for one (or more) subsequent keys.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 427

Normally, keymap is used just once, to look up the very next key. If the optional
argument keep-pred is t, the map stays active as long as the user types keys defined
in keymap; when the user types a key that is not in keymap, the transient keymap is
deactivated and normal key lookup continues for that key.
The keep-pred argument can also be a function. In that case, the function is called
with no arguments, prior to running each command, while keymap is active; it should
return non-nil if keymap should stay active.
The optional argument on-exit, if non-nil, specifies a function that is called, with no
arguments, after keymap is deactivated.
This function works by adding and removing keymap from the variable
overriding-terminal-local-map, which takes precedence over all other active
keymaps (see Section 22.8 [Searching Keymaps], page 423).

22.10 Key Lookup

Key lookup is the process of finding the binding of a key sequence from a given keymap.
The execution or use of the binding is not part of key lookup.
Key lookup uses just the event type of each event in the key sequence; the rest of the
event is ignored. In fact, a key sequence used for key lookup may designate a mouse event
with just its types (a symbol) instead of the entire event (a list). See Section 21.7 [Input
Events], page 381. Such a key sequence is insufficient for command-execute to run, but it
is sufficient for looking up or rebinding a key.
When the key sequence consists of multiple events, key lookup processes the events
sequentially: the binding of the first event is found, and must be a keymap; then the second
event’s binding is found in that keymap, and so on until all the events in the key sequence
are used up. (The binding thus found for the last event may or may not be a keymap.)
Thus, the process of key lookup is defined in terms of a simpler process for looking up a
single event in a keymap. How that is done depends on the type of object associated with
the event in that keymap.
Let’s use the term keymap entry to describe the value found by looking up an event type
in a keymap. (This doesn’t include the item string and other extra elements in a keymap
element for a menu item, because lookup-key and other key lookup functions don’t include
them in the returned value.) While any Lisp object may be stored in a keymap as a keymap
entry, not all make sense for key lookup. Here is a table of the meaningful types of keymap
entries:
nil nil means that the events used so far in the lookup form an undefined key.
When a keymap fails to mention an event type at all, and has no default binding,
that is equivalent to a binding of nil for that event type.
command The events used so far in the lookup form a complete key, and command is its
binding. See Section 13.1 [What Is a Function], page 203.
array The array (either a string or a vector) is a keyboard macro. The events used
so far in the lookup form a complete key, and the array is its binding. See
Section 21.16 [Keyboard Macros], page 413, for more information.
keymap The events used so far in the lookup form a prefix key. The next event of the
key sequence is looked up in keymap.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 428

list The meaning of a list depends on what it contains:

• If the car of list is the symbol keymap, then the list is a keymap, and is
treated as a keymap (see above).
• If the car of list is lambda, then the list is a lambda expression. This is
presumed to be a function, and is treated as such (see above). In order
to execute properly as a key binding, this function must be a command—
it must have an interactive specification. See Section 21.2 [Defining
Commands], page 369.
symbol The function definition of symbol is used in place of symbol. If that too is a
symbol, then this process is repeated, any number of times. Ultimately this
should lead to an object that is a keymap, a command, or a keyboard macro.
Note that keymaps and keyboard macros (strings and vectors) are not valid
functions, so a symbol with a keymap, string, or vector as its function defi-
nition is invalid as a function. It is, however, valid as a key binding. If the
definition is a keyboard macro, then the symbol is also valid as an argument to
command-execute (see Section 21.3 [Interactive Call], page 375).
The symbol undefined is worth special mention: it means to treat the key as
undefined. Strictly speaking, the key is defined, and its binding is the command
undefined; but that command does the same thing that is done automatically
for an undefined key: it rings the bell (by calling ding) but does not signal an
error.
undefined is used in local keymaps to override a global key binding and make
the key undefined locally. A local binding of nil would fail to do this because
it would not override the global binding.
anything else
If any other type of object is found, the events used so far in the lookup form
a complete key, and the object is its binding, but the binding is not executable
as a command.
In short, a keymap entry may be a keymap, a command, a keyboard macro, a symbol
that leads to one of them, or nil.

22.11 Functions for Key Lookup

Here are the functions and variables pertaining to key lookup.

lookup-key keymap key &optional accept-defaults [Function]

This function returns the definition of key in keymap. All the other functions de-
scribed in this chapter that look up keys use lookup-key. Here are examples:
(lookup-key (current-global-map) "\C-x\C-f")
⇒ find-file
(lookup-key (current-global-map) (kbd "C-x C-f"))
⇒ find-file
(lookup-key (current-global-map) "\C-x\C-f12345")
⇒ 2
Chapter 22: Keymaps 429

If the string or vector key is not a valid key sequence according to the prefix keys
specified in keymap, it must be too long and have extra events at the end that do not
fit into a single key sequence. Then the value is a number, the number of events at
the front of key that compose a complete key.
If accept-defaults is non-nil, then lookup-key considers default bindings as well as
bindings for the specific events in key. Otherwise, lookup-key reports only bindings
for the specific sequence key, ignoring default bindings except when you explicitly ask
about them. (To do this, supply t as an element of key; see Section 22.3 [Format of
Keymaps], page 416.)
If key contains a meta character (not a function key), that character is implicitly
replaced by a two-character sequence: the value of meta-prefix-char, followed by
the corresponding non-meta character. Thus, the first example below is handled by
conversion into the second example.
(lookup-key (current-global-map) "\M-f")
⇒ forward-word
(lookup-key (current-global-map) "\ef")
⇒ forward-word
Unlike read-key-sequence, this function does not modify the specified events in
ways that discard information (see Section 21.8.1 [Key Sequence Input], page 397).
In particular, it does not convert letters to lower case and it does not change drag
events to clicks.

undefined [Command]
Used in keymaps to undefine keys. It calls ding, but does not cause an error.

local-key-binding key &optional accept-defaults [Function]

This function returns the binding for key in the current local keymap, or nil if it is
undefined there.
The argument accept-defaults controls checking for default bindings, as in lookup-key
(above).

global-key-binding key &optional accept-defaults [Function]

This function returns the binding for command key in the current global keymap, or
nil if it is undefined there.
The argument accept-defaults controls checking for default bindings, as in lookup-key
(above).

minor-mode-key-binding key &optional accept-defaults [Function]

This function returns a list of all the active minor mode bindings of key. More
precisely, it returns an alist of pairs (modename . binding), where modename is the
variable that enables the minor mode, and binding is key’s binding in that mode. If
key has no minor-mode bindings, the value is nil.
If the first binding found is not a prefix definition (a keymap or a symbol defined as
a keymap), all subsequent bindings from other minor modes are omitted, since they
would be completely shadowed. Similarly, the list omits non-prefix bindings that
follow prefix bindings.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 430

The argument accept-defaults controls checking for default bindings, as in lookup-key

(above).

meta-prefix-char [User Option]

This variable is the meta-prefix character code. It is used for translating a meta
character to a two-character sequence so it can be looked up in a keymap. For useful
results, the value should be a prefix event (see Section 22.6 [Prefix Keys], page 421).
The default value is 27, which is the ASCII code for ESC.
As long as the value of meta-prefix-char remains 27, key lookup translates M-b into
ESC b, which is normally defined as the backward-word command. However, if you
were to set meta-prefix-char to 24, the code for C-x, then Emacs will translate
M-b into C-x b, whose standard binding is the switch-to-buffer command. (Don’t
actually do this!) Here is an illustration of what would happen:
meta-prefix-char ; The default value.
⇒ 27
(key-binding "\M-b")
⇒ backward-word
?\C-x ; The print representation
⇒ 24 ; of a character.
(setq meta-prefix-char 24)
⇒ 24
(key-binding "\M-b")
⇒ switch-to-buffer ; Now, typing M-b is
; like typing C-x b.

(setq meta-prefix-char 27) ; Avoid confusion!

⇒ 27 ; Restore the default value!
This translation of one event into two happens only for characters, not for other kinds
of input events. Thus, M-F1, a function key, is not converted into ESC F1.

22.12 Changing Key Bindings

The way to rebind a key is to change its entry in a keymap. If you change a binding in the
global keymap, the change is effective in all buffers (though it has no direct effect in buffers
that shadow the global binding with a local one). If you change the current buffer’s local
map, that usually affects all buffers using the same major mode. The global-set-key and
local-set-key functions are convenient interfaces for these operations (see Section 22.15
[Key Binding Commands], page 436). You can also use define-key, a more general func-
tion; then you must explicitly specify the map to change.
When choosing the key sequences for Lisp programs to rebind, please follow the Emacs
conventions for use of various keys (see Section D.2 [Key Binding Conventions], page 1145).
In writing the key sequence to rebind, it is good to use the special escape sequences for
control and meta characters (see Section 2.3.8 [String Type], page 18). The syntax ‘\C-’
means that the following character is a control character and ‘\M-’ means that the following
character is a meta character. Thus, the string "\M-x" is read as containing a single M-x,
"\C-f" is read as containing a single C-f, and "\M-\C-x" and "\C-\M-x" are both read
as containing a single C-M-x. You can also use this escape syntax in vectors, as well as
others that aren’t allowed in strings; one example is ‘[?\C-\H-x home]’. See Section 2.3.3
[Character Type], page 10.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 431

The key definition and lookup functions accept an alternate syntax for event types in
a key sequence that is a vector: you can use a list containing modifier names plus one
base event (a character or function key name). For example, (control ?a) is equivalent to
?\C-a and (hyper control left) is equivalent to C-H-left. One advantage of such lists
is that the precise numeric codes for the modifier bits don’t appear in compiled files.
The functions below signal an error if keymap is not a keymap, or if key is not a string
or vector representing a key sequence. You can use event types (symbols) as shorthand for
events that are lists. The kbd function (see Section 22.1 [Key Sequences], page 415) is a
convenient way to specify the key sequence.
define-key keymap key binding [Function]
This function sets the binding for key in keymap. (If key is more than one event long,
the change is actually made in another keymap reached from keymap.) The argument
binding can be any Lisp object, but only certain types are meaningful. (For a list of
meaningful types, see Section 22.10 [Key Lookup], page 427.) The value returned by
define-key is binding.
If key is [t], this sets the default binding in keymap. When an event has no binding
of its own, the Emacs command loop uses the keymap’s default binding, if there is
one.
Every prefix of key must be a prefix key (i.e., bound to a keymap) or undefined;
otherwise an error is signaled. If some prefix of key is undefined, then define-key
defines it as a prefix key so that the rest of key can be defined as specified.
If there was previously no binding for key in keymap, the new binding is added at
the beginning of keymap. The order of bindings in a keymap makes no difference
for keyboard input, but it does matter for menu keymaps (see Section 22.17 [Menu
Keymaps], page 439).
This example creates a sparse keymap and makes a number of bindings in it:
(setq map (make-sparse-keymap))
⇒ (keymap)
(define-key map "\C-f" 'forward-char)
⇒ forward-char
map
⇒ (keymap (6 . forward-char))

;; Build sparse submap for C-x and bind f in that.

(define-key map (kbd "C-x f") 'forward-word)
⇒ forward-word
map
⇒ (keymap
(24 keymap ; C-x
(102 . forward-word)) ; f
(6 . forward-char)) ; C-f

;; Bind C-p to the ctl-x-map.

(define-key map (kbd "C-p") ctl-x-map)
;; ctl-x-map
⇒ [nil ... find-file ... backward-kill-sentence]

;; Bind C-f to foo in the ctl-x-map.

(define-key map (kbd "C-p C-f") 'foo)
⇒ 'foo
Chapter 22: Keymaps 432

map
⇒ (keymap ; Note foo in ctl-x-map.
(16 keymap [nil ... foo ... backward-kill-sentence])
(24 keymap
(102 . forward-word))
(6 . forward-char))
Note that storing a new binding for C-p C-f actually works by changing an entry in ctl-x-
map, and this has the effect of changing the bindings of both C-p C-f and C-x C-f in the
default global map.
The function substitute-key-definition scans a keymap for keys that have a certain
binding and rebinds them with a different binding. Another feature which is cleaner and
can often produce the same results is to remap one command into another (see Section 22.13
[Remapping Commands], page 433).

substitute-key-definition olddef newdef keymap &optional [Function]

oldmap
This function replaces olddef with newdef for any keys in keymap that were bound
to olddef. In other words, olddef is replaced with newdef wherever it appears. The
function returns nil.
For example, this redefines C-x C-f, if you do it in an Emacs with standard bindings:
(substitute-key-definition
'find-file 'find-file-read-only (current-global-map))
If oldmap is non-nil, that changes the behavior of substitute-key-definition:
the bindings in oldmap determine which keys to rebind. The rebindings still happen
in keymap, not in oldmap. Thus, you can change one map under the control of the
bindings in another. For example,
(substitute-key-definition
'delete-backward-char 'my-funny-delete
my-map global-map)
puts the special deletion command in my-map for whichever keys are globally bound
to the standard deletion command.
Here is an example showing a keymap before and after substitution:
(setq map '(keymap
(?1 . olddef-1)
(?2 . olddef-2)
(?3 . olddef-1)))
⇒ (keymap (49 . olddef-1) (50 . olddef-2) (51 . olddef-1))

(substitute-key-definition 'olddef-1 'newdef map)

⇒ nil
map
⇒ (keymap (49 . newdef) (50 . olddef-2) (51 . newdef))

suppress-keymap keymap &optional nodigits [Function]

This function changes the contents of the full keymap keymap by remapping
self-insert-command to the command undefined (see Section 22.13 [Remapping
Commands], page 433). This has the effect of undefining all printing characters,
thus making ordinary insertion of text impossible. suppress-keymap returns nil.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 433

If nodigits is nil, then suppress-keymap defines digits to run digit-argument, and

- to run negative-argument. Otherwise it makes them undefined like the rest of the
printing characters.
The suppress-keymap function does not make it impossible to modify a buffer, as
it does not suppress commands such as yank and quoted-insert. To prevent any
modification of a buffer, make it read-only (see Section 27.7 [Read Only Buffers],
page 590).
Since this function modifies keymap, you would normally use it on a newly created
keymap. Operating on an existing keymap that is used for some other purpose is likely
to cause trouble; for example, suppressing global-map would make it impossible to
use most of Emacs.
This function can be used to initialize the local keymap of a major mode for which
insertion of text is not desirable. But usually such a mode should be derived from
special-mode (see Section 23.2.5 [Basic Major Modes], page 464); then its keymap
will automatically inherit from special-mode-map, which is already suppressed. Here
is how special-mode-map is defined:
(defvar special-mode-map
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(suppress-keymap map)
(define-key map "q" 'quit-window)
...
map))

22.13 Remapping Commands

A special kind of key binding can be used to remap one command to another, without
having to refer to the key sequence(s) bound to the original command. To use this feature,
make a key binding for a key sequence that starts with the dummy event remap, followed by
the command name you want to remap; for the binding, specify the new definition (usually
a command name, but possibly any other valid definition for a key binding).
For example, suppose My mode provides a special command my-kill-line, which
should be invoked instead of kill-line. To establish this, its mode keymap should contain
the following remapping:
(define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
Then, whenever my-mode-map is active, if the user types C-k (the default global key sequence
for kill-line) Emacs will instead run my-kill-line.
Note that remapping only takes place through active keymaps; for example, putting a
remapping in a prefix keymap like ctl-x-map typically has no effect, as such keymaps are
not themselves active. In addition, remapping only works through a single level; in the
following example,
(define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
(define-key my-mode-map [remap my-kill-line] 'my-other-kill-line)
kill-line is not remapped to my-other-kill-line. Instead, if an ordinary key bind-
ing specifies kill-line, it is remapped to my-kill-line; if an ordinary binding specifies
my-kill-line, it is remapped to my-other-kill-line.
To undo the remapping of a command, remap it to nil; e.g.,
(define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] nil)
Chapter 22: Keymaps 434

command-remapping command &optional position keymaps [Function]

This function returns the remapping for command (a symbol), given the current
active keymaps. If command is not remapped (which is the usual situation), or not a
symbol, the function returns nil. position can optionally specify a buffer position
or an event position to determine the keymaps to use, as in key-binding.
If the optional argument keymaps is non-nil, it specifies a list of keymaps to search
in. This argument is ignored if position is non-nil.

22.14 Keymaps for Translating Sequences of Events

When the read-key-sequence function reads a key sequence (see Section 21.8.1 [Key Se-
quence Input], page 397), it uses translation keymaps to translate certain event sequences
into others. The translation keymaps are input-decode-map, local-function-key-map,
and key-translation-map (in order of priority).
Translation keymaps have the same structure as other keymaps, but are used differently:
they specify translations to make while reading key sequences, rather than bindings for
complete key sequences. As each key sequence is read, it is checked against each translation
keymap. If one of the translation keymaps binds k to a vector v, then whenever k appears
as a sub-sequence anywhere in a key sequence, that sub-sequence is replaced with the events
in v.
For example, VT100 terminals send ESC O P when the keypad key PF1 is pressed. On
such terminals, Emacs must translate that sequence of events into a single event pf1. This
is done by binding ESC O P to [pf1] in input-decode-map. Thus, when you type C-c PF1
on the terminal, the terminal emits the character sequence C-c ESC O P, and read-key-
sequence translates this back into C-c PF1 and returns it as the vector [?\C-c pf1].
Translation keymaps take effect only after Emacs has decoded the keyboard input (via
the input coding system specified by keyboard-coding-system). See Section 33.10.8 [Ter-
minal I/O Encoding], page 861.

input-decode-map [Variable]
This variable holds a keymap that describes the character sequences sent by function
keys on an ordinary character terminal.
The value of input-decode-map is usually set up automatically according to the
terminal’s Terminfo or Termcap entry, but sometimes those need help from terminal-
specific Lisp files. Emacs comes with terminal-specific files for many common termi-
nals; their main purpose is to make entries in input-decode-map beyond those that
can be deduced from Termcap and Terminfo. See Section 40.1.3 [Terminal-Specific],
page 1076.

local-function-key-map [Variable]
This variable holds a keymap similar to input-decode-map except that it describes
key sequences which should be translated to alternative interpretations that are usu-
ally preferred. It applies after input-decode-map and before key-translation-map.
Entries in local-function-key-map are ignored if they conflict with bindings made
in the minor mode, local, or global keymaps. I.e., the remapping only applies if the
original key sequence would otherwise not have any binding.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 435

local-function-key-map inherits from function-key-map, but the latter should

not be used directly.

key-translation-map [Variable]
This variable is another keymap used just like input-decode-map to translate input
events into other events. It differs from input-decode-map in that it goes to work
after local-function-key-map is finished rather than before; it receives the results
of translation by local-function-key-map.
Just like input-decode-map, but unlike local-function-key-map, this keymap
is applied regardless of whether the input key-sequence has a normal binding.
Note however that actual key bindings can have an effect on key-translation-
map, even though they are overridden by it. Indeed, actual key bindings
override local-function-key-map and thus may alter the key sequence that
key-translation-map receives. Clearly, it is better to avoid this type of situation.
The intent of key-translation-map is for users to map one character set to another,
including ordinary characters normally bound to self-insert-command.

You can use input-decode-map, local-function-key-map, and key-translation-map

for more than simple aliases, by using a function, instead of a key sequence, as the translation
of a key. Then this function is called to compute the translation of that key.
The key translation function receives one argument, which is the prompt that was speci-
fied in read-key-sequence—or nil if the key sequence is being read by the editor command
loop. In most cases you can ignore the prompt value.
If the function reads input itself, it can have the effect of altering the event that follows.
For example, here’s how to define C-c h to turn the character that follows into a Hyper
character:
(defun hyperify (prompt)
(let ((e (read-event)))
(vector (if (numberp e)
(logior (lsh 1 24) e)
(if (memq 'hyper (event-modifiers e))
e
(add-event-modifier "H-" e))))))

(defun add-event-modifier (string e)

(let ((symbol (if (symbolp e) e (car e))))
(setq symbol (intern (concat string
(symbol-name symbol))))
(if (symbolp e)
symbol
(cons symbol (cdr e)))))

(define-key local-function-key-map "\C-ch" 'hyperify)

Chapter 22: Keymaps 436

22.14.1 Interaction with normal keymaps

The end of a key sequence is detected when that key sequence either is bound to a command,
or when Emacs determines that no additional event can lead to a sequence that is bound
to a command.
This means that, while input-decode-map and key-translation-map apply regardless
of whether the original key sequence would have a binding, the presence of such a binding
can still prevent translation from taking place. For example, let us return to our VT100
example above and add a binding for C-c ESC to the global map; now when the user hits
C-c PF1 Emacs will fail to decode C-c ESC O P into C-c PF1 because it will stop reading
keys right after C-x ESC, leaving O P for later. This is in case the user really hit C-c ESC, in
which case Emacs should not sit there waiting for the next key to decide whether the user
really pressed ESC or PF1.
For that reason, it is better to avoid binding commands to key sequences where the end of
the key sequence is a prefix of a key translation. The main such problematic suffixes/prefixes
are ESC, M-O (which is really ESC O) and M-[ (which is really ESC [).

22.15 Commands for Binding Keys

This section describes some convenient interactive interfaces for changing key bindings.
They work by calling define-key.
People often use global-set-key in their init files (see Section 40.1.2 [Init File],
page 1075) for simple customization. For example,
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-\\") 'next-line)

or
(global-set-key [?\C-x ?\C-\\] 'next-line)

or
(global-set-key [(control ?x) (control ?\\)] 'next-line)

redefines C-x C-\ to move down a line.

(global-set-key [M-mouse-1] 'mouse-set-point)

redefines the first (leftmost) mouse button, entered with the Meta key, to set point where
you click.
Be careful when using non-ASCII text characters in Lisp specifications of keys to bind.
If these are read as multibyte text, as they usually will be in a Lisp file (see Section 16.4
[Loading Non-ASCII], page 268), you must type the keys as multibyte too. For instance, if
you use this:
(global-set-key "ö" 'my-function) ; bind o-umlaut

or
(global-set-key ?ö 'my-function) ; bind o-umlaut

and your language environment is multibyte Latin-1, these commands actually bind the
multibyte character with code 246, not the byte code 246 (M-v) sent by a Latin-1 terminal.
In order to use this binding, you need to teach Emacs how to decode the keyboard by using
an appropriate input method (see Section “Input Methods” in The GNU Emacs Manual).
Chapter 22: Keymaps 437

global-set-key key binding [Command]

This function sets the binding of key in the current global map to binding.
(global-set-key key binding)
≡
(define-key (current-global-map) key binding)

global-unset-key key [Command]

This function removes the binding of key from the current global map.
One use of this function is in preparation for defining a longer key that uses key as a
prefix—which would not be allowed if key has a non-prefix binding. For example:
(global-unset-key "\C-l")
⇒ nil
(global-set-key "\C-l\C-l" 'redraw-display)
⇒ nil
This function is equivalent to using define-key as follows:
(global-unset-key key)
≡
(define-key (current-global-map) key nil)

local-set-key key binding [Command]

This function sets the binding of key in the current local keymap to binding.
(local-set-key key binding)
≡
(define-key (current-local-map) key binding)

local-unset-key key [Command]

This function removes the binding of key from the current local map.
(local-unset-key key)
≡
(define-key (current-local-map) key nil)

22.16 Scanning Keymaps

This section describes functions used to scan all the current keymaps for the sake of printing
help information.
accessible-keymaps keymap &optional prefix [Function]
This function returns a list of all the keymaps that can be reached (via zero or more
prefix keys) from keymap. The value is an association list with elements of the form
(key . map), where key is a prefix key whose definition in keymap is map.
The elements of the alist are ordered so that the key increases in length. The first
element is always ([] . keymap), because the specified keymap is accessible from
itself with a prefix of no events.
If prefix is given, it should be a prefix key sequence; then accessible-keymaps
includes only the submaps whose prefixes start with prefix. These elements look just
as they do in the value of (accessible-keymaps); the only difference is that some
elements are omitted.
In the example below, the returned alist indicates that the key ESC, which is dis-
played as ‘^[’, is a prefix key whose definition is the sparse keymap (keymap (83 .
center-paragraph) (115 . foo)).
Chapter 22: Keymaps 438

(accessible-keymaps (current-local-map))
⇒(([] keymap
(27 keymap ; Note this keymap for ESC is repeated below.
(83 . center-paragraph)
(115 . center-line))
(9 . tab-to-tab-stop))

("^[" keymap
(83 . center-paragraph)
(115 . foo)))
In the following example, C-h is a prefix key that uses a sparse keymap starting with
(keymap (118 . describe-variable)...). Another prefix, C-x 4, uses a keymap
which is also the value of the variable ctl-x-4-map. The event mode-line is one of
several dummy events used as prefixes for mouse actions in special parts of a window.
(accessible-keymaps (current-global-map))
⇒ (([] keymap [set-mark-command beginning-of-line ...
delete-backward-char])
("^H" keymap (118 . describe-variable) ...
(8 . help-for-help))
("^X" keymap [x-flush-mouse-queue ...
backward-kill-sentence])
("^[" keymap [mark-sexp backward-sexp ...
backward-kill-word])
("^X4" keymap (15 . display-buffer) ...)
([mode-line] keymap
(S-mouse-2 . mouse-split-window-horizontally) ...))
These are not all the keymaps you would see in actuality.

map-keymap function keymap [Function]

The function map-keymap calls function once for each binding in keymap. It passes
two arguments, the event type and the value of the binding. If keymap has a parent,
the parent’s bindings are included as well. This works recursively: if the parent has
itself a parent, then the grandparent’s bindings are also included and so on.
This function is the cleanest way to examine all the bindings in a keymap.

where-is-internal command &optional keymap firstonly noindirect [Function]

no-remap
This function is a subroutine used by the where-is command (see Section “Help” in
The GNU Emacs Manual). It returns a list of all key sequences (of any length) that
are bound to command in a set of keymaps.
The argument command can be any object; it is compared with all keymap entries
using eq.
If keymap is nil, then the maps used are the current active keymaps, disregarding
overriding-local-map (that is, pretending its value is nil). If keymap is a keymap,
then the maps searched are keymap and the global keymap. If keymap is a list of
keymaps, only those keymaps are searched.
Usually it’s best to use overriding-local-map as the expression for keymap. Then
where-is-internal searches precisely the keymaps that are active. To search only
the global map, pass the value (keymap) (an empty keymap) as keymap.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 439

If firstonly is non-ascii, then the value is a single vector representing the first key
sequence found, rather than a list of all possible key sequences. If firstonly is t, then
the value is the first key sequence, except that key sequences consisting entirely of
ASCII characters (or meta variants of ASCII characters) are preferred to all other key
sequences and that the return value can never be a menu binding.
If noindirect is non-nil, where-is-internal doesn’t look inside menu-items to find
their commands. This makes it possible to search for a menu-item itself.
The fifth argument, no-remap, determines how this function treats command remap-
pings (see Section 22.13 [Remapping Commands], page 433). There are two cases of
interest:
If a command other-command is remapped to command:
If no-remap is nil, find the bindings for other-command and treat them
as though they are also bindings for command. If no-remap is non-nil,
include the vector [remap other-command] in the list of possible key
sequences, instead of finding those bindings.
If command is remapped to other-command:
If no-remap is nil, return the bindings for other-command rather than
command. If no-remap is non-nil, return the bindings for command,
ignoring the fact that it is remapped.
describe-bindings &optional prefix buffer-or-name [Command]
This function creates a listing of all current key bindings, and displays it in a buffer
named *Help*. The text is grouped by modes—minor modes first, then the major
mode, then global bindings.
If prefix is non-nil, it should be a prefix key; then the listing includes only keys that
start with prefix.
When several characters with consecutive ASCII codes have the same definition, they
are shown together, as ‘firstchar..lastchar’. In this instance, you need to know
the ASCII codes to understand which characters this means. For example, in the
default global map, the characters ‘SPC .. ~’ are described by a single line. SPC is
ASCII 32, ~ is ASCII 126, and the characters between them include all the normal
printing characters, (e.g., letters, digits, punctuation, etc.); all these characters are
bound to self-insert-command.
If buffer-or-name is non-nil, it should be a buffer or a buffer name. Then
describe-bindings lists that buffer’s bindings, instead of the current buffer’s.

22.17 Menu Keymaps

A keymap can operate as a menu as well as defining bindings for keyboard keys and mouse
buttons. Menus are usually actuated with the mouse, but they can function with the
keyboard also. If a menu keymap is active for the next input event, that activates the
keyboard menu feature.

22.17.1 Defining Menus

A keymap acts as a menu if it has an overall prompt string, which is a string that appears
as an element of the keymap. (See Section 22.3 [Format of Keymaps], page 416.) The string
Chapter 22: Keymaps 440

should describe the purpose of the menu’s commands. Emacs displays the overall prompt
string as the menu title in some cases, depending on the toolkit (if any) used for displaying
menus.1 Keyboard menus also display the overall prompt string.
The easiest way to construct a keymap with a prompt string is to specify the string
as an argument when you call make-keymap, make-sparse-keymap (see Section 22.4 [Cre-
ating Keymaps], page 418), or define-prefix-command (see [Definition of define-prefix-
command], page 422). If you do not want the keymap to operate as a menu, don’t specify
a prompt string for it.
keymap-prompt keymap [Function]
This function returns the overall prompt string of keymap, or nil if it has none.
The menu’s items are the bindings in the keymap. Each binding associates an event type
to a definition, but the event types have no significance for the menu appearance. (Usually
we use pseudo-events, symbols that the keyboard cannot generate, as the event types for
menu item bindings.) The menu is generated entirely from the bindings that correspond in
the keymap to these events.
The order of items in the menu is the same as the order of bindings in the keymap. Since
define-key puts new bindings at the front, you should define the menu items starting at the
bottom of the menu and moving to the top, if you care about the order. When you add an
item to an existing menu, you can specify its position in the menu using define-key-after
(see Section 22.17.7 [Modifying Menus], page 450).

22.17.1.1 Simple Menu Items

The simpler (and original) way to define a menu item is to bind some event type (it doesn’t
matter what event type) to a binding like this:
(item-string . real-binding)
The car, item-string, is the string to be displayed in the menu. It should be short—
preferably one to three words. It should describe the action of the command it corresponds
to. Note that not all graphical toolkits can display non-ASCII text in menus (it will work
for keyboard menus and will work to a large extent with the GTK+ toolkit).
You can also supply a second string, called the help string, as follows:
(item-string help . real-binding)
help specifies a help-echo string to display while the mouse is on that item in the same way
as help-echo text properties (see [Help display], page 813).
As far as define-key is concerned, item-string and help-string are part of the event’s
binding. However, lookup-key returns just real-binding, and only real-binding is used for
executing the key.
If real-binding is nil, then item-string appears in the menu but cannot be selected.
If real-binding is a symbol and has a non-nil menu-enable property, that property is
an expression that controls whether the menu item is enabled. Every time the keymap is
used to display a menu, Emacs evaluates the expression, and it enables the menu item only
if the expression’s value is non-nil. When a menu item is disabled, it is displayed in a fuzzy
fashion, and cannot be selected.
1
It is required for menus which do not use a toolkit, e.g., on a text terminal.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 441

The menu bar does not recalculate which items are enabled every time you look at a
menu. This is because the X toolkit requires the whole tree of menus in advance. To force
recalculation of the menu bar, call force-mode-line-update (see Section 23.4 [Mode Line
Format], page 476).

22.17.1.2 Extended Menu Items

An extended-format menu item is a more flexible and also cleaner alternative to the simple
format. You define an event type with a binding that’s a list starting with the symbol
menu-item. For a non-selectable string, the binding looks like this:
(menu-item item-name)
A string starting with two or more dashes specifies a separator line; see Section 22.17.1.3
[Menu Separators], page 442.
To define a real menu item which can be selected, the extended format binding looks
like this:
(menu-item item-name real-binding
. item-property-list)
Here, item-name is an expression which evaluates to the menu item string. Thus, the string
need not be a constant. The third element, real-binding, is the command to execute. The
tail of the list, item-property-list, has the form of a property list which contains other
information.
Here is a table of the properties that are supported:
:enable form
The result of evaluating form determines whether the item is enabled (non-nil
means yes). If the item is not enabled, you can’t really click on it.
:visible form
The result of evaluating form determines whether the item should actually
appear in the menu (non-nil means yes). If the item does not appear, then the
menu is displayed as if this item were not defined at all.
:help help
The value of this property, help, specifies a help-echo string to display while the
mouse is on that item. This is displayed in the same way as help-echo text
properties (see [Help display], page 813). Note that this must be a constant
string, unlike the help-echo property for text and overlays.
:button (type . selected)
This property provides a way to define radio buttons and toggle buttons. The
car, type, says which: it should be :toggle or :radio. The cdr, selected,
should be a form; the result of evaluating it says whether this button is currently
selected.
A toggle is a menu item which is labeled as either on or off according to the
value of selected. The command itself should toggle selected, setting it to t
if it is nil, and to nil if it is t. Here is how the menu item to toggle the
debug-on-error flag is defined:
(menu-item "Debug on Error" toggle-debug-on-error
Chapter 22: Keymaps 442

:button (:toggle
. (and (boundp 'debug-on-error)
debug-on-error)))
This works because toggle-debug-on-error is defined as a command which
toggles the variable debug-on-error.
Radio buttons are a group of menu items, in which at any time one and only one
is selected. There should be a variable whose value says which one is selected
at any time. The selected form for each radio button in the group should check
whether the variable has the right value for selecting that button. Clicking on
the button should set the variable so that the button you clicked on becomes
selected.
:key-sequence key-sequence
This property specifies which key sequence is likely to be bound to the same
command invoked by this menu item. If you specify the right key sequence,
that makes preparing the menu for display run much faster.
If you specify the wrong key sequence, it has no effect; before Emacs displays
key-sequence in the menu, it verifies that key-sequence is really equivalent to
this menu item.
:key-sequence nil
This property indicates that there is normally no key binding which is equivalent
to this menu item. Using this property saves time in preparing the menu for
display, because Emacs does not need to search the keymaps for a keyboard
equivalent for this menu item.
However, if the user has rebound this item’s definition to a key sequence, Emacs
ignores the :keys property and finds the keyboard equivalent anyway.
:keys string
This property specifies that string is the string to display as the keyboard equiv-
alent for this menu item. You can use the ‘\\[...]’ documentation construct
in string.
:filter filter-fn
This property provides a way to compute the menu item dynamically. The
property value filter-fn should be a function of one argument; when it is called,
its argument will be real-binding. The function should return the binding to
use instead.
Emacs can call this function at any time that it does redisplay or operates on
menu data structures, so you should write it so it can safely be called at any
time.

22.17.1.3 Menu Separators

A menu separator is a kind of menu item that doesn’t display any text—instead, it divides
the menu into subparts with a horizontal line. A separator looks like this in the menu
keymap:
(menu-item separator-type)
where separator-type is a string starting with two or more dashes.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 443

In the simplest case, separator-type consists of only dashes. That specifies the default
kind of separator. (For compatibility, "" and - also count as separators.)
Certain other values of separator-type specify a different style of separator. Here is a
table of them:
"--no-line"
"--space"
An extra vertical space, with no actual line.
"--single-line"
A single line in the menu’s foreground color.
"--double-line"
A double line in the menu’s foreground color.
"--single-dashed-line"
A single dashed line in the menu’s foreground color.
"--double-dashed-line"
A double dashed line in the menu’s foreground color.
"--shadow-etched-in"
A single line with a 3D sunken appearance. This is the default, used separators
consisting of dashes only.
"--shadow-etched-out"
A single line with a 3D raised appearance.
"--shadow-etched-in-dash"
A single dashed line with a 3D sunken appearance.
"--shadow-etched-out-dash"
A single dashed line with a 3D raised appearance.
"--shadow-double-etched-in"
Two lines with a 3D sunken appearance.
"--shadow-double-etched-out"
Two lines with a 3D raised appearance.
"--shadow-double-etched-in-dash"
Two dashed lines with a 3D sunken appearance.
"--shadow-double-etched-out-dash"
Two dashed lines with a 3D raised appearance.
You can also give these names in another style, adding a colon after the double-dash
and replacing each single dash with capitalization of the following word. Thus,
"--:singleLine", is equivalent to "--single-line".
You can use a longer form to specify keywords such as :enable and :visible for a
menu separator:
(menu-item separator-type nil . item-property-list)
For example:
(menu-item "--" nil :visible (boundp 'foo))
Chapter 22: Keymaps 444

Some systems and display toolkits don’t really handle all of these separator types. If
you use a type that isn’t supported, the menu displays a similar kind of separator that is
supported.

22.17.1.4 Alias Menu Items

Sometimes it is useful to make menu items that use the same command but with different
enable conditions. The best way to do this in Emacs now is with extended menu items;
before that feature existed, it could be done by defining alias commands and using them in
menu items. Here’s an example that makes two aliases for read-only-mode and gives them
different enable conditions:
(defalias 'make-read-only 'read-only-mode)
(put 'make-read-only 'menu-enable '(not buffer-read-only))
(defalias 'make-writable 'read-only-mode)
(put 'make-writable 'menu-enable 'buffer-read-only)
When using aliases in menus, often it is useful to display the equivalent key bindings
for the real command name, not the aliases (which typically don’t have any key bindings
except for the menu itself). To request this, give the alias symbol a non-nil menu-alias
property. Thus,
(put 'make-read-only 'menu-alias t)
(put 'make-writable 'menu-alias t)
causes menu items for make-read-only and make-writable to show the keyboard bindings
for read-only-mode.

22.17.2 Menus and the Mouse

The usual way to make a menu keymap produce a menu is to make it the definition of a
prefix key. (A Lisp program can explicitly pop up a menu and receive the user’s choice—see
Section 29.17 [Pop-Up Menus], page 731.)
If the prefix key ends with a mouse event, Emacs handles the menu keymap by popping
up a visible menu, so that the user can select a choice with the mouse. When the user clicks
on a menu item, the event generated is whatever character or symbol has the binding that
brought about that menu item. (A menu item may generate a series of events if the menu
has multiple levels or comes from the menu bar.)
It’s often best to use a button-down event to trigger the menu. Then the user can select
a menu item by releasing the button.
If the menu keymap contains a binding to a nested keymap, the nested keymap specifies
a submenu. There will be a menu item, labeled by the nested keymap’s item string, and
clicking on this item automatically pops up the specified submenu. As a special exception,
if the menu keymap contains a single nested keymap and no other menu items, the menu
shows the contents of the nested keymap directly, not as a submenu.
However, if Emacs is compiled without X toolkit support, or on text terminals, submenus
are not supported. Each nested keymap is shown as a menu item, but clicking on it does
not automatically pop up the submenu. If you wish to imitate the effect of submenus, you
can do that by giving a nested keymap an item string which starts with ‘@’. This causes
Emacs to display the nested keymap using a separate menu pane; the rest of the item string
after the ‘@’ is the pane label. If Emacs is compiled without X toolkit support, or if a menu
Chapter 22: Keymaps 445

is displayed on a text terminal, menu panes are not used; in that case, a ‘@’ at the beginning
of an item string is omitted when the menu label is displayed, and has no other effect.

22.17.3 Menus and the Keyboard

When a prefix key ending with a keyboard event (a character or function key) has a definition
that is a menu keymap, the keymap operates as a keyboard menu; the user specifies the
next event by choosing a menu item with the keyboard.
Emacs displays the keyboard menu with the map’s overall prompt string, followed by
the alternatives (the item strings of the map’s bindings), in the echo area. If the bindings
don’t all fit at once, the user can type SPC to see the next line of alternatives. Successive
uses of SPC eventually get to the end of the menu and then cycle around to the beginning.
(The variable menu-prompt-more-char specifies which character is used for this; SPC is the
default.)
When the user has found the desired alternative from the menu, he or she should type
the corresponding character—the one whose binding is that alternative.

menu-prompt-more-char [Variable]
This variable specifies the character to use to ask to see the next line of a menu. Its
initial value is 32, the code for SPC.

22.17.4 Menu Example

Here is a complete example of defining a menu keymap. It is the definition of the ‘Replace’
submenu in the ‘Edit’ menu in the menu bar, and it uses the extended menu item format
(see Section 22.17.1.2 [Extended Menu Items], page 441). First we create the keymap, and
give it a name:
(defvar menu-bar-replace-menu (make-sparse-keymap "Replace"))
Next we define the menu items:
(define-key menu-bar-replace-menu [tags-repl-continue]
'(menu-item "Continue Replace" tags-loop-continue
:help "Continue last tags replace operation"))
(define-key menu-bar-replace-menu [tags-repl]
'(menu-item "Replace in tagged files" tags-query-replace
:help "Interactively replace a regexp in all tagged files"))
(define-key menu-bar-replace-menu [separator-replace-tags]
'(menu-item "--"))
;; . . .
Note the symbols which the bindings are made for; these appear inside square brackets, in
the key sequence being defined. In some cases, this symbol is the same as the command
name; sometimes it is different. These symbols are treated as function keys, but they are
not real function keys on the keyboard. They do not affect the functioning of the menu
itself, but they are echoed in the echo area when the user selects from the menu, and they
appear in the output of where-is and apropos.
The menu in this example is intended for use with the mouse. If a menu is intended
for use with the keyboard, that is, if it is bound to a key sequence ending with a keyboard
event, then the menu items should be bound to characters or real function keys, that can
be typed with the keyboard.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 446

The binding whose definition is ("--") is a separator line. Like a real menu item, the
separator has a key symbol, in this case separator-replace-tags. If one menu has two
separators, they must have two different key symbols.
Here is how we make this menu appear as an item in the parent menu:
(define-key menu-bar-edit-menu [replace]
(list 'menu-item "Replace" menu-bar-replace-menu))
Note that this incorporates the submenu keymap, which is the value of the vari-
able menu-bar-replace-menu, rather than the symbol menu-bar-replace-menu
itself. Using that symbol in the parent menu item would be meaningless because
menu-bar-replace-menu is not a command.
If you wanted to attach the same replace menu to a mouse click, you can do it this way:
(define-key global-map [C-S-down-mouse-1]
menu-bar-replace-menu)

22.17.5 The Menu Bar

Emacs usually shows a menu bar at the top of each frame. See Section “Menu Bars” in The
GNU Emacs Manual. Menu bar items are subcommands of the fake function key MENU-BAR,
as defined in the active keymaps.
To add an item to the menu bar, invent a fake function key of your own (let’s call it
key), and make a binding for the key sequence [menu-bar key]. Most often, the binding
is a menu keymap, so that pressing a button on the menu bar item leads to another menu.
When more than one active keymap defines the same function key for the menu bar,
the item appears just once. If the user clicks on that menu bar item, it brings up a single,
combined menu containing all the subcommands of that item—the global subcommands,
the local subcommands, and the minor mode subcommands.
The variable overriding-local-map is normally ignored when determining the menu
bar contents. That is, the menu bar is computed from the keymaps that would be active if
overriding-local-map were nil. See Section 22.7 [Active Keymaps], page 422.
Here’s an example of setting up a menu bar item:
;; Make a menu keymap (with a prompt string)
;; and make it the menu bar item’s definition.
(define-key global-map [menu-bar words]
(cons "Words" (make-sparse-keymap "Words")))

;; Define specific subcommands in this menu.

(define-key global-map
[menu-bar words forward]
'("Forward word" . forward-word))
(define-key global-map
[menu-bar words backward]
'("Backward word" . backward-word))
A local keymap can cancel a menu bar item made by the global keymap by rebinding
the same fake function key with undefined as the binding. For example, this is how Dired
suppresses the ‘Edit’ menu bar item:
(define-key dired-mode-map [menu-bar edit] 'undefined)
Chapter 22: Keymaps 447

Here, edit is the symbol produced by a fake function key, it is used by the global map for
the ‘Edit’ menu bar item. The main reason to suppress a global menu bar item is to regain
space for mode-specific items.
menu-bar-final-items [Variable]
Normally the menu bar shows global items followed by items defined by the local
maps.
This variable holds a list of fake function keys for items to display at the end of the
menu bar rather than in normal sequence. The default value is (help-menu); thus,
the ‘Help’ menu item normally appears at the end of the menu bar, following local
menu items.
menu-bar-update-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run by redisplay to update the menu bar contents, before redis-
playing the menu bar. You can use it to update menus whose contents should vary.
Since this hook is run frequently, we advise you to ensure that the functions it calls
do not take much time in the usual case.
Next to every menu bar item, Emacs displays a key binding that runs the same command
(if such a key binding exists). This serves as a convenient hint for users who do not know
the key binding. If a command has multiple bindings, Emacs normally displays the first one
it finds. You can specify one particular key binding by assigning an :advertised-binding
symbol property to the command. See Section 24.3 [Keys in Documentation], page 513.

22.17.6 Tool bars

A tool bar is a row of clickable icons at the top of a frame, just below the menu bar. See
Section “Tool Bars” in The GNU Emacs Manual. Emacs normally shows a tool bar on
graphical displays.
On each frame, the frame parameter tool-bar-lines controls how many lines’ worth
of height to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value suppresses the tool bar. If the value
is nonzero, and auto-resize-tool-bars is non-nil, the tool bar expands and contracts
automatically as needed to hold the specified contents. If the value is grow-only, the tool
bar expands automatically, but does not contract automatically.
The tool bar contents are controlled by a menu keymap attached to a fake function key
called TOOL-BAR (much like the way the menu bar is controlled). So you define a tool bar
item using define-key, like this:
(define-key global-map [tool-bar key] item)
where key is a fake function key to distinguish this item from other items, and item is a
menu item key binding (see Section 22.17.1.2 [Extended Menu Items], page 441), which says
how to display this item and how it behaves.
The usual menu keymap item properties, :visible, :enable, :button, and :filter,
are useful in tool bar bindings and have their normal meanings. The real-binding in the
item must be a command, not a keymap; in other words, it does not work to define a tool
bar icon as a prefix key.
The :help property specifies a help-echo string to display while the mouse is on that
item. This is displayed in the same way as help-echo text properties (see [Help display],
page 813).
Chapter 22: Keymaps 448

In addition, you should use the :image property; this is how you specify the image to
display in the tool bar:

:image image
image is either a single image specification (see Section 39.17 [Images],
page 1034) or a vector of four image specifications. If you use a vector of four,
one of them is used, depending on circumstances:
item 0 Used when the item is enabled and selected.
item 1 Used when the item is enabled and deselected.
item 2 Used when the item is disabled and selected.
item 3 Used when the item is disabled and deselected.

The GTK+ and NS versions of Emacs ignores items 1 to 3, because disabled and/or
deselected images are autocomputed from item 0.
If image is a single image specification, Emacs draws the tool bar button in disabled
state by applying an edge-detection algorithm to the image.
The :rtl property specifies an alternative image to use for right-to-left languages. Only
the GTK+ version of Emacs supports this at present.
Like the menu bar, the tool bar can display separators (see Section 22.17.1.3 [Menu
Separators], page 442). Tool bar separators are vertical rather than horizontal, though, and
only a single style is supported. They are represented in the tool bar keymap by (menu-item
"--") entries; properties like :visible are not supported for tool bar separators. Separators
are rendered natively in GTK+ and Nextstep tool bars; in the other cases, they are rendered
using an image of a vertical line.
The default tool bar is defined so that items specific to editing do not appear for major
modes whose command symbol has a mode-class property of special (see Section 23.2.1
[Major Mode Conventions], page 456). Major modes may add items to the global bar by
binding [tool-bar foo] in their local map. It makes sense for some major modes to replace
the default tool bar items completely, since not many can be accommodated conveniently,
and the default bindings make this easy by using an indirection through tool-bar-map.

tool-bar-map [Variable]
By default, the global map binds [tool-bar] as follows:
(global-set-key [tool-bar]
`(menu-item ,(purecopy "tool bar") ignore
:filter tool-bar-make-keymap))
The function tool-bar-make-keymap, in turn, derives the actual tool bar map dy-
namically from the value of the variable tool-bar-map. Hence, you should normally
adjust the default (global) tool bar by changing that map. Some major modes, such
as Info mode, completely replace the global tool bar by making tool-bar-map buffer-
local and setting it to a different keymap.

There are two convenience functions for defining tool bar items, as follows.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 449

tool-bar-add-item icon def key &rest props [Function]

This function adds an item to the tool bar by modifying tool-bar-map. The image
to use is defined by icon, which is the base name of an XPM, XBM or PBM image file
to be located by find-image. Given a value ‘"exit"’, say, exit.xpm, exit.pbm and
exit.xbm would be searched for in that order on a color display. On a monochrome
display, the search order is ‘.pbm’, ‘.xbm’ and ‘.xpm’. The binding to use is the
command def, and key is the fake function key symbol in the prefix keymap. The
remaining arguments props are additional property list elements to add to the menu
item specification.
To define items in some local map, bind tool-bar-map with let around calls of this
function:
(defvar foo-tool-bar-map
(let ((tool-bar-map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(tool-bar-add-item ...)
...
tool-bar-map))

tool-bar-add-item-from-menu command icon &optional map &rest [Function]

props
This function is a convenience for defining tool bar items which are consistent with
existing menu bar bindings. The binding of command is looked up in the menu bar
in map (default global-map) and modified to add an image specification for icon,
which is found in the same way as by tool-bar-add-item. The resulting binding is
then placed in tool-bar-map, so use this function only for global tool bar items.
map must contain an appropriate keymap bound to [menu-bar]. The remaining
arguments props are additional property list elements to add to the menu item spec-
ification.

tool-bar-local-item-from-menu command icon in-map &optional [Function]

from-map &rest props
This function is used for making non-global tool bar items. Use it like tool-bar-add-
item-from-menu except that in-map specifies the local map to make the definition
in. The argument from-map is like the map argument of tool-bar-add-item-from-
menu.

auto-resize-tool-bars [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, the tool bar automatically resizes to show all defined tool
bar items—but not larger than a quarter of the frame’s height.
If the value is grow-only, the tool bar expands automatically, but does not contract
automatically. To contract the tool bar, the user has to redraw the frame by entering
C-l.
If Emacs is built with GTK+ or Nextstep, the tool bar can only show one line, so this
variable has no effect.

auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, tool bar items display in raised form when the mouse
moves over them.
Chapter 22: Keymaps 450

tool-bar-button-margin [Variable]
This variable specifies an extra margin to add around tool bar items. The value is an
integer, a number of pixels. The default is 4.
tool-bar-button-relief [Variable]
This variable specifies the shadow width for tool bar items. The value is an integer,
a number of pixels. The default is 1.
tool-bar-border [Variable]
This variable specifies the height of the border drawn below the tool bar area. An
integer specifies height as a number of pixels. If the value is one of internal-border-
width (the default) or border-width, the tool bar border height corresponds to the
corresponding frame parameter.
You can define a special meaning for clicking on a tool bar item with the shift, control,
meta, etc., modifiers. You do this by setting up additional items that relate to the origi-
nal item through the fake function keys. Specifically, the additional items should use the
modified versions of the same fake function key used to name the original item.
Thus, if the original item was defined this way,
(define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
'(menu-item "Shell" shell
:image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
then here is how you can define clicking on the same tool bar image with the shift modifier:
(define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
See Section 21.7.2 [Function Keys], page 382, for more information about how to add
modifiers to function keys.

22.17.7 Modifying Menus

When you insert a new item in an existing menu, you probably want to put it in a particular
place among the menu’s existing items. If you use define-key to add the item, it normally
goes at the front of the menu. To put it elsewhere in the menu, use define-key-after:
define-key-after map key binding &optional after [Function]
Define a binding in map for key, with value binding, just like define-key, but position
the binding in map after the binding for the event after. The argument key should be
of length one—a vector or string with just one element. But after should be a single
event type—a symbol or a character, not a sequence. The new binding goes after the
binding for after. If after is t or is omitted, then the new binding goes last, at the
end of the keymap. However, new bindings are added before any inherited keymap.
Here is an example:
(define-key-after my-menu [drink]
'("Drink" . drink-command) 'eat)
makes a binding for the fake function key DRINK and puts it right after the binding
for EAT.
Here is how to insert an item called ‘Work’ in the ‘Signals’ menu of Shell mode, after
the item break:
(define-key-after
Chapter 22: Keymaps 451

(lookup-key shell-mode-map [menu-bar signals])

[work] '("Work" . work-command) 'break)

22.17.8 Easy Menu

The following macro provides a convenient way to define pop-up menus and/or menu bar
menus.

easy-menu-define symbol maps doc menu [Macro]

This macro defines a pop-up menu and/or menu bar submenu, whose contents are
given by menu.
If symbol is non-nil, it should be a symbol; then this macro defines symbol as a
function for popping up the menu (see Section 29.17 [Pop-Up Menus], page 731),
with doc as its documentation string. symbol should not be quoted.
Regardless of the value of symbol, if maps is a keymap, the menu is added to that
keymap, as a top-level menu for the menu bar (see Section 22.17.5 [Menu Bar],
page 446). It can also be a list of keymaps, in which case the menu is added separately
to each of those keymaps.
The first element of menu must be a string, which serves as the menu label. It may
be followed by any number of the following keyword-argument pairs:
:filter function
function must be a function which, if called with one argument—the list
of the other menu items—returns the actual items to be displayed in the
menu.
:visible include
include is an expression; if it evaluates to nil, the menu is made invisible.
:included is an alias for :visible.
:active enable
enable is an expression; if it evaluates to nil, the menu is not selectable.
:enable is an alias for :active.
The remaining elements in menu are menu items.
A menu item can be a vector of three elements, [name callback enable]. name is
the menu item name (a string). callback is a command to run, or an expression to
evaluate, when the item is chosen. enable is an expression; if it evaluates to nil, the
item is disabled for selection.
Alternatively, a menu item may have the form:
[ name callback [ keyword arg ]... ]
where name and callback have the same meanings as above, and each optional key-
word and arg pair should be one of the following:
:keys keys
keys is a keyboard equivalent to the menu item (a string). This is nor-
mally not needed, as keyboard equivalents are computed automatically.
keys is expanded with substitute-command-keys before it is displayed
(see Section 24.3 [Keys in Documentation], page 513).
Chapter 22: Keymaps 452

:key-sequence keys
keys is a hint for speeding up Emacs’s first display of the menu. It should
be nil if you know that the menu item has no keyboard equivalent;
otherwise it should be a string or vector specifying a keyboard equivalent
for the menu item.
:active enable
enable is an expression; if it evaluates to nil, the item is make unse-
lectable.. :enable is an alias for :active.
:visible include
include is an expression; if it evaluates to nil, the item is made invisible.
:included is an alias for :visible.
:label form
form is an expression that is evaluated to obtain a value which serves as
the menu item’s label (the default is name).
:suffix form
form is an expression that is dynamically evaluated and whose value is
concatenated with the menu entry’s label.
:style style
style is a symbol describing the type of menu item; it should be toggle
(a checkbox), or radio (a radio button), or anything else (meaning an
ordinary menu item).
:selected selected
selected is an expression; the checkbox or radio button is selected when-
ever the expression’s value is non-nil.
:help help
help is a string describing the menu item.
Alternatively, a menu item can be a string. Then that string appears in the menu
as unselectable text. A string consisting of dashes is displayed as a separator (see
Section 22.17.1.3 [Menu Separators], page 442).
Alternatively, a menu item can be a list with the same format as menu. This is a
submenu.

Here is an example of using easy-menu-define to define a menu similar to the one

defined in the example in Section 22.17.5 [Menu Bar], page 446:
(easy-menu-define words-menu global-map
"Menu for word navigation commands."
'("Words"
["Forward word" forward-word]
["Backward word" backward-word]))
 453

23 Major and Minor Modes

A mode is a set of definitions that customize Emacs behavior in useful ways. There are
two varieties of modes: minor modes, which provide features that users can turn on and off
while editing; and major modes, which are used for editing or interacting with a particular
kind of text. Each buffer has exactly one major mode at a time.
This chapter describes how to write both major and minor modes, how to indicate them
in the mode line, and how they run hooks supplied by the user. For related topics such as
keymaps and syntax tables, see Chapter 22 [Keymaps], page 415, and Chapter 35 [Syntax
Tables], page 892.

23.1 Hooks
A hook is a variable where you can store a function or functions to be called on a particular
occasion by an existing program. Emacs provides hooks for the sake of customization. Most
often, hooks are set up in the init file (see Section 40.1.2 [Init File], page 1075), but Lisp
programs can set them also. See Appendix H [Standard Hooks], page 1199, for a list of
some standard hook variables.
Most of the hooks in Emacs are normal hooks. These variables contain lists of functions
to be called with no arguments. By convention, whenever the hook name ends in ‘-hook’,
that tells you it is normal. We try to make all hooks normal, as much as possible, so that
you can use them in a uniform way.
Every major mode command is supposed to run a normal hook called the mode hook
as one of the last steps of initialization. This makes it easy for a user to customize the
behavior of the mode, by overriding the buffer-local variable assignments already made by
the mode. Most minor mode functions also run a mode hook at the end. But hooks are
used in other contexts too. For example, the hook suspend-hook runs just before Emacs
suspends itself (see Section 40.2.2 [Suspending Emacs], page 1080).
The recommended way to add a hook function to a hook is by calling add-hook (see
Section 23.1.2 [Setting Hooks], page 454). The hook functions may be any of the valid kinds
of functions that funcall accepts (see Section 13.1 [What Is a Function], page 203). Most
normal hook variables are initially void; add-hook knows how to deal with this. You can
add hooks either globally or buffer-locally with add-hook.
If the hook variable’s name does not end with ‘-hook’, that indicates it is probably an
abnormal hook. That means the hook functions are called with arguments, or their return
values are used in some way. The hook’s documentation says how the functions are called.
You can use add-hook to add a function to an abnormal hook, but you must write the
function to follow the hook’s calling convention. By convention, abnormal hook names end
in ‘-functions’.
If the variable’s name ends in ‘-function’, then its value is just a single function, not a
list of functions. add-hook cannot be used to modify such a single function hook, and you
have to use add-function instead (see Section 13.11 [Advising Functions], page 222).

23.1.1 Running Hooks

In this section, we document the run-hooks function, which is used to run a normal hook.
We also document the functions for running various kinds of abnormal hooks.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 454

run-hooks &rest hookvars [Function]

This function takes one or more normal hook variable names as arguments, and runs
each hook in turn. Each argument should be a symbol that is a normal hook variable.
These arguments are processed in the order specified.
If a hook variable has a non-nil value, that value should be a list of functions.
run-hooks calls all the functions, one by one, with no arguments.
The hook variable’s value can also be a single function—either a lambda expression
or a symbol with a function definition—which run-hooks calls. But this usage is
obsolete.
If the hook variable is buffer-local, the buffer-local variable will be used instead of
the global variable. However, if the buffer-local variable contains the element t, the
global hook variable will be run as well.

run-hook-with-args hook &rest args [Function]

This function runs an abnormal hook by calling all the hook functions in hook, passing
each one the arguments args.

run-hook-with-args-until-failure hook &rest args [Function]

This function runs an abnormal hook by calling each hook function in turn, stopping
if one of them fails by returning nil. Each hook function is passed the arguments
args. If this function stops because one of the hook functions fails, it returns nil;
otherwise it returns a non-nil value.

run-hook-with-args-until-success hook &rest args [Function]

This function runs an abnormal hook by calling each hook function, stopping if one
of them succeeds by returning a non-nil value. Each hook function is passed the
arguments args. If this function stops because one of the hook functions returns a
non-nil value, it returns that value; otherwise it returns nil.

23.1.2 Setting Hooks

Here’s an example that uses a mode hook to turn on Auto Fill mode when in Lisp Interaction
mode:
(add-hook 'lisp-interaction-mode-hook 'auto-fill-mode)

add-hook hook function &optional append local [Function]

This function is the handy way to add function function to hook variable hook. You
can use it for abnormal hooks as well as for normal hooks. function can be any Lisp
function that can accept the proper number of arguments for hook. For example,
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'my-text-hook-function)
adds my-text-hook-function to the hook called text-mode-hook.
If function is already present in hook (comparing using equal), then add-hook does
not add it a second time.
If function has a non-nil property permanent-local-hook, then kill-all-local-
variables (or changing major modes) won’t delete it from the hook variable’s local
value.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 455

For a normal hook, hook functions should be designed so that the order in which they
are executed does not matter. Any dependence on the order is asking for trouble.
However, the order is predictable: normally, function goes at the front of the hook
list, so it is executed first (barring another add-hook call). If the optional argument
append is non-nil, the new hook function goes at the end of the hook list and is
executed last.
add-hook can handle the cases where hook is void or its value is a single function; it
sets or changes the value to a list of functions.
If local is non-nil, that says to add function to the buffer-local hook list instead of to
the global hook list. This makes the hook buffer-local and adds t to the buffer-local
value. The latter acts as a flag to run the hook functions in the default value as well
as in the local value.

remove-hook hook function &optional local [Function]

This function removes function from the hook variable hook. It compares function
with elements of hook using equal, so it works for both symbols and lambda expres-
sions.
If local is non-nil, that says to remove function from the buffer-local hook list instead
of from the global hook list.

23.2 Major Modes

Major modes specialize Emacs for editing or interacting with particular kinds of text. Each
buffer has exactly one major mode at a time. Every major mode is associated with a major
mode command, whose name should end in ‘-mode’. This command takes care of switching
to that mode in the current buffer, by setting various buffer-local variables such as a local
keymap. See Section 23.2.1 [Major Mode Conventions], page 456. Note that unlike minor
modes there is no way to “turn off” a major mode, instead the buffer must be switched to
a different one.
The least specialized major mode is called Fundamental mode, which has no mode-
specific definitions or variable settings.

fundamental-mode [Command]
This is the major mode command for Fundamental mode. Unlike other mode com-
mands, it does not run any mode hooks (see Section 23.2.1 [Major Mode Conventions],
page 456), since you are not supposed to customize this mode.

The easiest way to write a major mode is to use the macro define-derived-mode, which
sets up the new mode as a variant of an existing major mode. See Section 23.2.4 [Derived
Modes], page 462. We recommend using define-derived-mode even if the new mode is not
an obvious derivative of another mode, as it automatically enforces many coding conventions
for you. See Section 23.2.5 [Basic Major Modes], page 464, for common modes to derive
from.
The standard GNU Emacs Lisp directory tree contains the code for several major modes,
in files such as text-mode.el, texinfo.el, lisp-mode.el, and rmail.el. You can study
these libraries to see how modes are written.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 456

major-mode [User Option]

The buffer-local value of this variable holds the symbol for the current major mode.
Its default value holds the default major mode for new buffers. The standard default
value is fundamental-mode.
If the default value is nil, then whenever Emacs creates a new buffer via a command
such as C-x b (switch-to-buffer), the new buffer is put in the major mode of the
previously current buffer. As an exception, if the major mode of the previous buffer
has a mode-class symbol property with value special, the new buffer is put in
Fundamental mode (see Section 23.2.1 [Major Mode Conventions], page 456).

23.2.1 Major Mode Conventions

The code for every major mode should follow various coding conventions, including con-
ventions for local keymap and syntax table initialization, function and variable names, and
hooks.
If you use the define-derived-mode macro, it will take care of many of these conventions
automatically. See Section 23.2.4 [Derived Modes], page 462. Note also that Fundamental
mode is an exception to many of these conventions, because it represents the default state
of Emacs.
The following list of conventions is only partial. Each major mode should aim for con-
sistency in general with other Emacs major modes, as this makes Emacs as a whole more
coherent. It is impossible to list here all the possible points where this issue might come
up; if the Emacs developers point out an area where your major mode deviates from the
usual conventions, please make it compatible.
• Define a major mode command whose name ends in ‘-mode’. When called with no
arguments, this command should switch to the new mode in the current buffer by
setting up the keymap, syntax table, and buffer-local variables in an existing buffer. It
should not change the buffer’s contents.
• Write a documentation string for this command that describes the special commands
available in this mode. See Section 23.2.3 [Mode Help], page 462.
The documentation string may include the special documentation substrings,
‘\[command]’, ‘\{keymap}’, and ‘\<keymap>’, which allow the help display to
adapt automatically to the user’s own key bindings. See Section 24.3 [Keys in
Documentation], page 513.
• The major mode command should start by calling kill-all-local-variables. This
runs the normal hook change-major-mode-hook, then gets rid of the buffer-local vari-
ables of the major mode previously in effect. See Section 12.11.2 [Creating Buffer-
Local], page 186.
• The major mode command should set the variable major-mode to the major mode
command symbol. This is how describe-mode discovers which documentation to print.
• The major mode command should set the variable mode-name to the “pretty” name
of the mode, usually a string (but see Section 23.4.2 [Mode Line Data], page 477, for
other possible forms). The name of the mode appears in the mode line.
• Calling the major mode command twice in direct succession should not fail and should
do the same thing as calling the command only once. In other words, the major mode
command should be idempotent.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 457

• Since all global names are in the same name space, all the global variables, constants,
and functions that are part of the mode should have names that start with the major
mode name (or with an abbreviation of it if the name is long). See Section D.1 [Coding
Conventions], page 1142.
• In a major mode for editing some kind of structured text, such as a programming
language, indentation of text according to structure is probably useful. So the mode
should set indent-line-function to a suitable function, and probably customize other
variables for indentation. See Section 23.7 [Auto-Indentation], page 499.
• The major mode should usually have its own keymap, which is used as the local keymap
in all buffers in that mode. The major mode command should call use-local-map to
install this local map. See Section 22.7 [Active Keymaps], page 422, for more informa-
tion.
This keymap should be stored permanently in a global variable named modename-mode-
map. Normally the library that defines the mode sets this variable.
See Section 12.6 [Tips for Defining], page 175, for advice about how to write the code
to set up the mode’s keymap variable.
• The key sequences bound in a major mode keymap should usually start with C-c,
followed by a control character, a digit, or {, }, <, >, : or ;. The other punctuation
characters are reserved for minor modes, and ordinary letters are reserved for users.
A major mode can also rebind the keys M-n, M-p and M-s. The bindings for M-n and
M-p should normally be some kind of moving forward and backward, but this does not
necessarily mean cursor motion.
It is legitimate for a major mode to rebind a standard key sequence if it provides a
command that does the same job in a way better suited to the text this mode is used
for. For example, a major mode for editing a programming language might redefine
C-M-a to move to the beginning of a function in a way that works better for that
language. The recommended way of tailoring C-M-a to the needs of a major mode is
to set beginning-of-defun-function (see Section 30.2.6 [List Motion], page 750) to
invoke the function specific to the mode.
It is also legitimate for a major mode to rebind a standard key sequence whose standard
meaning is rarely useful in that mode. For instance, minibuffer modes rebind M-r, whose
standard meaning is rarely of any use in the minibuffer. Major modes such as Dired or
Rmail that do not allow self-insertion of text can reasonably redefine letters and other
printing characters as special commands.
• Major modes for editing text should not define RET to do anything other than insert a
newline. However, it is ok for specialized modes for text that users don’t directly edit,
such as Dired and Info modes, to redefine RET to do something entirely different.
• Major modes should not alter options that are primarily a matter of user preference,
such as whether Auto-Fill mode is enabled. Leave this to each user to decide. How-
ever, a major mode should customize other variables so that Auto-Fill mode will work
usefully if the user decides to use it.
• The mode may have its own syntax table or may share one with other related modes.
If it has its own syntax table, it should store this in a variable named modename-mode-
syntax-table. See Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 458

• If the mode handles a language that has a syntax for comments, it should set the vari-
ables that define the comment syntax. See Section “Options Controlling Comments”
in The GNU Emacs Manual.
• The mode may have its own abbrev table or may share one with other related modes.
If it has its own abbrev table, it should store this in a variable named modename-mode-
abbrev-table. If the major mode command defines any abbrevs itself, it should pass t
for the system-flag argument to define-abbrev. See Section 36.2 [Defining Abbrevs],
page 909.
• The mode should specify how to do highlighting for Font Lock mode, by setting up a
buffer-local value for the variable font-lock-defaults (see Section 23.6 [Font Lock
Mode], page 487).
• Each face that the mode defines should, if possible, inherit from an existing Emacs
face. See Section 39.12.8 [Basic Faces], page 1010, and Section 23.6.7 [Faces for Font
Lock], page 495.
• The mode should specify how Imenu should find the definitions or sections of a buffer,
by setting up a buffer-local value for the variable imenu-generic-expression, for the
two variables imenu-prev-index-position-function and imenu-extract-index-
name-function, or for the variable imenu-create-index-function (see Section 23.5
[Imenu], page 485).
• The mode can specify a local value for eldoc-documentation-function to tell ElDoc
mode how to handle this mode.
• The mode can specify how to complete various keywords by adding one or more buffer-
local entries to the special hook completion-at-point-functions. See Section 20.6.8
[Completion in Buffers], page 358.
• To make a buffer-local binding for an Emacs customization variable, use make-local-
variable in the major mode command, not make-variable-buffer-local. The latter
function would make the variable local to every buffer in which it is subsequently set,
which would affect buffers that do not use this mode. It is undesirable for a mode to
have such global effects. See Section 12.11 [Buffer-Local Variables], page 185.
With rare exceptions, the only reasonable way to use make-variable-buffer-local
in a Lisp package is for a variable which is used only within that package. Using it on
a variable used by other packages would interfere with them.
• Each major mode should have a normal mode hook named modename-mode-hook.
The very last thing the major mode command should do is to call run-mode-hooks.
This runs the normal hook change-major-mode-after-body-hook, the mode hook,
the function hack-local-variables (when the buffer is visiting a file), and then
the normal hook after-change-major-mode-hook. See Section 23.2.6 [Mode Hooks],
page 465.
• The major mode command may start by calling some other major mode command
(called the parent mode) and then alter some of its settings. A mode that does
this is called a derived mode. The recommended way to define one is to use the
define-derived-mode macro, but this is not required. Such a mode should call the
parent mode command inside a delay-mode-hooks form. (Using define-derived-
mode does this automatically.) See Section 23.2.4 [Derived Modes], page 462, and
Section 23.2.6 [Mode Hooks], page 465.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 459

• If something special should be done if the user switches a buffer from this mode to any
other major mode, this mode can set up a buffer-local value for change-major-mode-
hook (see Section 12.11.2 [Creating Buffer-Local], page 186).
• If this mode is appropriate only for specially-prepared text produced by the mode
itself (rather than by the user typing at the keyboard or by an external file), then the
major mode command symbol should have a property named mode-class with value
special, put on as follows:
(put 'funny-mode 'mode-class 'special)
This tells Emacs that new buffers created while the current buffer is in Funny mode
should not be put in Funny mode, even though the default value of major-mode is nil.
By default, the value of nil for major-mode means to use the current buffer’s major
mode when creating new buffers (see Section 23.2.2 [Auto Major Mode], page 459), but
with such special modes, Fundamental mode is used instead. Modes such as Dired,
Rmail, and Buffer List use this feature.
The function view-buffer does not enable View mode in buffers whose mode-class is
special, because such modes usually provide their own View-like bindings.
The define-derived-mode macro automatically marks the derived mode as special
if the parent mode is special. Special mode is a convenient parent for such modes to
inherit from; See Section 23.2.5 [Basic Major Modes], page 464.
• If you want to make the new mode the default for files with certain recognizable names,
add an element to auto-mode-alist to select the mode for those file names (see
Section 23.2.2 [Auto Major Mode], page 459). If you define the mode command to
autoload, you should add this element in the same file that calls autoload. If you use
an autoload cookie for the mode command, you can also use an autoload cookie for the
form that adds the element (see [autoload cookie], page 270). If you do not autoload
the mode command, it is sufficient to add the element in the file that contains the mode
definition.
• The top-level forms in the file defining the mode should be written so that they may
be evaluated more than once without adverse consequences. For instance, use defvar
or defcustom to set mode-related variables, so that they are not reinitialized if they
already have a value (see Section 12.5 [Defining Variables], page 173).

23.2.2 How Emacs Chooses a Major Mode

When Emacs visits a file, it automatically selects a major mode for the buffer based on
information in the file name or in the file itself. It also processes local variables specified in
the file text.

normal-mode &optional find-file [Command]

This function establishes the proper major mode and buffer-local variable bindings
for the current buffer. It calls set-auto-mode (see below). As of Emacs 26.1, it no
longer runs hack-local-variables, this now being done in run-mode-hooks at the
initialization of major modes (see Section 23.2.6 [Mode Hooks], page 465).
If the find-file argument to normal-mode is non-nil, normal-mode assumes that the
find-file function is calling it. In this case, it may process local variables in the
‘-*-’ line or at the end of the file. The variable enable-local-variables controls
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 460

whether to do so. See Section “Local Variables in Files” in The GNU Emacs Manual,
for the syntax of the local variables section of a file.
If you run normal-mode interactively, the argument find-file is normally nil. In this
case, normal-mode unconditionally processes any file local variables.
The function calls set-auto-mode to choose and set a major mode. If this does not
specify a mode, the buffer stays in the major mode determined by the default value
of major-mode (see below).
normal-mode uses condition-case around the call to the major mode command, so
errors are caught and reported as a ‘File mode specification error’, followed by
the original error message.

set-auto-mode &optional keep-mode-if-same [Function]

This function selects and sets the major mode that is appropriate for the current
buffer. It bases its decision (in order of precedence) on the ‘-*-’ line, on any ‘mode:’
local variable near the end of a file, on the ‘#!’ line (using interpreter-mode-alist),
on the text at the beginning of the buffer (using magic-mode-alist), and finally on
the visited file name (using auto-mode-alist). See Section “How Major Modes are
Chosen” in The GNU Emacs Manual. If enable-local-variables is nil, set-auto-
mode does not check the ‘-*-’ line, or near the end of the file, for any mode tag.
There are some file types where it is not appropriate to scan the file contents for
a mode specifier. For example, a tar archive may happen to contain, near the end
of the file, a member file that has a local variables section specifying a mode for
that particular file. This should not be applied to the containing tar file. Similarly,
a tiff image file might just happen to contain a first line that seems to match the
‘-*-’ pattern. For these reasons, both these file extensions are members of the list
inhibit-local-variables-regexps. Add patterns to this list to prevent Emacs
searching them for local variables of any kind (not just mode specifiers).
If keep-mode-if-same is non-nil, this function does not call the mode command if the
buffer is already in the proper major mode. For instance, set-visited-file-name
sets this to t to avoid killing buffer local variables that the user may have set.

set-buffer-major-mode buffer [Function]

This function sets the major mode of buffer to the default value of major-mode; if that
is nil, it uses the current buffer’s major mode (if that is suitable). As an exception,
if buffer’s name is *scratch*, it sets the mode to initial-major-mode.
The low-level primitives for creating buffers do not use this function, but medium-
level commands such as switch-to-buffer and find-file-noselect use it whenever
they create buffers.

initial-major-mode [User Option]

The value of this variable determines the major mode of the initial *scratch* buffer.
The value should be a symbol that is a major mode command. The default value is
lisp-interaction-mode.

interpreter-mode-alist [Variable]
This variable specifies major modes to use for scripts that specify a command in-
terpreter in a ‘#!’ line. Its value is an alist with elements of the form (regexp .
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 461

mode); this says to use mode mode if the file specifies an interpreter which matches
\\`regexp\\'. For example, one of the default elements is ("python[0-9.]*" .
python-mode).
magic-mode-alist [Variable]
This variable’s value is an alist with elements of the form (regexp . function),
where regexp is a regular expression and function is a function or nil. After visiting
a file, set-auto-mode calls function if the text at the beginning of the buffer matches
regexp and function is non-nil; if function is nil, auto-mode-alist gets to decide
the mode.
magic-fallback-mode-alist [Variable]
This works like magic-mode-alist, except that it is handled only if auto-mode-alist
does not specify a mode for this file.
auto-mode-alist [Variable]
This variable contains an association list of file name patterns (regular expressions)
and corresponding major mode commands. Usually, the file name patterns test for
suffixes, such as ‘.el’ and ‘.c’, but this need not be the case. An ordinary element
of the alist looks like (regexp . mode-function).
For example,
(("\\`/tmp/fol/" . text-mode)
("\\.texinfo\\'" . texinfo-mode)
("\\.texi\\'" . texinfo-mode)
("\\.el\\'" . emacs-lisp-mode)
("\\.c\\'" . c-mode)
("\\.h\\'" . c-mode)
...)
When you visit a file whose expanded file name (see Section 25.9.4 [File Name Expan-
sion], page 550), with version numbers and backup suffixes removed using file-name-
sans-versions (see Section 25.9.1 [File Name Components], page 546), matches a
regexp, set-auto-mode calls the corresponding mode-function. This feature enables
Emacs to select the proper major mode for most files.
If an element of auto-mode-alist has the form (regexp function t), then after call-
ing function, Emacs searches auto-mode-alist again for a match against the portion
of the file name that did not match before. This feature is useful for uncompression
packages: an entry of the form ("\\.gz\\'" function t) can uncompress the file
and then put the uncompressed file in the proper mode according to the name sans
‘.gz’.
Here is an example of how to prepend several pattern pairs to auto-mode-alist.
(You might use this sort of expression in your init file.)
(setq auto-mode-alist
(append
;; File name (within directory) starts with a dot.
'(("/\\.[^/]*\\'" . fundamental-mode)
;; File name has no dot.
("/[^\\./]*\\'" . fundamental-mode)
;; File name ends in ‘.C’.
("\\.C\\'" . c++-mode))
auto-mode-alist))
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 462

23.2.3 Getting Help about a Major Mode

The describe-mode function provides information about major modes. It is normally
bound to C-h m. It uses the value of the variable major-mode (see Section 23.2 [Major
Modes], page 455), which is why every major mode command needs to set that variable.
describe-mode &optional buffer [Command]
This command displays the documentation of the current buffer’s major mode and
minor modes. It uses the documentation function to retrieve the documentation
strings of the major and minor mode commands (see Section 24.2 [Accessing Docu-
mentation], page 511).
If called from Lisp with a non-nil buffer argument, this function displays the docu-
mentation for that buffer’s major and minor modes, rather than those of the current
buffer.

23.2.4 Defining Derived Modes

The recommended way to define a new major mode is to derive it from an existing one
using define-derived-mode. If there is no closely related mode, you should inherit from
either text-mode, special-mode, or prog-mode. See Section 23.2.5 [Basic Major Modes],
page 464. If none of these are suitable, you can inherit from fundamental-mode (see
Section 23.2 [Major Modes], page 455).
define-derived-mode variant parent name docstring keyword-args. . . [Macro]
body. . .
This macro defines variant as a major mode command, using name as the string form
of the mode name. variant and parent should be unquoted symbols.
The new command variant is defined to call the function parent, then override certain
aspects of that parent mode:
• The new mode has its own sparse keymap, named variant-map.
define-derived-mode makes the parent mode’s keymap the parent of the new
map, unless variant-map is already set and already has a parent.
• The new mode has its own syntax table, kept in the variable variant-syntax-
table, unless you override this using the :syntax-table keyword (see below).
define-derived-mode makes the parent mode’s syntax-table the parent of
variant-syntax-table, unless the latter is already set and already has a
parent different from the standard syntax table.
• The new mode has its own abbrev table, kept in the variable variant-abbrev-
table, unless you override this using the :abbrev-table keyword (see below).
• The new mode has its own mode hook, variant-hook. It runs this hook, af-
ter running the hooks of its ancestor modes, with run-mode-hooks, as the last
thing it does, apart from running any :after-hook form it may have. See
Section 23.2.6 [Mode Hooks], page 465.
In addition, you can specify how to override other aspects of parent with body. The
command variant evaluates the forms in body after setting up all its usual overrides,
just before running the mode hooks.
If parent has a non-nil mode-class symbol property, then define-derived-mode
sets the mode-class property of variant to the same value. This ensures, for example,
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 463

that if parent is a special mode, then variant is also a special mode (see Section 23.2.1
[Major Mode Conventions], page 456).
You can also specify nil for parent. This gives the new mode no parent. Then
define-derived-mode behaves as described above, but, of course, omits all actions
connected with parent.
The argument docstring specifies the documentation string for the new mode.
define-derived-mode adds some general information about the mode’s hook,
followed by the mode’s keymap, at the end of this documentation string. If you omit
docstring, define-derived-mode generates a documentation string.
The keyword-args are pairs of keywords and values. The values, except for
:after-hook’s, are evaluated. The following keywords are currently supported:
:syntax-table
You can use this to explicitly specify a syntax table for the new mode.
If you specify a nil value, the new mode uses the same syntax table as
parent, or the standard syntax table if parent is nil. (Note that this
does not follow the convention used for non-keyword arguments that a
nil value is equivalent with not specifying the argument.)
:abbrev-table
You can use this to explicitly specify an abbrev table for the new mode.
If you specify a nil value, the new mode uses the same abbrev table as
parent, or fundamental-mode-abbrev-table if parent is nil. (Again, a
nil value is not equivalent to not specifying this keyword.)
:group If this is specified, the value should be the customization group for this
mode. (Not all major modes have one.) The command customize-mode
uses this. define-derived-mode does not automatically define the spec-
ified customization group.
:after-hook
This optional keyword specifies a single Lisp form to evaluate as the final
act of the mode function, after the mode hooks have been run. It should
not be quoted. Since the form might be evaluated after the mode function
has terminated, it should not access any element of the mode function’s
local state. An :after-hook form is useful for setting up aspects of the
mode which depend on the user’s settings, which in turn may have been
changed in a mode hook.
Here is a hypothetical example:
(defvar hypertext-mode-map
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(define-key map [down-mouse-3] 'do-hyper-link)
map))

(define-derived-mode hypertext-mode
text-mode "Hypertext"
"Major mode for hypertext."
(setq-local case-fold-search nil))
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 464

Do not write an interactive spec in the definition; define-derived-mode does that

automatically.
derived-mode-p &rest modes [Function]
This function returns non-nil if the current major mode is derived from any of the
major modes given by the symbols modes.

23.2.5 Basic Major Modes

Apart from Fundamental mode, there are three major modes that other major modes com-
monly derive from: Text mode, Prog mode, and Special mode. While Text mode is useful
in its own right (e.g., for editing files ending in .txt), Prog mode and Special mode exist
mainly to let other modes derive from them.
As far as possible, new major modes should be derived, either directly or indirectly, from
one of these three modes. One reason is that this allows users to customize a single mode
hook (e.g., prog-mode-hook) for an entire family of relevant modes (e.g., all programming
language modes).
text-mode [Command]
Text mode is a major mode for editing human languages. It defines the ‘"’ and
‘\’ characters as having punctuation syntax (see Section 35.2.1 [Syntax Class Table],
page 893), and binds M-TAB to ispell-complete-word (see Section “Spelling” in The
GNU Emacs Manual).
An example of a major mode derived from Text mode is HTML mode. See Section
“SGML and HTML Modes” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
prog-mode [Command]
Prog mode is a basic major mode for buffers containing programming language source
code. Most of the programming language major modes built into Emacs are derived
from it.
Prog mode binds parse-sexp-ignore-comments to t (see Section 35.6.1 [Motion
via Parsing], page 901) and bidi-paragraph-direction to left-to-right (see
Section 39.26 [Bidirectional Display], page 1067).
special-mode [Command]
Special mode is a basic major mode for buffers containing text that is produced
specially by Emacs, rather than directly from a file. Major modes derived from
Special mode are given a mode-class property of special (see Section 23.2.1 [Major
Mode Conventions], page 456).
Special mode sets the buffer to read-only. Its keymap defines several common bind-
ings, including q for quit-window and g for revert-buffer (see Section 26.3 [Re-
verting], page 577).
An example of a major mode derived from Special mode is Buffer Menu mode, which
is used by the *Buffer List* buffer. See Section “Listing Existing Buffers” in The
GNU Emacs Manual.
In addition, modes for buffers of tabulated data can inherit from Tabulated List mode,
which is in turn derived from Special mode. See Section 23.2.7 [Tabulated List Mode],
page 465.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 465

23.2.6 Mode Hooks

Every major mode command should finish by running the mode-independent normal
hook change-major-mode-after-body-hook, its mode hook, and the normal hook
after-change-major-mode-hook. It does this by calling run-mode-hooks. If the major
mode is a derived mode, that is if it calls another major mode (the parent mode) in its
body, it should do this inside delay-mode-hooks so that the parent won’t run these hooks
itself. Instead, the derived mode’s call to run-mode-hooks runs the parent’s mode hook
too. See Section 23.2.1 [Major Mode Conventions], page 456.
Emacs versions before Emacs 22 did not have delay-mode-hooks. Versions before 24 did
not have change-major-mode-after-body-hook. When user-implemented major modes do
not use run-mode-hooks and have not been updated to use these newer features, they won’t
entirely follow these conventions: they may run the parent’s mode hook too early, or fail to
run after-change-major-mode-hook. If you encounter such a major mode, please correct
it to follow these conventions.
When you define a major mode using define-derived-mode, it automatically makes
sure these conventions are followed. If you define a major mode “by hand”, not using
define-derived-mode, use the following functions to handle these conventions automati-
cally.
run-mode-hooks &rest hookvars [Function]
Major modes should run their mode hook using this function. It is similar to
run-hooks (see Section 23.1 [Hooks], page 453), but it also runs change-major-
mode-after-body-hook, hack-local-variables (when the buffer is visiting a file)
(see Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191), and after-change-major-
mode-hook. The last thing it does is to evaluate any :after-hook forms declared by
parent modes (see Section 23.2.4 [Derived Modes], page 462).
When this function is called during the execution of a delay-mode-hooks form, it
does not run the hooks or hack-local-variables or evaluate the forms immediately.
Instead, it arranges for the next call to run-mode-hooks to run them.
delay-mode-hooks body. . . [Macro]
When one major mode command calls another, it should do so inside of delay-mode-
hooks.
This macro executes body, but tells all run-mode-hooks calls during the execution
of body to delay running their hooks. The hooks will actually run during the next
call to run-mode-hooks after the end of the delay-mode-hooks construct.
change-major-mode-after-body-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook run by run-mode-hooks. It is run before the mode hooks.
after-change-major-mode-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook run by run-mode-hooks. It is run at the very end of every
properly-written major mode command.

23.2.7 Tabulated List mode

Tabulated List mode is a major mode for displaying tabulated data, i.e., data consisting
of entries, each entry occupying one row of text with its contents divided into columns.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 466

Tabulated List mode provides facilities for pretty-printing rows and columns, and sorting
the rows according to the values in each column. It is derived from Special mode (see
Section 23.2.5 [Basic Major Modes], page 464).
Tabulated List mode is intended to be used as a parent mode by a more specialized
major mode. Examples include Process Menu mode (see Section 38.6 [Process Information],
page 932) and Package Menu mode (see Section “Package Menu” in The GNU Emacs
Manual).
Such a derived mode should use define-derived-mode in the usual way, specifying
tabulated-list-mode as the second argument (see Section 23.2.4 [Derived Modes],
page 462). The body of the define-derived-mode form should specify the format of the
tabulated data, by assigning values to the variables documented below; optionally, it can
then call the function tabulated-list-init-header, which will populate a header with
the names of the columns.
The derived mode should also define a listing command. This, not the mode command,
is what the user calls (e.g., M-x list-processes). The listing command should create or
switch to a buffer, turn on the derived mode, specify the tabulated data, and finally call
tabulated-list-print to populate the buffer.
tabulated-list-format [Variable]
This buffer-local variable specifies the format of the Tabulated List data. Its value
should be a vector. Each element of the vector represents a data column, and should
be a list (name width sort), where
• name is the column’s name (a string).
• width is the width to reserve for the column (an integer). This is meaningless
for the last column, which runs to the end of each line.
• sort specifies how to sort entries by the column. If nil, the column cannot be
used for sorting. If t, the column is sorted by comparing string values. Otherwise,
this should be a predicate function for sort (see Section 5.6.3 [Rearrangement],
page 80), which accepts two arguments with the same form as the elements of
tabulated-list-entries (see below).
tabulated-list-entries [Variable]
This buffer-local variable specifies the entries displayed in the Tabulated List buffer.
Its value should be either a list, or a function.
If the value is a list, each list element corresponds to one entry, and should have the
form (id contents), where
• id is either nil, or a Lisp object that identifies the entry. If the latter, the cursor
stays on the same entry when re-sorting entries. Comparison is done with equal.
• contents is a vector with the same number of elements as tabulated-list-
format. Each vector element is either a string, which is inserted into the buffer as-
is, or a list (label . properties), which means to insert a text button by calling
insert-text-button with label and properties as arguments (see Section 39.19.3
[Making Buttons], page 1051).
There should be no newlines in any of these strings.
Otherwise, the value should be a function which returns a list of the above form when
called with no arguments.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 467

tabulated-list-revert-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run prior to reverting a Tabulated List buffer. A derived mode
can add a function to this hook to recompute tabulated-list-entries.

tabulated-list-printer [Variable]
The value of this variable is the function called to insert an entry at point, including
its terminating newline. The function should accept two arguments, id and contents,
having the same meanings as in tabulated-list-entries. The default value is a
function which inserts an entry in a straightforward way; a mode which uses Tabulated
List mode in a more complex way can specify another function.

tabulated-list-sort-key [Variable]
The value of this variable specifies the current sort key for the Tabulated List buffer. If
it is nil, no sorting is done. Otherwise, it should have the form (name . flip), where
name is a string matching one of the column names in tabulated-list-format, and
flip, if non-nil, means to invert the sort order.

tabulated-list-init-header [Function]
This function computes and sets header-line-format for the Tabulated List buffer
(see Section 23.4.7 [Header Lines], page 484), and assigns a keymap to the header line
to allow sorting entries by clicking on column headers.
Modes derived from Tabulated List mode should call this after setting the above
variables (in particular, only after setting tabulated-list-format).

tabulated-list-print &optional remember-pos update [Function]

This function populates the current buffer with entries. It should be called by the
listing command. It erases the buffer, sorts the entries specified by tabulated-list-
entries according to tabulated-list-sort-key, then calls the function specified
by tabulated-list-printer to insert each entry.
If the optional argument remember-pos is non-nil, this function looks for the id
element on the current line, if any, and tries to move to that entry after all the entries
are (re)inserted.
If the optional argument update is non-nil, this function will only erase or add entries
that have changed since the last print. This is several times faster if most entries
haven’t changed since the last time this function was called. The only difference in
outcome is that tags placed via tabulated-list-put-tag will not be removed from
entries that haven’t changed (normally all tags are removed).

tabulated-list-delete-entry [Function]
This function deletes the entry at point.
It returns a list (id cols), where id is the ID of the deleted entry and cols is a vector
of its column descriptors. It moves point to the beginning of the current line. It
returns nil if there is no entry at point.
Note that this function only changes the buffer contents; it does not alter
tabulated-list-entries.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 468

tabulated-list-get-id &optional pos [Function]

This defsubst returns the ID object from tabulated-list-entries (if that is a list)
or from the list returned by tabulated-list-entries (if it is a function). If omitted
or nil, pos defaults to point.

tabulated-list-get-entry &optional pos [Function]

This defsubst returns the entry object from tabulated-list-entries (if that is a
list) or from the list returned by tabulated-list-entries (if it is a function). This
will be a vector for the ID at pos. If there is no entry at pos, then the function returns
nil.

tabulated-list-header-overlay-p &optional POS [Function]

This defsubst returns non-nil if there is a fake header at pos. A fake header is used if
tabulated-list-use-header-line is nil to put the column names at the beginning
of the buffer. If omitted or nil, pos defaults to point-min.

tabulated-list-put-tag tag &optional advance [Function]

This function puts tag in the padding area of the current line. The padding area
can be empty space at the beginning of the line, the width of which is governed by
tabulated-list-padding. tag should be a string, with a length less than or equal
to tabulated-list-padding. If advance is non-nil, this function advances point by
one line.

tabulated-list-set-col col desc &optional change-entry-data [Function]

This function changes the tabulated list entry at point, setting col to desc. col is the
column number to change, or the name of the column to change. desc is the new
column descriptor, which is inserted via tabulated-list-print-col.
If change-entry-data is non-nil, this function modifies the underlying data (usually
the column descriptor in the list tabulated-list-entries) by setting the column
descriptor of the vector to desc.

23.2.8 Generic Modes

Generic modes are simple major modes with basic support for comment syntax and Font
Lock mode. To define a generic mode, use the macro define-generic-mode. See the file
generic-x.el for some examples of the use of define-generic-mode.

define-generic-mode mode comment-list keyword-list font-lock-list [Macro]

auto-mode-list function-list &optional docstring
This macro defines a generic mode command named mode (a symbol, not quoted).
The optional argument docstring is the documentation for the mode command. If
you do not supply it, define-generic-mode generates one by default.
The argument comment-list is a list in which each element is either a character, a
string of one or two characters, or a cons cell. A character or a string is set up in the
mode’s syntax table as a comment starter. If the entry is a cons cell, the car is set up
as a comment starter and the cdr as a comment ender. (Use nil for the latter if you
want comments to end at the end of the line.) Note that the syntax table mechanism
has limitations about what comment starters and enders are actually possible. See
Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 469

The argument keyword-list is a list of keywords to highlight with font-lock-

keyword-face. Each keyword should be a string. Meanwhile, font-lock-list is a list
of additional expressions to highlight. Each element of this list should have the
same form as an element of font-lock-keywords. See Section 23.6.2 [Search-based
Fontification], page 489.
The argument auto-mode-list is a list of regular expressions to add to the variable
auto-mode-alist. They are added by the execution of the define-generic-mode
form, not by expanding the macro call.
Finally, function-list is a list of functions for the mode command to call for additional
setup. It calls these functions just before it runs the mode hook variable mode-hook.

23.2.9 Major Mode Examples

Text mode is perhaps the simplest mode besides Fundamental mode. Here are excerpts
from text-mode.el that illustrate many of the conventions listed above:
;; Create the syntax table for this mode.
(defvar text-mode-syntax-table
(let ((st (make-syntax-table)))
(modify-syntax-entry ?\" ". " st)
(modify-syntax-entry ?\\ ". " st)
;; Add 'p' so M-c on 'hello' leads to 'Hello', not 'hello'.
(modify-syntax-entry ?' "w p" st)
...
st)
"Syntax table used while in `text-mode'.")

;; Create the keymap for this mode.

(defvar text-mode-map
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(define-key map "\e\t" 'ispell-complete-word)
...
map)
"Keymap for `text-mode'.
Many other modes, such as `mail-mode', `outline-mode' and
`indented-text-mode', inherit all the commands defined in this map.")
Here is how the actual mode command is defined now:
(define-derived-mode text-mode nil "Text"
"Major mode for editing text written for humans to read.
In this mode, paragraphs are delimited only by blank or white lines.
You can thus get the full benefit of adaptive filling
(see the variable `adaptive-fill-mode').
\\{text-mode-map}
Turning on Text mode runs the normal hook `text-mode-hook'."
(set (make-local-variable 'text-mode-variant) t)
(set (make-local-variable 'require-final-newline)
mode-require-final-newline)
(set (make-local-variable 'indent-line-function) 'indent-relative))
(The last line is redundant nowadays, since indent-relative is the default value, and we’ll
delete it in a future version.)
The three Lisp modes (Lisp mode, Emacs Lisp mode, and Lisp Interaction mode) have
more features than Text mode and the code is correspondingly more complicated. Here are
excerpts from lisp-mode.el that illustrate how these modes are written.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 470

Here is how the Lisp mode syntax and abbrev tables are defined:
;; Create mode-specific table variables.
(define-abbrev-table 'lisp-mode-abbrev-table ()
"Abbrev table for Lisp mode.")

(defvar lisp-mode-syntax-table
(let ((table (make-syntax-table lisp--mode-syntax-table)))
(modify-syntax-entry ?\[ "_ " table)
(modify-syntax-entry ?\] "_ " table)
(modify-syntax-entry ?# "' 14" table)
(modify-syntax-entry ?| "\" 23bn" table)
table)
"Syntax table used in `lisp-mode'.")
The three modes for Lisp share much of their code. For instance, each calls the following
function to set various variables:
(defun lisp-mode-variables (&optional syntax keywords-case-insensitive elisp)
(when syntax
(set-syntax-table lisp-mode-syntax-table))
...
Amongst other things, this function sets up the comment-start variable to handle Lisp
comments:
(setq-local comment-start ";")
...
Each of the different Lisp modes has a slightly different keymap. For example, Lisp mode
binds C-c C-z to run-lisp, but the other Lisp modes do not. However, all Lisp modes have
some commands in common. The following code sets up the common commands:
(defvar lisp-mode-shared-map
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(set-keymap-parent map prog-mode-map)
(define-key map "\e\C-q" 'indent-sexp)
(define-key map "\177" 'backward-delete-char-untabify)
map)
"Keymap for commands shared by all sorts of Lisp modes.")
And here is the code to set up the keymap for Lisp mode:
(defvar lisp-mode-map
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap))
(menu-map (make-sparse-keymap "Lisp")))
(set-keymap-parent map lisp-mode-shared-map)
(define-key map "\e\C-x" 'lisp-eval-defun)
(define-key map "\C-c\C-z" 'run-lisp)
...
map)
"Keymap for ordinary Lisp mode.
All commands in `lisp-mode-shared-map' are inherited by this map.")
Finally, here is the major mode command for Lisp mode:
(define-derived-mode lisp-mode prog-mode "Lisp"
"Major mode for editing Lisp code for Lisps other than GNU Emacs Lisp.
Commands:
Delete converts tabs to spaces as it moves back.
Blank lines separate paragraphs. Semicolons start comments.

\\{lisp-mode-map}
Note that `run-lisp' may be used either to start an inferior Lisp job
or to switch back to an existing one."
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 471

(lisp-mode-variables nil t)
(setq-local find-tag-default-function 'lisp-find-tag-default)
(setq-local comment-start-skip
"\\(\\(^\\|[^\\\\\n]\\)\\(\\\\\\\\\\)*\\)\\(;+\\|#|\\) *")
(setq imenu-case-fold-search t))

23.3 Minor Modes

A minor mode provides optional features that users may enable or disable independently
of the choice of major mode. Minor modes can be enabled individually or in combination.
Most minor modes implement features that are independent of the major mode, and can
thus be used with most major modes. For example, Auto Fill mode works with any major
mode that permits text insertion. A few minor modes, however, are specific to a particular
major mode. For example, Diff Auto Refine mode is a minor mode that is intended to be
used only with Diff mode.
Ideally, a minor mode should have its desired effect regardless of the other minor modes
in effect. It should be possible to activate and deactivate minor modes in any order.
minor-mode-list [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of all minor mode commands.

23.3.1 Conventions for Writing Minor Modes

There are conventions for writing minor modes just as there are for major modes (see
Section 23.2 [Major Modes], page 455). These conventions are described below. The easiest
way to follow them is to use the macro define-minor-mode. See Section 23.3.3 [Defining
Minor Modes], page 473.
• Define a variable whose name ends in ‘-mode’. We call this the mode variable. The
minor mode command should set this variable. The value will be nil if the mode is
disabled, and non-nil if the mode is enabled. The variable should be buffer-local if the
minor mode is buffer-local.
This variable is used in conjunction with the minor-mode-alist to display the minor
mode name in the mode line. It also determines whether the minor mode keymap
is active, via minor-mode-map-alist (see Section 22.9 [Controlling Active Maps],
page 424). Individual commands or hooks can also check its value.
• Define a command, called the mode command, whose name is the same as the mode
variable. Its job is to set the value of the mode variable, plus anything else that needs
to be done to actually enable or disable the mode’s features.
The mode command should accept one optional argument. If called interactively with
no prefix argument, it should toggle the mode (i.e., enable if it is disabled, and disable
if it is enabled). If called interactively with a prefix argument, it should enable the
mode if the argument is positive and disable it otherwise.
If the mode command is called from Lisp (i.e., non-interactively), it should enable the
mode if the argument is omitted or nil; it should toggle the mode if the argument is
the symbol toggle; otherwise it should treat the argument in the same way as for an
interactive call with a numeric prefix argument, as described above.
The following example shows how to implement this behavior (it is similar to the code
generated by the define-minor-mode macro):
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 472

(interactive (list (or current-prefix-arg 'toggle)))

(let ((enable
(if (eq arg 'toggle)
(not foo-mode) ; this is the mode’s mode variable
(> (prefix-numeric-value arg) 0))))
(if enable
do-enable
do-disable))
The reason for this somewhat complex behavior is that it lets users easily toggle the
minor mode interactively, and also lets the minor mode be easily enabled in a mode
hook, like this:
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
This behaves correctly whether or not foo-mode was already enabled, since the
foo-mode mode command unconditionally enables the minor mode when it is called
from Lisp with no argument. Disabling a minor mode in a mode hook is a little uglier:
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook (lambda () (foo-mode -1)))
However, this is not very commonly done.
Enabling or disabling a minor mode twice in direct succession should not fail and should
do the same thing as enabling or disabling it only once. In other words, the minor mode
command should be idempotent.
• Add an element to minor-mode-alist for each minor mode (see [Definition of minor-
mode-alist], page 481), if you want to indicate the minor mode in the mode line. This
element should be a list of the following form:
(mode-variable string)
Here mode-variable is the variable that controls enabling of the minor mode, and string
is a short string, starting with a space, to represent the mode in the mode line. These
strings must be short so that there is room for several of them at once.
When you add an element to minor-mode-alist, use assq to check for an existing
element, to avoid duplication. For example:
(unless (assq 'leif-mode minor-mode-alist)
(push '(leif-mode " Leif") minor-mode-alist))
or like this, using add-to-list (see Section 5.5 [List Variables], page 75):
(add-to-list 'minor-mode-alist '(leif-mode " Leif"))

In addition, several major mode conventions (see Section 23.2.1 [Major Mode Conven-
tions], page 456) apply to minor modes as well: those regarding the names of global symbols,
the use of a hook at the end of the initialization function, and the use of keymaps and other
tables.
The minor mode should, if possible, support enabling and disabling via Custom (see
Chapter 15 [Customization], page 244). To do this, the mode variable should be defined
with defcustom, usually with :type 'boolean. If just setting the variable is not sufficient to
enable the mode, you should also specify a :set method which enables the mode by invoking
the mode command. Note in the variable’s documentation string that setting the variable
other than via Custom may not take effect. Also, mark the definition with an autoload
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 473

cookie (see [autoload cookie], page 270), and specify a :require so that customizing the
variable will load the library that defines the mode. For example:
;;;###autoload
(defcustom msb-mode nil
"Toggle msb-mode.
Setting this variable directly does not take effect;
use either \\[customize] or the function `msb-mode'."
:set 'custom-set-minor-mode
:initialize 'custom-initialize-default
:version "20.4"
:type 'boolean
:group 'msb
:require 'msb)

23.3.2 Keymaps and Minor Modes

Each minor mode can have its own keymap, which is active when the mode is enabled. To
set up a keymap for a minor mode, add an element to the alist minor-mode-map-alist.
See [Definition of minor-mode-map-alist], page 425.
One use of minor mode keymaps is to modify the behavior of certain self-inserting char-
acters so that they do something else as well as self-insert. (Another way to customize
self-insert-command is through post-self-insert-hook, see Section 32.5 [Commands
for Insertion], page 771. Apart from this, the facilities for customizing self-insert-
command are limited to special cases, designed for abbrevs and Auto Fill mode. Do not
try substituting your own definition of self-insert-command for the standard one. The
editor command loop handles this function specially.)
Minor modes may bind commands to key sequences consisting of C-c followed by a
punctuation character. However, sequences consisting of C-c followed by one of {}<>:;, or
a control character or digit, are reserved for major modes. Also, C-c letter is reserved for
users. See Section D.2 [Key Binding Conventions], page 1145.

23.3.3 Defining Minor Modes

The macro define-minor-mode offers a convenient way of implementing a mode in one
self-contained definition.

define-minor-mode mode doc [init-value [lighter [keymap]]] [Macro]

keyword-args. . . body. . .
This macro defines a new minor mode whose name is mode (a symbol). It defines
a command named mode to toggle the minor mode, with doc as its documentation
string.
The toggle command takes one optional (prefix) argument. If called interactively
with no argument it toggles the mode on or off. A positive prefix argument enables
the mode, any other prefix argument disables it. From Lisp, an argument of toggle
toggles the mode, whereas an omitted or nil argument enables the mode. This makes
it easy to enable the minor mode in a major mode hook, for example. If doc is nil,
the macro supplies a default documentation string explaining the above.
By default, it also defines a variable named mode, which is set to t or nil by enabling
or disabling the mode. The variable is initialized to init-value. Except in unusual
circumstances (see below), this value must be nil.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 474

The string lighter says what to display in the mode line when the mode is enabled; if
it is nil, the mode is not displayed in the mode line.
The optional argument keymap specifies the keymap for the minor mode. If non-nil,
it should be a variable name (whose value is a keymap), a keymap, or an alist of the
form
(key-sequence . definition)
where each key-sequence and definition are arguments suitable for passing to
define-key (see Section 22.12 [Changing Key Bindings], page 430). If keymap is a
keymap or an alist, this also defines the variable mode-map.
The above three arguments init-value, lighter, and keymap can be (partially) omit-
ted when keyword-args are used. The keyword-args consist of keywords followed by
corresponding values. A few keywords have special meanings:
:group group
Custom group name to use in all generated defcustom forms. Defaults
to mode without the possible trailing ‘-mode’. Warning: don’t use this
default group name unless you have written a defgroup to define that
group properly. See Section 15.2 [Group Definitions], page 246.
:global global
If non-nil, this specifies that the minor mode should be global rather
than buffer-local. It defaults to nil.
One of the effects of making a minor mode global is that the mode vari-
able becomes a customization variable. Toggling it through the Customize
interface turns the mode on and off, and its value can be saved for fu-
ture Emacs sessions (see Section “Saving Customizations” in The GNU
Emacs Manual. For the saved variable to work, you should ensure that
the define-minor-mode form is evaluated each time Emacs starts; for
packages that are not part of Emacs, the easiest way to do this is to
specify a :require keyword.
:init-value init-value
This is equivalent to specifying init-value positionally.
:lighter lighter
This is equivalent to specifying lighter positionally.
:keymap keymap
This is equivalent to specifying keymap positionally.
:variable place
This replaces the default variable mode, used to store the state of the
mode. If you specify this, the mode variable is not defined, and any init-
value argument is unused. place can be a different named variable (which
you must define yourself), or anything that can be used with the setf
function (see Section 12.17 [Generalized Variables], page 200). place can
also be a cons (get . set), where get is an expression that returns the
current state, and set is a function of one argument (a state) that sets it.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 475

:after-hook after-hook
This defines a single Lisp form which is evaluated after the mode hooks
have run. It should not be quoted.
Any other keyword arguments are passed directly to the defcustom generated for the
variable mode.
The command named mode first performs the standard actions such as setting the
variable named mode and then executes the body forms, if any. It then runs the
mode hook variable mode-hook and finishes by evaluating any form in :after-hook.

The initial value must be nil except in cases where (1) the mode is preloaded in Emacs,
or (2) it is painless for loading to enable the mode even though the user did not request it.
For instance, if the mode has no effect unless something else is enabled, and will always be
loaded by that time, enabling it by default is harmless. But these are unusual circumstances.
Normally, the initial value must be nil.
The name easy-mmode-define-minor-mode is an alias for this macro.
Here is an example of using define-minor-mode:
(define-minor-mode hungry-mode
"Toggle Hungry mode.
Interactively with no argument, this command toggles the mode.
A positive prefix argument enables the mode, any other prefix
argument disables it. From Lisp, argument omitted or nil enables
the mode, `toggle' toggles the state.

When Hungry mode is enabled, the control delete key

gobbles all preceding whitespace except the last.
See the command \\[hungry-electric-delete]."
;; The initial value.
nil
;; The indicator for the mode line.
" Hungry"
;; The minor mode bindings.
'(([C-backspace] . hungry-electric-delete))
:group 'hunger)
This defines a minor mode named “Hungry mode”, a command named hungry-mode to
toggle it, a variable named hungry-mode which indicates whether the mode is enabled, and
a variable named hungry-mode-map which holds the keymap that is active when the mode
is enabled. It initializes the keymap with a key binding for C-DEL. It puts the variable
hungry-mode into custom group hunger. There are no body forms—many minor modes
don’t need any.
Here’s an equivalent way to write it:
(define-minor-mode hungry-mode
"Toggle Hungry mode.
...rest of documentation as before..."
;; The initial value.
:init-value nil
;; The indicator for the mode line.
:lighter " Hungry"
;; The minor mode bindings.
:keymap
'(([C-backspace] . hungry-electric-delete)
([C-M-backspace]
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 476

. (lambda ()
(interactive)
(hungry-electric-delete t))))
:group 'hunger)

define-globalized-minor-mode global-mode mode turn-on [Macro]

keyword-args. . .
This defines a global toggle named global-mode whose meaning is to enable or disable
the buffer-local minor mode mode in all buffers. To turn on the minor mode in a
buffer, it uses the function turn-on; to turn off the minor mode, it calls mode with
−1 as argument.
Globally enabling the mode also affects buffers subsequently created by visiting files,
and buffers that use a major mode other than Fundamental mode; but it does not
detect the creation of a new buffer in Fundamental mode.
This defines the customization option global-mode (see Chapter 15 [Customization],
page 244), which can be toggled in the Customize interface to turn the minor
mode on and off. As with define-minor-mode, you should ensure that the
define-globalized-minor-mode form is evaluated each time Emacs starts, for
example by providing a :require keyword.
Use :group group in keyword-args to specify the custom group for the mode variable
of the global minor mode.
Generally speaking, when you define a globalized minor mode, you should also define
a non-globalized version, so that people can use (or disable) it in individual buffers.
This also allows them to disable a globally enabled minor mode in a specific major
mode, by using that mode’s hook.

23.4 Mode Line Format

Each Emacs window (aside from minibuffer windows) typically has a mode line at the
bottom, which displays status information about the buffer displayed in the window. The
mode line contains information about the buffer, such as its name, associated file, depth
of recursive editing, and major and minor modes. A window can also have a header line,
which is much like the mode line but appears at the top of the window.
This section describes how to control the contents of the mode line and header line. We
include it in this chapter because much of the information displayed in the mode line relates
to the enabled major and minor modes.

23.4.1 Mode Line Basics

The contents of each mode line are specified by the buffer-local variable mode-line-format
(see Section 23.4.3 [Mode Line Top], page 478). This variable holds a mode line con-
struct: a template that controls what is displayed on the buffer’s mode line. The value
of header-line-format specifies the buffer’s header line in the same way. All windows
for the same buffer use the same mode-line-format and header-line-format unless a
mode-line-format or header-line-format parameter has been specified for that window
(see Section 28.27 [Window Parameters], page 678).
For efficiency, Emacs does not continuously recompute each window’s mode line and
header line. It does so when circumstances appear to call for it—for instance, if you change
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 477

the window configuration, switch buffers, narrow or widen the buffer, scroll, or modify the
buffer. If you alter any of the variables referenced by mode-line-format or header-line-
format (see Section 23.4.4 [Mode Line Variables], page 479), or any other data structures
that affect how text is displayed (see Chapter 39 [Display], page 967), you should use the
function force-mode-line-update to update the display.
force-mode-line-update &optional all [Function]
This function forces Emacs to update the current buffer’s mode line and header line,
based on the latest values of all relevant variables, during its next redisplay cycle.
If the optional argument all is non-nil, it forces an update for all mode lines and
header lines.
This function also forces an update of the menu bar and frame title.
The selected window’s mode line is usually displayed in a different color using the face
mode-line. Other windows’ mode lines appear in the face mode-line-inactive instead.
See Section 39.12 [Faces], page 997.

23.4.2 The Data Structure of the Mode Line

The mode line contents are controlled by a data structure called a mode line construct, made
up of lists, strings, symbols, and numbers kept in buffer-local variables. Each data type
has a specific meaning for the mode line appearance, as described below. The same data
structure is used for constructing frame titles (see Section 29.6 [Frame Titles], page 717)
and header lines (see Section 23.4.7 [Header Lines], page 484).
A mode line construct may be as simple as a fixed string of text, but it usually specifies
how to combine fixed strings with variables’ values to construct the text. Many of these
variables are themselves defined to have mode line constructs as their values.
Here are the meanings of various data types as mode line constructs:
string A string as a mode line construct appears verbatim except for %-constructs in it.
These stand for substitution of other data; see Section 23.4.5 [%-Constructs],
page 482.
If parts of the string have face properties, they control display of the text just
as they would text in the buffer. Any characters which have no face properties
are displayed, by default, in the face mode-line or mode-line-inactive (see
Section “Standard Faces” in The GNU Emacs Manual). The help-echo and
keymap properties in string have special meanings. See Section 23.4.6 [Proper-
ties in Mode], page 483.
symbol A symbol as a mode line construct stands for its value. The value of symbol is
used as a mode line construct, in place of symbol. However, the symbols t and
nil are ignored, as is any symbol whose value is void.
There is one exception: if the value of symbol is a string, it is displayed verba-
tim: the %-constructs are not recognized.
Unless symbol is marked as risky (i.e., it has a non-nil risky-local-variable
property), all text properties specified in symbol’s value are ignored. This
includes the text properties of strings in symbol’s value, as well as all :eval and
:propertize forms in it. (The reason for this is security: non-risky variables
could be set automatically from file variables without prompting the user.)
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 478

(string rest...)
(list rest...)
A list whose first element is a string or list means to process all the elements
recursively and concatenate the results. This is the most common form of mode
line construct.
(:eval form)
A list whose first element is the symbol :eval says to evaluate form, and use
the result as a string to display. Make sure this evaluation cannot load any
files, as doing so could cause infinite recursion.
(:propertize elt props...)
A list whose first element is the symbol :propertize says to process the mode
line construct elt recursively, then add the text properties specified by props
to the result. The argument props should consist of zero or more pairs text-
property value. If elt is or produces a string with text properties, all the
characters of that string should have the same properties, or else some of them
might be removed by :propertize.
(symbol then else)
A list whose first element is a symbol that is not a keyword specifies a condi-
tional. Its meaning depends on the value of symbol. If symbol has a non-nil
value, the second element, then, is processed recursively as a mode line con-
struct. Otherwise, the third element, else, is processed recursively. You may
omit else; then the mode line construct displays nothing if the value of symbol
is nil or void.
(width rest...)
A list whose first element is an integer specifies truncation or padding of the
results of rest. The remaining elements rest are processed recursively as mode
line constructs and concatenated together. When width is positive, the result is
space filled on the right if its width is less than width. When width is negative,
the result is truncated on the right to −width columns if its width exceeds
−width.
For example, the usual way to show what percentage of a buffer is above the
top of the window is to use a list like this: (-3 "%p").

23.4.3 The Top Level of Mode Line Control

The variable in overall control of the mode line is mode-line-format.

mode-line-format [User Option]

The value of this variable is a mode line construct that controls the contents of the
mode-line. It is always buffer-local in all buffers.
If you set this variable to nil in a buffer, that buffer does not have a mode line. (A
window that is just one line tall also does not display a mode line.)

The default value of mode-line-format is designed to use the values of other variables
such as mode-line-position and mode-line-modes (which in turn incorporates the val-
ues of the variables mode-name and minor-mode-alist). Very few modes need to alter
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 479

mode-line-format itself. For most purposes, it is sufficient to alter some of the variables
that mode-line-format either directly or indirectly refers to.
If you do alter mode-line-format itself, the new value should use the same variables
that appear in the default value (see Section 23.4.4 [Mode Line Variables], page 479), rather
than duplicating their contents or displaying the information in another fashion. This way,
customizations made by the user or by Lisp programs (such as display-time and major
modes) via changes to those variables remain effective.
Here is a hypothetical example of a mode-line-format that might be useful for Shell
mode (in reality, Shell mode does not set mode-line-format):
(setq mode-line-format
(list "-"
'mode-line-mule-info
'mode-line-modified
'mode-line-frame-identification
"%b--"
;; Note that this is evaluated while making the list.
;; It makes a mode line construct which is just a string.
(getenv "HOST")
":"
'default-directory
" "
'global-mode-string
" %[("
'(:eval (mode-line-mode-name))
'mode-line-process
'minor-mode-alist
"%n"
")%]--"
'(which-func-mode ("" which-func-format "--"))
'(line-number-mode "L%l--")
'(column-number-mode "C%c--")
'(-3 "%p")))
(The variables line-number-mode, column-number-mode and which-func-mode enable
particular minor modes; as usual, these variable names are also the minor mode command
names.)

23.4.4 Variables Used in the Mode Line

This section describes variables incorporated by the standard value of mode-line-format
into the text of the mode line. There is nothing inherently special about these variables;
any other variables could have the same effects on the mode line if the value of mode-line-
format is changed to use them. However, various parts of Emacs set these variables on the
understanding that they will control parts of the mode line; therefore, practically speaking,
it is essential for the mode line to use them. Also see Section “Optional Mode Line” in The
GNU Emacs Manual.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 480

mode-line-mule-info [Variable]
This variable holds the value of the mode line construct that displays information
about the language environment, buffer coding system, and current input method.
See Chapter 33 [Non-ASCII Characters], page 835.

mode-line-modified [Variable]
This variable holds the value of the mode line construct that displays whether the
current buffer is modified. Its default value displays ‘**’ if the buffer is modified, ‘--’
if the buffer is not modified, ‘%%’ if the buffer is read only, and ‘%*’ if the buffer is
read only and modified.
Changing this variable does not force an update of the mode line.

mode-line-frame-identification [Variable]
This variable identifies the current frame. Its default value displays " " if you are
using a window system which can show multiple frames, or "-%F " on an ordinary
terminal which shows only one frame at a time.

mode-line-buffer-identification [Variable]
This variable identifies the buffer being displayed in the window. Its default value
displays the buffer name, padded with spaces to at least 12 columns.

mode-line-position [Variable]
This variable indicates the position in the buffer. Its default value displays the buffer
percentage and, optionally, the buffer size, the line number and the column number.

mode-line-percent-position [User Option]

This option is used in mode-line-position. Its value specifies both the buffer per-
centage to display (one of nil, "%o", "%p", "%P" or "%q", see Section 23.4.5 [%-
Constructs], page 482) and a width to space-fill or truncate to. You are recommended
to set this option with the customize-variable facility.

vc-mode [Variable]
The variable vc-mode, buffer-local in each buffer, records whether the buffer’s visited
file is maintained with version control, and, if so, which kind. Its value is a string
that appears in the mode line, or nil for no version control.

mode-line-modes [Variable]
This variable displays the buffer’s major and minor modes. Its default value also
displays the recursive editing level, information on the process status, and whether
narrowing is in effect.

mode-line-remote [Variable]
This variable is used to show whether default-directory for the current buffer is
remote.

mode-line-client [Variable]
This variable is used to identify emacsclient frames.

The following three variables are used in mode-line-modes:

Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 481

mode-name [Variable]
This buffer-local variable holds the “pretty” name of the current buffer’s major mode.
Each major mode should set this variable so that the mode name will appear in
the mode line. The value does not have to be a string, but can use any of the
data types valid in a mode-line construct (see Section 23.4.2 [Mode Line Data],
page 477). To compute the string that will identify the mode name in the mode
line, use format-mode-line (see Section 23.4.8 [Emulating Mode Line], page 484).

mode-line-process [Variable]
This buffer-local variable contains the mode line information on process status in
modes used for communicating with subprocesses. It is displayed immediately follow-
ing the major mode name, with no intervening space. For example, its value in the
*shell* buffer is (":%s"), which allows the shell to display its status along with the
major mode as: ‘(Shell:run)’. Normally this variable is nil.

mode-line-front-space [Variable]
This variable is displayed at the front of the mode line. By default, this construct is
displayed right at the beginning of the mode line, except that if there is a memory-full
message, it is displayed first.

mode-line-end-spaces [Variable]
This variable is displayed at the end of the mode line.

mode-line-misc-info [Variable]
Mode line construct for miscellaneous information. By default, this shows the infor-
mation specified by global-mode-string.

minor-mode-alist [Variable]
This variable holds an association list whose elements specify how the mode line
should indicate that a minor mode is active. Each element of the minor-mode-alist
should be a two-element list:
(minor-mode-variable mode-line-string)
More generally, mode-line-string can be any mode line construct. It appears in the
mode line when the value of minor-mode-variable is non-nil, and not otherwise.
These strings should begin with spaces so that they don’t run together. Convention-
ally, the minor-mode-variable for a specific mode is set to a non-nil value when that
minor mode is activated.
minor-mode-alist itself is not buffer-local. Each variable mentioned in the alist
should be buffer-local if its minor mode can be enabled separately in each buffer.

global-mode-string [Variable]
This variable holds a mode line construct that, by default, appears in the mode line
just after the which-func-mode minor mode if set, else after mode-line-modes.
The command display-time sets global-mode-string to refer to the variable
display-time-string, which holds a string containing the time and load
information.
The ‘%M’ construct substitutes the value of global-mode-string, but that is obsolete,
since the variable is included in the mode line from mode-line-format.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 482

Here is a simplified version of the default value of mode-line-format. The real default
value also specifies addition of text properties.
("-"
mode-line-mule-info
mode-line-modified
mode-line-frame-identification
mode-line-buffer-identification
" "
mode-line-position
(vc-mode vc-mode)
" "
mode-line-modes
(which-func-mode ("" which-func-format "--"))
(global-mode-string ("--" global-mode-string))
"-%-")

23.4.5 %-Constructs in the Mode Line

Strings used as mode line constructs can use certain %-constructs to substitute various kinds
of data. The following is a list of the defined %-constructs, and what they mean.
In any construct except ‘%%’, you can add a decimal integer after the ‘%’ to specify a
minimum field width. If the width is less, the field is padded to that width. Purely numeric
constructs (‘c’, ‘i’, ‘I’, and ‘l’) are padded by inserting spaces to the left, and others are
padded by inserting spaces to the right.
%b The current buffer name, obtained with the buffer-name function. See
Section 27.3 [Buffer Names], page 584.
%c The current column number of point, counting from zero starting at the left
margin of the window.
%C The current column number of point, counting from one starting at the left
margin of the window.
%e When Emacs is nearly out of memory for Lisp objects, a brief message saying
so. Otherwise, this is empty.
%f The visited file name, obtained with the buffer-file-name function. See
Section 27.4 [Buffer File Name], page 585.
%F The title (only on a window system) or the name of the selected frame. See
Section 29.4.3.1 [Basic Parameters], page 702.
%i The size of the accessible part of the current buffer; basically (- (point-max)
(point-min)).
%I Like ‘%i’, but the size is printed in a more readable way by using ‘k’ for 10^3,
‘M’ for 10^6, ‘G’ for 10^9, etc., to abbreviate.
%l The current line number of point, counting within the accessible portion of the
buffer.
%n ‘Narrow’ when narrowing is in effect; nothing otherwise (see narrow-to-region
in Section 30.4 [Narrowing], page 753).
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 483

%o The degree of travel of the window through (the visible portion of) the buffer,
i.e. the size of the text above the top of the window expressed as a percentage
of all the text outside the window, or ‘Top’, ‘Bottom’ or ‘All’.
%p The percentage of the buffer text above the top of window, or ‘Top’, ‘Bottom’
or ‘All’. Note that the default mode line construct truncates this to three
characters.
%P The percentage of the buffer text that is above the bottom of the window (which
includes the text visible in the window, as well as the text above the top), plus
‘Top’ if the top of the buffer is visible on screen; or ‘Bottom’ or ‘All’.
%q The percentages of text above both the top and the bottom of the window,
separated by ‘-’, or ‘All’.
%s The status of the subprocess belonging to the current buffer, obtained with
process-status. See Section 38.6 [Process Information], page 932.
%z The mnemonics of keyboard, terminal, and buffer coding systems.
%Z Like ‘%z’, but including the end-of-line format.
%* ‘%’ if the buffer is read only (see buffer-read-only);
‘*’ if the buffer is modified (see buffer-modified-p);
‘-’ otherwise. See Section 27.5 [Buffer Modification], page 587.
%+ ‘*’ if the buffer is modified (see buffer-modified-p);
‘%’ if the buffer is read only (see buffer-read-only);
‘-’ otherwise. This differs from ‘%*’ only for a modified read-only buffer. See
Section 27.5 [Buffer Modification], page 587.
%& ‘*’ if the buffer is modified, and ‘-’ otherwise.
%[ An indication of the depth of recursive editing levels (not counting minibuffer
levels): one ‘[’ for each editing level. See Section 21.13 [Recursive Editing],
page 410.
%] One ‘]’ for each recursive editing level (not counting minibuffer levels).
%- Dashes sufficient to fill the remainder of the mode line.
%% The character ‘%’—this is how to include a literal ‘%’ in a string in which %-
constructs are allowed.
The following two %-constructs are still supported, but they are obsolete, since you can
get the same results with the variables mode-name and global-mode-string.
%m The value of mode-name.
%M The value of global-mode-string.

23.4.6 Properties in the Mode Line

Certain text properties are meaningful in the mode line. The face property affects the
appearance of text; the help-echo property associates help strings with the text, and
keymap can make the text mouse-sensitive.
There are four ways to specify text properties for text in the mode line:
1. Put a string with a text property directly into the mode line data structure.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 484

2. Put a text property on a mode line %-construct such as ‘%12b’; then the expansion of
the %-construct will have that same text property.
3. Use a (:propertize elt props...) construct to give elt a text property specified by
props.
4. Use a list containing :eval form in the mode line data structure, and make form
evaluate to a string that has a text property.
You can use the keymap property to specify a keymap. This keymap only takes real
effect for mouse clicks; binding character keys and function keys to it has no effect, since it
is impossible to move point into the mode line.
When the mode line refers to a variable which does not have a non-nil risky-local-
variable property, any text properties given or specified within that variable’s values are
ignored. This is because such properties could otherwise specify functions to be called, and
those functions could come from file local variables.

23.4.7 Window Header Lines

A window can have a header line at the top, just as it can have a mode line at the bottom.
The header line feature works just like the mode line feature, except that it’s controlled by
header-line-format:

header-line-format [Variable]
This variable, local in every buffer, specifies how to display the header line, for win-
dows displaying the buffer. The format of the value is the same as for mode-line-
format (see Section 23.4.2 [Mode Line Data], page 477). It is normally nil, so that
ordinary buffers have no header line.

window-header-line-height &optional window [Function]

This function returns the height in pixels of window’s header line. window must be
a live window, and defaults to the selected window.

A window that is just one line tall never displays a header line. A window that is two
lines tall cannot display both a mode line and a header line at once; if it has a mode line,
then it does not display a header line.

23.4.8 Emulating Mode Line Formatting

You can use the function format-mode-line to compute the text that would appear in a
mode line or header line based on a certain mode line construct.

format-mode-line format &optional face window buffer [Function]

This function formats a line of text according to format as if it were generating the
mode line for window, but it also returns the text as a string. The argument window
defaults to the selected window. If buffer is non-nil, all the information used is taken
from buffer; by default, it comes from window’s buffer.
The value string normally has text properties that correspond to the faces, keymaps,
etc., that the mode line would have. Any character for which no face property is
specified by format gets a default value determined by face. If face is t, that stands
for either mode-line if window is selected, otherwise mode-line-inactive. If face
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 485

is nil or omitted, that stands for the default face. If face is an integer, the value
returned by this function will have no text properties.
You can also specify other valid faces as the value of face. If specified, that face
provides the face property for characters whose face is not specified by format.
Note that using mode-line, mode-line-inactive, or header-line as face will actu-
ally redisplay the mode line or the header line, respectively, using the current defini-
tions of the corresponding face, in addition to returning the formatted string. (Other
faces do not cause redisplay.)
For example, (format-mode-line header-line-format) returns the text that
would appear in the selected window’s header line ("" if it has no header line).
(format-mode-line header-line-format 'header-line) returns the same text,
with each character carrying the face that it will have in the header line itself, and
also redraws the header line.

23.5 Imenu
Imenu is a feature that lets users select a definition or section in the buffer, from a menu
which lists all of them, to go directly to that location in the buffer. Imenu works by
constructing a buffer index which lists the names and buffer positions of the definitions, or
other named portions of the buffer; then the user can choose one of them and move point
to it. Major modes can add a menu bar item to use Imenu using imenu-add-to-menubar.

imenu-add-to-menubar name [Command]

This function defines a local menu bar item named name to run Imenu.

The user-level commands for using Imenu are described in the Emacs Manual (see Section
“Imenu” in the Emacs Manual). This section explains how to customize Imenu’s method
of finding definitions or buffer portions for a particular major mode.
The usual and simplest way is to set the variable imenu-generic-expression:

imenu-generic-expression [Variable]
This variable, if non-nil, is a list that specifies regular expressions for finding defini-
tions for Imenu. Simple elements of imenu-generic-expression look like this:
(menu-title regexp index)
Here, if menu-title is non-nil, it says that the matches for this element should go in
a submenu of the buffer index; menu-title itself specifies the name for the submenu.
If menu-title is nil, the matches for this element go directly in the top level of the
buffer index.
The second item in the list, regexp, is a regular expression (see Section 34.3 [Reg-
ular Expressions], page 868); anything in the buffer that it matches is considered a
definition, something to mention in the buffer index. The third item, index, is a non-
negative integer that indicates which subexpression in regexp matches the definition’s
name.
An element can also look like this:
(menu-title regexp index function arguments...)
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 486

Each match for this element creates an index item, and when the index item is selected
by the user, it calls function with arguments consisting of the item name, the buffer
position, and arguments.
For Emacs Lisp mode, imenu-generic-expression could look like this:
((nil "^\\s-*(def\\(un\\|subst\\|macro\\|advice\\)\
\\s-+\\([-A-Za-z0-9+]+\\)" 2)
("*Vars*" "^\\s-*(def\\(var\\|const\\)\
\\s-+\\([-A-Za-z0-9+]+\\)" 2)
("*Types*"
"^\\s-*\
(def\\(type\\|struct\\|class\\|ine-condition\\)\
\\s-+\\([-A-Za-z0-9+]+\\)" 2))
Setting this variable makes it buffer-local in the current buffer.

imenu-case-fold-search [Variable]
This variable controls whether matching against the regular expressions in the value of
imenu-generic-expression is case-sensitive: t, the default, means matching should
ignore case.
Setting this variable makes it buffer-local in the current buffer.

imenu-syntax-alist [Variable]
This variable is an alist of syntax table modifiers to use while processing
imenu-generic-expression, to override the syntax table of the current buffer.
Each element should have this form:
(characters . syntax-description)
The car, characters, can be either a character or a string. The element says to
give that character or characters the syntax specified by syntax-description, which
is passed to modify-syntax-entry (see Section 35.3 [Syntax Table Functions],
page 897).
This feature is typically used to give word syntax to characters which normally
have symbol syntax, and thus to simplify imenu-generic-expression and speed
up matching. For example, Fortran mode uses it this way:
(setq imenu-syntax-alist '(("_$" . "w")))
The imenu-generic-expression regular expressions can then use ‘\\sw+’ instead
of ‘\\(\\sw\\|\\s_\\)+’. Note that this technique may be inconvenient when the
mode needs to limit the initial character of a name to a smaller set of characters than
are allowed in the rest of a name.
Setting this variable makes it buffer-local in the current buffer.

Another way to customize Imenu for a major mode is to set the variables imenu-prev-
index-position-function and imenu-extract-index-name-function:

imenu-prev-index-position-function [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, its value should be a function that finds the next definition
to put in the buffer index, scanning backward in the buffer from point. It should
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 487

return nil if it doesn’t find another definition before point. Otherwise it should leave
point at the place it finds a definition and return any non-nil value.
Setting this variable makes it buffer-local in the current buffer.
imenu-extract-index-name-function [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, its value should be a function to return the name for a
definition, assuming point is in that definition as the imenu-prev-index-position-
function function would leave it.
Setting this variable makes it buffer-local in the current buffer.
The last way to customize Imenu for a major mode is to set the variable imenu-create-
index-function:
imenu-create-index-function [Variable]
This variable specifies the function to use for creating a buffer index. The function
should take no arguments, and return an index alist for the current buffer. It is called
within save-excursion, so where it leaves point makes no difference.
The index alist can have three types of elements. Simple elements look like this:
(index-name . index-position)
Selecting a simple element has the effect of moving to position index-position in the
buffer. Special elements look like this:
(index-name index-position function arguments...)
Selecting a special element performs:
(funcall function
index-name index-position arguments...)
A nested sub-alist element looks like this:
(menu-title . sub-alist)
It creates the submenu menu-title specified by sub-alist.
The default value of imenu-create-index-function is imenu-default-create-
index-function. This function calls the value of imenu-prev-index-position-
function and the value of imenu-extract-index-name-function to produce the
index alist. However, if either of these two variables is nil, the default function uses
imenu-generic-expression instead.
Setting this variable makes it buffer-local in the current buffer.

23.6 Font Lock Mode

Font Lock mode is a buffer-local minor mode that automatically attaches face properties
to certain parts of the buffer based on their syntactic role. How it parses the buffer depends
on the major mode; most major modes define syntactic criteria for which faces to use in
which contexts. This section explains how to customize Font Lock for a particular major
mode.
Font Lock mode finds text to highlight in two ways: through syntactic parsing based
on the syntax table, and through searching (usually for regular expressions). Syntactic
fontification happens first; it finds comments and string constants and highlights them.
Search-based fontification happens second.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 488

23.6.1 Font Lock Basics

The Font Lock functionality is based on several basic functions. Each of these calls the
function specified by the corresponding variable. This indirection allows major and minor
modes to modify the way fontification works in the buffers of that mode, and even use the
Font Lock mechanisms for features that have nothing to do with fontification. (This is why
the description below says “should” when it describes what the functions do: the mode
can customize the values of the corresponding variables to do something entirely different.)
The variables mentioned below are described in Section 23.6.4 [Other Font Lock Variables],
page 493.
font-lock-fontify-buffer
This function should fontify the current buffer’s accessible portion, by calling
the function specified by font-lock-fontify-buffer-function.
font-lock-unfontify-buffer
Used when turning Font Lock off to remove the fontification. Calls the function
specified by font-lock-unfontify-buffer-function.
font-lock-fontify-region beg end &optional loudly
Should fontify the region between beg and end. If loudly is non-nil, should
display status messages while fontifying. Calls the function specified by
font-lock-fontify-region-function.
font-lock-unfontify-region beg end
Should remove fontification from the region between beg and end. Calls the
function specified by font-lock-unfontify-region-function.
font-lock-flush &optional beg end
This function should mark the fontification of the region between beg and end as
outdated. If not specified or nil, beg and end default to the beginning and end
of the buffer’s accessible portion. Calls the function specified by font-lock-
flush-function.
font-lock-ensure &optional beg end
This function should make sure the region between beg and end has been fonti-
fied. The optional arguments beg and end default to the beginning and the end
of the buffer’s accessible portion. Calls the function specified by font-lock-
ensure-function.
There are several variables that control how Font Lock mode highlights text. But major
modes should not set any of these variables directly. Instead, they should set font-lock-
defaults as a buffer-local variable. The value assigned to this variable is used, if and when
Font Lock mode is enabled, to set all the other variables.
font-lock-defaults [Variable]
This variable is set by modes to specify how to fontify text in that mode. It auto-
matically becomes buffer-local when set. If its value is nil, Font Lock mode does
no highlighting, and you can use the ‘Faces’ menu (under ‘Edit’ and then ‘Text
Properties’ in the menu bar) to assign faces explicitly to text in the buffer.
If non-nil, the value should look like this:
(keywords [keywords-only [case-fold
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 489

[syntax-alist other-vars...]]])
The first element, keywords, indirectly specifies the value of font-lock-keywords
which directs search-based fontification. It can be a symbol, a variable or a function
whose value is the list to use for font-lock-keywords. It can also be a list of several
such symbols, one for each possible level of fontification. The first symbol specifies
the ‘mode default’ level of fontification, the next symbol level 1 fontification, the
next level 2, and so on. The ‘mode default’ level is normally the same as level 1. It
is used when font-lock-maximum-decoration has a nil value. See Section 23.6.5
[Levels of Font Lock], page 495.
The second element, keywords-only, specifies the value of the variable font-lock-
keywords-only. If this is omitted or nil, syntactic fontification (of strings and com-
ments) is also performed. If this is non-nil, syntactic fontification is not performed.
See Section 23.6.8 [Syntactic Font Lock], page 496.
The third element, case-fold, specifies the value of font-lock-keywords-case-fold-
search. If it is non-nil, Font Lock mode ignores case during search-based fontifica-
tion.
If the fourth element, syntax-alist, is non-nil, it should be a list of cons cells of
the form (char-or-string . string). These are used to set up a syntax table for
syntactic fontification; the resulting syntax table is stored in font-lock-syntax-
table. If syntax-alist is omitted or nil, syntactic fontification uses the syntax table
returned by the syntax-table function. See Section 35.3 [Syntax Table Functions],
page 897.
All the remaining elements (if any) are collectively called other-vars. Each of these
elements should have the form (variable . value)—which means, make variable
buffer-local and then set it to value. You can use these other-vars to set other variables
that affect fontification, aside from those you can control with the first five elements.
See Section 23.6.4 [Other Font Lock Variables], page 493.
If your mode fontifies text explicitly by adding font-lock-face properties, it can specify
(nil t) for font-lock-defaults to turn off all automatic fontification. However, this is
not required; it is possible to fontify some things using font-lock-face properties and set
up automatic fontification for other parts of the text.

23.6.2 Search-based Fontification

The variable which directly controls search-based fontification is font-lock-keywords,
which is typically specified via the keywords element in font-lock-defaults.
font-lock-keywords [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of the keywords to highlight. Lisp programs should
not set this variable directly. Normally, the value is automatically set by Font Lock
mode, using the keywords element in font-lock-defaults. The value can also
be altered using the functions font-lock-add-keywords and font-lock-remove-
keywords (see Section 23.6.3 [Customizing Keywords], page 492).
Each element of font-lock-keywords specifies how to find certain cases of text, and how
to highlight those cases. Font Lock mode processes the elements of font-lock-keywords
one by one, and for each element, it finds and handles all matches. Ordinarily, once part
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 490

of the text has been fontified already, this cannot be overridden by a subsequent match
in the same text; but you can specify different behavior using the override element of a
subexp-highlighter.
Each element of font-lock-keywords should have one of these forms:
regexp Highlight all matches for regexp using font-lock-keyword-face. For example,
;; Highlight occurrences of the word ‘foo’
;; using font-lock-keyword-face.
"\\<foo\\>"
Be careful when composing these regular expressions; a poorly written
pattern can dramatically slow things down! The function regexp-opt (see
Section 34.3.3 [Regexp Functions], page 877) is useful for calculating optimal
regular expressions to match several keywords.
function Find text by calling function, and highlight the matches it finds using
font-lock-keyword-face.
When function is called, it receives one argument, the limit of the search; it
should begin searching at point, and not search beyond the limit. It should
return non-nil if it succeeds, and set the match data to describe the match
that was found. Returning nil indicates failure of the search.
Fontification will call function repeatedly with the same limit, and with point
where the previous invocation left it, until function fails. On failure, function
need not reset point in any particular way.
(matcher . subexp)
In this kind of element, matcher is either a regular expression or a function, as
described above. The cdr, subexp, specifies which subexpression of matcher
should be highlighted (instead of the entire text that matcher matched).
;; Highlight the ‘bar’ in each occurrence of ‘fubar’,
;; using font-lock-keyword-face.
("fu\\(bar\\)" . 1)
If you use regexp-opt to produce the regular expression matcher, you can
use regexp-opt-depth (see Section 34.3.3 [Regexp Functions], page 877) to
calculate the value for subexp.
(matcher . facespec)
In this kind of element, facespec is an expression whose value specifies the face
to use for highlighting. In the simplest case, facespec is a Lisp variable (a
symbol) whose value is a face name.
;; Highlight occurrences of ‘fubar’,
;; using the face which is the value of fubar-face.
("fubar" . fubar-face)
However, facespec can also evaluate to a list of this form:
(face face prop1 val1 prop2 val2...)
to specify the face face and various additional text properties to put on the
text that matches. If you do this, be sure to add the other text property
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 491

names that you set in this way to the value of font-lock-extra-managed-

props so that the properties will also be cleared out when they are no longer
appropriate. Alternatively, you can set the variable font-lock-unfontify-
region-function to a function that clears these properties. See Section 23.6.4
[Other Font Lock Variables], page 493.
(matcher . subexp-highlighter)
In this kind of element, subexp-highlighter is a list which specifies how to
highlight matches found by matcher. It has the form:
(subexp facespec [override [laxmatch]])
The car, subexp, is an integer specifying which subexpression of the match to
fontify (0 means the entire matching text). The second subelement, facespec,
is an expression whose value specifies the face, as described above.
The last two values in subexp-highlighter, override and laxmatch, are optional
flags. If override is t, this element can override existing fontification made by
previous elements of font-lock-keywords. If it is keep, then each character
is fontified if it has not been fontified already by some other element. If it
is prepend, the face specified by facespec is added to the beginning of the
font-lock-face property. If it is append, the face is added to the end of the
font-lock-face property.
If laxmatch is non-nil, it means there should be no error if there is no subexpres-
sion numbered subexp in matcher. Obviously, fontification of the subexpression
numbered subexp will not occur. However, fontification of other subexpressions
(and other regexps) will continue. If laxmatch is nil, and the specified subex-
pression is missing, then an error is signaled which terminates search-based
fontification.
Here are some examples of elements of this kind, and what they do:
;; Highlight occurrences of either ‘foo’ or ‘bar’, using
;; foo-bar-face, even if they have already been highlighted.
;; foo-bar-face should be a variable whose value is a face.
("foo\\|bar" 0 foo-bar-face t)

;; Highlight the first subexpression within each occurrence

;; that the function fubar-match finds,
;; using the face which is the value of fubar-face.
(fubar-match 1 fubar-face)
(matcher . anchored-highlighter)
In this kind of element, anchored-highlighter specifies how to highlight text
that follows a match found by matcher. So a match found by matcher acts
as the anchor for further searches specified by anchored-highlighter. anchored-
highlighter is a list of the following form:
(anchored-matcher pre-form post-form
subexp-highlighters...)
Here, anchored-matcher, like matcher, is either a regular expression or a func-
tion. After a match of matcher is found, point is at the end of the match.
Now, Font Lock evaluates the form pre-form. Then it searches for matches of
anchored-matcher and uses subexp-highlighters to highlight these. A subexp-
highlighter is as described above. Finally, Font Lock evaluates post-form.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 492

The forms pre-form and post-form can be used to initialize before, and cleanup
after, anchored-matcher is used. Typically, pre-form is used to move point to
some position relative to the match of matcher, before starting with anchored-
matcher. post-form might be used to move back, before resuming with matcher.
After Font Lock evaluates pre-form, it does not search for anchored-matcher
beyond the end of the line. However, if pre-form returns a buffer position that is
greater than the position of point after pre-form is evaluated, then the position
returned by pre-form is used as the limit of the search instead. It is generally a
bad idea to return a position greater than the end of the line; in other words,
the anchored-matcher search should not span lines.
For example,
;; Highlight occurrences of the word ‘item’ following
;; an occurrence of the word ‘anchor’ (on the same line)
;; in the value of item-face.
("\\<anchor\\>" "\\<item\\>" nil nil (0 item-face))
Here, pre-form and post-form are nil. Therefore searching for ‘item’ starts
at the end of the match of ‘anchor’, and searching for subsequent instances of
‘anchor’ resumes from where searching for ‘item’ concluded.
(matcher highlighters...)
This sort of element specifies several highlighter lists for a single matcher. A
highlighter list can be of the type subexp-highlighter or anchored-highlighter
as described above.
For example,
;; Highlight occurrences of the word ‘anchor’ in the value
;; of anchor-face, and subsequent occurrences of the word
;; ‘item’ (on the same line) in the value of item-face.
("\\<anchor\\>" (0 anchor-face)
("\\<item\\>" nil nil (0 item-face)))

(eval . form)
Here form is an expression to be evaluated the first time this value of
font-lock-keywords is used in a buffer. Its value should have one of the
forms described in this table.
Warning: Do not design an element of font-lock-keywords to match text which spans
lines; this does not work reliably. For details, see Section 23.6.9 [Multiline Font Lock],
page 497.
You can use case-fold in font-lock-defaults to specify the value of font-lock-
keywords-case-fold-search which says whether search-based fontification should be case-
insensitive.

font-lock-keywords-case-fold-search [Variable]
Non-nil means that regular expression matching for the sake of font-lock-keywords
should be case-insensitive.

23.6.3 Customizing Search-Based Fontification

You can use font-lock-add-keywords to add additional search-based fontification rules to
a major mode, and font-lock-remove-keywords to remove rules.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 493

font-lock-add-keywords mode keywords &optional how [Function]

This function adds highlighting keywords, for the current buffer or for major mode
mode. The argument keywords should be a list with the same format as the variable
font-lock-keywords.
If mode is a symbol which is a major mode command name, such as c-mode, the effect
is that enabling Font Lock mode in mode will add keywords to font-lock-keywords.
Calling with a non-nil value of mode is correct only in your ~/.emacs file.
If mode is nil, this function adds keywords to font-lock-keywords in the current
buffer. This way of calling font-lock-add-keywords is usually used in mode hook
functions.
By default, keywords are added at the beginning of font-lock-keywords. If the
optional argument how is set, they are used to replace the value of font-lock-
keywords. If how is any other non-nil value, they are added at the end of font-lock-
keywords.
Some modes provide specialized support you can use in additional highlighting pat-
terns. See the variables c-font-lock-extra-types, c++-font-lock-extra-types,
and java-font-lock-extra-types, for example.
Warning: Major mode commands must not call font-lock-add-keywords under any
circumstances, either directly or indirectly, except through their mode hooks. (Doing
so would lead to incorrect behavior for some minor modes.) They should set up their
rules for search-based fontification by setting font-lock-keywords.

font-lock-remove-keywords mode keywords [Function]

This function removes keywords from font-lock-keywords for the current buffer or
for major mode mode. As in font-lock-add-keywords, mode should be a major
mode command name or nil. All the caveats and requirements for font-lock-add-
keywords apply here too. The argument keywords must exactly match the one used
by the corresponding font-lock-add-keywords.

For example, the following code adds two fontification patterns for C mode: one to
fontify the word ‘FIXME’, even in comments, and another to fontify the words ‘and’, ‘or’
and ‘not’ as keywords.
(font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode
'(("\\<\\(FIXME\\):" 1 font-lock-warning-face prepend)
("\\<\\(and\\|or\\|not\\)\\>" . font-lock-keyword-face)))
This example affects only C mode proper. To add the same patterns to C mode and all
modes derived from it, do this instead:
(add-hook 'c-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(font-lock-add-keywords nil
'(("\\<\\(FIXME\\):" 1 font-lock-warning-face prepend)
("\\<\\(and\\|or\\|not\\)\\>" .
font-lock-keyword-face)))))

23.6.4 Other Font Lock Variables

This section describes additional variables that a major mode can set by means of other-vars
in font-lock-defaults (see Section 23.6.1 [Font Lock Basics], page 488).
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 494

font-lock-mark-block-function [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, it should be a function that is called with no arguments,
to choose an enclosing range of text for refontification for the command M-o M-o
(font-lock-fontify-block).
The function should report its choice by placing the region around it. A good choice
is a range of text large enough to give proper results, but not too large so that
refontification becomes slow. Typical values are mark-defun for programming modes
or mark-paragraph for textual modes.
font-lock-extra-managed-props [Variable]
This variable specifies additional properties (other than font-lock-face) that are
being managed by Font Lock mode. It is used by font-lock-default-unfontify-
region, which normally only manages the font-lock-face property. If you want
Font Lock to manage other properties as well, you must specify them in a facespec in
font-lock-keywords as well as add them to this list. See Section 23.6.2 [Search-based
Fontification], page 489.
font-lock-fontify-buffer-function [Variable]
Function to use for fontifying the buffer. The default value is font-lock-default-
fontify-buffer.
font-lock-unfontify-buffer-function [Variable]
Function to use for unfontifying the buffer. This is used when turning off Font Lock
mode. The default value is font-lock-default-unfontify-buffer.
font-lock-fontify-region-function [Variable]
Function to use for fontifying a region. It should take two arguments, the beginning
and end of the region, and an optional third argument verbose. If verbose is non-nil,
the function should print status messages. The default value is font-lock-default-
fontify-region.
font-lock-unfontify-region-function [Variable]
Function to use for unfontifying a region. It should take two arguments, the beginning
and end of the region. The default value is font-lock-default-unfontify-region.
font-lock-flush-function [Variable]
Function to use for declaring that a region’s fontification is out of date. It takes two
arguments, the beginning and end of the region. The default value of this variable is
font-lock-after-change-function.
font-lock-ensure-function [Variable]
Function to use for making sure a region of the current buffer has been fontified. It
is called with two arguments, the beginning and end of the region. The default value
of this variable is a function that calls font-lock-default-fontify-buffer if the
buffer is not fontified; the effect is to make sure the entire accessible portion of the
buffer is fontified.
jit-lock-register function &optional contextual [Function]
This function tells Font Lock mode to run the Lisp function function any time it
has to fontify or refontify part of the current buffer. It calls function before calling
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 495

the default fontification functions, and gives it two arguments, start and end, which
specify the region to be fontified or refontified.
The optional argument contextual, if non-nil, forces Font Lock mode to always re-
fontify a syntactically relevant part of the buffer, and not just the modified lines. This
argument can usually be omitted.
jit-lock-unregister function [Function]
If function was previously registered as a fontification function using jit-lock-
register, this function unregisters it.

23.6.5 Levels of Font Lock

Some major modes offer three different levels of fontification. You can define multiple levels
by using a list of symbols for keywords in font-lock-defaults. Each symbol specifies one
level of fontification; it is up to the user to choose one of these levels, normally by setting
font-lock-maximum-decoration (see Section “Font Lock” in the GNU Emacs Manual).
The chosen level’s symbol value is used to initialize font-lock-keywords.
Here are the conventions for how to define the levels of fontification:
• Level 1: highlight function declarations, file directives (such as include or import di-
rectives), strings and comments. The idea is speed, so only the most important and
top-level components are fontified.
• Level 2: in addition to level 1, highlight all language keywords, including type names
that act like keywords, as well as named constant values. The idea is that all keywords
(either syntactic or semantic) should be fontified appropriately.
• Level 3: in addition to level 2, highlight the symbols being defined in function and
variable declarations, and all builtin function names, wherever they appear.

23.6.6 Precalculated Fontification

Some major modes such as list-buffers and occur construct the buffer text program-
matically. The easiest way for them to support Font Lock mode is to specify the faces of
text when they insert the text in the buffer.
The way to do this is to specify the faces in the text with the special text property
font-lock-face (see Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808). When Font Lock
mode is enabled, this property controls the display, just like the face property. When Font
Lock mode is disabled, font-lock-face has no effect on the display.
It is ok for a mode to use font-lock-face for some text and also use the normal Font
Lock machinery. But if the mode does not use the normal Font Lock machinery, it should not
set the variable font-lock-defaults. In this case the face property will not be overriden,
so using the face property could work too. However, using font-lock-face is generally
preferable as it allows the user to control the fontification by toggling font-lock-mode, and
lets the code work regardless of whether the mode uses Font Lock machinery or not.

23.6.7 Faces for Font Lock

Font Lock mode can highlight using any face, but Emacs defines several faces specifically
for Font Lock to use to highlight text. These Font Lock faces are listed below. They can
also be used by major modes for syntactic highlighting outside of Font Lock mode (see
Section 23.2.1 [Major Mode Conventions], page 456).
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 496

Each of these symbols is both a face name, and a variable whose default value is the
symbol itself. Thus, the default value of font-lock-comment-face is font-lock-comment-
face.
The faces are listed with descriptions of their typical usage, and in order of greater to
lesser prominence. If a mode’s syntactic categories do not fit well with the usage descrip-
tions, the faces can be assigned using the ordering as a guide.
font-lock-warning-face
for a construct that is peculiar, or that greatly changes the meaning of other
text, like ‘;;;###autoload’ in Emacs Lisp and ‘#error’ in C.
font-lock-function-name-face
for the name of a function being defined or declared.
font-lock-variable-name-face
for the name of a variable being defined or declared.
font-lock-keyword-face
for a keyword with special syntactic significance, like ‘for’ and ‘if’ in C.
font-lock-comment-face
for comments.
font-lock-comment-delimiter-face
for comments delimiters, like ‘/*’ and ‘*/’ in C. On most terminals, this inherits
from font-lock-comment-face.
font-lock-type-face
for the names of user-defined data types.
font-lock-constant-face
for the names of constants, like ‘NULL’ in C.
font-lock-builtin-face
for the names of built-in functions.
font-lock-preprocessor-face
for preprocessor commands. This inherits, by default, from font-lock-
builtin-face.
font-lock-string-face
for string constants.
font-lock-doc-face
for documentation strings in the code. This inherits, by default, from
font-lock-string-face.
font-lock-negation-char-face
for easily-overlooked negation characters.

23.6.8 Syntactic Font Lock

Syntactic fontification uses a syntax table (see Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892) to find
and highlight syntactically relevant text. If enabled, it runs prior to search-based fontifica-
tion. The variable font-lock-syntactic-face-function, documented below, determines
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 497

which syntactic constructs to highlight. There are several variables that affect syntactic
fontification; you should set them by means of font-lock-defaults (see Section 23.6.1
[Font Lock Basics], page 488).
Whenever Font Lock mode performs syntactic fontification on a stretch of text, it first
calls the function specified by syntax-propertize-function. Major modes can use this to
apply syntax-table text properties to override the buffer’s syntax table in special cases.
See Section 35.4 [Syntax Properties], page 899.
font-lock-keywords-only [Variable]
If the value of this variable is non-nil, Font Lock does not do syntactic fontification,
only search-based fontification based on font-lock-keywords. It is normally set by
Font Lock mode based on the keywords-only element in font-lock-defaults.
font-lock-syntax-table [Variable]
This variable holds the syntax table to use for fontification of comments and strings.
It is normally set by Font Lock mode based on the syntax-alist element in font-lock-
defaults. If this value is nil, syntactic fontification uses the buffer’s syntax table
(the value returned by the function syntax-table; see Section 35.3 [Syntax Table
Functions], page 897).
font-lock-syntactic-face-function [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, it should be a function to determine which face to use for
a given syntactic element (a string or a comment). The value is normally set through
an other-vars element in font-lock-defaults.
The function is called with one argument, the parse state at point returned
by parse-partial-sexp, and should return a face. The default value returns
font-lock-comment-face for comments and font-lock-string-face for strings
(see Section 23.6.7 [Faces for Font Lock], page 495).

23.6.9 Multiline Font Lock Constructs

Normally, elements of font-lock-keywords should not match across multiple lines; that
doesn’t work reliably, because Font Lock usually scans just part of the buffer, and it can
miss a multi-line construct that crosses the line boundary where the scan starts. (The scan
normally starts at the beginning of a line.)
Making elements that match multiline constructs work properly has two aspects: correct
identification and correct rehighlighting. The first means that Font Lock finds all multiline
constructs. The second means that Font Lock will correctly rehighlight all the relevant text
when a multiline construct is changed—for example, if some of the text that was previously
part of a multiline construct ceases to be part of it. The two aspects are closely related,
and often getting one of them to work will appear to make the other also work. However,
for reliable results you must attend explicitly to both aspects.
There are three ways to ensure correct identification of multiline constructs:
• Add a function to font-lock-extend-region-functions that does the identification
and extends the scan so that the scanned text never starts or ends in the middle of a
multiline construct.
• Use the font-lock-fontify-region-function hook similarly to extend the scan so
that the scanned text never starts or ends in the middle of a multiline construct.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 498

• Somehow identify the multiline construct right when it gets inserted into the buffer (or
at any point after that but before font-lock tries to highlight it), and mark it with a
font-lock-multiline which will instruct font-lock not to start or end the scan in the
middle of the construct.
There are three ways to do rehighlighting of multiline constructs:
• Place a font-lock-multiline property on the construct. This will rehighlight the
whole construct if any part of it is changed. In some cases you can do this automatically
by setting the font-lock-multiline variable, which see.
• Make sure jit-lock-contextually is set and rely on it doing its job. This will only
rehighlight the part of the construct that follows the actual change, and will do it after
a short delay. This only works if the highlighting of the various parts of your multiline
construct never depends on text in subsequent lines. Since jit-lock-contextually
is activated by default, this can be an attractive solution.
• Place a jit-lock-defer-multiline property on the construct. This works only if
jit-lock-contextually is used, and with the same delay before rehighlighting, but
like font-lock-multiline, it also handles the case where highlighting depends on
subsequent lines.

23.6.9.1 Font Lock Multiline

One way to ensure reliable rehighlighting of multiline Font Lock constructs is to put on
them the text property font-lock-multiline. It should be present and non-nil for text
that is part of a multiline construct.
When Font Lock is about to highlight a range of text, it first extends the boundaries of
the range as necessary so that they do not fall within text marked with the font-lock-
multiline property. Then it removes any font-lock-multiline properties from the range,
and highlights it. The highlighting specification (mostly font-lock-keywords) must rein-
stall this property each time, whenever it is appropriate.
Warning: don’t use the font-lock-multiline property on large ranges of text, because
that will make rehighlighting slow.

font-lock-multiline [Variable]
If the font-lock-multiline variable is set to t, Font Lock will try to add the
font-lock-multiline property automatically on multiline constructs. This is not
a universal solution, however, since it slows down Font Lock somewhat. It can miss
some multiline constructs, or make the property larger or smaller than necessary.
For elements whose matcher is a function, the function should ensure that submatch
0 covers the whole relevant multiline construct, even if only a small subpart will be
highlighted. It is often just as easy to add the font-lock-multiline property by
hand.

The font-lock-multiline property is meant to ensure proper refontification; it does

not automatically identify new multiline constructs. Identifying them requires that Font
Lock mode operate on large enough chunks at a time. This will happen by accident on
many cases, which may give the impression that multiline constructs magically work. If
you set the font-lock-multiline variable non-nil, this impression will be even stronger,
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 499

since the highlighting of those constructs which are found will be properly updated from
then on. But that does not work reliably.
To find multiline constructs reliably, you must either manually place the font-lock-
multiline property on the text before Font Lock mode looks at it, or use font-lock-
fontify-region-function.

23.6.9.2 Region to Fontify after a Buffer Change

When a buffer is changed, the region that Font Lock refontifies is by default the smallest
sequence of whole lines that spans the change. While this works well most of the time,
sometimes it doesn’t—for example, when a change alters the syntactic meaning of text on
an earlier line.
You can enlarge (or even reduce) the region to refontify by setting the following variable:

font-lock-extend-after-change-region-function [Variable]
This buffer-local variable is either nil or a function for Font Lock mode to call to
determine the region to scan and fontify.
The function is given three parameters, the standard beg, end, and old-len from
after-change-functions (see Section 32.30 [Change Hooks], page 832). It should
return either a cons of the beginning and end buffer positions (in that order) of the
region to fontify, or nil (which means choose the region in the standard way). This
function needs to preserve point, the match-data, and the current restriction. The
region it returns may start or end in the middle of a line.
Since this function is called after every buffer change, it should be reasonably fast.

23.7 Automatic Indentation of code

For programming languages, an important feature of a major mode is to provide automatic
indentation. There are two parts: one is to decide what is the right indentation of a line,
and the other is to decide when to reindent a line. By default, Emacs reindents a line
whenever you type a character in electric-indent-chars, which by default only includes
Newline. Major modes can add chars to electric-indent-chars according to the syntax
of the language.
Deciding what is the right indentation is controlled in Emacs by indent-line-function
(see Section 32.17.2 [Mode-Specific Indent], page 796). For some modes, the right in-
dentation cannot be known reliably, typically because indentation is significant so several
indentations are valid but with different meanings. In that case, the mode should set
electric-indent-inhibit to make sure the line is not constantly re-indented against the
user’s wishes.
Writing a good indentation function can be difficult and to a large extent it is still a
black art. Many major mode authors will start by writing a simple indentation function that
works for simple cases, for example by comparing with the indentation of the previous text
line. For most programming languages that are not really line-based, this tends to scale
very poorly: improving such a function to let it handle more diverse situations tends to
become more and more difficult, resulting in the end with a large, complex, unmaintainable
indentation function which nobody dares to touch.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 500

A good indentation function will usually need to actually parse the text, according to
the syntax of the language. Luckily, it is not necessary to parse the text in as much detail
as would be needed for a compiler, but on the other hand, the parser embedded in the
indentation code will want to be somewhat friendly to syntactically incorrect code.
Good maintainable indentation functions usually fall into two categories: either parsing
forward from some safe starting point until the position of interest, or parsing backward from
the position of interest. Neither of the two is a clearly better choice than the other: parsing
backward is often more difficult than parsing forward because programming languages are
designed to be parsed forward, but for the purpose of indentation it has the advantage of
not needing to guess a safe starting point, and it generally enjoys the property that only
a minimum of text will be analyzed to decide the indentation of a line, so indentation will
tend to be less affected by syntax errors in some earlier unrelated piece of code. Parsing
forward on the other hand is usually easier and has the advantage of making it possible to
reindent efficiently a whole region at a time, with a single parse.
Rather than write your own indentation function from scratch, it is often preferable to
try and reuse some existing ones or to rely on a generic indentation engine. There are sadly
few such engines. The CC-mode indentation code (used with C, C++, Java, Awk and a few
other such modes) has been made more generic over the years, so if your language seems
somewhat similar to one of those languages, you might try to use that engine. Another
one is SMIE which takes an approach in the spirit of Lisp sexps and adapts it to non-Lisp
languages.

23.7.1 Simple Minded Indentation Engine

SMIE is a package that provides a generic navigation and indentation engine. Based on a
very simple parser using an operator precedence grammar, it lets major modes extend the
sexp-based navigation of Lisp to non-Lisp languages as well as provide a simple to use but
reliable auto-indentation.
Operator precedence grammar is a very primitive technology for parsing compared to
some of the more common techniques used in compilers. It has the following characteristics:
its parsing power is very limited, and it is largely unable to detect syntax errors, but it has
the advantage of being algorithmically efficient and able to parse forward just as well as
backward. In practice that means that SMIE can use it for indentation based on backward
parsing, that it can provide both forward-sexp and backward-sexp functionality, and that
it will naturally work on syntactically incorrect code without any extra effort. The downside
is that it also means that most programming languages cannot be parsed correctly using
SMIE, at least not without resorting to some special tricks (see Section 23.7.1.5 [SMIE
Tricks], page 504).

23.7.1.1 SMIE Setup and Features

SMIE is meant to be a one-stop shop for structural navigation and various other features
which rely on the syntactic structure of code, in particular automatic indentation. The
main entry point is smie-setup which is a function typically called while setting up a
major mode.
smie-setup grammar rules-function &rest keywords [Function]
Setup SMIE navigation and indentation. grammar is a grammar table generated
by smie-prec2->grammar. rules-function is a set of indentation rules for use on
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 501

smie-rules-function. keywords are additional arguments, which can include the

following keywords:
• :forward-token fun: Specify the forward lexer to use.
• :backward-token fun: Specify the backward lexer to use.
Calling this function is sufficient to make commands such as forward-sexp,
backward-sexp, and transpose-sexps be able to properly handle structural elements
other than just the paired parentheses already handled by syntax tables. For example, if
the provided grammar is precise enough, transpose-sexps can correctly transpose the
two arguments of a + operator, taking into account the precedence rules of the language.
Calling smie-setup is also sufficient to make TAB indentation work in the expected way,
extends blink-matching-paren to apply to elements like begin...end, and provides some
commands that you can bind in the major mode keymap.
smie-close-block [Command]
This command closes the most recently opened (and not yet closed) block.
smie-down-list &optional arg [Command]
This command is like down-list but it also pays attention to nesting of tokens other
than parentheses, such as begin...end.

23.7.1.2 Operator Precedence Grammars

SMIE’s precedence grammars simply give to each token a pair of precedences: the left-
precedence and the right-precedence. We say T1 < T2 if the right-precedence of token T1
is less than the left-precedence of token T2. A good way to read this < is as a kind of
parenthesis: if we find ... T1 something T2 ... then that should be parsed as ... T1
(something T2 ... rather than as ... T1 something) T2 .... The latter interpretation
would be the case if we had T1 > T2. If we have T1 = T2, it means that token T2 follows
token T1 in the same syntactic construction, so typically we have "begin" = "end". Such
pairs of precedences are sufficient to express left-associativity or right-associativity of infix
operators, nesting of tokens like parentheses and many other cases.
smie-prec2->grammar table [Function]
This function takes a prec2 grammar table and returns an alist suitable for use in
smie-setup. The prec2 table is itself meant to be built by one of the functions below.
smie-merge-prec2s &rest tables [Function]
This function takes several prec2 tables and merges them into a new prec2 table.
smie-precs->prec2 precs [Function]
This function builds a prec2 table from a table of precedences precs. precs should be
a list, sorted by precedence (for example "+" will come before "*"), of elements of the
form (assoc op ...), where each op is a token that acts as an operator; assoc is their
associativity, which can be either left, right, assoc, or nonassoc. All operators in
a given element share the same precedence level and associativity.
smie-bnf->prec2 bnf &rest resolvers [Function]
This function lets you specify the grammar using a BNF notation. It accepts a bnf
description of the grammar along with a set of conflict resolution rules resolvers, and
returns a prec2 table.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 502

bnf is a list of nonterminal definitions of the form (nonterm rhs1 rhs2 ...) where
each rhs is a (non-empty) list of terminals (aka tokens) or non-terminals.
Not all grammars are accepted:
• An rhs cannot be an empty list (an empty list is never needed, since SMIE allows
all non-terminals to match the empty string anyway).
• An rhs cannot have 2 consecutive non-terminals: each pair of non-terminals needs
to be separated by a terminal (aka token). This is a fundamental limitation of
operator precedence grammars.
Additionally, conflicts can occur:
• The returned prec2 table holds constraints between pairs of tokens, and for any
given pair only one constraint can be present: T1 < T2, T1 = T2, or T1 > T2.
• A token can be an opener (something similar to an open-paren), a closer (like
a close-paren), or neither of the two (e.g., an infix operator, or an inner token
like "else").
Precedence conflicts can be resolved via resolvers, which is a list of precs tables (see
smie-precs->prec2): for each precedence conflict, if those precs tables specify a
particular constraint, then the conflict is resolved by using this constraint instead,
else a conflict is reported and one of the conflicting constraints is picked arbitrarily
and the others are simply ignored.

23.7.1.3 Defining the Grammar of a Language

The usual way to define the SMIE grammar of a language is by defining a new global
variable that holds the precedence table by giving a set of BNF rules. For example, the
grammar definition for a small Pascal-like language could look like:
(require 'smie)
(defvar sample-smie-grammar
(smie-prec2->grammar
(smie-bnf->prec2
'((id)
(inst ("begin" insts "end")
("if" exp "then" inst "else" inst)
(id ":=" exp)
(exp))
(insts (insts ";" insts) (inst))
(exp (exp "+" exp)
(exp "*" exp)
("(" exps ")"))
(exps (exps "," exps) (exp)))
'((assoc ";"))
'((assoc ","))
'((assoc "+") (assoc "*")))))
A few things to note:
• The above grammar does not explicitly mention the syntax of function calls: SMIE will
automatically allow any sequence of sexps, such as identifiers, balanced parentheses, or
begin ... end blocks to appear anywhere anyway.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 503

• The grammar category id has no right hand side: this does not mean that it can match
only the empty string, since as mentioned any sequence of sexps can appear anywhere
anyway.
• Because non terminals cannot appear consecutively in the BNF grammar, it is difficult
to correctly handle tokens that act as terminators, so the above grammar treats ";"
as a statement separator instead, which SMIE can handle very well.
• Separators used in sequences (such as "," and ";" above) are best defined with BNF
rules such as (foo (foo "separator" foo) ...) which generate precedence conflicts
which are then resolved by giving them an explicit (assoc "separator").
• The ("(" exps ")") rule was not needed to pair up parens, since SMIE will pair up
any characters that are marked as having paren syntax in the syntax table. What this
rule does instead (together with the definition of exps) is to make it clear that ","
should not appear outside of parentheses.
• Rather than have a single precs table to resolve conflicts, it is preferable to have several
tables, so as to let the BNF part of the grammar specify relative precedences where
possible.
• Unless there is a very good reason to prefer left or right, it is usually preferable to
mark operators as associative, using assoc. For that reason "+" and "*" are defined
above as assoc, although the language defines them formally as left associative.

23.7.1.4 Defining Tokens

SMIE comes with a predefined lexical analyzer which uses syntax tables in the following
way: any sequence of characters that have word or symbol syntax is considered a token, and
so is any sequence of characters that have punctuation syntax. This default lexer is often
a good starting point but is rarely actually correct for any given language. For example, it
will consider "2,+3" to be composed of 3 tokens: "2", ",+", and "3".
To describe the lexing rules of your language to SMIE, you need 2 functions, one to
fetch the next token, and another to fetch the previous token. Those functions will usually
first skip whitespace and comments and then look at the next chunk of text to see if it is a
special token. If so it should skip the token and return a description of this token. Usually
this is simply the string extracted from the buffer, but it can be anything you want. For
example:
(defvar sample-keywords-regexp
(regexp-opt '("+" "*" "," ";" ">" ">=" "<" "<=" ":=" "=")))
(defun sample-smie-forward-token ()
(forward-comment (point-max))
(cond
((looking-at sample-keywords-regexp)
(goto-char (match-end 0))
(match-string-no-properties 0))
(t (buffer-substring-no-properties
(point)
(progn (skip-syntax-forward "w_")
(point))))))
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 504

(defun sample-smie-backward-token ()
(forward-comment (- (point)))
(cond
((looking-back sample-keywords-regexp (- (point) 2) t)
(goto-char (match-beginning 0))
(match-string-no-properties 0))
(t (buffer-substring-no-properties
(point)
(progn (skip-syntax-backward "w_")
(point))))))
Notice how those lexers return the empty string when in front of parentheses. This
is because SMIE automatically takes care of the parentheses defined in the syntax table.
More specifically if the lexer returns nil or an empty string, SMIE tries to handle the
corresponding text as a sexp according to syntax tables.

23.7.1.5 Living With a Weak Parser

The parsing technique used by SMIE does not allow tokens to behave differently in different
contexts. For most programming languages, this manifests itself by precedence conflicts
when converting the BNF grammar.
Sometimes, those conflicts can be worked around by expressing the grammar slightly
differently. For example, for Modula-2 it might seem natural to have a BNF grammar that
looks like this:
...
(inst ("IF" exp "THEN" insts "ELSE" insts "END")
("CASE" exp "OF" cases "END")
...)
(cases (cases "|" cases)
(caselabel ":" insts)
("ELSE" insts))
...
But this will create conflicts for "ELSE": on the one hand, the IF rule implies (among
many other things) that "ELSE" = "END"; but on the other hand, since "ELSE" appears
within cases, which appears left of "END", we also have "ELSE" > "END". We can solve the
conflict either by using:
...
(inst ("IF" exp "THEN" insts "ELSE" insts "END")
("CASE" exp "OF" cases "END")
("CASE" exp "OF" cases "ELSE" insts "END")
...)
(cases (cases "|" cases) (caselabel ":" insts))
...
or
...
(inst ("IF" exp "THEN" else "END")
("CASE" exp "OF" cases "END")
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 505

...)
(else (insts "ELSE" insts))
(cases (cases "|" cases) (caselabel ":" insts) (else))
...
Reworking the grammar to try and solve conflicts has its downsides, tho, because SMIE
assumes that the grammar reflects the logical structure of the code, so it is preferable to
keep the BNF closer to the intended abstract syntax tree.
Other times, after careful consideration you may conclude that those conflicts are not
serious and simply resolve them via the resolvers argument of smie-bnf->prec2. Usually
this is because the grammar is simply ambiguous: the conflict does not affect the set of
programs described by the grammar, but only the way those programs are parsed. This is
typically the case for separators and associative infix operators, where you want to add a
resolver like '((assoc "|")). Another case where this can happen is for the classic dangling
else problem, where you will use '((assoc "else" "then")). It can also happen for cases
where the conflict is real and cannot really be resolved, but it is unlikely to pose a problem
in practice.
Finally, in many cases some conflicts will remain despite all efforts to restructure the
grammar. Do not despair: while the parser cannot be made more clever, you can make
the lexer as smart as you want. So, the solution is then to look at the tokens involved
in the conflict and to split one of those tokens into 2 (or more) different tokens. E.g., if
the grammar needs to distinguish between two incompatible uses of the token "begin",
make the lexer return different tokens (say "begin-fun" and "begin-plain") depending
on which kind of "begin" it finds. This pushes the work of distinguishing the different cases
to the lexer, which will thus have to look at the surrounding text to find ad-hoc clues.

23.7.1.6 Specifying Indentation Rules

Based on the provided grammar, SMIE will be able to provide automatic indentation with-
out any extra effort. But in practice, this default indentation style will probably not be
good enough. You will want to tweak it in many different cases.
SMIE indentation is based on the idea that indentation rules should be as local as
possible. To this end, it relies on the idea of virtual indentation, which is the indentation
that a particular program point would have if it were at the beginning of a line. Of course, if
that program point is indeed at the beginning of a line, its virtual indentation is its current
indentation. But if not, then SMIE uses the indentation algorithm to compute the virtual
indentation of that point. Now in practice, the virtual indentation of a program point does
not have to be identical to the indentation it would have if we inserted a newline before it.
To see how this works, the SMIE rule for indentation after a { in C does not care whether
the { is standing on a line of its own or is at the end of the preceding line. Instead, these
different cases are handled in the indentation rule that decides how to indent before a {.
Another important concept is the notion of parent: The parent of a token, is the head
token of the nearest enclosing syntactic construct. For example, the parent of an else
is the if to which it belongs, and the parent of an if, in turn, is the lead token of the
surrounding construct. The command backward-sexp jumps from a token to its parent,
but there are some caveats: for openers (tokens which start a construct, like if), you need
to start with point before the token, while for others you need to start with point after the
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 506

token. backward-sexp stops with point before the parent token if that is the opener of the
token of interest, and otherwise it stops with point after the parent token.
SMIE indentation rules are specified using a function that takes two arguments method
and arg where the meaning of arg and the expected return value depend on method.
method can be:
• :after, in which case arg is a token and the function should return the offset to use
for indentation after arg.
• :before, in which case arg is a token and the function should return the offset to use
to indent arg itself.
• :elem, in which case the function should return either the offset to use to indent
function arguments (if arg is the symbol arg) or the basic indentation step (if arg is
the symbol basic).
• :list-intro, in which case arg is a token and the function should return non-nil if
the token is followed by a list of expressions (not separated by any token) rather than
an expression.
When arg is a token, the function is called with point just before that token. A return
value of nil always means to fallback on the default behavior, so the function should return
nil for arguments it does not expect.
offset can be:
• nil: use the default indentation rule.
• (column . column): indent to column column.
• number: offset by number, relative to a base token which is the current token for
:after and its parent for :before.

23.7.1.7 Helper Functions for Indentation Rules

SMIE provides various functions designed specifically for use in the indentation rules func-
tion (several of those functions break if used in another context). These functions all start
with the prefix smie-rule-.

smie-rule-bolp [Function]
Return non-nil if the current token is the first on the line.

smie-rule-hanging-p [Function]
Return non-nil if the current token is hanging. A token is hanging if it is the last
token on the line and if it is preceded by other tokens: a lone token on a line is not
hanging.

smie-rule-next-p &rest tokens [Function]

Return non-nil if the next token is among tokens.

smie-rule-prev-p &rest tokens [Function]

Return non-nil if the previous token is among tokens.

smie-rule-parent-p &rest parents [Function]

Return non-nil if the current token’s parent is among parents.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 507

smie-rule-sibling-p [Function]
Return non-nil if the current token’s parent is actually a sibling. This is the case for
example when the parent of a "," is just the previous ",".

smie-rule-parent &optional offset [Function]

Return the proper offset to align the current token with the parent. If non-nil, offset
should be an integer giving an additional offset to apply.

smie-rule-separator method [Function]

Indent current token as a separator.
By separator, we mean here a token whose sole purpose is to separate various elements
within some enclosing syntactic construct, and which does not have any semantic
significance in itself (i.e., it would typically not exist as a node in an abstract syntax
tree).
Such a token is expected to have an associative syntax and be closely tied to its
syntactic parent. Typical examples are "," in lists of arguments (enclosed inside
parentheses), or ";" in sequences of instructions (enclosed in a {...} or begin...end
block).
method should be the method name that was passed to smie-rules-function.

23.7.1.8 Sample Indentation Rules

Here is an example of an indentation function:
(defun sample-smie-rules (kind token)
(pcase (cons kind token)
(`(:elem . basic) sample-indent-basic)
(`(,_ . ",") (smie-rule-separator kind))
(`(:after . ":=") sample-indent-basic)
(`(:before . ,(or `"begin" `"(" `"{")))
(if (smie-rule-hanging-p) (smie-rule-parent)))
(`(:before . "if")
(and (not (smie-rule-bolp)) (smie-rule-prev-p "else")
(smie-rule-parent)))))
A few things to note:
• The first case indicates the basic indentation increment to use. If sample-indent-
basic is nil, then SMIE uses the global setting smie-indent-basic. The major mode
could have set smie-indent-basic buffer-locally instead, but that is discouraged.
• The rule for the token "," make SMIE try to be more clever when the comma separator
is placed at the beginning of lines. It tries to outdent the separator so as to align the
code after the comma; for example:
x = longfunctionname (
arg1
, arg2
);
• The rule for indentation after ":=" exists because otherwise SMIE would treat ":="
as an infix operator and would align the right argument with the left one.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 508

• The rule for indentation before "begin" is an example of the use of virtual indentation:
This rule is used only when "begin" is hanging, which can happen only when "begin"
is not at the beginning of a line. So this is not used when indenting "begin" itself but
only when indenting something relative to this "begin". Concretely, this rule changes
the indentation from:
if x > 0 then begin
dosomething(x);
end
to
if x > 0 then begin
dosomething(x);
end
• The rule for indentation before "if" is similar to the one for "begin", but where the
purpose is to treat "else if" as a single unit, so as to align a sequence of tests rather
than indent each test further to the right. This function does this only in the case
where the "if" is not placed on a separate line, hence the smie-rule-bolp test.
If we know that the "else" is always aligned with its "if" and is always at the
beginning of a line, we can use a more efficient rule:
((equal token "if")
(and (not (smie-rule-bolp))
(smie-rule-prev-p "else")
(save-excursion
(sample-smie-backward-token)
(cons 'column (current-column)))))
The advantage of this formulation is that it reuses the indentation of the previous
"else", rather than going all the way back to the first "if" of the sequence.

23.7.1.9 Customizing Indentation

If you are using a mode whose indentation is provided by SMIE, you can customize the
indentation to suit your preferences. You can do this on a per-mode basis (using the option
smie-config), or a per-file basis (using the function smie-config-local in a file-local
variable specification).

smie-config [User Option]

This option lets you customize indentation on a per-mode basis. It is an alist with
elements of the form (mode . rules). For the precise form of rules, see the variable’s
documentation; but you may find it easier to use the command smie-config-guess.

smie-config-guess [Command]
This command tries to work out appropriate settings to produce your preferred style
of indentation. Simply call the command while visiting a file that is indented with
your style.

smie-config-save [Command]
Call this command after using smie-config-guess, to save your settings for future
sessions.
Chapter 23: Major and Minor Modes 509

smie-config-show-indent &optional move [Command]

This command displays the rules that are used to indent the current line.

smie-config-set-indent [Command]
This command adds a local rule to adjust the indentation of the current line.

smie-config-local rules [Function]

This function adds rules as indentation rules for the current buffer. These add to any
mode-specific rules defined by the smie-config option. To specify custom indentation
rules for a specific file, add an entry to the file’s local variables of the form: eval:
(smie-config-local '(rules)).

23.8 Desktop Save Mode

Desktop Save Mode is a feature to save the state of Emacs from one session to another.
The user-level commands for using Desktop Save Mode are described in the GNU Emacs
Manual (see Section “Saving Emacs Sessions” in the GNU Emacs Manual). Modes whose
buffers visit a file, don’t have to do anything to use this feature.
For buffers not visiting a file to have their state saved, the major mode must bind the
buffer local variable desktop-save-buffer to a non-nil value.

desktop-save-buffer [Variable]
If this buffer-local variable is non-nil, the buffer will have its state saved in the
desktop file at desktop save. If the value is a function, it is called at desktop save
with argument desktop-dirname, and its value is saved in the desktop file along with
the state of the buffer for which it was called. When file names are returned as part
of the auxiliary information, they should be formatted using the call
(desktop-file-name file-name desktop-dirname)

For buffers not visiting a file to be restored, the major mode must define a function to
do the job, and that function must be listed in the alist desktop-buffer-mode-handlers.

desktop-buffer-mode-handlers [Variable]
Alist with elements
(major-mode . restore-buffer-function)
The function restore-buffer-function will be called with argument list
(buffer-file-name buffer-name desktop-buffer-misc)
and it should return the restored buffer. Here desktop-buffer-misc is the value re-
turned by the function optionally bound to desktop-save-buffer.
 510

24 Documentation
GNU Emacs has convenient built-in help facilities, most of which derive their information
from documentation strings associated with functions and variables. This chapter describes
how to access documentation strings in Lisp programs.
The contents of a documentation string should follow certain conventions. In particular,
its first line should be a complete sentence (or two complete sentences) that briefly describes
what the function or variable does. See Section D.6 [Documentation Tips], page 1148, for
how to write good documentation strings.
Note that the documentation strings for Emacs are not the same thing as the Emacs
manual. Manuals have their own source files, written in the Texinfo language; documenta-
tion strings are specified in the definitions of the functions and variables they apply to. A
collection of documentation strings is not sufficient as a manual because a good manual is
not organized in that fashion; it is organized in terms of topics of discussion.
For commands to display documentation strings, see Section “Help” in The GNU Emacs
Manual.

24.1 Documentation Basics

A documentation string is written using the Lisp syntax for strings, with double-quote
characters surrounding the text. It is, in fact, an actual Lisp string. When the string
appears in the proper place in a function or variable definition, it serves as the function’s
or variable’s documentation.
In a function definition (a lambda or defun form), the documentation string is spec-
ified after the argument list, and is normally stored directly in the function object. See
Section 13.2.4 [Function Documentation], page 208. You can also put function documen-
tation in the function-documentation property of a function name (see Section 24.2 [Ac-
cessing Documentation], page 511).
In a variable definition (a defvar form), the documentation string is specified after the
initial value. See Section 12.5 [Defining Variables], page 173. The string is stored in the
variable’s variable-documentation property.
Sometimes, Emacs does not keep documentation strings in memory. There are two such
circumstances. Firstly, to save memory, the documentation for preloaded functions and
variables (including primitives) is kept in a file named DOC, in the directory specified by
doc-directory (see Section 24.2 [Accessing Documentation], page 511). Secondly, when a
function or variable is loaded from a byte-compiled file, Emacs avoids loading its documen-
tation string (see Section 17.3 [Docs and Compilation], page 282). In both cases, Emacs
looks up the documentation string from the file only when needed, such as when the user
calls C-h f (describe-function) for a function.
Documentation strings can contain special key substitution sequences, referring to key
bindings which are looked up only when the user views the documentation. This allows
the help commands to display the correct keys even if a user rearranges the default key
bindings. See Section 24.3 [Keys in Documentation], page 513.
In the documentation string of an autoloaded command (see Section 16.5 [Autoload],
page 268), these key-substitution sequences have an additional special effect: they cause
Chapter 24: Documentation 511

C-h f on the command to trigger autoloading. (This is needed for correctly setting up the
hyperlinks in the *Help* buffer.)

24.2 Access to Documentation Strings

documentation-property symbol property &optional verbatim [Function]
This function returns the documentation string recorded in symbol’s property list
under property property. It is most often used to look up the documentation strings
of variables, for which property is variable-documentation. However, it can also
be used to look up other kinds of documentation, such as for customization groups
(but for function documentation, use the documentation function, below).
If the property value refers to a documentation string stored in the DOC file or a
byte-compiled file, this function looks up that string and returns it.
If the property value isn’t nil, isn’t a string, and doesn’t refer to text in a file, then
it is evaluated as a Lisp expression to obtain a string.
Finally, this function passes the string through substitute-command-keys to substi-
tute key bindings (see Section 24.3 [Keys in Documentation], page 513). It skips this
step if verbatim is non-nil.
(documentation-property 'command-line-processed
'variable-documentation)
⇒ "Non-nil once command line has been processed"
(symbol-plist 'command-line-processed)
⇒ (variable-documentation 188902)
(documentation-property 'emacs 'group-documentation)
⇒ "Customization of the One True Editor."

documentation function &optional verbatim [Function]

This function returns the documentation string of function. It handles macros, named
keyboard macros, and special forms, as well as ordinary functions.
If function is a symbol, this function first looks for the function-documentation
property of that symbol; if that has a non-nil value, the documentation comes from
that value (if the value is not a string, it is evaluated).
If function is not a symbol, or if it has no function-documentation property, then
documentation extracts the documentation string from the actual function definition,
reading it from a file if called for.
Finally, unless verbatim is non-nil, this function calls substitute-command-keys.
The result is the documentation string to return.
The documentation function signals a void-function error if function has no func-
tion definition. However, it is OK if the function definition has no documentation
string. In that case, documentation returns nil.

face-documentation face [Function]

This function returns the documentation string of face as a face.

Here is an example of using the two functions, documentation and

documentation-property, to display the documentation strings for several
symbols in a *Help* buffer.
Chapter 24: Documentation 512

(defun describe-symbols (pattern)

"Describe the Emacs Lisp symbols matching PATTERN.
All symbols that have PATTERN in their name are described
in the *Help* buffer."
(interactive "sDescribe symbols matching: ")
(let ((describe-func
(function
(lambda (s)
;; Print description of symbol.
(if (fboundp s) ; It is a function.
(princ
(format "%s\t%s\n%s\n\n" s
(if (commandp s)
(let ((keys (where-is-internal s)))
(if keys
(concat
"Keys: "
(mapconcat 'key-description
keys " "))
"Keys: none"))
"Function")
(or (documentation s)
"not documented"))))

(if (boundp s) ; It is a variable.

(princ
(format "%s\t%s\n%s\n\n" s
(if (custom-variable-p s)
"Option " "Variable")
(or (documentation-property
s 'variable-documentation)
"not documented")))))))
sym-list)

;; Build a list of symbols that match pattern.

(mapatoms (function
(lambda (sym)
(if (string-match pattern (symbol-name sym))
(setq sym-list (cons sym sym-list))))))

;; Display the data.

(help-setup-xref (list 'describe-symbols pattern) (interactive-p))
(with-help-window (help-buffer)
(mapcar describe-func (sort sym-list 'string<)))))

The describe-symbols function works like apropos, but provides more information.

(describe-symbols "goal")

---------- Buffer: *Help* ----------

goal-column Option
Semipermanent goal column for vertical motion, as set by ...

minibuffer-temporary-goal-position Variable
not documented

set-goal-column Keys: C-x C-n

Set the current horizontal position as a goal for C-n and C-p.
Chapter 24: Documentation 513

Those commands will move to this position in the line moved to

rather than trying to keep the same horizontal position.
With a non-nil argument ARG, clears out the goal column
so that C-n and C-p resume vertical motion.
The goal column is stored in the variable ‘goal-column’.

(fn ARG)

temporary-goal-column Variable
Current goal column for vertical motion.
It is the column where point was at the start of the current run
of vertical motion commands.

When moving by visual lines via the function ‘line-move-visual’, it is a cons

cell (COL . HSCROLL), where COL is the x-position, in pixels,
divided by the default column width, and HSCROLL is the number of
columns by which window is scrolled from left margin.

When the ‘track-eol’ feature is doing its job, the value is

‘most-positive-fixnum’.
---------- Buffer: *Help* ----------

Snarf-documentation filename [Function]

This function is used when building Emacs, just before the runnable Emacs is dumped.
It finds the positions of the documentation strings stored in the file filename, and
records those positions into memory in the function definitions and variable property
lists. See Section E.1 [Building Emacs], page 1156.
Emacs reads the file filename from the emacs/etc directory. When the dumped Emacs
is later executed, the same file will be looked for in the directory doc-directory.
Usually filename is "DOC".

doc-directory [Variable]
This variable holds the name of the directory which should contain the file "DOC" that
contains documentation strings for built-in and preloaded functions and variables.
In most cases, this is the same as data-directory. They may be different when you
run Emacs from the directory where you built it, without actually installing it. See
[Definition of data-directory], page 519.

24.3 Substituting Key Bindings in Documentation

When documentation strings refer to key sequences, they should use the current, actual key
bindings. They can do so using certain special text sequences described below. Accessing
documentation strings in the usual way substitutes current key binding information for
these special sequences. This works by calling substitute-command-keys. You can also
call that function yourself.
Here is a list of the special sequences and what they mean:

\[command]
stands for a key sequence that will invoke command, or ‘M-x command’ if com-
mand has no key bindings.
Chapter 24: Documentation 514

\{mapvar}
stands for a summary of the keymap which is the value of the variable mapvar.
The summary is made using describe-bindings.
\<mapvar>
stands for no text itself. It is used only for a side effect: it specifies mapvar’s
value as the keymap for any following ‘\[command]’ sequences in this documen-
tation string.
` (grave accent) stands for a left quote. This generates a left single
quotation mark, an apostrophe, or a grave accent depending on the value of
text-quoting-style. See Section 24.4 [Text Quoting Style], page 515.
' (apostrophe) stands for a right quote. This generates a right single quotation
mark or an apostrophe depending on the value of text-quoting-style.
\= quotes the following character and is discarded; thus, ‘\=`’ puts ‘`’ into the
output, ‘\=\[’ puts ‘\[’ into the output, and ‘\=\=’ puts ‘\=’ into the output.
Please note: Each ‘\’ must be doubled when written in a string in Emacs Lisp.

text-quoting-style [User Option]

The value of this variable is a symbol that specifies the style Emacs should use for
single quotes in the wording of help and messages. If the variable’s value is curve,
the style is ‘like this’ with curved single quotes. If the value is straight, the
style is ’like this’ with straight apostrophes. If the value is grave, quotes are
not translated and the style is ‘like this’ with grave accent and apostrophe, the
standard style before Emacs version 25. The default value nil acts like curve if
curved single quotes seem to be displayable, and like grave otherwise.
This option is useful on platforms that have problems with curved quotes. You can
customize it freely according to your personal preference.

substitute-command-keys string [Function]

This function scans string for the above special sequences and replaces them by what
they stand for, returning the result as a string. This permits display of documentation
that refers accurately to the user’s own customized key bindings.
If a command has multiple bindings, this function normally uses the first one it finds.
You can specify one particular key binding by assigning an :advertised-binding
symbol property to the command, like this:
(put 'undo :advertised-binding [?\C-/])
The :advertised-binding property also affects the binding shown in menu items
(see Section 22.17.5 [Menu Bar], page 446). The property is ignored if it specifies a
key binding that the command does not actually have.

Here are examples of the special sequences:

(substitute-command-keys
"To abort recursive edit, type `\\[abort-recursive-edit]'.")
⇒ "To abort recursive edit, type ‘C-]’."
Chapter 24: Documentation 515

(substitute-command-keys
"The keys that are defined for the minibuffer here are:
\\{minibuffer-local-must-match-map}")
⇒ "The keys that are defined for the minibuffer here are:

? minibuffer-completion-help
SPC minibuffer-complete-word
TAB minibuffer-complete
C-j minibuffer-complete-and-exit
RET minibuffer-complete-and-exit
C-g abort-recursive-edit
"

(substitute-command-keys
"To abort a recursive edit from the minibuffer, type \
`\\<minibuffer-local-must-match-map>\\[abort-recursive-edit]'.")
⇒ "To abort a recursive edit from the minibuffer, type ‘C-g’."

There are other special conventions for the text in documentation strings—for instance,
you can refer to functions, variables, and sections of this manual. See Section D.6 [Docu-
mentation Tips], page 1148, for details.

24.4 Text Quoting Style

Typically, grave accents and apostrophes are treated specially in documentation strings
and diagnostic messages, and translate to matching single quotation marks (also called
“curved quotes”). For example, the documentation string "Alias for ‘foo’." and the
function call (message "Alias for `foo'.") both translate to "Alias for ‘foo’.". Less
commonly, Emacs displays grave accents and apostrophes as themselves, or as apostrophes
only (e.g., "Alias for ’foo’."). Documentation strings and message formats should be
written so that they display well with any of these styles. For example, the documentation
string "Alias for ’foo’." is probably not what you want, as it can display as "Alias
for ’foo’.", an unusual style in English.
Sometimes you may need to display a grave accent or apostrophe without translation,
regardless of text quoting style. In a documentation string, you can do this with escapes. For
example, in the documentation string "\\=‘(a ,(sin 0)) ==> (a 0.0)" the grave accent
is intended to denote Lisp code, so it is escaped and displays as itself regardless of quoting
style. In a call to message or error, you can avoid translation by using a format "%s" with
an argument that is a call to format. For example, (message "%s" (format "`(a ,(sin
%S)) ==> (a %S)" x (sin x))) displays a message that starts with grave accent regardless
of text quoting style.

text-quoting-style [User Option]

The value of this user option is a symbol that specifies the style Emacs should use
for single quotes in the wording of help and messages. If the option’s value is curve,
the style is ‘like this’ with curved single quotes. If the value is straight, the
style is ’like this’ with straight apostrophes. If the value is grave, quotes are
not translated and the style is ‘like this’ with grave accent and apostrophe, the
standard style before Emacs version 25. The default value nil acts like curve if
curved single quotes seem to be displayable, and like grave otherwise.
Chapter 24: Documentation 516

This option is useful on platforms that have problems with curved quotes. You can
customize it freely according to your personal preference.

24.5 Describing Characters for Help Messages

These functions convert events, key sequences, or characters to textual descriptions. These
descriptions are useful for including arbitrary text characters or key sequences in messages,
because they convert non-printing and whitespace characters to sequences of printing char-
acters. The description of a non-whitespace printing character is the character itself.

key-description sequence &optional prefix [Function]

This function returns a string containing the Emacs standard notation for the input
events in sequence. If prefix is non-nil, it is a sequence of input events leading up to
sequence and is included in the return value. Both arguments may be strings, vectors
or lists. See Section 21.7 [Input Events], page 381, for more information about valid
events.
(key-description [?\M-3 delete])
⇒ "M-3 <delete>"
(key-description [delete] "\M-3")
⇒ "M-3 <delete>"
See also the examples for single-key-description, below.

single-key-description event &optional no-angles [Function]

This function returns a string describing event in the standard Emacs notation for
keyboard input. A normal printing character appears as itself, but a control character
turns into a string starting with ‘C-’, a meta character turns into a string starting
with ‘M-’, and space, tab, etc., appear as ‘SPC’, ‘TAB’, etc. A function key symbol
appears inside angle brackets ‘<...>’. An event that is a list appears as the name of
the symbol in the car of the list, inside angle brackets.
If the optional argument no-angles is non-nil, the angle brackets around function
keys and event symbols are omitted; this is for compatibility with old versions of
Emacs which didn’t use the brackets.
(single-key-description ?\C-x)
⇒ "C-x"
(key-description "\C-x \M-y \n \t \r \f123")
⇒ "C-x SPC M-y SPC C-j SPC TAB SPC RET SPC C-l 1 2 3"
(single-key-description 'delete)
⇒ "<delete>"
(single-key-description 'C-mouse-1)
⇒ "<C-mouse-1>"
(single-key-description 'C-mouse-1 t)
⇒ "C-mouse-1"

text-char-description character [Function]

This function returns a string describing character in the standard Emacs notation
for characters that can appear in text—similar to single-key-description, except
that the argument must be a valid character code that passes a characterp test (see
Section 33.5 [Character Codes], page 839). The function produces descriptions of
control characters with a leading caret (which is how Emacs usually displays control
Chapter 24: Documentation 517

characters in buffers). Characters with modifier bits will cause this function to sig-
nal an error (ASCII characters with the Control modifier are an exception, they are
represented as control characters).
(text-char-description ?\C-c)
⇒ "^C"
(text-char-description ?\M-m)
error Wrong type argument: characterp, 134217837

read-kbd-macro string &optional need-vector [Command]

This function is used mainly for operating on keyboard macros, but it can also be
used as a rough inverse for key-description. You call it with a string containing
key descriptions, separated by spaces; it returns a string or vector containing the
corresponding events. (This may or may not be a single valid key sequence, depending
on what events you use; see Section 22.1 [Key Sequences], page 415.) If need-vector
is non-nil, the return value is always a vector.

24.6 Help Functions

Emacs provides a variety of built-in help functions, all accessible to the user as subcommands
of the prefix C-h. For more information about them, see Section “Help” in The GNU Emacs
Manual. Here we describe some program-level interfaces to the same information.

apropos pattern &optional do-all [Command]

This function finds all meaningful symbols whose names contain a match for the
apropos pattern pattern. An apropos pattern is either a word to match, a space-
separated list of words of which at least two must match, or a regular expression (if
any special regular expression characters occur). A symbol is meaningful if it has a
definition as a function, variable, or face, or has properties.
The function returns a list of elements that look like this:
(symbol score function-doc variable-doc
plist-doc widget-doc face-doc group-doc)
Here, score is an integer measure of how important the symbol seems to be as a
match. Each of the remaining elements is a documentation string, or nil, for symbol
as a function, variable, etc.
It also displays the symbols in a buffer named *Apropos*, each with a one-line de-
scription taken from the beginning of its documentation string.
If do-all is non-nil, or if the user option apropos-do-all is non-nil, then apropos
also shows key bindings for the functions that are found; it also shows all interned
symbols, not just meaningful ones (and it lists them in the return value as well).

help-map [Variable]
The value of this variable is a local keymap for characters following the Help key, C-h.

help-command [Prefix Command]

This symbol is not a function; its function definition cell holds the keymap known as
help-map. It is defined in help.el as follows:
(define-key global-map (string help-char) 'help-command)
(fset 'help-command help-map)
Chapter 24: Documentation 518

help-char [User Option]

The value of this variable is the help character—the character that Emacs recognizes
as meaning Help. By default, its value is 8, which stands for C-h. When Emacs reads
this character, if help-form is a non-nil Lisp expression, it evaluates that expression,
and displays the result in a window if it is a string.
Usually the value of help-form is nil. Then the help character has no special meaning
at the level of command input, and it becomes part of a key sequence in the normal
way. The standard key binding of C-h is a prefix key for several general-purpose help
features.
The help character is special after prefix keys, too. If it has no binding as a subcom-
mand of the prefix key, it runs describe-prefix-bindings, which displays a list of
all the subcommands of the prefix key.

help-event-list [User Option]

The value of this variable is a list of event types that serve as alternative help char-
acters. These events are handled just like the event specified by help-char.

help-form [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, its value is a form to evaluate whenever the character
help-char is read. If evaluating the form produces a string, that string is displayed.
A command that calls read-event, read-char-choice, or read-char probably
should bind help-form to a non-nil expression while it does input. (The time
when you should not do this is when C-h has some other meaning.) Evaluating this
expression should result in a string that explains what the input is for and how to
enter it properly.
Entry to the minibuffer binds this variable to the value of minibuffer-help-form
(see [Definition of minibuffer-help-form], page 366).

prefix-help-command [Variable]
This variable holds a function to print help for a prefix key. The function is called
when the user types a prefix key followed by the help character, and the help character
has no binding after that prefix. The variable’s default value is describe-prefix-
bindings.

describe-prefix-bindings [Command]
This function calls describe-bindings to display a list of all the subcommands of
the prefix key of the most recent key sequence. The prefix described consists of all
but the last event of that key sequence. (The last event is, presumably, the help
character.)

The following two functions are meant for modes that want to provide help without
relinquishing control, such as the electric modes. Their names begin with ‘Helper’ to
distinguish them from the ordinary help functions.

Helper-describe-bindings [Command]
This command pops up a window displaying a help buffer containing a listing of all
of the key bindings from both the local and global keymaps. It works by calling
describe-bindings.
Chapter 24: Documentation 519

Helper-help [Command]
This command provides help for the current mode. It prompts the user in the mini-
buffer with the message ‘Help (Type ? for further options)’, and then provides
assistance in finding out what the key bindings are, and what the mode is intended
for. It returns nil.
This can be customized by changing the map Helper-help-map.

data-directory [Variable]
This variable holds the name of the directory in which Emacs finds certain documen-
tation and text files that come with Emacs.

help-buffer [Function]
This function returns the name of the help buffer, which is normally *Help*; if such
a buffer does not exist, it is first created.

with-help-window buffer-or-name body. . . [Macro]

This macro evaluates body like with-output-to-temp-buffer (see Section 39.8
[Temporary Displays], page 981), inserting any output produced by its forms into
a buffer specified by buffer-or-name, which can be a buffer or the name of a buffer.
(Frequently, buffer-or-name is the value returned by the function help-buffer.) This
macro puts the specified buffer into Help mode and displays a message telling the user
how to quit and scroll the help window. It selects the help window if the current value
of the user option help-window-select has been set accordingly. It returns the last
value in body.

help-setup-xref item interactive-p [Function]

This function updates the cross reference data in the *Help* buffer, which is used
to regenerate the help information when the user clicks on the ‘Back’ or ‘Forward’
buttons. Most commands that use the *Help* buffer should invoke this function
before clearing the buffer. The item argument should have the form (function .
args), where function is a function to call, with argument list args, to regenerate
the help buffer. The interactive-p argument is non-nil if the calling command was
invoked interactively; in that case, the stack of items for the *Help* buffer’s ‘Back’
buttons is cleared.

See [describe-symbols example], page 511, for an example of using help-buffer,

with-help-window, and help-setup-xref.

make-help-screen fname help-line help-text help-map [Macro]

This macro defines a help command named fname that acts like a prefix key that
shows a list of the subcommands it offers.
When invoked, fname displays help-text in a window, then reads and executes a key
sequence according to help-map. The string help-text should describe the bindings
available in help-map.
The command fname is defined to handle a few events itself, by scrolling the display
of help-text. When fname reads one of those special events, it does the scrolling and
then reads another event. When it reads an event that is not one of those few, and
which has a binding in help-map, it executes that key’s binding and then returns.
 520

The argument help-line should be a single-line summary of the alternatives in help-

map. In the current version of Emacs, this argument is used only if you set the option
three-step-help to t.
This macro is used in the command help-for-help which is the binding of C-h C-h.

three-step-help [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, commands defined with make-help-screen display their
help-line strings in the echo area at first, and display the longer help-text strings only
if the user types the help character again.
 521

25 Files
This chapter describes the Emacs Lisp functions and variables to find, create, view, save, and
otherwise work with files and directories. A few other file-related functions are described in
Chapter 27 [Buffers], page 581, and those related to backups and auto-saving are described
in Chapter 26 [Backups and Auto-Saving], page 569.
Many of the file functions take one or more arguments that are file names. A file
name is a string. Most of these functions expand file name arguments using the function
expand-file-name, so that ~ is handled correctly, as are relative file names (including ../
and the empty string). See Section 25.9.4 [File Name Expansion], page 550.
In addition, certain magic file names are handled specially. For example, when a remote
file name is specified, Emacs accesses the file over the network via an appropriate protocol.
See Section “Remote Files” in The GNU Emacs Manual. This handling is done at a very low
level, so you may assume that all the functions described in this chapter accept magic file
names as file name arguments, except where noted. See Section 25.12 [Magic File Names],
page 559, for details.
When file I/O functions signal Lisp errors, they usually use the condition file-error
(see Section 11.7.3.3 [Handling Errors], page 163). The error message is in most cases ob-
tained from the operating system, according to locale system-messages-locale, and de-
coded using coding system locale-coding-system (see Section 33.12 [Locales], page 863).

25.1 Visiting Files

Visiting a file means reading a file into a buffer. Once this is done, we say that the buffer
is visiting that file, and call the file the visited file of the buffer.
A file and a buffer are two different things. A file is information recorded permanently
in the computer (unless you delete it). A buffer, on the other hand, is information inside
of Emacs that will vanish at the end of the editing session (or when you kill the buffer).
When a buffer is visiting a file, it contains information copied from the file. The copy in
the buffer is what you modify with editing commands. Changes to the buffer do not change
the file; to make the changes permanent, you must save the buffer, which means copying
the altered buffer contents back into the file.
Despite the distinction between files and buffers, people often refer to a file when they
mean a buffer and vice-versa. Indeed, we say, “I am editing a file”, rather than, “I am
editing a buffer that I will soon save as a file of the same name”. Humans do not usually
need to make the distinction explicit. When dealing with a computer program, however, it
is good to keep the distinction in mind.

25.1.1 Functions for Visiting Files

This section describes the functions normally used to visit files. For historical reasons, these
functions have names starting with ‘find-’ rather than ‘visit-’. See Section 27.4 [Buffer
File Name], page 585, for functions and variables that access the visited file name of a buffer
or that find an existing buffer by its visited file name.
In a Lisp program, if you want to look at the contents of a file but not alter it, the
fastest way is to use insert-file-contents in a temporary buffer. Visiting the file is not
necessary and takes longer. See Section 25.3 [Reading from Files], page 527.
Chapter 25: Files 522

find-file filename &optional wildcards [Command]

This command selects a buffer visiting the file filename, using an existing buffer if
there is one, and otherwise creating a new buffer and reading the file into it. It also
returns that buffer.
Aside from some technical details, the body of the find-file function is basically
equivalent to:
(switch-to-buffer (find-file-noselect filename nil nil wildcards))
(See switch-to-buffer in Section 28.12 [Switching Buffers], page 628.)
If wildcards is non-nil, which is always true in an interactive call, then find-file
expands wildcard characters in filename and visits all the matching files.
When find-file is called interactively, it prompts for filename in the minibuffer.
find-file-literally filename [Command]
This command visits filename, like find-file does, but it does not perform any
format conversions (see Section 25.13 [Format Conversion], page 563), character code
conversions (see Section 33.10 [Coding Systems], page 848), or end-of-line conversions
(see Section 33.10.1 [Coding System Basics], page 848). The buffer visiting the file is
made unibyte, and its major mode is Fundamental mode, regardless of the file name.
File local variable specifications in the file (see Section 12.12 [File Local Variables],
page 191) are ignored, and automatic decompression and adding a newline at the
end of the file due to require-final-newline (see Section 25.2 [Saving Buffers],
page 525) are also disabled.
Note that if Emacs already has a buffer visiting the same file non-literally, it will not
visit the same file literally, but instead just switch to the existing buffer. If you want
to be sure of accessing a file’s contents literally, you should create a temporary buffer
and then read the file contents into it using insert-file-contents-literally (see
Section 25.3 [Reading from Files], page 527).
find-file-noselect filename &optional nowarn rawfile wildcards [Function]
This function is the guts of all the file-visiting functions. It returns a buffer visiting
the file filename. You may make the buffer current or display it in a window if you
wish, but this function does not do so.
The function returns an existing buffer if there is one; otherwise it creates a new buffer
and reads the file into it. When find-file-noselect uses an existing buffer, it first
verifies that the file has not changed since it was last visited or saved in that buffer.
If the file has changed, this function asks the user whether to reread the changed file.
If the user says ‘yes’, any edits previously made in the buffer are lost.
Reading the file involves decoding the file’s contents (see Section 33.10 [Coding
Systems], page 848), including end-of-line conversion, and format conversion (see
Section 25.13 [Format Conversion], page 563). If wildcards is non-nil, then
find-file-noselect expands wildcard characters in filename and visits all the
matching files.
This function displays warning or advisory messages in various peculiar cases, unless
the optional argument nowarn is non-nil. For example, if it needs to create a buffer,
and there is no file named filename, it displays the message ‘(New file)’ in the echo
area, and leaves the buffer empty.
Chapter 25: Files 523

The find-file-noselect function normally calls after-find-file after reading the

file (see Section 25.1.2 [Subroutines of Visiting], page 524). That function sets the
buffer major mode, parses local variables, warns the user if there exists an auto-save
file more recent than the file just visited, and finishes by running the functions in
find-file-hook.
If the optional argument rawfile is non-nil, then after-find-file is not called, and
the find-file-not-found-functions are not run in case of failure. What’s more, a
non-nil rawfile value suppresses coding system conversion and format conversion.
The find-file-noselect function usually returns the buffer that is visiting the file
filename. But, if wildcards are actually used and expanded, it returns a list of buffers
that are visiting the various files.
(find-file-noselect "/etc/fstab")
⇒ #<buffer fstab>

find-file-other-window filename &optional wildcards [Command]

This command selects a buffer visiting the file filename, but does so in a window other
than the selected window. It may use another existing window or split a window; see
Section 28.12 [Switching Buffers], page 628.
When this command is called interactively, it prompts for filename.

find-file-read-only filename &optional wildcards [Command]

This command selects a buffer visiting the file filename, like find-file, but it marks
the buffer as read-only. See Section 27.7 [Read Only Buffers], page 590, for related
functions and variables.
When this command is called interactively, it prompts for filename.

find-file-wildcards [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, then the various find-file commands check for wildcard
characters and visit all the files that match them (when invoked interactively or when
their wildcards argument is non-nil). If this option is nil, then the find-file com-
mands ignore their wildcards argument and never treat wildcard characters specially.

find-file-hook [User Option]

The value of this variable is a list of functions to be called after a file is visited. The
file’s local-variables specification (if any) will have been processed before the hooks
are run. The buffer visiting the file is current when the hook functions are run.
This variable is a normal hook. See Section 23.1 [Hooks], page 453.

find-file-not-found-functions [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of functions to be called when find-file or
find-file-noselect is passed a nonexistent file name. find-file-noselect calls
these functions as soon as it detects a nonexistent file. It calls them in the order of
the list, until one of them returns non-nil. buffer-file-name is already set up.
This is not a normal hook because the values of the functions are used, and in many
cases only some of the functions are called.
Chapter 25: Files 524

find-file-literally [Variable]
This buffer-local variable, if set to a non-nil value, makes save-buffer behave as
if the buffer were visiting its file literally, i.e., without conversions of any kind. The
command find-file-literally sets this variable’s local value, but other equivalent
functions and commands can do that as well, e.g., to avoid automatic addition of a
newline at the end of the file. This variable is permanent local, so it is unaffected by
changes of major modes.

25.1.2 Subroutines of Visiting

The find-file-noselect function uses two important subroutines which are sometimes
useful in user Lisp code: create-file-buffer and after-find-file. This section explains
how to use them.
create-file-buffer filename [Function]
This function creates a suitably named buffer for visiting filename, and returns it. It
uses filename (sans directory) as the name if that name is free; otherwise, it appends
a string such as ‘<2>’ to get an unused name. See also Section 27.9 [Creating Buffers],
page 593. Note that the uniquify library affects the result of this function. See
Section “Uniquify” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
Please note: create-file-buffer does not associate the new buffer with a file and
does not select the buffer. It also does not use the default major mode.
(create-file-buffer "foo")
⇒ #<buffer foo>
(create-file-buffer "foo")
⇒ #<buffer foo<2>>
(create-file-buffer "foo")
⇒ #<buffer foo<3>>
This function is used by find-file-noselect. It uses generate-new-buffer (see
Section 27.9 [Creating Buffers], page 593).
after-find-file &optional error warn noauto [Function]
after-find-file-from-revert-buffer nomodes
This function sets the buffer major mode, and parses local variables (see Section 23.2.2
[Auto Major Mode], page 459). It is called by find-file-noselect and by the default
revert function (see Section 26.3 [Reverting], page 577).
If reading the file got an error because the file does not exist, but its directory does
exist, the caller should pass a non-nil value for error. In that case, after-find-file
issues a warning: ‘(New file)’. For more serious errors, the caller should usually not
call after-find-file.
If warn is non-nil, then this function issues a warning if an auto-save file exists and
is more recent than the visited file.
If noauto is non-nil, that says not to enable or disable Auto-Save mode. The mode
remains enabled if it was enabled before.
If after-find-file-from-revert-buffer is non-nil, that means this call was from
revert-buffer. This has no direct effect, but some mode functions and hook
functions check the value of this variable.
Chapter 25: Files 525

If nomodes is non-nil, that means don’t alter the buffer’s major mode, don’t process
local variables specifications in the file, and don’t run find-file-hook. This feature
is used by revert-buffer in some cases.
The last thing after-find-file does is call all the functions in the list find-file-
hook.

25.2 Saving Buffers

When you edit a file in Emacs, you are actually working on a buffer that is visiting that
file—that is, the contents of the file are copied into the buffer and the copy is what you
edit. Changes to the buffer do not change the file until you save the buffer, which means
copying the contents of the buffer into the file. Buffers which are not visiting a file can
still be “saved”, in a sense, using functions in the buffer-local write-contents-functions
hook.
save-buffer &optional backup-option [Command]
This function saves the contents of the current buffer in its visited file if the buffer
has been modified since it was last visited or saved. Otherwise it does nothing.
save-buffer is responsible for making backup files. Normally, backup-option is nil,
and save-buffer makes a backup file only if this is the first save since visiting the
file. Other values for backup-option request the making of backup files in other
circumstances:
• With an argument of 4 or 64, reflecting 1 or 3 C-u’s, the save-buffer function
marks this version of the file to be backed up when the buffer is next saved.
• With an argument of 16 or 64, reflecting 2 or 3 C-u’s, the save-buffer function
unconditionally backs up the previous version of the file before saving it.
• With an argument of 0, unconditionally do not make any backup file.
save-some-buffers &optional save-silently-p pred [Command]
This command saves some modified file-visiting buffers. Normally it asks the user
about each buffer. But if save-silently-p is non-nil, it saves all the file-visiting buffers
without querying the user.
The optional pred argument provides a predicate that controls which buffers to ask
about (or to save silently if save-silently-p is non-nil). If pred is nil, that means
to use the value of save-some-buffers-default-predicate instead of pred. If the
result is nil, it means ask only about file-visiting buffers. If it is t, that means also
offer to save certain other non-file buffers—those that have a non-nil buffer-local
value of buffer-offer-save (see Section 27.10 [Killing Buffers], page 594). A user
who says ‘yes’ to saving a non-file buffer is asked to specify the file name to use. The
save-buffers-kill-emacs function passes the value t for pred.
If the predicate is neither t nor nil, then it should be a function of no arguments.
It will be called in each buffer to decide whether to offer to save that buffer. If it
returns a non-nil value in a certain buffer, that means do offer to save that buffer.
write-file filename &optional confirm [Command]
This function writes the current buffer into file filename, makes the buffer visit that
file, and marks it not modified. Then it renames the buffer based on filename, ap-
pending a string like ‘<2>’ if necessary to make a unique buffer name. It does most
Chapter 25: Files 526

of this work by calling set-visited-file-name (see Section 27.4 [Buffer File Name],
page 585) and save-buffer.
If confirm is non-nil, that means to ask for confirmation before overwriting an existing
file. Interactively, confirmation is required, unless the user supplies a prefix argument.
If filename is a directory name (see Section 25.9.3 [Directory Names], page 549),
write-file uses the name of the visited file, in directory filename. If the buffer is
not visiting a file, it uses the buffer name instead.

Saving a buffer runs several hooks. It also performs format conversion (see Section 25.13
[Format Conversion], page 563). Note that these hooks, described below, are only run by
save-buffer, they are not run by other primitives and functions that write buffer text to
files, and in particular auto-saving (see Section 26.2 [Auto-Saving], page 574) doesn’t run
these hooks.

write-file-functions [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of functions to be called before writing out a buffer
to its visited file. If one of them returns non-nil, the file is considered already written
and the rest of the functions are not called, nor is the usual code for writing the file
executed.
If a function in write-file-functions returns non-nil, it is responsible for making
a backup file (if that is appropriate). To do so, execute the following code:
(or buffer-backed-up (backup-buffer))
You might wish to save the file modes value returned by backup-buffer and use that
(if non-nil) to set the mode bits of the file that you write. This is what save-buffer
normally does. See Section 26.1.1 [Making Backup Files], page 569.
The hook functions in write-file-functions are also responsible for encoding the
data (if desired): they must choose a suitable coding system and end-of-line conversion
(see Section 33.10.3 [Lisp and Coding Systems], page 851), perform the encoding (see
Section 33.10.7 [Explicit Encoding], page 859), and set last-coding-system-used to
the coding system that was used (see Section 33.10.2 [Encoding and I/O], page 850).
If you set this hook locally in a buffer, it is assumed to be associated with the file or
the way the contents of the buffer were obtained. Thus the variable is marked as a
permanent local, so that changing the major mode does not alter a buffer-local value.
On the other hand, calling set-visited-file-name will reset it. If this is not what
you want, you might like to use write-contents-functions instead.
Even though this is not a normal hook, you can use add-hook and remove-hook to
manipulate the list. See Section 23.1 [Hooks], page 453.

write-contents-functions [Variable]
This works just like write-file-functions, but it is intended for hooks that pertain
to the buffer’s contents, not to the particular visited file or its location, and can be
used to create arbitrary save processes for buffers that aren’t visiting files at all. Such
hooks are usually set up by major modes, as buffer-local bindings for this variable.
This variable automatically becomes buffer-local whenever it is set; switching to a
new major mode always resets this variable, but calling set-visited-file-name
does not.
Chapter 25: Files 527

If any of the functions in this hook returns non-nil, the file is considered already
written and the rest are not called and neither are the functions in write-file-
functions.
When using this hook to save buffers that are not visiting files (for instance, special-
mode buffers), keep in mind that, if the function fails to save correctly and returns a
nil value, save-buffer will go on to prompt the user for a file to save the buffer in.
If this is undesirable, consider having the function fail by raising an error.

before-save-hook [User Option]

This normal hook runs before a buffer is saved in its visited file, regardless of whether
that is done normally or by one of the hooks described above. For instance, the
copyright.el program uses this hook to make sure the file you are saving has the
current year in its copyright notice.

after-save-hook [User Option]

This normal hook runs after a buffer has been saved in its visited file. One use of this
hook is in Fast Lock mode; it uses this hook to save the highlighting information in
a cache file.

file-precious-flag [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, then save-buffer protects against I/O errors while saving
by writing the new file to a temporary name instead of the name it is supposed to
have, and then renaming it to the intended name after it is clear there are no errors.
This procedure prevents problems such as a lack of disk space from resulting in an
invalid file.
As a side effect, backups are necessarily made by copying. See Section 26.1.2 [Rename
or Copy], page 571. Yet, at the same time, saving a precious file always breaks all
hard links between the file you save and other file names.
Some modes give this variable a non-nil buffer-local value in particular buffers.

require-final-newline [User Option]

This variable determines whether files may be written out that do not end with a
newline. If the value of the variable is t, then save-buffer silently adds a newline at
the end of the buffer whenever it does not already end in one. If the value is visit,
Emacs adds a missing newline just after it visits the file. If the value is visit-save,
Emacs adds a missing newline both on visiting and on saving. For any other non-nil
value, save-buffer asks the user whether to add a newline each time the case arises.
If the value of the variable is nil, then save-buffer doesn’t add newlines at all. nil
is the default value, but a few major modes set it to t in particular buffers.

See also the function set-visited-file-name (see Section 27.4 [Buffer File Name],
page 585).

25.3 Reading from Files

To copy the contents of a file into a buffer, use the function insert-file-contents. (Don’t
use the command insert-file in a Lisp program, as that sets the mark.)
Chapter 25: Files 528

insert-file-contents filename &optional visit beg end replace [Function]

This function inserts the contents of file filename into the current buffer after point.
It returns a list of the absolute file name and the length of the data inserted. An
error is signaled if filename is not the name of a file that can be read.
This function checks the file contents against the defined file formats, and converts
the file contents if appropriate and also calls the functions in the list after-insert-
file-functions. See Section 25.13 [Format Conversion], page 563. Normally, one
of the functions in the after-insert-file-functions list determines the coding
system (see Section 33.10 [Coding Systems], page 848) used for decoding the file’s
contents, including end-of-line conversion. However, if the file contains null bytes,
it is by default visited without any code conversions. See Section 33.10.3 [Lisp and
Coding Systems], page 851.
If visit is non-nil, this function additionally marks the buffer as unmodified and sets
up various fields in the buffer so that it is visiting the file filename: these include
the buffer’s visited file name and its last save file modtime. This feature is used by
find-file-noselect and you probably should not use it yourself.
If beg and end are non-nil, they should be numbers that are byte offsets specifying
the portion of the file to insert. In this case, visit must be nil. For example,
(insert-file-contents filename nil 0 500)
inserts the first 500 characters of a file.
If the argument replace is non-nil, it means to replace the contents of the buffer
(actually, just the accessible portion) with the contents of the file. This is better
than simply deleting the buffer contents and inserting the whole file, because (1) it
preserves some marker positions and (2) it puts less data in the undo list.
It is possible to read a special file (such as a FIFO or an I/O device) with
insert-file-contents, as long as replace and visit are nil.

insert-file-contents-literally filename &optional visit beg end [Function]

replace
This function works like insert-file-contents except that it does not run
after-insert-file-functions, and does not do format decoding, character code
conversion, automatic uncompression, and so on.

If you want to pass a file name to another process so that another program can read the
file, use the function file-local-copy; see Section 25.12 [Magic File Names], page 559.

25.4 Writing to Files

You can write the contents of a buffer, or part of a buffer, directly to a file on disk using
the append-to-file and write-region functions. Don’t use these functions to write to
files that are being visited; that could cause confusion in the mechanisms for visiting.

append-to-file start end filename [Command]

This function appends the contents of the region delimited by start and end in the
current buffer to the end of file filename. If that file does not exist, it is created. This
function returns nil.
Chapter 25: Files 529

An error is signaled if filename specifies a nonwritable file, or a nonexistent file in a

directory where files cannot be created.
When called from Lisp, this function is completely equivalent to:
(write-region start end filename t)
write-region start end filename &optional append visit lockname [Command]
mustbenew
This function writes the region delimited by start and end in the current buffer into
the file specified by filename.
If start is nil, then the command writes the entire buffer contents (not just the
accessible portion) to the file and ignores end.
If start is a string, then write-region writes or appends that string, rather than text
from the buffer. end is ignored in this case.
If append is non-nil, then the specified text is appended to the existing file contents
(if any). If append is a number, write-region seeks to that byte offset from the
start of the file and writes the data from there.
If mustbenew is non-nil, then write-region asks for confirmation if filename names
an existing file. If mustbenew is the symbol excl, then write-region does not
ask for confirmation, but instead it signals an error file-already-exists if the file
already exists. Although write-region normally follows a symbolic link and creates
the pointed-to file if the symbolic link is dangling, it does not follow symbolic links if
mustbenew is excl.
The test for an existing file, when mustbenew is excl, uses a special system feature.
At least for files on a local disk, there is no chance that some other program could
create a file of the same name before Emacs does, without Emacs’s noticing.
If visit is t, then Emacs establishes an association between the buffer and the file:
the buffer is then visiting that file. It also sets the last file modification time for the
current buffer to filename’s modtime, and marks the buffer as not modified. This
feature is used by save-buffer, but you probably should not use it yourself.
If visit is a string, it specifies the file name to visit. This way, you can write the data
to one file (filename) while recording the buffer as visiting another file (visit). The
argument visit is used in the echo area message and also for file locking; visit is stored
in buffer-file-name. This feature is used to implement file-precious-flag; don’t
use it yourself unless you really know what you’re doing.
The optional argument lockname, if non-nil, specifies the file name to use for purposes
of locking and unlocking, overriding filename and visit for that purpose.
The function write-region converts the data which it writes to the appropriate
file formats specified by buffer-file-format and also calls the functions in the
list write-region-annotate-functions. See Section 25.13 [Format Conversion],
page 563.
Normally, write-region displays the message ‘Wrote filename’ in the echo area.
This message is inhibited if visit is neither t nor nil nor a string, or if Emacs is
operating in batch mode (see Section 40.17 [Batch Mode], page 1101). This feature
is useful for programs that use files for internal purposes, files that the user does not
need to know about.
Chapter 25: Files 530

write-region-inhibit-fsync [Variable]
If this variable’s value is nil, write-region uses the fsync system call after writing
a file. Although this slows Emacs down, it lessens the risk of data loss after power
failure. If the value is t, Emacs does not use fsync. The default value is nil when
Emacs is interactive, and t when Emacs runs in batch mode. See Section 25.8 [Files
and Storage], page 545.
with-temp-file file body. . . [Macro]
The with-temp-file macro evaluates the body forms with a temporary buffer as
the current buffer; then, at the end, it writes the buffer contents into file file. It kills
the temporary buffer when finished, restoring the buffer that was current before the
with-temp-file form. Then it returns the value of the last form in body.
The current buffer is restored even in case of an abnormal exit via throw or error (see
Section 11.7 [Nonlocal Exits], page 158).
See also with-temp-buffer in [The Current Buffer], page 583.

25.5 File Locks

When two users edit the same file at the same time, they are likely to interfere with each
other. Emacs tries to prevent this situation from arising by recording a file lock when a
file is being modified. Emacs can then detect the first attempt to modify a buffer visiting
a file that is locked by another Emacs job, and ask the user what to do. The file lock is
really a file, a symbolic link with a special name, stored in the same directory as the file
you are editing. The name is constructed by prepending .# to the filename of the buffer.
The target of the symbolic link will be of the form user@host.pid:boot, where user is
replaced with the current username (from user-login-name), host with the name of the
host where Emacs is running (from system-name), pid with Emacs’s process id, and boot
with the time since the last reboot. :boot is omitted if the boot time is unavailable. (On
file systems that do not support symbolic links, a regular file is used instead, with contents
of the form user@host.pid:boot.)
When you access files using NFS, there may be a small probability that you and another
user will both lock the same file simultaneously. If this happens, it is possible for the two
users to make changes simultaneously, but Emacs will still warn the user who saves second.
Also, the detection of modification of a buffer visiting a file changed on disk catches some
cases of simultaneous editing; see Section 27.6 [Modification Time], page 588.
file-locked-p filename [Function]
This function returns nil if the file filename is not locked. It returns t if it is locked
by this Emacs process, and it returns the name of the user who has locked it if it is
locked by some other job.
(file-locked-p "foo")
⇒ nil
lock-buffer &optional filename [Function]
This function locks the file filename, if the current buffer is modified. The argument
filename defaults to the current buffer’s visited file. Nothing is done if the current
buffer is not visiting a file, or is not modified, or if the option create-lockfiles is
nil.
Chapter 25: Files 531

unlock-buffer [Function]
This function unlocks the file being visited in the current buffer, if the buffer is
modified. If the buffer is not modified, then the file should not be locked, so this
function does nothing. It also does nothing if the current buffer is not visiting a file,
or is not locked.

create-lockfiles [User Option]

If this variable is nil, Emacs does not lock files.

ask-user-about-lock file other-user [Function]

This function is called when the user tries to modify file, but it is locked by another
user named other-user. The default definition of this function asks the user to say
what to do. The value this function returns determines what Emacs does next:
• A value of t says to grab the lock on the file. Then this user may edit the file
and other-user loses the lock.
• A value of nil says to ignore the lock and let this user edit the file anyway.
• This function may instead signal a file-locked error, in which case the change
that the user was about to make does not take place.
The error message for this error looks like this:
error File is locked: file other-user
where file is the name of the file and other-user is the name of the user who
has locked the file.
If you wish, you can replace the ask-user-about-lock function with your own version
that makes the decision in another way.

25.6 Information about Files

This section describes the functions for retrieving various types of information about files
(or directories or symbolic links), such as whether a file is readable or writable, and its
size. These functions all take arguments which are file names. Except where noted, these
arguments need to specify existing files, or an error is signaled.
Be careful with file names that end in spaces. On some filesystems (notably, MS-
Windows), trailing whitespace characters in file names are silently and automatically ig-
nored.

25.6.1 Testing Accessibility

These functions test for permission to access a file for reading, writing, or execution. Unless
explicitly stated otherwise, they follow symbolic links. See Section 25.6.2 [Kinds of Files],
page 533.
On some operating systems, more complex sets of access permissions can be specified, via
mechanisms such as Access Control Lists (ACLs). See Section 25.6.5 [Extended Attributes],
page 539, for how to query and set those permissions.

file-exists-p filename [Function]

This function returns t if a file named filename appears to exist. This does not
mean you can necessarily read the file, only that you can find out its attributes.
Chapter 25: Files 532

(On GNU and other POSIX-like systems, this is true if the file exists and you have
execute permission on the containing directories, regardless of the permissions of the
file itself.)
If the file does not exist, or if access control policies prevent you from finding its
attributes, this function returns nil.
Directories are files, so file-exists-p can return t when given a directory. However,
because file-exists-p follows symbolic links, it returns t for a symbolic link name
only if the target file exists.
file-readable-p filename [Function]
This function returns t if a file named filename exists and you can read it. It returns
nil otherwise.
file-executable-p filename [Function]
This function returns t if a file named filename exists and you can execute it. It re-
turns nil otherwise. On GNU and other POSIX-like systems, if the file is a directory,
execute permission means you can check the existence and attributes of files inside
the directory, and open those files if their modes permit.
file-writable-p filename [Function]
This function returns t if the file filename can be written or created by you, and nil
otherwise. A file is writable if the file exists and you can write it. It is creatable
if it does not exist, but the specified directory does exist and you can write in that
directory.
In the example below, foo is not writable because the parent directory does not exist,
even though the user could create such a directory.
(file-writable-p "~/no-such-dir/foo")
⇒ nil
file-accessible-directory-p dirname [Function]
This function returns t if you have permission to open existing files in the directory
whose name as a file is dirname; otherwise (or if there is no such directory), it returns
nil. The value of dirname may be either a directory name (such as /foo/) or the
file name of a file which is a directory (such as /foo, without the final slash).
For example, from the following we deduce that any attempt to read a file in /foo/
will give an error:
(file-accessible-directory-p "/foo")
⇒ nil
access-file filename string [Function]
This function opens file filename for reading, then closes it and returns nil. However,
if the open fails, it signals an error using string as the error message text.
file-ownership-preserved-p filename &optional group [Function]
This function returns t if deleting the file filename and then creating it anew would
keep the file’s owner unchanged. It also returns t for nonexistent files.
If the optional argument group is non-nil, this function also checks that the file’s
group would be unchanged.
This function does not follow symbolic links.
Chapter 25: Files 533

file-modes filename [Function]

This function returns the mode bits of filename—an integer summarizing its read,
write, and execution permissions. This function follows symbolic links. If the file
does not exist, the return value is nil.
See Section “File permissions” in The gnu Coreutils Manual, for a description of
mode bits. For example, if the low-order bit is 1, the file is executable by all users;
if the second-lowest-order bit is 1, the file is writable by all users; etc. The highest
possible value is 4095 (7777 octal), meaning that everyone has read, write, and execute
permission, the SUID bit is set for both others and group, and the sticky bit is set.
See Section 25.7 [Changing Files], page 541, for the set-file-modes function, which
can be used to set these permissions.
(file-modes "~/junk/diffs")
⇒ 492 ; Decimal integer.
(format "%o" 492)
⇒ "754" ; Convert to octal.

(set-file-modes "~/junk/diffs" #o666)

⇒ nil

$ ls -l diffs
-rw-rw-rw- 1 lewis lewis 3063 Oct 30 16:00 diffs
MS-DOS note: On MS-DOS, there is no such thing as an executable file mode bit.
So file-modes considers a file executable if its name ends in one of the standard
executable extensions, such as .com, .bat, .exe, and some others. Files that begin
with the POSIX-standard ‘#!’ signature, such as shell and Perl scripts, are also con-
sidered executable. Directories are also reported as executable, for compatibility with
POSIX. These conventions are also followed by file-attributes (see Section 25.6.4
[File Attributes], page 536).

25.6.2 Distinguishing Kinds of Files

This section describes how to distinguish various kinds of files, such as directories, symbolic
links, and ordinary files.
Symbolic links are ordinarily followed wherever they appear. For example, to interpret
the file name a/b/c, any of a, a/b, and a/b/c can be symbolic links that are followed, pos-
sibly recursively if the link targets are themselves symbolic links. However, a few functions
do not follow symbolic links at the end of a file name (a/b/c in this example). Such a
function is said to not follow symbolic links.

file-symlink-p filename [Function]

If the file filename is a symbolic link, this function does not follow it and instead
returns its link target as a string. (The link target string is not necessarily the full
absolute file name of the target; determining the full file name that the link points to
is nontrivial, see below.)
If the file filename is not a symbolic link, or does not exist, file-symlink-p returns
nil.
Chapter 25: Files 534

Here are a few examples of using this function:

(file-symlink-p "not-a-symlink")
⇒ nil
(file-symlink-p "sym-link")
⇒ "not-a-symlink"
(file-symlink-p "sym-link2")
⇒ "sym-link"
(file-symlink-p "/bin")
⇒ "/pub/bin"
Note that in the third example, the function returned sym-link, but did not proceed
to resolve it, although that file is itself a symbolic link. That is because this function
does not follow symbolic links—the process of following the symbolic links does not
apply to the last component of the file name.
The string that this function returns is what is recorded in the symbolic link; it may
or may not include any leading directories. This function does not expand the link
target to produce a fully-qualified file name, and in particular does not use the leading
directories, if any, of the filename argument if the link target is not an absolute file
name. Here’s an example:
(file-symlink-p "/foo/bar/baz")
⇒ "some-file"
Here, although /foo/bar/baz was given as a fully-qualified file name, the result is
not, and in fact does not have any leading directories at all. And since some-file
might itself be a symbolic link, you cannot simply prepend leading directories to it,
nor even naively use expand-file-name (see Section 25.9.4 [File Name Expansion],
page 550) to produce its absolute file name.
For this reason, this function is seldom useful if you need to determine more than just
the fact that a file is or isn’t a symbolic link. If you actually need the file name of the
link target, use file-chase-links or file-truename, described in Section 25.6.3
[Truenames], page 535.

file-directory-p filename [Function]

This function returns t if filename is the name of an existing directory, nil otherwise.
This function follows symbolic links.
(file-directory-p "~rms")
⇒ t
(file-directory-p "~rms/lewis/files.texi")
⇒ nil
(file-directory-p "~rms/lewis/no-such-file")
⇒ nil
(file-directory-p "$HOME")
⇒ nil
(file-directory-p
(substitute-in-file-name "$HOME"))
⇒ t
Chapter 25: Files 535

file-regular-p filename [Function]

This function returns t if the file filename exists and is a regular file (not a directory,
named pipe, terminal, or other I/O device). This function follows symbolic links.

25.6.3 Truenames
The truename of a file is the name that you get by following symbolic links at all levels until
none remain, then simplifying away ‘.’ and ‘..’ appearing as name components. This results
in a sort of canonical name for the file. A file does not always have a unique truename;
the number of distinct truenames a file has is equal to the number of hard links to the file.
However, truenames are useful because they eliminate symbolic links as a cause of name
variation.

file-truename filename [Function]

This function returns the truename of the file filename. If the argument is not an
absolute file name, this function first expands it against default-directory.
This function does not expand environment variables. Only substitute-in-file-
name does that. See [Definition of substitute-in-file-name], page 551.
If you may need to follow symbolic links preceding ‘..’ appearing as a name com-
ponent, call file-truename without prior direct or indirect calls to expand-file-
name. Otherwise, the file name component immediately preceding ‘..’ will be sim-
plified away before file-truename is called. To eliminate the need for a call to
expand-file-name, file-truename handles ‘~’ in the same way that expand-file-
name does.
If the target of a symbolic links has remote file name syntax, file-truename returns
it quoted. See Section 25.9.4 [Functions that Expand Filenames], page 550.

file-chase-links filename &optional limit [Function]

This function follows symbolic links, starting with filename, until it finds a file name
which is not the name of a symbolic link. Then it returns that file name. This function
does not follow symbolic links at the level of parent directories.
If you specify a number for limit, then after chasing through that many links, the
function just returns what it has even if that is still a symbolic link.

To illustrate the difference between file-chase-links and file-truename, suppose

that /usr/foo is a symbolic link to the directory /home/foo, and /home/foo/hello is an
ordinary file (or at least, not a symbolic link) or nonexistent. Then we would have:
(file-chase-links "/usr/foo/hello")
;; This does not follow the links in the parent directories.
⇒ "/usr/foo/hello"
(file-truename "/usr/foo/hello")
;; Assuming that /home is not a symbolic link.
⇒ "/home/foo/hello"

file-equal-p file1 file2 [Function]

This function returns t if the files file1 and file2 name the same file. This is similar
to comparing their truenames, except that remote file names are also handled in an
appropriate manner. If file1 or file2 does not exist, the return value is unspecified.
Chapter 25: Files 536

file-name-case-insensitive-p filename [Function]

Sometimes file names or their parts need to be compared as strings, in which case
it’s important to know whether the underlying filesystem is case-insensitive. This
function returns t if file filename is on a case-insensitive filesystem. It always returns
t on MS-DOS and MS-Windows. On Cygwin and macOS, filesystems may or may not
be case-insensitive, and the function tries to determine case-sensitivity by a runtime
test. If the test is inconclusive, the function returns t on Cygwin and nil on macOS.
Currently this function always returns nil on platforms other than MS-DOS, MS-
Windows, Cygwin, and macOS. It does not detect case-insensitivity of mounted
filesystems, such as Samba shares or NFS-mounted Windows volumes. On remote
hosts, it assumes t for the ‘smb’ method. For all other connection methods, runtime
tests are performed.

file-in-directory-p file dir [Function]

This function returns t if file is a file in directory dir, or in a subdirectory of dir. It
also returns t if file and dir are the same directory. It compares the truenames of the
two directories. If dir does not name an existing directory, the return value is nil.

vc-responsible-backend file [Function]

This function determines the responsible VC backend of the given file. For example,
if emacs.c is a file tracked by Git, (vc-responsible-backend "emacs.c") returns
‘Git’. Note that if file is a symbolic link, vc-responsible-backend will not resolve
it—the backend of the symbolic link file itself is reported. To get the backend VC of
the file to which file refers, wrap file with a symbolic link resolving function such as
file-chase-links:
(vc-responsible-backend (file-chase-links "emacs.c"))

25.6.4 File Attributes

This section describes the functions for getting detailed information about a file, including
the owner and group numbers, the number of names, the inode number, the size, and the
times of access and modification.

file-newer-than-file-p filename1 filename2 [Function]

This function returns t if the file filename1 is newer than file filename2. If filename1
does not exist, it returns nil. If filename1 does exist, but filename2 does not, it
returns t.
In the following example, assume that the file aug-19 was written on the 19th, aug-20
was written on the 20th, and the file no-file doesn’t exist at all.
(file-newer-than-file-p "aug-19" "aug-20")
⇒ nil
(file-newer-than-file-p "aug-20" "aug-19")
⇒ t
(file-newer-than-file-p "aug-19" "no-file")
⇒ t
(file-newer-than-file-p "no-file" "aug-19")
⇒ nil
Chapter 25: Files 537

file-attributes filename &optional id-format [Function]

This function returns a list of attributes of file filename. If the specified file’s attributes
cannot be accessed, it returns nil. This function does not follow symbolic links. The
optional parameter id-format specifies the preferred format of attributes UID and GID
(see below)—the valid values are 'string and 'integer. The latter is the default,
but we plan to change that, so you should specify a non-nil value for id-format if
you use the returned UID or GID.
On GNU platforms when operating on a local file, this function is atomic: if the
filesystem is simultaneously being changed by some other process, this function re-
turns the file’s attributes either before or after the change. Otherwise this function is
not atomic, and might return nil if it detects the race condition, or might return a
hodgepodge of the previous and current file attributes.
Accessor functions are provided to access the elements in this list. The accessors are
mentioned along with the descriptions of the elements below.
The elements of the list, in order, are:
0. t for a directory, a string for a symbolic link (the name linked to), or nil for a
text file (file-attribute-type).
1. The number of names the file has (file-attribute-link-number). Alternate
names, also known as hard links, can be created by using the add-name-to-file
function (see Section 25.7 [Changing Files], page 541).
2. The file’s UID, normally as a string (file-attribute-user-id). However, if it
does not correspond to a named user, the value is a number.
3. The file’s GID, likewise (file-attribute-group-id).
4. The time of last access, as a list of four integers (sec-high sec-low microsec
picosec) (file-attribute-access-time). (This is similar to the value of
current-time; see Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086.) The value is trun-
cated to that of the filesystem’s timestamp resolution; for example, on some
FAT-based filesystems, only the date of last access is recorded, so this time will
always hold the midnight of the day of the last access.
5. The time of last modification as a list of four integers (as above)
(file-attribute-modification-time). This is the last time when the file’s
contents were modified.
6. The time of last status change as a list of four integers (as above)
(file-attribute-status-change-time). This is the time of the last change to
the file’s access mode bits, its owner and group, and other information recorded
in the filesystem for the file, beyond the file’s contents.
7. The size of the file in bytes (file-attribute-size). This is floating point if the
size is too large to fit in a Lisp integer.
8. The file’s modes, as a string of ten letters or dashes, as in ‘ls -l’
(file-attribute-modes).
9. An unspecified value, present for backward compatibility.
10. The file’s inode number (file-attribute-inode-number). If possible, this is an
integer. If the inode number is too large to be represented as an integer in Emacs
Lisp but dividing it by 216 yields a representable integer, then the value has the
Chapter 25: Files 538

form (high . low), where low holds the low 16 bits. If the inode number is too
wide for even that, the value is of the form (high middle . low), where high
holds the high bits, middle the middle 24 bits, and low the low 16 bits.
11. The filesystem number of the device that the file is on file-attribute-device-
number). Depending on the magnitude of the value, this can be either an integer
or a cons cell, in the same manner as the inode number. This element and the
file’s inode number together give enough information to distinguish any two files
on the system—no two files can have the same values for both of these numbers.
For example, here are the file attributes for files.texi:
(file-attributes "files.texi" 'string)
⇒ (nil 1 "lh" "users"
(20614 64019 50040 152000)
(20000 23 0 0)
(20614 64555 902289 872000)
122295 "-rw-rw-rw-"
t (5888 2 . 43978)
(15479 . 46724))
and here is how the result is interpreted:
nil is neither a directory nor a symbolic link.
1 has only one name (the name files.texi in the current default direc-
tory).
"lh" is owned by the user with name ‘lh’.
"users" is in the group with name ‘users’.
(20614 64019 50040 152000)
was last accessed on October 23, 2012, at 20:12:03.050040152 UTC.
(20000 23 0 0)
was last modified on July 15, 2001, at 08:53:43 UTC.
(20614 64555 902289 872000)
last had its status changed on October 23, 2012, at 20:20:59.902289872
UTC.
122295 is 122295 bytes long. (It may not contain 122295 characters, though, if
some of the bytes belong to multibyte sequences, and also if the end-of-
line format is CR-LF.)
"-rw-rw-rw-"
has a mode of read and write access for the owner, group, and world.
t is merely a placeholder; it carries no information.
(5888 2 . 43978)
has an inode number of 6473924464520138.
(15479 . 46724)
is on the file-system device whose number is 1014478468.
Chapter 25: Files 539

file-nlinks filename [Function]

This function returns the number of names (i.e., hard links) that file filename has. If
the file does not exist, this function returns nil. Note that symbolic links have no
effect on this function, because they are not considered to be names of the files they
link to. This function does not follow symbolic links.
$ ls -l foo*
-rw-rw-rw- 2 rms rms 4 Aug 19 01:27 foo
-rw-rw-rw- 2 rms rms 4 Aug 19 01:27 foo1

(file-nlinks "foo")
⇒ 2
(file-nlinks "doesnt-exist")
⇒ nil

25.6.5 Extended File Attributes

On some operating systems, each file can be associated with arbitrary extended file at-
tributes. At present, Emacs supports querying and setting two specific sets of extended
file attributes: Access Control Lists (ACLs) and SELinux contexts. These extended file
attributes are used, on some systems, to impose more sophisticated file access controls than
the basic Unix-style permissions discussed in the previous sections.
A detailed explanation of ACLs and SELinux is beyond the scope of this manual. For
our purposes, each file can be associated with an ACL, which specifies its properties under
an ACL-based file control system, and/or an SELinux context, which specifies its properties
under the SELinux system.
file-acl filename [Function]
This function returns the ACL for the file filename. The exact Lisp representation of
the ACL is unspecified (and may change in future Emacs versions), but it is the same
as what set-file-acl takes for its acl argument (see Section 25.7 [Changing Files],
page 541).
The underlying ACL implementation is platform-specific; on GNU/Linux and BSD,
Emacs uses the POSIX ACL interface, while on MS-Windows Emacs emulates the
POSIX ACL interface with native file security APIs.
If Emacs was not compiled with ACL support, or the file does not exist or is inacces-
sible, or Emacs was unable to determine the ACL entries for any other reason, then
the return value is nil.
file-selinux-context filename [Function]
This function returns the SELinux context of the file filename, as a list of the form
(user role type range). The list elements are the context’s user, role, type, and
range respectively, as Lisp strings; see the SELinux documentation for details about
what these actually mean. The return value has the same form as what set-file-
selinux-context takes for its context argument (see Section 25.7 [Changing Files],
page 541).
If Emacs was not compiled with SELinux support, or the file does not exist or is
inaccessible, or if the system does not support SELinux, then the return value is (nil
nil nil nil).
Chapter 25: Files 540

file-extended-attributes filename [Function]

This function returns an alist of the Emacs-recognized extended attributes of file
filename. Currently, it serves as a convenient way to retrieve both the ACL and
SELinux context; you can then call the function set-file-extended-attributes,
with the returned alist as its second argument, to apply the same file access attributes
to another file (see Section 25.7 [Changing Files], page 541).
One of the elements is (acl . acl), where acl has the same form returned by
file-acl.
Another element is (selinux-context . context), where context is the SELinux
context, in the same form returned by file-selinux-context.

25.6.6 Locating Files in Standard Places

This section explains how to search for a file in a list of directories (a path), or for an
executable file in the standard list of executable file directories.
To search for a user-specific configuration file, See Section 25.9.7 [Standard File Names],
page 556, for the locate-user-emacs-file function.

locate-file filename path &optional suffixes predicate [Function]

This function searches for a file whose name is filename in a list of directories given by
path, trying the suffixes in suffixes. If it finds such a file, it returns the file’s absolute
file name (see Section 25.9.2 [Relative File Names], page 548); otherwise it returns
nil.
The optional argument suffixes gives the list of file-name suffixes to append to filename
when searching. locate-file tries each possible directory with each of these suffixes.
If suffixes is nil, or (""), then there are no suffixes, and filename is used only as-is.
Typical values of suffixes are exec-suffixes (see Section 38.1 [Subprocess Creation],
page 919), load-suffixes, load-file-rep-suffixes and the return value of the
function get-load-suffixes (see Section 16.2 [Load Suffixes], page 265).
Typical values for path are exec-path (see Section 38.1 [Subprocess Creation],
page 919) when looking for executable programs, or load-path (see Section 16.3
[Library Search], page 266) when looking for Lisp files. If filename is absolute, path
has no effect, but the suffixes in suffixes are still tried.
The optional argument predicate, if non-nil, specifies a predicate function for test-
ing whether a candidate file is suitable. The predicate is passed the candidate file
name as its single argument. If predicate is nil or omitted, locate-file uses
file-readable-p as the predicate. See Section 25.6.2 [Kinds of Files], page 533,
for other useful predicates, e.g., file-executable-p and file-directory-p.
This function will normally skip directories, so if you want it to find directories, make
sure the predicate function returns dir-ok for them. For example:
(locate-file "html" '("/var/www" "/srv") nil
(lambda (f) (if (file-directory-p f) 'dir-ok)))
For compatibility, predicate can also be one of the symbols executable, readable,
writable, exists, or a list of one or more of these symbols.
Chapter 25: Files 541

executable-find program [Function]

This function searches for the executable file of the named program and returns the
absolute file name of the executable, including its file-name extensions, if any. It
returns nil if the file is not found. The functions searches in all the directories in
exec-path, and tries all the file-name extensions in exec-suffixes (see Section 38.1
[Subprocess Creation], page 919).

25.7 Changing File Names and Attributes

The functions in this section rename, copy, delete, link, and set the modes (permissions)
of files. Typically, they signal a file-error error if they fail to perform their function,
reporting the system-dependent error message that describes the reason for the failure. If
they fail because a file is missing, they signal a file-missing error instead.
For performance, the operating system may cache or alias changes made by these func-
tions instead of writing them immediately to secondary storage. See Section 25.8 [Files and
Storage], page 545.
In the functions that have an argument newname, if this argument is a directory name
it is treated as if the nondirectory part of the source name were appended. Typically, a
directory name is one that ends in ‘/’ (see Section 25.9.3 [Directory Names], page 549). For
example, if the old name is a/b/c, the newname d/e/f/ is treated as if it were d/e/f/c.
This special treatment does not apply if newname is not a directory name but names a file
that is a directory; for example, the newname d/e/f is left as-is even if d/e/f happens to
be a directory.
In the functions that have an argument newname, if a file by the name of newname
already exists, the actions taken depend on the value of the argument ok-if-already-exists:
• Signal a file-already-exists error if ok-if-already-exists is nil.
• Request confirmation if ok-if-already-exists is a number.
• Replace the old file without confirmation if ok-if-already-exists is any other value.

add-name-to-file oldname newname &optional ok-if-already-exists [Command]

This function gives the file named oldname the additional name newname. This
means that newname becomes a new hard link to oldname.
If newname is a symbolic link, its directory entry is replaced, not the directory entry
it points to. If oldname is a symbolic link, this function might or might not follow
the link; it does not follow the link on GNU platforms. If oldname is a directory, this
function typically fails, although for the superuser on a few old-fashioned non-GNU
platforms it can succeed and create a filesystem that is not tree-structured.
In the first part of the following example, we list two files, foo and foo3.
$ ls -li fo*
81908 -rw-rw-rw- 1 rms rms 29 Aug 18 20:32 foo
84302 -rw-rw-rw- 1 rms rms 24 Aug 18 20:31 foo3
Now we create a hard link, by calling add-name-to-file, then list the files again.
This shows two names for one file, foo and foo2.
(add-name-to-file "foo" "foo2")
⇒ nil
Chapter 25: Files 542

$ ls -li fo*
81908 -rw-rw-rw- 2 rms rms 29 Aug 18 20:32 foo
81908 -rw-rw-rw- 2 rms rms 29 Aug 18 20:32 foo2
84302 -rw-rw-rw- 1 rms rms 24 Aug 18 20:31 foo3
Finally, we evaluate the following:
(add-name-to-file "foo" "foo3" t)
and list the files again. Now there are three names for one file: foo, foo2, and foo3.
The old contents of foo3 are lost.
(add-name-to-file "foo1" "foo3")
⇒ nil

$ ls -li fo*
81908 -rw-rw-rw- 3 rms rms 29 Aug 18 20:32 foo
81908 -rw-rw-rw- 3 rms rms 29 Aug 18 20:32 foo2
81908 -rw-rw-rw- 3 rms rms 29 Aug 18 20:32 foo3
This function is meaningless on operating systems where multiple names for one file
are not allowed. Some systems implement multiple names by copying the file instead.
See also file-nlinks in Section 25.6.4 [File Attributes], page 536.

rename-file filename newname &optional ok-if-already-exists [Command]

This command renames the file filename as newname.
If filename has additional names aside from filename, it continues to have those names.
In fact, adding the name newname with add-name-to-file and then deleting file-
name has the same effect as renaming, aside from momentary intermediate states and
treatment of errors, directories and symbolic links.
This command does not follow symbolic links. If filename is a symbolic link, this
command renames the symbolic link, not the file it points to. If newname is a symbolic
link, its directory entry is replaced, not the directory entry it points to.
This command does nothing if filename and newname are the same directory entry,
i.e., if they refer to the same parent directory and give the same name within that
directory. Otherwise, if filename and newname name the same file, this command does
nothing on POSIX-conforming systems, and removes filename on some non-POSIX
systems.
If newname exists, then it must be an empty directory if oldname is a directory and
a non-directory otherwise.

copy-file oldname newname &optional ok-if-already-exists time [Command]

preserve-uid-gid preserve-extended-attributes
This command copies the file oldname to newname. An error is signaled if oldname is
not a regular file. If newname names a directory, it copies oldname into that directory,
preserving its final name component.
This function follows symbolic links, except that it does not follow a dangling symbolic
link to create newname.
Chapter 25: Files 543

If time is non-nil, then this function gives the new file the same last-modified time
that the old one has. (This works on only some operating systems.) If setting the
time gets an error, copy-file signals a file-date-error error. In an interactive
call, a prefix argument specifies a non-nil value for time.
If argument preserve-uid-gid is nil, we let the operating system decide the user and
group ownership of the new file (this is usually set to the user running Emacs). If
preserve-uid-gid is non-nil, we attempt to copy the user and group ownership of the
file. This works only on some operating systems, and only if you have the correct
permissions to do so.
If the optional argument preserve-permissions is non-nil, this function copies the file
modes (or “permissions”) of oldname to newname, as well as the Access Control List
and SELinux context (if any). See Section 25.6 [Information about Files], page 531.
Otherwise, the file modes of newname are left unchanged if it is an existing file, and
set to those of oldname, masked by the default file permissions (see set-default-
file-modes below), if newname is to be newly created. The Access Control List or
SELinux context are not copied over in either case.

make-symbolic-link target linkname &optional ok-if-already-exists [Command]

This command makes a symbolic link to target, named linkname. This is like the
shell command ‘ln -s target linkname’. The target argument is treated only as a
string; it need not name an existing file. If ok-if-already-exists is an integer, indicating
interactive use, then leading ‘~’ is expanded and leading ‘/:’ is stripped in the target
string.
If target is a relative file name, the resulting symbolic link is interpreted relative to
the directory containing the symbolic link. See Section 25.9.2 [Relative File Names],
page 548.
If both target and linkname have remote file name syntax, and if both remote iden-
tifications are equal, the symbolic link points to the local file name part of target.
This function is not available on systems that don’t support symbolic links.

delete-file filename &optional trash [Command]

This command deletes the file filename. If the file has multiple names, it continues
to exist under the other names. If filename is a symbolic link, delete-file deletes
only the symbolic link and not its target.
A suitable kind of file-error error is signaled if the file does not exist, or is not
deletable. (On GNU and other POSIX-like systems, a file is deletable if its directory
is writable.)
If the optional argument trash is non-nil and the variable delete-by-moving-to-
trash is non-nil, this command moves the file into the system Trash instead of
deleting it. See Section “Miscellaneous File Operations” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
When called interactively, trash is t if no prefix argument is given, and nil otherwise.
See also delete-directory in Section 25.11 [Create/Delete Dirs], page 558.

set-file-modes filename mode [Command]

This function sets the file mode (or permissions) of filename to mode. This function
follows symbolic links.
Chapter 25: Files 544

If called non-interactively, mode must be an integer. Only the lowest 12 bits of the
integer are used; on most systems, only the lowest 9 bits are meaningful. You can use
the Lisp construct for octal numbers to enter mode. For example,
(set-file-modes #o644)
specifies that the file should be readable and writable for its owner, readable for group
members, and readable for all other users. See Section “File permissions” in The gnu
Coreutils Manual, for a description of mode bit specifications.
Interactively, mode is read from the minibuffer using read-file-modes (see below),
which lets the user type in either an integer or a string representing the permissions
symbolically.
See Section 25.6.4 [File Attributes], page 536, for the function file-modes, which
returns the permissions of a file.

set-default-file-modes mode [Function]

This function sets the default permissions for new files created by Emacs and its
subprocesses. Every file created with Emacs initially has these permissions, or a
subset of them (write-region will not grant execute permissions even if the default
file permissions allow execution). On GNU and other POSIX-like systems, the default
permissions are given by the bitwise complement of the ‘umask’ value, i.e. each bit
that is set in the argument mode will be reset in the default permissions with which
Emacs creates files.
The argument mode should be an integer which specifies the permissions, similar to
set-file-modes above. Only the lowest 9 bits are meaningful.
The default file permissions have no effect when you save a modified version of an
existing file; saving a file preserves its existing permissions.

with-file-modes mode body. . . [Macro]

This macro evaluates the body forms with the default permissions for new files tem-
porarily set to modes (whose value is as for set-file-modes above). When finished,
it restores the original default file permissions, and returns the value of the last form
in body.
This is useful for creating private files, for example.

default-file-modes [Function]
This function returns the default file permissions, as an integer.

read-file-modes &optional prompt base-file [Function]

This function reads a set of file mode bits from the minibuffer. The first optional
argument prompt specifies a non-default prompt. Second second optional argument
base-file is the name of a file on whose permissions to base the mode bits that this
function returns, if what the user types specifies mode bits relative to permissions of
an existing file.
If user input represents an octal number, this function returns that number. If it is a
complete symbolic specification of mode bits, as in "u=rwx", the function converts it
to the equivalent numeric value using file-modes-symbolic-to-number and returns
the result. If the specification is relative, as in "o+g", then the permissions on which
Chapter 25: Files 545

the specification is based are taken from the mode bits of base-file. If base-file is
omitted or nil, the function uses 0 as the base mode bits. The complete and relative
specifications can be combined, as in "u+r,g+rx,o+r,g-w". See Section “File permis-
sions” in The gnu Coreutils Manual, for a description of file mode specifications.
file-modes-symbolic-to-number modes &optional base-modes [Function]
This function converts a symbolic file mode specification in modes into the equivalent
integer. If the symbolic specification is based on an existing file, that file’s mode bits
are taken from the optional argument base-modes; if that argument is omitted or nil,
it defaults to 0, i.e., no access rights at all.
set-file-times filename &optional time [Function]
This function sets the access and modification times of filename to time. The return
value is t if the times are successfully set, otherwise it is nil. time defaults to the
current time and must be a time value (see Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086).
set-file-extended-attributes filename attribute-alist [Function]
This function sets the Emacs-recognized extended file attributes for filename. The
second argument attribute-alist should be an alist of the same form returned by
file-extended-attributes. The return value is t if the attributes are successfully
set, otherwise it is nil. See Section 25.6.5 [Extended Attributes], page 539.
set-file-selinux-context filename context [Function]
This function sets the SELinux security context for filename to context. The context
argument should be a list (user role type range), where each element is a string.
See Section 25.6.5 [Extended Attributes], page 539.
The function returns t if it succeeds in setting the SELinux context of filename. It
returns nil if the context was not set (e.g., if SELinux is disabled, or if Emacs was
compiled without SELinux support).
set-file-acl filename acl [Function]
This function sets the Access Control List for filename to acl. The acl argument
should have the same form returned by the function file-acl. See Section 25.6.5
[Extended Attributes], page 539.
The function returns t if it successfully sets the ACL of filename, nil otherwise.

25.8 Files and Secondary Storage

After Emacs changes a file, there are two reasons the changes might not survive later failures
of power or media, both having to do with efficiency. First, the operating system might
alias written data with data already stored elsewhere on secondary storage until one file or
the other is later modified; this will lose both files if the only copy on secondary storage is
lost due to media failure. Second, the operating system might not write data to secondary
storage immediately, which will lose the data if power is lost.
Although both sorts of failures can largely be avoided by a suitably configured file system,
such systems are typically more expensive or less efficient. In more-typical systems, to
survive media failure you can copy the file to a different device, and to survive a power
failure you can use the write-region function with the write-region-inhibit-fsync
variable set to nil. See Section 25.4 [Writing to Files], page 528.
Chapter 25: Files 546

25.9 File Names

Files are generally referred to by their names, in Emacs as elsewhere. File names in Emacs
are represented as strings. The functions that operate on a file all expect a file name
argument.
In addition to operating on files themselves, Emacs Lisp programs often need to operate
on file names; i.e., to take them apart and to use part of a name to construct related file
names. This section describes how to manipulate file names.
The functions in this section do not actually access files, so they can operate on file
names that do not refer to an existing file or directory.
On MS-DOS and MS-Windows, these functions (like the function that actually operate
on files) accept MS-DOS or MS-Windows file-name syntax, where backslashes separate the
components, as well as POSIX syntax; but they always return POSIX syntax. This enables
Lisp programs to specify file names in POSIX syntax and work properly on all systems
without change.1

25.9.1 File Name Components

The operating system groups files into directories. To specify a file, you must specify the
directory and the file’s name within that directory. Therefore, Emacs considers a file name
as having two main parts: the directory name part, and the nondirectory part (or file name
within the directory). Either part may be empty. Concatenating these two parts reproduces
the original file name.
On most systems, the directory part is everything up to and including the last slash
(backslash is also allowed in input on MS-DOS or MS-Windows); the nondirectory part is
the rest.
For some purposes, the nondirectory part is further subdivided into the name proper
and the version number. On most systems, only backup files have version numbers in their
names.
file-name-directory filename [Function]
This function returns the directory part of filename, as a directory name (see
Section 25.9.3 [Directory Names], page 549), or nil if filename does not include a
directory part.
On GNU and other POSIX-like systems, a string returned by this function always
ends in a slash. On MS-DOS it can also end in a colon.
(file-name-directory "lewis/foo") ; GNU example
⇒ "lewis/"
(file-name-directory "foo") ; GNU example
⇒ nil
file-name-nondirectory filename [Function]
This function returns the nondirectory part of filename.
(file-name-nondirectory "lewis/foo")
⇒ "foo"
1
In MS-Windows versions of Emacs compiled for the Cygwin environment, you can use the functions
cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows and cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows to convert be-
tween the two file-name syntaxes.
Chapter 25: Files 547

(file-name-nondirectory "foo")
⇒ "foo"
(file-name-nondirectory "lewis/")
⇒ ""

file-name-sans-versions filename &optional keep-backup-version [Function]

This function returns filename with any file version numbers, backup version numbers,
or trailing tildes discarded.
If keep-backup-version is non-nil, then true file version numbers understood as such
by the file system are discarded from the return value, but backup version numbers
are kept.
(file-name-sans-versions "~rms/foo.~1~")
⇒ "~rms/foo"
(file-name-sans-versions "~rms/foo~")
⇒ "~rms/foo"
(file-name-sans-versions "~rms/foo")
⇒ "~rms/foo"

file-name-extension filename &optional period [Function]

This function returns filename’s final extension, if any, after applying file-name-
sans-versions to remove any version/backup part. The extension, in a file name,
is the part that follows the last ‘.’ in the last name component (minus any ver-
sion/backup part).
This function returns nil for extensionless file names such as foo. It returns "" for
null extensions, as in foo.. If the last component of a file name begins with a ‘.’,
that ‘.’ doesn’t count as the beginning of an extension. Thus, .emacs’s extension is
nil, not ‘.emacs’.
If period is non-nil, then the returned value includes the period that delimits the
extension, and if filename has no extension, the value is "".

file-name-sans-extension filename [Function]

This function returns filename minus its extension, if any. The version/backup part,
if present, is only removed if the file has an extension. For example,
(file-name-sans-extension "foo.lose.c")
⇒ "foo.lose"
(file-name-sans-extension "big.hack/foo")
⇒ "big.hack/foo"
(file-name-sans-extension "/my/home/.emacs")
⇒ "/my/home/.emacs"
(file-name-sans-extension "/my/home/.emacs.el")
⇒ "/my/home/.emacs"
(file-name-sans-extension "~/foo.el.~3~")
⇒ "~/foo"
(file-name-sans-extension "~/foo.~3~")
⇒ "~/foo.~3~"
Note that the ‘.~3~’ in the two last examples is the backup part, not an extension.
Chapter 25: Files 548

file-name-base &optional filename [Function]

This function is the composition of file-name-sans-extension and file-name-
nondirectory. For example,
(file-name-base "/my/home/foo.c")
⇒ "foo"
The filename argument defaults to buffer-file-name.

25.9.2 Absolute and Relative File Names

All the directories in the file system form a tree starting at the root directory. A file name
can specify all the directory names starting from the root of the tree; then it is called an
absolute file name. Or it can specify the position of the file in the tree relative to a default
directory; then it is called a relative file name. On GNU and other POSIX-like systems, after
any leading ‘~’ has been expanded, an absolute file name starts with a ‘/’ (see [abbreviate-
file-name], page 550), and a relative one does not. On MS-DOS and MS-Windows, an
absolute file name starts with a slash or a backslash, or with a drive specification ‘x:/’,
where x is the drive letter.

file-name-absolute-p filename [Function]

This function returns t if file filename is an absolute file name or begins with ‘~’, nil
otherwise.
(file-name-absolute-p "~rms/foo")
⇒ t
(file-name-absolute-p "rms/foo")
⇒ nil
(file-name-absolute-p "/user/rms/foo")
⇒ t

Given a possibly relative file name, you can expand any leading ‘~’ and convert the result
to an absolute name using expand-file-name (see Section 25.9.4 [File Name Expansion],
page 550). This function converts absolute file names to relative names:

file-relative-name filename &optional directory [Function]

This function tries to return a relative name that is equivalent to filename, assuming
the result will be interpreted relative to directory (an absolute directory name or
directory file name). If directory is omitted or nil, it defaults to the current buffer’s
default directory.
On some operating systems, an absolute file name begins with a device name. On
such systems, filename has no relative equivalent based on directory if they start with
two different device names. In this case, file-relative-name returns filename in
absolute form.
(file-relative-name "/foo/bar" "/foo/")
⇒ "bar"
(file-relative-name "/foo/bar" "/hack/")
⇒ "../foo/bar"
Chapter 25: Files 549

25.9.3 Directory Names

A directory name is a string that must name a directory if it names any file at all. A
directory is actually a kind of file, and it has a file name (called the directory file name,
which is related to the directory name but is typically not identical. (This is not quite the
same as the usual POSIX terminology.) These two names for the same entity are related
by a syntactic transformation. On GNU and other POSIX-like systems, this is simple: to
obtain a directory name, append a ‘/’ to a directory file name that does not already end in
‘/’. On MS-DOS the relationship is more complicated.
The difference between a directory name and a directory file name is subtle but crucial.
When an Emacs variable or function argument is described as being a directory name, a
directory file name is not acceptable. When file-name-directory returns a string, that
is always a directory name.
The following two functions convert between directory names and directory file names.
They do nothing special with environment variable substitutions such as ‘$HOME’, and the
constructs ‘~’, ‘.’ and ‘..’.
file-name-as-directory filename [Function]
This function returns a string representing filename in a form that the operating
system will interpret as the name of a directory (a directory name). On most systems,
this means appending a slash to the string (if it does not already end in one).
(file-name-as-directory "~rms/lewis")
⇒ "~rms/lewis/"
directory-name-p filename [Function]
This function returns non-nil if filename ends with a directory separator character.
This is the forward slash ‘/’ on GNU and other POSIX-like systems; MS-Windows
and MS-DOS recognize both the forward slash and the backslash ‘\’ as directory
separators.
directory-file-name dirname [Function]
This function returns a string representing dirname in a form that the operating
system will interpret as the name of a file (a directory file name). On most systems,
this means removing the final directory separators from the string, unless the string
consists entirely of directory separators.
(directory-file-name "~lewis/")
⇒ "~lewis"
Given a directory name, you can combine it with a relative file name using concat:
(concat dirname relfile)
Be sure to verify that the file name is relative before doing that. If you use an absolute file
name, the results could be syntactically invalid or refer to the wrong file.
If you want to use a directory file name in making such a combination, you must first
convert it to a directory name using file-name-as-directory:
(concat (file-name-as-directory dirfile) relfile)
Don’t try concatenating a slash by hand, as in
;;; Wrong!
Chapter 25: Files 550

(concat dirfile "/" relfile)

because this is not portable. Always use file-name-as-directory.
To avoid the issues mentioned above, or if the dirname value might be nil (for example,
from an element of load-path), use:
(expand-file-name relfile dirname)
However, expand-file-name expands leading ‘~’ in relfile, which may not be what you
want. See Section 25.9.4 [File Name Expansion], page 550.
To convert a directory name to its abbreviation, use this function:
abbreviate-file-name filename [Function]
This function returns an abbreviated form of filename. It applies the abbreviations
specified in directory-abbrev-alist (see Section “File Aliases” in The GNU Emacs
Manual), then substitutes ‘~’ for the user’s home directory if the argument names a
file in the home directory or one of its subdirectories. If the home directory is a root
directory, it is not replaced with ‘~’, because this does not make the result shorter on
many systems.
You can use this function for directory names and for file names, because it recognizes
abbreviations even as part of the name.

25.9.4 Functions that Expand Filenames

Expanding a file name means converting a relative file name to an absolute one. Since this
is done relative to a default directory, you must specify the default directory as well as the
file name to be expanded. It also involves expanding abbreviations like ~/ and eliminating
redundancies like ./ and name/../.
expand-file-name filename &optional directory [Function]
This function converts filename to an absolute file name. If directory is supplied,
it is the default directory to start with if filename is relative and does not start
with ‘~’. (The value of directory should itself be an absolute directory name or
directory file name; it may start with ‘~’.) Otherwise, the current buffer’s value of
default-directory is used. For example:
(expand-file-name "foo")
⇒ "/xcssun/users/rms/lewis/foo"
(expand-file-name "../foo")
⇒ "/xcssun/users/rms/foo"
(expand-file-name "foo" "/usr/spool/")
⇒ "/usr/spool/foo"
If the part of filename before the first slash is ‘~’, it expands to the value of the HOME
environment variable (usually your home directory). If the part before the first slash
is ‘~user’ and if user is a valid login name, it expands to user’s home directory. If you
do not want this expansion for a relative filename that might begin with a literal ‘~’,
you can use (concat (file-name-as-directory directory) filename) instead of
(expand-file-name filename directory).
Filenames containing ‘.’ or ‘..’ are simplified to their canonical form:
(expand-file-name "bar/../foo")
⇒ "/xcssun/users/rms/lewis/foo"
Chapter 25: Files 551

In some cases, a leading ‘..’ component can remain in the output:

(expand-file-name "../home" "/")
⇒ "/../home"
This is for the sake of filesystems that have the concept of a superroot above the root
directory /. On other filesystems, /../ is interpreted exactly the same as /.
Expanding . or the empty string returns the default directory:
(expand-file-name "." "/usr/spool/")
⇒ "/usr/spool"
(expand-file-name "" "/usr/spool/")
⇒ "/usr/spool"
Note that expand-file-name does not expand environment variables; only
substitute-in-file-name does that:
(expand-file-name "$HOME/foo")
⇒ "/xcssun/users/rms/lewis/$HOME/foo"
Note also that expand-file-name does not follow symbolic links at any level. This
results in a difference between the way file-truename and expand-file-name treat
‘..’. Assuming that ‘/tmp/bar’ is a symbolic link to the directory ‘/tmp/foo/bar’
we get:
(file-truename "/tmp/bar/../myfile")
⇒ "/tmp/foo/myfile"
(expand-file-name "/tmp/bar/../myfile")
⇒ "/tmp/myfile"
If you may need to follow symbolic links preceding ‘..’, you should make sure to
call file-truename without prior direct or indirect calls to expand-file-name. See
Section 25.6.3 [Truenames], page 535.
default-directory [Variable]
The value of this buffer-local variable is the default directory for the current buffer.
It should be an absolute directory name; it may start with ‘~’. This variable is
buffer-local in every buffer.
expand-file-name uses the default directory when its second argument is nil.
The value is always a string ending with a slash.
default-directory
⇒ "/user/lewis/manual/"
substitute-in-file-name filename [Function]
This function replaces environment variable references in filename with the envi-
ronment variable values. Following standard Unix shell syntax, ‘$’ is the prefix to
substitute an environment variable value. If the input contains ‘$$’, that is converted
to ‘$’; this gives the user a way to quote a ‘$’.
The environment variable name is the series of alphanumeric characters (including
underscores) that follow the ‘$’. If the character following the ‘$’ is a ‘{’, then the
variable name is everything up to the matching ‘}’.
Calling substitute-in-file-name on output produced by substitute-in-file-
name tends to give incorrect results. For instance, use of ‘$$’ to quote a single ‘$’
Chapter 25: Files 552

won’t work properly, and ‘$’ in an environment variable’s value could lead to repeated
substitution. Therefore, programs that call this function and put the output where it
will be passed to this function need to double all ‘$’ characters to prevent subsequent
incorrect results.
Here we assume that the environment variable HOME, which holds the user’s home
directory, has value ‘/xcssun/users/rms’.
(substitute-in-file-name "$HOME/foo")
⇒ "/xcssun/users/rms/foo"
After substitution, if a ‘~’ or a ‘/’ appears immediately after another ‘/’, the function
discards everything before it (up through the immediately preceding ‘/’).
(substitute-in-file-name "bar/~/foo")
⇒ "~/foo"
(substitute-in-file-name "/usr/local/$HOME/foo")
⇒ "/xcssun/users/rms/foo"
;; /usr/local/ has been discarded.
Sometimes, it is not desired to expand file names. In such cases, the file name can be
quoted to suppress the expansion, and to handle the file name literally. Quoting happens
by prefixing the file name with ‘/:’.
file-name-quote name [Macro]
This macro adds the quotation prefix ‘/:’ to the file name. For a local file name, it
prefixes name with ‘/:’. If name is a remote file name, the local part of name (see
Section 25.12 [Magic File Names], page 559) is quoted. If name is already a quoted
file name, name is returned unchanged.
(substitute-in-file-name (file-name-quote "bar/~/foo"))
⇒ "/:bar/~/foo"

(substitute-in-file-name (file-name-quote "/ssh:host:bar/~/foo"))

⇒ "/ssh:host:/:bar/~/foo"
The macro cannot be used to suppress file name handlers from magic file names (see
Section 25.12 [Magic File Names], page 559).
file-name-unquote name [Macro]
This macro removes the quotation prefix ‘/:’ from the file name, if any. If name is a
remote file name, the local part of name is unquoted.
file-name-quoted-p name [Macro]
This macro returns non-nil, when name is quoted with the prefix ‘/:’. If name is a
remote file name, the local part of name is checked.

25.9.5 Generating Unique File Names

Some programs need to write temporary files. Here is the usual way to construct a name
for such a file:
(make-temp-file name-of-application)
The job of make-temp-file is to prevent two different users or two different jobs from
trying to use the exact same file name.
Chapter 25: Files 553

make-temp-file prefix &optional dir-flag suffix text [Function]

This function creates a temporary file and returns its name. Emacs creates the
temporary file’s name by adding to prefix some random characters that are different
in each Emacs job. The result is guaranteed to be a newly created file, containing
text if that’s given as a string and empty otherwise. On MS-DOS, this function can
truncate prefix to fit into the 8+3 file-name limits. If prefix is a relative file name, it
is expanded against temporary-file-directory.
(make-temp-file "foo")
⇒ "/tmp/foo232J6v"
When make-temp-file returns, the file has been created and is empty. At that point,
you should write the intended contents into the file.
If dir-flag is non-nil, make-temp-file creates an empty directory instead of an
empty file. It returns the file name, not the directory name, of that directory. See
Section 25.9.3 [Directory Names], page 549.
If suffix is non-nil, make-temp-file adds it at the end of the file name.
If text is a string, make-temp-file inserts it in the file.
To prevent conflicts among different libraries running in the same Emacs, each Lisp
program that uses make-temp-file should have its own prefix. The number added
to the end of prefix distinguishes between the same application running in different
Emacs jobs. Additional added characters permit a large number of distinct names
even in one Emacs job.
The default directory for temporary files is controlled by the variable temporary-file-
directory. This variable gives the user a uniform way to specify the directory for all
temporary files. Some programs use small-temporary-file-directory instead, if that is
non-nil. To use it, you should expand the prefix against the proper directory before calling
make-temp-file.
temporary-file-directory [User Option]
This variable specifies the directory name for creating temporary files. Its value should
be a directory name (see Section 25.9.3 [Directory Names], page 549), but it is good
for Lisp programs to cope if the value is a directory’s file name instead. Using the
value as the second argument to expand-file-name is a good way to achieve that.
The default value is determined in a reasonable way for your operating system; it
is based on the TMPDIR, TMP and TEMP environment variables, with a fall-back to a
system-dependent name if none of these variables is defined.
Even if you do not use make-temp-file to create the temporary file, you should still
use this variable to decide which directory to put the file in. However, if you expect
the file to be small, you should use small-temporary-file-directory first if that
is non-nil.
small-temporary-file-directory [User Option]
This variable specifies the directory name for creating certain temporary files, which
are likely to be small.
If you want to write a temporary file which is likely to be small, you should compute
the directory like this:
(make-temp-file
Chapter 25: Files 554

(expand-file-name prefix
(or small-temporary-file-directory
temporary-file-directory)))

make-temp-name base-name [Function]

This function generates a string that might be a unique file name. The name starts
with base-name, and has several random characters appended to it, which are different
in each Emacs job. It is like make-temp-file except that (i) it just constructs a name
and does not create a file, (ii) base-name should be an absolute file name that is not
magic, and (iii) if the returned file name is magic, it might name an existing file. See
Section 25.12 [Magic File Names], page 559.
Warning: In most cases, you should not use this function; use make-temp-file in-
stead! This function is susceptible to a race condition, between the make-temp-name
call and the creation of the file, which in some cases may cause a security hole.

Sometimes, it is necessary to create a temporary file on a remote host or a mounted

directory. The following two functions support this.

make-nearby-temp-file prefix &optional dir-flag suffix [Function]

This function is similar to make-temp-file, but it creates a temporary file
as close as possible to default-directory. If prefix is a relative file name,
and default-directory is a remote file name or located on a mounted file
systems, the temporary file is created in the directory returned by the function
temporary-file-directory. Otherwise, the function make-temp-file is used.
prefix, dir-flag and suffix have the same meaning as in make-temp-file.
(let ((default-directory "/ssh:remotehost:"))
(make-nearby-temp-file "foo"))
⇒ "/ssh:remotehost:/tmp/foo232J6v"

temporary-file-directory [Function]
The directory for writing temporary files via make-nearby-temp-file. In case of a
remote default-directory, this is a directory for temporary files on that remote
host. If such a directory does not exist, or default-directory ought to be lo-
cated on a mounted file system (see mounted-file-systems), the function returns
default-directory. For a non-remote and non-mounted default-directory, the
value of the variable temporary-file-directory is returned.

In order to extract the local part of the file’s name of a temporary file, use file-local-
name (see Section 25.12 [Magic File Names], page 559).

25.9.6 File Name Completion

This section describes low-level subroutines for completing a file name. For higher level
functions, see Section 20.6.5 [Reading File Names], page 351.

file-name-all-completions partial-filename directory [Function]

This function returns a list of all possible completions for a file whose name starts
with partial-filename in directory directory. The order of the completions is the order
of the files in the directory, which is unpredictable and conveys no useful information.
Chapter 25: Files 555

The argument partial-filename must be a file name containing no directory part and
no slash (or backslash on some systems). The current buffer’s default directory is
prepended to directory, if directory is not absolute.
In the following example, suppose that ~rms/lewis is the current default directory,
and has five files whose names begin with ‘f’: foo, file~, file.c, file.c.~1~, and
file.c.~2~.
(file-name-all-completions "f" "")
⇒ ("foo" "file~" "file.c.~2~"
"file.c.~1~" "file.c")

(file-name-all-completions "fo" "")

⇒ ("foo")

file-name-completion filename directory &optional predicate [Function]

This function completes the file name filename in directory directory. It returns
the longest prefix common to all file names in directory directory that start with
filename. If predicate is non-nil then it ignores possible completions that don’t satisfy
predicate, after calling that function with one argument, the expanded absolute file
name.
If only one match exists and filename matches it exactly, the function returns t. The
function returns nil if directory directory contains no name starting with filename.
In the following example, suppose that the current default directory has five files
whose names begin with ‘f’: foo, file~, file.c, file.c.~1~, and file.c.~2~.
(file-name-completion "fi" "")
⇒ "file"

(file-name-completion "file.c.~1" "")

⇒ "file.c.~1~"

(file-name-completion "file.c.~1~" "")

⇒ t

(file-name-completion "file.c.~3" "")

⇒ nil

completion-ignored-extensions [User Option]

file-name-completion usually ignores file names that end in any string in this list.
It does not ignore them when all the possible completions end in one of these suffixes.
This variable has no effect on file-name-all-completions.
A typical value might look like this:
completion-ignored-extensions
⇒ (".o" ".elc" "~" ".dvi")
If an element of completion-ignored-extensions ends in a slash ‘/’, it signals a
directory. The elements which do not end in a slash will never match a directory;
thus, the above value will not filter out a directory named foo.elc.
Chapter 25: Files 556

25.9.7 Standard File Names

Sometimes, an Emacs Lisp program needs to specify a standard file name for a particular
use—typically, to hold configuration data specified by the current user. Usually, such files
should be located in the directory specified by user-emacs-directory, which is ~/.emacs.d
by default (see Section 40.1.2 [Init File], page 1075). For example, abbrev definitions are
stored by default in ~/.emacs.d/abbrev_defs. The easiest way to specify such a file name
is to use the function locate-user-emacs-file.

locate-user-emacs-file base-name &optional old-name [Function]

This function returns an absolute file name for an Emacs-specific configuration or
data file. The argument base-name should be a relative file name. The return value
is the absolute name of a file in the directory specified by user-emacs-directory; if
that directory does not exist, this function creates it.
If the optional argument old-name is non-nil, it specifies a file in the user’s home
directory, ~/old-name. If such a file exists, the return value is the absolute name of
that file, instead of the file specified by base-name. This argument is intended to be
used by Emacs packages to provide backward compatibility. For instance, prior to the
introduction of user-emacs-directory, the abbrev file was located in ~/.abbrev_
defs. Here is the definition of abbrev-file-name:
(defcustom abbrev-file-name
(locate-user-emacs-file "abbrev_defs" ".abbrev_defs")
"Default name of file from which to read abbrevs."
...
:type 'file)

A lower-level function for standardizing file names, which locate-user-emacs-file

uses as a subroutine, is convert-standard-filename.

convert-standard-filename filename [Function]

This function returns a file name based on filename, which fits the conventions of the
current operating system.
On GNU and other POSIX-like systems, this simply returns filename. On other
operating systems, it may enforce system-specific file name conventions; for exam-
ple, on MS-DOS this function performs a variety of changes to enforce MS-DOS file
name limitations, including converting any leading ‘.’ to ‘_’ and truncating to three
characters after the ‘.’.
The recommended way to use this function is to specify a name which fits the con-
ventions of GNU and Unix systems, and pass it to convert-standard-filename.

25.10 Contents of Directories

A directory is a kind of file that contains other files entered under various names. Directories
are a feature of the file system.
Emacs can list the names of the files in a directory as a Lisp list, or display the names in
a buffer using the ls shell command. In the latter case, it can optionally display information
about each file, depending on the options passed to the ls command.
Chapter 25: Files 557

directory-files directory &optional full-name match-regexp nosort [Function]

This function returns a list of the names of the files in the directory directory. By
default, the list is in alphabetical order.
If full-name is non-nil, the function returns the files’ absolute file names. Otherwise,
it returns the names relative to the specified directory.
If match-regexp is non-nil, this function returns only those file names that contain
a match for that regular expression—the other file names are excluded from the list.
On case-insensitive filesystems, the regular expression matching is case-insensitive.
If nosort is non-nil, directory-files does not sort the list, so you get the file names
in no particular order. Use this if you want the utmost possible speed and don’t care
what order the files are processed in. If the order of processing is visible to the user,
then the user will probably be happier if you do sort the names.
(directory-files "~lewis")
⇒ ("#foo#" "#foo.el#" "." ".."
"dired-mods.el" "files.texi"
"files.texi.~1~")
An error is signaled if directory is not the name of a directory that can be read.

directory-files-recursively directory regexp &optional [Function]

include-directories
Return all files under directory whose names match regexp. This function searches
the specified directory and its sub-directories, recursively, for files whose basenames
(i.e., without the leading directories) match the specified regexp, and returns a list
of the absolute file names of the matching files (see Section 25.9.2 [Relative File
Names], page 548). The file names are returned in depth-first order, meaning that
files in some sub-directory are returned before the files in its parent directory. In
addition, matching files found in each subdirectory are sorted alphabetically by their
basenames. By default, directories whose names match regexp are omitted from the
list, but if the optional argument include-directories is non-nil, they are included.

directory-files-and-attributes directory &optional full-name [Function]

match-regexp nosort id-format
This is similar to directory-files in deciding which files to report on and how to
report their names. However, instead of returning a list of file names, it returns for
each file a list (filename attributes), where attributes is what file-attributes
returns for that file. The optional argument id-format has the same meaning as
the corresponding argument to file-attributes (see [Definition of file-attributes],
page 537).

file-expand-wildcards pattern &optional full [Function]

This function expands the wildcard pattern pattern, returning a list of file names that
match it.
If pattern is written as an absolute file name, the values are absolute also.
If pattern is written as a relative file name, it is interpreted relative to the current
default directory. The file names returned are normally also relative to the current
default directory. However, if full is non-nil, they are absolute.
Chapter 25: Files 558

insert-directory file switches &optional wildcard full-directory-p [Function]

This function inserts (in the current buffer) a directory listing for directory file, for-
matted with ls according to switches. It leaves point after the inserted text. switches
may be a string of options, or a list of strings representing individual options.
The argument file may be either a directory or a file specification including wildcard
characters. If wildcard is non-nil, that means treat file as a file specification with
wildcards.
If full-directory-p is non-nil, that means the directory listing is expected to show the
full contents of a directory. You should specify t when file is a directory and switches
do not contain ‘-d’. (The ‘-d’ option to ls says to describe a directory itself as a file,
rather than showing its contents.)
On most systems, this function works by running a directory listing program whose
name is in the variable insert-directory-program. If wildcard is non-nil, it also
runs the shell specified by shell-file-name, to expand the wildcards.
MS-DOS and MS-Windows systems usually lack the standard Unix program ls, so
this function emulates the standard Unix program ls with Lisp code.
As a technical detail, when switches contains the long ‘--dired’ option,
insert-directory treats it specially, for the sake of dired. However, the normally
equivalent short ‘-D’ option is just passed on to insert-directory-program, as any
other option.
insert-directory-program [Variable]
This variable’s value is the program to run to generate a directory listing for the
function insert-directory. It is ignored on systems which generate the listing with
Lisp code.

25.11 Creating, Copying and Deleting Directories

Most Emacs Lisp file-manipulation functions get errors when used on files that are directo-
ries. For example, you cannot delete a directory with delete-file. These special functions
exist to create and delete directories.
make-directory dirname &optional parents [Command]
This command creates a directory named dirname. If parents is non-nil, as is always
the case in an interactive call, that means to create the parent directories first, if they
don’t already exist.
mkdir is an alias for this.
copy-directory dirname newname &optional keep-time parents [Command]
copy-contents
This command copies the directory named dirname to newname. If newname is a
directory name, dirname will be copied to a subdirectory there. See Section 25.9.3
[Directory Names], page 549.
It always sets the file modes of the copied files to match the corresponding original
file.
The third argument keep-time non-nil means to preserve the modification time of
the copied files. A prefix arg makes keep-time non-nil.
Chapter 25: Files 559

The fourth argument parents says whether to create parent directories if they don’t
exist. Interactively, this happens by default.
The fifth argument copy-contents, if non-nil, means to copy the contents of dirname
directly into newname if the latter is a directory name, instead of copying dirname
into it as a subdirectory.

delete-directory dirname &optional recursive trash [Command]

This command deletes the directory named dirname. The function delete-file does
not work for files that are directories; you must use delete-directory for them. If
recursive is nil, and the directory contains any files, delete-directory signals an
error. If recursive is non-nil, there is no error merely because the directory or its
files are deleted by some other process before delete-directory gets to them.
delete-directory only follows symbolic links at the level of parent directories.
If the optional argument trash is non-nil and the variable delete-by-moving-to-
trash is non-nil, this command moves the file into the system Trash instead of
deleting it. See Section “Miscellaneous File Operations” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
When called interactively, trash is t if no prefix argument is given, and nil otherwise.

25.12 Making Certain File Names “Magic”

You can implement special handling for certain file names. This is called making those
names magic. The principal use for this feature is in implementing access to remote files
(see Section “Remote Files” in The GNU Emacs Manual).
To define a kind of magic file name, you must supply a regular expression to define the
class of names (all those that match the regular expression), plus a handler that implements
all the primitive Emacs file operations for file names that match.
The variable file-name-handler-alist holds a list of handlers, together with regular
expressions that determine when to apply each handler. Each element has this form:
(regexp . handler)
All the Emacs primitives for file access and file name transformation check the given file
name against file-name-handler-alist. If the file name matches regexp, the primitives
handle that file by calling handler.
The first argument given to handler is the name of the primitive, as a symbol; the
remaining arguments are the arguments that were passed to that primitive. (The first of
these arguments is most often the file name itself.) For example, if you do this:
(file-exists-p filename)
and filename has handler handler, then handler is called like this:
(funcall handler 'file-exists-p filename)
When a function takes two or more arguments that must be file names, it checks each
of those names for a handler. For example, if you do this:
(expand-file-name filename dirname)
then it checks for a handler for filename and then for a handler for dirname. In either case,
the handler is called like this:
(funcall handler 'expand-file-name filename dirname)
Chapter 25: Files 560

The handler then needs to figure out whether to handle filename or dirname.
If the specified file name matches more than one handler, the one whose match starts
last in the file name gets precedence. This rule is chosen so that handlers for jobs such as
uncompression are handled first, before handlers for jobs such as remote file access.
Here are the operations that a magic file name handler gets to handle:
access-file, add-name-to-file,
byte-compiler-base-file-name,
copy-directory, copy-file,
delete-directory, delete-file,
diff-latest-backup-file,
directory-file-name,
directory-files,
directory-files-and-attributes,
dired-compress-file, dired-uncache,
expand-file-name,
file-accessible-directory-p,
file-acl,
file-attributes,
file-directory-p,
file-equal-p,
file-executable-p, file-exists-p,
file-in-directory-p,
file-local-copy,
file-modes, file-name-all-completions,
file-name-as-directory,
file-name-case-insensitive-p,
file-name-completion,
file-name-directory,
file-name-nondirectory,
file-name-sans-versions, file-newer-than-file-p,
file-notify-add-watch, file-notify-rm-watch,
file-notify-valid-p,
file-ownership-preserved-p,
file-readable-p, file-regular-p,
file-remote-p, file-selinux-context,
file-symlink-p, file-truename, file-writable-p,
find-backup-file-name,
get-file-buffer,
insert-directory,
insert-file-contents,
load,
make-auto-save-file-name,
make-directory,
make-directory-internal,
make-symbolic-link,
process-file,
Chapter 25: Files 561

rename-file, set-file-acl, set-file-modes,

set-file-selinux-context, set-file-times,
set-visited-file-modtime, shell-command,
start-file-process,
substitute-in-file-name,
unhandled-file-name-directory,
vc-registered,
verify-visited-file-modtime,
write-region.
Handlers for insert-file-contents typically need to clear the buffer’s modified flag,
with (set-buffer-modified-p nil), if the visit argument is non-nil. This also has the
effect of unlocking the buffer if it is locked.
The handler function must handle all of the above operations, and possibly others to
be added in the future. It need not implement all these operations itself—when it has
nothing special to do for a certain operation, it can reinvoke the primitive, to handle the
operation in the usual way. It should always reinvoke the primitive for an operation it does
not recognize. Here’s one way to do this:
(defun my-file-handler (operation &rest args)
;; First check for the specific operations
;; that we have special handling for.
(cond ((eq operation 'insert-file-contents) ...)
((eq operation 'write-region) ...)
...
;; Handle any operation we don’t know about.
(t (let ((inhibit-file-name-handlers
(cons 'my-file-handler
(and (eq inhibit-file-name-operation operation)
inhibit-file-name-handlers)))
(inhibit-file-name-operation operation))
(apply operation args)))))

When a handler function decides to call the ordinary Emacs primitive for the operation
at hand, it needs to prevent the primitive from calling the same handler once again, thus
leading to an infinite recursion. The example above shows how to do this, with the vari-
ables inhibit-file-name-handlers and inhibit-file-name-operation. Be careful to
use them exactly as shown above; the details are crucial for proper behavior in the case of
multiple handlers, and for operations that have two file names that may each have handlers.
Handlers that don’t really do anything special for actual access to the file—such as the
ones that implement completion of host names for remote file names—should have a non-
nil safe-magic property. For instance, Emacs normally protects directory names it finds
in PATH from becoming magic, if they look like magic file names, by prefixing them with
‘/:’. But if the handler that would be used for them has a non-nil safe-magic property,
the ‘/:’ is not added.
A file name handler can have an operations property to declare which operations it
handles in a nontrivial way. If this property has a non-nil value, it should be a list of
operations; then only those operations will call the handler. This avoids inefficiency, but
its main purpose is for autoloaded handler functions, so that they won’t be loaded except
when they have real work to do.
Chapter 25: Files 562

Simply deferring all operations to the usual primitives does not work. For instance, if
the file name handler applies to file-exists-p, then it must handle load itself, because
the usual load code won’t work properly in that case. However, if the handler uses the
operations property to say it doesn’t handle file-exists-p, then it need not handle load
nontrivially.
inhibit-file-name-handlers [Variable]
This variable holds a list of handlers whose use is presently inhibited for a certain
operation.
inhibit-file-name-operation [Variable]
The operation for which certain handlers are presently inhibited.
find-file-name-handler file operation [Function]
This function returns the handler function for file name file, or nil if there is none.
The argument operation should be the operation to be performed on the file—the
value you will pass to the handler as its first argument when you call it. If opera-
tion equals inhibit-file-name-operation, or if it is not found in the operations
property of the handler, this function returns nil.
file-local-copy filename [Function]
This function copies file filename to an ordinary non-magic file on the local machine, if
it isn’t on the local machine already. Magic file names should handle the file-local-
copy operation if they refer to files on other machines. A magic file name that is used
for other purposes than remote file access should not handle file-local-copy; then
this function will treat the file as local.
If filename is local, whether magic or not, this function does nothing and returns nil.
Otherwise it returns the file name of the local copy file.
file-remote-p filename &optional identification connected [Function]
This function tests whether filename is a remote file. If filename is local (not remote),
the return value is nil. If filename is indeed remote, the return value is a string that
identifies the remote system.
This identifier string can include a host name and a user name, as well as characters
designating the method used to access the remote system. For example, the remote
identifier string for the filename /sudo::/some/file is /sudo:root@localhost:.
If file-remote-p returns the same identifier for two different filenames, that means
they are stored on the same file system and can be accessed locally with respect to
each other. This means, for example, that it is possible to start a remote process
accessing both files at the same time. Implementers of file handlers need to ensure
this principle is valid.
identification specifies which part of the identifier shall be returned as string. identi-
fication can be the symbol method, user or host; any other value is handled like nil
and means to return the complete identifier string. In the example above, the remote
user identifier string would be root.
If connected is non-nil, this function returns nil even if filename is remote, if Emacs
has no network connection to its host. This is useful when you want to avoid the
delay of making connections when they don’t exist.
Chapter 25: Files 563

unhandled-file-name-directory filename [Function]

This function returns the name of a directory that is not magic. For a non-magic
filename it returns the corresponding directory name (see Section 25.9.3 [Directory
Names], page 549). For a magic filename, it invokes the file name handler, which
therefore decides what value to return. If filename is not accessible from a local
process, then the file name handler should indicate that by returning nil.
This is useful for running a subprocess; every subprocess must have a non-magic
directory to serve as its current directory, and this function is a good way to come up
with one.
file-local-name filename [Function]
This function returns the local part of filename. This is the part of the file’s name
that identifies it on the remote host, and is typically obtained by removing from the
remote file name the parts that specify the remote host and the method of accessing
it. For example:
(file-local-name "/ssh:user@host:/foo/bar")
⇒ "/foo/bar"
For a remote filename, this function returns a file name which could be used directly as
an argument of a remote process (see Section 38.4 [Asynchronous Processes], page 926,
and see Section 38.3 [Synchronous Processes], page 922), and as the program to run
on the remote host. If filename is local, this function returns it unchanged.
remote-file-name-inhibit-cache [User Option]
The attributes of remote files can be cached for better performance. If they are
changed outside of Emacs’s control, the cached values become invalid, and must be
reread.
When this variable is set to nil, cached values are never expired. Use this setting
with caution, only if you are sure nothing other than Emacs ever changes the remote
files. If it is set to t, cached values are never used. This is the safest value, but could
result in performance degradation.
A compromise is to set it to a positive number. This means that cached values are
used for that amount of seconds since they were cached. If a remote file is checked
regularly, it might be a good idea to let-bind this variable to a value less than the
time period between consecutive checks. For example:
(defun display-time-file-nonempty-p (file)
(let ((remote-file-name-inhibit-cache
(- display-time-interval 5)))
(and (file-exists-p file)
(< 0 (nth 7 (file-attributes
(file-chase-links file)))))))

25.13 File Format Conversion

Emacs performs several steps to convert the data in a buffer (text, text properties, and
possibly other information) to and from a representation suitable for storing into a file. This
section describes the fundamental functions that perform this format conversion, namely
insert-file-contents for reading a file into a buffer, and write-region for writing a
buffer into a file.
Chapter 25: Files 564

25.13.1 Overview
The function insert-file-contents:
• initially, inserts bytes from the file into the buffer;
• decodes bytes to characters as appropriate;
• processes formats as defined by entries in format-alist; and
• calls functions in after-insert-file-functions.
The function write-region:
• initially, calls functions in write-region-annotate-functions;
• processes formats as defined by entries in format-alist;
• encodes characters to bytes as appropriate; and
• modifies the file with the bytes.
This shows the symmetry of the lowest-level operations; reading and writing handle
things in opposite order. The rest of this section describes the two facilities surrounding
the three variables named above, as well as some related functions. Section 33.10 [Coding
Systems], page 848, for details on character encoding and decoding.

25.13.2 Round-Trip Specification

The most general of the two facilities is controlled by the variable format-alist, a list of
file format specifications, which describe textual representations used in files for the data
in an Emacs buffer. The descriptions for reading and writing are paired, which is why
we call this “round-trip” specification (see Section 25.13.3 [Format Conversion Piecemeal],
page 566, for non-paired specification).

format-alist [Variable]
This list contains one format definition for each defined file format. Each format
definition is a list of this form:
(name doc-string regexp from-fn to-fn modify mode-fn preserve)

Here is what the elements in a format definition mean:

name The name of this format.
doc-string A documentation string for the format.
regexp A regular expression which is used to recognize files represented in this format.
If nil, the format is never applied automatically.
from-fn A shell command or function to decode data in this format (to convert file data
into the usual Emacs data representation).
A shell command is represented as a string; Emacs runs the command as a filter
to perform the conversion.
If from-fn is a function, it is called with two arguments, begin and end, which
specify the part of the buffer it should convert. It should convert the text by
editing it in place. Since this can change the length of the text, from-fn should
return the modified end position.
Chapter 25: Files 565

One responsibility of from-fn is to make sure that the beginning of the file no
longer matches regexp. Otherwise it is likely to get called again. Also, from-fn
must not involve buffers or files other than the one being decoded, otherwise
the internal buffer used for formatting might be overwritten.
to-fn A shell command or function to encode data in this format—that is, to convert
the usual Emacs data representation into this format.
If to-fn is a string, it is a shell command; Emacs runs the command as a filter
to perform the conversion.
If to-fn is a function, it is called with three arguments: begin and end, which
specify the part of the buffer it should convert, and buffer, which specifies which
buffer. There are two ways it can do the conversion:
• By editing the buffer in place. In this case, to-fn should return the end-
position of the range of text, as modified.
• By returning a list of annotations. This is a list of elements of the form
(position . string), where position is an integer specifying the relative
position in the text to be written, and string is the annotation to add there.
The list must be sorted in order of position when to-fn returns it.
When write-region actually writes the text from the buffer to the file,
it intermixes the specified annotations at the corresponding positions. All
this takes place without modifying the buffer.
to-fn must not involve buffers or files other than the one being encoded, other-
wise the internal buffer used for formatting might be overwritten.
modify A flag, t if the encoding function modifies the buffer, and nil if it works by
returning a list of annotations.
mode-fn A minor-mode function to call after visiting a file converted from this format.
The function is called with one argument, the integer 1; that tells a minor-mode
function to enable the mode.
preserve A flag, t if format-write-file should not remove this format from
buffer-file-format.
The function insert-file-contents automatically recognizes file formats when it reads
the specified file. It checks the text of the beginning of the file against the regular expressions
of the format definitions, and if it finds a match, it calls the decoding function for that
format. Then it checks all the known formats over again. It keeps checking them until none
of them is applicable.
Visiting a file, with find-file-noselect or the commands that use it, performs conver-
sion likewise (because it calls insert-file-contents); it also calls the mode function for
each format that it decodes. It stores a list of the format names in the buffer-local variable
buffer-file-format.

buffer-file-format [Variable]
This variable states the format of the visited file. More precisely, this is a list of the
file format names that were decoded in the course of visiting the current buffer’s file.
It is always buffer-local in all buffers.
Chapter 25: Files 566

When write-region writes data into a file, it first calls the encoding functions for the
formats listed in buffer-file-format, in the order of appearance in the list.

format-write-file file format &optional confirm [Command]

This command writes the current buffer contents into the file file in a format based on
format, which is a list of format names. It constructs the actual format starting from
format, then appending any elements from the value of buffer-file-format with a
non-nil preserve flag (see above), if they are not already present in format. It then
updates buffer-file-format with this format, making it the default for future saves.
Except for the format argument, this command is similar to write-file. In partic-
ular, confirm has the same meaning and interactive treatment as the corresponding
argument to write-file. See [Definition of write-file], page 525.

format-find-file file format [Command]

This command finds the file file, converting it according to format format. It also
makes format the default if the buffer is saved later.
The argument format is a list of format names. If format is nil, no conversion takes
place. Interactively, typing just RET for format specifies nil.

format-insert-file file format &optional beg end [Command]

This command inserts the contents of file file, converting it according to format
format. If beg and end are non-nil, they specify which part of the file to read,
as in insert-file-contents (see Section 25.3 [Reading from Files], page 527).
The return value is like what insert-file-contents returns: a list of the absolute
file name and the length of the data inserted (after conversion).
The argument format is a list of format names. If format is nil, no conversion takes
place. Interactively, typing just RET for format specifies nil.

buffer-auto-save-file-format [Variable]
This variable specifies the format to use for auto-saving. Its value is a list of format
names, just like the value of buffer-file-format; however, it is used instead of
buffer-file-format for writing auto-save files. If the value is t, the default, auto-
saving uses the same format as a regular save in the same buffer. This variable is
always buffer-local in all buffers.

25.13.3 Piecemeal Specification

In contrast to the round-trip specification described in the previous subsection (see
Section 25.13.2 [Format Conversion Round-Trip], page 564), you can use the variables
after-insert-file-functions and write-region-annotate-functions to separately
control the respective reading and writing conversions.
Conversion starts with one representation and produces another representation. When
there is only one conversion to do, there is no conflict about what to start with. However,
when there are multiple conversions involved, conflict may arise when two conversions need
to start with the same data.
This situation is best understood in the context of converting text properties during
write-region. For example, the character at position 42 in a buffer is ‘X’ with a text
property foo. If the conversion for foo is done by inserting into the buffer, say, ‘FOO:’, then
Chapter 25: Files 567

that changes the character at position 42 from ‘X’ to ‘F’. The next conversion will start
with the wrong data straight away.
To avoid conflict, cooperative conversions do not modify the buffer, but instead spec-
ify annotations, a list of elements of the form (position . string), sorted in order of
increasing position.
If there is more than one conversion, write-region merges their annotations destruc-
tively into one sorted list. Later, when the text from the buffer is actually written to the
file, it intermixes the specified annotations at the corresponding positions. All this takes
place without modifying the buffer.
In contrast, when reading, the annotations intermixed with the text are handled imme-
diately. insert-file-contents sets point to the beginning of some text to be converted,
then calls the conversion functions with the length of that text. These functions should al-
ways return with point at the beginning of the inserted text. This approach makes sense for
reading because annotations removed by the first converter can’t be mistakenly processed
by a later converter. Each conversion function should scan for the annotations it recognizes,
remove the annotation, modify the buffer text (to set a text property, for example), and
return the updated length of the text, as it stands after those changes. The value returned
by one function becomes the argument to the next function.

write-region-annotate-functions [Variable]
A list of functions for write-region to call. Each function in the list is called with
two arguments: the start and end of the region to be written. These functions should
not alter the contents of the buffer. Instead, they should return annotations.
As a special case, a function may return with a different buffer current. Emacs takes
this to mean that the current buffer contains altered text to be output. It therefore
changes the start and end arguments of the write-region call, giving them the
values of point-min and point-max in the new buffer, respectively. It also discards
all previous annotations, because they should have been dealt with by this function.

write-region-post-annotation-function [Variable]
The value of this variable, if non-nil, should be a function. This function is called,
with no arguments, after write-region has completed.
If any function in write-region-annotate-functions returns with a different buffer
current, Emacs calls write-region-post-annotation-function more than once.
Emacs calls it with the last buffer that was current, and again with the buffer before
that, and so on back to the original buffer.
Thus, a function in write-region-annotate-functions can create a buffer, give this
variable the local value of kill-buffer in that buffer, set up the buffer with altered
text, and make the buffer current. The buffer will be killed after write-region is
done.

after-insert-file-functions [Variable]
Each function in this list is called by insert-file-contents with one argument, the
number of characters inserted, and with point at the beginning of the inserted text.
Each function should leave point unchanged, and return the new character count
describing the inserted text as modified by the function.
 568

We invite users to write Lisp programs to store and retrieve text properties in files,
using these hooks, and thus to experiment with various data formats and find good ones.
Eventually we hope users will produce good, general extensions we can install in Emacs.
We suggest not trying to handle arbitrary Lisp objects as text property names or values—
because a program that general is probably difficult to write, and slow. Instead, choose a
set of possible data types that are reasonably flexible, and not too hard to encode.
 569

26 Backups and Auto-Saving

Backup files and auto-save files are two methods by which Emacs tries to protect the user
from the consequences of crashes or of the user’s own errors. Auto-saving preserves the text
from earlier in the current editing session; backup files preserve file contents prior to the
current session.

26.1 Backup Files

A backup file is a copy of the old contents of a file you are editing. Emacs makes a backup
file the first time you save a buffer into its visited file. Thus, normally, the backup file
contains the contents of the file as it was before the current editing session. The contents
of the backup file normally remain unchanged once it exists.
Backups are usually made by renaming the visited file to a new name. Optionally, you
can specify that backup files should be made by copying the visited file. This choice makes
a difference for files with multiple names; it also can affect whether the edited file remains
owned by the original owner or becomes owned by the user editing it.
By default, Emacs makes a single backup file for each file edited. You can alternatively
request numbered backups; then each new backup file gets a new name. You can delete
old numbered backups when you don’t want them any more, or Emacs can delete them
automatically.
For performance, the operating system may not write the backup file’s contents to sec-
ondary storage immediately, or may alias the backup data with the original until one or the
other is later modified. See Section 25.8 [Files and Storage], page 545.

26.1.1 Making Backup Files

backup-buffer [Function]
This function makes a backup of the file visited by the current buffer, if appropriate.
It is called by save-buffer before saving the buffer the first time.
If a backup was made by renaming, the return value is a cons cell of the form
(modes extra-alist backupname), where modes are the mode bits of the original file,
as returned by file-modes (see Section 25.6.1 [Testing Accessibility], page 531),
extra-alist is an alist describing the original file’s extended attributes, as returned
by file-extended-attributes (see Section 25.6.5 [Extended Attributes], page 539),
and backupname is the name of the backup.
In all other cases (i.e., if a backup was made by copying or if no backup was made),
this function returns nil.

buffer-backed-up [Variable]
This buffer-local variable says whether this buffer’s file has been backed up on account
of this buffer. If it is non-nil, the backup file has been written. Otherwise, the
file should be backed up when it is next saved (if backups are enabled). This is a
permanent local; kill-all-local-variables does not alter it.
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 570

make-backup-files [User Option]

This variable determines whether or not to make backup files. If it is non-nil, then
Emacs creates a backup of each file when it is saved for the first time—provided that
backup-inhibited is nil (see below).
The following example shows how to change the make-backup-files variable only
in the Rmail buffers and not elsewhere. Setting it nil stops Emacs from making
backups of these files, which may save disk space. (You would put this code in your
init file.)
(add-hook 'rmail-mode-hook
(lambda () (setq-local make-backup-files nil)))

backup-enable-predicate [Variable]
This variable’s value is a function to be called on certain occasions to decide whether
a file should have backup files. The function receives one argument, an absolute file
name to consider. If the function returns nil, backups are disabled for that file.
Otherwise, the other variables in this section say whether and how to make backups.
The default value is normal-backup-enable-predicate, which checks for files in
temporary-file-directory and small-temporary-file-directory.
backup-inhibited [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, backups are inhibited. It records the result of testing
backup-enable-predicate on the visited file name. It can also coherently be used
by other mechanisms that inhibit backups based on which file is visited. For example,
VC sets this variable non-nil to prevent making backups for files managed with a
version control system.
This is a permanent local, so that changing the major mode does not lose its value.
Major modes should not set this variable—they should set make-backup-files in-
stead.

backup-directory-alist [User Option]

This variable’s value is an alist of filename patterns and backup directories. Each
element looks like
(regexp . directory)
Backups of files with names matching regexp will be made in directory. directory
may be relative or absolute. If it is absolute, so that all matching files are backed up
into the same directory, the file names in this directory will be the full name of the
file backed up with all directory separators changed to ‘!’ to prevent clashes. This
will not work correctly if your filesystem truncates the resulting name.
For the common case of all backups going into one directory, the alist should contain
a single element pairing ‘"."’ with the appropriate directory.
If this variable is nil (the default), or it fails to match a filename, the backup is made
in the original file’s directory.
On MS-DOS filesystems without long names this variable is always ignored.
make-backup-file-name-function [User Option]
This variable’s value is a function to use for making backup file names. The function
make-backup-file-name calls it. See Section 26.1.4 [Naming Backup Files], page 573.
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 571

This could be buffer-local to do something special for specific files. If you change it,
you may need to change backup-file-name-p and file-name-sans-versions too.

26.1.2 Backup by Renaming or by Copying?

There are two ways that Emacs can make a backup file:
• Emacs can rename the original file so that it becomes a backup file, and then write the
buffer being saved into a new file. After this procedure, any other names (i.e., hard
links) of the original file now refer to the backup file. The new file is owned by the user
doing the editing, and its group is the default for new files written by the user in that
directory.
• Emacs can copy the original file into a backup file, and then overwrite the original
file with new contents. After this procedure, any other names (i.e., hard links) of the
original file continue to refer to the current (updated) version of the file. The file’s
owner and group will be unchanged.
The first method, renaming, is the default.
The variable backup-by-copying, if non-nil, says to use the second method, which
is to copy the original file and overwrite it with the new buffer contents. The variable
file-precious-flag, if non-nil, also has this effect (as a sideline of its main significance).
See Section 25.2 [Saving Buffers], page 525.
backup-by-copying [User Option]
If this variable is non-nil, Emacs always makes backup files by copying. The default
is nil.
The following three variables, when non-nil, cause the second method to be used in
certain special cases. They have no effect on the treatment of files that don’t fall into the
special cases.
backup-by-copying-when-linked [User Option]
If this variable is non-nil, Emacs makes backups by copying for files with multiple
names (hard links). The default is nil.
This variable is significant only if backup-by-copying is nil, since copying is always
used when that variable is non-nil.
backup-by-copying-when-mismatch [User Option]
If this variable is non-nil (the default), Emacs makes backups by copying in cases
where renaming would change either the owner or the group of the file.
The value has no effect when renaming would not alter the owner or group of the file;
that is, for files which are owned by the user and whose group matches the default
for a new file created there by the user.
This variable is significant only if backup-by-copying is nil, since copying is always
used when that variable is non-nil.
backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch [User Option]
This variable, if non-nil, specifies the same behavior as backup-by-copying-when-
mismatch, but only for certain user-id values: namely, those less than or equal to a
certain number. You set this variable to that number.
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 572

Thus, if you set backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch to 0, backup by

copying is done for the superuser only, when necessary to prevent a change in the
owner of the file.
The default is 200.

26.1.3 Making and Deleting Numbered Backup Files

If a file’s name is foo, the names of its numbered backup versions are foo.~v~, for various
integers v, like this: foo.~1~, foo.~2~, foo.~3~, . . . , foo.~259~, and so on.

version-control [User Option]

This variable controls whether to make a single non-numbered backup file or multiple
numbered backups.
nil Make numbered backups if the visited file already has numbered backups;
otherwise, do not. This is the default.
never Do not make numbered backups.
anything else
Make numbered backups.

The use of numbered backups ultimately leads to a large number of backup versions,
which must then be deleted. Emacs can do this automatically or it can ask the user whether
to delete them.

kept-new-versions [User Option]

The value of this variable is the number of newest versions to keep when a new
numbered backup is made. The newly made backup is included in the count. The
default value is 2.

kept-old-versions [User Option]

The value of this variable is the number of oldest versions to keep when a new num-
bered backup is made. The default value is 2.

If there are backups numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7, and both of these variables have the
value 2, then the backups numbered 1 and 2 are kept as old versions and those numbered
5 and 7 are kept as new versions; backup version 3 is excess. The function find-backup-
file-name (see Section 26.1.4 [Backup Names], page 573) is responsible for determining
which backup versions to delete, but does not delete them itself.

delete-old-versions [User Option]

If this variable is t, then saving a file deletes excess backup versions silently. If it is
nil, that means to ask for confirmation before deleting excess backups. Otherwise,
they are not deleted at all.

dired-kept-versions [User Option]

This variable specifies how many of the newest backup versions to keep in the Dired
command . (dired-clean-directory). That’s the same thing kept-new-versions
specifies when you make a new backup file. The default is 2.
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 573

26.1.4 Naming Backup Files

The functions in this section are documented mainly because you can customize the naming
conventions for backup files by redefining them. If you change one, you probably need to
change the rest.

backup-file-name-p filename [Function]

This function returns a non-nil value if filename is a possible name for a backup file.
It just checks the name, not whether a file with the name filename exists.
(backup-file-name-p "foo")
⇒ nil
(backup-file-name-p "foo~")
⇒ 3
The standard definition of this function is as follows:
(defun backup-file-name-p (file)
"Return non-nil if FILE is a backup file \
name (numeric or not)..."
(string-match "~\\'" file))
Thus, the function returns a non-nil value if the file name ends with a ‘~’. (We use a
backslash to split the documentation string’s first line into two lines in the text, but
produce just one line in the string itself.)
This simple expression is placed in a separate function to make it easy to redefine for
customization.

make-backup-file-name filename [Function]

This function returns a string that is the name to use for a non-numbered backup file
for file filename. On Unix, this is just filename with a tilde appended.
The standard definition of this function, on most operating systems, is as follows:
(defun make-backup-file-name (file)
"Create the non-numeric backup file name for FILE..."
(concat file "~"))
You can change the backup-file naming convention by redefining this function. The
following example redefines make-backup-file-name to prepend a ‘.’ in addition to
appending a tilde:
(defun make-backup-file-name (filename)
(expand-file-name
(concat "." (file-name-nondirectory filename) "~")
(file-name-directory filename)))

(make-backup-file-name "backups.texi")
⇒ ".backups.texi~"
Some parts of Emacs, including some Dired commands, assume that backup file names
end with ‘~’. If you do not follow that convention, it will not cause serious problems,
but these commands may give less-than-desirable results.

find-backup-file-name filename [Function]

This function computes the file name for a new backup file for filename. It may also
propose certain existing backup files for deletion. find-backup-file-name returns a
list whose car is the name for the new backup file and whose cdr is a list of backup
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 574

files whose deletion is proposed. The value can also be nil, which means not to make
a backup.
Two variables, kept-old-versions and kept-new-versions, determine which
backup versions should be kept. This function keeps those versions by excluding
them from the cdr of the value. See Section 26.1.3 [Numbered Backups], page 572.
In this example, the value says that ~rms/foo.~5~ is the name to use for the new
backup file, and ~rms/foo.~3~ is an excess version that the caller should consider
deleting now.
(find-backup-file-name "~rms/foo")
⇒ ("~rms/foo.~5~" "~rms/foo.~3~")

file-newest-backup filename [Function]

This function returns the name of the most recent backup file for filename, or nil if
that file has no backup files.
Some file comparison commands use this function so that they can automatically
compare a file with its most recent backup.

26.2 Auto-Saving
Emacs periodically saves all files that you are visiting; this is called auto-saving. Auto-
saving prevents you from losing more than a limited amount of work if the system crashes.
By default, auto-saves happen every 300 keystrokes, or after around 30 seconds of idle time.
See Section “Auto-Saving: Protection Against Disasters” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for
information on auto-save for users. Here we describe the functions used to implement
auto-saving and the variables that control them.
buffer-auto-save-file-name [Variable]
This buffer-local variable is the name of the file used for auto-saving the current
buffer. It is nil if the buffer should not be auto-saved.
buffer-auto-save-file-name
⇒ "/xcssun/users/rms/lewis/#backups.texi#"
auto-save-mode arg [Command]
This is the mode command for Auto Save mode, a buffer-local minor mode. When
Auto Save mode is enabled, auto-saving is enabled in the buffer. The calling conven-
tion is the same as for other minor mode commands (see Section 23.3.1 [Minor Mode
Conventions], page 471).
Unlike most minor modes, there is no auto-save-mode variable. Auto Save mode
is enabled if buffer-auto-save-file-name is non-nil and buffer-saved-size (see
below) is non-zero.
auto-save-file-name-p filename [Function]
This function returns a non-nil value if filename is a string that could be the name
of an auto-save file. It assumes the usual naming convention for auto-save files: a
name that begins and ends with hash marks (‘#’) is a possible auto-save file name.
The argument filename should not contain a directory part.
(make-auto-save-file-name)
⇒ "/xcssun/users/rms/lewis/#backups.texi#"
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 575

(auto-save-file-name-p "#backups.texi#")
⇒ 0
(auto-save-file-name-p "backups.texi")
⇒ nil
The standard definition of this function is as follows:
(defun auto-save-file-name-p (filename)
"Return non-nil if FILENAME can be yielded by..."
(string-match "^#.*#$" filename))
This function exists so that you can customize it if you wish to change the naming
convention for auto-save files. If you redefine it, be sure to redefine the function
make-auto-save-file-name correspondingly.

make-auto-save-file-name [Function]
This function returns the file name to use for auto-saving the current buffer. This
is just the file name with hash marks (‘#’) prepended and appended to it. This
function does not look at the variable auto-save-visited-file-name (described
below); callers of this function should check that variable first.
(make-auto-save-file-name)
⇒ "/xcssun/users/rms/lewis/#backups.texi#"
Here is a simplified version of the standard definition of this function:
(defun make-auto-save-file-name ()
"Return file name to use for auto-saves \
of current buffer.."
(if buffer-file-name
(concat
(file-name-directory buffer-file-name)
"#"
(file-name-nondirectory buffer-file-name)
"#")
(expand-file-name
(concat "#%" (buffer-name) "#"))))
This exists as a separate function so that you can redefine it to customize the nam-
ing convention for auto-save files. Be sure to change auto-save-file-name-p in a
corresponding way.

auto-save-visited-file-name [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, Emacs auto-saves buffers in the files they are visiting. That
is, the auto-save is done in the same file that you are editing. Normally, this variable
is nil, so auto-save files have distinct names that are created by make-auto-save-
file-name.
When you change the value of this variable, the new value does not take effect in
an existing buffer until the next time auto-save mode is reenabled in it. If auto-
save mode is already enabled, auto-saves continue to go in the same file name until
auto-save-mode is called again.
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 576

Note that setting this variable to a non-nil value does not change the fact that auto-
saving is different from saving the buffer; e.g., the hooks described in Section 25.2
[Saving Buffers], page 525, are not run when a buffer is auto-saved.

recent-auto-save-p [Function]
This function returns t if the current buffer has been auto-saved since the last time
it was read in or saved.

set-buffer-auto-saved [Function]
This function marks the current buffer as auto-saved. The buffer will not be auto-
saved again until the buffer text is changed again. The function returns nil.

auto-save-interval [User Option]

The value of this variable specifies how often to do auto-saving, in terms of number
of input events. Each time this many additional input events are read, Emacs does
auto-saving for all buffers in which that is enabled. Setting this to zero disables
autosaving based on the number of characters typed.

auto-save-timeout [User Option]

The value of this variable is the number of seconds of idle time that should cause
auto-saving. Each time the user pauses for this long, Emacs does auto-saving for all
buffers in which that is enabled. (If the current buffer is large, the specified timeout
is multiplied by a factor that increases as the size increases; for a million-byte buffer,
the factor is almost 4.)
If the value is zero or nil, then auto-saving is not done as a result of idleness, only
after a certain number of input events as specified by auto-save-interval.

auto-save-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run whenever an auto-save is about to happen.

auto-save-default [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, buffers that are visiting files have auto-saving enabled by
default. Otherwise, they do not.

do-auto-save &optional no-message current-only [Command]

This function auto-saves all buffers that need to be auto-saved. It saves all buffers for
which auto-saving is enabled and that have been changed since the previous auto-save.
If any buffers are auto-saved, do-auto-save normally displays a message saying
‘Auto-saving...’ in the echo area while auto-saving is going on. However, if no-
message is non-nil, the message is inhibited.
If current-only is non-nil, only the current buffer is auto-saved.

delete-auto-save-file-if-necessary &optional force [Function]

This function deletes the current buffer’s auto-save file if delete-auto-save-files
is non-nil. It is called every time a buffer is saved.
Unless force is non-nil, this function only deletes the file if it was written by the
current Emacs session since the last true save.
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 577

delete-auto-save-files [User Option]

This variable is used by the function delete-auto-save-file-if-necessary. If it
is non-nil, Emacs deletes auto-save files when a true save is done (in the visited file).
This saves disk space and unclutters your directory.

rename-auto-save-file [Function]
This function adjusts the current buffer’s auto-save file name if the visited file name
has changed. It also renames an existing auto-save file, if it was made in the current
Emacs session. If the visited file name has not changed, this function does nothing.

buffer-saved-size [Variable]
The value of this buffer-local variable is the length of the current buffer, when it was
last read in, saved, or auto-saved. This is used to detect a substantial decrease in
size, and turn off auto-saving in response.
If it is −1, that means auto-saving is temporarily shut off in this buffer due to a
substantial decrease in size. Explicitly saving the buffer stores a positive value in this
variable, thus reenabling auto-saving. Turning auto-save mode off or on also updates
this variable, so that the substantial decrease in size is forgotten.
If it is −2, that means this buffer should disregard changes in buffer size; in particular,
it should not shut off auto-saving temporarily due to changes in buffer size.

auto-save-list-file-name [Variable]
This variable (if non-nil) specifies a file for recording the names of all the auto-save
files. Each time Emacs does auto-saving, it writes two lines into this file for each
buffer that has auto-saving enabled. The first line gives the name of the visited file
(it’s empty if the buffer has none), and the second gives the name of the auto-save
file.
When Emacs exits normally, it deletes this file; if Emacs crashes, you can look in the
file to find all the auto-save files that might contain work that was otherwise lost.
The recover-session command uses this file to find them.
The default name for this file specifies your home directory and starts with ‘.saves-’.
It also contains the Emacs process ID and the host name.

auto-save-list-file-prefix [User Option]

After Emacs reads your init file, it initializes auto-save-list-file-name (if you
have not already set it non-nil) based on this prefix, adding the host name and
process ID. If you set this to nil in your init file, then Emacs does not initialize
auto-save-list-file-name.

26.3 Reverting
If you have made extensive changes to a file and then change your mind about them, you
can get rid of them by reading in the previous version of the file with the revert-buffer
command. See Section “Reverting a Buffer” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

revert-buffer &optional ignore-auto noconfirm preserve-modes [Command]

This command replaces the buffer text with the text of the visited file on disk. This
action undoes all changes since the file was visited or saved.
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 578

By default, if the latest auto-save file is more recent than the visited file, and the
argument ignore-auto is nil, revert-buffer asks the user whether to use that auto-
save instead. When you invoke this command interactively, ignore-auto is t if there is
no numeric prefix argument; thus, the interactive default is not to check the auto-save
file.
Normally, revert-buffer asks for confirmation before it changes the buffer; but if
the argument noconfirm is non-nil, revert-buffer does not ask for confirmation.
Normally, this command reinitializes the buffer’s major and minor modes using
normal-mode. But if preserve-modes is non-nil, the modes remain unchanged.
Reverting tries to preserve marker positions in the buffer by using the replacement
feature of insert-file-contents. If the buffer contents and the file contents are
identical before the revert operation, reverting preserves all the markers. If they are
not identical, reverting does change the buffer; in that case, it preserves the markers
in the unchanged text (if any) at the beginning and end of the buffer. Preserving any
additional markers would be problematical.
revert-buffer-in-progress-p [Variable]
revert-buffer binds this variable to a non-nil value while it is working.
You can customize how revert-buffer does its work by setting the variables described
in the rest of this section.
revert-without-query [User Option]
This variable holds a list of files that should be reverted without query. The value
is a list of regular expressions. If the visited file name matches one of these regular
expressions, and the file has changed on disk but the buffer is not modified, then
revert-buffer reverts the file without asking the user for confirmation.
Some major modes customize revert-buffer by making buffer-local bindings for these
variables:
revert-buffer-function [Variable]
The value of this variable is the function to use to revert this buffer. It should be a
function with two optional arguments to do the work of reverting. The two optional
arguments, ignore-auto and noconfirm, are the arguments that revert-buffer re-
ceived.
Modes such as Dired mode, in which the text being edited does not consist of a
file’s contents but can be regenerated in some other fashion, can give this variable a
buffer-local value that is a special function to regenerate the contents.
revert-buffer-insert-file-contents-function [Variable]
The value of this variable specifies the function to use to insert the updated contents
when reverting this buffer. The function receives two arguments: first the file name
to use; second, t if the user has asked to read the auto-save file.
The reason for a mode to change this variable instead of revert-buffer-function
is to avoid duplicating or replacing the rest of what revert-buffer does: asking for
confirmation, clearing the undo list, deciding the proper major mode, and running
the hooks listed below.
Chapter 26: Backups and Auto-Saving 579

before-revert-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run by the default revert-buffer-function before inserting
the modified contents. A custom revert-buffer-function may or may not run this
hook.
after-revert-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run by the default revert-buffer-function after inserting the
modified contents. A custom revert-buffer-function may or may not run this
hook.
Emacs can revert buffers automatically. It does that by default for buffers visiting files.
The following describes how to add support for auto-reverting new types of buffers.
First, such buffers must have a suitable revert-buffer-function and buffer-stale-
function defined.
buffer-stale-function [Variable]
The value of this variable specifies a function to call to check whether a buffer needs
reverting. The default value only handles buffers that are visiting files, by checking
their modification time. Buffers that are not visiting files require a custom function
of one optional argument noconfirm. The function should return non-nil if the buffer
should be reverted. The buffer is current when this function is called.
While this function is mainly intended for use in auto-reverting, it could be used for
other purposes as well. For instance, if auto-reverting is not enabled, it could be
used to warn the user that the buffer needs reverting. The idea behind the noconfirm
argument is that it should be t if the buffer is going to be reverted without asking the
user and nil if the function is just going to be used to warn the user that the buffer
is out of date. In particular, for use in auto-reverting, noconfirm is t. If the function
is only going to be used for auto-reverting, you can ignore the noconfirm argument.
If you just want to automatically auto-revert every auto-revert-interval seconds
(like the Buffer Menu), use:
(setq-local buffer-stale-function
#'(lambda (&optional noconfirm) 'fast))
in the buffer’s mode function.
The special return value ‘fast’ tells the caller that the need for reverting was not
checked, but that reverting the buffer is fast. It also tells Auto Revert not to print
any revert messages, even if auto-revert-verbose is non-nil. This is important, as
getting revert messages every auto-revert-interval seconds can be very annoying.
The information provided by this return value could also be useful if the function is
consulted for purposes other than auto-reverting.
Once the buffer has a suitable revert-buffer-function and buffer-stale-function,
several problems usually remain.
The buffer will only auto-revert if it is marked unmodified. Hence, you will have to make
sure that various functions mark the buffer modified if and only if either the buffer contains
information that might be lost by reverting, or there is reason to believe that the user might
be inconvenienced by auto-reverting, because he is actively working on the buffer. The user
can always override this by manually adjusting the modified status of the buffer. To support
 580

this, calling the revert-buffer-function on a buffer that is marked unmodified should

always keep the buffer marked unmodified.
It is important to assure that point does not continuously jump around as a consequence
of auto-reverting. Of course, moving point might be inevitable if the buffer radically changes.
You should make sure that the revert-buffer-function does not print messages that
unnecessarily duplicate Auto Revert’s own messages, displayed if auto-revert-verbose is
t, and effectively override a nil value for auto-revert-verbose. Hence, adapting a mode
for auto-reverting often involves getting rid of such messages. This is especially important
for buffers that automatically revert every auto-revert-interval seconds.
If the new auto-reverting is part of Emacs, you should mention it in the documentation
string of global-auto-revert-non-file-buffers.
Similarly, you should document the additions in the Emacs manual.
 581

27 Buffers
A buffer is a Lisp object containing text to be edited. Buffers are used to hold the contents
of files that are being visited; there may also be buffers that are not visiting files. While
several buffers may exist at one time, only one buffer is designated the current buffer at
any time. Most editing commands act on the contents of the current buffer. Each buffer,
including the current buffer, may or may not be displayed in any windows.

27.1 Buffer Basics

Buffers in Emacs editing are objects that have distinct names and hold text that can be
edited. Buffers appear to Lisp programs as a special data type. You can think of the
contents of a buffer as a string that you can extend; insertions and deletions may occur in
any part of the buffer. See Chapter 32 [Text], page 765.
A Lisp buffer object contains numerous pieces of information. Some of this information
is directly accessible to the programmer through variables, while other information is acces-
sible only through special-purpose functions. For example, the visited file name is directly
accessible through a variable, while the value of point is accessible only through a primitive
function.
Buffer-specific information that is directly accessible is stored in buffer-local variable
bindings, which are variable values that are effective only in a particular buffer. This feature
allows each buffer to override the values of certain variables. Most major modes override
variables such as fill-column or comment-column in this way. For more information
about buffer-local variables and functions related to them, see Section 12.11 [Buffer-Local
Variables], page 185.
For functions and variables related to visiting files in buffers, see Section 25.1 [Visiting
Files], page 521, and Section 25.2 [Saving Buffers], page 525. For functions and variables
related to the display of buffers in windows, see Section 28.11 [Buffers and Windows],
page 626.
bufferp object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a buffer, nil otherwise.

27.2 The Current Buffer

There are, in general, many buffers in an Emacs session. At any time, one of them is
designated the current buffer—the buffer in which most editing takes place. Most of the
primitives for examining or changing text operate implicitly on the current buffer (see
Chapter 32 [Text], page 765).
Normally, the buffer displayed in the selected window is the current buffer, but this is
not always so: a Lisp program can temporarily designate any buffer as current in order to
operate on its contents, without changing what is displayed on the screen. The most basic
function for designating a current buffer is set-buffer.
current-buffer [Function]
This function returns the current buffer.
(current-buffer)
⇒ #<buffer buffers.texi>
Chapter 27: Buffers 582

set-buffer buffer-or-name [Function]

This function makes buffer-or-name the current buffer. buffer-or-name must be an
existing buffer or the name of an existing buffer. The return value is the buffer made
current.
This function does not display the buffer in any window, so the user cannot necessarily
see the buffer. But Lisp programs will now operate on it.

When an editing command returns to the editor command loop, Emacs automatically
calls set-buffer on the buffer shown in the selected window. This is to prevent confusion:
it ensures that the buffer that the cursor is in, when Emacs reads a command, is the buffer
to which that command applies (see Chapter 21 [Command Loop], page 368). Thus, you
should not use set-buffer to switch visibly to a different buffer; for that, use the functions
described in Section 28.12 [Switching Buffers], page 628.
When writing a Lisp function, do not rely on this behavior of the command loop to
restore the current buffer after an operation. Editing commands can also be called as Lisp
functions by other programs, not just from the command loop; it is convenient for the caller
if the subroutine does not change which buffer is current (unless, of course, that is the
subroutine’s purpose).
To operate temporarily on another buffer, put the set-buffer within a save-current-
buffer form. Here, as an example, is a simplified version of the command append-to-
buffer:
(defun append-to-buffer (buffer start end)
"Append the text of the region to BUFFER."
(interactive "BAppend to buffer: \nr")
(let ((oldbuf (current-buffer)))
(save-current-buffer
(set-buffer (get-buffer-create buffer))
(insert-buffer-substring oldbuf start end))))
Here, we bind a local variable to record the current buffer, and then save-current-buffer
arranges to make it current again later. Next, set-buffer makes the specified buffer
current, and insert-buffer-substring copies the string from the original buffer to the
specified (and now current) buffer.
Alternatively, we can use the with-current-buffer macro:
(defun append-to-buffer (buffer start end)
"Append the text of the region to BUFFER."
(interactive "BAppend to buffer: \nr")
(let ((oldbuf (current-buffer)))
(with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create buffer)
(insert-buffer-substring oldbuf start end))))
In either case, if the buffer appended to happens to be displayed in some window, the
next redisplay will show how its text has changed. If it is not displayed in any window,
you will not see the change immediately on the screen. The command causes the buffer to
become current temporarily, but does not cause it to be displayed.
If you make local bindings (with let or function arguments) for a variable that may
also have buffer-local bindings, make sure that the same buffer is current at the beginning
Chapter 27: Buffers 583

and at the end of the local binding’s scope. Otherwise you might bind it in one buffer and
unbind it in another!
Do not rely on using set-buffer to change the current buffer back, because that won’t
do the job if a quit happens while the wrong buffer is current. For instance, in the previous
example, it would have been wrong to do this:
(let ((oldbuf (current-buffer)))
(set-buffer (get-buffer-create buffer))
(insert-buffer-substring oldbuf start end)
(set-buffer oldbuf))
Using save-current-buffer or with-current-buffer, as we did, correctly handles quit-
ting, errors, and throw, as well as ordinary evaluation.

save-current-buffer body. . . [Special Form]

The save-current-buffer special form saves the identity of the current buffer, eval-
uates the body forms, and finally restores that buffer as current. The return value is
the value of the last form in body. The current buffer is restored even in case of an
abnormal exit via throw or error (see Section 11.7 [Nonlocal Exits], page 158).
If the buffer that used to be current has been killed by the time of exit from
save-current-buffer, then it is not made current again, of course. Instead,
whichever buffer was current just before exit remains current.

with-current-buffer buffer-or-name body. . . [Macro]

The with-current-buffer macro saves the identity of the current buffer, makes
buffer-or-name current, evaluates the body forms, and finally restores the current
buffer. buffer-or-name must specify an existing buffer or the name of an existing
buffer.
The return value is the value of the last form in body. The current buffer is restored
even in case of an abnormal exit via throw or error (see Section 11.7 [Nonlocal Exits],
page 158).

with-temp-buffer body. . . [Macro]

The with-temp-buffer macro evaluates the body forms with a temporary buffer as
the current buffer. It saves the identity of the current buffer, creates a temporary
buffer and makes it current, evaluates the body forms, and finally restores the previous
current buffer while killing the temporary buffer. By default, undo information (see
Section 32.9 [Undo], page 781) is not recorded in the buffer created by this macro
(but body can enable that, if needed).
The return value is the value of the last form in body. You can return the contents
of the temporary buffer by using (buffer-string) as the last form.
The current buffer is restored even in case of an abnormal exit via throw or error (see
Section 11.7 [Nonlocal Exits], page 158).
See also with-temp-file in [Writing to Files], page 530.
Chapter 27: Buffers 584

27.3 Buffer Names

Each buffer has a unique name, which is a string. Many of the functions that work on
buffers accept either a buffer or a buffer name as an argument. Any argument called buffer-
or-name is of this sort, and an error is signaled if it is neither a string nor a buffer. Any
argument called buffer must be an actual buffer object, not a name.
Buffers that are ephemeral and generally uninteresting to the user have names starting
with a space, so that the list-buffers and buffer-menu commands don’t mention them
(but if such a buffer visits a file, it is mentioned). A name starting with space also initially
disables recording undo information; see Section 32.9 [Undo], page 781.
buffer-name &optional buffer [Function]
This function returns the name of buffer as a string. buffer defaults to the current
buffer.
If buffer-name returns nil, it means that buffer has been killed. See Section 27.10
[Killing Buffers], page 594.
(buffer-name)
⇒ "buffers.texi"

(setq foo (get-buffer "temp"))

⇒ #<buffer temp>
(kill-buffer foo)
⇒ nil
(buffer-name foo)
⇒ nil
foo
⇒ #<killed buffer>
rename-buffer newname &optional unique [Command]
This function renames the current buffer to newname. An error is signaled if newname
is not a string.
Ordinarily, rename-buffer signals an error if newname is already in use. However,
if unique is non-nil, it modifies newname to make a name that is not in use. Inter-
actively, you can make unique non-nil with a numeric prefix argument. (This is how
the command rename-uniquely is implemented.)
This function returns the name actually given to the buffer.
get-buffer buffer-or-name [Function]
This function returns the buffer specified by buffer-or-name. If buffer-or-name is a
string and there is no buffer with that name, the value is nil. If buffer-or-name is
a buffer, it is returned as given; that is not very useful, so the argument is usually a
name. For example:
(setq b (get-buffer "lewis"))
⇒ #<buffer lewis>
(get-buffer b)
⇒ #<buffer lewis>
(get-buffer "Frazzle-nots")
⇒ nil
Chapter 27: Buffers 585

See also the function get-buffer-create in Section 27.9 [Creating Buffers], page 593.
generate-new-buffer-name starting-name &optional ignore [Function]
This function returns a name that would be unique for a new buffer—but does not
create the buffer. It starts with starting-name, and produces a name not currently in
use for any buffer by appending a number inside of ‘<...>’. It starts at 2 and keeps
incrementing the number until it is not the name of an existing buffer.
If the optional second argument ignore is non-nil, it should be a string, a potential
buffer name. It means to consider that potential buffer acceptable, if it is tried, even
it is the name of an existing buffer (which would normally be rejected). Thus, if
buffers named ‘foo’, ‘foo<2>’, ‘foo<3>’ and ‘foo<4>’ exist,
(generate-new-buffer-name "foo")
⇒ "foo<5>"
(generate-new-buffer-name "foo" "foo<3>")
⇒ "foo<3>"
(generate-new-buffer-name "foo" "foo<6>")
⇒ "foo<5>"
See the related function generate-new-buffer in Section 27.9 [Creating Buffers],
page 593.

27.4 Buffer File Name

The buffer file name is the name of the file that is visited in that buffer. When a buffer is
not visiting a file, its buffer file name is nil. Most of the time, the buffer name is the same
as the nondirectory part of the buffer file name, but the buffer file name and the buffer
name are distinct and can be set independently. See Section 25.1 [Visiting Files], page 521.
buffer-file-name &optional buffer [Function]
This function returns the absolute file name of the file that buffer is visiting. If buffer
is not visiting any file, buffer-file-name returns nil. If buffer is not supplied, it
defaults to the current buffer.
(buffer-file-name (other-buffer))
⇒ "/usr/user/lewis/manual/files.texi"
buffer-file-name [Variable]
This buffer-local variable contains the name of the file being visited in the current
buffer, or nil if it is not visiting a file. It is a permanent local variable, unaffected
by kill-all-local-variables.
buffer-file-name
⇒ "/usr/user/lewis/manual/buffers.texi"
It is risky to change this variable’s value without doing various other things. Normally
it is better to use set-visited-file-name (see below); some of the things done there,
such as changing the buffer name, are not strictly necessary, but others are essential
to avoid confusing Emacs.
buffer-file-truename [Variable]
This buffer-local variable holds the abbreviated truename of the file visited in the cur-
rent buffer, or nil if no file is visited. It is a permanent local, unaffected by kill-all-
Chapter 27: Buffers 586

local-variables. See Section 25.6.3 [Truenames], page 535, and [abbreviate-file-

name], page 550.

buffer-file-number [Variable]
This buffer-local variable holds the file number and directory device number of the
file visited in the current buffer, or nil if no file or a nonexistent file is visited. It is
a permanent local, unaffected by kill-all-local-variables.
The value is normally a list of the form (filenum devnum). This pair of numbers
uniquely identifies the file among all files accessible on the system. See the function
file-attributes, in Section 25.6.4 [File Attributes], page 536, for more information
about them.
If buffer-file-name is the name of a symbolic link, then both numbers refer to the
recursive target.

get-file-buffer filename [Function]

This function returns the buffer visiting file filename. If there is no such buffer,
it returns nil. The argument filename, which must be a string, is expanded (see
Section 25.9.4 [File Name Expansion], page 550), then compared against the visited
file names of all live buffers. Note that the buffer’s buffer-file-name must match
the expansion of filename exactly. This function will not recognize other names for
the same file.
(get-file-buffer "buffers.texi")
⇒ #<buffer buffers.texi>
In unusual circumstances, there can be more than one buffer visiting the same file
name. In such cases, this function returns the first such buffer in the buffer list.

find-buffer-visiting filename &optional predicate [Function]

This is like get-file-buffer, except that it can return any buffer visiting the file
possibly under a different name. That is, the buffer’s buffer-file-name does not
need to match the expansion of filename exactly, it only needs to refer to the same
file. If predicate is non-nil, it should be a function of one argument, a buffer visiting
filename. The buffer is only considered a suitable return value if predicate returns
non-nil. If it can not find a suitable buffer to return, find-buffer-visiting returns
nil.

set-visited-file-name filename &optional no-query [Command]

along-with-file
If filename is a non-empty string, this function changes the name of the file visited
in the current buffer to filename. (If the buffer had no visited file, this gives it one.)
The next time the buffer is saved it will go in the newly-specified file.
This command marks the buffer as modified, since it does not (as far as Emacs
knows) match the contents of filename, even if it matched the former visited file. It
also renames the buffer to correspond to the new file name, unless the new name is
already in use.
If filename is nil or the empty string, that stands for “no visited file”. In this case,
set-visited-file-name marks the buffer as having no visited file, without changing
the buffer’s modified flag.
Chapter 27: Buffers 587

Normally, this function asks the user for confirmation if there already is a buffer
visiting filename. If no-query is non-nil, that prevents asking this question. If there
already is a buffer visiting filename, and the user confirms or no-query is non-nil,
this function makes the new buffer name unique by appending a number inside of
‘<...>’ to filename.
If along-with-file is non-nil, that means to assume that the former visited file has
been renamed to filename. In this case, the command does not change the buffer’s
modified flag, nor the buffer’s recorded last file modification time as reported by
visited-file-modtime (see Section 27.6 [Modification Time], page 588). If along-
with-file is nil, this function clears the recorded last file modification time, after
which visited-file-modtime returns zero.
When the function set-visited-file-name is called interactively, it prompts for
filename in the minibuffer.
list-buffers-directory [Variable]
This buffer-local variable specifies a string to display in a buffer listing where the
visited file name would go, for buffers that don’t have a visited file name. Dired
buffers use this variable.

27.5 Buffer Modification

Emacs keeps a flag called the modified flag for each buffer, to record whether you have
changed the text of the buffer. This flag is set to t whenever you alter the contents of the
buffer, and cleared to nil when you save it. Thus, the flag shows whether there are unsaved
changes. The flag value is normally shown in the mode line (see Section 23.4.4 [Mode Line
Variables], page 479), and controls saving (see Section 25.2 [Saving Buffers], page 525) and
auto-saving (see Section 26.2 [Auto-Saving], page 574).
Some Lisp programs set the flag explicitly. For example, the function set-visited-
file-name sets the flag to t, because the text does not match the newly-visited file, even
if it is unchanged from the file formerly visited.
The functions that modify the contents of buffers are described in Chapter 32 [Text],
page 765.
buffer-modified-p &optional buffer [Function]
This function returns t if the buffer buffer has been modified since it was last read
in from a file or saved, or nil otherwise. If buffer is not supplied, the current buffer
is tested.
set-buffer-modified-p flag [Function]
This function marks the current buffer as modified if flag is non-nil, or as unmodified
if the flag is nil.
Another effect of calling this function is to cause unconditional redisplay of the mode
line for the current buffer. In fact, the function force-mode-line-update works by
doing this:
(set-buffer-modified-p (buffer-modified-p))
restore-buffer-modified-p flag [Function]
Like set-buffer-modified-p, but does not force redisplay of mode lines.
Chapter 27: Buffers 588

not-modified &optional arg [Command]

This command marks the current buffer as unmodified, and not needing to be saved.
If arg is non-nil, it marks the buffer as modified, so that it will be saved at the next
suitable occasion. Interactively, arg is the prefix argument.
Don’t use this function in programs, since it prints a message in the echo area; use
set-buffer-modified-p (above) instead.

buffer-modified-tick &optional buffer [Function]

This function returns buffer’s modification-count. This is a counter that increments
every time the buffer is modified. If buffer is nil (or omitted), the current buffer is
used. The counter can wrap around occasionally.

buffer-chars-modified-tick &optional buffer [Function]

This function returns buffer’s character-change modification-count. Changes to text
properties leave this counter unchanged; however, each time text is inserted or re-
moved from the buffer, the counter is reset to the value that would be returned by
buffer-modified-tick. By comparing the values returned by two buffer-chars-
modified-tick calls, you can tell whether a character change occurred in that buffer
in between the calls. If buffer is nil (or omitted), the current buffer is used.

Sometimes there’s a need for modifying buffer in a way that doesn’t really change its text,
like if only its text properties are changed. If your program needs to modify a buffer without
triggering any hooks and features that react to buffer modifications, use the with-silent-
modifications macro.

with-silent-modifications body. . . [Macro]

Execute body pretending it does not modify the buffer. This includes checking
whether the buffer’s file is locked (see Section 25.5 [File Locks], page 530), running
buffer modification hooks (see Section 32.30 [Change Hooks], page 832), etc. Note
that if body actually modifies the buffer text, its undo data may become corrupted.

27.6 Buffer Modification Time

Suppose that you visit a file and make changes in its buffer, and meanwhile the file itself is
changed on disk. At this point, saving the buffer would overwrite the changes in the file.
Occasionally this may be what you want, but usually it would lose valuable information.
Emacs therefore checks the file’s modification time using the functions described below
before saving the file. (See Section 25.6.4 [File Attributes], page 536, for how to examine a
file’s modification time.)

verify-visited-file-modtime &optional buffer [Function]

This function compares what buffer (by default, the current-buffer) has recorded for
the modification time of its visited file against the actual modification time of the file
as recorded by the operating system. The two should be the same unless some other
process has written the file since Emacs visited or saved it.
The function returns t if the last actual modification time and Emacs’s recorded
modification time are the same, nil otherwise. It also returns t if the buffer has no
recorded last modification time, that is if visited-file-modtime would return zero.
Chapter 27: Buffers 589

It always returns t for buffers that are not visiting a file, even if visited-file-
modtime returns a non-zero value. For instance, it always returns t for dired buffers.
It returns t for buffers that are visiting a file that does not exist and never existed,
but nil for file-visiting buffers whose file has been deleted.
clear-visited-file-modtime [Function]
This function clears out the record of the last modification time of the file being
visited by the current buffer. As a result, the next attempt to save this buffer will
not complain of a discrepancy in file modification times.
This function is called in set-visited-file-name and other exceptional places where
the usual test to avoid overwriting a changed file should not be done.
visited-file-modtime [Function]
This function returns the current buffer’s recorded last file modification time, as
a list of the form (high low microsec picosec). (This is the same format that
file-attributes uses to return time values; see Section 25.6.4 [File Attributes],
page 536.)
If the buffer has no recorded last modification time, this function returns zero. This
case occurs, for instance, if the buffer is not visiting a file or if the time has been explic-
itly cleared by clear-visited-file-modtime. Note, however, that visited-file-
modtime returns a list for some non-file buffers too. For instance, in a Dired buffer
listing a directory, it returns the last modification time of that directory, as recorded
by Dired.
If the buffer is visiting a file that doesn’t exist, this function returns −1.
set-visited-file-modtime &optional time [Function]
This function updates the buffer’s record of the last modification time of the visited
file, to the value specified by time if time is not nil, and otherwise to the last
modification time of the visited file.
If time is neither nil nor an integer flag returned by visited-file-modtime,
it should have the form (high low microsec picosec), the format used by
current-time (see Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086).
This function is useful if the buffer was not read from the file normally, or if the file
itself has been changed for some known benign reason.
ask-user-about-supersession-threat filename [Function]
This function is used to ask a user how to proceed after an attempt to modify a buffer
visiting file filename when the file is newer than the buffer text. Emacs detects this
because the modification time of the file on disk is newer than the last save-time and
its contents have changed. This means some other program has probably altered the
file.
Depending on the user’s answer, the function may return normally, in which case the
modification of the buffer proceeds, or it may signal a file-supersession error with
data (filename), in which case the proposed buffer modification is not allowed.
This function is called automatically by Emacs on the proper occasions. It exists so
you can customize Emacs by redefining it. See the file userlock.el for the standard
definition.
Chapter 27: Buffers 590

See also the file locking mechanism in Section 25.5 [File Locks], page 530.

27.7 Read-Only Buffers

If a buffer is read-only, then you cannot change its contents, although you may change your
view of the contents by scrolling and narrowing.
Read-only buffers are used in two kinds of situations:
• A buffer visiting a write-protected file is normally read-only.
Here, the purpose is to inform the user that editing the buffer with the aim of saving it
in the file may be futile or undesirable. The user who wants to change the buffer text
despite this can do so after clearing the read-only flag with C-x C-q.
• Modes such as Dired and Rmail make buffers read-only when altering the contents with
the usual editing commands would probably be a mistake.
The special commands of these modes bind buffer-read-only to nil (with let) or
bind inhibit-read-only to t around the places where they themselves change the
text.
buffer-read-only [Variable]
This buffer-local variable specifies whether the buffer is read-only. The buffer is read-
only if this variable is non-nil. However, characters that have the inhibit-read-
only text property can still be modified. See Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties],
page 808.
inhibit-read-only [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, then read-only buffers and, depending on the actual value,
some or all read-only characters may be modified. Read-only characters in a buffer
are those that have a non-nil read-only text property. See Section 32.19.4 [Special
Properties], page 808, for more information about text properties.
If inhibit-read-only is t, all read-only character properties have no effect. If
inhibit-read-only is a list, then read-only character properties have no effect if
they are members of the list (comparison is done with eq).
read-only-mode &optional arg [Command]
This is the mode command for Read Only minor mode, a buffer-local minor mode.
When the mode is enabled, buffer-read-only is non-nil in the buffer; when dis-
abled, buffer-read-only is nil in the buffer. The calling convention is the same
as for other minor mode commands (see Section 23.3.1 [Minor Mode Conventions],
page 471).
This minor mode mainly serves as a wrapper for buffer-read-only; unlike most
minor modes, there is no separate read-only-mode variable. Even when Read Only
mode is disabled, characters with non-nil read-only text properties remain read-
only. To temporarily ignore all read-only states, bind inhibit-read-only, as de-
scribed above.
When enabling Read Only mode, this mode command also enables View mode if the
option view-read-only is non-nil. See Section “Miscellaneous Buffer Operations”
in The GNU Emacs Manual. When disabling Read Only mode, it disables View mode
if View mode was enabled.
Chapter 27: Buffers 591

barf-if-buffer-read-only &optional position [Function]

This function signals a buffer-read-only error if the current buffer is read-only.
If the text at position (which defaults to point) has the inhibit-read-only text
property set, the error will not be raised.
See Section 21.2.1 [Using Interactive], page 369, for another way to signal an error if
the current buffer is read-only.

27.8 The Buffer List

The buffer list is a list of all live buffers. The order of the buffers in this list is based
primarily on how recently each buffer has been displayed in a window. Several functions,
notably other-buffer, use this ordering. A buffer list displayed for the user also follows
this order.
Creating a buffer adds it to the end of the buffer list, and killing a buffer removes it
from that list. A buffer moves to the front of this list whenever it is chosen for display
in a window (see Section 28.12 [Switching Buffers], page 628) or a window displaying it is
selected (see Section 28.9 [Selecting Windows], page 622). A buffer moves to the end of the
list when it is buried (see bury-buffer, below). There are no functions available to the
Lisp programmer which directly manipulate the buffer list.
In addition to the fundamental buffer list just described, Emacs maintains a local buffer
list for each frame, in which the buffers that have been displayed (or had their windows
selected) in that frame come first. (This order is recorded in the frame’s buffer-list frame
parameter; see Section 29.4.3.5 [Buffer Parameters], page 708.) Buffers never displayed in
that frame come afterward, ordered according to the fundamental buffer list.

buffer-list &optional frame [Function]

This function returns the buffer list, including all buffers, even those whose names
begin with a space. The elements are actual buffers, not their names.
If frame is a frame, this returns frame’s local buffer list. If frame is nil or omitted,
the fundamental buffer list is used: the buffers appear in order of most recent display
or selection, regardless of which frames they were displayed on.
(buffer-list)
⇒ (#<buffer buffers.texi>
#<buffer *Minibuf-1*> #<buffer buffer.c>
#<buffer *Help*> #<buffer TAGS>)

;; Note that the name of the minibuffer

;; begins with a space!
(mapcar (function buffer-name) (buffer-list))
⇒ ("buffers.texi" " *Minibuf-1*"
"buffer.c" "*Help*" "TAGS")

The list returned by buffer-list is constructed specifically; it is not an internal Emacs

data structure, and modifying it has no effect on the order of buffers. If you want to change
the order of buffers in the fundamental buffer list, here is an easy way:
(defun reorder-buffer-list (new-list)
Chapter 27: Buffers 592

(while new-list
(bury-buffer (car new-list))
(setq new-list (cdr new-list))))
With this method, you can specify any order for the list, but there is no danger of losing
a buffer or adding something that is not a valid live buffer.
To change the order or value of a specific frame’s buffer list, set that frame’s
buffer-list parameter with modify-frame-parameters (see Section 29.4.1 [Parameter
Access], page 700).

other-buffer &optional buffer visible-ok frame [Function]

This function returns the first buffer in the buffer list other than buffer. Usually,
this is the buffer appearing in the most recently selected window (in frame frame or
else the selected frame, see Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720), aside from buffer.
Buffers whose names start with a space are not considered at all.
If buffer is not supplied (or if it is not a live buffer), then other-buffer returns the
first buffer in the selected frame’s local buffer list. (If frame is non-nil, it returns the
first buffer in frame’s local buffer list instead.)
If frame has a non-nil buffer-predicate parameter, then other-buffer uses that
predicate to decide which buffers to consider. It calls the predicate once for each
buffer, and if the value is nil, that buffer is ignored. See Section 29.4.3.5 [Buffer
Parameters], page 708.
If visible-ok is nil, other-buffer avoids returning a buffer visible in any window on
any visible frame, except as a last resort. If visible-ok is non-nil, then it does not
matter whether a buffer is displayed somewhere or not.
If no suitable buffer exists, the buffer *scratch* is returned (and created, if neces-
sary).

last-buffer &optional buffer visible-ok frame [Function]

This function returns the last buffer in frame’s buffer list other than buffer. If frame
is omitted or nil, it uses the selected frame’s buffer list.
The argument visible-ok is handled as with other-buffer, see above. If no suitable
buffer can be found, the buffer *scratch* is returned.

bury-buffer &optional buffer-or-name [Command]

This command puts buffer-or-name at the end of the buffer list, without changing
the order of any of the other buffers on the list. This buffer therefore becomes the
least desirable candidate for other-buffer to return. The argument can be either a
buffer itself or the name of one.
This function operates on each frame’s buffer-list parameter as well as the funda-
mental buffer list; therefore, the buffer that you bury will come last in the value of
(buffer-list frame) and in the value of (buffer-list). In addition, it also puts
the buffer at the end of the list of buffers of the selected window (see Section 28.14
[Window History], page 649) provided it is shown in that window.
If buffer-or-name is nil or omitted, this means to bury the current buffer. In addition,
if the current buffer is displayed in the selected window, this makes sure that the
window is either deleted or another buffer is shown in it. More precisely, if the selected
Chapter 27: Buffers 593

window is dedicated (see Section 28.15 [Dedicated Windows], page 650) and there are
other windows on its frame, the window is deleted. If it is the only window on its
frame and that frame is not the only frame on its terminal, the frame is dismissed
by calling the function specified by frame-auto-hide-function (see Section 28.16
[Quitting Windows], page 651). Otherwise, it calls switch-to-prev-buffer (see
Section 28.14 [Window History], page 649) to show another buffer in that window. If
buffer-or-name is displayed in some other window, it remains displayed there.
To replace a buffer in all the windows that display it, use replace-buffer-in-
windows, See Section 28.11 [Buffers and Windows], page 626.
unbury-buffer [Command]
This command switches to the last buffer in the local buffer list of the selected frame.
More precisely, it calls the function switch-to-buffer (see Section 28.12 [Switching
Buffers], page 628), to display the buffer returned by last-buffer (see above), in the
selected window.
buffer-list-update-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook run whenever the buffer list changes. Functions (implicitly)
running this hook are get-buffer-create (see Section 27.9 [Creating Buffers],
page 593), rename-buffer (see Section 27.3 [Buffer Names], page 584), kill-buffer
(see Section 27.10 [Killing Buffers], page 594), bury-buffer (see above) and
select-window (see Section 28.9 [Selecting Windows], page 622).
Functions run by this hook should avoid calling select-window with a nil norecord
argument or with-temp-buffer since either may lead to infinite recursion.

27.9 Creating Buffers

This section describes the two primitives for creating buffers. get-buffer-create creates
a buffer if it finds no existing buffer with the specified name; generate-new-buffer always
creates a new buffer and gives it a unique name.
Other functions you can use to create buffers include with-output-to-temp-buffer (see
Section 39.8 [Temporary Displays], page 981) and create-file-buffer (see Section 25.1
[Visiting Files], page 521). Starting a subprocess can also create a buffer (see Chapter 38
[Processes], page 919).
get-buffer-create buffer-or-name [Function]
This function returns a buffer named buffer-or-name. The buffer returned does not
become the current buffer—this function does not change which buffer is current.
buffer-or-name must be either a string or an existing buffer. If it is a string and a
live buffer with that name already exists, get-buffer-create returns that buffer. If
no such buffer exists, it creates a new buffer. If buffer-or-name is a buffer instead of
a string, it is returned as given, even if it is dead.
(get-buffer-create "foo")
⇒ #<buffer foo>
The major mode for a newly created buffer is set to Fundamental mode. (The default
value of the variable major-mode is handled at a higher level; see Section 23.2.2 [Auto
Major Mode], page 459.) If the name begins with a space, the buffer initially disables
undo information recording (see Section 32.9 [Undo], page 781).
Chapter 27: Buffers 594

generate-new-buffer name [Function]

This function returns a newly created, empty buffer, but does not make it current.
The name of the buffer is generated by passing name to the function generate-new-
buffer-name (see Section 27.3 [Buffer Names], page 584). Thus, if there is no buffer
named name, then that is the name of the new buffer; if that name is in use, a suffix
of the form ‘<n>’, where n is an integer, is appended to name.
An error is signaled if name is not a string.
(generate-new-buffer "bar")
⇒ #<buffer bar>
(generate-new-buffer "bar")
⇒ #<buffer bar<2>>
(generate-new-buffer "bar")
⇒ #<buffer bar<3>>
The major mode for the new buffer is set to Fundamental mode. The default value of
the variable major-mode is handled at a higher level. See Section 23.2.2 [Auto Major
Mode], page 459.

27.10 Killing Buffers

Killing a buffer makes its name unknown to Emacs and makes the memory space it occupied
available for other use.
The buffer object for the buffer that has been killed remains in existence as long as
anything refers to it, but it is specially marked so that you cannot make it current or
display it. Killed buffers retain their identity, however; if you kill two distinct buffers, they
remain distinct according to eq although both are dead.
If you kill a buffer that is current or displayed in a window, Emacs automatically selects
or displays some other buffer instead. This means that killing a buffer can change the
current buffer. Therefore, when you kill a buffer, you should also take the precautions
associated with changing the current buffer (unless you happen to know that the buffer
being killed isn’t current). See Section 27.2 [Current Buffer], page 581.
If you kill a buffer that is the base buffer of one or more indirect buffers, the indirect
buffers are automatically killed as well.
The buffer-name of a buffer is nil if, and only if, the buffer is killed. A buffer that
has not been killed is called a live buffer. To test whether a buffer is live or killed, use the
function buffer-live-p (see below).

kill-buffer &optional buffer-or-name [Command]

This function kills the buffer buffer-or-name, freeing all its memory for other uses or
to be returned to the operating system. If buffer-or-name is nil or omitted, it kills
the current buffer.
Any processes that have this buffer as the process-buffer are sent the SIGHUP
(hangup) signal, which normally causes them to terminate. See Section 38.8 [Signals
to Processes], page 936.
If the buffer is visiting a file and contains unsaved changes, kill-buffer asks the
user to confirm before the buffer is killed. It does this even if not called interac-
Chapter 27: Buffers 595

tively. To prevent the request for confirmation, clear the modified flag before calling
kill-buffer. See Section 27.5 [Buffer Modification], page 587.
This function calls replace-buffer-in-windows for cleaning up all windows cur-
rently displaying the buffer to be killed.
Killing a buffer that is already dead has no effect.
This function returns t if it actually killed the buffer. It returns nil if the user refuses
to confirm or if buffer-or-name was already dead.
(kill-buffer "foo.unchanged")
⇒ t
(kill-buffer "foo.changed")

---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

Buffer foo.changed modified; kill anyway? (yes or no) yes
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------

⇒ t

kill-buffer-query-functions [Variable]
Before confirming unsaved changes, kill-buffer calls the functions in the list
kill-buffer-query-functions, in order of appearance, with no arguments. The
buffer being killed is the current buffer when they are called. The idea of this feature
is that these functions will ask for confirmation from the user. If any of them returns
nil, kill-buffer spares the buffer’s life.

kill-buffer-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook run by kill-buffer after asking all the questions it is going to
ask, just before actually killing the buffer. The buffer to be killed is current when the
hook functions run. See Section 23.1 [Hooks], page 453. This variable is a permanent
local, so its local binding is not cleared by changing major modes.

buffer-offer-save [User Option]

This variable, if non-nil in a particular buffer, tells save-buffers-kill-emacs to
offer to save that buffer, just as it offers to save file-visiting buffers. If save-some-
buffers is called with the second optional argument set to t, it will also offer to save
the buffer. Lastly, if this variable is set to the symbol always, both save-buffers-
kill-emacs and save-some-buffers will always offer to save. See [Definition of
save-some-buffers], page 525. The variable buffer-offer-save automatically be-
comes buffer-local when set for any reason. See Section 12.11 [Buffer-Local Variables],
page 185.

buffer-save-without-query [Variable]
This variable, if non-nil in a particular buffer, tells save-buffers-kill-emacs and
save-some-buffers to save this buffer (if it’s modified) without asking the user. The
variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set for any reason.

buffer-live-p object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a live buffer (a buffer which has not been killed),
nil otherwise.
Chapter 27: Buffers 596

27.11 Indirect Buffers

An indirect buffer shares the text of some other buffer, which is called the base buffer of
the indirect buffer. In some ways it is the analogue, for buffers, of a symbolic link among
files. The base buffer may not itself be an indirect buffer.
The text of the indirect buffer is always identical to the text of its base buffer; changes
made by editing either one are visible immediately in the other. This includes the text
properties as well as the characters themselves.
In all other respects, the indirect buffer and its base buffer are completely separate. They
have different names, independent values of point, independent narrowing, independent
markers and overlays (though inserting or deleting text in either buffer relocates the markers
and overlays for both), independent major modes, and independent buffer-local variable
bindings.
An indirect buffer cannot visit a file, but its base buffer can. If you try to save the
indirect buffer, that actually saves the base buffer.
Killing an indirect buffer has no effect on its base buffer. Killing the base buffer effectively
kills the indirect buffer in that it cannot ever again be the current buffer.

make-indirect-buffer base-buffer name &optional clone [Command]

This creates and returns an indirect buffer named name whose base buffer is base-
buffer. The argument base-buffer may be a live buffer or the name (a string) of an
existing buffer. If name is the name of an existing buffer, an error is signaled.
If clone is non-nil, then the indirect buffer originally shares the state of base-buffer
such as major mode, minor modes, buffer local variables and so on. If clone is omitted
or nil the indirect buffer’s state is set to the default state for new buffers.
If base-buffer is an indirect buffer, its base buffer is used as the base for the new
buffer. If, in addition, clone is non-nil, the initial state is copied from the actual
base buffer, not from base-buffer.

clone-indirect-buffer newname display-flag &optional norecord [Command]

This function creates and returns a new indirect buffer that shares the current buffer’s
base buffer and copies the rest of the current buffer’s attributes. (If the current buffer
is not indirect, it is used as the base buffer.)
If display-flag is non-nil, as it always is in interactive calls, that means to display
the new buffer by calling pop-to-buffer. If norecord is non-nil, that means not to
put the new buffer to the front of the buffer list.

buffer-base-buffer &optional buffer [Function]

This function returns the base buffer of buffer, which defaults to the current buffer. If
buffer is not indirect, the value is nil. Otherwise, the value is another buffer, which
is never an indirect buffer.

27.12 Swapping Text Between Two Buffers

Specialized modes sometimes need to let the user access from the same buffer several vastly
different types of text. For example, you may need to display a summary of the buffer text,
in addition to letting the user access the text itself.
Chapter 27: Buffers 597

This could be implemented with multiple buffers (kept in sync when the user edits the
text), or with narrowing (see Section 30.4 [Narrowing], page 753). But these alternatives
might sometimes become tedious or prohibitively expensive, especially if each type of text
requires expensive buffer-global operations in order to provide correct display and editing
commands.
Emacs provides another facility for such modes: you can quickly swap buffer text between
two buffers with buffer-swap-text. This function is very fast because it doesn’t move any
text, it only changes the internal data structures of the buffer object to point to a different
chunk of text. Using it, you can pretend that a group of two or more buffers are actually a
single virtual buffer that holds the contents of all the individual buffers together.

buffer-swap-text buffer [Function]

This function swaps the text of the current buffer and that of its argument buffer.
It signals an error if one of the two buffers is an indirect buffer (see Section 27.11
[Indirect Buffers], page 596) or is a base buffer of an indirect buffer.
All the buffer properties that are related to the buffer text are swapped as well: the
positions of point and mark, all the markers, the overlays, the text properties, the
undo list, the value of the enable-multibyte-characters flag (see Section 33.1 [Text
Representations], page 835), etc.
Warning: If this function is called from within a save-excursion form, the cur-
rent buffer will be set to buffer upon leaving the form, since the marker used by
save-excursion to save the position and buffer will be swapped as well.

If you use buffer-swap-text on a file-visiting buffer, you should set up a hook to save
the buffer’s original text rather than what it was swapped with. write-region-annotate-
functions works for this purpose. You should probably set buffer-saved-size to −2 in
the buffer, so that changes in the text it is swapped with will not interfere with auto-saving.

27.13 The Buffer Gap

Emacs buffers are implemented using an invisible gap to make insertion and deletion faster.
Insertion works by filling in part of the gap, and deletion adds to the gap. Of course, this
means that the gap must first be moved to the locus of the insertion or deletion. Emacs
moves the gap only when you try to insert or delete. This is why your first editing command
in one part of a large buffer, after previously editing in another far-away part, sometimes
involves a noticeable delay.
This mechanism works invisibly, and Lisp code should never be affected by the gap’s
current location, but these functions are available for getting information about the gap
status.

gap-position [Function]
This function returns the current gap position in the current buffer.

gap-size [Function]
This function returns the current gap size of the current buffer.
 598

28 Windows
This chapter describes the functions and variables related to Emacs windows. See
Chapter 29 [Frames], page 683, for how windows are assigned an area of screen available
for Emacs to use. See Chapter 39 [Display], page 967, for information on how text is
displayed in windows.

28.1 Basic Concepts of Emacs Windows

A window is an area of the screen that is used to display a buffer (see Chapter 27 [Buffers],
page 581). In Emacs Lisp, windows are represented by a special Lisp object type.
Windows are grouped into frames (see Chapter 29 [Frames], page 683). Each frame
contains at least one window; the user can subdivide it into multiple, non-overlapping
windows to view several buffers at once. Lisp programs can use multiple windows for a
variety of purposes. In Rmail, for example, you can view a summary of message titles in
one window, and the contents of the selected message in another window.
Emacs uses the word “window” with a different meaning than in graphical desktop
environments and window systems, such as the X Window System. When Emacs is run
on X, each of its graphical X windows is an Emacs frame (containing one or more Emacs
windows). When Emacs is run on a text terminal, the frame fills the entire terminal screen.
Unlike X windows, Emacs windows are tiled; they never overlap within the area of the
frame. When a window is created, resized, or deleted, the change in window space is taken
from or given to the adjacent windows, so that the total area of the frame is unchanged.
windowp object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a window (whether or not it displays a buffer).
Otherwise, it returns nil.
A live window is one that is actually displaying a buffer in a frame.
window-live-p object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a live window and nil otherwise. A live window
is one that displays a buffer.
The windows in each frame are organized into a window tree. See Section 28.2 [Windows
and Frames], page 599. The leaf nodes of each window tree are live windows—the ones
actually displaying buffers. The internal nodes of the window tree are internal windows,
which are not live.
A valid window is one that is either live or internal. A valid window can be deleted, i.e.,
removed from its frame (see Section 28.7 [Deleting Windows], page 615); then it is no longer
valid, but the Lisp object representing it might be still referenced from other Lisp objects.
A deleted window may be made valid again by restoring a saved window configuration (see
Section 28.26 [Window Configurations], page 676).
You can distinguish valid windows from deleted windows with window-valid-p.
window-valid-p object [Function]
This function returns t if object is a live window, or an internal window in a window
tree. Otherwise, it returns nil, including for the case where object is a deleted
window.
Chapter 28: Windows 599

In each frame, at any time, exactly one Emacs window is designated as selected within
the frame. For the selected frame, that window is called the selected window—the one in
which most editing takes place, and in which the cursor for selected windows appears (see
Section 29.4.3.9 [Cursor Parameters], page 713). Keyboard input that inserts or deletes text
is also normally directed to this window. The selected window’s buffer is usually also the
current buffer, except when set-buffer has been used (see Section 27.2 [Current Buffer],
page 581). As for non-selected frames, the window selected within the frame becomes
the selected window if the frame is ever selected. See Section 28.9 [Selecting Windows],
page 622.

selected-window [Function]
This function returns the selected window (which is always a live window).

Sometimes several windows collectively and cooperatively display a buffer, for example,
under the management of Follow Mode (see Section “Follow Mode” in emacs), where the
windows together display a bigger portion of the buffer than one window could alone. It is
often useful to consider such a window group as a single entity. Several functions such as
window-group-start (see Section 28.20 [Window Start and End], page 661) allow you to
do this by supplying, as an argument, one of the windows as a stand in for the whole group.

selected-window-group [Function]
When the selected window is a member of a group of windows, this function returns
a list of the windows in the group, ordered such that the first window in the list is
displaying the earliest part of the buffer, and so on. Otherwise the function returns
a list containing just the selected window.
The selected window is considered part of a group when the buffer local
variable selected-window-group-function is set to a function. In this case,
selected-window-group calls it with no arguments and returns its result (which
should be the list of windows in the group).

28.2 Windows and Frames

Each window belongs to exactly one frame (see Chapter 29 [Frames], page 683).

window-frame &optional window [Function]

This function returns the frame that the window window belongs to. If window is
nil, it defaults to the selected window.

window-list &optional frame minibuffer window [Function]

This function returns a list of live windows belonging to the frame frame. If frame is
omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected frame.
The optional argument minibuffer specifies whether to include the minibuffer window
in the returned list. If minibuffer is t, the minibuffer window is included. If minibuffer
is nil or omitted, the minibuffer window is included only if it is active. If minibuffer
is neither nil nor t, the minibuffer window is never included.
The optional argument window, if non-nil, should be a live window on the specified
frame; then window will be the first element in the returned list. If window is omitted
or nil, the window selected within the frame is the first element.
Chapter 28: Windows 600

Windows in the same frame are organized into a window tree, whose leaf nodes are the
live windows. The internal nodes of a window tree are not live; they exist for the purpose
of organizing the relationships between live windows. The root node of a window tree is
called the root window. It can be either a live window (if the frame has just one window),
or an internal window.

A minibuffer window (see Section 20.11 [Minibuffer Windows], page 364) that is not
alone on its frame does not have a parent window, so it strictly speaking is not part of its
frame’s window tree. Nonetheless, it is a sibling window of the frame’s root window, and
thus can be reached via window-next-sibling. Also, the function window-tree described
at the end of this section lists the minibuffer window alongside the actual window tree.

frame-root-window &optional frame-or-window [Function]

This function returns the root window for frame-or-window. The argument frame-or-
window should be either a window or a frame; if omitted or nil, it defaults to the
selected frame. If frame-or-window is a window, the return value is the root window
of that window’s frame.

When a window is split, there are two live windows where previously there was one. One
of these is represented by the same Lisp window object as the original window, and the other
is represented by a newly-created Lisp window object. Both of these live windows become
leaf nodes of the window tree, as child windows of a single internal window. If necessary,
Emacs automatically creates this internal window, which is also called the parent window,
and assigns it to the appropriate position in the window tree. A set of windows that share
the same parent are called siblings.

window-parent &optional window [Function]

This function returns the parent window of window. If window is omitted or nil,
it defaults to the selected window. The return value is nil if window has no parent
(i.e., it is a minibuffer window or the root window of its frame).

Each internal window always has at least two child windows. If this number falls to one
as a result of window deletion, Emacs automatically deletes the internal window, and its
sole remaining child window takes its place in the window tree.

Each child window can be either a live window, or an internal window (which in turn
would have its own child windows). Therefore, each internal window can be thought of as
occupying a certain rectangular screen area—the union of the areas occupied by the live
windows that are ultimately descended from it.

For each internal window, the screen areas of the immediate children are arranged either
vertically or horizontally (never both). If the child windows are arranged one above the
other, they are said to form a vertical combination; if they are arranged side by side, they
are said to form a horizontal combination. Consider the following example:
Chapter 28: Windows 601

______________________________________
| ______ ____________________________ |
|| || __________________________ ||
|| ||| |||
|| ||| |||
|| ||| |||
|| |||____________W4____________|||
|| || __________________________ ||
|| ||| |||
|| ||| |||
|| |||____________W5____________|||
||__W2__||_____________W3_____________ |
|__________________W1__________________|

The root window of this frame is an internal window, W1. Its child windows form a
horizontal combination, consisting of the live window W2 and the internal window W3.
The child windows of W3 form a vertical combination, consisting of the live windows W4
and W5. Hence, the live windows in this window tree are W2, W4, and W5.
The following functions can be used to retrieve a child window of an internal window,
and the siblings of a child window.

window-top-child &optional window [Function]

This function returns the topmost child window of window, if window is an internal
window whose children form a vertical combination. For any other type of window,
the return value is nil.

window-left-child &optional window [Function]

This function returns the leftmost child window of window, if window is an internal
window whose children form a horizontal combination. For any other type of window,
the return value is nil.

window-child window [Function]

This function returns the first child window of the internal window window—the
topmost child window for a vertical combination, or the leftmost child window for a
horizontal combination. If window is a live window, the return value is nil.

window-combined-p &optional window horizontal [Function]

This function returns a non-nil value if and only if window is part of a vertical
combination. If window is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected one.
If the optional argument horizontal is non-nil, this means to return non-nil if and
only if window is part of a horizontal combination.

window-next-sibling &optional window [Function]

This function returns the next sibling of the window window. If omitted or nil,
window defaults to the selected window. The return value is nil if window is the
last child of its parent.

window-prev-sibling &optional window [Function]

This function returns the previous sibling of the window window. If omitted or nil,
window defaults to the selected window. The return value is nil if window is the
first child of its parent.
Chapter 28: Windows 602

The functions window-next-sibling and window-prev-sibling should not be confused

with the functions next-window and previous-window, which return the next and previous
window, respectively, in the cyclic ordering of windows (see Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window
Ordering], page 624).
The following functions can be useful to locate a window within its frame.

frame-first-window &optional frame-or-window [Function]

This function returns the live window at the upper left corner of the frame specified
by frame-or-window. The argument frame-or-window must denote a window or a live
frame and defaults to the selected frame. If frame-or-window specifies a window, this
function returns the first window on that window’s frame. Under the assumption that
the frame from our canonical example is selected (frame-first-window) returns W2.

window-at-side-p &optional window side [Function]

This function returns t if window is located at side of its containing frame. The
argument window must be a valid window and defaults to the selected one. The
argument side can be any of the symbols left, top, right or bottom. The default
value nil is handled like bottom.
Note that this function disregards the minibuffer window (see Section 20.11 [Mini-
buffer Windows], page 364). Hence, with side equal to bottom it may return t also
when the minibuffer window appears right below window.

window-in-direction direction &optional window ignore sign wrap [Function]

mini
This function returns the nearest live window in direction direction as seen from the
position of window-point in window window. The argument direction must be one
of above, below, left or right. The optional argument window must denote a live
window and defaults to the selected one.
This function does not return a window whose no-other-window parameter is non-
nil (see Section 28.27 [Window Parameters], page 678). If the nearest window’s
no-other-window parameter is non-nil, this function tries to find another window
in the indicated direction whose no-other-window parameter is nil. If the optional
argument ignore is non-nil, a window may be returned even if its no-other-window
parameter is non-nil.
If the optional argument sign is a negative number, it means to use the right or
bottom edge of window as reference position instead of window-point. If sign is a
positive number, it means to use the left or top edge of window as reference position.
If the optional argument wrap is non-nil, this means to wrap direction around frame
borders. For example, if window is at the top of the frame and direction is above,
then this function usually returns the frame’s minibuffer window if it’s active and a
window at the bottom of the frame otherwise.
If the optional argument mini is nil, this means to return the minibuffer window if
and only if it is currently active. If mini is non-nil, this function may return the
minibuffer window even when it’s not active. However, if wrap is non-nil, it always
acts as if mini were nil.
If it doesn’t find a suitable window, this function returns nil.
Chapter 28: Windows 603

Don’t use this function to check whether there is no window in direction. Calling
window-at-side-p described above is a much more efficient way to do that.
The following function allows the entire window tree of a frame to be retrieved:
window-tree &optional frame [Function]
This function returns a list representing the window tree for frame frame. If frame is
omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected frame.
The return value is a list of the form (root mini), where root represents the window
tree of the frame’s root window, and mini is the frame’s minibuffer window.
If the root window is live, root is that window itself. Otherwise, root is a list (dir
edges w1 w2 ...) where dir is nil for a horizontal combination and t for a vertical
combination, edges gives the size and position of the combination, and the remaining
elements are the child windows. Each child window may again be a window object
(for a live window) or a list with the same format as above (for an internal window).
The edges element is a list (left top right bottom), similar to the value returned
by window-edges (see Section 28.24 [Coordinates and Windows], page 671).

28.3 Window Sizes

The following schematic shows the structure of a live window:
____________________________________________
|______________ Header Line ______________|RD| ^
^ |LS|LM|LF| |RF|RM|RS| | |
| | | | | | | | | | |
Window | | | | Text Area | | | | | Window
Body | | | | | (Window Body) | | | | | Total
Height | | | | | | | | | Height
| | | | |<- Window Body Width ->| | | | | |
v |__|__|__|_______________________|__|__|__| | |
|_________ Horizontal Scroll Bar _________| | |
|_______________ Mode Line _______________|__| |
|_____________ Bottom Divider _______________| v
<---------- Window Total Width ------------>

At the center of the window is the text area, or body, where the buffer text is displayed.
The text area can be surrounded by a series of optional areas. On the left and right, from
innermost to outermost, these are the left and right fringes, denoted by LF and RF (see
Section 39.13 [Fringes], page 1019); the left and right margins, denoted by LM and RM in
the schematic (see Section 39.16.5 [Display Margins], page 1033); the left or right vertical
scroll bar, only one of which is present at any time, denoted by LS and RS (see Section 39.14
[Scroll Bars], page 1025); and the right divider, denoted by RD (see Section 39.15 [Window
Dividers], page 1027). At the top of the window is the header line (see Section 23.4.7
[Header Lines], page 484). At the bottom of the window are the horizontal scroll bar (see
Section 39.14 [Scroll Bars], page 1025); the mode line (see Section 23.4 [Mode Line Format],
page 476); and the bottom divider (see Section 39.15 [Window Dividers], page 1027).
Emacs provides miscellaneous functions for finding the height and width of a window.
The return value of many of these functions can be specified either in units of pixels or in
units of lines and columns. On a graphical display, the latter actually correspond to the
height and width of a default character specified by the frame’s default font as returned by
Chapter 28: Windows 604

frame-char-height and frame-char-width (see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font], page 694).
Thus, if a window is displaying text with a different font or size, the reported line height and
column width for that window may differ from the actual number of text lines or columns
displayed within it.
The total height of a window is the number of lines comprising the window’s body, the
header line, the horizontal scroll bar, the mode line and the bottom divider (if any).

window-total-height &optional window round [Function]

This function returns the total height, in lines, of the window window. If window is
omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected window. If window is an internal window,
the return value is the total height occupied by its descendant windows.
If a window’s pixel height is not an integral multiple of its frame’s default character
height, the number of lines occupied by the window is rounded internally. This is
done in a way such that, if the window is a parent window, the sum of the total
heights of all its child windows internally equals the total height of their parent. This
means that although two windows have the same pixel height, their internal total
heights may differ by one line. This means also, that if window is vertically combined
and has a next sibling, the topmost row of that sibling can be calculated as the sum
of this window’s topmost row and total height (see Section 28.24 [Coordinates and
Windows], page 671)
If the optional argument round is ceiling, this function returns the smallest integer
larger than window’s pixel height divided by the character height of its frame; if it is
floor, it returns the largest integer smaller than said value; with any other round it
returns the internal value of windows’s total height.

The total width of a window is the number of lines comprising the window’s body, its
margins, fringes, scroll bars and a right divider (if any).

window-total-width &optional window round [Function]

This function returns the total width, in columns, of the window window. If window
is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected window. If window is internal, the return
value is the total width occupied by its descendant windows.
If a window’s pixel width is not an integral multiple of its frame’s character width,
the number of lines occupied by the window is rounded internally. This is done in
a way such that, if the window is a parent window, the sum of the total widths of
all its children internally equals the total width of their parent. This means that
although two windows have the same pixel width, their internal total widths may
differ by one column. This means also, that if this window is horizontally combined
and has a next sibling, the leftmost column of that sibling can be calculated as the
sum of this window’s leftmost column and total width (see Section 28.24 [Coordi-
nates and Windows], page 671). The optional argument round behaves as it does for
window-total-height.

window-total-size &optional window horizontal round [Function]

This function returns either the total height in lines or the total width in columns
of the window window. If horizontal is omitted or nil, this is equivalent to
calling window-total-height for window; otherwise it is equivalent to calling
Chapter 28: Windows 605

window-total-width for window. The optional argument round behaves as it does

for window-total-height.

The following two functions can be used to return the total size of a window in units of
pixels.

window-pixel-height &optional window [Function]

This function returns the total height of window window in pixels. window must be
a valid window and defaults to the selected one.
The return value includes mode and header line, a horizontal scroll bar and a bottom
divider, if any. If window is an internal window, its pixel height is the pixel height of
the screen areas spanned by its children.

window-pixel-height-before-size-change &optional Lisp Object [Function]

&optional window
This function returns the height of window window in pixels at the time
window-size-change-functions was run for the last time on window’s frame (see
Section 28.28 [Window Hooks], page 681).

window-pixel-width &optional window [Function]

This function returns the width of window window in pixels. window must be a valid
window and defaults to the selected one.
The return value includes the fringes and margins of window as well as any vertical
dividers or scroll bars belonging to window. If window is an internal window, its pixel
width is the width of the screen areas spanned by its children.

window-pixel-width-before-size-change &optional Lisp Object [Function]

&optional window
This function returns the width of window window in pixels at the time window-size-
change-functions was run for the last time on window’s frame (see Section 28.28
[Window Hooks], page 681).

The following functions can be used to determine whether a given window has any
adjacent windows.

window-full-height-p &optional window [Function]

This function returns non-nil if window has no other window above or below it in
its frame. More precisely, this means that the total height of window equals the total
height of the root window on that frame. The minibuffer window does not count in
this regard. If window is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected window.

window-full-width-p &optional window [Function]

This function returns non-nil if window has no other window to the left or right in
its frame, i.e., its total width equals that of the root window on that frame. If window
is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected window.

The body height of a window is the height of its text area, which does not include a
mode or header line, a horizontal scroll bar, or a bottom divider.
Chapter 28: Windows 606

window-body-height &optional window pixelwise [Function]

This function returns the height, in lines, of the body of window window. If window
is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected window; otherwise it must be a live
window.
If the optional argument pixelwise is non-nil, this function returns the body height
of window counted in pixels.
If pixelwise is nil, the return value is rounded down to the nearest integer, if neces-
sary. This means that if a line at the bottom of the text area is only partially visible,
that line is not counted. It also means that the height of a window’s body can never
exceed its total height as returned by window-total-height.

The body width of a window is the width of its text area, which does not include the
scroll bar, fringes, margins or a right divider. Note that when one or both fringes are
removed (by setting their width to zero), the display engine reserves two character cells,
one on each side of the window, for displaying the continuation and truncation glyphs,
which leaves 2 columns less for text display. (The function window-max-chars-per-line,
described below, takes this peculiarity into account.)

window-body-width &optional window pixelwise [Function]

This function returns the width, in columns, of the body of window window. If
window is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected window; otherwise it must be a
live window.
If the optional argument pixelwise is non-nil, this function returns the body width
of window in units of pixels.
If pixelwise is nil, the return value is rounded down to the nearest integer, if nec-
essary. This means that if a column on the right of the text area is only partially
visible, that column is not counted. It also means that the width of a window’s body
can never exceed its total width as returned by window-total-width.

window-body-size &optional window horizontal pixelwise [Function]

This function returns the body height or body width of window. If horizontal is
omitted or nil, it is equivalent to calling window-body-height for window; otherwise
it is equivalent to calling window-body-width. In either case, the optional argument
pixelwise is passed to the function called.

For compatibility with previous versions of Emacs, window-height is an alias for

window-total-height, and window-width is an alias for window-body-width. These
aliases are considered obsolete and will be removed in the future.
The pixel heights of a window’s mode and header line can be retrieved with the functions
given below. Their return value is usually accurate unless the window has not been displayed
before: In that case, the return value is based on an estimate of the font used for the
window’s frame.

window-mode-line-height &optional window [Function]

This function returns the height in pixels of window’s mode line. window must be a
live window and defaults to the selected one. If window has no mode line, the return
value is zero.
Chapter 28: Windows 607

window-header-line-height &optional window [Function]

This function returns the height in pixels of window’s header line. window must be
a live window and defaults to the selected one. If window has no header line, the
return value is zero.
Functions for retrieving the height and/or width of window dividers (see Section 39.15
[Window Dividers], page 1027), fringes (see Section 39.13 [Fringes], page 1019), scroll bars
(see Section 39.14 [Scroll Bars], page 1025), and display margins (see Section 39.16.5 [Display
Margins], page 1033) are described in the corresponding sections.
If your Lisp program needs to make layout decisions, you will find the following function
useful:
window-max-chars-per-line &optional window face [Function]
This function returns the number of characters displayed in the specified face face in
the specified window window (which must be a live window). If face was remapped
(see Section 39.12.5 [Face Remapping], page 1007), the information is returned for
the remapped face. If omitted or nil, face defaults to the default face, and window
defaults to the selected window.
Unlike window-body-width, this function accounts for the actual size of face’s font,
instead of working in units of the canonical character width of window’s frame (see
Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font], page 694). It also accounts for space used by the contin-
uation glyph, if window lacks one or both of its fringes.
Commands that change the size of windows (see Section 28.4 [Resizing Windows],
page 608), or split them (see Section 28.6 [Splitting Windows], page 613), obey the
variables window-min-height and window-min-width, which specify the smallest
allowable window height and width. They also obey the variable window-size-fixed,
with which a window can be fixed in size (see Section 28.5 [Preserving Window Sizes],
page 612).
window-min-height [User Option]
This option specifies the minimum total height, in lines, of any window. Its value has
to accommodate at least one text line as well as a mode and header line, a horizontal
scroll bar and a bottom divider, if present.
window-min-width [User Option]
This option specifies the minimum total width, in columns, of any window. Its value
has to accommodate two text columns as well as margins, fringes, a scroll bar and a
right divider, if present.
The following function tells how small a specific window can get taking into account
the sizes of its areas and the values of window-min-height, window-min-width and
window-size-fixed (see Section 28.5 [Preserving Window Sizes], page 612).
window-min-size &optional window horizontal ignore pixelwise [Function]
This function returns the minimum size of window. window must be a valid window
and defaults to the selected one. The optional argument horizontal non-nil means to
return the minimum number of columns of window; otherwise return the minimum
number of window’s lines.
Chapter 28: Windows 608

The return value makes sure that all components of window remain fully visible if
window’s size were actually set to it. With horizontal nil it includes the mode
and header line, the horizontal scroll bar and the bottom divider, if present. With
horizontal non-nil it includes the margins and fringes, the vertical scroll bar and the
right divider, if present.
The optional argument ignore, if non-nil, means ignore restrictions imposed by
fixed size windows, window-min-height or window-min-width settings. If ignore
equals safe, live windows may get as small as window-safe-min-height lines and
window-safe-min-width columns. If ignore is a window, ignore restrictions for that
window only. Any other non-nil value means ignore all of the above restrictions for
all windows.
The optional argument pixelwise non-nil means to return the minimum size of win-
dow counted in pixels.

28.4 Resizing Windows

This section describes functions for resizing a window without changing the size of its frame.
Because live windows do not overlap, these functions are meaningful only on frames that
contain two or more windows: resizing a window also changes the size of a neighboring
window. If there is just one window on a frame, its size cannot be changed except by
resizing the frame (see Section 29.3.4 [Frame Size], page 696).
Except where noted, these functions also accept internal windows as arguments. Resizing
an internal window causes its child windows to be resized to fit the same space.

window-resizable window delta &optional horizontal ignore [Function]

pixelwise
This function returns delta if the size of window can be changed vertically by delta
lines. If the optional argument horizontal is non-nil, it instead returns delta if
window can be resized horizontally by delta columns. It does not actually change the
window size.
If window is nil, it defaults to the selected window.
A positive value of delta means to check whether the window can be enlarged by that
number of lines or columns; a negative value of delta means to check whether the
window can be shrunk by that many lines or columns. If delta is non-zero, a return
value of 0 means that the window cannot be resized.
Normally, the variables window-min-height and window-min-width specify the
smallest allowable window size (see Section 28.3 [Window Sizes], page 603). However,
if the optional argument ignore is non-nil, this function ignores window-min-height
and window-min-width, as well as window-size-fixed. Instead, it considers
the minimum-height window to be one consisting of a header and a mode line, a
horizontal scrollbar and a bottom divider (if any), plus a text area one line tall; and
a minimum-width window as one consisting of fringes, margins, a scroll bar and a
right divider (if any), plus a text area two columns wide.
If the optional argument pixelwise is non-nil, delta is interpreted as pixels.
Chapter 28: Windows 609

window-resize window delta &optional horizontal ignore pixelwise [Function]

This function resizes window by delta increments. If horizontal is nil, it changes the
height by delta lines; otherwise, it changes the width by delta columns. A positive
delta means to enlarge the window, and a negative delta means to shrink it.
If window is nil, it defaults to the selected window. If the window cannot be resized
as demanded, an error is signaled.
The optional argument ignore has the same meaning as for the function
window-resizable above.
If the optional argument pixelwise is non-nil, delta will be interpreted as pixels.
The choice of which window edges this function alters depends on the values of the
option window-combination-resize and the combination limits of the involved win-
dows; in some cases, it may alter both edges. See Section 28.8 [Recombining Win-
dows], page 617. To resize by moving only the bottom or right edge of a window, use
the function adjust-window-trailing-edge.
adjust-window-trailing-edge window delta &optional horizontal [Function]
pixelwise
This function moves window’s bottom edge by delta lines. If optional argument
horizontal is non-nil, it instead moves the right edge by delta columns. If window is
nil, it defaults to the selected window.
If the optional argument pixelwise is non-nil, delta is interpreted as pixels.
A positive delta moves the edge downwards or to the right; a negative delta moves it
upwards or to the left. If the edge cannot be moved as far as specified by delta, this
function moves it as far as possible but does not signal an error.
This function tries to resize windows adjacent to the edge that is moved. If this is
not possible for some reason (e.g., if that adjacent window is fixed-size), it may resize
other windows.
window-resize-pixelwise [User Option]
If the value of this option is non-nil, Emacs resizes windows in units of pixels. This
currently affects functions like split-window (see Section 28.6 [Splitting Windows],
page 613), maximize-window, minimize-window, fit-window-to-buffer,
fit-frame-to-buffer and shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer (all listed
below).
Note that when a frame’s pixel size is not a multiple of its character size, at least one
window may get resized pixelwise even if this option is nil. The default value is nil.
The following commands resize windows in more specific ways. When called interactively,
they act on the selected window.
fit-window-to-buffer &optional window max-height min-height [Command]
max-width min-width preserve-size
This command adjusts the height or width of window to fit the text in it. It returns
non-nil if it was able to resize window, and nil otherwise. If window is omitted or
nil, it defaults to the selected window. Otherwise, it should be a live window.
If window is part of a vertical combination, this function adjusts window’s height.
The new height is calculated from the actual height of the accessible portion of its
Chapter 28: Windows 610

buffer. The optional argument max-height, if non-nil, specifies the maximum total
height that this function can give window. The optional argument min-height, if
non-nil, specifies the minimum total height that it can give, which overrides the
variable window-min-height. Both max-height and min-height are specified in lines
and include mode and header line and a bottom divider, if any.
If window is part of a horizontal combination and the value of the option fit-window-
to-buffer-horizontally (see below) is non-nil, this function adjusts window’s
width. The new width of window is calculated from the maximum length of its buffer’s
lines that follow the current start position of window. The optional argument max-
width specifies a maximum width and defaults to the width of window’s frame. The
optional argument min-width specifies a minimum width and defaults to window-min-
width. Both max-width and min-width are specified in columns and include fringes,
margins and scrollbars, if any.
The optional argument preserve-size, if non-nil, will install a parameter to preserve
the size of window during future resize operations (see Section 28.5 [Preserving Win-
dow Sizes], page 612).
If the option fit-frame-to-buffer (see below) is non-nil, this function will try to
resize the frame of window to fit its contents by calling fit-frame-to-buffer (see
below).

fit-window-to-buffer-horizontally [User Option]

If this is non-nil, fit-window-to-buffer can resize windows horizontally. If this is
nil (the default) fit-window-to-buffer never resizes windows horizontally. If this
is only, it can resize windows horizontally only. Any other value means fit-window-
to-buffer can resize windows in both dimensions.

fit-frame-to-buffer [User Option]

If this option is non-nil, fit-window-to-buffer can fit a frame to its buffer. A
frame is fit if and only if its root window is a live window and this option is non-nil.
If this is horizontally, frames are fit horizontally only. If this is vertically, frames
are fit vertically only. Any other non-nil value means frames can be resized in both
dimensions.

If you have a frame that displays only one window, you can fit that frame to its buffer
using the command fit-frame-to-buffer.

fit-frame-to-buffer &optional frame max-height min-height [Command]

max-width min-width only
This command adjusts the size of frame to display the contents of its buffer exactly.
frame can be any live frame and defaults to the selected one. Fitting is done only if
frame’s root window is live. The arguments max-height, min-height, max-width and
min-width specify bounds on the new total size of frame’s root window. min-height
and min-width default to the values of window-min-height and window-min-width
respectively.
If the optional argument only is vertically, this function may resize the frame
vertically only. If only is horizontally, it may resize the frame horizontally only.
Chapter 28: Windows 611

The behavior of fit-frame-to-buffer can be controlled with the help of the two options
listed next.

fit-frame-to-buffer-margins [User Option]

This option can be used to specify margins around frames to be fit by fit-frame-
to-buffer. Such margins can be useful to avoid, for example, that the resized frame
overlaps the taskbar or parts of its parent frame.
It specifies the numbers of pixels to be left free on the left, above, the right, and
below a frame that shall be fit. The default specifies nil for each which means to use
no margins. The value specified here can be overridden for a specific frame by that
frame’s fit-frame-to-buffer-margins parameter, if present.

fit-frame-to-buffer-sizes [User Option]

This option specifies size boundaries for fit-frame-to-buffer. It specifies the total
maximum and minimum lines and maximum and minimum columns of the root win-
dow of any frame that shall be fit to its buffer. If any of these values is non-nil, it
overrides the corresponding argument of fit-frame-to-buffer.

shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer &optional window [Command]

This command attempts to reduce window’s height as much as possible while still
showing its full buffer, but no less than window-min-height lines. The return value
is non-nil if the window was resized, and nil otherwise. If window is omitted or
nil, it defaults to the selected window. Otherwise, it should be a live window.
This command does nothing if the window is already too short to display all of its
buffer, or if any of the buffer is scrolled off-screen, or if the window is the only live
window in its frame.
This command calls fit-window-to-buffer (see above) to do its work.

balance-windows &optional window-or-frame [Command]

This function balances windows in a way that gives more space to full-width and/or
full-height windows. If window-or-frame specifies a frame, it balances all windows on
that frame. If window-or-frame specifies a window, it balances only that window and
its siblings (see Section 28.2 [Windows and Frames], page 599).

balance-windows-area [Command]
This function attempts to give all windows on the selected frame approximately the
same share of the screen area. Full-width or full-height windows are not given more
space than other windows.

maximize-window &optional window [Command]

This function attempts to make window as large as possible, in both dimensions,
without resizing its frame or deleting other windows. If window is omitted or nil, it
defaults to the selected window.

minimize-window &optional window [Command]

This function attempts to make window as small as possible, in both dimensions,
without deleting it or resizing its frame. If window is omitted or nil, it defaults to
the selected window.
Chapter 28: Windows 612

28.5 Preserving Window Sizes

A window can get resized explicitly by using one of the functions from the preceding section
or implicitly, for example, when resizing an adjacent window, when splitting or deleting a
window (see Section 28.6 [Splitting Windows], page 613, see Section 28.7 [Deleting Win-
dows], page 615) or when resizing the window’s frame (see Section 29.3.4 [Frame Size],
page 696).
It is possible to avoid implicit resizing of a specific window when there are one or more
other resizable windows on the same frame. For this purpose, Emacs must be advised to
preserve the size of that window. There are two basic ways to do that.

window-size-fixed [Variable]
If this buffer-local variable is non-nil, the size of any window displaying the buffer
cannot normally be changed. Deleting a window or changing the frame’s size may
still change the window’s size, if there is no choice.
If the value is height, then only the window’s height is fixed; if the value is width,
then only the window’s width is fixed. Any other non-nil value fixes both the width
and the height.
If this variable is nil, this does not necessarily mean that any window showing the
buffer can be resized in the desired direction. To determine that, use the function
window-resizable. See Section 28.4 [Resizing Windows], page 608.

Often window-size-fixed is overly aggressive because it inhibits any attempt to ex-

plicitly resize or split an affected window as well. This may even happen after the window
has been resized implicitly, for example, when deleting an adjacent window or resizing the
window’s frame. The following function tries hard to never disallow resizing such a window
explicitly:

window-preserve-size &optional window horizontal preserve [Function]

This function (un-)marks the height of window window as preserved for future resize
operations. window must be a live window and defaults to the selected one. If
the optional argument horizontal is non-nil, it (un-)marks the width of window as
preserved.
If the optional argument preserve is t, this means to preserve the current height/width
of window’s body. The height/width of window will change only if Emacs has no
better choice. Resizing a window whose height/width is preserved by this function
never throws an error.
If preserve is nil, this means to stop preserving the height/width of window, lift-
ing any respective restraint induced by a previous call of this function for window.
Calling enlarge-window, shrink-window or fit-window-to-buffer with window
as argument may also remove the respective restraint.

window-preserve-size is currently invoked by the following functions:

fit-window-to-buffer
If the optional argument preserve-size of that function (see Section 28.4 [Re-
sizing Windows], page 608) is non-nil, the size established by that function is
preserved.
Chapter 28: Windows 613

display-buffer
If the alist argument of that function (see Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window],
page 630) contains a preserve-size entry, the size of the window produced by
that function is preserved.
window-preserve-size installs a window parameter (see Section 28.27 [Window Param-
eters], page 678) called window-preserved-size which is consulted by the window resizing
functions. This parameter will not prevent resizing the window when the window shows
another buffer than the one when window-preserve-size was invoked or if its size has
changed since then.
The following function can be used to check whether the height of a particular window
is preserved:

window-preserved-size &optional window horizontal [Function]

This function returns the preserved height of window window in pixels. window must
be a live window and defaults to the selected one. If the optional argument horizontal
is non-nil, it returns the preserved width of window. It returns nil if the size of
window is not preserved.

28.6 Splitting Windows

This section describes functions for creating a new window by splitting an existing one.
Note that some windows are special in the sense that these functions may fail to split them
as described here. Examples of such windows are side windows (see Section 28.17 [Side
Windows], page 654) and atomic windows (see Section 28.18 [Atomic Windows], page 658).

split-window &optional window size side pixelwise [Function]

This function creates a new live window next to the window window. If window is
omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected window. That window is split, and reduced
in size. The space is taken up by the new window, which is returned.
The optional second argument size determines the sizes of window and/or the new
window. If it is omitted or nil, both windows are given equal sizes; if there is an odd
line, it is allocated to the new window. If size is a positive number, window is given
size lines (or columns, depending on the value of side). If size is a negative number,
the new window is given −size lines (or columns).
If size is nil, this function obeys the variables window-min-height and window-min-
width (see Section 28.3 [Window Sizes], page 603). Thus, it signals an error if splitting
would result in making a window smaller than those variables specify. However, a
non-nil value for size causes those variables to be ignored; in that case, the smallest
allowable window is considered to be one that has space for a text area one line tall
and/or two columns wide.
Hence, if size is specified, it’s the caller’s responsibility to check whether the emanating
windows are large enough to encompass all areas like a mode line or a scroll bar. The
function window-min-size (see Section 28.3 [Window Sizes], page 603) can be used
to determine the minimum requirements of window in this regard. Since the new
window usually inherits areas like the mode line or the scroll bar from window, that
function is also a good guess for the minimum size of the new window. The caller
Chapter 28: Windows 614

should specify a smaller size only if it correspondingly removes an inherited area

before the next redisplay.
The optional third argument side determines the position of the new window relative
to window. If it is nil or below, the new window is placed below window. If it is
above, the new window is placed above window. In both these cases, size specifies a
total window height, in lines.
If side is t or right, the new window is placed on the right of window. If side is left,
the new window is placed on the left of window. In both these cases, size specifies a
total window width, in columns.
The optional fourth argument pixelwise, if non-nil, means to interpret size in units
of pixels, instead of lines and columns.
If window is a live window, the new window inherits various properties from it,
including margins and scroll bars. If window is an internal window, the new window
inherits the properties of the window selected within window’s frame.
The behavior of this function may be altered by the window parameters of window,
so long as the variable ignore-window-parameters is nil. If the value of the
split-window window parameter is t, this function ignores all other window pa-
rameters. Otherwise, if the value of the split-window window parameter is a func-
tion, that function is called with the arguments window, size, and side, in lieu of
the usual action of split-window. Otherwise, this function obeys the window-atom
or window-side window parameter, if any. See Section 28.27 [Window Parameters],
page 678.

As an example, here is a sequence of split-window calls that yields the window config-
uration discussed in Section 28.2 [Windows and Frames], page 599. This example demon-
strates splitting a live window as well as splitting an internal window. We begin with a
frame containing a single window (a live root window), which we denote by W4. Calling
(split-window W4) yields this window configuration:
______________________________________
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W4_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W5_________________||
|__________________W3__________________|

The split-window call has created a new live window, denoted by W5. It has also created
a new internal window, denoted by W3, which becomes the root window and the parent of
both W4 and W5.
Next, we call (split-window W3 nil 'left), passing the internal window W3 as the
argument. The result:
Chapter 28: Windows 615

______________________________________
| ______ ____________________________ |
|| || __________________________ ||
|| ||| |||
|| ||| |||
|| ||| |||
|| |||____________W4____________|||
|| || __________________________ ||
|| ||| |||
|| ||| |||
|| |||____________W5____________|||
||__W2__||_____________W3_____________ |
|__________________W1__________________|
A new live window W2 is created, to the left of the internal window W3. A new internal
window W1 is created, becoming the new root window.
For interactive use, Emacs provides two commands which always split the selected win-
dow. These call split-window internally.

split-window-right &optional size [Command]

This function splits the selected window into two side-by-side windows, putting the
selected window on the left. If size is positive, the left window gets size columns; if
size is negative, the right window gets −size columns.

split-window-below &optional size [Command]

This function splits the selected window into two windows, one above the other,
leaving the upper window selected. If size is positive, the upper window gets size
lines; if size is negative, the lower window gets −size lines.

split-window-keep-point [User Option]

If the value of this variable is non-nil (the default), split-window-below behaves
as described above.
If it is nil, split-window-below adjusts point in each of the two windows to minimize
redisplay. (This is useful on slow terminals.) It selects whichever window contains the
screen line that point was previously on. Note that this only affects split-window-
below, not the lower-level split-window function.

28.7 Deleting Windows

Deleting a window removes it from the frame’s window tree. If the window is a live window,
it disappears from the screen. If the window is an internal window, its child windows are
deleted too.
Even after a window is deleted, it continues to exist as a Lisp object, until there are
no more references to it. Window deletion can be reversed, by restoring a saved window
configuration (see Section 28.26 [Window Configurations], page 676).

delete-window &optional window [Command]

This function removes window from display and returns nil. If window is omitted
or nil, it defaults to the selected window.
If deleting the window would leave no more windows in the window tree (e.g., if it is
the only live window in the frame) or all remaining windows on window’s frame are
Chapter 28: Windows 616

side windows (see Section 28.17 [Side Windows], page 654), an error is signaled. If
window is part of an atomic window (see Section 28.18 [Atomic Windows], page 658),
this function tries to delete the root of that atomic window instead.
By default, the space taken up by window is given to one of its adjacent sibling
windows, if any. However, if the variable window-combination-resize is non-nil,
the space is proportionally distributed among any remaining windows in the same
window combination. See Section 28.8 [Recombining Windows], page 617.
The behavior of this function may be altered by the window parameters of window,
so long as the variable ignore-window-parameters is nil. If the value of the
delete-window window parameter is t, this function ignores all other window pa-
rameters. Otherwise, if the value of the delete-window window parameter is a func-
tion, that function is called with the argument window, in lieu of the usual action of
delete-window. See Section 28.27 [Window Parameters], page 678.

delete-other-windows &optional window [Command]

This function makes window fill its frame, deleting other windows as necessary. If
window is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected window. An error is signaled if
window is a side window (see Section 28.17 [Side Windows], page 654). If window
is part of an atomic window (see Section 28.18 [Atomic Windows], page 658), this
function tries to make the root of that atomic window fill its frame. The return value
is nil.
The behavior of this function may be altered by the window parameters of window,
so long as the variable ignore-window-parameters is nil. If the value of the
delete-other-windows window parameter is t, this function ignores all other window
parameters. Otherwise, if the value of the delete-other-windows window parameter
is a function, that function is called with the argument window, in lieu of the usual
action of delete-other-windows. See Section 28.27 [Window Parameters], page 678.
Also, if ignore-window-parameters is nil, this function does not delete any window
whose no-delete-other-windows parameter is non-nil.

delete-windows-on &optional buffer-or-name frame [Command]

This function deletes all windows showing buffer-or-name, by calling delete-window
on those windows. buffer-or-name should be a buffer, or the name of a buffer; if
omitted or nil, it defaults to the current buffer. If there are no windows showing the
specified buffer, this function does nothing. If the specified buffer is a minibuffer, an
error is signaled.
If there is a dedicated window showing the buffer, and that window is the only one
on its frame, this function also deletes that frame if it is not the only frame on the
terminal.
The optional argument frame specifies which frames to operate on:
• nil means operate on all frames.
• t means operate on the selected frame.
• visible means operate on all visible frames.
• 0 means operate on all visible or iconified frames.
• A frame means operate on that frame.
Chapter 28: Windows 617

Note that this argument does not have the same meaning as in other functions which
scan all live windows (see Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window Ordering], page 624). Specif-
ically, the meanings of t and nil here are the opposite of what they are in those other
functions.

28.8 Recombining Windows

When deleting the last sibling of a window W, its parent window is deleted too, with W
replacing it in the window tree. This means that W must be recombined with its par-
ent’s siblings to form a new window combination (see Section 28.2 [Windows and Frames],
page 599). In some occasions, deleting a live window may even entail the deletion of two
internal windows.
______________________________________
| ______ ____________________________ |
|| || __________________________ ||
|| ||| ___________ ___________ |||
|| |||| || ||||
|| ||||____W6_____||_____W7____||||
|| |||____________W4____________|||
|| || __________________________ ||
|| ||| |||
|| ||| |||
|| |||____________W5____________|||
||__W2__||_____________W3_____________ |
|__________________W1__________________|

Deleting W5 in this configuration normally causes the deletion of W3 and W4. The remain-
ing live windows W2, W6 and W7 are recombined to form a new horizontal combination
with parent W1.
Sometimes, however, it makes sense to not delete a parent window like W4. In partic-
ular, a parent window should not be removed when it was used to preserve a combination
embedded in a combination of the same type. Such embeddings make sense to assure that
when you split a window and subsequently delete the new window, Emacs reestablishes the
layout of the associated frame as it existed before the splitting.
Consider a scenario starting with two live windows W2 and W3 and their parent W1.
______________________________________
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W2_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W3_________________||
|__________________W1__________________|

Split W2 to make a new window W4 as follows.

Chapter 28: Windows 618

______________________________________
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W2_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W4_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W3_________________||
|__________________W1__________________|

Now, when enlarging a window vertically, Emacs tries to obtain the corresponding space
from its lower sibling, provided such a window exists. In our scenario, enlarging W4 will
steal space from W3.
______________________________________
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W2_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W4_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
||_________________W3_________________||
|__________________W1__________________|

Deleting W4 will now give its entire space to W2, including the space earlier stolen from
W3.
______________________________________
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W2_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
||_________________W3_________________||
|__________________W1__________________|

This can be counterintuitive, in particular if W4 were used for displaying a buffer only
temporarily (see Section 39.8 [Temporary Displays], page 981), and you want to continue
working with the initial layout.
The behavior can be fixed by making a new parent window when splitting W2. The
variable described next allows that to be done.
Chapter 28: Windows 619

window-combination-limit [User Option]

This variable controls whether splitting a window shall make a new parent window.
The following values are recognized:

nil This means that the new live window is allowed to share the existing par-
ent window, if one exists, provided the split occurs in the same direction
as the existing window combination (otherwise, a new internal window is
created anyway).

window-size
This means that display-buffer makes a new parent window when it
splits a window and is passed a window-height or window-width entry in
the alist argument (see Section 28.13.2 [Buffer Display Action Functions],
page 632). Otherwise, window splitting behaves as for a value of nil.

temp-buffer-resize
In this case with-temp-buffer-window makes a new parent window
when it splits a window and temp-buffer-resize-mode is enabled (see
Section 39.8 [Temporary Displays], page 981). Otherwise, window split-
ting behaves as for nil.

temp-buffer
In this case with-temp-buffer-window always makes a new parent win-
dow when it splits an existing window (see Section 39.8 [Temporary Dis-
plays], page 981). Otherwise, window splitting behaves as for nil.

display-buffer
This means that when display-buffer (see Section 28.13.1 [Choosing
Window], page 630) splits a window it always makes a new parent window.
Otherwise, window splitting behaves as for nil.

t This means that splitting a window always creates a new parent window.
Thus, if the value of this variable is at all times t, then at all times every
window tree is a binary tree (a tree where each window except the root
window has exactly one sibling).

The default is window-size. Other values are reserved for future use.

If, as a consequence of this variable’s setting, split-window makes a new parent win-
dow, it also calls set-window-combination-limit (see below) on the newly-created
internal window. This affects how the window tree is rearranged when the child
windows are deleted (see below).

If window-combination-limit is t, splitting W2 in the initial configuration of our

scenario would have produced this:
Chapter 28: Windows 620

______________________________________
| ____________________________________ |
|| __________________________________ ||
||| |||
|||________________W2________________|||
|| __________________________________ ||
||| |||
|||________________W4________________|||
||_________________W5_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W3_________________||
|__________________W1__________________|

A new internal window W5 has been created; its children are W2 and the new live window
W4. Now, W2 is the only sibling of W4, so enlarging W4 will try to shrink W2, leaving W3
unaffected. Observe that W5 represents a vertical combination of two windows embedded
in the vertical combination W1.

set-window-combination-limit window limit [Function]

This function sets the combination limit of the window window to limit. This value
can be retrieved via the function window-combination-limit. See below for its
effects; note that it is only meaningful for internal windows. The split-window
function automatically calls this function, passing it t as limit, provided the value of
the variable window-combination-limit is t when it is called.

window-combination-limit window [Function]

This function returns the combination limit for window.
The combination limit is meaningful only for an internal window. If it is nil, then
Emacs is allowed to automatically delete window, in response to a window deletion,
in order to group the child windows of window with its sibling windows to form a
new window combination. If the combination limit is t, the child windows of window
are never automatically recombined with its siblings.
If, in the configuration shown at the beginning of this section, the combination limit
of W4 (the parent window of W6 and W7) is t, deleting W5 will not implicitly delete
W4 too.

Alternatively, the problems sketched above can be avoided by always resizing all windows
in the same combination whenever one of its windows is split or deleted. This also permits
splitting windows that would be otherwise too small for such an operation.

window-combination-resize [User Option]

If this variable is nil, split-window can only split a window (denoted by window) if
window’s screen area is large enough to accommodate both itself and the new window.
If this variable is t, split-window tries to resize all windows that are part of the same
combination as window, in order to accommodate the new window. In particular, this
may allow split-window to succeed even if window is a fixed-size window or too small
to ordinarily split. Furthermore, subsequently resizing or deleting window may resize
all other windows in its combination.
Chapter 28: Windows 621

The default is nil. Other values are reserved for future use. A specific split op-
eration may ignore the value of this variable if it is affected by a non-nil value of
window-combination-limit.

To illustrate the effect of window-combination-resize, consider the following frame

layout.
______________________________________
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W2_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W3_________________||
|__________________W1__________________|

If window-combination-resize is nil, splitting window W3 leaves the size of W2 un-

changed:
______________________________________
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W2_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
||_________________W3_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
||_________________W4_________________||
|__________________W1__________________|

If window-combination-resize is t, splitting W3 instead leaves all three live windows

with approximately the same height:
______________________________________
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W2_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W3_________________||
| ____________________________________ |
|| ||
|| ||
||_________________W4_________________||
|__________________W1__________________|
Chapter 28: Windows 622

Deleting any of the live windows W2, W3 or W4 will distribute its space proportionally
among the two remaining live windows.

28.9 Selecting Windows

select-window window &optional norecord [Function]
This function makes window the selected window and the window selected within its
frame (see Section 28.1 [Basic Windows], page 598), and selects that frame. It also
makes window’s buffer (see Section 28.11 [Buffers and Windows], page 626) current
and sets that buffer’s value of point to the value of window-point (see Section 28.19
[Window Point], page 660) in window. window must be a live window. The return
value is window.
By default, this function also moves window’s buffer to the front of the buffer list (see
Section 27.8 [Buffer List], page 591) and makes window the most recently selected
window. If the optional argument norecord is non-nil, these additional actions are
omitted.
In addition, this function by default also tells the display engine to update the display
of window when its frame gets redisplayed the next time. If norecord is non-nil,
such updates are usually not performed. If, however, norecord equals the special
symbol mark-for-redisplay, the additional actions mentioned above are omitted
but window will be nevertheless updated.
Note that sometimes selecting a window is not enough to show it, or make its frame
the top-most frame on display: you may also need to raise the frame or make sure
input focus is directed to that frame. See Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720.

For historical reasons, Emacs does not run a separate hook whenever a window gets
selected. Applications and internal routines often temporarily select a window to perform
a few actions on it. They do that either to simplify coding—because many functions by
default operate on the selected window when no window argument is specified—or because
some functions did not (and still do not) take a window as argument and always operate(d)
on the selected window instead. Running a hook every time a window gets selected for a
short time and once more when the previously selected window gets restored is not useful.
However, when its norecord argument is nil, select-window updates the buffer list and
thus indirectly runs the normal hook buffer-list-update-hook (see Section 27.8 [Buffer
List], page 591). Consequently, that hook provides a reasonable way to run a function
whenever a window gets selected more “permanently”.
Since buffer-list-update-hook is also run by functions that are not related to window
management, it will usually make sense to save the value of the selected window somewhere
and compare it with the value of selected-window while running that hook. Also, to
avoid false positives when using buffer-list-update-hook, it is good practice that every
select-window call supposed to select a window only temporarily passes a non-nil norecord
argument. If possible, the macro with-selected-window (see below) should be used in such
cases.
The sequence of calls to select-window with a non-nil norecord argument determines
an ordering of windows by their selection time. The function get-lru-window can be
Chapter 28: Windows 623

used to retrieve the least recently selected live window (see Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window
Ordering], page 624).

save-selected-window forms. . . [Macro]

This macro records the selected frame, as well as the selected window of each frame,
executes forms in sequence, then restores the earlier selected frame and windows. It
also saves and restores the current buffer. It returns the value of the last form in
forms.
This macro does not save or restore anything about the sizes, arrangement or contents
of windows; therefore, if forms change them, the change persists. If the previously
selected window of some frame is no longer live at the time of exit from forms, that
frame’s selected window is left alone. If the previously selected window is no longer
live, then whatever window is selected at the end of forms remains selected. The
current buffer is restored if and only if it is still live when exiting forms.
This macro changes neither the ordering of recently selected windows nor the buffer
list.

with-selected-window window forms. . . [Macro]

This macro selects window, executes forms in sequence, then restores the previously
selected window and current buffer. The ordering of recently selected windows and
the buffer list remain unchanged unless you deliberately change them within forms;
for example, by calling select-window with argument norecord nil. Hence, this
macro is the preferred way to temporarily work with window as the selected window
without needlessly running buffer-list-update-hook.

frame-selected-window &optional frame [Function]

This function returns the window on frame that is selected within that frame. frame
should be a live frame; if omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected frame.

set-frame-selected-window frame window &optional norecord [Function]

This function makes window the window selected within the frame frame. frame
should be a live frame; if nil, it defaults to the selected frame. window should be a
live window; if nil, it defaults to the selected window.
If frame is the selected frame, this makes window the selected window.
If the optional argument norecord is non-nil, this function does not alter the list of
most recently selected windows, nor the buffer list.

window-use-time &optional window [Function]

This functions returns the use time of window window. window must be a live window
and defaults to the selected one.
The use time of a window is not really a time value, but an integer that does increase
monotonically with each call of select-window with a nil norecord argument. The
window with the lowest use time is usually called the least recently used window
while the window with the highest use time is called the most recently used one (see
Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window Ordering], page 624).
Chapter 28: Windows 624

28.10 Cyclic Ordering of Windows

When you use the command C-x o (other-window) to select some other window, it moves
through live windows in a specific order. For any given configuration of windows, this order
never varies. It is called the cyclic ordering of windows.
The ordering is determined by a depth-first traversal of each frame’s window tree, re-
trieving the live windows which are the leaf nodes of the tree (see Section 28.2 [Windows
and Frames], page 599). If the minibuffer is active, the minibuffer window is included too.
The ordering is cyclic, so the last window in the sequence is followed by the first one.
next-window &optional window minibuf all-frames [Function]
This function returns a live window, the one following window in the cyclic ordering
of windows. window should be a live window; if omitted or nil, it defaults to the
selected window.
The optional argument minibuf specifies whether minibuffer windows should be in-
cluded in the cyclic ordering. Normally, when minibuf is nil, a minibuffer window
is included only if it is currently active; this matches the behavior of C-x o. (Note
that a minibuffer window is active as long as its minibuffer is in use; see Chapter 20
[Minibuffers], page 334).
If minibuf is t, the cyclic ordering includes all minibuffer windows. If minibuf is
neither t nor nil, minibuffer windows are not included even if they are active.
The optional argument all-frames specifies which frames to consider:
• nil means to consider windows on window’s frame. If the minibuffer window is
considered (as specified by the minibuf argument), then frames that share the
minibuffer window are considered too.
• t means to consider windows on all existing frames.
• visible means to consider windows on all visible frames.
• 0 means to consider windows on all visible or iconified frames.
• A frame means to consider windows on that specific frame.
• Anything else means to consider windows on window’s frame, and no others.
If more than one frame is considered, the cyclic ordering is obtained by appending
the orderings for those frames, in the same order as the list of all live frames (see
Section 29.8 [Finding All Frames], page 718).
previous-window &optional window minibuf all-frames [Function]
This function returns a live window, the one preceding window in the cyclic ordering
of windows. The other arguments are handled like in next-window.
other-window count &optional all-frames [Command]
This function selects a live window, one count places from the selected window in
the cyclic ordering of windows. If count is a positive number, it skips count windows
forwards; if count is negative, it skips −count windows backwards; if count is zero,
that simply re-selects the selected window. When called interactively, count is the
numeric prefix argument.
The optional argument all-frames has the same meaning as in next-window, like a
nil minibuf argument to next-window.
Chapter 28: Windows 625

This function does not select a window that has a non-nil no-other-window win-
dow parameter (see Section 28.27 [Window Parameters], page 678), provided that
ignore-window-parameters is nil.
If the other-window parameter of the selected window is a function, and
ignore-window-parameters is nil, that function will be called with the arguments
count and all-frames instead of the normal operation of this function.
walk-windows fun &optional minibuf all-frames [Function]
This function calls the function fun once for each live window, with the window as
the argument.
It follows the cyclic ordering of windows. The optional arguments minibuf and all-
frames specify the set of windows included; these have the same arguments as in
next-window. If all-frames specifies a frame, the first window walked is the first
window on that frame (the one returned by frame-first-window), not necessarily
the selected window.
If fun changes the window configuration by splitting or deleting windows, that does
not alter the set of windows walked, which is determined prior to calling fun for the
first time.
one-window-p &optional no-mini all-frames [Function]
This function returns t if the selected window is the only live window, and nil
otherwise.
If the minibuffer window is active, it is normally considered (so that this function
returns nil). However, if the optional argument no-mini is non-nil, the minibuffer
window is ignored even if active. The optional argument all-frames has the same
meaning as for next-window.
The following functions return a window which satisfies some criterion, without selecting
it:
get-lru-window &optional all-frames dedicated not-selected [Function]
This function returns a live window which is heuristically the least recently used. The
optional argument all-frames has the same meaning as in next-window.
If any full-width windows are present, only those windows are considered. A minibuf-
fer window is never a candidate. A dedicated window (see Section 28.15 [Dedicated
Windows], page 650) is never a candidate unless the optional argument dedicated
is non-nil. The selected window is never returned, unless it is the only candidate.
However, if the optional argument not-selected is non-nil, this function returns nil
in that case.
get-mru-window &optional all-frames dedicated not-selected [Function]
This function is like get-lru-window, but it returns the most recently used window
instead. The meaning of the arguments is the same as described for get-lru-window.
get-largest-window &optional all-frames dedicated not-selected [Function]
This function returns the window with the largest area (height times width). The op-
tional argument all-frames specifies the windows to search, and has the same meaning
as in next-window.
Chapter 28: Windows 626

A minibuffer window is never a candidate. A dedicated window (see Section 28.15

[Dedicated Windows], page 650) is never a candidate unless the optional argument
dedicated is non-nil. The selected window is not a candidate if the optional argument
not-selected is non-nil. If the optional argument not-selected is non-nil and the
selected window is the only candidate, this function returns nil.
If there are two candidate windows of the same size, this function prefers the one that
comes first in the cyclic ordering of windows, starting from the selected window.

get-window-with-predicate predicate &optional minibuf all-frames [Function]

default
This function calls the function predicate for each of the windows in the cyclic order
of windows in turn, passing it the window as an argument. If the predicate returns
non-nil for any window, this function stops and returns that window. If no such
window is found, the return value is default (which defaults to nil).
The optional arguments minibuf and all-frames specify the windows to search, and
have the same meanings as in next-window.

28.11 Buffers and Windows

This section describes low-level functions for examining and setting the contents of windows.
See Section 28.12 [Switching Buffers], page 628, for higher-level functions for displaying a
specific buffer in a window.

window-buffer &optional window [Function]

This function returns the buffer that window is displaying. If window is omitted or
nil it defaults to the selected window. If window is an internal window, this function
returns nil.

set-window-buffer window buffer-or-name &optional keep-margins [Function]

This function makes window display buffer-or-name. window should be a live window;
if nil, it defaults to the selected window. buffer-or-name should be a buffer, or the
name of an existing buffer. This function does not change which window is selected,
nor does it directly change which buffer is current (see Section 27.2 [Current Buffer],
page 581). Its return value is nil.
If window is strongly dedicated to a buffer and buffer-or-name does not specify
that buffer, this function signals an error. See Section 28.15 [Dedicated Windows],
page 650.
By default, this function resets window’s position, display margins, fringe widths, and
scroll bar settings, based on the local variables in the specified buffer. However, if
the optional argument keep-margins is non-nil, it leaves window’s display margins,
fringes and scroll bar settings alone.
When writing an application, you should normally use display-buffer (see
Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window], page 630) or the higher-level functions described
in Section 28.12 [Switching Buffers], page 628, instead of calling set-window-buffer
directly.
This runs window-scroll-functions, followed by window-configuration-change-
hook. See Section 28.28 [Window Hooks], page 681.
Chapter 28: Windows 627

buffer-display-count [Variable]
This buffer-local variable records the number of times a buffer has been displayed in
a window. It is incremented each time set-window-buffer is called for the buffer.

buffer-display-time [Variable]
This buffer-local variable records the time at which a buffer was last displayed in
a window. The value is nil if the buffer has never been displayed. It is updated
each time set-window-buffer is called for the buffer, with the value returned by
current-time (see Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086).

get-buffer-window &optional buffer-or-name all-frames [Function]

This function returns the first window displaying buffer-or-name in the cyclic ordering
of windows, starting from the selected window (see Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window
Ordering], page 624). If no such window exists, the return value is nil.
buffer-or-name should be a buffer or the name of a buffer; if omitted or nil, it defaults
to the current buffer. The optional argument all-frames specifies which windows to
consider:
• t means consider windows on all existing frames.
• visible means consider windows on all visible frames.
• 0 means consider windows on all visible or iconified frames.
• A frame means consider windows on that frame only.
• Any other value means consider windows on the selected frame.
Note that these meanings differ slightly from those of the all-frames argument to
next-window (see Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window Ordering], page 624). This function
may be changed in a future version of Emacs to eliminate this discrepancy.

get-buffer-window-list &optional buffer-or-name minibuf [Function]

all-frames
This function returns a list of all windows currently displaying buffer-or-name. buffer-
or-name should be a buffer or the name of an existing buffer. If omitted or nil, it
defaults to the current buffer. If the currently selected window displays buffer-or-
name, it will be the first in the list returned by this function.
The arguments minibuf and all-frames have the same meanings as in the function
next-window (see Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window Ordering], page 624). Note that the
all-frames argument does not behave exactly like in get-buffer-window.

replace-buffer-in-windows &optional buffer-or-name [Command]

This command replaces buffer-or-name with some other buffer, in all windows dis-
playing it. buffer-or-name should be a buffer, or the name of an existing buffer; if
omitted or nil, it defaults to the current buffer.
The replacement buffer in each window is chosen via switch-to-prev-buffer (see
Section 28.14 [Window History], page 649). Any dedicated window displaying buffer-
or-name is deleted if possible (see Section 28.15 [Dedicated Windows], page 650). If
such a window is the only window on its frame and there are other frames on the same
terminal, the frame is deleted as well. If the dedicated window is the only window on
the only frame on its terminal, the buffer is replaced anyway.
Chapter 28: Windows 628

28.12 Switching to a Buffer in a Window

This section describes high-level functions for switching to a specified buffer in some window.
In general, “switching to a buffer” means to (1) show the buffer in some window, (2) make
that window the selected window (and its frame the selected frame), and (3) make the buffer
the current buffer.
Do not use these functions to make a buffer temporarily current just so a Lisp program
can access or modify it. They have side-effects, such as changing window histories (see
Section 28.14 [Window History], page 649), which will surprise the user if used that way.
If you want to make a buffer current to modify it in Lisp, use with-current-buffer,
save-current-buffer, or set-buffer. See Section 27.2 [Current Buffer], page 581.

switch-to-buffer buffer-or-name &optional norecord [Command]

force-same-window
This command attempts to display buffer-or-name in the selected window and make
it the current buffer. It is often used interactively (as the binding of C-x b), as well
as in Lisp programs. The return value is the buffer switched to.
If buffer-or-name is nil, it defaults to the buffer returned by other-buffer (see
Section 27.8 [Buffer List], page 591). If buffer-or-name is a string that is not the
name of any existing buffer, this function creates a new buffer with that name; the
new buffer’s major mode is determined by the variable major-mode (see Section 23.2
[Major Modes], page 455).
Normally, the specified buffer is put at the front of the buffer list—both the global
buffer list and the selected frame’s buffer list (see Section 27.8 [Buffer List], page 591).
However, this is not done if the optional argument norecord is non-nil.
Sometimes, the selected window may not be suitable for displaying the buffer. This
happens if the selected window is a minibuffer window, or if the selected window is
strongly dedicated to its buffer (see Section 28.15 [Dedicated Windows], page 650). In
such cases, the command normally tries to display the buffer in some other window,
by invoking pop-to-buffer (see below).
If the optional argument force-same-window is non-nil and the selected window is
not suitable for displaying the buffer, this function always signals an error when called
non-interactively. In interactive use, if the selected window is a minibuffer window,
this function will try to use some other window instead. If the selected window
is strongly dedicated to its buffer, the option switch-to-buffer-in-dedicated-
window described next can be used to proceed.

switch-to-buffer-in-dedicated-window [User Option]

This option, if non-nil, allows switch-to-buffer to proceed when called interac-
tively and the selected window is strongly dedicated to its buffer.
The following values are respected:
nil Disallows switching and signals an error as in non-interactive use.
prompt Prompts the user whether to allow switching.
pop Invokes pop-to-buffer to proceed.
t Marks the selected window as non-dedicated and proceeds.
Chapter 28: Windows 629

This option does not affect non-interactive calls of switch-to-buffer.

By default, switch-to-buffer tries to preserve window-point. This behavior can be

tuned using the following option.

switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point [User Option]

If this variable is nil, switch-to-buffer displays the buffer specified by buffer-or-
name at the position of that buffer’s point. If this variable is already-displayed, it
tries to display the buffer at its previous position in the selected window, provided the
buffer is currently displayed in some other window on any visible or iconified frame.
If this variable is t, switch-to-buffer unconditionally tries to display the buffer at
its previous position in the selected window.
This variable is ignored if the buffer is already displayed in the selected window or
never appeared in it before, or if switch-to-buffer calls pop-to-buffer to display
the buffer.

The next two commands are similar to switch-to-buffer, except for the described
features.

switch-to-buffer-other-window buffer-or-name &optional [Command]

norecord
This function displays the buffer specified by buffer-or-name in some window other
than the selected window. It uses the function pop-to-buffer internally (see below).
If the selected window already displays the specified buffer, it continues to do so, but
another window is nonetheless found to display it as well.
The buffer-or-name and norecord arguments have the same meanings as in
switch-to-buffer.

switch-to-buffer-other-frame buffer-or-name &optional [Command]

norecord
This function displays the buffer specified by buffer-or-name in a new frame. It uses
the function pop-to-buffer internally (see below).
If the specified buffer is already displayed in another window, in any frame on the cur-
rent terminal, this switches to that window instead of creating a new frame. However,
the selected window is never used for this.
The buffer-or-name and norecord arguments have the same meanings as in
switch-to-buffer.

The above commands use the function pop-to-buffer, which flexibly displays a
buffer in some window and selects that window for editing. In turn, pop-to-buffer
uses display-buffer for displaying the buffer. Hence, all the variables affecting
display-buffer will affect it as well. See Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window], page 630,
for the documentation of display-buffer.

pop-to-buffer buffer-or-name &optional action norecord [Command]

This function makes buffer-or-name the current buffer and displays it in some window,
preferably not the window currently selected. It then selects the displaying window.
Chapter 28: Windows 630

If that window is on a different graphical frame, that frame is given input focus if
possible (see Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720).
If buffer-or-name is nil, it defaults to the buffer returned by other-buffer (see
Section 27.8 [Buffer List], page 591). If buffer-or-name is a string that is not the
name of any existing buffer, this function creates a new buffer with that name; the
new buffer’s major mode is determined by the variable major-mode (see Section 23.2
[Major Modes], page 455). In any case, that buffer is made current and returned,
even when no suitable window was found to display it.
If action is non-nil, it should be a display action to pass to display-buffer (see
Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window], page 630). Alternatively, a non-nil, non-list
value means to pop to a window other than the selected one—even if the buffer is
already displayed in the selected window.
Like switch-to-buffer, this function updates the buffer list unless norecord is non-
nil.

28.13 Displaying a Buffer in a Suitable Window

This section describes lower-level functions Emacs uses to find or create a window for dis-
playing a specified buffer. The common workhorse of these functions is display-buffer
which eventually handles all incoming requests for buffer display (see Section 28.13.1 [Choos-
ing Window], page 630).
display-buffer delegates the task of finding a suitable window to so-called action
functions (see Section 28.13.2 [Buffer Display Action Functions], page 632). First,
display-buffer compiles a so-called action alist—a special association list that action
functions can use to fine-tune their behavior. Then it passes that alist on to each action
function it calls (see Section 28.13.3 [Buffer Display Action Alists], page 635).
The behavior of display-buffer is highly customizable. To understand how cus-
tomizations are used in practice, you may wish to study examples illustrating the order of
precedence which display-buffer uses to call action functions (see Section 28.13.5 [Prece-
dence of Action Functions], page 641). To avoid conflicts between Lisp programs calling
display-buffer and user customizations of its behavior, it may make sense to follow a
number of guidelines which are sketched in the final part of this section (see Section 28.13.6
[The Zen of Buffer Display], page 645).

28.13.1 Choosing a Window for Displaying a Buffer

The command display-buffer flexibly chooses a window for display, and displays a speci-
fied buffer in that window. It can be called interactively, via the key binding C-x 4 C-o. It is
also used as a subroutine by many functions and commands, including switch-to-buffer
and pop-to-buffer (see Section 28.12 [Switching Buffers], page 628).
This command performs several complex steps to find a window to display in. These
steps are described by means of display actions, which have the form (functions . alist).
Here, functions is either a single function or a list of functions, referred to as “action
functions” (see Section 28.13.2 [Buffer Display Action Functions], page 632); and alist is
an association list, referred to as “action alist” (see Section 28.13.3 [Buffer Display Action
Alists], page 635). See Section 28.13.6 [The Zen of Buffer Display], page 645, for samples
of display actions.
Chapter 28: Windows 631

An action function accepts two arguments: the buffer to display and an action alist. It
attempts to display the buffer in some window, picking or creating a window according to
its own criteria. If successful, it returns the window; otherwise, it returns nil.
display-buffer works by combining display actions from several sources, and calling
the action functions in turn, until one of them manages to display the buffer and returns a
non-nil value.
display-buffer buffer-or-name &optional action frame [Command]
This command makes buffer-or-name appear in some window, without selecting the
window or making the buffer current. The argument buffer-or-name must be a buffer
or the name of an existing buffer. The return value is the window chosen to display
the buffer, or nil if no suitable window was found.
The optional argument action, if non-nil, should normally be a display action (de-
scribed above). display-buffer builds a list of action functions and an action alist,
by consolidating display actions from the following sources (in order of their prece-
dence, from highest to lowest):
• The variable display-buffer-overriding-action.
• The user option display-buffer-alist.
• The action argument.
• The user option display-buffer-base-action.
• The constant display-buffer-fallback-action.
In practice this means that display-buffer builds a list of all action functions
specified by these display actions. The first element of this list is the first ac-
tion function specified by display-buffer-overriding-action, if any. Its last
element is display-buffer-pop-up-frame—the last action function specified by
display-buffer-fallback-action. Duplicates are not removed from this list—
hence one and the same action function may be called multiple times during one call
of display-buffer.
display-buffer calls the action functions specified by this list in turn, passing the
buffer as the first argument and the combined action alist as the second argument,
until one of the functions returns non-nil. See Section 28.13.5 [Precedence of Action
Functions], page 641, for examples how display actions specified by different sources
are processed by display-buffer.
Note that the second argument is always the list of all action alist entries specified
by the sources named above. Hence, the first element of that list is the first action
alist entry specified by display-buffer-overriding-action, if any. Its last element
is the last alist entry of display-buffer-base-action, if any (the action alist of
display-buffer-fallback-action is empty).
Note also, that the combined action alist may contain duplicate entries and entries
for the same key with different values. As a rule, action functions always use the first
association of a key they find. Hence, the association an action function uses is not
necessarily the association provided by the display action that specified that action
function,
The argument action can also have a non-nil, non-list value. This has the special
meaning that the buffer should be displayed in a window other than the selected one,
Chapter 28: Windows 632

even if the selected window is already displaying it. If called interactively with a
prefix argument, action is t. Lisp programs should always supply a list value.
The optional argument frame, if non-nil, specifies which frames to check when de-
ciding whether the buffer is already displayed. It is equivalent to adding an element
(reusable-frames . frame) to the action alist of action (see Section 28.13.3 [Buffer
Display Action Alists], page 635). The frame argument is provided for compatibility
reasons, Lisp programs should not use it.

display-buffer-overriding-action [Variable]
The value of this variable should be a display action, which is treated with the highest
priority by display-buffer. The default value is an empty display action, i.e.,
(nil . nil).

display-buffer-alist [User Option]

The value of this option is an alist mapping conditions to display actions. Each condi-
tion may be either a regular expression matching a buffer name or a function that takes
two arguments: a buffer name and the action argument passed to display-buffer.
If either the name of the buffer passed to display-buffer matches a regular ex-
pression in this alist, or the function specified by a condition returns non-nil, then
display-buffer uses the corresponding display action to display the buffer.

display-buffer-base-action [User Option]

The value of this option should be a display action. This option can be used to define
a standard display action for calls to display-buffer.

display-buffer-fallback-action [Constant]
This display action specifies the fallback behavior for display-buffer if no other
display actions are given.

28.13.2 Action Functions for Buffer Display

An action function is a function display-buffer calls for choosing a window to display
a buffer. Action functions take two arguments: buffer, the buffer to display, and alist,
an action alist (see Section 28.13.3 [Buffer Display Action Alists], page 635). They are
supposed to return a window displaying buffer if they succeed and nil if they fail.
The following basic action functions are defined in Emacs.

display-buffer-same-window buffer alist [Function]

This function tries to display buffer in the selected window. It fails if the selected
window is a minibuffer window or is dedicated to another buffer (see Section 28.15
[Dedicated Windows], page 650). It also fails if alist has a non-nil inhibit-same-
window entry.

display-buffer-reuse-window buffer alist [Function]

This function tries to display buffer by finding a window that is already displaying it.
If alist has a non-nil inhibit-same-window entry, the selected window is not eligible
for reuse. The set of frames to search for a window already displaying buffer can be
specified with the help of the reusable-frames action alist entry. If alist contains
no reusable-frames entry, this function searches just the selected frame.
Chapter 28: Windows 633

If this function chooses a window on another frame, it makes that frame visible and,
unless alist contains an inhibit-switch-frame entry, raises that frame if necessary.

display-buffer-reuse-mode-window buffer alist [Function]

This function tries to display buffer by finding a window that is displaying a buffer
in a given mode.
If alist contains a mode entry, its value specifes a major mode (a symbol) or a list of
major modes. If alist contains no mode entry, the current major mode of buffer is
used instead. A window is a candidate if it displays a buffer whose mode derives from
one of the modes specified thusly.
The behavior is also controlled by alist entries for inhibit-same-window,
reusable-frames and inhibit-switch-frame, like display-buffer-reuse-
window does.

display-buffer-pop-up-window buffer alist [Function]

This function tries to display buffer by splitting the largest or least recently-used win-
dow (usually located on the selected frame). It actually performs the split by calling
the function specified by split-window-preferred-function (see Section 28.13.4
[Choosing Window Options], page 638).
The size of the new window can be adjusted by supplying window-height and
window-width entries in alist. If alist contains a preserve-size entry, Emacs will
also try to preserve the size of the new window during future resize operations (see
Section 28.5 [Preserving Window Sizes], page 612).
This function fails if no window can be split. More often than not, this happens
because no window is large enough to allow splitting. Setting split-height-
threshold or split-width-threshold to lower values may help in this regard.
Splitting also fails when the selected frame has an unsplittable frame parameter;
see Section 29.4.3.5 [Buffer Parameters], page 708.

display-buffer-in-previous-window buffer alist [Function]

This function tries to display buffer in a window where it was displayed previously.
If alist contains a non-nil inhibit-same-window entry, the selected window is not
eligible for use. A dedicated window is usable only if it already shows buffer. If alist
contains a previous-window entry, the window specified by that entry is usable even
if it never showed buffer before.
If alist contains a reusable-frames entry (see Section 28.13.3 [Buffer Display Ac-
tion Alists], page 635), its value determines which frames to search for a suitable
window. If alist contains no reusable-frames entry, this function searches just the
selected frame if display-buffer-reuse-frames and pop-up-frames are both nil;
it searches all frames on the current terminal if either of those variables is non-nil.
If more than one window qualifies as usable according to these rules, this function
makes a choice in the following order of preference:
• The window specified by any previous-window alist entry, provided it is not the
selected window.
• A window that showed buffer before, provided it is not the selected window.
Chapter 28: Windows 634

• The selected window if it is either specified by a previous-window alist entry or

showed buffer before.
display-buffer-use-some-window buffer alist [Function]
This function tries to display buffer by choosing an existing window and displaying
the buffer in that window. It can fail if all windows are dedicated to other buffers
(see Section 28.15 [Dedicated Windows], page 650).
display-buffer-below-selected buffer alist [Function]
This function tries to display buffer in a window below the selected window. If there
is a window below the selected one and that window already displays buffer, it reuses
that window.
If there is no such window, this function tries to create a new window by splitting the
selected one, and displays buffer there. It will also try to adjust that window’s size
provided alist contains a suitable window-height or window-width entry, see above.
If splitting the selected window fails and there is a non-dedicated window below the
selected one showing some other buffer, this function tries to use that window for
showing buffer.
display-buffer-at-bottom buffer alist [Function]
This function tries to display buffer in a window at the bottom of the selected frame.
This either tries to split the window at the bottom of the frame or the frame’s root
window, or to reuse an existing window at the bottom of the selected frame.
display-buffer-pop-up-frame buffer alist [Function]
This function creates a new frame, and displays the buffer in that frame’s window.
It actually performs the frame creation by calling the function specified in pop-up-
frame-function (see Section 28.13.4 [Choosing Window Options], page 638). If alist
contains a pop-up-frame-parameters entry, the associated value is added to the
newly created frame’s parameters.
display-buffer-in-child-frame buffer alist [Function]
This function tries to display buffer in a child frame (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames],
page 726) of the selected frame, either reusing an existing child frame or by making
a new one. If alist has a non-nil child-frame-parameters entry, the corresponding
value is an alist of frame parameters to give the new frame. A parent-frame param-
eter specifying the selected frame is provided by default. If the child frame should
become the child of another frame, a corresponding entry must be added to alist.
The appearance of child frames is largely dependent on the parameters provided via
alist. It is advisable to use at least ratios to specify the size (see Section 29.4.3.3 [Size
Parameters], page 705) and the position (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position Parameters],
page 702) of the child frame, and to add a keep-ratio parameter (see Section 29.4.3.6
[Frame Interaction Parameters], page 709), in order to make sure that the child frame
remains visible. For other parameters that should be considered see Section 29.14
[Child Frames], page 726.
display-buffer-use-some-frame buffer alist [Function]
This function tries to display buffer by finding a frame that meets a predicate (by
default any frame other than the selected frame).
Chapter 28: Windows 635

If this function chooses a window on another frame, it makes that frame visible and,
unless alist contains an inhibit-switch-frame entry, raises that frame if necessary.
If alist has a non-nil frame-predicate entry, its value is a function taking one
argument (a frame), returning non-nil if the frame is a candidate; this function
replaces the default predicate.
If alist has a non-nil inhibit-same-window entry, the selected window is not used;
thus if the selected frame has a single window, it is not used.

display-buffer-no-window buffer alist [Function]

If alist has a non-nil allow-no-window entry, then this function does not display
buffer and returns the symbol fail. This constitutes the only exception to the
convention that an action function returns either nil or a window showing buffer. If
alist has no such allow-no-window entry, this function returns nil.
If this function returns fail, display-buffer will skip the execution of any
further display actions and return nil immediately. If this function returns nil,
display-buffer will continue with the next display action, if any.
It is assumed that when a caller of display-buffer specifies a non-nil allow-no-
window entry, it is also able to handle a nil return value.

Two other action functions are described in their proper sections—display-buffer-

in-side-window (see Section 28.17.1 [Displaying Buffers in Side Windows], page 654) and
display-buffer-in-atom-window (see Section 28.18 [Atomic Windows], page 658).

28.13.3 Action Alists for Buffer Display

An action alist is an association list mapping predefined symbols recognized by action
functions to values these functions are supposed to interpret accordingly. In each call,
display-buffer constructs a new, possibly empty action alist and passes that entire list
on to any action function it calls.
By design, action functions are free in their interpretation of action alist entries. In fact,
some entries like allow-no-window or previous-window have a meaning only for one or a
few action functions, and are ignored by the rest. Other entries, like inhibit-same-window
or window-parameters, are supposed to be respected by most action functions, including
those provided by application programs and external packages.
In the previous subsection we have described in detail how individual action functions
interpret the action alist entries they care about. Here we give a reference list of all known
action alist entries according to their symbols, together with their values and action func-
tions (see Section 28.13.2 [Buffer Display Action Functions], page 632) that recognize them.
Throughout this list, the terms “buffer” will refer to the buffer display-buffer is supposed
to display, and “value” refers to the entry’s value.

inhibit-same-window
If the value is non-nil, this signals that the selected window must not be used
for displaying the buffer. All action functions that (re-)use an existing window
should respect this entry.
Chapter 28: Windows 636

previous-window
The value must specify a window that may have displayed the buffer previously.
display-buffer-in-previous-window will give preference to such a window
provided it is still live and not dedicated to another buffer.
mode The value is either a major mode or a list of major modes. display-buffer-
reuse-mode-window may reuse a window whenever the value specified by this
entry matches the major mode of that window’s buffer. Other action functions
ignore such entries.
frame-predicate
The value must be a function taking one argument (a frame), supposed to
return non-nil if that frame is a candidate for displaying the buffer. This entry
is used by display-buffer-use-some-frame.
reusable-frames
The value specifies the set of frames to search for a window that can be reused
because it already displays the buffer. It can be set as follows:
• nil means consider only windows on the selected frame. (Actually, the
last frame used that is not a minibuffer-only frame.)
• t means consider windows on all frames.
• visible means consider windows on all visible frames.
• 0 means consider windows on all visible or iconified frames.
• A frame means consider windows on that frame only.
Note that the meaning of nil differs slightly from that of the all-frames argu-
ment to next-window (see Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window Ordering], page 624).
A major client of this is display-buffer-reuse-window, but all other action
functions that try to reuse a window are affected as well. display-buffer-
in-previous-window consults it when searching for a window that previosuly
displayed the buffer on another frame.
inhibit-switch-frame
A non-nil value prevents another frame from being raised or selected, if the
window chosen by display-buffer is displayed there. Primarily affected by
this are display-buffer-use-some-frame and display-buffer-reuse-
window. display-buffer-pop-up-frame should be affected as well, but there
is no guarantee that the window manager will comply.
window-parameters
The value specifies an alist of window parameters to give the chosen window.
All action functions that choose a window should process this entry.
window-height
The value specifies whether and how to adjust the height of the chosen window
and can be one of the following:
• nil means to leave the height of the chosen window alone.
• An integer number specifies the desired total height of the chosen window
in lines.
Chapter 28: Windows 637

• A floating-point number specifies the fraction of the chosen window’s de-

sired total height with respect to the total height of its frame’s root window.
• If the value specifies a function, that function is called with one argument—
the chosen window. The function is supposed to adjust the height of the
window; its return value is ignored. Suitable functions are shrink-window-
if-larger-than-buffer and fit-window-to-buffer, see Section 28.4
[Resizing Windows], page 608.
By convention, the height of the chosen window is adjusted only if the win-
dow is part of a vertical combination (see Section 28.2 [Windows and Frames],
page 599) to avoid changing the height of other, unrelated windows. Also, this
entry should be processed only under certain conditions which are specified
right below this list.
window-width
This entry is similar to the window-height entry described before, but used
to adjust the chosen window’s width instead. The value can be one of the
following:
• nil means to leave the width of the chosen window alone.
• An integer specifies the desired total width of the chosen window in
columns.
• A floating-point number specifies the fraction of the chosen window’s de-
sired total width with respect to the total width of the frame’s root window.
• If the value specifies a function, that function is called with one argument—
the chosen window. The function is supposed to adjust the width of the
window; its return value is ignored.
By convention, the width of the chosen window is adjusted only if the window
is part of a horizontal combination (see Section 28.2 [Windows and Frames],
page 599) to avoid changing the width of other, unrelated windows. Also, this
entry should be processed under only certain conditions which are specified
right below this list.
preserve-size
If non-nil such an entry tells Emacs to preserve the size of the window chosen
(see Section 28.5 [Preserving Window Sizes], page 612). The value should be
either (t . nil) to preserve the width of the window, (nil . t) to preserve its
height or (t . t) to preserve both, its width and its height. This entry should
be processed only under certain conditions which are specified right after this
list.
pop-up-frame-parameters
The value specifies an alist of frame parameters to give a new frame, if one is
created. display-buffer-pop-up-frame is its one and only addressee.
parent-frame
The value specifies the parent frame to be used when the buffer is displayed on
a child frame. This entry is used only by display-buffer-in-child-frame.
Chapter 28: Windows 638

child-frame-parameters
The value specifies an alist of frame parameters to use when the buffer is dis-
played on a child frame. This entry is used only by display-buffer-in-child-
frame.
side The value denotes the side of the frame or window where a new window dis-
playing the buffer shall be created. This entry is used by display-buffer-in-
side-window to indicate the side of the frame where a new side window shall
be placed (see Section 28.17.1 [Displaying Buffers in Side Windows], page 654).
It is also used by display-buffer-in-atom-window to indicate the side of
an existing window where the new window shall be located (see Section 28.18
[Atomic Windows], page 658).
slot If non-nil, the value specifies the slot of the side window supposed to display
the buffer. This entry is used only by display-buffer-in-side-window.
window The value specifies a window that is in some way related to the window chosen
by display-buffer. This entry is currently used by display-buffer-in-
atom-window to indicate the window on whose side the new window shall be
created.
allow-no-window
If the value is non-nil, display-buffer does not necessarily have to display
the buffer and the caller is prepared to accept that. This entry is not intended
for user customizations, since there is no guarantee that an arbitrary caller of
display-buffer will be able to handle the case that no window will display
the buffer. display-buffer-no-window is the only action function that cares
about this entry.
By convention, the entries window-height, window-width and preserve-size are ap-
plied after the chosen window’s buffer has been set up and if and only if that window never
showed another buffer before. More precisely, the latter means that the window must have
been either created by the current display-buffer call or the window was created earlier
by display-buffer to show the buffer and never was used to show another buffer until it
was reused by the current invocation of display-buffer.

28.13.4 Additional Options for Displaying Buffers

The behavior of buffer display actions (see Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window], page 630)
can be further modified by the following user options.

pop-up-windows [User Option]

If the value of this variable is non-nil, display-buffer is allowed to split an existing
window to make a new window for displaying in. This is the default.
This variable is provided for backward compatibility only. It is obeyed by
display-buffer via a special mechanism in display-buffer-fallback-action,
which calls the action function display-buffer-pop-up-window (see Section 28.13.2
[Buffer Display Action Functions], page 632) when the value of this option is
non-nil. It is not consulted by display-buffer-pop-up-window itself, which the
user may specify directly in display-buffer-alist etc.
Chapter 28: Windows 639

split-window-preferred-function [User Option]

This variable specifies a function for splitting a window, in order to make a new
window for displaying a buffer. It is used by the display-buffer-pop-up-window
action function to actually split the window.
The value must be a function that takes one argument, a window, and returns either a
new window (which will be used to display the desired buffer) or nil (which means the
splitting failed). The default value is split-window-sensibly, which is documented
next.

split-window-sensibly &optional window [Function]

This function tries to split window and return the newly created window. If window
cannot be split, it returns nil. If window is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected
window.
This function obeys the usual rules that determine when a window may be split (see
Section 28.6 [Splitting Windows], page 613). It first tries to split by placing the new
window below, subject to the restriction imposed by split-height-threshold (see
below), in addition to any other restrictions. If that fails, it tries to split by placing
the new window to the right, subject to split-width-threshold (see below). If that
also fails, and the window is the only window on its frame, this function again tries
to split and place the new window below, disregarding split-height-threshold. If
this fails as well, this function gives up and returns nil.

split-height-threshold [User Option]

This variable specifies whether split-window-sensibly is allowed to split the win-
dow placing the new window below. If it is an integer, that means to split only if the
original window has at least that many lines. If it is nil, that means not to split this
way.

split-width-threshold [User Option]

This variable specifies whether split-window-sensibly is allowed to split the win-
dow placing the new window to the right. If the value is an integer, that means to
split only if the original window has at least that many columns. If the value is nil,
that means not to split this way.

even-window-sizes [User Option]

This variable, if non-nil, causes display-buffer to even window sizes whenever it
reuses an existing window, and that window is adjacent to the selected one.
If its value is width-only, sizes are evened only if the reused window is on the left or
right of the selected one and the selected window is wider than the reused one. If its
value is height-only sizes are evened only if the reused window is above or beneath
the selected window and the selected window is higher than the reused one. Any
other non-nil value means to even sizes in any of these cases provided the selected
window is larger than the reused one in the sense of their combination.

pop-up-frames [User Option]

If the value of this variable is non-nil, that means display-buffer may display
buffers by making new frames. The default is nil.
Chapter 28: Windows 640

A non-nil value also means that when display-buffer is looking for a window
already displaying buffer-or-name, it can search any visible or iconified frame, not
just the selected frame.
This variable is provided mainly for backward compatibility. It is obeyed by
display-buffer via a special mechanism in display-buffer-fallback-action,
which calls the action function display-buffer-pop-up-frame (see Section 28.13.2
[Buffer Display Action Functions], page 632) if the value is non-nil. (This is
done before attempting to split a window.) This variable is not consulted by
display-buffer-pop-up-frame itself, which the user may specify directly in
display-buffer-alist etc.

pop-up-frame-function [User Option]

This variable specifies a function for creating a new frame, in order to make a new
window for displaying a buffer. It is used by the display-buffer-pop-up-frame
action function.
The value should be a function that takes no arguments and returns a frame, or nil
if no frame could be created. The default value is a function that creates a frame
using the parameters specified by pop-up-frame-alist (see below).

pop-up-frame-alist [User Option]

This variable holds an alist of frame parameters (see Section 29.4 [Frame Parameters],
page 699), which is used by the function specified by pop-up-frame-function to
make a new frame. The default is nil.
This option is provided for backward compatibility only. Note, that when
display-buffer-pop-up-frame calls the function specified by pop-up-frame-
function, it prepends the value of all pop-up-frame-parameters action alist
entries to pop-up-frame-alist so that the values specified by the action alist entry
effectively override any corresponding values of pop-up-frame-alist.
Hence, users should set up a pop-up-frame-parameters action alist entry in
display-buffer-alist instead of customizing pop-up-frame-alist. Only this will
guarantee that the value of a parameter specified by the user overrides the value of
that parameter specified by the caller of display-buffer.

Many efforts in the design of display-buffer have been given to maintain compatibility
with code that uses older options like pop-up-windows, pop-up-frames, pop-up-frame-
alist, same-window-buffer-names and same-window-regexps. Lisp Programs and users
should refrain from using these options. Above we already warned against customizing
pop-up-frame-alist. Here we describe how to convert the remaining options to use display
actions instead.

pop-up-windows
This variable is t by default. Instead of customizing it to nil and thus telling
display-buffer what not to do, it’s much better to list in display-buffer-
base-action the action functions it should try instead as, for example:
Chapter 28: Windows 641

(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-base-action
'((display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-same-window
display-buffer-in-previous-window
display-buffer-use-some-window)))
pop-up-frames
Instead of customizing this variable to t, customize display-buffer-base-
action, for example, as follows:
(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-base-action
'((display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-pop-up-frame)
(reusable-frames . 0)))
same-window-buffer-names
same-window-regexps
Instead of adding a buffer name or a regular expression to one of these op-
tions use a display-buffer-alist entry for that buffer specifying the action
function display-buffer-same-window.
(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-alist
(cons '("\\*foo\\*" (display-buffer-same-window))
display-buffer-alist))

28.13.5 Precedence of Action Functions

From the past subsections we already know that display-buffer must be supplied with
a number of display actions (see Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window], page 630) in order
to display a buffer. In a completely uncustomized Emacs, these actions are specified by
display-buffer-fallback-action in the following order of precedence: Reuse a window,
pop up a new window on the same frame, use a window previously showing the buffer,
use some window and pop up a new frame. (Note that the remaining actions named by
display-buffer-fallback-action are void in an uncustomized Emacs).
Consider the following form:
(display-buffer (get-buffer-create "*foo*"))
Evaluating this form in the buffer *scratch* of an uncustomized Emacs session will usually
fail to reuse a window that shows *foo* already, but succeed in popping up a new window.
Evaluating the same form again will now not cause any visible changes—display-buffer
reused the window already showing *foo* because that action was applicable and had the
highest precedence among all applicable actions.
Popping up a new window will fail if there is not enough space on the selected frame. In
an uncustomized Emacs it typically fails when there are already two windows on a frame.
For example, if you now type C-x 1 followed by C-x 2 and evaluate the form once more,
*foo* should show up in the lower window—display-buffer just used “some” window.
If, before typing C-x 2 you had typed C-x o, *foo* would have been shown in the upper
window because “some” window stands for the “least recently used” window and the selected
window has been least recently used if and only if it is alone on its frame.
Chapter 28: Windows 642

Let’s assume you did not type C-x o and *foo* is shown in the lower window. Type
C-x o to get there followed by C-x left and evaluate the form again. This should display
*foo* in the same, lower window because that window had already shown *foo* previously
and was therefore chosen instead of some other window.
So far we have only observed the default behavior in an uncustomized Emacs session. To
see how this behavior can be customized, let’s consider the option display-buffer-base-
action. It provides a very coarse customization which conceptually affects the display
of any buffer. It can be used to supplement the actions supplied by display-buffer-
fallback-action by reordering them or by adding actions that are not present there but
fit more closely the user’s editing practice. However, it can also be used to change the
default behavior in a more profound way.
Let’s consider a user who, as a rule, prefers to display buffers on another frame. Such a
user might provide the following customization:
(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-base-action
'((display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-pop-up-frame)
(reusable-frames . 0)))
This setting will cause display-buffer to first try to find a window showing the buffer on a
visible or iconified frame and, if no such frame exists, pop up a new frame. You can observe
this behavior on a graphical system by typing C-x 1 in the window showing *scratch* and
evaluating our canonical display-buffer form. This will usually create (and give focus to)
a new frame whose root window shows *foo*. Iconify that frame and evaluate the canonical
form again: display-buffer will reuse the window on the new frame (usually raising the
frame and giving it focus too).
Only if creating a new frame fails, display-buffer will apply the actions supplied by
display-buffer-fallback-action which means to again try reusing a window, popping
up a new window and so on. A trivial way to make frame creation fail is supplied by the
following form:
(let ((pop-up-frame-function 'ignore))
(display-buffer (get-buffer-create "*foo*")))
We will forget about that form immediately after observing that it fails to create a new
frame and uses a fallback action instead.
Note that display-buffer-reuse-window appears redundant in the customization of
display-buffer-base-action because it is already part of display-buffer-fallback-
action and should be tried there anyway. However, that would fail because due to the
precedence of display-buffer-base-action over display-buffer-fallback-action, at
that time display-buffer-pop-up-frame would have already won the race. In fact, this:
(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-base-action
'(display-buffer-pop-up-frame (reusable-frames . 0)))
would cause display-buffer to always pop up a new frame which is probably not what
our user wants.
So far, we have only shown how users can customize the default behavior
of display-buffer. Let us now see how applications can change the course of
Chapter 28: Windows 643

display-buffer. The canonical way to do that is to use the action argument of

display-buffer or a function that calls it, like, for example, pop-to-buffer (see
Section 28.12 [Switching Buffers], page 628).
Suppose an application wants to display *foo* preferably below the selected window
(to immediately attract the attention of the user to the new window) or, if that fails, in a
window at the bottom of the frame. It could do that with a call like this:
(display-buffer
(get-buffer-create "*foo*")
'((display-buffer-below-selected display-buffer-at-bottom)))
In order to see how this new, modified form works, delete any frame showing *foo*, type
C-x 1 followed by C-x 2 in the window showing *scratch*, and subsequently evaluate that
form. display-buffer should split the upper window, and show *foo* in the new window.
Alternatively, if after C-x 2 you had typed C-x o, display-buffer would have split the
window at the bottom instead.
Suppose now that, before evaluating the new form, you have made the selected window
as small as possible, for example, by evaluating the form (fit-window-to-buffer) in that
window. In that case, display-buffer would have failed to split the selected window and
would have split the frame’s root window instead, effectively displaying *foo* at the bottom
of the frame.
In either case, evaluating the new form a second time should reuse the window already
showing *foo* since both functions supplied by the action argument try to reuse such a
window first.
By setting the action argument, an application effectively overrules any customization
of display-buffer-base-action. Our user can now either accept the choice of the appli-
cation, or redouble by customizing the option display-buffer-alist as follows:
(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-alist
'(("\\*foo\\*"
(display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-pop-up-frame))))
Trying this with the new, modified form above in a configuration that does not show *foo*
anywhere, will display *foo* on a separate frame, completely ignoring the action argument
of display-buffer.
Note that we didn’t care to specify a reusable-frames action alist entry in our specifi-
cation of display-buffer-alist. display-buffer always takes the first one it finds—in
our case the one specified by display-buffer-base-action. If we wanted to use a differ-
ent specification, for example, to exclude iconified frames showing *foo* from the list of
reusable ones, we would have to specify that separately, however:
(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-alist
'(("\\*foo\\*"
(display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-pop-up-frame)
(reusable-frames . visible))))
If you try this, you will notice that repeated attempts to display *foo* will succeed to reuse
a frame only if that frame is visible.
Chapter 28: Windows 644

The above example would allow the conclusion that users customize display-buffer-
alist for the sole purpose to overrule the action argument chosen by applications. Such a
conclusion would be incorrect. display-buffer-alist is the standard option for users to
direct the course of display of specific buffers in a preferred way regardless of whether the
display is also guided by an action argument.
We can, however, reasonably conclude that customizing display-buffer-alist dif-
fers from customizing display-buffer-base-action in two major aspects: it is stronger
because it overrides the action argument of display-buffer, and it allows to explicitly
specify the affected buffers. In fact, displaying other buffers is not affected in any way by a
customization for *foo*. For example,
(display-buffer (get-buffer-create "*bar*"))
continues being governed by the settings of display-buffer-base-action and
display-buffer-fallback-action only.
We could stop with our examples here but Lisp programs still have an ace up their sleeves
which they can use to overrule any customization of display-buffer-alist. It’s the vari-
able display-buffer-overriding-action which they can bind around display-buffer
calls as follows:
(let ((display-buffer-overriding-action
'((display-buffer-same-window))))
(display-buffer
(get-buffer-create "*foo*")
'((display-buffer-below-selected display-buffer-at-bottom))))
Evaluating this form will usually display *foo* in the selected window regardless of the
action argument and any user customizations. (Usually, an application will not bother
to also provide an action argument. Here it just serves to illustrate the fact that it gets
overridden.)
It might be illustrative to look at the list of action functions display-buffer would
have tried to display *foo* with the customizations we provided here. The list (including
comments explaining who added this and the subsequent elements) is:
(display-buffer-same-window ;; `display-buffer-overriding-action'
display-buffer-reuse-window ;; `display-buffer-alist'
display-buffer-pop-up-frame
display-buffer-below-selected ;; ACTION argument
display-buffer-at-bottom
display-buffer-reuse-window ;; `display-buffer-base-action'
display-buffer-pop-up-frame
display-buffer--maybe-same-window ;; `display-buffer-fallback-action'
display-buffer-reuse-window
display-buffer--maybe-pop-up-frame-or-window
display-buffer-in-previous-window
display-buffer-use-some-window
display-buffer-pop-up-frame)
Note that among the internal functions listed here, display-buffer--maybe-same-window
is effectively ignored while display-buffer--maybe-pop-up-frame-or-window actually
runs display-buffer-pop-up-window.
Chapter 28: Windows 645

The action alist passed in each function call is:

((reusable-frames . visible)
(reusable-frames . 0))
which shows that we have used the second specification of display-buffer-alist above,
overriding the specification supplied by display-buffer-base-action. Suppose our user
had written that as
(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-alist
'(("\\*foo\\*"
(display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-pop-up-frame)
(inhibit-same-window . t)
(reusable-frames . visible))))
In this case the inhibit-same-window alist entry will successfully invalidate the
display-buffer-same-window specification from display-buffer-overriding-action
and display-buffer will show *foo* on another frame. To make display-buffer-
overriding-action more robust in this regard, the application would have to specify an
appropriate inhibit-same-window entry too, for example, as follows:
(let ((display-buffer-overriding-action
'(display-buffer-same-window (inhibit-same-window . nil))))
(display-buffer (get-buffer-create "*foo*")))
This last example shows that while the precedence order of action functions is fixed, as
described in Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window], page 630, an action alist entry specified
by a display action ranked lower in that order can affect the execution of a higher ranked
display action.

28.13.6 The Zen of Buffer Display

In its most simplistic form, a frame accommodates always one single window that can be
used for displaying a buffer. As a consequence, it is always the latest call of display-buffer
that will have succeeded in placing its buffer there.
Since working with such a frame is not very practical, Emacs by default allows for
more complex frame layouts controlled by the default values of the frame size and the
split-height-threshold and split-width-threshold options. Displaying a buffer not
yet shown on a frame then either splits the single window on that frame or (re-)uses one of
its two windows.
The default behavior is abandoned as soon as the user customizes one of these thresholds
or manually changes the frame’s layout. The default behavior is also abandoned when calling
display-buffer with a non-nil action argument or the user customizes one of the options
mentioned in the previous subsections. Mastering display-buffer soon may become a
frustrating experience due to the plethora of applicable display actions and the resulting
frame layouts.
However, refraining from using buffer display functions and falling back on a split &
delete windows metaphor is not a good idea either. Buffer display functions give Lisp
programs and users a framework to reconcile their different needs; no comparable framework
exists for splitting and deleting windows. Buffer display functions also allow to at least
Chapter 28: Windows 646

partially restore the layout of a frame when removing a buffer from it later (see Section 28.16
[Quitting Windows], page 651).
Below we will give a number of guidelines to redeem the frustration mentioned above
and thus to avoid literally losing buffers in-between the windows of a frame.

Write display actions without stress

Writing display actions can be a pain because one has to lump together action
functions and action alists in one huge list. (Historical reasons prevented us
from having display-buffer support separate arguments for these.) It might
help to memorize some basic forms like the ones listed below:
'(nil (inhibit-same-window . t))
specifies an action alist entry only and no action function. Its sole purpose is
to inhibit a display-buffer-same-window function specified elsewhere from
showing the buffer in the same window, see also the last example of the preced-
ing subsection.
'(display-buffer-below-selected)
on the other hand, specifies one action function and an empty action alist. To
combine the effects of the above two specifications one would write the form
'(display-buffer-below-selected (inhibit-same-window . t))
to add another action function one would write
'((display-buffer-below-selected display-buffer-at-bottom)
(inhibit-same-window . t))
and to add another alist entry one would write
'((display-buffer-below-selected display-buffer-at-bottom)
(inhibit-same-window . t)
(window-height . fit-window-to-buffer))
That last form can be used as action argument of display-buffer in the
following way:
(display-buffer
(get-buffer-create "*foo*")
'((display-buffer-below-selected display-buffer-at-bottom)
(inhibit-same-window . t)
(window-height . fit-window-to-buffer)))
In a customization of display-buffer-alist it would be used as follows:
(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-alist
'(("\\*foo\\*"
(display-buffer-below-selected display-buffer-at-bottom)
(inhibit-same-window . t)
(window-height . fit-window-to-buffer))))
To add a customization for a second buffer one would then write:
Chapter 28: Windows 647

(customize-set-variable
'display-buffer-alist
'(("\\*foo\\*"
(display-buffer-below-selected display-buffer-at-bottom)
(inhibit-same-window . t)
(window-height . fit-window-to-buffer))
("\\*bar\\*"
(display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-pop-up-frame)
(reusable-frames . visible))))
Treat each other with respect
display-buffer-alist and display-buffer-base-action are user options—
Lisp programs must never set or rebind them. display-buffer-overriding-
action, on the other hand, is reserved for applications—who seldom use that
option and if they use it, then with utmost care.
Older implementations of display-buffer frequently caused users and applica-
tions to fight over the settings of user options like pop-up-frames and pop-up-
windows (see Section 28.13.4 [Choosing Window Options], page 638). This was
one major reason for redesigning display-buffer—to provide a clear frame-
work specifying what users and applications should be allowed to do.
Lisp programs must be prepared that user customizations may cause buffers
to get displayed in an unexpected way. They should never assume in their
subsequent behavior, that the buffer has been shown precisely the way they
asked for in the action argument of display-buffer.
Users should not pose too many and too severe restrictions on how arbitrary
buffers get displayed. Otherwise, they will risk to lose the characteristics of
showing a buffer for a certain purpose. Suppose a Lisp program has been
written to compare different versions of a buffer in two windows side-by-side.
If the customization of display-buffer-alist prescribes that any such buffer
should be always shown in or below the selected window, the program will have
a hard time to set up the desired window configuration via display-buffer.
To specify a preference for showing an arbitrary buffer, users should customize
display-buffer-base-action. An example of how users who prefer work-
ing with multiple frames would do that was given in the previous subsection.
display-buffer-alist should be reserved for displaying specific buffers in a
specific way.
Consider reusing a window that already shows the buffer
Generally, it’s always a good idea for users and Lisp programmers to be prepared
for the case that a window already shows the buffer in question and to reuse
that window. In the preceding subsection we have shown that failing to do
so properly may cause display-buffer to continuously pop up a new frame
although a frame showing that buffer existed already. In a few cases only, it
might be undesirable to reuse a window, for example, when a different portion
of the buffer should be shown in that window.
Hence, display-buffer-reuse-window is one action function that should be
used as often as possible, both in action arguments and customizations. An
Chapter 28: Windows 648

inhibit-same-window entry in the action argument usually takes care of

the most common case where reusing a window showing the buffer should be
avoided—that where the window in question is the selected one.
Attract focus to the window chosen
This is a no-brainer for people working with multiple frames—the frame
showing the buffer will automatically raise and get focus unless an
inhibit-switch-frame entry forbids it. For single frame users this task can
be considerably more difficult. In particular, display-buffer-pop-up-window
and display-buffer-use-some-window can become obtrusive in this regard.
They split or use a seemingly arbitrary (often the largest or least recently
used) window, distracting the user’s attention.
Some Lisp programs therefore try to choose a window at the bottom of the
frame, for example, in order to display the buffer in vicinity of the minibuf-
fer window where the user is expected to answer a question related to the
new window. For non-input related actions display-buffer-below-selected
might be preferable because the selected window usually already has the user’s
attention.
Handle subsequent invocations of display-buffer
display-buffer is not overly well suited for displaying several buffers in se-
quence and making sure that all these buffers are shown orderly in the resulting
window configuration. Again, the standard action functions display-buffer-
pop-up-window and display-buffer-use-some-window are not very suited for
this purpose due to their somewhat chaotic nature in more complex configura-
tions.
To produce a window configuration displaying multiple buffers (or different
views of one and the same buffer) in one and the same display cycle, Lisp
programmers will unavoidably have to write their own action functions. A few
tricks listed below might help in this regard.
• Making windows atomic (see Section 28.18 [Atomic Windows], page 658)
avoids breaking an existing window composition when popping up a new
window. The new window will pop up outside the composition instead.
• Temporarily dedicating windows to their buffers (see Section 28.15 [Dedi-
cated Windows], page 650) avoids using a window for displaying a different
buffer. A non-dedicated window will be used instead.
• Calling window-preserve-size (see Section 28.5 [Preserving Window
Sizes], page 612) will try to keep the size of the argument window
unchanged when popping up a new window. You have to make sure that
another window in the same combination can be shrunk instead, though.
• Side windows (see Section 28.17 [Side Windows], page 654) can be used
for displaying specific buffers always in a window at the same position of a
frame. This permits grouping buffers that do not compete for being shown
at the same time on a frame and showing any such buffer in the same
window without disrupting the display of other buffers.
• Child frames (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726) can be used
to display a buffer within the screen estate of the selected frame without
Chapter 28: Windows 649

disrupting that frame’s window configuration and without the overhead

associated with full-fledged frames as inflicted by display-buffer-pop-
up-frame.

28.14 Window History

Each window remembers in a list the buffers it has previously displayed, and the or-
der in which these buffers were removed from it. This history is used, for example, by
replace-buffer-in-windows (see Section 28.11 [Buffers and Windows], page 626), and
when quitting windows (see Section 28.16 [Quitting Windows], page 651). The list is auto-
matically maintained by Emacs, but you can use the following functions to explicitly inspect
or alter it:
window-prev-buffers &optional window [Function]
This function returns a list specifying the previous contents of window. The optional
argument window should be a live window and defaults to the selected one.
Each list element has the form (buffer window-start window-pos), where buffer is
a buffer previously shown in the window, window-start is the window start position
(see Section 28.20 [Window Start and End], page 661) when that buffer was last
shown, and window-pos is the point position (see Section 28.19 [Window Point],
page 660) when that buffer was last shown in window.
The list is ordered so that earlier elements correspond to more recently-shown buffers,
and the first element usually corresponds to the buffer most recently removed from
the window.
set-window-prev-buffers window prev-buffers [Function]
This function sets window’s previous buffers to the value of prev-buffers. The argu-
ment window must be a live window and defaults to the selected one. The argument
prev-buffers should be a list of the same form as that returned by window-prev-
buffers.
In addition, each window maintains a list of next buffers, which is a list of buffers
re-shown by switch-to-prev-buffer (see below). This list is mainly used by switch-to-
prev-buffer and switch-to-next-buffer for choosing buffers to switch to.
window-next-buffers &optional window [Function]
This function returns the list of buffers recently re-shown in window via switch-to-
prev-buffer. The window argument must denote a live window or nil (meaning
the selected window).
set-window-next-buffers window next-buffers [Function]
This function sets the next buffer list of window to next-buffers. The window argu-
ment should be a live window or nil (meaning the selected window). The argument
next-buffers should be a list of buffers.
The following commands can be used to cycle through the global buffer list, much like
bury-buffer and unbury-buffer. However, they cycle according to the specified win-
dow’s history list, rather than the global buffer list. In addition, they restore window-
specific window start and point positions, and may show a buffer even if it is already
Chapter 28: Windows 650

shown in another window. The switch-to-prev-buffer command, in particular, is used

by replace-buffer-in-windows, bury-buffer and quit-window to find a replacement
buffer for a window.

switch-to-prev-buffer &optional window bury-or-kill [Command]

This command displays the previous buffer in window. The argument window should
be a live window or nil (meaning the selected window). If the optional argument
bury-or-kill is non-nil, this means that the buffer currently shown in window is about
to be buried or killed and consequently should not be switched to in future invocations
of this command.
The previous buffer is usually the buffer shown before the buffer currently shown
in window. However, a buffer that has been buried or killed, or has been already
shown by a recent invocation of switch-to-prev-buffer, does not qualify as previous
buffer.
If repeated invocations of this command have already shown all buffers previously
shown in window, further invocations will show buffers from the buffer list of the
frame window appears on (see Section 27.8 [Buffer List], page 591), trying to skip
buffers that are already shown in another window on that frame.

switch-to-next-buffer &optional window [Command]

This command switches to the next buffer in window, thus undoing the effect of the
last switch-to-prev-buffer command in window. The argument window must be
a live window and defaults to the selected one.
If there is no recent invocation of switch-to-prev-buffer that can be undone, this
function tries to show a buffer from the buffer list of the frame window appears on
(see Section 27.8 [Buffer List], page 591).

By default switch-to-prev-buffer and switch-to-next-buffer can switch to a buffer

that is already shown in another window on the same frame. The following option can be
used to override this behavior.

switch-to-visible-buffer [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, switch-to-prev-buffer and switch-to-next-buffer
may switch to a buffer that is already visible on the same frame, provided the buffer
was shown in the relevant window before. If it is nil, switch-to-prev-buffer and
switch-to-next-buffer always try to avoid switching to a buffer that is already
visible in another window on the same frame. The default is t.

28.15 Dedicated Windows

Functions for displaying a buffer can be told to not use specific windows by marking these
windows as dedicated to their buffers. display-buffer (see Section 28.13.1 [Choosing
Window], page 630) never uses a dedicated window for displaying another buffer in it.
get-lru-window and get-largest-window (see Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window Ordering],
page 624) do not consider dedicated windows as candidates when their dedicated argument
is non-nil. The behavior of set-window-buffer (see Section 28.11 [Buffers and Windows],
page 626) with respect to dedicated windows is slightly different, see below.
Chapter 28: Windows 651

Functions supposed to remove a buffer from a window or a window from a frame can
behave specially when a window they operate on is dedicated. We will distinguish three
basic cases, namely where (1) the window is not the only window on its frame, (2) the
window is the only window on its frame but there are other frames on the same terminal
left, and (3) the window is the only window on the only frame on the same terminal.
In particular, delete-windows-on (see Section 28.7 [Deleting Windows], page 615) han-
dles case (2) by deleting the associated frame and case (3) by showing another buffer in
that frame’s only window. The function replace-buffer-in-windows (see Section 28.11
[Buffers and Windows], page 626) which is called when a buffer gets killed, deletes the
window in case (1) and behaves like delete-windows-on otherwise.
When bury-buffer (see Section 27.8 [Buffer List], page 591) operates on the selected
window (which shows the buffer that shall be buried), it handles case (2) by calling
frame-auto-hide-function (see Section 28.16 [Quitting Windows], page 651) to deal with
the selected frame. The other two cases are handled as with replace-buffer-in-windows.
window-dedicated-p &optional window [Function]
This function returns non-nil if window is dedicated to its buffer and nil otherwise.
More precisely, the return value is the value assigned by the last call of set-window-
dedicated-p for window, or nil if that function was never called with window as its
argument. The default for window is the selected window.
set-window-dedicated-p window flag [Function]
This function marks window as dedicated to its buffer if flag is non-nil, and non-
dedicated otherwise.
As a special case, if flag is t, window becomes strongly dedicated to its buffer.
set-window-buffer signals an error when the window it acts upon is strongly dedi-
cated to its buffer and does not already display the buffer it is asked to display. Other
functions do not treat t differently from any non-nil value.

28.16 Quitting Windows

When you want to get rid of a window used for displaying a buffer, you can call
delete-window or delete-windows-on (see Section 28.7 [Deleting Windows], page 615)
to remove that window from its frame. If the buffer is shown on a separate frame,
you might want to call delete-frame (see Section 29.7 [Deleting Frames], page 718)
instead. If, on the other hand, a window has been reused for displaying the buffer, you
might prefer showing the buffer previously shown in that window, by calling the function
switch-to-prev-buffer (see Section 28.14 [Window History], page 649). Finally, you
might want to either bury (see Section 27.8 [Buffer List], page 591) or kill (see Section 27.10
[Killing Buffers], page 594) the window’s buffer.
The following command uses information on how the window for displaying the buffer
was obtained in the first place, thus attempting to automate the above decisions for you.
quit-window &optional kill window [Command]
This command quits window and buries its buffer. The argument window must be
a live window and defaults to the selected one. With prefix argument kill non-nil,
it kills the buffer instead of burying it. It calls the function quit-restore-window
described next to deal with the window and its buffer.
Chapter 28: Windows 652

quit-restore-window &optional window bury-or-kill [Function]

This function handles window and its buffer after quitting. The optional argument
window must be a live window and defaults to the selected one. The function’s behav-
ior is determined by the four elements of the list specified by window’s quit-restore
parameter (see Section 28.27 [Window Parameters], page 678).
The first element of the quit-restore parameter is one of the symbols window,
meaning that the window has been specially created by display-buffer; frame, a
separate frame has been created; same, the window has only ever displayed this buffer;
or other, the window showed another buffer before. frame and window affect how
the window is quit, while same and other affect the redisplay of buffers previously
shown in window.
The parameter’s second element is either one of the symbols window or frame, or a
list whose elements are the buffer shown in window before, that buffer’s window start
and window point positions, and window’s height at that time. If that buffer is still
live when window is quit, then this function may reuse window to display it.
The third element is the window selected at the time the parameter was created. If
this function deletes window, it subsequently tries to reselect the window named by
that element.
The fourth element is the buffer whose display caused the creation of this parameter.
This function may delete window if and only if it still shows that buffer.
This function will try to delete window if and only if (1) the first element of its
quit-restore parameter is either window or frame, (2) the window has no history
of previously-displayed buffers and (3) the fourth element of the quit-restore pa-
rameter specifies the buffer currently displayed in window. If window is part of an
atomic window (see Section 28.18 [Atomic Windows], page 658), it will try to delete
the root of that atomic window instead. In either case, it tries to avoid signaling an
error when window cannot be deleted.
If window shall be deleted, is the only window on its frame and there are other
frames on that frame’s terminal, the value of the optional argument bury-or-kill de-
termines how to proceed with the window. If bury-or-kill equals kill, the frame is
deleted unconditionally. Otherwise, the fate of the frame is determined by calling
frame-auto-hide-function (see below) with that frame as sole argument.
If the third element of the quit-restore parameter is a list of buffer, window start
(see Section 28.20 [Window Start and End], page 661), and point (see Section 28.19
[Window Point], page 660), and that buffer is still live, the buffer will be displayed,
and start and point set accordingly. If, in addition, window’s buffer was temporarily
resized, this function will also try to restore the original height of window.
Otherwise, if window was previously used for displaying other buffers (see
Section 28.14 [Window History], page 649), the most recent buffer in that history will
be displayed. In either case, if window is not deleted, its quit-restore parameter
is reset to nil.
The optional argument bury-or-kill specifies how to deal with window’s buffer. The
following values are handled:
Chapter 28: Windows 653

nil This means to not deal with the buffer in any particular way. As a
consequence, if window is not deleted, invoking switch-to-prev-buffer
will usually show the buffer again.
append This means that if window is not deleted, its buffer is moved to the end of
window’s list of previous buffers, so it’s less likely that a future invocation
of switch-to-prev-buffer will switch to it. Also, it moves the buffer to
the end of the frame’s buffer list.
bury This means that if window is not deleted, its buffer is removed from
window’s list of previous buffers. Also, it moves the buffer to the end
of the frame’s buffer list. This value provides the most reliable remedy
to not have switch-to-prev-buffer switch to this buffer again without
killing the buffer.
kill This means to kill window’s buffer.
Typically, the display routines run by display-buffer will set the quit-restore
window parameter correctly. It’s also possible to set it manually, using the following
code for displaying buffer in window:
(display-buffer-record-window type window buffer)

(set-window-buffer window buffer)

(set-window-prev-buffers window nil)

Setting the window history to nil ensures that a future call to quit-window can
delete the window altogether.

The following option specifies how to deal with a frame containing just one window that
should be either quit, or whose buffer should be buried.

frame-auto-hide-function [User Option]

The function specified by this option is called to automatically hide frames. This
function is called with one argument—a frame.
The function specified here is called by bury-buffer (see Section 27.8 [Buffer List],
page 591) when the selected window is dedicated and shows the buffer to bury. It is
also called by quit-restore-window (see above) when the frame of the window to
quit has been specially created for displaying that window’s buffer and the buffer is
not killed.
The default is to call iconify-frame (see Section 29.11 [Visibility of Frames],
page 723). Alternatively, you may specify either delete-frame (see Section 29.7
[Deleting Frames], page 718) to remove the frame from its display, make-frame-
invisible to make the frame invisible, ignore to leave the frame unchanged, or
any other function that can take a frame as its sole argument.
Note that the function specified by this option is called only if the specified frame
contains just one live window and there is at least one other frame on the same
terminal.
Chapter 28: Windows 654

For a particular frame, the value specified here may be overridden by that frame’s
auto-hide-function frame parameter (see Section 29.4.3.6 [Frame Interaction Pa-
rameters], page 709).

28.17 Side Windows

Side windows are special windows positioned at any of the four sides of a frame’s root
window (see Section 28.2 [Windows and Frames], page 599). In practice, this means that
the area of the frame’s root window is subdivided into a main window and a number of
side windows surrounding that main window. The main window is either a “normal” live
window or specifies the area containing all the normal windows.
In their most simple form of use, side windows allow to display specific buffers always
in the same area of a frame. Hence they can be regarded as a generalization of the concept
provided by display-buffer-at-bottom (see Section 28.13.2 [Buffer Display Action Func-
tions], page 632) to the remaining sides of a frame. With suitable customizations, however,
side windows can be also used to provide frame layouts similar to those found in so-called
integrated development environments (IDEs).

28.17.1 Displaying Buffers in Side Windows

The following action function for display-buffer (see Section 28.13.2 [Buffer Display Ac-
tion Functions], page 632) creates or reuses a side window for displaying the specified buffer.

display-buffer-in-side-window buffer alist [Function]

This function displays buffer in a side window of the selected frame. It returns the
window used for displaying buffer, nil if no such window can be found or created.
alist is an association list of symbols and values as for display-buffer. The following
symbols in alist are special for this function:
side Denotes the side of the frame where the window shall be located. Valid
values are left, top, right and bottom. If unspecified, the window is
located at the bottom of the frame.
slot Denotes a slot at the specified side where to locate the window. A value
of zero means to preferably position the window in the middle of the
specified side. A negative value means to use a slot preceding (that is,
above or on the left of) the middle slot. A positive value means to use a
slot following (that is, below or on the right of) the middle slot. Hence, all
windows on a specific side are ordered by their slot value. If unspecified,
the window is located in the middle of the specified side.
If you specify the same slot on the same side for two or more different buffers, the
buffer displayed last is shown in the corresponding window. Hence, slots can be used
for sharing the same side window between buffers.
This function installs the window-side and window-slot parameters (see
Section 28.27 [Window Parameters], page 678) and makes them persistent. It does
not install any other window parameters unless they have been explicitly provided
via a window-parameters entry in alist.
Chapter 28: Windows 655

By default, side windows cannot be split via split-window (see Section 28.6 [Splitting
Windows], page 613). Also, a side window is not reused or split by any buffer display action
(see Section 28.13.2 [Buffer Display Action Functions], page 632) unless it is explicitly
specified as target of that action. Note also that delete-other-windows cannot make a
side window the only window on its frame (see Section 28.7 [Deleting Windows], page 615).
Once set up, side windows also change the behavior of the commands switch-to-prev-
buffer and switch-to-next-buffer (see Section 28.14 [Window History], page 649). In
particular, these commands will refrain from showing, in a side window, buffers that have
not been displayed in that window before. They will also refrain from having a normal,
non-side window show a buffer that has been already displayed in a side window. A notable
exception to the latter rule occurs when an application, after displaying a buffer, resets that
buffer’s local variables.

28.17.2 Side Window Options and Functions

The following options provide additional control over the placement of side windows.
window-sides-vertical [User Option]
If non-nil, the side windows on the left and right of a frame occupy the frame’s full
height. Otherwise, the side windows on the top and bottom of the frame occupy the
frame’s full width.

window-sides-slots [User Option]

This option specifies the maximum number of side windows on each side of a frame.
The value is a list of four elements specifying the number of side window slots on (in
this order) the left, top, right and bottom of each frame. If an element is a number,
it means to display at most that many windows on the corresponding side. If an
element is nil, it means there’s no bound on the number of slots on that side.
If any of the specified values is zero, no window can be created on the corresponding
side. display-buffer-in-side-window will not signal an error in that case, but will
return nil. If a specified value just forbids the creation of an additional side window,
the most suitable window on that side is reused and may have its window-slot
parameter changed accordingly.
window-sides-reversed [User Option]
This option specifies whether top/bottom side windows should appear in reverse order.
When this is nil, side windows on the top and bottom of a frame are always drawn
from left to right with increasing slot values. When this is t, the drawing order is
reversed and side windows on the top and bottom of a frame are drawn from right to
left with increasing slot values.
When this is bidi, the drawing order is reversed if and only if the value of
bidi-paragraph-direction (see Section 39.26 [Bidirectional Display], page 1067) is
right-to-left in the buffer displayed in the window most recently selected within
the main window area of this frame. Sometimes that window may be hard to find,
so heuristics are used to avoid that the drawing order changes inadvertently when
another window gets selected.
The layout of side windows on the left or right of a frame is not affected by the value
of this variable.
Chapter 28: Windows 656

When a frame has side windows, the following function returns the main window of that
frame.

window-main-window &optional frame [Function]

This function returns the main window of the specified frame. The optional argument
frame must be a live frame and defaults to the selected one.

If frame has no side windows, it returns frame’s root window. Otherwise, it returns
either an internal non-side window such that all other non-side windows on frame
descend from it, or the single live non-side window of frame. Note that the main
window of a frame cannot be deleted via delete-window.

The following command is handy to toggle the appearance of all side windows on a
specified frame.

window-toggle-side-windows &optional frame [Command]

This command toggles side windows on the specified frame. The optional argument
frame must be a live frame and defaults to the selected one.

If frame has at least one side window, this command saves the state of frame’s root
window in the frame’s window-state frame parameter and deletes all side windows
on frame afterwards.

If frame has no side windows, but does have a window-state parameter, this com-
mand uses that parameter’s value to restore the side windows on frame leaving frame’s
main window alone.

An error is signaled if frame has no side windows and no saved state is found for it.

28.17.3 Frame Layouts with Side Windows

Side windows can be used to create more complex frame layouts like those provided by
integrated development environments (IDEs). In such layouts, the area of the main window
is where the normal editing activities take place. Side windows are not conceived for editing
in the usual sense. Rather, they are supposed to display information complementary to the
current editing activity, like lists of files, tags or buffers, help information, search or grep
results or shell output.

The layout of such a frame might appear as follows:

Chapter 28: Windows 657

___________________________________
| *Buffer List* |
|___________________________________|
| | | |
| * | | * |
| d | | T |
| i | | a |
| r | Main Window Area | g |
| e | | s |
| d | | * |
| * | | |
|_____|_______________________|_____|
| *help*/*grep*/ | *shell*/ |
| *Completions* | *compilation* |
|_________________|_________________|
| Echo Area |
|___________________________________|

The following example illustrates how window parameters (see Section 28.27 [Window
Parameters], page 678) can be used with display-buffer-in-side-window (see
Section 28.17.1 [Displaying Buffers in Side Windows], page 654) to set up code for
producing the frame layout sketched above.
(defvar parameters
'(window-parameters . ((no-other-window . t)
(no-delete-other-windows . t))))

(setq fit-window-to-buffer-horizontally t)
(setq window-resize-pixelwise t)

(setq
display-buffer-alist
`(("\\*Buffer List\\*" display-buffer-in-side-window
(side . top) (slot . 0) (window-height . fit-window-to-buffer)
(preserve-size . (nil . t)) ,parameters)
("\\*Tags List\\*" display-buffer-in-side-window
(side . right) (slot . 0) (window-width . fit-window-to-buffer)
(preserve-size . (t . nil)) ,parameters)
("\\*\\(?:help\\|grep\\|Completions\\)\\*"
display-buffer-in-side-window
(side . bottom) (slot . -1) (preserve-size . (nil . t))
,parameters)
("\\*\\(?:shell\\|compilation\\)\\*" display-buffer-in-side-window
(side . bottom) (slot . 1) (preserve-size . (nil . t))
,parameters)))
This specifies display-buffer-alist entries (see Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window],
page 630) for buffers with fixed names. In particular, it asks for showing *Buffer List*
with adjustable height at the top of the frame and *Tags List* with adjustable width on
the frame’s right. It also asks for having the *help*, *grep* and *Completions* buffers
Chapter 28: Windows 658

share a window on the bottom left side of the frame and the *shell* and *compilation*
buffers appear in a window on the bottom right side of the frame.
Note that the option fit-window-to-buffer-horizontally must have a non-nil value
in order to allow horizontal adjustment of windows. Entries are also added that ask for
preserving the height of side windows at the top and bottom of the frame and the width
of side windows at the left or right of the frame. To assure that side windows retain their
respective sizes when maximizing the frame, the variable window-resize-pixelwise is set
to a non-nil value. See Section 28.4 [Resizing Windows], page 608.
The last form also makes sure that none of the created side windows are accessible via
C-x o by installing the no-other-window parameter for each of these windows. In addition,
it makes sure that side windows are not deleted via C-x 1 by installing the no-delete-
other-windows parameter for each of these windows.
Since dired buffers have no fixed names, we use a special function dired-default-
directory-on-left in order to display a lean directory buffer on the left side of the frame.
(defun dired-default-directory-on-left ()
"Display `default-directory' in side window on left, hiding details."
(interactive)
(let ((buffer (dired-noselect default-directory)))
(with-current-buffer buffer (dired-hide-details-mode t))
(display-buffer-in-side-window
buffer `((side . left) (slot . 0)
(window-width . fit-window-to-buffer)
(preserve-size . (t . nil)) ,parameters))))
Evaluating the preceding forms and typing, in any order, M-x list-buffers, C-h f, M-x
shell, M-x list-tags, and M-x dired-default-directory-on-left should now repro-
duce the frame layout sketched above.

28.18 Atomic Windows

Atomic windows are rectangular compositions of at least two live windows. They have the
following distinctive characteristics:
• The function split-window (see Section 28.6 [Splitting Windows], page 613), when
applied to a constituent of an atomic window, will try to create the new window
outside of the atomic window.
• The function delete-window (see Section 28.7 [Deleting Windows], page 615), when
applied to a constituent of an atomic window, will try to delete the entire atomic
window instead.
• The function delete-other-windows (see Section 28.7 [Deleting Windows], page 615),
when applied to a constituent of an atomic window, will try to make the atomic window
fill its frame or main window (see Section 28.17 [Side Windows], page 654).
This means that the basic groups of functions that alter the window structure treat an
atomic window like a live one, thus preserving the internal structure of the atomic window.
Atomic windows are useful to construct and preserve window layouts that are meaningful
only when all involved buffers are shown simultaneously in a specific manner, such as when
showing differences between file revisions, or the same text in different languages or markups.
Chapter 28: Windows 659

They can also be used to permanently display information pertinent to a specific window
in bars on that window’s sides.
Atomic windows are implemented with the help of the reserved window-atom window
parameter (see Section 28.27 [Window Parameters], page 678) and an internal window (see
Section 28.1 [Basic Windows], page 598) called the root window of the atomic window. All
windows that are part of the same atomic window have this root window as their common
ancestor and are assigned a non-nil window-atom parameter.
The following function returns the root of the atomic window a specified window is part
of:

window-atom-root &optional window [Function]

This functions returns the root of the atomic window window is a part of. The
specified window must be a valid window and defaults to the selected one. It returns
nil if window is not part of an atomic window.

The most simple approach to make a new atomic window is to take an existing internal
window and apply the following function:

window-make-atom window [Function]

This function converts window into an atomic window. The specified window must
be an internal window. All this function does is to set the window-atom parameter
of each descendant of window to t.

To create a new atomic window from an existing live window or to add a new window to
an existing atomic window, the following buffer display action function (see Section 28.13.2
[Buffer Display Action Functions], page 632) can be used:

display-buffer-in-atom-window buffer alist [Function]

This function tries to display buffer in a new window that will be combined with an
existing window to form an atomic window. If the existing window is already part of
an atomic window, it adds the new window to that atomic window.
The specified alist is an association list of symbols and values. The following symbols
have a special meaning:

window The value of such an element specifies an existing window the new window
shall be combined with. If it specifies an internal window, all children
of that window become part of the atomic window too. If no window is
specified, the new window becomes a sibling of the selected window. The
window-atom parameter of the existing window is set to main provided
that window is live and its window-atom parameter was not already set.
side The value of such an element denotes the side of the existing window
where the new window shall be located. Valid values are below, right,
above and left. The default is below. The window-atom parameter of
the new window is set to this value.

The return value is the new window, nil when creating that window failed.
Chapter 28: Windows 660

Note that the value of the window-atom parameter does not really matter as long as
it is non-nil. The values assigned by display-buffer-in-atom-window just allow for
easy retrieval of the original and the new window after that function has been applied.
Note also that the window-atom parameter is the only window parameter assigned by
display-buffer-in-atom-window. Further parameters have to be set by the application
explicitly via a window-parameters entry in alist.
Atomic windows automatically cease to exist when one of their constituents gets
deleted. To dissolve an atomic window manually, reset the window-atom parameter of its
constituents—the root of the atomic window and all its descendants.
The following code snippet, when applied to a single-window frame, first splits the
selected window and makes the selected and the new window constituents of an atomic
window with their parent as root. It then displays the buffer *Messages* in a new window
at the frame’s bottom and makes that new window part of the atomic window just created.
(let ((window (split-window-right)))
(window-make-atom (window-parent window))
(display-buffer-in-atom-window
(get-buffer-create "*Messages*")
`((window . ,(window-parent window)) (window-height . 5))))
At this moment typing C-x 2 in any window of that frame produces a new window at
the bottom of the frame. Typing C-x 3 instead will put the new window at the frame’s
right. In either case, typing now C-x 1 in any window of the atomic window will remove
the new window only. Typing C-x 0 in any window of the atomic window will make that
new window fill the frame.

28.19 Windows and Point

Each window has its own value of point (see Section 30.1 [Point], page 742), independent
of the value of point in other windows displaying the same buffer. This makes it useful to
have multiple windows showing one buffer.
• The window point is established when a window is first created; it is initialized from
the buffer’s point, or from the window point of another window opened on the buffer
if such a window exists.
• Selecting a window sets the value of point in its buffer from the window’s value of
point. Conversely, deselecting a window sets the window’s value of point from that of
the buffer. Thus, when you switch between windows that display a given buffer, the
point value for the selected window is in effect in the buffer, while the point values for
the other windows are stored in those windows.
• As long as the selected window displays the current buffer, the window’s point and the
buffer’s point always move together; they remain equal.

Emacs displays the cursor, by default as a rectangular block, in each window at the
position of that window’s point. When the user switches to another buffer in a window,
Emacs moves that window’s cursor to where point is in that buffer. If the exact position of
point is hidden behind some display element, such as a display string or an image, Emacs
displays the cursor immediately before or after that display element.
Chapter 28: Windows 661

window-point &optional window [Function]

This function returns the current position of point in window. For a nonselected
window, this is the value point would have (in that window’s buffer) if that window
were selected. The default for window is the selected window.
When window is the selected window, the value returned is the value of point in that
window’s buffer. Strictly speaking, it would be more correct to return the top-level
value of point, outside of any save-excursion forms. But that value is hard to find.

set-window-point window position [Function]

This function positions point in window at position position in window’s buffer. It
returns position.
If window is selected, this simply does goto-char in window’s buffer.

window-point-insertion-type [Variable]
This variable specifies the marker insertion type (see Section 31.5 [Marker Insertion
Types], page 759) of window-point. The default is nil, so window-point will stay
behind text inserted there.

28.20 The Window Start and End Positions

Each window maintains a marker used to keep track of a buffer position that specifies where
in the buffer display should start. This position is called the display-start position of the
window (or just the start). The character after this position is the one that appears at the
upper left corner of the window. It is usually, but not inevitably, at the beginning of a text
line.
After switching windows or buffers, and in some other cases, if the window start is in the
middle of a line, Emacs adjusts the window start to the start of a line. This prevents certain
operations from leaving the window start at a meaningless point within a line. This feature
may interfere with testing some Lisp code by executing it using the commands of Lisp mode,
because they trigger this readjustment. To test such code, put it into a command and bind
the command to a key.

window-start &optional window [Function]

This function returns the display-start position of window window. If window is nil,
the selected window is used.
When you create a window, or display a different buffer in it, the display-start position
is set to a display-start position recently used for the same buffer, or to point-min if
the buffer doesn’t have any.
Redisplay updates the window-start position (if you have not specified it explicitly
since the previous redisplay)—to make sure point appears on the screen. Nothing
except redisplay automatically changes the window-start position; if you move point,
do not expect the window-start position to change in response until after the next
redisplay.

window-group-start &optional window [Function]

This function is like window-start, except that when window is a part of a group
of windows (see [Window Group], page 599), window-group-start returns the start
Chapter 28: Windows 662

position of the entire group. This condition holds when the buffer local variable
window-group-start-function is set to a function. In this case, window-group-
start calls the function with the single argument window, then returns its result.

window-end &optional window update [Function]

This function returns the position where display of its buffer ends in window. The
default for window is the selected window.
Simply changing the buffer text or moving point does not update the value that
window-end returns. The value is updated only when Emacs redisplays and redisplay
completes without being preempted.
If the last redisplay of window was preempted, and did not finish, Emacs does not
know the position of the end of display in that window. In that case, this function
returns nil.
If update is non-nil, window-end always returns an up-to-date value for where display
ends, based on the current window-start value. If a previously saved value of that
position is still valid, window-end returns that value; otherwise it computes the correct
value by scanning the buffer text.
Even if update is non-nil, window-end does not attempt to scroll the display if point
has moved off the screen, the way real redisplay would do. It does not alter the
window-start value. In effect, it reports where the displayed text will end if scrolling
is not required. Note that the position it returns might be only partially visible.

window-group-end &optional window update [Function]

This function is like window-end, except that when window is a part of a group
of windows (see [Window Group], page 599), window-group-end returns the end
position of the entire group. This condition holds when the buffer local variable
window-group-end-function is set to a function. In this case, window-group-end
calls the function with the two arguments window and update, then returns its result.
The argument update has the same meaning as in window-end.

set-window-start window position &optional noforce [Function]

This function sets the display-start position of window to position in window’s buffer.
It returns position.
The display routines insist that the position of point be visible when a buffer is
displayed. Normally, they select the display-start position according to their internal
logic (and scroll the window if necessary) to make point visible. However, if you
specify the start position with this function using nil for noforce, it means you want
display to start at position even if that would put the location of point off the screen.
If this does place point off screen, the display routines attempt to move point to the
left margin on the middle line in the window.
For example, if point is 1 and you set the start of the window to 37, the start of
the next line, point will be above the top of the window. The display routines will
automatically move point if it is still 1 when redisplay occurs. Here is an example:
;; Here is what ‘foo’ looks like before executing
;; the set-window-start expression.
Chapter 28: Windows 663

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

?This is the contents of buffer foo.
2
3
4
5
6
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(set-window-start
(selected-window)
(save-excursion
(goto-char 1)
(forward-line 1)
(point)))
⇒ 37

;; Here is what ‘foo’ looks like after executing

;; the set-window-start expression.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
2
3
?4
5
6
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
If the attempt to make point visible (i.e., in a fully-visible screen line) fails, the display
routines will disregard the requested window-start position and compute a new one
anyway. Thus, for reliable results Lisp programs that call this function should always
move point to be inside the window whose display starts at position.
If noforce is non-nil, and position would place point off screen at the next redisplay,
then redisplay computes a new window-start position that works well with point, and
thus position is not used.

set-window-group-start window position &optional noforce [Function]

This function is like set-window-start, except that when window is a part of a group
of windows (see [Window Group], page 599), set-window-group-start sets the start
position of the entire group. This condition holds when the buffer local variable
set-window-group-start-function is set to a function. In this case, set-window-
group-start calls the function with the three arguments window, position, and
noforce, then returns its result. The arguments position and noforce in this func-
tion have the same meaning as in set-window-start.

pos-visible-in-window-p &optional position window partially [Function]

This function returns non-nil if position is within the range of text currently visible
on the screen in window. It returns nil if position is scrolled vertically out of view.
Locations that are partially obscured are not considered visible unless partially is
Chapter 28: Windows 664

non-nil. The argument position defaults to the current position of point in window;
window defaults to the selected window. If position is t, that means to check either
the first visible position of the last screen line in window, or the end-of-buffer position,
whichever comes first.
This function considers only vertical scrolling. If position is out of view only because
window has been scrolled horizontally, pos-visible-in-window-p returns non-nil
anyway. See Section 28.23 [Horizontal Scrolling], page 669.
If position is visible, pos-visible-in-window-p returns t if partially is nil; if par-
tially is non-nil, and the character following position is fully visible, it returns a list
of the form (x y), where x and y are the pixel coordinates relative to the top left
corner of the window; otherwise it returns an extended list of the form (x y rtop
rbot rowh vpos), where rtop and rbot specify the number of off-window pixels at
the top and bottom of the row at position, rowh specifies the visible height of that
row, and vpos specifies the vertical position (zero-based row number) of that row.
Here is an example:
;; If point is off the screen now, recenter it now.
(or (pos-visible-in-window-p
(point) (selected-window))
(recenter 0))

pos-visible-in-window-group-p &optional position window [Function]

partially
This function is like pos-visible-in-window-p, except that when window is a part
of a group of windows (see [Window Group], page 599), pos-visible-in-window-
group-p tests the visibility of pos in the entire group, not just in the single window.
This condition holds when the buffer local variable pos-visible-in-window-group-
p-function is set to a function. In this case pos-visible-in-window-group-p
calls the function with the three arguments position, window, and partially, then
returns its result. The arguments position and partially have the same meaning as
in pos-visible-in-window-p.

window-line-height &optional line window [Function]

This function returns the height of text line line in window. If line is one of
header-line or mode-line, window-line-height returns information about the
corresponding line of the window. Otherwise, line is a text line number starting
from 0. A negative number counts from the end of the window. The default for line
is the current line in window; the default for window is the selected window.
If the display is not up to date, window-line-height returns nil. In that case,
pos-visible-in-window-p may be used to obtain related information.
If there is no line corresponding to the specified line, window-line-height returns
nil. Otherwise, it returns a list (height vpos ypos offbot), where height is the
height in pixels of the visible part of the line, vpos and ypos are the vertical position
in lines and pixels of the line relative to the top of the first text line, and offbot is the
number of off-window pixels at the bottom of the text line. If there are off-window
pixels at the top of the (first) text line, ypos is negative.
Chapter 28: Windows 665

28.21 Textual Scrolling

Textual scrolling means moving the text up or down through a window. It works by
changing the window’s display-start location. It may also change the value of window-point
to keep point on the screen (see Section 28.19 [Window Point], page 660).
The basic textual scrolling functions are scroll-up (which scrolls forward) and
scroll-down (which scrolls backward). In these function names, “up” and “down” refer
to the direction of motion of the buffer text relative to the window. Imagine that the text
is written on a long roll of paper and that the scrolling commands move the paper up and
down. Thus, if you are looking at the middle of a buffer and repeatedly call scroll-down,
you will eventually see the beginning of the buffer.
Unfortunately, this sometimes causes confusion, because some people tend to think in
terms of the opposite convention: they imagine the window moving over text that remains
in place, so that “down” commands take you to the end of the buffer. This convention is
consistent with fact that such a command is bound to a key named PageDown on modern
keyboards.
Textual scrolling functions (aside from scroll-other-window) have unpredictable re-
sults if the current buffer is not the one displayed in the selected window. See Section 27.2
[Current Buffer], page 581.
If the window contains a row taller than the height of the window (for example in
the presence of a large image), the scroll functions will adjust the window’s vertical scroll
position to scroll the partially visible row. Lisp callers can disable this feature by binding
the variable auto-window-vscroll to nil (see Section 28.22 [Vertical Scrolling], page 668).

scroll-up &optional count [Command]

This function scrolls forward by count lines in the selected window.
If count is negative, it scrolls backward instead. If count is nil (or omitted), the
distance scrolled is next-screen-context-lines lines less than the height of the
window’s text area.
If the selected window cannot be scrolled any further, this function signals an error.
Otherwise, it returns nil.

scroll-down &optional count [Command]

This function scrolls backward by count lines in the selected window.
If count is negative, it scrolls forward instead. In other respects, it behaves the same
way as scroll-up does.

scroll-up-command &optional count [Command]

This behaves like scroll-up, except that if the selected window cannot be scrolled
any further and the value of the variable scroll-error-top-bottom is t, it tries to
move to the end of the buffer instead. If point is already there, it signals an error.

scroll-down-command &optional count [Command]

This behaves like scroll-down, except that if the selected window cannot be scrolled
any further and the value of the variable scroll-error-top-bottom is t, it tries to
move to the beginning of the buffer instead. If point is already there, it signals an
error.
Chapter 28: Windows 666

scroll-other-window &optional count [Command]

This function scrolls the text in another window upward count lines. Negative values
of count, or nil, are handled as in scroll-up.
You can specify which buffer to scroll by setting the variable other-window-scroll-
buffer to a buffer. If that buffer isn’t already displayed, scroll-other-window
displays it in some window.
When the selected window is the minibuffer, the next window is normally the left-
most one immediately above it. You can specify a different window to scroll, when
the minibuffer is selected, by setting the variable minibuffer-scroll-window. This
variable has no effect when any other window is selected. When it is non-nil and the
minibuffer is selected, it takes precedence over other-window-scroll-buffer. See
[Definition of minibuffer-scroll-window], page 366.
When the minibuffer is active, it is the next window if the selected window is the one
at the bottom right corner. In this case, scroll-other-window attempts to scroll
the minibuffer. If the minibuffer contains just one line, it has nowhere to scroll to,
so the line reappears after the echo area momentarily displays the message ‘End of
buffer’.

other-window-scroll-buffer [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, it tells scroll-other-window which buffer’s window to
scroll.

scroll-margin [User Option]

This option specifies the size of the scroll margin—a minimum number of lines between
point and the top or bottom of a window. Whenever point gets within this many
lines of the top or bottom of the window, redisplay scrolls the text automatically (if
possible) to move point out of the margin, closer to the center of the window.

maximum-scroll-margin [User Option]

This variable limits the effective value of scroll-margin to a fraction of the cur-
rent window line height. For example, if the current window has 20 lines and
maximum-scroll-margin is 0.1, then the scroll margins will never be larger than
2 lines, no matter how big scroll-margin is.
maximum-scroll-margin itself has a maximum value of 0.5, which allows setting
margins large to keep the cursor at the middle line of the window (or two middle lines
if the window has an even number of lines). If it’s set to a larger value (or any value
other than a float between 0.0 and 0.5) then the default value of 0.25 will be used
instead.

scroll-conservatively [User Option]

This variable controls how scrolling is done automatically when point moves off the
screen (or into the scroll margin). If the value is a positive integer n, then redisplay
scrolls the text up to n lines in either direction, if that will bring point back into proper
view. This behavior is called conservative scrolling. Otherwise, scrolling happens in
the usual way, under the control of other variables such as scroll-up-aggressively
and scroll-down-aggressively.
The default value is zero, which means that conservative scrolling never happens.
Chapter 28: Windows 667

scroll-down-aggressively [User Option]

The value of this variable should be either nil or a fraction f between 0 and 1. If
it is a fraction, that specifies where on the screen to put point when scrolling down.
More precisely, when a window scrolls down because point is above the window start,
the new start position is chosen to put point f part of the window height from the
top. The larger f, the more aggressive the scrolling.
A value of nil is equivalent to .5, since its effect is to center point. This variable
automatically becomes buffer-local when set in any fashion.

scroll-up-aggressively [User Option]

Likewise, for scrolling up. The value, f, specifies how far point should be placed from
the bottom of the window; thus, as with scroll-down-aggressively, a larger value
scrolls more aggressively.

scroll-step [User Option]

This variable is an older variant of scroll-conservatively. The difference is that
if its value is n, that permits scrolling only by precisely n lines, not a smaller number.
This feature does not work with scroll-margin. The default value is zero.

scroll-preserve-screen-position [User Option]

If this option is t, whenever a scrolling command moves point off-window, Emacs
tries to adjust point to keep the cursor at its old vertical position in the window,
rather than the window edge.
If the value is non-nil and not t, Emacs adjusts point to keep the cursor at the same
vertical position, even if the scrolling command didn’t move point off-window.
This option affects all scroll commands that have a non-nil scroll-command symbol
property.

next-screen-context-lines [User Option]

The value of this variable is the number of lines of continuity to retain when scrolling
by full screens. For example, scroll-up with an argument of nil scrolls so that this
many lines at the bottom of the window appear instead at the top. The default value
is 2.

scroll-error-top-bottom [User Option]

If this option is nil (the default), scroll-up-command and scroll-down-command
simply signal an error when no more scrolling is possible.
If the value is t, these commands instead move point to the beginning or end of the
buffer (depending on scrolling direction); only if point is already on that position do
they signal an error.

recenter &optional count [Command]

This function scrolls the text in the selected window so that point is displayed at a
specified vertical position within the window. It does not move point with respect to
the text.
If count is a non-negative number, that puts the line containing point count lines
down from the top of the window. If count is a negative number, then it counts
Chapter 28: Windows 668

upward from the bottom of the window, so that −1 stands for the last usable line in
the window.
If count is nil (or a non-nil list), recenter puts the line containing point in the
middle of the window. If count is nil, this function may redraw the frame, according
to the value of recenter-redisplay.
When recenter is called interactively, count is the raw prefix argument. Thus, typing
C-u as the prefix sets the count to a non-nil list, while typing C-u 4 sets count to 4,
which positions the current line four lines from the top.
With an argument of zero, recenter positions the current line at the top of the win-
dow. The command recenter-top-bottom offers a more convenient way to achieve
this.

recenter-window-group &optional count [Function]

This function is like recenter, except that when the selected window is part of a group
of windows (see [Window Group], page 599), recenter-window-group scrolls the
entire group. This condition holds when the buffer local variable recenter-window-
group-function is set to a function. In this case, recenter-window-group calls the
function with the argument count, then returns its result. The argument count has
the same meaning as in recenter, but with respect to the entire window group.

recenter-redisplay [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, calling recenter with a nil argument redraws the frame.
The default value is tty, which means only redraw the frame if it is a tty frame.

recenter-top-bottom &optional count [Command]

This command, which is the default binding for C-l, acts like recenter, except if
called with no argument. In that case, successive calls place point according to the
cycling order defined by the variable recenter-positions.

recenter-positions [User Option]

This variable controls how recenter-top-bottom behaves when called with no ar-
gument. The default value is (middle top bottom), which means that successive
calls of recenter-top-bottom with no argument cycle between placing point at the
middle, top, and bottom of the window.

28.22 Vertical Fractional Scrolling

Vertical fractional scrolling means shifting text in a window up or down by a specified
multiple or fraction of a line. Emacs uses it, for example, on images and screen lines which
are taller than the window. Each window has a vertical scroll position, which is a number,
never less than zero. It specifies how far to raise the contents of the window when displaying
them. Raising the window contents generally makes all or part of some lines disappear off
the top, and all or part of some other lines appear at the bottom. The usual value is zero.
The vertical scroll position is measured in units of the normal line height, which is the
height of the default font. Thus, if the value is .5, that means the window contents will be
scrolled up half the normal line height. If it is 3.3, that means the window contents are
scrolled up somewhat over three times the normal line height.
Chapter 28: Windows 669

What fraction of a line the vertical scrolling covers, or how many lines, depends on what
the lines contain. A value of .5 could scroll a line whose height is very short off the screen,
while a value of 3.3 could scroll just part of the way through a tall line or an image.

window-vscroll &optional window pixels-p [Function]

This function returns the current vertical scroll position of window. The default for
window is the selected window. If pixels-p is non-nil, the return value is measured
in pixels, rather than in units of the normal line height.
(window-vscroll)
⇒ 0

set-window-vscroll window lines &optional pixels-p [Function]

This function sets window’s vertical scroll position to lines. If window is nil, the
selected window is used. The argument lines should be zero or positive; if not, it is
taken as zero.
The actual vertical scroll position must always correspond to an integral number of
pixels, so the value you specify is rounded accordingly.
The return value is the result of this rounding.
(set-window-vscroll (selected-window) 1.2)
⇒ 1.13
If pixels-p is non-nil, lines specifies a number of pixels. In this case, the return value
is lines.

auto-window-vscroll [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, the line-move, scroll-up, and scroll-down functions
will automatically modify the vertical scroll position to scroll through display rows
that are taller than the height of the window, for example in the presence of large
images.

28.23 Horizontal Scrolling

Horizontal scrolling means shifting the image in the window left or right by a specified
multiple of the normal character width. Each window has a horizontal scroll position,
which is a number, never less than zero. It specifies how far to shift the contents left.
Shifting the window contents left generally makes all or part of some characters disappear
off the left, and all or part of some other characters appear at the right. The usual value is
zero.
The horizontal scroll position is measured in units of the normal character width, which
is the width of space in the default font. Thus, if the value is 5, that means the window
contents are scrolled left by 5 times the normal character width. How many characters
actually disappear off to the left depends on their width, and could vary from line to line.
Because we read from side to side in the inner loop, and from top to bottom in the outer
loop, the effect of horizontal scrolling is not like that of textual or vertical scrolling. Textual
scrolling involves selection of a portion of text to display, and vertical scrolling moves the
window contents contiguously; but horizontal scrolling causes part of each line to go off
screen.
Chapter 28: Windows 670

Usually, no horizontal scrolling is in effect; then the leftmost column is at the left edge of
the window. In this state, scrolling to the right is meaningless, since there is no data to the
left of the edge to be revealed by it; so this is not allowed. Scrolling to the left is allowed; it
scrolls the first columns of text off the edge of the window and can reveal additional columns
on the right that were truncated before. Once a window has a nonzero amount of leftward
horizontal scrolling, you can scroll it back to the right, but only so far as to reduce the net
horizontal scroll to zero. There is no limit to how far left you can scroll, but eventually all
the text will disappear off the left edge.
If auto-hscroll-mode is set, redisplay automatically alters the horizontal scrolling of
a window as necessary to ensure that point is always visible. However, you can still set
the horizontal scrolling value explicitly. The value you specify serves as a lower bound for
automatic scrolling, i.e., automatic scrolling will not scroll a window to a column less than
the specified one.
The default value of auto-hscroll-mode is t; setting it to current-line activates
a variant of automatic horizontal scrolling whereby only the line showing the cursor is
horizontally scrolled to make point visible, the rest of the window is left either unscrolled,
or at the minimum scroll amount set by scroll-left and scroll-right, see below.
scroll-left &optional count set-minimum [Command]
This function scrolls the selected window count columns to the left (or to the right if
count is negative). The default for count is the window width, minus 2.
The return value is the total amount of leftward horizontal scrolling in effect after the
change—just like the value returned by window-hscroll (below).
Note that text in paragraphs whose base direction is right-to-left (see Section 39.26
[Bidirectional Display], page 1067) moves in the opposite direction: e.g., it moves to
the right when scroll-left is invoked with a positive value of count.
Once you scroll a window as far right as it can go, back to its normal position where
the total leftward scrolling is zero, attempts to scroll any farther right have no effect.
If set-minimum is non-nil, the new scroll amount becomes the lower bound for au-
tomatic scrolling; that is, automatic scrolling will not scroll a window to a column
less than the value returned by this function. Interactive calls pass non-nil for set-
minimum.
scroll-right &optional count set-minimum [Command]
This function scrolls the selected window count columns to the right (or to the left if
count is negative). The default for count is the window width, minus 2. Aside from
the direction of scrolling, this works just like scroll-left.
window-hscroll &optional window [Function]
This function returns the total leftward horizontal scrolling of window—the number
of columns by which the text in window is scrolled left past the left margin. (In right-
to-left paragraphs, the value is the total amount of the rightward scrolling instead.)
The default for window is the selected window.
The return value is never negative. It is zero when no horizontal scrolling has been
done in window (which is usually the case).
(window-hscroll)
⇒ 0
Chapter 28: Windows 671

(scroll-left 5)
⇒ 5
(window-hscroll)
⇒ 5

set-window-hscroll window columns [Function]

This function sets horizontal scrolling of window. The value of columns specifies the
amount of scrolling, in terms of columns from the left margin (right margin in right-
to-left paragraphs). The argument columns should be zero or positive; if not, it is
taken as zero. Fractional values of columns are not supported at present.
Note that set-window-hscroll may appear not to work if you test it by evaluating a
call with M-: in a simple way. What happens is that the function sets the horizontal
scroll value and returns, but then redisplay adjusts the horizontal scrolling to make
point visible, and this overrides what the function did. You can observe the function’s
effect if you call it while point is sufficiently far from the left margin that it will remain
visible.
The value returned is columns.
(set-window-hscroll (selected-window) 10)
⇒ 10

Here is how you can determine whether a given position position is off the screen due to
horizontal scrolling:
(defun hscroll-on-screen (window position)
(save-excursion
(goto-char position)
(and
(>= (- (current-column) (window-hscroll window)) 0)
(< (- (current-column) (window-hscroll window))
(window-width window)))))

28.24 Coordinates and Windows

This section describes functions that report positions of and within a window. Most of these
functions report positions relative to an origin at the native position of the window’s frame
(see Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry], page 688). Some functions report positions relative to
the origin of the display of the window’s frame. In any case, the origin has the coordinates
(0, 0) and X and Y coordinates increase rightward and downward respectively.
For the following functions, X and Y coordinates are reported in integer character units,
i.e., numbers of lines and columns respectively. On a graphical display, each “line” and
“column” corresponds to the height and width of the default character specified by the
frame’s default font (see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font], page 694).

window-edges &optional window body absolute pixelwise [Function]

This function returns a list of the edge coordinates of window. If window is omitted
or nil, it defaults to the selected window.
The return value has the form (left top right bottom). These list elements are,
respectively, the X coordinate of the leftmost column occupied by the window, the
Chapter 28: Windows 672

Y coordinate of the topmost row, the X coordinate one column to the right of the
rightmost column, and the Y coordinate one row down from the bottommost row.
Note that these are the actual outer edges of the window, including any header line,
mode line, scroll bar, fringes, window divider and display margins. On a text terminal,
if the window has a neighbor on its right, its right edge includes the separator line
between the window and its neighbor.
If the optional argument body is nil, this means to return the edges corresponding
to the total size of window. body non-nil means to return the edges of window’s
body (aka text area). If body is non-nil, window must specify a live window.
If the optional argument absolute is nil, this means to return edges relative to the
native position of window’s frame. absolute non-nil means to return coordinates rel-
ative to the origin (0, 0) of window’s display. On non-graphical systems this argument
has no effect.
If the optional argument pixelwise is nil, this means to return the coordinates in
terms of the default character width and height of window’s frame (see Section 29.3.2
[Frame Font], page 694), rounded if necessary. pixelwise non-nil means to return the
coordinates in pixels. Note that the pixel specified by right and bottom is immediately
outside of these edges. If absolute is non-nil, pixelwise is implicitly non-nil too.
window-body-edges &optional window [Function]
This function returns the edges of window’s body (see Section 28.3 [Window
Sizes], page 603). Calling (window-body-edges window) is equivalent to calling
(window-edges window t), see above.
The following functions can be used to relate a set of frame-relative coordinates to a
window:
window-at x y &optional frame [Function]
This function returns the live window at the coordinates x and y given in default
character sizes (see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font], page 694) relative to the native
position of frame (see Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry], page 688).
If there is no window at that position, the return value is nil. If frame is omitted or
nil, it defaults to the selected frame.
coordinates-in-window-p coordinates window [Function]
This function checks whether a window window occupies the frame relative coordi-
nates coordinates, and if so, which part of the window that is. window should be a
live window.
coordinates should be a cons cell of the form (x . y), where x and y are given in
default character sizes (see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font], page 694) relative to the
native position of window’s frame (see Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry], page 688).
If there is no window at the specified position, the return value is nil . Otherwise,
the return value is one of the following:
(relx . rely)
The coordinates are inside window. The numbers relx and rely are the
equivalent window-relative coordinates for the specified position, counting
from 0 at the top left corner of the window.
Chapter 28: Windows 673

mode-line
The coordinates are in the mode line of window.
header-line
The coordinates are in the header line of window.
right-divider
The coordinates are in the divider separating window from a window on
the right.
bottom-divider
The coordinates are in the divider separating window from a window
beneath.
vertical-line
The coordinates are in the vertical line between window and its neighbor
to the right. This value occurs only if the window doesn’t have a scroll
bar; positions in a scroll bar are considered outside the window for these
purposes.
left-fringe
right-fringe
The coordinates are in the left or right fringe of the window.
left-margin
right-margin
The coordinates are in the left or right margin of the window.
nil The coordinates are not in any part of window.
The function coordinates-in-window-p does not require a frame as argument be-
cause it always uses the frame that window is on.
The following functions return window positions in pixels, rather than character units.
Though mostly useful on graphical displays, they can also be called on text terminals, where
the screen area of each text character is taken to be one pixel.
window-pixel-edges &optional window [Function]
This function returns a list of pixel coordinates for the edges of window. Calling
(window-pixel-edges window) is equivalent to calling (window-edges window nil
nil t), see above.
window-body-pixel-edges &optional window [Function]
This function returns the pixel edges of window’s body. Calling (window-body-
pixel-edges window) is equivalent to calling (window-edges window t nil t), see
above.
The following functions return window positions in pixels, relative to the origin of the
display screen rather than that of the frame:
window-absolute-pixel-edges &optional window [Function]
This function returns the pixel coordinates of window relative to an origin at (0,
0) of the display of window’s frame. Calling (window-absolute-pixel-edges) is
equivalent to calling (window-edges window nil t t), see above.
Chapter 28: Windows 674

window-absolute-body-pixel-edges &optional window [Function]

This function returns the pixel coordinates of window’s body relative to an origin
at (0, 0) of the display of window’s frame. Calling (window-absolute-body-pixel-
edges window) is equivalent to calling (window-edges window t t t), see above.
Combined with set-mouse-absolute-pixel-position, this function can be used to
move the mouse pointer to an arbitrary buffer position visible in some window:
(let ((edges (window-absolute-body-pixel-edges))
(position (pos-visible-in-window-p nil nil t)))
(set-mouse-absolute-pixel-position
(+ (nth 0 edges) (nth 0 position))
(+ (nth 1 edges) (nth 1 position))))
On a graphical terminal this form “warps” the mouse cursor to the upper left corner
of the glyph at the selected window’s point. A position calculated this way can be
also used to show a tooltip window there.

The following function returns the screen coordinates of a buffer position visible in a
window:

window-absolute-pixel-position &optional position window [Function]

If the buffer position position is visible in window window, this function returns the
display coordinates of the upper/left corner of the glyph at position. The return value
is a cons of the X- and Y-coordinates of that corner, relative to an origin at (0, 0) of
window’s display. It returns nil if position is not visible in window.
window must be a live window and defaults to the selected window. position defaults
to the value of window-point of window.
This means that in order to move the mouse pointer to the position of point in the
selected window, it’s sufficient to write:
(let ((position (window-absolute-pixel-position)))
(set-mouse-absolute-pixel-position
(car position) (cdr position)))

The following function returns the largest rectangle that can be inscribed in a window
without covering text displayed in that window.

window-largest-empty-rectangle &optional window count [Function]

min-width min-height positions left
This function calculates the dimensions of the largest empty rectangle that can be
inscribed in the specified window’s text area. window must be a live window and
defaults to the selected one.
The return value is a triple of the width and the start and end y-coordinates of the
largest rectangle that can be inscribed into the empty space (space not displaying any
text) of the text area of window. No x-coordinates are returned by this function—any
such rectangle is assumed to end at the right edge of window’s text area. If no empty
space can be found, the return value is nil.
The optional argument count, if non-nil, specifies a maximum number of rectangles
to return. This means that the return value is a list of triples specifying rectangles
Chapter 28: Windows 675

with the largest rectangle first. count can be also a cons cell whose car specifies the
number of rectangles to return and whose cdr, if non-nil, states that all rectangles
returned must be disjoint.
The optional arguments min-width and min-height, if non-nil, specify the minimum
width and height of any rectangle returned.
The optional argument positions, if non-nil, is a cons cell whose car specifies the
uppermost and whose cdr specifies the lowermost pixel position that must be covered
by any rectangle returned. These positions measure from the start of the text area
of window.
The optional argument left, if non-nil, means to return values suitable for buffers
displaying right to left text. In that case, any rectangle returned is assumed to start
at the left edge of window’s text area.
Note that this function has to retrieve the dimensions of each line of window’s glyph
matrix via window-lines-pixel-dimensions (see Section 39.10 [Size of Displayed
Text], page 992). Hence, this function may also return nil when the current glyph
matrix of window is not up-to-date.

28.25 Mouse Window Auto-selection

The following option allows to automatically select the window under the mouse pointer.
This accomplishes a policy similar to that of window managers that give focus to a frame
(and thus trigger its subsequent selection) whenever the mouse pointer enters its window-
system window (see Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720).

mouse-autoselect-window [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, Emacs will try to automatically select the window under
the mouse pointer. The following values are meaningful:
A positive number
This specifies a delay in seconds after which auto-selection triggers. The
window under the mouse pointer is selected after the mouse has remained
in it for the entire duration of the delay.
A negative number
A negative number has a similar effect as a positive number, but selects
the window under the mouse pointer only after the mouse pointer has
remained in it for the entire duration of the absolute value of that number
and in addition has stopped moving.
Other value
Any other non-nil value means to select a window instantaneously as
soon as the mouse pointer enters it.
In either case, the mouse pointer must enter the text area of a window in order to
trigger its selection. Dragging the scroll bar slider or the mode line of a window
conceptually should not cause its auto-selection.
Mouse auto-selection selects the minibuffer window only if it is active, and never
deselects the active minibuffer window.
Chapter 28: Windows 676

Mouse auto-selection can be used to emulate a focus follows mouse policy for child frames
(see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726) which usually are not tracked by the window
manager. This requires to set the value of focus-follows-mouse (see Section 29.10 [Input
Focus], page 720) to a non-nil value. If the value of focus-follows-mouse is auto-raise,
entering a child frame with the mouse will raise it automatically above all other child frames
of that frame’s parent frame.

28.26 Window Configurations

A window configuration records the entire layout of one frame—all windows, their sizes,
which buffers they contain, how those buffers are scrolled, and their value of point; also their
fringes, margins, and scroll bar settings. It also includes the value of minibuffer-scroll-
window. As a special exception, the window configuration does not record the value of point
in the selected window for the current buffer.
You can bring back an entire frame layout by restoring a previously saved window
configuration. If you want to record the layout of all frames instead of just one, use a frame
configuration instead of a window configuration. See Section 29.13 [Frame Configurations],
page 725.

current-window-configuration &optional frame [Function]

This function returns a new object representing frame’s current window configura-
tion. The default for frame is the selected frame. The variable window-persistent-
parameters specifies which window parameters (if any) are saved by this function.
See Section 28.27 [Window Parameters], page 678.

set-window-configuration configuration [Function]

This function restores the configuration of windows and buffers as specified by
configuration, for the frame that configuration was created for.
The argument configuration must be a value that was previously returned by
current-window-configuration. The configuration is restored in the frame from
which configuration was made, whether that frame is selected or not. In some
rare cases this may trigger execution of the window-size-change-functions (see
Section 28.28 [Window Hooks], page 681) even if the size of windows did not change
at all. The window-configuration-change-hook functions will be called if and
only if at least one window was added to or deleted from the frame.
If the frame from which configuration was saved is dead, all this function
does is restore the three variables window-min-height, window-min-width and
minibuffer-scroll-window. In this case, the function returns nil. Otherwise, it
returns t.
Here is a way of using this function to get the same effect as save-window-excursion:
(let ((config (current-window-configuration)))
(unwind-protect
(progn (split-window-below nil)
...)
(set-window-configuration config)))
Chapter 28: Windows 677

save-window-excursion forms. . . [Macro]

This macro records the window configuration of the selected frame, executes forms
in sequence, then restores the earlier window configuration. The return value is the
value of the final form in forms.
Most Lisp code should not use this macro; save-selected-window is typically suf-
ficient. In particular, this macro cannot reliably prevent the code in forms from
opening new windows, because new windows might be opened in other frames (see
Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window], page 630), and save-window-excursion only
saves and restores the window configuration on the current frame.
Do not use this macro in window-size-change-functions; exiting the macro triggers
execution of window-size-change-functions, leading to an endless loop.

window-configuration-p object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a window configuration.

compare-window-configurations config1 config2 [Function]

This function compares two window configurations as regards the structure of win-
dows, but ignores the values of point and the saved scrolling positions—it can return
t even if those aspects differ.
The function equal can also compare two window configurations; it regards configu-
rations as unequal if they differ in any respect, even a saved point.

window-configuration-frame config [Function]

This function returns the frame for which the window configuration config was made.

Other primitives to look inside of window configurations would make sense, but are
not implemented because we did not need them. See the file winner.el for some more
operations on windows configurations.
The objects returned by current-window-configuration die together with the Emacs
process. In order to store a window configuration on disk and read it back in another Emacs
session, you can use the functions described next. These functions are also useful to clone
the state of a frame into an arbitrary live window (set-window-configuration effectively
clones the windows of a frame into the root window of that very frame only).

window-state-get &optional window writable [Function]

This function returns the state of window as a Lisp object. The argument window
must be a valid window and defaults to the root window of the selected frame.
If the optional argument writable is non-nil, this means to not use markers for
sampling positions like window-point or window-start. This argument should be
non-nil when the state will be written to disk and read back in another session.
Together, the argument writable and the variable window-persistent-parameters
specify which window parameters are saved by this function. See Section 28.27 [Win-
dow Parameters], page 678.

The value returned by window-state-get can be used in the same session to make a
clone of a window in another window. It can be also written to disk and read back in another
session. In either case, use the following function to restore the state of the window.
Chapter 28: Windows 678

window-state-put state &optional window ignore [Function]

This function puts the window state state into window. The argument state should
be the state of a window returned by an earlier invocation of window-state-get, see
above. The optional argument window can be either a live window or an internal
window (see Section 28.2 [Windows and Frames], page 599) and defaults to the se-
lected one. If window is not live, it is replaced by a live window before putting state
into it.
If the optional argument ignore is non-nil, it means to ignore minimum window sizes
and fixed-size restrictions. If ignore is safe, this means windows can get as small as
one line and/or two columns.
The functions window-state-get and window-state-put also allow to exchange the
contents of two live windows. The following function does precisely that:
window-swap-states &optional window-1 window-2 size [Command]
This command swaps the states of the two live windows window-1 and window-2.
window-1 must specify a live window and defaults to the selected one. window-2
must specify a live window and defaults to the window following window-1 in the
cyclic ordering of windows, excluding minibuffer windows and including live windows
on all visible frames.
Optional argument size non-nil means to try swapping the sizes of window-1 and
window-2 as well. A value of height means to swap heights only, a value of width
means to swap widths only, while t means to swap both widths and heights, if possible.
Frames are not resized by this function.

28.27 Window Parameters

This section describes the window parameters that can be used to associate additional
information with windows.
window-parameter window parameter [Function]
This function returns window’s value for parameter. The default for window is the
selected window. If window has no setting for parameter, this function returns nil.
window-parameters &optional window [Function]
This function returns all parameters of window and their values. The default for
window is the selected window. The return value is either nil, or an association list
whose elements have the form (parameter . value).
set-window-parameter window parameter value [Function]
This function sets window’s value of parameter to value and returns value. The
default for window is the selected window.
By default, the functions that save and restore window configurations or the states of
windows (see Section 28.26 [Window Configurations], page 676) do not care about window
parameters. This means that when you change the value of a parameter within the body
of a save-window-excursion, the previous value is not restored when that macro exits. It
also means that when you restore via window-state-put a window state saved earlier by
window-state-get, all cloned windows have their parameters reset to nil. The following
variable allows you to override the standard behavior:
Chapter 28: Windows 679

window-persistent-parameters [Variable]
This variable is an alist specifying which parameters get saved by current-window-
configuration and window-state-get, and subsequently restored by set-window-
configuration and window-state-put. See Section 28.26 [Window Configurations],
page 676.
The car of each entry of this alist is a symbol specifying the parameter. The cdr
should be one of the following:
nil This value means the parameter is saved neither by window-state-get
nor by current-window-configuration.
t This value specifies that the parameter is saved by current-window-
configuration and (provided its writable argument is nil) by
window-state-get.
writable This means that the parameter is saved unconditionally by both
current-window-configuration and window-state-get. This value
should not be used for parameters whose values do not have a read
syntax. Otherwise, invoking window-state-put in another session may
fail with an invalid-read-syntax error.

Some functions (notably delete-window, delete-other-windows and split-window),

may behave specially when the window specified by their window argument has a parameter
whose name is equal to the function’s name. You can override such special behavior by
binding the following variable to a non-nil value:

ignore-window-parameters [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, some standard functions do not process window param-
eters. The functions currently affected by this are split-window, delete-window,
delete-other-windows, and other-window.
An application can bind this variable to a non-nil value around calls to these func-
tions. If it does so, the application is fully responsible for correctly assigning the
parameters of all involved windows when exiting that function.

The following parameters are currently used by the window management code:
delete-window
This parameter affects the execution of delete-window (see Section 28.7 [Delet-
ing Windows], page 615).
delete-other-windows
This parameter affects the execution of delete-other-windows (see
Section 28.7 [Deleting Windows], page 615).
no-delete-other-windows
This parameter marks the window as not deletable by delete-other-windows
(see Section 28.7 [Deleting Windows], page 615).
split-window
This parameter affects the execution of split-window (see Section 28.6 [Split-
ting Windows], page 613).
Chapter 28: Windows 680

other-window
This parameter affects the execution of other-window (see Section 28.10 [Cyclic
Window Ordering], page 624).
no-other-window
This parameter marks the window as not selectable by other-window (see
Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window Ordering], page 624).
clone-of This parameter specifies the window that this one has been cloned from. It
is installed by window-state-get (see Section 28.26 [Window Configurations],
page 676).
window-preserved-size
This parameter specifies a buffer, a direction where nil means vertical and t
horizontal, and a size in pixels. If this window displays the specified buffer and
its size in the indicated direction equals the size specified by this parameter, then
Emacs will try to preserve the size of this window in the indicated direction.
This parameter is installed and updated by the function window-preserve-
size (see Section 28.5 [Preserving Window Sizes], page 612).
quit-restore
This parameter is installed by the buffer display functions (see Section 28.13.1
[Choosing Window], page 630) and consulted by quit-restore-window (see
Section 28.16 [Quitting Windows], page 651). It is a list of four elements, see
the description of quit-restore-window in Section 28.16 [Quitting Windows],
page 651, for details.
window-side
window-slot
These parameters are used internally for implementing side windows (see
Section 28.17 [Side Windows], page 654).
window-atom
This parameter is used internally for implementing atomic windows, see
Section 28.18 [Atomic Windows], page 658.
mode-line-format
This parameter replaces the value of the buffer-local variable mode-line-
format (see Section 23.4.1 [Mode Line Basics], page 476) of this window’s
buffer whenever this window is displayed. The symbol none means to suppress
display of a mode line for this window. Display and contents of the mode line
on other windows showing this buffer are not affected.
header-line-format
This parameter replaces the value of the buffer-local variable header-line-
format (see Section 23.4.1 [Mode Line Basics], page 476) of this window’s buffer
whenever this window is displayed. The symbol none means to suppress display
of a header line for this window. Display and contents of the header line on
other windows showing this buffer are not affected.
min-margins
The value of this parameter is a cons cell whose car and cdr, if non-nil, specify
the minimum values (in columns) for the left and right margin of this window
Chapter 28: Windows 681

(see Section 39.16.5 [Display Margins], page 1033. When present, Emacs will
use these values instead of the actual margin widths for determining whether a
window can be split or shrunk horizontally.
Emacs never auto-adjusts the margins of any window after splitting or resizing
it. It is the sole responsibility of any application setting this parameter to adjust
the margins of this window as well as those of any new window that inherits
this window’s margins due to a split. Both window-configuration-change-
hook and window-size-change-functions (see Section 28.28 [Window Hooks],
page 681) should be employed for this purpose.
This parameter was introduced in Emacs version 25.1 to support applications
that use large margins to center buffer text within a window and should be
used, with due care, exclusively by those applications. It might be replaced by
an improved solution in future versions of Emacs.

28.28 Hooks for Window Scrolling and Changes

This section describes how a Lisp program can take action whenever a window displays a
different part of its buffer or a different buffer. There are three actions that can change this:
scrolling the window, switching buffers in the window, and changing the size of the window.
The first two actions run window-scroll-functions; the last runs window-size-change-
functions.

window-scroll-functions [Variable]
This variable holds a list of functions that Emacs should call before redisplaying a
window with scrolling. Displaying a different buffer in the window also runs these
functions.
This variable is not a normal hook, because each function is called with two arguments:
the window, and its new display-start position. At the time of the call, the display-
start position of the window argument is already set to its new value, and the buffer
to be displayed in the window is already set as the current buffer.
These functions must take care when using window-end (see Section 28.20 [Window
Start and End], page 661); if you need an up-to-date value, you must use the update
argument to ensure you get it.
Warning: don’t use this feature to alter the way the window is scrolled. It’s not
designed for that, and such use probably won’t work.

run-window-scroll-functions &optional window [Function]

This function calls window-scroll-functions for the specified window, which de-
faults to the selected window.

window-size-change-functions [Variable]
This variable holds a list of functions to be called if the size of any window changes
for any reason. The functions are called once per redisplay, and once for each frame
on which size changes have occurred.
Each function receives the frame as its sole argument. To find out
whether a specific window has changed size, compare the return values of
window-pixel-width-before-size-change and window-pixel-width respectively
Chapter 28: Windows 682

window-pixel-height-before-size-change and window-pixel-height for that

window (see Section 28.3 [Window Sizes], page 603).
These function are usually only called when at least one window was added or has
changed size since the last time this hook was run for the associated frame. In some
rare cases this hook also runs when a window that was added intermittently has been
deleted afterwards. In these cases none of the windows on the frame will appear to
have changed its size.

window-configuration-change-hook [Variable]
A normal hook that is run every time the window configuration of a frame changes.
Window configuration changes include splitting and deleting windows, and the display
of a different buffer in a window.
The hook can be also used for tracking changes of window sizes. It is, however, not
run when the size of a frame changes or automatic resizing of a minibuffer window (see
Section 20.11 [Minibuffer Windows], page 364) changes the size of another window.
As a rule, adding a function to window-size-change-functions, see above, is the
recommended way for reliably tracking size changes of any window.
The buffer-local value of this hook is run once for each window on the affected frame,
with the relevant window selected and its buffer current. The global value of this
hook is run once for the modified frame, with that frame selected.

run-window-configuration-change-hook &optional frame [Function]

This function runs window-configuration-change-hook for the specified frame,
which defaults to the selected frame.

In addition, you can use jit-lock-register to register a Font Lock fontification func-
tion, which will be called whenever parts of a buffer are (re)fontified because a window was
scrolled or its size changed. See Section 23.6.4 [Other Font Lock Variables], page 493.
 683

29 Frames
A frame is a screen object that contains one or more Emacs windows (see Chapter 28
[Windows], page 598). It is the kind of object called a “window” in the terminology of
graphical environments; but we can’t call it a “window” here, because Emacs uses that
word in a different way. In Emacs Lisp, a frame object is a Lisp object that represents a
frame on the screen. See Section 2.4.4 [Frame Type], page 25.
A frame initially contains a single main window and/or a minibuffer window; you can
subdivide the main window vertically or horizontally into smaller windows. See Section 28.6
[Splitting Windows], page 613.
A terminal is a display device capable of displaying one or more Emacs frames. In
Emacs Lisp, a terminal object is a Lisp object that represents a terminal. See Section 2.4.5
[Terminal Type], page 26.
There are two classes of terminals: text terminals and graphical terminals. Text termi-
nals are non-graphics-capable displays, including xterm and other terminal emulators. On
a text terminal, each Emacs frame occupies the terminal’s entire screen; although you can
create additional frames and switch between them, the terminal only shows one frame at a
time. Graphical terminals, on the other hand, are managed by graphical display systems
such as the X Window System, which allow Emacs to show multiple frames simultaneously
on the same display.
On GNU and Unix systems, you can create additional frames on any available terminal,
within a single Emacs session, regardless of whether Emacs was started on a text or graphical
terminal. Emacs can display on both graphical and text terminals simultaneously. This
comes in handy, for instance, when you connect to the same session from several remote
locations. See Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685.
framep object [Function]
This predicate returns a non-nil value if object is a frame, and nil otherwise. For a
frame, the value indicates which kind of display the frame uses:
t The frame is displayed on a text terminal.
x The frame is displayed on an X graphical terminal.
w32 The frame is displayed on a MS-Windows graphical terminal.
ns The frame is displayed on a GNUstep or Macintosh Cocoa graphical ter-
minal.
pc The frame is displayed on an MS-DOS terminal.
frame-terminal &optional frame [Function]
This function returns the terminal object that displays frame. If frame is nil or
unspecified, it defaults to the selected frame.
terminal-live-p object [Function]
This predicate returns a non-nil value if object is a terminal that is live (i.e., not
deleted), and nil otherwise. For live terminals, the return value indicates what kind
of frames are displayed on that terminal; the list of possible values is the same as for
framep above.
Chapter 29: Frames 684

On a graphical terminal we distinguish two types of frames: A normal top-level frame

is a frame whose window-system window is a child of the window-system’s root window
for that terminal. A child frame is a frame whose window-system window is the child of
the window-system window of another Emacs frame. See Section 29.14 [Child Frames],
page 726.

29.1 Creating Frames

To create a new frame, call the function make-frame.
make-frame &optional parameters [Command]
This function creates and returns a new frame, displaying the current buffer.
The parameters argument is an alist that specifies frame parameters for the new
frame. See Section 29.4 [Frame Parameters], page 699. If you specify the terminal
parameter in parameters, the new frame is created on that terminal. Otherwise,
if you specify the window-system frame parameter in parameters, that determines
whether the frame should be displayed on a text terminal or a graphical terminal.
See Section 39.24 [Window Systems], page 1065. If neither is specified, the new frame
is created in the same terminal as the selected frame.
Any parameters not mentioned in parameters default to the values in the
alist default-frame-alist (see Section 29.4.2 [Initial Parameters], page 701);
parameters not specified there default from the X resources or its equivalent on
your operating system (see Section “X Resources” in The GNU Emacs Manual).
After the frame is created, this function applies any parameters specified in
frame-inherited-parameters (see below) it has no assigned yet, taking the values
from the frame that was selected when make-frame was called.
Note that on multi-monitor displays (see Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals],
page 685), the window manager might position the frame differently than
specified by the positional parameters in parameters (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position
Parameters], page 702). For example, some window managers have a policy of
displaying the frame on the monitor that contains the largest part of the window
(a.k.a. the dominating monitor).
This function itself does not make the new frame the selected frame. See Section 29.10
[Input Focus], page 720. The previously selected frame remains selected. On graphical
terminals, however, the windowing system may select the new frame for its own
reasons.
before-make-frame-hook [Variable]
A normal hook run by make-frame before it creates the frame.
after-make-frame-functions [Variable]
An abnormal hook run by make-frame after it created the frame. Each function in
after-make-frame-functions receives one argument, the frame just created.
Note that any functions added to these hooks by your initial file are usually not run for
the initial frame, since Emacs reads the initial file only after creating that frame. However, if
the initial frame is specified to use a separate minibuffer frame (see Section 29.9 [Minibuffers
and Frames], page 719), the functions will be run for both, the minibuffer-less and the
minibuffer frame.
Chapter 29: Frames 685

frame-inherited-parameters [Variable]
This variable specifies the list of frame parameters that a newly created frame inherits
from the currently selected frame. For each parameter (a symbol) that is an element in
this list and has not been assigned earlier when processing make-frame, the function
sets the value of that parameter in the created frame to its value in the selected frame.

29.2 Multiple Terminals

Emacs represents each terminal as a terminal object data type (see Section 2.4.5 [Terminal
Type], page 26). On GNU and Unix systems, Emacs can use multiple terminals simultane-
ously in each session. On other systems, it can only use a single terminal. Each terminal
object has the following attributes:
• The name of the device used by the terminal (e.g., ‘:0.0’ or /dev/tty).
• The terminal and keyboard coding systems used on the terminal. See Section 33.10.8
[Terminal I/O Encoding], page 861.
• The kind of display associated with the terminal. This is the symbol returned by
the function terminal-live-p (i.e., x, t, w32, ns, or pc). See Chapter 29 [Frames],
page 683.
• A list of terminal parameters. See Section 29.5 [Terminal Parameters], page 716.
There is no primitive for creating terminal objects. Emacs creates them as needed, such
as when you call make-frame-on-display (described below).
terminal-name &optional terminal [Function]
This function returns the file name of the device used by terminal. If terminal is
omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected frame’s terminal. terminal can also be a
frame, meaning that frame’s terminal.
terminal-list [Function]
This function returns a list of all live terminal objects.
get-device-terminal device [Function]
This function returns a terminal whose device name is given by device. If device is a
string, it can be either the file name of a terminal device, or the name of an X display
of the form ‘host:server.screen’. If device is a frame, this function returns that
frame’s terminal; nil means the selected frame. Finally, if device is a terminal object
that represents a live terminal, that terminal is returned. The function signals an
error if its argument is none of the above.
delete-terminal &optional terminal force [Function]
This function deletes all frames on terminal and frees the resources used by it. It runs
the abnormal hook delete-terminal-functions, passing terminal as the argument
to each function.
If terminal is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected frame’s terminal. terminal
can also be a frame, meaning that frame’s terminal.
Normally, this function signals an error if you attempt to delete the sole active ter-
minal, but if force is non-nil, you are allowed to do so. Emacs automatically calls
this function when the last frame on a terminal is deleted (see Section 29.7 [Deleting
Frames], page 718).
Chapter 29: Frames 686

delete-terminal-functions [Variable]
An abnormal hook run by delete-terminal. Each function receives one argument,
the terminal argument passed to delete-terminal. Due to technical details, the
functions may be called either just before the terminal is deleted, or just afterwards.

A few Lisp variables are terminal-local; that is, they have a separate binding for each ter-
minal. The binding in effect at any time is the one for the terminal that the currently selected
frame belongs to. These variables include default-minibuffer-frame, defining-kbd-
macro, last-kbd-macro, and system-key-alist. They are always terminal-local, and can
never be buffer-local (see Section 12.11 [Buffer-Local Variables], page 185).
On GNU and Unix systems, each X display is a separate graphical terminal. When
Emacs is started from within the X window system, it uses the X display specified by the
DISPLAY environment variable, or by the ‘--display’ option (see Section “Initial Options”
in The GNU Emacs Manual). Emacs can connect to other X displays via the command
make-frame-on-display. Each X display has its own selected frame and its own minibuffer
windows; however, only one of those frames is the selected frame at any given moment (see
Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720). Emacs can even connect to other text terminals,
by interacting with the emacsclient program. See Section “Emacs Server” in The GNU
Emacs Manual.
A single X server can handle more than one display. Each X display has a three-
part name, ‘hostname:displaynumber.screennumber’. The first part, hostname, specifies
the name of the machine to which the display is physically connected. The second part,
displaynumber, is a zero-based number that identifies one or more monitors connected to
that machine that share a common keyboard and pointing device (mouse, tablet, etc.). The
third part, screennumber, identifies a zero-based screen number (a separate monitor) that
is part of a single monitor collection on that X server. When you use two or more screens
belonging to one server, Emacs knows by the similarity in their names that they share a
single keyboard.
Systems that don’t use the X window system, such as MS-Windows, don’t support the
notion of X displays, and have only one display on each host. The display name on these
systems doesn’t follow the above 3-part format; for example, the display name on MS-
Windows systems is a constant string ‘w32’, and exists for compatibility, so that you could
pass it to functions that expect a display name.

make-frame-on-display display &optional parameters [Command]

This function creates and returns a new frame on display, taking the other frame
parameters from the alist parameters. display should be the name of an X display (a
string).
Before creating the frame, this function ensures that Emacs is set up to display
graphics. For instance, if Emacs has not processed X resources (e.g., if it was started
on a text terminal), it does so at this time. In all other respects, this function behaves
like make-frame (see Section 29.1 [Creating Frames], page 684).

x-display-list [Function]
This function returns a list that indicates which X displays Emacs has a connection
to. The elements of the list are strings, and each one is a display name.
Chapter 29: Frames 687

x-open-connection display &optional xrm-string must-succeed [Function]

This function opens a connection to the X display display, without creating a frame
on that display. Normally, Emacs Lisp programs need not call this function, as
make-frame-on-display calls it automatically. The only reason for calling it is to
check whether communication can be established with a given X display.
The optional argument xrm-string, if not nil, is a string of resource names and values,
in the same format used in the .Xresources file. See Section “X Resources” in The
GNU Emacs Manual. These values apply to all Emacs frames created on this display,
overriding the resource values recorded in the X server. Here’s an example of what
this string might look like:
"*BorderWidth: 3\n*InternalBorder: 2\n"
If must-succeed is non-nil, failure to open the connection terminates Emacs. Other-
wise, it is an ordinary Lisp error.

x-close-connection display [Function]

This function closes the connection to display display. Before you can do this, you
must first delete all the frames that were open on that display (see Section 29.7
[Deleting Frames], page 718).

On some multi-monitor setups, a single X display outputs to more than one physical mon-
itor. You can use the functions display-monitor-attributes-list and frame-monitor-
attributes to obtain information about such setups.

display-monitor-attributes-list &optional display [Function]

This function returns a list of physical monitor attributes on display, which can be a
display name (a string), a terminal, or a frame; if omitted or nil, it defaults to the
selected frame’s display. Each element of the list is an association list, representing
the attributes of a physical monitor. The first element corresponds to the primary
monitor. The attribute keys and values are:
‘geometry’
Position of the top-left corner of the monitor’s screen and its size, in
pixels, as ‘(x y width height)’. Note that, if the monitor is not the
primary monitor, some of the coordinates might be negative.
‘workarea’
Position of the top-left corner and size of the work area (usable space) in
pixels as ‘(x y width height)’. This may be different from ‘geometry’ in
that space occupied by various window manager features (docks, taskbars,
etc.) may be excluded from the work area. Whether or not such features
actually subtract from the work area depends on the platform and envi-
ronment. Again, if the monitor is not the primary monitor, some of the
coordinates might be negative.
‘mm-size’ Width and height in millimeters as ‘(width height)’
‘frames’ List of frames that this physical monitor dominates (see below).
‘name’ Name of the physical monitor as string.
Chapter 29: Frames 688

‘source’ Source of the multi-monitor information as string; e.g., ‘XRandr’ or

‘Xinerama’.

x, y, width, and height are integers. ‘name’ and ‘source’ may be absent.

A frame is dominated by a physical monitor when either the largest area of the frame
resides in that monitor, or (if the frame does not intersect any physical monitors)
that monitor is the closest to the frame. Every (non-tooltip) frame (whether visible
or not) in a graphical display is dominated by exactly one physical monitor at a time,
though the frame can span multiple (or no) physical monitors.

Here’s an example of the data produced by this function on a 2-monitor display:

(display-monitor-attributes-list)
⇒
(((geometry 0 0 1920 1080) ;; Left-hand, primary monitor
(workarea 0 0 1920 1050) ;; A taskbar occupies some of the height
(mm-size 677 381)
(name . "DISPLAY1")
(frames #<frame emacs@host *Messages* 0x11578c0>
#<frame emacs@host *scratch* 0x114b838>))
((geometry 1920 0 1680 1050) ;; Right-hand monitor
(workarea 1920 0 1680 1050) ;; Whole screen can be used
(mm-size 593 370)
(name . "DISPLAY2")
(frames)))

frame-monitor-attributes &optional frame [Function]

This function returns the attributes of the physical monitor dominating (see above)
frame, which defaults to the selected frame.

29.3 Frame Geometry

The geometry of a frame depends on the toolkit that was used to build this instance of
Emacs and the terminal that displays the frame. This chapter describes these dependencies
and some of the functions to deal with them. Note that the frame argument of all of these
functions has to specify a live frame (see Section 29.7 [Deleting Frames], page 718). If
omitted or nil, it specifies the selected frame (see Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720).

29.3.1 Frame Layout

A visible frame occupies a rectangular area on its terminal’s display. This area may contain
a number of nested rectangles, each serving a different purpose. The drawing below sketches
the layout of a frame on a graphical terminal:
Chapter 29: Frames 689

<------------ Outer Frame Width ----------->

____________________________________________
^(0) ________ External/Outer Border _______ |
| | |_____________ Title Bar ______________| |
| | (1)_____________ Menu Bar ______________| | ^
| | (2)_____________ Tool Bar ______________| | ^
| | (3) _________ Internal Border ________ | | ^
| | | | ^ | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
Outer | | | Inner | | | Native
Frame | | | Frame | | | Frame
Height | | | Height | | | Height
| | | | | | | | |
| | | |<--+--- Inner Frame Width ------->| | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | |___v______________________________| | | |
| | |___________ Internal Border __________| | v
v |___________ External/Outer Border __________|
<-------- Native Frame Width -------->

In practice not all of the areas shown in the drawing will or may be present. The meaning
of these areas is described below.

Outer Frame
The outer frame is a rectangle comprising all areas shown in the drawing. The
edges of that rectangle are called the outer edges of the frame. Together, the
outer width and outer height of the frame specify the outer size of that rectangle.
Knowing the outer size of a frame is useful for fitting a frame into the working
area of its display (see Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685) or for placing
two frames adjacent to each other on the screen. Usually, the outer size of
a frame is available only after the frame has been mapped (made visible, see
Section 29.11 [Visibility of Frames], page 723) at least once. For the initial frame
or a frame that has not been created yet, the outer size can be only estimated
or must be calculated from the window-system’s or window manager’s defaults.
One workaround is to obtain the differences of the outer and native (see below)
sizes of a mapped frame and use them for calculating the outer size of the new
frame.
The position of the upper left corner of the outer frame (indicated by ‘(0)’ in
the drawing above) is the outer position of the frame. The outer position of
a graphical frame is also referred to as “the position” of the frame because it
usually remains unchanged on its display whenever the frame is resized or its
layout is changed.
The outer position is specified by and can be set via the left and top frame
parameters (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position Parameters], page 702). For a normal,
top-level frame these parameters usually represent its absolute position (see
below) with respect to its display’s origin. For a child frame (see Section 29.14
[Child Frames], page 726) these parameters represent its position relative to the
native position (see below) of its parent frame. For frames on text terminals
the values of these parameters are meaningless and always zero.
Chapter 29: Frames 690

External Border
The external border is part of the decorations supplied by the window manager.
It is typically used for resizing the frame with the mouse and is therefore not
shown on “fullboth” and maximized frames (see Section 29.4.3.3 [Size Param-
eters], page 705). Its width is determined by the window manager and cannot
be changed by Emacs’ functions.
External borders don’t exist on text terminal frames. For graphical frames, their
display can be suppressed by setting the override-redirect or undecorated
frame parameter (see Section 29.4.3.8 [Management Parameters], page 711).

Outer Border
The outer border is a separate border whose width can be specified with
the border-width frame parameter (see Section 29.4.3.4 [Layout Parameters],
page 707). In practice, either the external or the outer border of a frame
are displayed but never both at the same time. Usually, the outer border
is shown only for special frames that are not (fully) controlled by the win-
dow manager like tooltip frames (see Section 39.25 [Tooltips], page 1065),
child frames (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726) and undecorated
or override-redirect frames (see Section 29.4.3.8 [Management Parameters],
page 711).
Outer borders are never shown on text terminal frames and on frames generated
by GTK+ routines. On MS-Windows, the outer border is emulated with the
help of a one pixel wide external border. Non-toolkit builds on X allow to change
the color of the outer border by setting the border-color frame parameter (see
Section 29.4.3.4 [Layout Parameters], page 707).

Title Bar The title bar, a.k.a. caption bar, is also part of the window manager’s deco-
rations and typically displays the title of the frame (see Section 29.6 [Frame
Titles], page 717) as well as buttons for minimizing, maximizing and deleting
the frame. It can be also used for dragging the frame with the mouse. The title
bar is usually not displayed for fullboth (see Section 29.4.3.3 [Size Parameters],
page 705), tooltip (see Section 39.25 [Tooltips], page 1065) and child frames (see
Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726) and doesn’t exist for terminal frames.
Display of the title bar can be suppressed by setting the override-redirect
or the undecorated frame parameters (see Section 29.4.3.8 [Management Pa-
rameters], page 711).

Menu Bar The menu bar (see Section 22.17.5 [Menu Bar], page 446) can be either internal
(drawn by Emacs itself) or external (drawn by the toolkit). Most builds (GTK+,
Lucid, Motif and MS-Windows) rely on an external menu bar. NS also uses
an external menu bar which, however, is not part of the outer frame. Non-
toolkit builds can provide an internal menu bar. On text terminal frames, the
menu bar is part of the frame’s root window (see Section 28.2 [Windows and
Frames], page 599). As a rule, menu bars are never shown on child frames
(see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726). Display of the menu bar can
be suppressed by setting the menu-bar-lines parameter (see Section 29.4.3.4
[Layout Parameters], page 707) to zero.
Chapter 29: Frames 691

Whether the menu bar is wrapped or truncated whenever its width becomes
too large to fit on its frame depends on the toolkit . Usually, only Motif and
MS-Windows builds can wrap the menu bar. When they (un-)wrap the menu
bar, they try to keep the outer height of the frame unchanged, so the native
height of the frame (see below) will change instead.
Tool Bar Like the menu bar, the tool bar (see Section 22.17.6 [Tool Bar], page 447) can
be either internal (drawn by Emacs itself) or external (drawn by a toolkit). The
GTK+ and NS builds have the tool bar drawn by the toolkit. The remaining
builds use internal tool bars. With GTK+ the tool bar can be located on either
side of the frame, immediately outside the internal border, see below. Tool
bars are usually not shown for child frames (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames],
page 726). Display of the tool bar can be suppressed by setting the tool-bar-
lines parameter (see Section 29.4.3.4 [Layout Parameters], page 707) to zero.
If the variable auto-resize-tool-bars is non-nil, Emacs wraps the internal
tool bar when its width becomes too large for its frame. If and when Emacs (un-
)wraps the internal tool bar, it by default keeps the outer height of the frame
unchanged, so the native height of the frame (see below) will change instead.
Emacs built with GTK+, on the other hand, never wraps the tool bar but may
automatically increase the outer width of a frame in order to accommodate an
overlong tool bar.
Native Frame
The native frame is a rectangle located entirely within the outer frame. It
excludes the areas occupied by an external or outer border, the title bar and
any external menu or tool bar. The edges of the native frame are called the
native edges of the frame. Together, the native width and native height of a
frame specify the native size of the frame.
The native size of a frame is the size Emacs passes to the window-system or
window manager when creating or resizing the frame from within Emacs. It
is also the size Emacs receives from the window-system or window manager
whenever these resize the frame’s window-system window, for example, after
maximizing the frame by clicking on the corresponding button in the title bar
or when dragging its external border with the mouse.
The position of the top left corner of the native frame specifies the native
position of the frame. (1)–(3) in the drawing above indicate that position for
the various builds:
(1) non-toolkit and terminal frames
(2) Lucid, Motif and MS-Windows frames
(3) GTK+ and NS frames
Accordingly, the native height of a frame may include the height of the tool
bar but not that of the menu bar (Lucid, Motif, MS-Windows) or those of the
menu bar and the tool bar (non-toolkit and text terminal frames).
The native position of a frame is the reference position for functions that set
or return the current position of the mouse (see Section 29.16 [Mouse Posi-
tion], page 730) and for functions dealing with the position of windows like
Chapter 29: Frames 692

window-edges, window-at or coordinates-in-window-p (see Section 28.24

[Coordinates and Windows], page 671). It also specifies the (0, 0) origin for lo-
cating and positioning child frames within this frame (see Section 29.14 [Child
Frames], page 726).
Note also that the native position of a frame usually remains unaltered on its dis-
play when removing or adding the window manager decorations by changing the
frame’s override-redirect or undecorated parameter (see Section 29.4.3.8
[Management Parameters], page 711).
Internal Border
The internal border is a border drawn by Emacs around the inner frame (see
below). Its width is specified by the internal-border-width frame parameter
(see Section 29.4.3.4 [Layout Parameters], page 707). Its color is specified by
the background of the internal-border face.
Inner Frame
The inner frame is the rectangle reserved for the frame’s windows. It’s enclosed
by the internal border which, however, is not part of the inner frame. Its edges
are called the inner edges of the frame. The inner width and inner height specify
the inner size of the rectangle. The inner frame is sometimes also referred to
as the display area of the frame.
As a rule, the inner frame is subdivided into the frame’s root window (see
Section 28.2 [Windows and Frames], page 599) and the frame’s minibuffer win-
dow (see Section 20.11 [Minibuffer Windows], page 364). There are two notable
exceptions to this rule: A minibuffer-less frame contains a root window only
and does not contain a minibuffer window. A minibuffer-only frame contains
only a minibuffer window which also serves as that frame’s root window. See
Section 29.4.2 [Initial Parameters], page 701, for how to create such frame con-
figurations.
Text Area The text area of a frame is a somewhat fictitious area that can be embedded
in the native frame. Its position is unspecified. Its width can be obtained by
removing from that of the native width the widths of the internal border, one
vertical scroll bar, and one left and one right fringe if they are specified for this
frame, see Section 29.4.3.4 [Layout Parameters], page 707. Its height can be
obtained by removing from that of the native height the widths of the internal
border and the heights of the frame’s internal menu and tool bars and one
horizontal scroll bar if specified for this frame.
The absolute position of a frame is given as a pair (X, Y) of horizontal and vertical
pixel offsets relative to an origin (0, 0) of the frame’s display. Correspondingly, the absolute
edges of a frame are given as pixel offsets from that origin.
Note that with multiple monitors, the origin of the display does not necessarily coincide
with the top-left corner of the entire usable display area of the terminal. Hence the abso-
lute position of a frame can be negative in such an environment even when that frame is
completely visible.
By convention, vertical offsets increase “downwards”. This means that the height of a
frame is obtained by subtracting the offset of its top edge from that of its bottom edge.
Chapter 29: Frames 693

Horizontal offsets increase “rightwards”, as expected, so a frame’s width is calculated by

subtracting the offset of its left edge from that of its right edge.
For a frame on a graphical terminal the following function returns the sizes of the areas
described above:

frame-geometry &optional frame [Function]

This function returns geometric attributes of frame. The return value is an association
list of the attributes listed below. All coordinate, height and width values are inte-
gers counting pixels. Note that if frame has not been mapped yet, (see Section 29.11
[Visibility of Frames], page 723) some of the return values may only represent ap-
proximations of the actual values—those that can be seen after the frame has been
mapped.
outer-position
A cons representing the absolute position of the outer frame, relative to
the origin at position (0, 0) of frame’s display.
outer-size
A cons of the outer width and height of frame.
external-border-size
A cons of the horizontal and vertical width of frame’s external borders as
supplied by the window manager. If the window manager doesn’t supply
these values, Emacs will try to guess them from the coordinates of the
outer and inner frame.
outer-border-width
The width of the outer border of frame. The value is meaningful for
non-GTK+ X builds only.
title-bar-size
A cons of the width and height of the title bar of frame as supplied by
the window manager or operating system. If both of them are zero, the
frame has no title bar. If only the width is zero, Emacs was not able to
retrieve the width information.
menu-bar-external
If non-nil, this means the menu bar is external (not part of the native
frame of frame).
menu-bar-size
A cons of the width and height of the menu bar of frame.
tool-bar-external
If non-nil, this means the tool bar is external (not part of the native
frame of frame).
tool-bar-position
This tells on which side the tool bar on frame is and can be one of left,
top, right or bottom. The only toolkit that currently supports a value
other than top is GTK+.
Chapter 29: Frames 694

tool-bar-size
A cons of the width and height of the tool bar of frame.
internal-border-width
The width of the internal border of frame.
The following function can be used to retrieve the edges of the outer, native and inner
frame.
frame-edges &optional frame type [Function]
This function returns the absolute edges of the outer, native or inner frame of frame.
frame must be a live frame and defaults to the selected one. The returned list has the
form (left top right bottom) where all values are in pixels relative to the origin of
frame’s display. For terminal frames the values returned for left and top are always
zero.
Optional argument type specifies the type of the edges to return: outer-edges means
to return the outer edges of frame, native-edges (or nil) means to return its native
edges and inner-edges means to return its inner edges.
By convention, the pixels of the display at the values returned for left and top are
considered to be inside (part of) frame. Hence, if left and top are both zero, the pixel
at the display’s origin is part of frame. The pixels at bottom and right, on the other
hand, are considered to lie immediately outside frame. This means that if you have,
for example, two side-by-side frames positioned such that the right outer edge of the
frame on the left equals the left outer edge of the frame on the right, the pixels at
that edge show a part of the frame on the right.

29.3.2 Frame Font

Each frame has a default font which specifies the default character size for that frame.
This size is meant when retrieving or changing the size of a frame in terms of columns or
lines (see Section 29.4.3.3 [Size Parameters], page 705). It is also used when resizing (see
Section 28.3 [Window Sizes], page 603) or splitting (see Section 28.6 [Splitting Windows],
page 613) windows.
The terms line height and canonical character height are sometimes used instead of
“default character height”. Similarly, the terms column width and canonical character
width are used instead of “default character width”.
frame-char-height &optional frame [Function]
frame-char-width &optional frame [Function]
These functions return the default height and width of a character in frame, measured
in pixels. Together, these values establish the size of the default font on frame. The
values depend on the choice of font for frame, see Section 29.4.3.10 [Font and Color
Parameters], page 714.
The default font can be also set directly with the following function:
set-frame-font font &optional keep-size frames [Command]
This sets the default font to font. When called interactively, it prompts for the name
of a font, and uses that font on the selected frame. When called from Lisp, font
should be a font name (a string), a font object, font entity, or a font spec.
Chapter 29: Frames 695

If the optional argument keep-size is nil, this keeps the number of frame lines and
columns fixed. (If non-nil, the option frame-inhibit-implied-resize described in
the next section will override this.) If keep-size is non-nil (or with a prefix argument),
it tries to keep the size of the display area of the current frame fixed by adjusting the
number of lines and columns.
If the optional argument frames is nil, this applies the font to the selected frame
only. If frames is non-nil, it should be a list of frames to act upon, or t meaning all
existing and all future graphical frames.

29.3.3 Frame Position

On graphical systems, the position of a normal top-level frame is specified as the absolute
position of its outer frame (see Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry], page 688). The position of
a child frame (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726) is specified via pixel offsets of its
outer edges relative to the native position of its parent frame.
You can access or change the position of a frame using the frame parameters left
and top (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position Parameters], page 702). Here are two additional
functions for working with the positions of an existing, visible frame. For both functions,
the argument frame must denote a live frame and defaults to the selected frame.

frame-position &optional frame [Function]

For a normal, non-child frame this function returns a cons of the pixel coordinates
of its outer position (see Section 29.3.1 [Frame Layout], page 688) with respect to
the origin (0, 0) of its display. For a child frame (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames],
page 726) this function returns the pixel coordinates of its outer position with respect
to an origin (0, 0) at the native position of frame’s parent.
Negative values never indicate an offset from the right or bottom edge of frame’s
display or parent frame. Rather, they mean that frame’s outer position is on the left
and/or above the origin of its display or the native position of its parent frame. This
usually means that frame is only partially visible (or completely invisible). However,
on systems where the display’s origin does not coincide with its top-left corner, the
frame may be visible on a secondary monitor.
On a text terminal frame both values are zero.

set-frame-position frame x y [Function]

This function sets the outer frame position of frame to (x, y). The latter arguments
specify pixels and normally count from the origin at the position (0, 0) of frame’s
display. For child frames, they count from the native position of frame’s parent
frame.
Negative parameter values position the right edge of the outer frame by -x pixels
left from the right edge of the screen (or the parent frame’s native rectangle) and
the bottom edge by -y pixels up from the bottom edge of the screen (or the parent
frame’s native rectangle).
Note that negative values do not permit to align the right or bottom edge of frame
exactly at the right or bottom edge of its display or parent frame. Neither do they
allow to specify a position that does not lie within the edges of the display or parent
Chapter 29: Frames 696

frame. The frame parameters left and top (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position Param-
eters], page 702) allow to do that, but may still fail to provide good results for the
initial or a new frame.
This function has no effect on text terminal frames.

move-frame-functions [Variable]
This hook specifies the functions that are run when an Emacs frame is moved (assigned
a new position) by the window-system or window manager. The functions are run
with one argument, the frame that moved. For a child frame (see Section 29.14 [Child
Frames], page 726), the functions are run only when the position of the frame changes
in relation to that of its parent frame.

29.3.4 Frame Size

The canonical way to specify the size of a frame from within Emacs is by specifying its text
size—a tuple of the width and height of the frame’s text area (see Section 29.3.1 [Frame
Layout], page 688). It can be measured either in pixels or in terms of the frame’s canonical
character size (see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font], page 694).
For frames with an internal menu or tool bar, the frame’s native height cannot be told
exactly before the frame has been actually drawn. This means that in general you cannot
use the native size to specify the initial size of a frame. As soon as you know the native
size of a visible frame, you can calculate its outer size (see Section 29.3.1 [Frame Layout],
page 688) by adding in the remaining components from the return value of frame-geometry.
For invisible frames or for frames that have yet to be created, however, the outer size can
only be estimated. This also means that calculating an exact initial position of a frame
specified via offsets from the right or bottom edge of the screen (see Section 29.3.3 [Frame
Position], page 695) is impossible.
The text size of any frame can be set and retrieved with the help of the height and
width frame parameters (see Section 29.4.3.3 [Size Parameters], page 705). The text size
of the initial frame can be also set with the help of an X-style geometry specification. See
Section “Command Line Arguments for Emacs Invocation” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
Below we list some functions to access and set the size of an existing, visible frame, by
default the selected one.

frame-height &optional frame [Function]

frame-width &optional frame [Function]
These functions return the height and width of the text area of frame, measured in
units of the default font height and width of frame (see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font],
page 694). These functions are plain shorthands for writing (frame-parameter frame
'height) and (frame-parameter frame 'width).
If the text area of frame measured in pixels is not a multiple of its default font size,
the values returned by these functions are rounded down to the number of characters
of the default font that fully fit into the text area.

The functions following next return the pixel widths and heights of the native, outer
and inner frame and the text area (see Section 29.3.1 [Frame Layout], page 688) of a given
frame. For a text terminal, the results are in characters rather than pixels.
Chapter 29: Frames 697

frame-outer-width &optional frame [Function]

frame-outer-height &optional frame [Function]
These functions return the outer width and height of frame in pixels.

frame-native-height &optional frame [Function]

frame-native-width &optional frame [Function]
These functions return the native width and height of frame in pixels.

frame-inner-width &optional frame [Function]

frame-inner-height &optional frame [Function]
These functions return the inner width and height of frame in pixels.

frame-text-width &optional frame [Function]

frame-text-height &optional frame [Function]
These functions return the width and height of the text area of frame in pixels.

On window systems that support it, Emacs tries by default to make the text size of a
frame measured in pixels a multiple of the frame’s character size. This, however, usually
means that a frame can be resized only in character size increments when dragging its
external borders. It also may break attempts to truly maximize the frame or making it
“fullheight” or “fullwidth” (see Section 29.4.3.3 [Size Parameters], page 705) leaving some
empty space below and/or on the right of the frame. The following option may help in that
case.

frame-resize-pixelwise [User Option]

If this option is nil (the default), a frame’s text pixel size is usually rounded to a
multiple of the current values of that frame’s frame-char-height and frame-char-
width whenever the frame is resized. If this is non-nil, no rounding occurs, hence
frame sizes can increase/decrease by one pixel.
Setting this variable usually causes the next resize operation to pass the corresponding
size hints to the window manager. This means that this variable should be set only
in a user’s initial file; applications should never bind it temporarily.
The precise meaning of a value of nil for this option depends on the toolkit used.
Dragging the external border with the mouse is done character-wise provided the win-
dow manager is willing to process the corresponding size hints. Calling set-frame-
size (see below) with arguments that do not specify the frame size as an integer
multiple of its character size, however, may: be ignored, cause a rounding (GTK+),
or be accepted (Lucid, Motif, MS-Windows).
With some window managers you may have to set this to non-nil in order to make
a frame appear truly maximized or full-screen.

set-frame-size frame width height &optional pixelwise [Function]

This function sets the size of the text area of frame, measured in terms of the canonical
height and width of a character on frame (see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font], page 694).
The optional argument pixelwise non-nil means to measure the new width and height
in units of pixels instead. Note that if frame-resize-pixelwise is nil, some toolkits
may refuse to truly honor the request if it does not increase/decrease the frame size
to a multiple of its character size.
Chapter 29: Frames 698

set-frame-height frame height &optional pretend pixelwise [Function]

This function resizes the text area of frame to a height of height lines. The sizes of
existing windows in frame are altered proportionally to fit.
If pretend is non-nil, then Emacs displays height lines of output in frame, but does
not change its value for the actual height of the frame. This is only useful on text
terminals. Using a smaller height than the terminal actually implements may be useful
to reproduce behavior observed on a smaller screen, or if the terminal malfunctions
when using its whole screen. Setting the frame height directly does not always work,
because knowing the correct actual size may be necessary for correct cursor positioning
on text terminals.
The optional fourth argument pixelwise non-nil means that frame should be height
pixels high. Note that if frame-resize-pixelwise is nil, some window managers
may refuse to truly honor the request if it does not increase/decrease the frame height
to a multiple of its character height.

set-frame-width frame width &optional pretend pixelwise [Function]

This function sets the width of the text area of frame, measured in characters. The
argument pretend has the same meaning as in set-frame-height.
The optional fourth argument pixelwise non-nil means that frame should be width
pixels wide. Note that if frame-resize-pixelwise is nil, some window managers
may refuse to fully honor the request if it does not increase/decrease the frame width
to a multiple of its character width.

None of these three functions will make a frame smaller than needed to display all of its
windows together with their scroll bars, fringes, margins, dividers, mode and header lines.
This contrasts with requests by the window manager triggered, for example, by dragging the
external border of a frame with the mouse. Such requests are always honored by clipping, if
necessary, portions that cannot be displayed at the right, bottom corner of the frame. The
parameters min-width and min-height (see Section 29.4.3.3 [Size Parameters], page 705)
can be used to obtain a similar behavior when changing the frame size from within Emacs.
The abnormal hook window-size-change-functions (see Section 28.28 [Window
Hooks], page 681) tracks all changes of the inner size of a frame including those induced by
request of the window-system or window manager. To rule out false positives that might
occur when changing only the sizes of a frame’s windows without actually changing the
size of the inner frame, use the following function.

frame-size-changed-p &optional frame [Function]

This function returns non-nil when the inner width or height of frame has changed
since window-size-change-functions was run the last time for frame. It always
returns nil immediately after running window-size-change-functions for frame.

29.3.5 Implied Frame Resizing

By default, Emacs tries to keep the number of lines and columns of a frame’s text area
unaltered when, for example, adding or removing the menu bar, changing the default font
or setting the width of the frame’s scroll bars. This means, however, that in such case
Emacs must ask the window manager to resize the outer frame in order to accommodate
Chapter 29: Frames 699

the size change. Note that wrapping a menu or tool bar usually does not resize the frame’s
outer size, hence this will alter the number of displayed lines.
Occasionally, such implied frame resizing may be unwanted, for example, when the frame
is maximized or made full-screen (where it’s turned off by default). In other cases you can
disable implied resizing with the following option:

frame-inhibit-implied-resize [User Option]

If this option is nil, changing font, menu bar, tool bar, internal borders, fringes or
scroll bars of a specific frame may implicitly resize the frame’s display area in order to
preserve the number of columns or lines the frame displays. If this option is non-nil,
no implied resizing is done.
The value of this option can be also a list of frame parameters. In that case,
implied resizing is inhibited when changing a parameter that appears in this list.
The frame parameters currently handled by this option are: font, font-backend,
internal-border-width, menu-bar-lines and tool-bar-lines.
Changing any of the scroll-bar-width, scroll-bar-height, vertical-scroll-
bars, horizontal-scroll-bars, left-fringe and right-fringe frame parameters
is handled as if the frame contained just one live window. This means, for example,
that removing vertical scroll bars on a frame containing several side by side win-
dows will shrink the outer frame width by the width of one scroll bar provided this
option is nil and keep it unchanged if this option is either t or a list containing
vertical-scroll-bars.
The default value is '(tool-bar-lines) for Lucid, Motif and MS-Windows (which
means that adding/removing a tool bar there does not change the outer frame height),
nil on all other window systems including GTK+ (which means that changing any of
the parameters listed above may change the size of the outer frame), and t otherwise
(which means the outer frame size never changes implicitly when there’s no window
system support).
Note that when a frame is not large enough to accommodate a change of any of the
parameters listed above, Emacs may try to enlarge the frame even if this option is
non-nil.

29.4 Frame Parameters

A frame has many parameters that control its appearance and behavior. Just what param-
eters a frame has depends on what display mechanism it uses.
Frame parameters exist mostly for the sake of graphical displays. Most frame pa-
rameters have no effect when applied to a frame on a text terminal; only the height,
width, name, title, menu-bar-lines, buffer-list and buffer-predicate parameters
do something special. If the terminal supports colors, the parameters foreground-color,
background-color, background-mode and display-type are also meaningful. If the ter-
minal supports frame transparency, the parameter alpha is also meaningful.
By default, frame parameters are saved and restored by the desktop library functions (see
Section 23.8 [Desktop Save Mode], page 509) when the variable desktop-restore-frames
is non-nil. It’s the responsibility of applications that their parameters are included in
Chapter 29: Frames 700

frameset-persistent-filter-alist to avoid that they get meaningless or even harmful

values in restored sessions.

29.4.1 Access to Frame Parameters

These functions let you read and change the parameter values of a frame.

frame-parameter frame parameter [Function]

This function returns the value of the parameter parameter (a symbol) of frame. If
frame is nil, it returns the selected frame’s parameter. If frame has no setting for
parameter, this function returns nil.

frame-parameters &optional frame [Function]

The function frame-parameters returns an alist listing all the parameters of frame
and their values. If frame is nil or omitted, this returns the selected frame’s param-
eters

modify-frame-parameters frame alist [Function]

This function alters the frame frame based on the elements of alist. Each element of
alist has the form (parm . value), where parm is a symbol naming a parameter. If
you don’t mention a parameter in alist, its value doesn’t change. If frame is nil, it
defaults to the selected frame.
Some parameters are only meaningful for frames on certain kinds of display (see
Chapter 29 [Frames], page 683). If alist includes parameters that are not meaningful
for the frame’s display, this function will change its value in the frame’s parameter
list, but will otherwise ignore it.
When alist specifies more than one parameter whose value can affect the new size of
frame, the final size of the frame may differ according to the toolkit used. For example,
specifying that a frame should from now on have a menu and/or tool bar instead of
none and simultaneously specifying the new height of the frame will inevitably lead
to a recalculation of the frame’s height. Conceptually, in such case, this function will
try to have the explicit height specification prevail. It cannot be excluded, however,
that the addition (or removal) of the menu or tool bar, when eventually performed
by the toolkit, will defeat this intention.
Sometimes, binding frame-inhibit-implied-resize (see Section 29.3.5 [Implied
Frame Resizing], page 698) to a non-nil value around calls to this function may
fix the problem sketched here. Sometimes, however, exactly such binding may be hit
by the problem.

set-frame-parameter frame parm value [Function]

This function sets the frame parameter parm to the specified value. If frame is nil,
it defaults to the selected frame.

modify-all-frames-parameters alist [Function]

This function alters the frame parameters of all existing frames according to alist,
then modifies default-frame-alist (and, if necessary, initial-frame-alist) to
apply the same parameter values to frames that will be created henceforth.
Chapter 29: Frames 701

29.4.2 Initial Frame Parameters

You can specify the parameters for the initial startup frame by setting initial-frame-
alist in your init file (see Section 40.1.2 [Init File], page 1075).

initial-frame-alist [User Option]

This variable’s value is an alist of parameter values used when creating the initial
frame. You can set this variable to specify the appearance of the initial frame without
altering subsequent frames. Each element has the form:
(parameter . value)
Emacs creates the initial frame before it reads your init file. After reading that
file, Emacs checks initial-frame-alist, and applies the parameter settings in the
altered value to the already created initial frame.
If these settings affect the frame geometry and appearance, you’ll see the frame appear
with the wrong ones and then change to the specified ones. If that bothers you, you
can specify the same geometry and appearance with X resources; those do take effect
before the frame is created. See Section “X Resources” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
X resource settings typically apply to all frames. If you want to specify some X
resources solely for the sake of the initial frame, and you don’t want them to apply to
subsequent frames, here’s how to achieve this. Specify parameters in default-frame-
alist to override the X resources for subsequent frames; then, to prevent these from
affecting the initial frame, specify the same parameters in initial-frame-alist with
values that match the X resources.

If these parameters include (minibuffer . nil), that indicates that the initial frame
should have no minibuffer. In this case, Emacs creates a separate minibuffer-only frame as
well.

minibuffer-frame-alist [User Option]

This variable’s value is an alist of parameter values used when creating an initial
minibuffer-only frame (i.e., the minibuffer-only frame that Emacs creates if
initial-frame-alist specifies a frame with no minibuffer).

default-frame-alist [User Option]

This is an alist specifying default values of frame parameters for all Emacs frames—
the first frame, and subsequent frames. When using the X Window System, you can
get the same results by means of X resources in many cases.
Setting this variable does not affect existing frames. Furthermore, functions that
display a buffer in a separate frame may override the default parameters by supplying
their own parameters.

If you invoke Emacs with command-line options that specify frame appearance, those
options take effect by adding elements to either initial-frame-alist or default-frame-
alist. Options which affect just the initial frame, such as ‘--geometry’ and ‘--maximized’,
add to initial-frame-alist; the others add to default-frame-alist. see Section “Com-
mand Line Arguments for Emacs Invocation” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
Chapter 29: Frames 702

29.4.3 Window Frame Parameters

Just what parameters a frame has depends on what display mechanism it uses. This section
describes the parameters that have special meanings on some or all kinds of terminals. Of
these, name, title, height, width, buffer-list and buffer-predicate provide mean-
ingful information in terminal frames, and tty-color-mode is meaningful only for frames
on text terminals.

29.4.3.1 Basic Parameters

These frame parameters give the most basic information about the frame. title and name
are meaningful on all terminals.
display The display on which to open this frame. It should be a string of the
form ‘host:dpy.screen’, just like the DISPLAY environment variable. See
Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685, for more details about display
names.
display-type
This parameter describes the range of possible colors that can be used in this
frame. Its value is color, grayscale or mono.
title If a frame has a non-nil title, it appears in the window system’s title
bar at the top of the frame, and also in the mode line of windows in that
frame if mode-line-frame-identification uses ‘%F’ (see Section 23.4.5
[%-Constructs], page 482). This is normally the case when Emacs is not using
a window system, and can only display one frame at a time. See Section 29.6
[Frame Titles], page 717.
name The name of the frame. The frame name serves as a default for the frame title, if
the title parameter is unspecified or nil. If you don’t specify a name, Emacs
sets the frame name automatically (see Section 29.6 [Frame Titles], page 717).
If you specify the frame name explicitly when you create the frame, the name
is also used (instead of the name of the Emacs executable) when looking up X
resources for the frame.
explicit-name
If the frame name was specified explicitly when the frame was created, this pa-
rameter will be that name. If the frame wasn’t explicitly named, this parameter
will be nil.

29.4.3.2 Position Parameters

Parameters describing the X- and Y-offsets of a frame are always measured in pixels. For
a normal, non-child frame they specify the frame’s outer position (see Section 29.3 [Frame
Geometry], page 688) relative to its display’s origin. For a child frame (see Section 29.14
[Child Frames], page 726) they specify the frame’s outer position relative to the native
position of the frame’s parent frame. (Note that none of these parameters is meaningful on
TTY frames.)
left The position, in pixels, of the left outer edge of the frame with respect to the
left edge of the frame’s display or parent frame. It can be specified in one of
the following ways.
Chapter 29: Frames 703

an integer A positive integer always relates the left edge of the frame to the left
edge of its display or parent frame. A negative integer relates the
right frame edge to the right edge of the display or parent frame.
(+ pos) This specifies the position of the left frame edge relative to the left
edge of its display or parent frame. The integer pos may be positive
or negative; a negative value specifies a position outside the screen
or parent frame or on a monitor other than the primary one (for
multi-monitor displays).
(- pos) This specifies the position of the right frame edge relative to the
right edge of the display or parent frame. The integer pos may be
positive or negative; a negative value specifies a position outside
the screen or parent frame or on a monitor other than the primary
one (for multi-monitor displays).
a floating-point value
A floating-point value in the range 0.0 to 1.0 specifies the left edge’s
offset via the left position ratio of the frame—the ratio of the left
edge of its outer frame to the width of the frame’s workarea (see
Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685) or its parent’s native
frame (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726) minus the width
of the outer frame. Thus, a left position ratio of 0.0 flushes a frame
to the left, a ratio of 0.5 centers it and a ratio of 1.0 flushes it to
the right of its display or parent frame. Similarly, the top position
ratio of a frame is the ratio of the frame’s top position to the height
of its workarea or parent frame minus the height of the frame.
Emacs will try to keep the position ratios of a child frame un-
altered if that frame has a non-nil keep-ratio parameter (see
Section 29.4.3.6 [Frame Interaction Parameters], page 709) and its
parent frame is resized.
Since the outer size of a frame (see Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry],
page 688) is usually unavailable before a frame has been made vis-
ible, it is generally not advisable to use floating-point values when
creating decorated frames. Floating-point values are more suited
for ensuring that an (undecorated) child frame is positioned nicely
within the area of its parent frame.
Some window managers ignore program-specified positions. If you want to be
sure the position you specify is not ignored, specify a non-nil value for the
user-position parameter as in the following example:
(modify-frame-parameters
nil '((user-position . t) (left . (+ -4))))
In general, it is not a good idea to position a frame relative to the right or
bottom edge of its display. Positioning the initial or a new frame is either not
accurate (because the size of the outer frame is not yet fully known before the
frame has been made visible) or will cause additional flicker (if the frame has
to be repositioned after becoming visible).
Chapter 29: Frames 704

Note also, that positions specified relative to the right/bottom edge of a display,
workarea or parent frame as well as floating-point offsets are stored internally
as integer offsets relative to the left/top edge of the display, workarea or parent
frame edge. They are also returned as such by functions like frame-parameters
and restored as such by the desktop saving routines.

top The screen position of the top (or bottom) edge, in pixels, with respect to the
top (or bottom) edge of the display or parent frame. It works just like left,
except vertically instead of horizontally.

icon-left
The screen position of the left edge of the frame’s icon, in pixels, counting from
the left edge of the screen. This takes effect when the frame is iconified, if the
window manager supports this feature. If you specify a value for this parameter,
then you must also specify a value for icon-top and vice versa.

icon-top The screen position of the top edge of the frame’s icon, in pixels, counting from
the top edge of the screen. This takes effect when the frame is iconified, if the
window manager supports this feature.

user-position
When you create a frame and specify its screen position with the left and
top parameters, use this parameter to say whether the specified position was
user-specified (explicitly requested in some way by a human user) or merely
program-specified (chosen by a program). A non-nil value says the position
was user-specified.
Window managers generally heed user-specified positions, and some heed
program-specified positions too. But many ignore program-specified positions,
placing the window in a default fashion or letting the user place it with the
mouse. Some window managers, including twm, let the user specify whether to
obey program-specified positions or ignore them.
When you call make-frame, you should specify a non-nil value for this param-
eter if the values of the left and top parameters represent the user’s stated
preference; otherwise, use nil.

z-group This parameter specifies a relative position of the frame’s window-system win-
dow in the stacking (Z-) order of the frame’s display.
If this is above, the frame’s window-system window is displayed above all other
window-system windows that do not have the above property set. If this is
nil, the frame’s window is displayed below all windows that have the above
property set and above all windows that have the below property set. If this
is below, the frame’s window is displayed below all windows that do not have
the below property set.
To position the frame above or below a specific other frame use the function
frame-restack (see Section 29.12 [Raising and Lowering], page 724).
Chapter 29: Frames 705

29.4.3.3 Size Parameters

Frame parameters usually specify frame sizes in character units. On graphical displays, the
default face determines the actual pixel sizes of these character units (see Section 39.12.1
[Face Attributes], page 997).
width This parameter specifies the width of the frame. It can be specified as in the
following ways:
an integer A positive integer specifies the width of the frame’s text area (see
Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry], page 688) in characters.
a cons cell If this is a cons cell with the symbol text-pixels in its car, the
cdr of that cell specifies the width of the frame’s text area in pixels.
a floating-point value
A floating-point number between 0.0 and 1.0 can be used to specify
the width of a frame via its width ratio—the ratio of its outer width
(see Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry], page 688) to the width of the
frame’s workarea (see Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685)
or its parent frame’s (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726)
native frame. Thus, a value of 0.5 makes the frame occupy half of
the width of its workarea or parent frame, a value of 1.0 the full
width. Similarly, the height ratio of a frame is the ratio of its outer
height to the height of its workarea or its parent’s native frame.
Emacs will try to keep the width and height ratio of a child frame
unaltered if that frame has a non-nil keep-ratio parameter (see
Section 29.4.3.6 [Frame Interaction Parameters], page 709) and its
parent frame is resized.
Since the outer size of a frame is usually unavailable before a frame
has been made visible, it is generally not advisable to use floating-
point values when creating decorated frames. Floating-point values
are more suited to ensure that a child frame always fits within
the area of its parent frame as, for example, when customizing
display-buffer-alist (see Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window],
page 630) via display-buffer-in-child-frame.
Regardless of how this parameter was specified, functions reporting the value of
this parameter like frame-parameters always report the width of the frame’s
text area in characters as an integer rounded, if necessary, to a multiple of the
frame’s default character width. That value is also used by the desktop saving
routines.
height This parameter specifies the height of the frame. It works just like width,
except vertically instead of horizontally.
user-size
This does for the size parameters height and width what the user-position
parameter (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position Parameters], page 702) does for the
position parameters top and left.
Chapter 29: Frames 706

min-width
This parameter specifies the minimum native width (see Section 29.3 [Frame
Geometry], page 688) of the frame, in characters. Normally, the functions that
establish a frame’s initial width or resize a frame horizontally make sure that all
the frame’s windows, vertical scroll bars, fringes, margins and vertical dividers
can be displayed. This parameter, if non-nil allows to make a frame narrower
than that with the consequence that any components that do not fit will be
clipped by the window manager.

min-height
This parameter specifies the minimum native height (see Section 29.3 [Frame
Geometry], page 688) of the frame, in characters. Normally, the functions that
establish a frame’s initial size or resize a frame make sure that all the frame’s
windows, horizontal scroll bars and dividers, mode and header lines, the echo
area and the internal menu and tool bar can be displayed. This parameter, if
non-nil allows to make a frame smaller than that with the consequence that
any components that do not fit will be clipped by the window manager.

fullscreen
This parameter specifies whether to maximize the frame’s width, height or
both. Its value can be fullwidth, fullheight, fullboth, or maximized. A
fullwidth frame is as wide as possible, a fullheight frame is as tall as possible, and
a fullboth frame is both as wide and as tall as possible. A maximized frame
is like a “fullboth” frame, except that it usually keeps its title bar and the
buttons for resizing and closing the frame. Also, maximized frames typically
avoid hiding any task bar or panels displayed on the desktop. A “fullboth”
frame, on the other hand, usually omits the title bar and occupies the entire
available screen space.
Full-height and full-width frames are more similar to maximized frames in this
regard. However, these typically display an external border which might be
absent with maximized frames. Hence the heights of maximized and full-height
frames and the widths of maximized and full-width frames often differ by a few
pixels.
With some window managers you may have to customize the variable
frame-resize-pixelwise (see Section 29.3.4 [Frame Size], page 696) in
order to make a frame truly appear maximized or full-screen. Moreover,
some window managers might not support smooth transition between
the various full-screen or maximization states. Customizing the variable
x-frame-normalize-before-maximize can help to overcome that.
Full-screen on macOS hides both the tool-bar and the menu-bar, however both
will be displayed if the mouse pointer is moved to the top of the screen.

fullscreen-restore
This parameter specifies the desired fullscreen state of the frame after invoking
the toggle-frame-fullscreen command (see Section “Frame Commands” in
The GNU Emacs Manual) in the “fullboth” state. Normally this parameter is
installed automatically by that command when toggling the state to fullboth.
Chapter 29: Frames 707

If, however, you start Emacs in the “fullboth” state, you have to specify the
desired behavior in your initial file as, for example
(setq default-frame-alist
'((fullscreen . fullboth)
(fullscreen-restore . fullheight)))
This will give a new frame full height after typing in it F11 for the first time.
fit-frame-to-buffer-margins
This parameter allows to override the value of the option fit-frame-to-
buffer-margins when fitting this frame to the buffer of its root window with
fit-frame-to-buffer (see Section 28.4 [Resizing Windows], page 608).
fit-frame-to-buffer-sizes
This parameter allows to override the value of the option fit-frame-to-
buffer-sizes when fitting this frame to the buffer of its root window with
fit-frame-to-buffer (see Section 28.4 [Resizing Windows], page 608).

29.4.3.4 Layout Parameters

These frame parameters enable or disable various parts of the frame, or control their sizes.
border-width
The width in pixels of the frame’s outer border (see Section 29.3 [Frame Ge-
ometry], page 688).
internal-border-width
The width in pixels of the frame’s internal border (see Section 29.3 [Frame
Geometry], page 688).
vertical-scroll-bars
Whether the frame has scroll bars (see Section 39.14 [Scroll Bars], page 1025) for
vertical scrolling, and which side of the frame they should be on. The possible
values are left, right, and nil for no scroll bars.
horizontal-scroll-bars
Whether the frame has scroll bars for horizontal scrolling (t and bottom mean
yes, nil means no).
scroll-bar-width
The width of vertical scroll bars, in pixels, or nil meaning to use the default
width.
scroll-bar-height
The height of horizontal scroll bars, in pixels, or nil meaning to use the default
height.
left-fringe
right-fringe
The default width of the left and right fringes of windows in this frame (see
Section 39.13 [Fringes], page 1019). If either of these is zero, that effectively
removes the corresponding fringe.
Chapter 29: Frames 708

When you use frame-parameter to query the value of either of these two frame
parameters, the return value is always an integer. When using set-frame-
parameter, passing a nil value imposes an actual default value of 8 pixels.
right-divider-width
The width (thickness) reserved for the right divider (see Section 39.15 [Window
Dividers], page 1027) of any window on the frame, in pixels. A value of zero
means to not draw right dividers.
bottom-divider-width
The width (thickness) reserved for the bottom divider (see Section 39.15 [Win-
dow Dividers], page 1027) of any window on the frame, in pixels. A value of
zero means to not draw bottom dividers.
menu-bar-lines
The number of lines to allocate at the top of the frame for a menu bar (see
Section 22.17.5 [Menu Bar], page 446). The default is one if Menu Bar mode is
enabled and zero otherwise. See Section “Menu Bars” in The GNU Emacs Man-
ual. For an external menu bar (see Section 29.3.1 [Frame Layout], page 688),
this value remains unchanged even when the menu bar wraps to two or more
lines. In that case, the menu-bar-size value returned by frame-geometry (see
Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry], page 688) allows to derive whether the menu
bar actually occupies one or more lines.
tool-bar-lines
The number of lines to use for the tool bar (see Section 22.17.6 [Tool Bar],
page 447). The default is one if Tool Bar mode is enabled and zero otherwise.
See Section “Tool Bars” in The GNU Emacs Manual. This value may change
whenever the tool bar wraps (see Section 29.3.1 [Frame Layout], page 688).
tool-bar-position
The position of the tool bar when Emacs was built with GTK+. Its value can
be one of top, bottom left, right. The default is top.
line-spacing
Additional space to leave below each text line, in pixels (a positive integer).
See Section 39.11 [Line Height], page 995, for more information.
no-special-glyphs
If this is non-nil, it suppresses the display of any truncation and continuation
glyphs (see Section 39.3 [Truncation], page 968) for all buffers displayed by this
frame. This is useful to eliminate such glyphs when fitting a frame to its buffer
via fit-frame-to-buffer (see Section 28.4 [Resizing Windows], page 608).

29.4.3.5 Buffer Parameters

These frame parameters, meaningful on all kinds of terminals, deal with which buffers have
been, or should, be displayed in the frame.
minibuffer
Whether this frame has its own minibuffer. The value t means yes, nil means
no, only means this frame is just a minibuffer. If the value is a minibuffer
window (in some other frame), the frame uses that minibuffer.
Chapter 29: Frames 709

This parameter takes effect when the frame is created. If specified as nil, Emacs
will try to set it to the minibuffer window of default-minibuffer-frame (see
Section 29.9 [Minibuffers and Frames], page 719). For an existing frame, this
parameter can be used exclusively to specify another minibuffer window. It is
not allowed to change it from a minibuffer window to t and vice-versa, or from
t to nil. If the parameter specifies a minibuffer window already, setting it to
nil has no effect.
buffer-predicate
The buffer-predicate function for this frame. The function other-buffer uses
this predicate (from the selected frame) to decide which buffers it should con-
sider, if the predicate is not nil. It calls the predicate with one argument, a
buffer, once for each buffer; if the predicate returns a non-nil value, it considers
that buffer.
buffer-list
A list of buffers that have been selected in this frame, ordered most-recently-
selected first.
unsplittable
If non-nil, this frame’s window is never split automatically.

29.4.3.6 Frame Interaction Parameters

These parameters supply forms of interactions between different frames.
parent-frame
If non-nil, this means that this frame is a child frame (see Section 29.14 [Child
Frames], page 726), and this parameter specifies its parent frame. If nil, this
means that this frame is a normal, top-level frame.
delete-before
If non-nil, this parameter specifies another frame whose deletion will automat-
ically trigger the deletion of this frame. See Section 29.7 [Deleting Frames],
page 718.
mouse-wheel-frame
If non-nil, this parameter specifies the frame whose windows will be scrolled
whenever the mouse wheel is scrolled with the mouse pointer hovering over this
frame, see Section “Mouse Commands” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
no-other-frame
If this is non-nil, then this frame is not eligible as candidate for the functions
next-frame, previous-frame (see Section 29.8 [Finding All Frames], page 718)
and other-frame, see Section “Frame Commands” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
auto-hide-function
When this parameter specifies a function, that function will be called instead of
the function specified by the variable frame-auto-hide-function when quit-
ting the frame’s only window (see Section 28.16 [Quitting Windows], page 651)
and there are other frames left.
Chapter 29: Frames 710

minibuffer-exit
When this parameter is non-nil, Emacs will by default make this frame invisible
whenever the minibuffer (see Chapter 20 [Minibuffers], page 334) is exited.
Alternatively, it can specify the functions iconify-frame and delete-frame.
This parameter is useful to make a child frame disappear automatically (similar
to how Emacs deals with a window) when exiting the minibuffer.
keep-ratio
This parameter is currently meaningful for child frames (see Section 29.14 [Child
Frames], page 726) only. If it is non-nil, then Emacs will try to keep the frame’s
size (width and height) ratios (see Section 29.4.3.3 [Size Parameters], page 705)
as well as its left and right position ratios (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position Pa-
rameters], page 702) unaltered whenever its parent frame is resized.
If the value of this parameter is nil, the frame’s position and size remain
unaltered when the parent frame is resized, so the position and size ratios may
change. If the value of this parameter is t, Emacs will try to preserve the
frame’s size and position ratios, hence the frame’s size and position relative to
its parent frame may change.
More individual control is possible by using a cons cell: In that case the frame’s
width ratio is preserved if the car of the cell is either t or width-only. The
height ratio is preserved if the car of the cell is either t or height-only. The
left position ratio is preserved if the cdr of the cell is either t or left-only.
The top position ratio is preserved if the cdr of the cell is either t or top-only.

29.4.3.7 Mouse Dragging Parameters

The parameters described below provide support for resizing a frame by dragging its internal
borders with the mouse. They also allow moving a frame with the mouse by dragging the
header line of its topmost or the mode line of its bottommost window.
These parameters are mostly useful for child frames (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames],
page 726) that come without window manager decorations. If necessary, they can be used
for undecorated top-level frames as well.
drag-internal-border
If non-nil, the frame can be resized by dragging its internal borders, if present,
with the mouse.
drag-with-header-line
If non-nil, the frame can be moved with the mouse by dragging the header line
of its topmost window.
drag-with-mode-line
If non-nil, the frame can be moved with the mouse by dragging the mode line
of its bottommost window. Note that such a frame is not allowed to have its
own minibuffer window.
snap-width
A frame that is moved with the mouse will “snap” at the border(s) of the
display or its parent frame whenever it is dragged as near to such an edge as
the number of pixels specified by this parameter.
Chapter 29: Frames 711

top-visible
If this parameter is a number, the top edge of the frame never appears above
the top edge of its display or parent frame. Moreover, as many pixels of the
frame as specified by that number will remain visible when the frame is moved
against any of the remaining edges of its display or parent frame. Setting this
parameter is useful to guard against dragging a child frame with a non-nil
drag-with-header-line parameter completely out of the area of its parent
frame.
bottom-visible
If this parameter is a number, the bottom edge of the frame never appears
below the bottom edge of its display or parent frame. Moreover, as many pixels
of the frame as specified by that number will remain visible when the frame
is moved against any of the remaining edges of its display or parent frame.
Setting this parameter is useful to guard against dragging a child frame with
a non-nil drag-with-mode-line parameter completely out of the area of its
parent frame.

29.4.3.8 Window Management Parameters

The following frame parameters control various aspects of the frame’s interaction with the
window manager or window system. They have no effect on text terminals.

visibility
The state of visibility of the frame. There are three possibilities: nil for invisi-
ble, t for visible, and icon for iconified. See Section 29.11 [Visibility of Frames],
page 723.
auto-raise
If non-nil, Emacs automatically raises the frame when it is selected. Some
window managers do not allow this.
auto-lower
If non-nil, Emacs automatically lowers the frame when it is deselected. Some
window managers do not allow this.
icon-type
The type of icon to use for this frame. If the value is a string, that specifies a
file containing a bitmap to use; nil specifies no icon (in which case the window
manager decides what to show); any other non-nil value specifies the default
Emacs icon.
icon-name
The name to use in the icon for this frame, when and if the icon appears. If
this is nil, the frame’s title is used.
window-id
The ID number which the graphical display uses for this frame. Emacs assigns
this parameter when the frame is created; changing the parameter has no effect
on the actual ID number.
Chapter 29: Frames 712

outer-window-id
The ID number of the outermost window-system window in which the frame
exists. As with window-id, changing this parameter has no actual effect.
wait-for-wm
If non-nil, tell Xt to wait for the window manager to confirm geometry changes.
Some window managers, including versions of Fvwm2 and KDE, fail to confirm,
so Xt hangs. Set this to nil to prevent hanging with those window managers.
sticky If non-nil, the frame is visible on all virtual desktops on systems with virtual
desktops.
inhibit-double-buffering
If non-nil, the frame is drawn to the screen without double buffering. Emacs
normally attempts to use double buffering, where available, to reduce flicker.
Set this property if you experience display bugs or pine for that retro, flicker-y
feeling.
skip-taskbar
If non-nil, this tells the window manager to remove the frame’s icon from the
taskbar associated with the frame’s display and inhibit switching to the frame’s
window via the combination Alt-TAB. On MS-Windows, iconifying such a frame
will "roll in" its window-system window at the bottom of the desktop. Some
window managers may not honor this parameter.
no-focus-on-map
If non-nil, this means that the frame does not want to receive input focus when
it is mapped (see Section 29.11 [Visibility of Frames], page 723). Some window
managers may not honor this parameter.
no-accept-focus
If non-nil, this means that the frame does not want to receive input
focus via explicit mouse clicks or when moving the mouse into it either
via focus-follows-mouse (see Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720) or
mouse-autoselect-window (see Section 28.25 [Mouse Window Auto-selection],
page 675). This may have the unwanted side-effect that a user cannot scroll a
non-selected frame with the mouse. Some window managers may not honor
this parameter.
undecorated
If non-nil, this frame’s window-system window is drawn without decorations,
like the title, minimize/maximize boxes and external borders. This usually
means that the window cannot be dragged, resized, iconified, maximized or
deleted with the mouse. If nil, the frame’s window is usually drawn with all
the elements listed above unless their display has been suspended via window
manager settings.
Under X, Emacs uses the Motif window manager hints to turn off decorations.
Some window managers may not honor these hints.
NS builds consider the tool bar to be a decoration, and therefore hide it on an
undecorated frame.
Chapter 29: Frames 713

override-redirect
If non-nil, this means that this is an override redirect frame—a frame not
handled by window managers under X. Override redirect frames have no window
manager decorations, can be positioned and resized only via Emacs’ positioning
and resizing functions and are usually drawn on top of all other frames. Setting
this parameter has no effect on MS-Windows.
ns-appearance
Only available on macOS, if set to dark draw this frame’s window-system win-
dow using the “vibrant dark” theme, otherwise use the system default. The
“vibrant dark” theme can be used to set the toolbar and scrollbars to a dark
appearance when using an Emacs theme with a dark background.
ns-transparent-titlebar
Only available on macOS, if non-nil, set the titlebar and toolbar to be trans-
parent. This effectively sets the background color of both to match the Emacs
background color.

29.4.3.9 Cursor Parameters

This frame parameter controls the way the cursor looks.
cursor-type
How to display the cursor. Legitimate values are:
box Display a filled box. (This is the default.)
hollow Display a hollow box.
nil Don’t display a cursor.
bar Display a vertical bar between characters.
(bar . width)
Display a vertical bar width pixels wide between characters.
hbar Display a horizontal bar.
(hbar . height)
Display a horizontal bar height pixels high.
The cursor-type frame parameter may be overridden by the variables cursor-type
and cursor-in-non-selected-windows:
cursor-type [User Option]
This buffer-local variable controls how the cursor looks in a selected window showing
the buffer. If its value is t, that means to use the cursor specified by the cursor-type
frame parameter. Otherwise, the value should be one of the cursor types listed above,
and it overrides the cursor-type frame parameter.
cursor-in-non-selected-windows [User Option]
This buffer-local variable controls how the cursor looks in a window that is not se-
lected. It supports the same values as the cursor-type frame parameter; also, nil
means don’t display a cursor in nonselected windows, and t (the default) means use
a standard modification of the usual cursor type (solid box becomes hollow box, and
bar becomes a narrower bar).
Chapter 29: Frames 714

x-stretch-cursor [User Option]

This variable controls the width of the block cursor displayed on extra-wide glyphs
such as a tab or a stretch of white space. By default, the block cursor is only as wide
as the font’s default character, and will not cover all of the width of the glyph under
it if that glyph is extra-wide. A non-nil value of this variable means draw the block
cursor as wide as the glyph under it. The default value is nil.
This variable has no effect on text-mode frames, since the text-mode cursor is drawn
by the terminal out of Emacs’s control.
blink-cursor-alist [User Option]
This variable specifies how to blink the cursor. Each element has the form (on-
state . off-state). Whenever the cursor type equals on-state (comparing using
equal), the corresponding off-state specifies what the cursor looks like when it blinks
off. Both on-state and off-state should be suitable values for the cursor-type frame
parameter.
There are various defaults for how to blink each type of cursor, if the type is not men-
tioned as an on-state here. Changes in this variable do not take effect immediately,
only when you specify the cursor-type frame parameter.

29.4.3.10 Font and Color Parameters

These frame parameters control the use of fonts and colors.
font-backend
A list of symbols, specifying the font backends to use for drawing fonts in
the frame, in order of priority. On X, there are currently two available font
backends: x (the X core font driver) and xft (the Xft font driver). On MS-
Windows, there are currently two available font backends: gdi and uniscribe
(see Section “Windows Fonts” in The GNU Emacs Manual). On other systems,
there is only one available font backend, so it does not make sense to modify
this frame parameter.
background-mode
This parameter is either dark or light, according to whether the background
color is a light one or a dark one.
tty-color-mode
This parameter overrides the terminal’s color support as given by the system’s
terminal capabilities database in that this parameter’s value specifies the color
mode to use on a text terminal. The value can be either a symbol or a number.
A number specifies the number of colors to use (and, indirectly, what commands
to issue to produce each color). For example, (tty-color-mode . 8) specifies
use of the ANSI escape sequences for 8 standard text colors. A value of −1
turns off color support.
If the parameter’s value is a symbol, it specifies a number through the value of
tty-color-mode-alist, and the associated number is used instead.
screen-gamma
If this is a number, Emacs performs gamma correction which adjusts the bright-
ness of all colors. The value should be the screen gamma of your display.
Chapter 29: Frames 715

Usual PC monitors have a screen gamma of 2.2, so color values in Emacs, and in
X windows generally, are calibrated to display properly on a monitor with that
gamma value. If you specify 2.2 for screen-gamma, that means no correction is
needed. Other values request correction, designed to make the corrected colors
appear on your screen the way they would have appeared without correction
on an ordinary monitor with a gamma value of 2.2.
If your monitor displays colors too light, you should specify a screen-gamma
value smaller than 2.2. This requests correction that makes colors darker. A
screen gamma value of 1.5 may give good results for LCD color displays.
alpha This parameter specifies the opacity of the frame, on graphical displays that
support variable opacity. It should be an integer between 0 and 100, where 0
means completely transparent and 100 means completely opaque. It can also
have a nil value, which tells Emacs not to set the frame opacity (leaving it to
the window manager).
To prevent the frame from disappearing completely from view, the variable
frame-alpha-lower-limit defines a lower opacity limit. If the value of the
frame parameter is less than the value of this variable, Emacs uses the latter.
By default, frame-alpha-lower-limit is 20.
The alpha frame parameter can also be a cons cell (active . inactive), where
active is the opacity of the frame when it is selected, and inactive is the opacity
when it is not selected.
Some window systems do not support the alpha parameter for child frames
(see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726).
The following frame parameters are semi-obsolete in that they are automatically equiv-
alent to particular face attributes of particular faces (see Section “Standard Faces” in The
Emacs Manual):
font The name of the font for displaying text in the frame. This is a string, ei-
ther a valid font name for your system or the name of an Emacs fontset (see
Section 39.12.11 [Fontsets], page 1013). It is equivalent to the font attribute
of the default face.
foreground-color
The color to use for the image of a character. It is equivalent to the :foreground
attribute of the default face.
background-color
The color to use for the background of characters. It is equivalent to the
:background attribute of the default face.
mouse-color
The color for the mouse pointer. It is equivalent to the :background attribute
of the mouse face.
cursor-color
The color for the cursor that shows point. It is equivalent to the :background
attribute of the cursor face.
Chapter 29: Frames 716

border-color
The color for the border of the frame. It is equivalent to the :background
attribute of the border face.
scroll-bar-foreground
If non-nil, the color for the foreground of scroll bars. It is equivalent to the
:foreground attribute of the scroll-bar face.
scroll-bar-background
If non-nil, the color for the background of scroll bars. It is equivalent to the
:background attribute of the scroll-bar face.

29.4.4 Geometry
Here’s how to examine the data in an X-style window geometry specification:
x-parse-geometry geom [Function]
The function x-parse-geometry converts a standard X window geometry string to
an alist that you can use as part of the argument to make-frame.
The alist describes which parameters were specified in geom, and gives the values
specified for them. Each element looks like (parameter . value). The possible
parameter values are left, top, width, and height.
For the size parameters, the value must be an integer. The position parameter names
left and top are not totally accurate, because some values indicate the position of
the right or bottom edges instead. The value possibilities for the position parame-
ters are: an integer, a list (+ pos), or a list (- pos); as previously described (see
Section 29.4.3.2 [Position Parameters], page 702).
Here is an example:
(x-parse-geometry "35x70+0-0")
⇒ ((height . 70) (width . 35)
(top - 0) (left . 0))

29.5 Terminal Parameters

Each terminal has a list of associated parameters. These terminal parameters are mostly a
convenient way of storage for terminal-local variables, but some terminal parameters have
a special meaning.
This section describes functions to read and change the parameter values of a terminal.
They all accept as their argument either a terminal or a frame; the latter means use that
frame’s terminal. An argument of nil means the selected frame’s terminal.
terminal-parameters &optional terminal [Function]
This function returns an alist listing all the parameters of terminal and their values.
terminal-parameter terminal parameter [Function]
This function returns the value of the parameter parameter (a symbol) of terminal.
If terminal has no setting for parameter, this function returns nil.
set-terminal-parameter terminal parameter value [Function]
This function sets the parameter parameter of terminal to the specified value, and
returns the previous value of that parameter.
Chapter 29: Frames 717

Here’s a list of a few terminal parameters that have a special meaning:

background-mode
The classification of the terminal’s background color, either light or dark.
normal-erase-is-backspace
Value is either 1 or 0, depending on whether normal-erase-is-backspace-
mode is turned on or off on this terminal. See Section “DEL Does Not Delete”
in The Emacs Manual.
terminal-initted
After the terminal is initialized, this is set to the terminal-specific initialization
function.
tty-mode-set-strings
When present, a list of strings containing escape sequences that Emacs will
output while configuring a tty for rendering. Emacs emits these strings only
when configuring a terminal: if you want to enable a mode on a terminal that
is already active (for example, while in tty-setup-hook), explicitly output
the necessary escape sequence using send-string-to-terminal in addition to
adding the sequence to tty-mode-set-strings.
tty-mode-reset-strings
When present, a list of strings that undo the effects of the strings in tty-mode-
set-strings. Emacs emits these strings when exiting, deleting a terminal, or
suspending itself.

29.6 Frame Titles

Every frame has a name parameter; this serves as the default for the frame title which
window systems typically display at the top of the frame. You can specify a name explicitly
by setting the name frame property.
Normally you don’t specify the name explicitly, and Emacs computes the frame name
automatically based on a template stored in the variable frame-title-format. Emacs
recomputes the name each time the frame is redisplayed.
frame-title-format [Variable]
This variable specifies how to compute a name for a frame when you have not ex-
plicitly specified one. The variable’s value is actually a mode line construct, just like
mode-line-format, except that the ‘%c’, ‘%C’, and ‘%l’ constructs are ignored. See
Section 23.4.2 [Mode Line Data], page 477.
icon-title-format [Variable]
This variable specifies how to compute the name for an iconified frame, when you
have not explicitly specified the frame title. This title appears in the icon itself.
multiple-frames [Variable]
This variable is set automatically by Emacs. Its value is t when there are two or
more frames (not counting minibuffer-only frames or invisible frames). The default
value of frame-title-format uses multiple-frames so as to put the buffer name in
the frame title only when there is more than one frame.
Chapter 29: Frames 718

The value of this variable is not guaranteed to be accurate except while processing
frame-title-format or icon-title-format.

29.7 Deleting Frames

A live frame is one that has not been deleted. When a frame is deleted, it is removed from
its terminal display, although it may continue to exist as a Lisp object until there are no
more references to it.
delete-frame &optional frame force [Command]
This function deletes the frame frame. The argument frame must specify a live frame
(see below) and defaults to the selected frame.
It first deletes any child frame of frame (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726)
and any frame whose delete-before frame parameter (see Section 29.4.3.6 [Frame
Interaction Parameters], page 709) specifies frame. All such deletions are performed
recursively; so this step makes sure that no other frames with frame as their ances-
tor will exist. Then, unless frame specifies a tooltip, this function runs the hook
delete-frame-functions (each function getting one argument, frame) before actu-
ally killing the frame.
Note that a frame cannot be deleted as long as its minibuffer serves as surrogate
minibuffer for another frame (see Section 29.9 [Minibuffers and Frames], page 719).
Normally, you cannot delete a frame if all other frames are invisible, but if force is
non-nil, then you are allowed to do so.
frame-live-p frame [Function]
This function returns non-nil if the frame frame has not been deleted. The possible
non-nil return values are like those of framep. See Chapter 29 [Frames], page 683.
Some window managers provide a command to delete a window. These work by sending
a special message to the program that operates the window. When Emacs gets one of these
commands, it generates a delete-frame event, whose normal definition is a command that
calls the function delete-frame. See Section 21.7.10 [Misc Events], page 388.
delete-other-frames &optional frame [Command]
This command deletes all frames on frame’s terminal, except frame. If frame uses
another frame’s minibuffer, that minibuffer frame is left untouched. The argument
frame must specify a live frame and defaults to the selected frame. Internally, this
command works by calling delete-frame with force nil for all frames that shall be
deleted.
This function does not delete any of frame’s child frames (see Section 29.14 [Child
Frames], page 726). If frame is a child frame, it deletes frame’s siblings only.

29.8 Finding All Frames

frame-list [Function]
This function returns a list of all the live frames, i.e., those that have not been deleted.
It is analogous to buffer-list for buffers, and includes frames on all terminals. The
list that you get is newly created, so modifying the list doesn’t have any effect on the
internals of Emacs.
Chapter 29: Frames 719

visible-frame-list [Function]
This function returns a list of just the currently visible frames. See Section 29.11
[Visibility of Frames], page 723. Frames on text terminals always count as visible,
even though only the selected one is actually displayed.

frame-list-z-order &optional display [Function]

This function returns a list of Emacs’ frames, in Z (stacking) order (see Section 29.12
[Raising and Lowering], page 724). The optional argument display specifies which
display to poll. display should be either a frame or a display name (a string). If
omitted or nil, that stands for the selected frame’s display. It returns nil if display
contains no Emacs frame.
Frames are listed from topmost (first) to bottommost (last). As a special case, if
display is non-nil and specifies a live frame, it returns the child frames of that frame
in Z (stacking) order.
This function is not meaningful on text terminals.

next-frame &optional frame minibuf [Function]

This function lets you cycle conveniently through all the frames on a specific terminal
from an arbitrary starting point. It returns the frame following frame, in the list of
all live frames, on frame’s terminal. The argument frame must specify a live frame
and defaults to the selected frame. It never returns a frame whose no-other-frame
parameter (see Section 29.4.3.6 [Frame Interaction Parameters], page 709) is non-nil.
The second argument, minibuf, says which frames to consider:
nil Exclude minibuffer-only frames.
visible Consider all visible frames.
0 Consider all visible or iconified frames.
a window Consider only the frames using that particular window as their minibuffer.
anything else
Consider all frames.

previous-frame &optional frame minibuf [Function]

Like next-frame, but cycles through all frames in the opposite direction.

See also next-window and previous-window, in Section 28.10 [Cyclic Window Ordering],
page 624.

29.9 Minibuffers and Frames

Normally, each frame has its own minibuffer window at the bottom, which is used whenever
that frame is selected. You can get that window with the function minibuffer-window (see
Section 20.11 [Minibuffer Windows], page 364).
However, you can also create a frame without a minibuffer. Such a frame must use the
minibuffer window of some other frame. That other frame will serve as surrogate minibuffer
frame for this frame and cannot be deleted via delete-frame (see Section 29.7 [Deleting
Frames], page 718) as long as this frame is live.
Chapter 29: Frames 720

When you create the frame, you can explicitly specify its minibuffer window (in some
other frame) with the minibuffer frame parameter (see Section 29.4.3.5 [Buffer Parame-
ters], page 708). If you don’t, then the minibuffer is found in the frame which is the value
of the variable default-minibuffer-frame. Its value should be a frame that does have a
minibuffer.
If you use a minibuffer-only frame, you might want that frame to raise when you enter
the minibuffer. If so, set the variable minibuffer-auto-raise to t. See Section 29.12
[Raising and Lowering], page 724.
default-minibuffer-frame [Variable]
This variable specifies the frame to use for the minibuffer window, by default. It does
not affect existing frames. It is always local to the current terminal and cannot be
buffer-local. See Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685.

29.10 Input Focus

At any time, one frame in Emacs is the selected frame. The selected window always resides
on the selected frame.
When Emacs displays its frames on several terminals (see Section 29.2 [Multiple Ter-
minals], page 685), each terminal has its own selected frame. But only one of these is the
selected frame: it’s the frame that belongs to the terminal from which the most recent
input came. That is, when Emacs runs a command that came from a certain terminal, the
selected frame is the one of that terminal. Since Emacs runs only a single command at any
given time, it needs to consider only one selected frame at a time; this frame is what we
call the selected frame in this manual. The display on which the selected frame is shown is
the selected frame’s display.
selected-frame [Function]
This function returns the selected frame.
Some window systems and window managers direct keyboard input to the window object
that the mouse is in; others require explicit clicks or commands to shift the focus to various
window objects. Either way, Emacs automatically keeps track of which frame has the
focus. To explicitly switch to a different frame from a Lisp function, call select-frame-
set-input-focus.
Lisp programs can also switch frames temporarily by calling the function select-frame.
This does not alter the window system’s concept of focus; rather, it escapes from the window
manager’s control until that control is somehow reasserted.
When using a text terminal, only one frame can be displayed at a time on the terminal,
so after a call to select-frame, the next redisplay actually displays the newly selected
frame. This frame remains selected until a subsequent call to select-frame. Each frame
on a text terminal has a number which appears in the mode line before the buffer name
(see Section 23.4.4 [Mode Line Variables], page 479).
select-frame-set-input-focus frame &optional norecord [Function]
This function selects frame, raises it (should it happen to be obscured by other frames)
and tries to give it the X server’s focus. On a text terminal, the next redisplay displays
the new frame on the entire terminal screen. The optional argument norecord has the
Chapter 29: Frames 721

same meaning as for select-frame (see below). The return value of this function is
not significant.
Ideally, the function described next should focus a frame without also raising it above
other frames. Unfortunately, many window-systems or window managers may refuse to
comply.
x-focus-frame frame &optional noactivate [Function]
This function gives frame the focus of the X server without necessarily raising it.
frame nil means use the selected frame. Under X, the optional argument noactivate,
if non-nil, means to avoid making frame’s window-system window the “active” win-
dow which should insist a bit more on avoiding to raise frame above other frames.
On MS-Windows the noactivate argument has no effect. However, if frame is a child
frame (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726), this function usually focuses frame
without raising it above other child frames.
If there is no window system support, this function does nothing.
select-frame frame &optional norecord [Command]
This function selects frame frame, temporarily disregarding the focus of the X server
if any. The selection of frame lasts until the next time the user does something to
select a different frame, or until the next time this function is called. (If you are using
a window system, the previously selected frame may be restored as the selected frame
after return to the command loop, because it still may have the window system’s
input focus.)
The specified frame becomes the selected frame, and its terminal becomes the se-
lected terminal. This function then calls select-window as a subroutine, passing
the window selected within frame as its first argument and norecord as its second
argument (hence, if norecord is non-nil, this avoids changing the order of recently
selected windows and the buffer list). See Section 28.9 [Selecting Windows], page 622.
This function returns frame, or nil if frame has been deleted.
In general, you should never use select-frame in a way that could switch to a
different terminal without switching back when you’re done.
Emacs cooperates with the window system by arranging to select frames as the server
and window manager request. It does so by generating a special kind of input event, called
a focus event, when appropriate. The command loop handles a focus event by calling
handle-switch-frame. See Section 21.7.9 [Focus Events], page 388.
handle-switch-frame frame [Command]
This function handles a focus event by selecting frame frame.
Focus events normally do their job by invoking this command. Don’t call it for any
other reason.
redirect-frame-focus frame &optional focus-frame [Function]
This function redirects focus from frame to focus-frame. This means that focus-
frame will receive subsequent keystrokes and events intended for frame. After such
an event, the value of last-event-frame will be focus-frame. Also, switch-frame
events specifying frame will instead select focus-frame.
Chapter 29: Frames 722

If focus-frame is omitted or nil, that cancels any existing redirection for frame, which
therefore once again receives its own events.
One use of focus redirection is for frames that don’t have minibuffers. These frames
use minibuffers on other frames. Activating a minibuffer on another frame redirects
focus to that frame. This puts the focus on the minibuffer’s frame, where it belongs,
even though the mouse remains in the frame that activated the minibuffer.
Selecting a frame can also change focus redirections. Selecting frame bar, when foo
had been selected, changes any redirections pointing to foo so that they point to bar
instead. This allows focus redirection to work properly when the user switches from
one frame to another using select-window.
This means that a frame whose focus is redirected to itself is treated differently from
a frame whose focus is not redirected. select-frame affects the former but not the
latter.
The redirection lasts until redirect-frame-focus is called to change it.

focus-in-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook run when an Emacs frame gains input focus. The frame gaining
focus is selected when this hook is run.

focus-out-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook run when an Emacs frame has lost input focus and no other
Emacs frame has gained input focus instead.

focus-follows-mouse [User Option]

This option informs Emacs whether and how the window manager transfers focus
when you move the mouse pointer into a frame. It can have three meaningful values:
nil The default value nil should be used when your window manager follows
a “click-to-focus” policy where you have to click the mouse inside of a
frame in order for that frame to gain focus.
t The value t should be used when your window manager has the focus
automatically follow the position of the mouse pointer but a frame that
gains focus is not raised automatically and may even remain occluded by
other window-system windows.
auto-raise
The value auto-raise should be used when your window manager has
the focus automatically follow the position of the mouse pointer and a
frame that gains focus is raised automatically.
If this option is non-nil, Emacs moves the mouse pointer to the frame selected by
select-frame-set-input-focus. That function is used by a number of commands
like, for example, other-frame and pop-to-buffer.
The distinction between the values t and auto-raise is not needed for “normal”
frames because the window manager usually takes care of raising them. It is useful
to automatically raise child frames via mouse-autoselect-window (see Section 28.25
[Mouse Window Auto-selection], page 675).
Chapter 29: Frames 723

Note that this option does not distinguish “sloppy” focus (where the frame that
previously had focus retains focus as long as the mouse pointer does not move into
another window manager window) from “strict” focus (where a frame immediately
loses focus when it’s left by the mouse pointer). Neither does it recognize whether your
window manager supports delayed focusing or auto-raising where you can explicitly
specify the time until a new frame gets focus or is auto-raised.
You can supply a “focus follows mouse” policy for individual Emacs windows by cus-
tomizing the variable mouse-autoselect-window (see Section 28.25 [Mouse Window
Auto-selection], page 675).

29.11 Visibility of Frames

A frame on a graphical display may be visible, invisible, or iconified. If it is visible, its con-
tents are displayed in the usual manner. If it is iconified, its contents are not displayed, but
there is a little icon somewhere to bring the frame back into view (some window managers
refer to this state as minimized rather than iconified, but from Emacs’ point of view they
are the same thing). If a frame is invisible, it is not displayed at all.
The concept of visibility is strongly related to that of (un-)mapped frames. A frame (or,
more precisely, its window-system window) is and becomes mapped when it is displayed for
the first time and whenever it changes its state of visibility from iconified or invisible
to visible. Conversely, a frame is and becomes unmapped whenever it changes its status
from visible to iconified or invisible.
Visibility is meaningless on text terminals, since only the selected frame is actually
displayed in any case.
frame-visible-p frame [Function]
This function returns the visibility status of frame frame. The value is t if frame is
visible, nil if it is invisible, and icon if it is iconified.
On a text terminal, all frames are considered visible for the purposes of this function,
even though only one frame is displayed. See Section 29.12 [Raising and Lowering],
page 724.
iconify-frame &optional frame [Command]
This function iconifies frame frame. If you omit frame, it iconifies the selected frame.
This usually makes all child frames of frame (and their descendants) invisible (see
Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726).
make-frame-visible &optional frame [Command]
This function makes frame frame visible. If you omit frame, it makes the selected
frame visible. This does not raise the frame, but you can do that with raise-frame
if you wish (see Section 29.12 [Raising and Lowering], page 724).
Making a frame visible usually makes all its child frames (and their descendants)
visible as well (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726).
make-frame-invisible &optional frame force [Command]
This function makes frame frame invisible. If you omit frame, it makes the selected
frame invisible. Usually, this makes all child frames of frame (and their descendants)
invisible too (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726).
Chapter 29: Frames 724

Unless force is non-nil, this function refuses to make frame invisible if all other frames
are invisible.
The visibility status of a frame is also available as a frame parameter. You can read or
change it as such. See Section 29.4.3.8 [Management Parameters], page 711. The user can
also iconify and deiconify frames with the window manager. This happens below the level
at which Emacs can exert any control, but Emacs does provide events that you can use to
keep track of such changes. See Section 21.7.10 [Misc Events], page 388.
x-double-buffered-p &optional frame [Function]
This function returns non-nil if frame is currently being rendered with double buffer-
ing. frame defaults to the selected frame.

29.12 Raising, Lowering and Restacking Frames

Most window systems use a desktop metaphor. Part of this metaphor is the idea that
system-level windows (representing, e.g., Emacs frames) are stacked in a notional third
dimension perpendicular to the screen surface. The order induced by stacking is total and
usually referred to as stacking (or Z-) order. Where the areas of two windows overlap, the
one higher up in that order will (partially) cover the one underneath.
You can raise a frame to the top of that order or lower a frame to its bottom by using
the functions raise-frame and lower-frame. You can restack a frame directly above or
below another frame using the function frame-restack.
Note that all functions described below will respect the adherence of frames (and all
other window-system windows) to their respective z-group (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position
Parameters], page 702). For example, you usually cannot lower a frame below that of the
desktop window and you cannot raise a frame whose z-group parameter is nil above the
window-system’s taskbar or tooltip window.
raise-frame &optional frame [Command]
This function raises frame frame (default, the selected frame) above all other frames
belonging to the same or a lower z-group as frame. If frame is invisible or iconified,
this makes it visible. If frame is a child frame (see Section 29.14 [Child Frames],
page 726), this raises frame above all other child frames of its parent.
lower-frame &optional frame [Command]
This function lowers frame frame (default, the selected frame) below all other frames
belonging to the same or a higher z-group as frame. If frame is a child frame (see
Section 29.14 [Child Frames], page 726), this lowers frame below all other child frames
of its parent.
frame-restack frame1 frame2 &optional above [Function]
This function restacks frame1 below frame2. This implies that if both frames are
visible and their display areas overlap, frame2 will (partially) obscure frame1. If
the optional third argument above is non-nil, this function restacks frame1 above
frame2. This means that if both frames are visible and their display areas overlap,
frame1 will (partially) obscure frame2.
Technically, this function may be thought of as an atomic action performed in two
steps: The first step removes frame1’s window-system window from the display. The
Chapter 29: Frames 725

second step reinserts frame1’s window into the display below (above if above is true)
that of frame2. Hence the position of frame2 in its display’s Z (stacking) order relative
to all other frames excluding frame1 remains unaltered.
Some window managers may refuse to restack windows.

Note that the effect of restacking will only hold as long as neither of the involved frames
is iconified or made invisible. You can use the z-group (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position
Parameters], page 702) frame parameter to add a frame to a group of frames permanently
shown above or below other frames. As long as a frame belongs to one of these groups,
restacking it will only affect its relative stacking position within that group. The effect of
restacking frames belonging to different z-groups is undefined. You can list frames in their
current stacking order with the function frame-list-z-order (see Section 29.8 [Finding
All Frames], page 718).

minibuffer-auto-raise [User Option]

If this is non-nil, activation of the minibuffer raises the frame that the minibuffer
window is in.

On window systems, you can also enable auto-raising (on frame selection) or auto-
lowering (on frame deselection) using frame parameters. See Section 29.4.3.8 [Management
Parameters], page 711.
The concept of raising and lowering frames also applies to text terminal frames. On each
text terminal, only the top frame is displayed at any one time.

tty-top-frame &optional terminal [Function]

This function returns the top frame on terminal. terminal should be a terminal
object, a frame (meaning that frame’s terminal), or nil (meaning the selected frame’s
terminal). If it does not refer to a text terminal, the return value is nil.

29.13 Frame Configurations

A frame configuration records the current arrangement of frames, all their properties,
and the window configuration of each one. (See Section 28.26 [Window Configurations],
page 676.)

current-frame-configuration [Function]
This function returns a frame configuration list that describes the current arrangement
of frames and their contents.

set-frame-configuration configuration &optional nodelete [Function]

This function restores the state of frames described in configuration. However, this
function does not restore deleted frames.
Ordinarily, this function deletes all existing frames not listed in configuration. But if
nodelete is non-nil, the unwanted frames are iconified instead.
Chapter 29: Frames 726

29.14 Child Frames

Child frames are objects halfway between windows (see Chapter 28 [Windows], page 598)
and “normal” frames. Like windows, they are attached to an owning frame. Unlike windows,
they may overlap each other—changing the size or position of one child frame does not
change the size or position of any of its sibling child frames.
By design, operations to make or modify child frames are implemented with the help of
frame parameters (see Section 29.4 [Frame Parameters], page 699) without any specialized
functions or customizable variables. Note that child frames are meaningful on graphical
terminals only.
To create a new child frame or to convert a normal frame into a child frame, set that
frame’s parent-frame parameter (see Section 29.4.3.6 [Frame Interaction Parameters],
page 709) to that of an already existing frame. The frame specified by that parameter
will then be the frame’s parent frame as long as the parameter is not changed or reset.
Technically, this makes the child frame’s window-system window a child window of the
parent frame’s window-system window.
The parent-frame parameter can be changed at any time. Setting it to another frame
reparents the child frame. Setting it to another child frame makes the frame a nested child
frame. Setting it to nil restores the frame’s status as a top-level frame—a frame whose
window-system window is a child of its display’s root window.
Since child frames can be arbitrarily nested, a frame can be both a child and a parent
frame. Also, the relative roles of child and parent frame may be reversed at any time
(though it’s usually a good idea to keep the size of a child frame sufficiently smaller than
that of its parent). An error will be signaled for the attempt to make a frame an ancestor
of itself.
Most window-systems clip a child frame at the native edges (see Section 29.3 [Frame
Geometry], page 688) of its parent frame—everything outside these edges is usually invis-
ible. A child frame’s left and top parameters specify a position relative to the top-left
corner of its parent’s native frame. When the parent frame is resized, this position remains
conceptually unaltered.
NS builds do not clip child frames at the parent frame’s edges, allowing them to be
positioned so they do not obscure the parent frame while still being visible themselves.
Usually, moving a parent frame moves along all its child frames and their descendants as
well, keeping their relative positions unaltered. Note that the hook move-frame-functions
(see Section 29.3.3 [Frame Position], page 695) is run for a child frame only when the position
of the child frame relative to its parent frame changes.
When a parent frame is resized, its child frames conceptually retain their previous sizes
and their positions relative to the left upper corner of the parent. This means that a
child frame may become (partially) invisible when its parent frame shrinks. The parameter
keep-ratio (see Section 29.4.3.6 [Frame Interaction Parameters], page 709) can be used
to resize and reposition a child frame proportionally whenever its parent frame is resized.
This may avoid obscuring parts of a frame when its parent frame is shrunk.
A visible child frame always appears on top of its parent frame thus obscuring parts of
it, except on NS builds where it may be positioned beneath the parent. This is comparable
to the window-system window of a top-level frame which also always appears on top of
Chapter 29: Frames 727

its parent window—the desktop’s root window. When a parent frame is iconified or made
invisible (see Section 29.11 [Visibility of Frames], page 723), its child frames are made
invisible. When a parent frame is deiconified or made visible, its child frames are made
visible. When a parent frame is about to be deleted (see Section 29.7 [Deleting Frames],
page 718), its child frames are recursively deleted before it.
Whether a child frame can have a menu or tool bar is window-system or window manager
dependent. Most window-systems explicitly disallow menus bars for child frames. It seems
advisable to disable both, menu and tool bars, via the frame’s initial parameters settings.
Usually, child frames do not exhibit window manager decorations like a title bar or
external borders (see Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry], page 688). When the child frame
does not show a menu or tool bar, any other of the frame’s borders (see Section 29.4.3.4
[Layout Parameters], page 707) can be used instead of the external borders.
In particular, under X (but not when building with GTK+), the frame’s outer border
can be used. On MS-Windows, specifying a non-zero outer border width will show a one-
pixel wide external border. Under all window-systems, the internal border can be used. In
either case, it’s advisable to disable a child frame’s window manager decorations with the
undecorated frame parameter (see Section 29.4.3.8 [Management Parameters], page 711).
To resize or move an undecorated child frame with the mouse, special frame parameters
(see Section 29.4.3.7 [Mouse Dragging Parameters], page 710) have to be used. The internal
border of a child frame, if present, can be used to resize the frame with the mouse, pro-
vided that frame has a non-nil drag-internal-border parameter. If set, the snap-width
parameter indicates the number of pixels where the frame snaps at the respective edge or
corner of its parent frame.
There are two ways to drag an entire child frame with the mouse: The drag-with-
mode-line parameter, if non-nil, allows to drag a frame without minibuffer window (see
Section 20.11 [Minibuffer Windows], page 364) via the mode line area of its bottommost
window. The drag-with-header-line parameter, if non-nil, allows to drag the frame via
the header line area of its topmost window.
In order to give a child frame a draggable header or mode line, the window parame-
ters mode-line-format and header-line-format are handy (see Section 28.27 [Window
Parameters], page 678). These allow to remove an unwanted mode line (when drag-with-
header-line is chosen) and to remove mouse-sensitive areas which might interfere with
frame dragging.
To avoid that dragging moves a frame completely out of its parent’s native frame, some-
thing which might happen when the mouse cursor overshoots and makes the frame difficult
to retrieve once the mouse button has been released, it is advisable to set the frame’s
top-visible or bottom-visible parameter correspondingly.
The top-visible parameter specifies the number of pixels at the top of the frame
that always remain visible within the parent’s native frame during dragging and should be
set when specifying a non-nil drag-with-header-line parameter. The bottom-visible
parameter specifies the number of pixels at the bottom of the frame that always remain
visible within the parent’s native frame during dragging and should be preferred when
specifying a non-nil drag-with-mode-line parameter.
When a child frame is used for displaying a buffer via display-buffer-in-child-frame
(see Section 28.13.2 [Buffer Display Action Functions], page 632), the frame’s auto-hide-
Chapter 29: Frames 728

function parameter (see Section 29.4.3.6 [Frame Interaction Parameters], page 709) can be
set to a function, in order to appropriately deal with the frame when the window displaying
the buffer shall be quit.
When a child frame is used during minibuffer interaction, for example, to display com-
pletions in a separate window, the minibuffer-exit parameter (see Section 29.4.3.6 [Frame
Interaction Parameters], page 709) is useful in order to deal with the frame when the mini-
buffer is exited.
The behavior of child frames deviates from that of top-level frames in a number of other
ways as well. Here we sketch a few of them:
• The semantics of maximizing and iconifying child frames is highly window-system de-
pendent. As a rule, applications should never invoke these operations on child frames.
By default, invoking iconify-frame on a child frame will try to iconify the top-level
frame corresponding to that child frame instead. To obtain a different behavior, users
may customize the option iconify-child-frame described below.
• Raising, lowering and restacking child frames (see Section 29.12 [Raising and Lower-
ing], page 724) or changing the z-group (see Section 29.4.3.2 [Position Parameters],
page 702) of a child frame changes only the stacking order of child frames with the
same parent.
• Many window-systems are not able to change the opacity (see Section 29.4.3.10 [Font
and Color Parameters], page 714) of child frames.
• Transferring focus from a child frame to an ancestor that is not its parent by clicking
with the mouse in a visible part of that ancestor’s window may fail with some window-
systems. You may have to click into the direct parent’s window-system window first.
• Window managers might not bother to extend their focus follows mouse policy to
child frames. Customizing mouse-autoselect-window can help in this regard (see
Section 28.25 [Mouse Window Auto-selection], page 675).
• Dropping (see Section 29.21 [Drag and Drop], page 734) on child frames is not guar-
anteed to work on all window-systems. Some will drop the object on the parent frame
or on some ancestor instead.
The following two functions can be useful when working with child and parent frames:
frame-parent &optional frame [Function]
This function returns the parent frame of frame. The parent frame of frame is the
Emacs frame whose window-system window is the parent window of frame’s window-
system window. If such a frame exists, frame is considered a child frame of that
frame.
This function returns nil if frame has no parent frame.
frame-ancestor-p ancestor descendant [Function]
This functions returns non-nil if ancestor is an ancestor of descendant. ancestor
is an ancestor of descendant when it is either descendant’s parent frame or it is an
ancestor of descendant’s parent frame. Both, ancestor and descendant must specify
live frames.
Note also the function window-largest-empty-rectangle (see Section 28.24 [Coordi-
nates and Windows], page 671) which can be used to inscribe a child frame in the largest
Chapter 29: Frames 729

empty area of an existing window. This can be useful to avoid that a child frame obscures
any text shown in that window.
Customizing the following option can be useful to tweak the behavior of iconify-frame
for child frames.
iconify-child-frame [User Option]
This option tells Emacs how to proceed when it is asked to iconify a child frame.
If it is nil, iconify-frame will do nothing when invoked on a child frame. If it is
iconify-top-level, Emacs will try to iconify the top-level frame that is the ancestor
of this child frame instead. If it is make-invisible, Emacs will try to make this child
frame invisible instead of iconifying it.
Any other value means to try iconifying the child frame. Since such an attempt may
not be honored by all window managers and can even lead to making the child frame
unresponsive to user actions, the default is to iconify the top level frame instead.

29.15 Mouse Tracking

Sometimes it is useful to track the mouse, which means to display something to indicate
where the mouse is and move the indicator as the mouse moves. For efficient mouse tracking,
you need a way to wait until the mouse actually moves.
The convenient way to track the mouse is to ask for events to represent mouse motion.
Then you can wait for motion by waiting for an event. In addition, you can easily handle
any other sorts of events that may occur. That is useful, because normally you don’t want
to track the mouse forever—only until some other event, such as the release of a button.
track-mouse body. . . [Macro]
This macro executes body, with generation of mouse motion events enabled. Typi-
cally, body would use read-event to read the motion events and modify the display
accordingly. See Section 21.7.8 [Motion Events], page 388, for the format of mouse
motion events.
The value of track-mouse is that of the last form in body. You should design body to
return when it sees the up-event that indicates the release of the button, or whatever
kind of event means it is time to stop tracking.
The track-mouse form causes Emacs to generate mouse motion events by binding
the variable track-mouse to a non-nil value. If that variable has the special value
dragging, it additionally instructs the display engine to refrain from changing the
shape of the mouse pointer. This is desirable in Lisp programs that require mouse
dragging across large portions of Emacs display, which might otherwise cause the
mouse pointer to change its shape according to the display portion it hovers on (see
Section 29.19 [Pointer Shape], page 733). Therefore, Lisp programs that need the
mouse pointer to retain its original shape during dragging should bind track-mouse
to the value dragging at the beginning of their body.
The usual purpose of tracking mouse motion is to indicate on the screen the consequences
of pushing or releasing a button at the current position.
In many cases, you can avoid the need to track the mouse by using the mouse-face text
property (see Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808). That works at a much lower
level and runs more smoothly than Lisp-level mouse tracking.
Chapter 29: Frames 730

29.16 Mouse Position

The functions mouse-position and set-mouse-position give access to the current position
of the mouse.

mouse-position [Function]
This function returns a description of the position of the mouse. The value looks
like (frame x . y), where x and y are integers giving the (possibly rounded) position
in multiples of the default character size of frame (see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font],
page 694) relative to the native position of frame (see Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry],
page 688).

mouse-position-function [Variable]
If non-nil, the value of this variable is a function for mouse-position to call.
mouse-position calls this function just before returning, with its normal return value
as the sole argument, and it returns whatever this function returns to it.
This abnormal hook exists for the benefit of packages like xt-mouse.el that need to
do mouse handling at the Lisp level.

set-mouse-position frame x y [Function]

This function warps the mouse to position x, y in frame frame. The arguments x and
y are integers, giving the position in multiples of the default character size of frame
(see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font], page 694) relative to the native position of frame
(see Section 29.3 [Frame Geometry], page 688).
The resulting mouse position is constrained to the native frame of frame. If frame is
not visible, this function does nothing. The return value is not significant.

mouse-pixel-position [Function]
This function is like mouse-position except that it returns coordinates in units of
pixels rather than units of characters.

set-mouse-pixel-position frame x y [Function]

This function warps the mouse like set-mouse-position except that x and y are in
units of pixels rather than units of characters.
The resulting mouse position is not constrained to the native frame of frame. If frame
is not visible, this function does nothing. The return value is not significant.

On a graphical terminal the following two functions allow the absolute position of the
mouse cursor to be retrieved and set.

mouse-absolute-pixel-position [Function]
This function returns a cons cell (x . y) of the coordinates of the mouse cursor
position in pixels, relative to a position (0, 0) of the selected frame’s display.

set-mouse-absolute-pixel-position x y [Function]
This function moves the mouse cursor to the position (x, y). The coordinates x and
y are interpreted in pixels relative to a position (0, 0) of the selected frame’s display.

The following function can tell whether the mouse cursor is currently visible on a frame:
Chapter 29: Frames 731

frame-pointer-visible-p &optional frame [Function]

This predicate function returns non-nil if the mouse pointer displayed on frame is
visible; otherwise it returns nil. frame omitted or nil means the selected frame.
This is useful when make-pointer-invisible is set to t: it allows you to know if
the pointer has been hidden. See Section “Mouse Avoidance” in The Emacs Manual.

29.17 Pop-Up Menus

A Lisp program can pop up a menu so that the user can choose an alternative with the
mouse. On a text terminal, if the mouse is not available, the user can choose an alternative
using the keyboard motion keys—C-n, C-p, or up- and down-arrow keys.
x-popup-menu position menu [Function]
This function displays a pop-up menu and returns an indication of what selection the
user makes.
The argument position specifies where on the screen to put the top left corner of the
menu. It can be either a mouse button event (which says to put the menu where the
user actuated the button) or a list of this form:
((xoffset yoffset) window)
where xoffset and yoffset are coordinates, measured in pixels, counting from the top
left corner of window. window may be a window or a frame.
If position is t, it means to use the current mouse position (or the top-left corner
of the frame if the mouse is not available on a text terminal). If position is nil, it
means to precompute the key binding equivalents for the keymaps specified in menu,
without actually displaying or popping up the menu.
The argument menu says what to display in the menu. It can be a keymap or a list
of keymaps (see Section 22.17 [Menu Keymaps], page 439). In this case, the return
value is the list of events corresponding to the user’s choice. This list has more than
one element if the choice occurred in a submenu. (Note that x-popup-menu does not
actually execute the command bound to that sequence of events.) On text terminals
and toolkits that support menu titles, the title is taken from the prompt string of
menu if menu is a keymap, or from the prompt string of the first keymap in menu if
it is a list of keymaps (see Section 22.17.1 [Defining Menus], page 439).
Alternatively, menu can have the following form:
(title pane1 pane2...)
where each pane is a list of form
(title item1 item2...)
Each item should be a cons cell, (line . value), where line is a string and value
is the value to return if that line is chosen. Unlike in a menu keymap, a nil value
does not make the menu item non-selectable. Alternatively, each item can be a string
rather than a cons cell; this makes a non-selectable menu item.
If the user gets rid of the menu without making a valid choice, for instance by clicking
the mouse away from a valid choice or by typing C-g, then this normally results in
a quit and x-popup-menu does not return. But if position is a mouse button event
(indicating that the user invoked the menu with the mouse) then no quit occurs and
x-popup-menu returns nil.
Chapter 29: Frames 732

Usage note: Don’t use x-popup-menu to display a menu if you could do the job with a
prefix key defined with a menu keymap. If you use a menu keymap to implement a menu,
C-h c and C-h a can see the individual items in that menu and provide help for them. If
instead you implement the menu by defining a command that calls x-popup-menu, the help
facilities cannot know what happens inside that command, so they cannot give any help for
the menu’s items.
The menu bar mechanism, which lets you switch between submenus by moving the
mouse, cannot look within the definition of a command to see that it calls x-popup-menu.
Therefore, if you try to implement a submenu using x-popup-menu, it cannot work with the
menu bar in an integrated fashion. This is why all menu bar submenus are implemented with
menu keymaps within the parent menu, and never with x-popup-menu. See Section 22.17.5
[Menu Bar], page 446.
If you want a menu bar submenu to have contents that vary, you should still use a menu
keymap to implement it. To make the contents vary, add a hook function to menu-bar-
update-hook to update the contents of the menu keymap as necessary.

29.18 Dialog Boxes

A dialog box is a variant of a pop-up menu—it looks a little different, it always appears
in the center of a frame, and it has just one level and one or more buttons. The main use
of dialog boxes is for asking questions that the user can answer with “yes”, “no”, and a
few other alternatives. With a single button, they can also force the user to acknowledge
important information. The functions y-or-n-p and yes-or-no-p use dialog boxes instead
of the keyboard, when called from commands invoked by mouse clicks.
x-popup-dialog position contents &optional header [Function]
This function displays a pop-up dialog box and returns an indication of what selection
the user makes. The argument contents specifies the alternatives to offer; it has this
format:
(title (string . value)...)
which looks like the list that specifies a single pane for x-popup-menu.
The return value is value from the chosen alternative.
As for x-popup-menu, an element of the list may be just a string instead of a cons
cell (string . value). That makes a box that cannot be selected.
If nil appears in the list, it separates the left-hand items from the right-hand items;
items that precede the nil appear on the left, and items that follow the nil appear
on the right. If you don’t include a nil in the list, then approximately half the items
appear on each side.
Dialog boxes always appear in the center of a frame; the argument position specifies
which frame. The possible values are as in x-popup-menu, but the precise coordinates
or the individual window don’t matter; only the frame matters.
If header is non-nil, the frame title for the box is ‘Information’, otherwise it is
‘Question’. The former is used for message-box (see [message-box], page 970). (On
text terminals, the box title is not displayed.)
In some configurations, Emacs cannot display a real dialog box; so instead it displays
the same items in a pop-up menu in the center of the frame.
Chapter 29: Frames 733

If the user gets rid of the dialog box without making a valid choice, for instance using
the window manager, then this produces a quit and x-popup-dialog does not return.

29.19 Pointer Shape

You can specify the mouse pointer style for particular text or images using the pointer
text property, and for images with the :pointer and :map image properties. The values
you can use in these properties are text (or nil), arrow, hand, vdrag, hdrag, modeline,
and hourglass. text stands for the usual mouse pointer style used over text.
Over void parts of the window (parts that do not correspond to any of the buffer con-
tents), the mouse pointer usually uses the arrow style, but you can specify a different style
(one of those above) by setting void-text-area-pointer.

void-text-area-pointer [User Option]

This variable specifies the mouse pointer style for void text areas. These include the
areas after the end of a line or below the last line in the buffer. The default is to use
the arrow (non-text) pointer style.

When using X, you can specify what the text pointer style really looks like by setting
the variable x-pointer-shape.

x-pointer-shape [Variable]
This variable specifies the pointer shape to use ordinarily in the Emacs frame, for the
text pointer style.

x-sensitive-text-pointer-shape [Variable]
This variable specifies the pointer shape to use when the mouse is over mouse-sensitive
text.

These variables affect newly created frames. They do not normally affect existing frames;
however, if you set the mouse color of a frame, that also installs the current value of those
two variables. See Section 29.4.3.10 [Font and Color Parameters], page 714.
The values you can use, to specify either of these pointer shapes, are defined in the file
lisp/term/x-win.el. Use M-x apropos RET x-pointer RET to see a list of them.

29.20 Window System Selections

In window systems, such as X, data can be transferred between different applications by
means of selections. X defines an arbitrary number of selection types, each of which can
store its own data; however, only three are commonly used: the clipboard, primary selection,
and secondary selection. Other window systems support only the clipboard. See Section
“Cut and Paste” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for Emacs commands that make use of
these selections. This section documents the low-level functions for reading and setting
window-system selections.

gui-set-selection type data [Command]

This function sets a window-system selection. It takes two arguments: a selection
type type, and the value to assign to it, data.
Chapter 29: Frames 734

type should be a symbol; it is usually one of PRIMARY, SECONDARY or CLIPBOARD. These

are symbols with upper-case names, in accord with X Window System conventions.
If type is nil, that stands for PRIMARY.
If data is nil, it means to clear out the selection. Otherwise, data may be a string,
a symbol, an integer (or a cons of two integers or list of two integers), an overlay, or
a cons of two markers pointing to the same buffer. An overlay or a pair of markers
stands for text in the overlay or between the markers. The argument data may also
be a vector of valid non-vector selection values.
This function returns data.

gui-get-selection &optional type data-type [Function]

This function accesses selections set up by Emacs or by other programs. It takes two
optional arguments, type and data-type. The default for type, the selection type, is
PRIMARY.
The data-type argument specifies the form of data conversion to use, to convert the
raw data obtained from another program into Lisp data. Meaningful values include
TEXT, STRING, UTF8_STRING, TARGETS, LENGTH, DELETE, FILE_NAME, CHARACTER_
POSITION, NAME, LINE_NUMBER, COLUMN_NUMBER, OWNER_OS, HOST_NAME, USER, CLASS,
ATOM, and INTEGER. (These are symbols with upper-case names in accord with X
conventions.) The default for data-type is STRING. Window systems other than X
usually support only a small subset of these types, in addition to STRING.

selection-coding-system [User Option]

This variable specifies the coding system to use when reading and writing selections
or the clipboard. See Section 33.10 [Coding Systems], page 848. The default is
compound-text-with-extensions, which converts to the text representation that
X11 normally uses.

When Emacs runs on MS-Windows, it does not implement X selections in general, but it
does support the clipboard. gui-get-selection and gui-set-selection on MS-Windows
support the text data type only; if the clipboard holds other types of data, Emacs treats
the clipboard as empty. The supported data type is STRING.
For backward compatibility, there are obsolete aliases x-get-selection and x-set-
selection, which were the names of gui-get-selection and gui-set-selection before
Emacs 25.1.

29.21 Drag and Drop

When a user drags something from another application over Emacs, that other application
expects Emacs to tell it if Emacs can handle the data that is dragged. The variable x-dnd-
test-function is used by Emacs to determine what to reply. The default value is x-dnd-
default-test-function which accepts drops if the type of the data to be dropped is
present in x-dnd-known-types. You can customize x-dnd-test-function and/or x-dnd-
known-types if you want Emacs to accept or reject drops based on some other criteria.
If you want to change the way Emacs handles drop of different types or add a new
type, customize x-dnd-types-alist. This requires detailed knowledge of what types other
applications use for drag and drop.
Chapter 29: Frames 735

When an URL is dropped on Emacs it may be a file, but it may also be another URL
type (ftp, http, etc.). Emacs first checks dnd-protocol-alist to determine what to do
with the URL. If there is no match there and if browse-url-browser-function is an alist,
Emacs looks for a match there. If no match is found the text for the URL is inserted. If
you want to alter Emacs behavior, you can customize these variables.

29.22 Color Names

A color name is text (usually in a string) that specifies a color. Symbolic names such
as ‘black’, ‘white’, ‘red’, etc., are allowed; use M-x list-colors-display to see a list
of defined names. You can also specify colors numerically in forms such as ‘#rgb’ and
‘RGB:r/g/b’, where r specifies the red level, g specifies the green level, and b specifies the
blue level. You can use either one, two, three, or four hex digits for r; then you must use
the same number of hex digits for all g and b as well, making either 3, 6, 9 or 12 hex digits
in all. (See the documentation of the X Window System for more details about numerical
RGB specification of colors.)
These functions provide a way to determine which color names are valid, and what they
look like. In some cases, the value depends on the selected frame, as described below; see
Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720, for the meaning of the term “selected frame”.
To read user input of color names with completion, use read-color (see Section 20.6.4
[High-Level Completion], page 349).
color-defined-p color &optional frame [Function]
This function reports whether a color name is meaningful. It returns t if so; otherwise,
nil. The argument frame says which frame’s display to ask about; if frame is omitted
or nil, the selected frame is used.
Note that this does not tell you whether the display you are using really supports
that color. When using X, you can ask for any defined color on any kind of display,
and you will get some result—typically, the closest it can do. To determine whether
a frame can really display a certain color, use color-supported-p (see below).
This function used to be called x-color-defined-p, and that name is still supported
as an alias.
defined-colors &optional frame [Function]
This function returns a list of the color names that are defined and supported on
frame frame (default, the selected frame). If frame does not support colors, the value
is nil.
This function used to be called x-defined-colors, and that name is still supported
as an alias.
color-supported-p color &optional frame background-p [Function]
This returns t if frame can really display the color color (or at least something close
to it). If frame is omitted or nil, the question applies to the selected frame.
Some terminals support a different set of colors for foreground and background. If
background-p is non-nil, that means you are asking whether color can be used as a
background; otherwise you are asking whether it can be used as a foreground.
The argument color must be a valid color name.
Chapter 29: Frames 736

color-gray-p color &optional frame [Function]

This returns t if color is a shade of gray, as defined on frame’s display. If frame is
omitted or nil, the question applies to the selected frame. If color is not a valid color
name, this function returns nil.
color-values color &optional frame [Function]
This function returns a value that describes what color should ideally look like on
frame. If color is defined, the value is a list of three integers, which give the amount
of red, the amount of green, and the amount of blue. Each integer ranges in principle
from 0 to 65535, but some displays may not use the full range. This three-element
list is called the rgb values of the color.
If color is not defined, the value is nil.
(color-values "black")
⇒ (0 0 0)
(color-values "white")
⇒ (65280 65280 65280)
(color-values "red")
⇒ (65280 0 0)
(color-values "pink")
⇒ (65280 49152 51968)
(color-values "hungry")
⇒ nil
The color values are returned for frame’s display. If frame is omitted or nil, the
information is returned for the selected frame’s display. If the frame cannot display
colors, the value is nil.
This function used to be called x-color-values, and that name is still supported as
an alias.

29.23 Text Terminal Colors

Text terminals usually support only a small number of colors, and the computer uses small
integers to select colors on the terminal. This means that the computer cannot reliably tell
what the selected color looks like; instead, you have to inform your application which small
integers correspond to which colors. However, Emacs does know the standard set of colors
and will try to use them automatically.
The functions described in this section control how terminal colors are used by Emacs.
Several of these functions use or return rgb values, described in Section 29.22 [Color
Names], page 735.
These functions accept a display (either a frame or the name of a terminal) as an optional
argument. We hope in the future to make Emacs support different colors on different text
terminals; then this argument will specify which terminal to operate on (the default being
the selected frame’s terminal; see Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720). At present, though,
the frame argument has no effect.
tty-color-define name number &optional rgb frame [Function]
This function associates the color name name with color number number on the
terminal.
Chapter 29: Frames 737

The optional argument rgb, if specified, is an rgb value, a list of three numbers that
specify what the color actually looks like. If you do not specify rgb, then this color
cannot be used by tty-color-approximate to approximate other colors, because
Emacs will not know what it looks like.
tty-color-clear &optional frame [Function]
This function clears the table of defined colors for a text terminal.
tty-color-alist &optional frame [Function]
This function returns an alist recording the known colors supported by a text terminal.
Each element has the form (name number . rgb) or (name number). Here, name is
the color name, number is the number used to specify it to the terminal. If present,
rgb is a list of three color values (for red, green, and blue) that says what the color
actually looks like.
tty-color-approximate rgb &optional frame [Function]
This function finds the closest color, among the known colors supported for display,
to that described by the rgb value rgb (a list of color values). The return value is an
element of tty-color-alist.
tty-color-translate color &optional frame [Function]
This function finds the closest color to color among the known colors supported for
display and returns its index (an integer). If the name color is not defined, the value
is nil.

29.24 X Resources
This section describes some of the functions and variables for querying and using X re-
sources, or their equivalent on your operating system. See Section “X Resources” in The
GNU Emacs Manual, for more information about X resources.
x-get-resource attribute class &optional component subclass [Function]
The function x-get-resource retrieves a resource value from the X Window defaults
database.
Resources are indexed by a combination of a key and a class. This function searches
using a key of the form ‘instance.attribute’ (where instance is the name under
which Emacs was invoked), and using ‘Emacs.class’ as the class.
The optional arguments component and subclass add to the key and the class, re-
spectively. You must specify both of them or neither. If you specify them, the key is
‘instance.component.attribute’, and the class is ‘Emacs.class.subclass’.
x-resource-class [Variable]
This variable specifies the application name that x-get-resource should look up.
The default value is "Emacs". You can examine X resources for other application
names by binding this variable to some other string, around a call to x-get-resource.
x-resource-name [Variable]
This variable specifies the instance name that x-get-resource should look up. The
default value is the name Emacs was invoked with, or the value specified with the
‘-name’ or ‘-rn’ switches.
Chapter 29: Frames 738

To illustrate some of the above, suppose that you have the line:
xterm.vt100.background: yellow
in your X resources file (whose name is usually ~/.Xdefaults or ~/.Xresources). Then:
(let ((x-resource-class "XTerm") (x-resource-name "xterm"))
(x-get-resource "vt100.background" "VT100.Background"))
⇒ "yellow"
(let ((x-resource-class "XTerm") (x-resource-name "xterm"))
(x-get-resource "background" "VT100" "vt100" "Background"))
⇒ "yellow"

inhibit-x-resources [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, Emacs does not look up X resources, and X resources do
not have any effect when creating new frames.

29.25 Display Feature Testing

The functions in this section describe the basic capabilities of a particular display. Lisp
programs can use them to adapt their behavior to what the display can do. For example,
a program that ordinarily uses a popup menu could use the minibuffer if popup menus are
not supported.
The optional argument display in these functions specifies which display to ask the
question about. It can be a display name, a frame (which designates the display that frame
is on), or nil (which refers to the selected frame’s display, see Section 29.10 [Input Focus],
page 720).
See Section 29.22 [Color Names], page 735, Section 29.23 [Text Terminal Colors],
page 736, for other functions to obtain information about displays.

display-popup-menus-p &optional display [Function]

This function returns t if popup menus are supported on display, nil if not. Support
for popup menus requires that the mouse be available, since the menu is popped up
by clicking the mouse on some portion of the Emacs display.

display-graphic-p &optional display [Function]

This function returns t if display is a graphic display capable of displaying several
frames and several different fonts at once. This is true for displays that use a window
system such as X, and false for text terminals.

display-mouse-p &optional display [Function]

This function returns t if display has a mouse available, nil if not.

display-color-p &optional display [Function]

This function returns t if the screen is a color screen. It used to be called x-display-
color-p, and that name is still supported as an alias.

display-grayscale-p &optional display [Function]

This function returns t if the screen can display shades of gray. (All color displays
can do this.)
Chapter 29: Frames 739

display-supports-face-attributes-p attributes &optional display [Function]

This function returns non-nil if all the face attributes in attributes are supported
(see Section 39.12.1 [Face Attributes], page 997).
The definition of “supported” is somewhat heuristic, but basically means that a face
containing all the attributes in attributes, when merged with the default face for
display, can be represented in a way that’s
1. different in appearance than the default face, and
2. close in spirit to what the attributes specify, if not exact.
Point (2) implies that a :weight black attribute will be satisfied by any display
that can display bold, as will :foreground "yellow" as long as some yellowish color
can be displayed, but :slant italic will not be satisfied by the tty display code’s
automatic substitution of a dim face for italic.

display-selections-p &optional display [Function]

This function returns t if display supports selections. Windowed displays normally
support selections, but they may also be supported in some other cases.

display-images-p &optional display [Function]

This function returns t if display can display images. Windowed displays ought in
principle to handle images, but some systems lack the support for that. On a display
that does not support images, Emacs cannot display a tool bar.

display-screens &optional display [Function]

This function returns the number of screens associated with the display.

display-pixel-height &optional display [Function]

This function returns the height of the screen in pixels. On a character terminal, it
gives the height in characters.
For graphical terminals, note that on multi-monitor setups this refers to the pixel
height for all physical monitors associated with display. See Section 29.2 [Multiple
Terminals], page 685.

display-pixel-width &optional display [Function]

This function returns the width of the screen in pixels. On a character terminal, it
gives the width in characters.
For graphical terminals, note that on multi-monitor setups this refers to the pixel
width for all physical monitors associated with display. See Section 29.2 [Multiple
Terminals], page 685.

display-mm-height &optional display [Function]

This function returns the height of the screen in millimeters, or nil if Emacs cannot
get that information.
For graphical terminals, note that on multi-monitor setups this refers to the height for
all physical monitors associated with display. See Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals],
page 685.
Chapter 29: Frames 740

display-mm-width &optional display [Function]

This function returns the width of the screen in millimeters, or nil if Emacs cannot
get that information.
For graphical terminals, note that on multi-monitor setups this refers to the width for
all physical monitors associated with display. See Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals],
page 685.
display-mm-dimensions-alist [User Option]
This variable allows the user to specify the dimensions of graphical displays returned
by display-mm-height and display-mm-width in case the system provides incorrect
values.
display-backing-store &optional display [Function]
This function returns the backing store capability of the display. Backing store means
recording the pixels of windows (and parts of windows) that are not exposed, so that
when exposed they can be displayed very quickly.
Values can be the symbols always, when-mapped, or not-useful. The function can
also return nil when the question is inapplicable to a certain kind of display.
display-save-under &optional display [Function]
This function returns non-nil if the display supports the SaveUnder feature. That
feature is used by pop-up windows to save the pixels they obscure, so that they can
pop down quickly.
display-planes &optional display [Function]
This function returns the number of planes the display supports. This is typically
the number of bits per pixel. For a tty display, it is log to base two of the number of
colors supported.
display-visual-class &optional display [Function]
This function returns the visual class for the screen. The value is one of the symbols
static-gray (a limited, unchangeable number of grays), gray-scale (a full range of
grays), static-color (a limited, unchangeable number of colors), pseudo-color (a
limited number of colors), true-color (a full range of colors), and direct-color (a
full range of colors).
display-color-cells &optional display [Function]
This function returns the number of color cells the screen supports.
These functions obtain additional information about the window system in use where
Emacs shows the specified display. (Their names begin with x- for historical reasons.)
x-server-version &optional display [Function]
This function returns the list of version numbers of the GUI window system running
on display, such as the X server on GNU and Unix systems. The value is a list of three
integers: the major and minor version numbers of the protocol, and the distributor-
specific release number of the window system software itself. On GNU and Unix
systems, these are normally the version of the X protocol and the distributor-specific
release number of the X server software. On MS-Windows, this is the version of the
Windows OS.
 741

x-server-vendor &optional display [Function]

This function returns the vendor that provided the window system software (as a
string). On GNU and Unix systems this really means whoever distributes the X
server. On MS-Windows this is the vendor ID string of the Windows OS (Microsoft).
When the developers of X labeled software distributors as “vendors”, they showed
their false assumption that no system could ever be developed and distributed non-
commercially.
 742

30 Positions
A position is the index of a character in the text of a buffer. More precisely, a position
identifies the place between two characters (or before the first character, or after the last
character), so we can speak of the character before or after a given position. However, we
often speak of the character “at” a position, meaning the character after that position.
Positions are usually represented as integers starting from 1, but can also be represented
as markers—special objects that relocate automatically when text is inserted or deleted
so they stay with the surrounding characters. Functions that expect an argument to be
a position (an integer), but accept a marker as a substitute, normally ignore which buffer
the marker points into; they convert the marker to an integer, and use that integer, exactly
as if you had passed the integer as the argument, even if the marker points to the wrong
buffer. A marker that points nowhere cannot convert to an integer; using it instead of an
integer causes an error. See Chapter 31 [Markers], page 756.
See also the field feature (see Section 32.19.9 [Fields], page 819), which provides functions
that are used by many cursor-motion commands.

30.1 Point
Point is a special buffer position used by many editing commands, including the self-
inserting typed characters and text insertion functions. Other commands move point
through the text to allow editing and insertion at different places.
Like other positions, point designates a place between two characters (or before the first
character, or after the last character), rather than a particular character. Usually terminals
display the cursor over the character that immediately follows point; point is actually before
the character on which the cursor sits.
The value of point is a number no less than 1, and no greater than the buffer size plus 1.
If narrowing is in effect (see Section 30.4 [Narrowing], page 753), then point is constrained
to fall within the accessible portion of the buffer (possibly at one end of it).
Each buffer has its own value of point, which is independent of the value of point in
other buffers. Each window also has a value of point, which is independent of the value of
point in other windows on the same buffer. This is why point can have different values in
various windows that display the same buffer. When a buffer appears in only one window,
the buffer’s point and the window’s point normally have the same value, so the distinction
is rarely important. See Section 28.19 [Window Point], page 660, for more details.

point [Function]
This function returns the value of point in the current buffer, as an integer.
(point)
⇒ 175

point-min [Function]
This function returns the minimum accessible value of point in the current buffer.
This is normally 1, but if narrowing is in effect, it is the position of the start of the
region that you narrowed to. (See Section 30.4 [Narrowing], page 753.)
Chapter 30: Positions 743

point-max [Function]
This function returns the maximum accessible value of point in the current buffer.
This is (1+ (buffer-size)), unless narrowing is in effect, in which case it is the
position of the end of the region that you narrowed to. (See Section 30.4 [Narrowing],
page 753.)

buffer-end flag [Function]

This function returns (point-max) if flag is greater than 0, (point-min) otherwise.
The argument flag must be a number.

buffer-size &optional buffer [Function]

This function returns the total number of characters in the current buffer. In the
absence of any narrowing (see Section 30.4 [Narrowing], page 753), point-max returns
a value one larger than this.
If you specify a buffer, buffer, then the value is the size of buffer.
(buffer-size)
⇒ 35
(point-max)
⇒ 36

30.2 Motion
Motion functions change the value of point, either relative to the current value of point,
relative to the beginning or end of the buffer, or relative to the edges of the selected window.
See Section 30.1 [Point], page 742.

30.2.1 Motion by Characters

These functions move point based on a count of characters. goto-char is the fundamental
primitive; the other functions use that.

goto-char position [Command]

This function sets point in the current buffer to the value position.
If narrowing is in effect, position still counts from the beginning of the buffer, but
point cannot go outside the accessible portion. If position is out of range, goto-char
moves point to the beginning or the end of the accessible portion.
When this function is called interactively, position is the numeric prefix argument, if
provided; otherwise it is read from the minibuffer.
goto-char returns position.

forward-char &optional count [Command]

This function moves point count characters forward, towards the end of the buffer (or
backward, towards the beginning of the buffer, if count is negative). If count is nil,
the default is 1.
If this attempts to move past the beginning or end of the buffer (or the limits of the
accessible portion, when narrowing is in effect), it signals an error with error symbol
beginning-of-buffer or end-of-buffer.
In an interactive call, count is the numeric prefix argument.
Chapter 30: Positions 744

backward-char &optional count [Command]

This is just like forward-char except that it moves in the opposite direction.

30.2.2 Motion by Words

The functions for parsing words described below use the syntax table and char-script-
table to decide whether a given character is part of a word. See Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables],
page 892, and see Section 33.6 [Character Properties], page 840.
forward-word &optional count [Command]
This function moves point forward count words (or backward if count is negative). If
count is omitted or nil, it defaults to 1. In an interactive call, count is specified by
the numeric prefix argument.
“Moving one word” means moving until point crosses a word-constituent character,
which indicates the beginning of a word, and then continue moving until the word
ends. By default, characters that begin and end words, known as word boundaries, are
defined by the current buffer’s syntax table (see Section 35.2.1 [Syntax Class Table],
page 893), but modes can override that by setting up a suitable find-word-boundary-
function-table, described below. Characters that belong to different scripts (as de-
fined by char-script-table), also define a word boundary (see Section 33.6 [Char-
acter Properties], page 840). In any case, this function cannot move point past the
boundary of the accessible portion of the buffer, or across a field boundary (see
Section 32.19.9 [Fields], page 819). The most common case of a field boundary is the
end of the prompt in the minibuffer.
If it is possible to move count words, without being stopped prematurely by the buffer
boundary or a field boundary, the value is t. Otherwise, the return value is nil and
point stops at the buffer boundary or field boundary.
If inhibit-field-text-motion is non-nil, this function ignores field boundaries.
backward-word &optional count [Command]
This function is just like forward-word, except that it moves backward until encoun-
tering the front of a word, rather than forward.
words-include-escapes [User Option]
This variable affects the behavior of forward-word and backward-word, and every-
thing that uses them. If it is non-nil, then characters in the escape and character-
quote syntax classes count as part of words. Otherwise, they do not.
inhibit-field-text-motion [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, certain motion functions including forward-word,
forward-sentence, and forward-paragraph ignore field boundaries.
find-word-boundary-function-table [Variable]
This variable affects the behavior of forward-word and backward-word, and every-
thing that uses them. Its value is a char-table (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107)
of functions to search for word boundaries. If a character has a non-nil entry in this
table, then when a word starts or ends with that character, the corresponding func-
tion will be called with 2 arguments: pos and limit. The function should return the
position of the other word boundary. Specifically, if pos is smaller than limit, then
Chapter 30: Positions 745

pos is at the beginning of a word, and the function should return the position after
the last character of the word; otherwise, pos is at the last character of a word, and
the function should return the position of that word’s first character.

forward-word-strictly &optional count [Function]

This function is like forward-word, but it is not affected by find-word-boundary-
function-table. Lisp programs that should not change behavior when word move-
ment is modified by modes which set that table, such as subword-mode, should use
this function instead of forward-word.

backward-word-strictly &optional count [Function]

This function is like backward-word, but it is not affected by find-word-boundary-
function-table. Like with forward-word-strictly, use this function instead of
backward-word when movement by words should only consider syntax tables.

30.2.3 Motion to an End of the Buffer

To move point to the beginning of the buffer, write:
(goto-char (point-min))
Likewise, to move to the end of the buffer, use:
(goto-char (point-max))
Here are two commands that users use to do these things. They are documented here to
warn you not to use them in Lisp programs, because they set the mark and display messages
in the echo area.

beginning-of-buffer &optional n [Command]

This function moves point to the beginning of the buffer (or the limits of the accessible
portion, when narrowing is in effect), setting the mark at the previous position (except
in Transient Mark mode, if the mark is already active, it does not set the mark.)
If n is non-nil, then it puts point n tenths of the way from the beginning of the ac-
cessible portion of the buffer. In an interactive call, n is the numeric prefix argument,
if provided; otherwise n defaults to nil.
Warning: Don’t use this function in Lisp programs!

end-of-buffer &optional n [Command]

This function moves point to the end of the buffer (or the limits of the accessible
portion, when narrowing is in effect), setting the mark at the previous position (except
in Transient Mark mode when the mark is already active). If n is non-nil, then it
puts point n tenths of the way from the end of the accessible portion of the buffer.
In an interactive call, n is the numeric prefix argument, if provided; otherwise n
defaults to nil.
Warning: Don’t use this function in Lisp programs!

30.2.4 Motion by Text Lines

Text lines are portions of the buffer delimited by newline characters, which are regarded as
part of the previous line. The first text line begins at the beginning of the buffer, and the
last text line ends at the end of the buffer whether or not the last character is a newline.
Chapter 30: Positions 746

The division of the buffer into text lines is not affected by the width of the window, by line
continuation in display, or by how tabs and control characters are displayed.

beginning-of-line &optional count [Command]

This function moves point to the beginning of the current line. With an argument
count not nil or 1, it moves forward count−1 lines and then to the beginning of the
line.
This function does not move point across a field boundary (see Section 32.19.9 [Fields],
page 819) unless doing so would move beyond there to a different line; therefore, if
count is nil or 1, and point starts at a field boundary, point does not move. To
ignore field boundaries, either bind inhibit-field-text-motion to t, or use the
forward-line function instead. For instance, (forward-line 0) does the same thing
as (beginning-of-line), except that it ignores field boundaries.
If this function reaches the end of the buffer (or of the accessible portion, if narrowing
is in effect), it positions point there. No error is signaled.

line-beginning-position &optional count [Function]

Return the position that (beginning-of-line count) would move to.

end-of-line &optional count [Command]

This function moves point to the end of the current line. With an argument count
not nil or 1, it moves forward count−1 lines and then to the end of the line.
This function does not move point across a field boundary (see Section 32.19.9 [Fields],
page 819) unless doing so would move beyond there to a different line; therefore, if
count is nil or 1, and point starts at a field boundary, point does not move. To ignore
field boundaries, bind inhibit-field-text-motion to t.
If this function reaches the end of the buffer (or of the accessible portion, if narrowing
is in effect), it positions point there. No error is signaled.

line-end-position &optional count [Function]

Return the position that (end-of-line count) would move to.

forward-line &optional count [Command]

This function moves point forward count lines, to the beginning of the line following
that. If count is negative, it moves point −count lines backward, to the beginning of
a line preceding that. If count is zero, it moves point to the beginning of the current
line. If count is nil, that means 1.
If forward-line encounters the beginning or end of the buffer (or of the accessible
portion) before finding that many lines, it sets point there. No error is signaled.
forward-line returns the difference between count and the number of lines actually
moved. If you attempt to move down five lines from the beginning of a buffer that
has only three lines, point stops at the end of the last line, and the value will be 2.
As an explicit exception, if the last accessible line is non-empty, but has no newline
(e.g., if the buffer ends without a newline), the function sets point to the end of that
line, and the value returned by the function counts that line as one line successfully
moved.
In an interactive call, count is the numeric prefix argument.
Chapter 30: Positions 747

count-lines start end [Function]

This function returns the number of lines between the positions start and end in the
current buffer. If start and end are equal, then it returns 0. Otherwise it returns at
least 1, even if start and end are on the same line. This is because the text between
them, considered in isolation, must contain at least one line unless it is empty.

count-words start end [Command]

This function returns the number of words between the positions start and end in the
current buffer.
This function can also be called interactively. In that case, it prints a message re-
porting the number of lines, words, and characters in the buffer, or in the region if
the region is active.

line-number-at-pos &optional pos absolute [Function]

This function returns the line number in the current buffer corresponding to the buffer
position pos. If pos is nil or omitted, the current buffer position is used. If absolute
is nil, the default, counting starts at (point-min), so the value refers to the contents
of the accessible portion of the (potentially narrowed) buffer. If absolute is non-nil,
ignore any narrowing and return the absolute line number.

Also see the functions bolp and eolp in Section 32.1 [Near Point], page 765. These
functions do not move point, but test whether it is already at the beginning or end of a
line.

30.2.5 Motion by Screen Lines

The line functions in the previous section count text lines, delimited only by newline char-
acters. By contrast, these functions count screen lines, which are defined by the way the
text appears on the screen. A text line is a single screen line if it is short enough to fit the
width of the selected window, but otherwise it may occupy several screen lines.
In some cases, text lines are truncated on the screen rather than continued onto addi-
tional screen lines. In these cases, vertical-motion moves point much like forward-line.
See Section 39.3 [Truncation], page 968.
Because the width of a given string depends on the flags that control the appearance of
certain characters, vertical-motion behaves differently, for a given piece of text, depending
on the buffer it is in, and even on the selected window (because the width, the truncation
flag, and display table may vary between windows). See Section 39.22.1 [Usual Display],
page 1059.
These functions scan text to determine where screen lines break, and thus take time
proportional to the distance scanned.

vertical-motion count &optional window cur-col [Function]

This function moves point to the start of the screen line count screen lines down from
the screen line containing point. If count is negative, it moves up instead.
The count argument can be a cons cell, (cols . lines), instead of an integer. Then
the function moves by lines screen lines, and puts point cols columns from the visual
start of that screen line. Note that cols are counted from the visual start of the
line; if the window is scrolled horizontally (see Section 28.23 [Horizontal Scrolling],
Chapter 30: Positions 748

page 669), the column on which point will end is in addition to the number of columns
by which the text is scrolled.
The return value is the number of screen lines over which point was moved. The value
may be less in absolute value than count if the beginning or end of the buffer was
reached.
The window window is used for obtaining parameters such as the width, the horizontal
scrolling, and the display table. But vertical-motion always operates on the current
buffer, even if window currently displays some other buffer.
The optional argument cur-col specifies the current column when the function is
called. This is the window-relative horizontal coordinate of point, measured in units
of font width of the frame’s default face. Providing it speeds up the function, especially
in very long lines, because the function doesn’t have to go back in the buffer in order
to determine the current column. Note that cur-col is also counted from the visual
start of the line.

count-screen-lines &optional beg end count-final-newline window [Function]

This function returns the number of screen lines in the text from beg to end. The
number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual lines, due to line
continuation, the display table, etc. If beg and end are nil or omitted, they default
to the beginning and end of the accessible portion of the buffer.
If the region ends with a newline, that is ignored unless the optional third argument
count-final-newline is non-nil.
The optional fourth argument window specifies the window for obtaining parameters
such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so on. The default is to use the selected
window’s parameters.
Like vertical-motion, count-screen-lines always uses the current buffer, regard-
less of which buffer is displayed in window. This makes possible to use count-screen-
lines in any buffer, whether or not it is currently displayed in some window.

move-to-window-line count [Command]

This function moves point with respect to the text currently displayed in the selected
window. It moves point to the beginning of the screen line count screen lines from the
top of the window; zero means the topmost line. If count is negative, that specifies a
position −count lines from the bottom (or the last line of the buffer, if the buffer ends
above the specified screen position); thus, count of −1 specifies the last fully visible
screen line of the window.
If count is nil, then point moves to the beginning of the line in the middle of the
window. If the absolute value of count is greater than the size of the window, then
point moves to the place that would appear on that screen line if the window were tall
enough. This will probably cause the next redisplay to scroll to bring that location
onto the screen.
In an interactive call, count is the numeric prefix argument.
The value returned is the screen line number point has moved to, relative to the top
line of the window.
Chapter 30: Positions 749

move-to-window-group-line count [Function]

This function is like move-to-window-line, except that when the selected window
is a part of a group of windows (see [Window Group], page 599), move-to-window-
group-line will move to a position with respect to the entire group, not just the single
window. This condition holds when the buffer local variable move-to-window-group-
line-function is set to a function. In this case, move-to-window-group-line calls
the function with the argument count, then returns its result.

compute-motion from frompos to topos width offsets window [Function]

This function scans the current buffer, calculating screen positions. It scans the
buffer forward from position from, assuming that is at screen coordinates frompos, to
position to or coordinates topos, whichever comes first. It returns the ending buffer
position and screen coordinates.
The coordinate arguments frompos and topos are cons cells of the form (hpos .
vpos).
The argument width is the number of columns available to display text; this affects
handling of continuation lines. nil means the actual number of usable text columns
in the window, which is equivalent to the value returned by (window-width window).
The argument offsets is either nil or a cons cell of the form (hscroll . tab-offset).
Here hscroll is the number of columns not being displayed at the left margin; most
callers get this by calling window-hscroll. Meanwhile, tab-offset is the offset between
column numbers on the screen and column numbers in the buffer. This can be nonzero
in a continuation line, when the previous screen lines’ widths do not add up to a
multiple of tab-width. It is always zero in a non-continuation line.
The window window serves only to specify which display table to use.
compute-motion always operates on the current buffer, regardless of what buffer is
displayed in window.
The return value is a list of five elements:
(pos hpos vpos prevhpos contin)
Here pos is the buffer position where the scan stopped, vpos is the vertical screen
position, and hpos is the horizontal screen position.
The result prevhpos is the horizontal position one character back from pos. The result
contin is t if the last line was continued after (or within) the previous character.
For example, to find the buffer position of column col of screen line line of a certain
window, pass the window’s display start location as from and the window’s upper-left
coordinates as frompos. Pass the buffer’s (point-max) as to, to limit the scan to the
end of the accessible portion of the buffer, and pass line and col as topos. Here’s a
function that does this:
(defun coordinates-of-position (col line)
(car (compute-motion (window-start)
'(0 . 0)
(point-max)
(cons col line)
(window-width)
(cons (window-hscroll) 0)
Chapter 30: Positions 750

(selected-window))))
When you use compute-motion for the minibuffer, you need to use
minibuffer-prompt-width to get the horizontal position of the beginning of the
first screen line. See Section 20.12 [Minibuffer Contents], page 365.

30.2.6 Moving over Balanced Expressions

Here are several functions concerned with balanced-parenthesis expressions (also called
sexps in connection with moving across them in Emacs). The syntax table controls how
these functions interpret various characters; see Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892. See
Section 35.6 [Parsing Expressions], page 900, for lower-level primitives for scanning sexps or
parts of sexps. For user-level commands, see Section “Commands for Editing with Paren-
theses” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

forward-list &optional arg [Command]

This function moves forward across arg (default 1) balanced groups of parentheses.
(Other syntactic entities such as words or paired string quotes are ignored.)

backward-list &optional arg [Command]

This function moves backward across arg (default 1) balanced groups of parentheses.
(Other syntactic entities such as words or paired string quotes are ignored.)

up-list &optional arg escape-strings no-syntax-crossing [Command]

This function moves forward out of arg (default 1) levels of parentheses. A negative
argument means move backward but still to a less deep spot. If escape-strings is non-
nil (as it is interactively), move out of enclosing strings as well. If no-syntax-crossing
is non-nil (as it is interactively), prefer to break out of any enclosing string instead
of moving to the start of a list broken across multiple strings. On error, location of
point is unspecified.

backward-up-list &optional arg escape-strings no-syntax-crossing [Command]

This function is just like up-list, but with a negated argument.

down-list &optional arg [Command]

This function moves forward into arg (default 1) levels of parentheses. A negative
argument means move backward but still go deeper in parentheses (−arg levels).

forward-sexp &optional arg [Command]

This function moves forward across arg (default 1) balanced expressions. Balanced
expressions include both those delimited by parentheses and other kinds, such as
words and string constants. See Section 35.6 [Parsing Expressions], page 900. For
example,
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
(concat? "foo " (car x) y z)
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
Chapter 30: Positions 751

(forward-sexp 3)
⇒ nil

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(concat "foo " (car x) y? z)
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
backward-sexp &optional arg [Command]
This function moves backward across arg (default 1) balanced expressions.
beginning-of-defun &optional arg [Command]
This function moves back to the argth beginning of a defun. If arg is negative, this
actually moves forward, but it still moves to the beginning of a defun, not to the end
of one. arg defaults to 1.
end-of-defun &optional arg [Command]
This function moves forward to the argth end of a defun. If arg is negative, this
actually moves backward, but it still moves to the end of a defun, not to the beginning
of one. arg defaults to 1.
defun-prompt-regexp [User Option]
If non-nil, this buffer-local variable holds a regular expression that specifies what
text can appear before the open-parenthesis that starts a defun. That is to say, a
defun begins on a line that starts with a match for this regular expression, followed
by a character with open-parenthesis syntax.
open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start [User Option]
If this variable’s value is non-nil, an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to
be the start of a defun. If it is nil, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special
meaning. The default is t. If a string literal happens to have a parenthesis in column
0, escape it with a backslash to avoid a false positive. See Section “Left Margin
Convention” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
beginning-of-defun-function [Variable]
If non-nil, this variable holds a function for finding the beginning of a defun. The
function beginning-of-defun calls this function instead of using its normal method,
passing it its optional argument. If the argument is non-nil, the function should
move back by that many functions, like beginning-of-defun does.
end-of-defun-function [Variable]
If non-nil, this variable holds a function for finding the end of a defun. The function
end-of-defun calls this function instead of using its normal method.

30.2.7 Skipping Characters

The following two functions move point over a specified set of characters. For example,
they are often used to skip whitespace. For related functions, see Section 35.5 [Motion and
Syntax], page 900.
These functions convert the set string to multibyte if the buffer is multibyte, and they
convert it to unibyte if the buffer is unibyte, as the search functions do (see Chapter 34
[Searching and Matching], page 865).
Chapter 30: Positions 752

skip-chars-forward character-set &optional limit [Function]

This function moves point in the current buffer forward, skipping over a given set
of characters. It examines the character following point, then advances point if the
character matches character-set. This continues until it reaches a character that does
not match. The function returns the number of characters moved over.
The argument character-set is a string, like the inside of a ‘[...]’ in a regular expres-
sion except that ‘]’ does not terminate it, and ‘\’ quotes ‘^’, ‘-’ or ‘\’. Thus, "a-zA-Z"
skips over all letters, stopping before the first nonletter, and "^a-zA-Z" skips nonlet-
ters stopping before the first letter (see Section 34.3 [Regular Expressions], page 868).
Character classes can also be used, e.g., "[:alnum:]" (see Section 34.3.1.2 [Char
Classes], page 872).
If limit is supplied (it must be a number or a marker), it specifies the maximum
position in the buffer that point can be skipped to. Point will stop at or before limit.
In the following example, point is initially located directly before the ‘T’. After the
form is evaluated, point is located at the end of that line (between the ‘t’ of ‘hat’
and the newline). The function skips all letters and spaces, but not newlines.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
I read "?The cat in the hat
comes back" twice.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(skip-chars-forward "a-zA-Z ")

⇒ 18

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

I read "The cat in the hat?
comes back" twice.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

skip-chars-backward character-set &optional limit [Function]

This function moves point backward, skipping characters that match character-set,
until limit. It is just like skip-chars-forward except for the direction of motion.
The return value indicates the distance traveled. It is an integer that is zero or less.

30.3 Excursions
It is often useful to move point temporarily within a localized portion of the program. This
is called an excursion, and it is done with the save-excursion special form. This construct
remembers the initial identity of the current buffer, and its value of point, and restores
them after the excursion completes. It is the standard way to move point within one part
of a program and avoid affecting the rest of the program, and is used thousands of times in
the Lisp sources of Emacs.
If you only need to save and restore the identity of the current buffer, use save-current-
buffer or with-current-buffer instead (see Section 27.2 [Current Buffer], page 581). If
you need to save or restore window configurations, see the forms described in Section 28.26
[Window Configurations], page 676, and in Section 29.13 [Frame Configurations], page 725.
Chapter 30: Positions 753

save-excursion body. . . [Special Form]

This special form saves the identity of the current buffer and the value of point in
it, evaluates body, and finally restores the buffer and its saved value of point. Both
saved values are restored even in case of an abnormal exit via throw or error (see
Section 11.7 [Nonlocal Exits], page 158).
The value returned by save-excursion is the result of the last form in body, or nil
if no body forms were given.
Because save-excursion only saves point for the buffer that was current at the start of
the excursion, any changes made to point in other buffers, during the excursion, will remain
in effect afterward. This frequently leads to unintended consequences, so the byte compiler
warns if you call set-buffer during an excursion:
Warning: Use ‘with-current-buffer’ rather than
save-excursion+set-buffer
To avoid such problems, you should call save-excursion only after setting the desired
current buffer, as in the following example:
(defun append-string-to-buffer (string buffer)
"Append STRING to the end of BUFFER."
(with-current-buffer buffer
(save-excursion
(goto-char (point-max))
(insert string))))
Likewise, save-excursion does not restore window-buffer correspondences altered by
functions such as switch-to-buffer.
Warning: Ordinary insertion of text adjacent to the saved point value relocates the
saved value, just as it relocates all markers. More precisely, the saved value is a marker
with insertion type nil. See Section 31.5 [Marker Insertion Types], page 759. Therefore,
when the saved point value is restored, it normally comes before the inserted text.
save-mark-and-excursion body. . . [Macro]
This macro is like save-excursion, but also saves and restores the mark location
and mark-active. This macro does what save-excursion did before Emacs 25.1.

30.4 Narrowing
Narrowing means limiting the text addressable by Emacs editing commands to a limited
range of characters in a buffer. The text that remains addressable is called the accessible
portion of the buffer.
Narrowing is specified with two buffer positions, which become the beginning and end of
the accessible portion. For most editing commands and primitives, these positions replace
the values of the beginning and end of the buffer. While narrowing is in effect, no text
outside the accessible portion is displayed, and point cannot move outside the accessible
portion. Note that narrowing does not alter actual buffer positions (see Section 30.1 [Point],
page 742); it only determines which positions are considered the accessible portion of the
buffer. Most functions refuse to operate on text that is outside the accessible portion.
Commands for saving buffers are unaffected by narrowing; they save the entire buffer
regardless of any narrowing.
Chapter 30: Positions 754

If you need to display in a single buffer several very different types of text, consider using
an alternative facility described in Section 27.12 [Swapping Text], page 596.

narrow-to-region start end [Command]

This function sets the accessible portion of the current buffer to start at start and
end at end. Both arguments should be character positions.
In an interactive call, start and end are set to the bounds of the current region (point
and the mark, with the smallest first).

narrow-to-page &optional move-count [Command]

This function sets the accessible portion of the current buffer to include just the
current page. An optional first argument move-count non-nil means to move for-
ward or backward by move-count pages and then narrow to one page. The variable
page-delimiter specifies where pages start and end (see Section 34.8 [Standard Reg-
exps], page 890).
In an interactive call, move-count is set to the numeric prefix argument.

widen [Command]
This function cancels any narrowing in the current buffer, so that the entire contents
are accessible. This is called widening. It is equivalent to the following expression:
(narrow-to-region 1 (1+ (buffer-size)))

buffer-narrowed-p [Function]
This function returns non-nil if the buffer is narrowed, and nil otherwise.

save-restriction body. . . [Special Form]

This special form saves the current bounds of the accessible portion, evaluates the
body forms, and finally restores the saved bounds, thus restoring the same state of
narrowing (or absence thereof) formerly in effect. The state of narrowing is restored
even in the event of an abnormal exit via throw or error (see Section 11.7 [Nonlo-
cal Exits], page 158). Therefore, this construct is a clean way to narrow a buffer
temporarily.
The value returned by save-restriction is that returned by the last form in body,
or nil if no body forms were given.
Caution: it is easy to make a mistake when using the save-restriction construct.
Read the entire description here before you try it.
If body changes the current buffer, save-restriction still restores the restrictions
on the original buffer (the buffer whose restrictions it saved from), but it does not
restore the identity of the current buffer.
save-restriction does not restore point; use save-excursion for that. If you
use both save-restriction and save-excursion together, save-excursion should
come first (on the outside). Otherwise, the old point value would be restored with
temporary narrowing still in effect. If the old point value were outside the limits of
the temporary narrowing, this would fail to restore it accurately.
Here is a simple example of correct use of save-restriction:
 755

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

This is the contents of foo
This is the contents of foo
This is the contents of foo?
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(save-excursion
(save-restriction
(goto-char 1)
(forward-line 2)
(narrow-to-region 1 (point))
(goto-char (point-min))
(replace-string "foo" "bar")))

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

This is the contents of bar
This is the contents of bar
This is the contents of foo?
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
 756

31 Markers

A marker is a Lisp object used to specify a position in a buffer relative to the surrounding
text. A marker changes its offset from the beginning of the buffer automatically whenever
text is inserted or deleted, so that it stays with the two characters on either side of it.

31.1 Overview of Markers

A marker specifies a buffer and a position in that buffer. A marker can be used to represent
a position in functions that require one, just as an integer could be used. In that case, the
marker’s buffer is normally ignored. Of course, a marker used in this way usually points to
a position in the buffer that the function operates on, but that is entirely the programmer’s
responsibility. See Chapter 30 [Positions], page 742, for a complete description of positions.
A marker has three attributes: the marker position, the marker buffer, and the insertion
type. The marker position is an integer that is equivalent (at a given time) to the marker
as a position in that buffer. But the marker’s position value can change during the life of
the marker, and often does. Insertion and deletion of text in the buffer relocate the marker.
The idea is that a marker positioned between two characters remains between those two
characters despite insertion and deletion elsewhere in the buffer. Relocation changes the
integer equivalent of the marker.
Deleting text around a marker’s position leaves the marker between the characters imme-
diately before and after the deleted text. Inserting text at the position of a marker normally
leaves the marker either in front of or after the new text, depending on the marker’s in-
sertion type (see Section 31.5 [Marker Insertion Types], page 759)—unless the insertion is
done with insert-before-markers (see Section 32.4 [Insertion], page 769).
Insertion and deletion in a buffer must check all the markers and relocate them if neces-
sary. This slows processing in a buffer with a large number of markers. For this reason, it
is a good idea to make a marker point nowhere if you are sure you don’t need it any more.
Markers that can no longer be accessed are eventually removed (see Section E.3 [Garbage
Collection], page 1158).
Because it is common to perform arithmetic operations on a marker position, most of
these operations (including + and -) accept markers as arguments. In such cases, the marker
stands for its current position.
Here are examples of creating markers, setting markers, and moving point to markers:
;; Make a new marker that initially does not point anywhere:
(setq m1 (make-marker))
⇒ #<marker in no buffer>

;; Set m1 to point between the 99th and 100th characters

;; in the current buffer:
(set-marker m1 100)
⇒ #<marker at 100 in markers.texi>
Chapter 31: Markers 757

;; Now insert one character at the beginning of the buffer:

(goto-char (point-min))
⇒ 1
(insert "Q")
⇒ nil

;; m1 is updated appropriately.
m1
⇒ #<marker at 101 in markers.texi>

;; Two markers that point to the same position

;; are not eq, but they are equal.
(setq m2 (copy-marker m1))
⇒ #<marker at 101 in markers.texi>
(eq m1 m2)
⇒ nil
(equal m1 m2)
⇒ t

;; When you are finished using a marker, make it point nowhere.

(set-marker m1 nil)
⇒ #<marker in no buffer>

31.2 Predicates on Markers

You can test an object to see whether it is a marker, or whether it is either an integer or
a marker. The latter test is useful in connection with the arithmetic functions that work
with both markers and integers.

markerp object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a marker, nil otherwise. Note that integers are
not markers, even though many functions will accept either a marker or an integer.

integer-or-marker-p object [Function]

This function returns t if object is an integer or a marker, nil otherwise.

number-or-marker-p object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a number (either integer or floating point) or a
marker, nil otherwise.

31.3 Functions that Create Markers

When you create a new marker, you can make it point nowhere, or point to the present
position of point, or to the beginning or end of the accessible portion of the buffer, or to
the same place as another given marker.
The next four functions all return markers with insertion type nil. See Section 31.5
[Marker Insertion Types], page 759.
Chapter 31: Markers 758

make-marker [Function]
This function returns a newly created marker that does not point anywhere.
(make-marker)
⇒ #<marker in no buffer>

point-marker [Function]
This function returns a new marker that points to the present position of point in the
current buffer. See Section 30.1 [Point], page 742. For an example, see copy-marker,
below.

point-min-marker [Function]
This function returns a new marker that points to the beginning of the accessible
portion of the buffer. This will be the beginning of the buffer unless narrowing is in
effect. See Section 30.4 [Narrowing], page 753.

point-max-marker [Function]
This function returns a new marker that points to the end of the accessible portion
of the buffer. This will be the end of the buffer unless narrowing is in effect. See
Section 30.4 [Narrowing], page 753.
Here are examples of this function and point-min-marker, shown in a buffer con-
taining a version of the source file for the text of this chapter.
(point-min-marker)
⇒ #<marker at 1 in markers.texi>
(point-max-marker)
⇒ #<marker at 24080 in markers.texi>

(narrow-to-region 100 200)

⇒ nil
(point-min-marker)
⇒ #<marker at 100 in markers.texi>
(point-max-marker)
⇒ #<marker at 200 in markers.texi>

copy-marker &optional marker-or-integer insertion-type [Function]

If passed a marker as its argument, copy-marker returns a new marker that points
to the same place and the same buffer as does marker-or-integer. If passed an integer
as its argument, copy-marker returns a new marker that points to position marker-
or-integer in the current buffer.
The new marker’s insertion type is specified by the argument insertion-type. See
Section 31.5 [Marker Insertion Types], page 759.
(copy-marker 0)
⇒ #<marker at 1 in markers.texi>

(copy-marker 90000)
⇒ #<marker at 24080 in markers.texi>
An error is signaled if marker is neither a marker nor an integer.
Chapter 31: Markers 759

Two distinct markers are considered equal (even though not eq) to each other if they
have the same position and buffer, or if they both point nowhere.
(setq p (point-marker))
⇒ #<marker at 2139 in markers.texi>

(setq q (copy-marker p))

⇒ #<marker at 2139 in markers.texi>

(eq p q)
⇒ nil

(equal p q)
⇒ t

31.4 Information from Markers

This section describes the functions for accessing the components of a marker object.
marker-position marker [Function]
This function returns the position that marker points to, or nil if it points nowhere.
marker-buffer marker [Function]
This function returns the buffer that marker points into, or nil if it points nowhere.
(setq m (make-marker))
⇒ #<marker in no buffer>
(marker-position m)
⇒ nil
(marker-buffer m)
⇒ nil

(set-marker m 3770 (current-buffer))

⇒ #<marker at 3770 in markers.texi>
(marker-buffer m)
⇒ #<buffer markers.texi>
(marker-position m)
⇒ 3770

31.5 Marker Insertion Types

When you insert text directly at the place where a marker points, there are two possible
ways to relocate that marker: it can point before the inserted text, or point after it. You
can specify which one a given marker should do by setting its insertion type. Note that use
of insert-before-markers ignores markers’ insertion types, always relocating a marker to
point after the inserted text.
set-marker-insertion-type marker type [Function]
This function sets the insertion type of marker marker to type. If type is t, marker
will advance when text is inserted at its position. If type is nil, marker does not
advance when text is inserted there.
Chapter 31: Markers 760

marker-insertion-type marker [Function]

This function reports the current insertion type of marker.
All functions that create markers without accepting an argument that specifies the in-
sertion type, create them with insertion type nil (see Section 31.3 [Creating Markers],
page 757). Also, the mark has, by default, insertion type nil.

31.6 Moving Marker Positions

This section describes how to change the position of an existing marker. When you do this,
be sure you know whether the marker is used outside of your program, and, if so, what
effects will result from moving it—otherwise, confusing things may happen in other parts
of Emacs.
set-marker marker position &optional buffer [Function]
This function moves marker to position in buffer. If buffer is not provided, it defaults
to the current buffer.
If position is nil or a marker that points nowhere, then marker is set to point nowhere.
The value returned is marker.
(setq m (point-marker))
⇒ #<marker at 4714 in markers.texi>
(set-marker m 55)
⇒ #<marker at 55 in markers.texi>
(setq b (get-buffer "foo"))
⇒ #<buffer foo>
(set-marker m 0 b)
⇒ #<marker at 1 in foo>
move-marker marker position &optional buffer [Function]
This is another name for set-marker.

31.7 The Mark

Each buffer has a special marker, which is designated the mark. When a buffer is newly
created, this marker exists but does not point anywhere; this means that the mark doesn’t
exist in that buffer yet. Subsequent commands can set the mark.
The mark specifies a position to bound a range of text for many commands, such as
kill-region and indent-rigidly. These commands typically act on the text between
point and the mark, which is called the region. If you are writing a command that operates
on the region, don’t examine the mark directly; instead, use interactive with the ‘r’
specification. This provides the values of point and the mark as arguments to the command
in an interactive call, but permits other Lisp programs to specify arguments explicitly. See
Section 21.2.2 [Interactive Codes], page 371.
Some commands set the mark as a side-effect. Commands should do this only if it has
a potential use to the user, and never for their own internal purposes. For example, the
replace-regexp command sets the mark to the value of point before doing any replace-
ments, because this enables the user to move back there conveniently after the replace is
finished.
Chapter 31: Markers 761

Once the mark exists in a buffer, it normally never ceases to exist. However, it may be-
come inactive, if Transient Mark mode is enabled. The buffer-local variable mark-active, if
non-nil, means that the mark is active. A command can call the function deactivate-mark
to deactivate the mark directly, or it can request deactivation of the mark upon return to
the editor command loop by setting the variable deactivate-mark to a non-nil value.
If Transient Mark mode is enabled, certain editing commands that normally apply to
text near point, apply instead to the region when the mark is active. This is the main
motivation for using Transient Mark mode. (Another is that this enables highlighting of
the region when the mark is active. See Chapter 39 [Display], page 967.)
In addition to the mark, each buffer has a mark ring which is a list of markers contain-
ing previous values of the mark. When editing commands change the mark, they should
normally save the old value of the mark on the mark ring. The variable mark-ring-max
specifies the maximum number of entries in the mark ring; once the list becomes this long,
adding a new element deletes the last element.
There is also a separate global mark ring, but that is used only in a few particular
user-level commands, and is not relevant to Lisp programming. So we do not describe it
here.

mark &optional force [Function]

This function returns the current buffer’s mark position as an integer, or nil if no
mark has ever been set in this buffer.
If Transient Mark mode is enabled, and mark-even-if-inactive is nil, mark signals
an error if the mark is inactive. However, if force is non-nil, then mark disregards
inactivity of the mark, and returns the mark position (or nil) anyway.

mark-marker [Function]
This function returns the marker that represents the current buffer’s mark. It is not
a copy, it is the marker used internally. Therefore, changing this marker’s position
will directly affect the buffer’s mark. Don’t do that unless that is the effect you want.
(setq m (mark-marker))
⇒ #<marker at 3420 in markers.texi>
(set-marker m 100)
⇒ #<marker at 100 in markers.texi>
(mark-marker)
⇒ #<marker at 100 in markers.texi>
Like any marker, this marker can be set to point at any buffer you like. If you make
it point at any buffer other than the one of which it is the mark, it will yield perfectly
consistent, but rather odd, results. We recommend that you not do it!

set-mark position [Function]

This function sets the mark to position, and activates the mark. The old value of the
mark is not pushed onto the mark ring.
Please note: Use this function only if you want the user to see that the mark has
moved, and you want the previous mark position to be lost. Normally, when a new
mark is set, the old one should go on the mark-ring. For this reason, most applica-
tions should use push-mark and pop-mark, not set-mark.
Chapter 31: Markers 762

Novice Emacs Lisp programmers often try to use the mark for the wrong purposes.
The mark saves a location for the user’s convenience. An editing command should
not alter the mark unless altering the mark is part of the user-level functionality of
the command. (And, in that case, this effect should be documented.) To remember a
location for internal use in the Lisp program, store it in a Lisp variable. For example:
(let ((beg (point)))
(forward-line 1)
(delete-region beg (point))).
push-mark &optional position nomsg activate [Function]
This function sets the current buffer’s mark to position, and pushes a copy of the
previous mark onto mark-ring. If position is nil, then the value of point is used.
The function push-mark normally does not activate the mark. To do that, specify t
for the argument activate.
A ‘Mark set’ message is displayed unless nomsg is non-nil.
pop-mark [Function]
This function pops off the top element of mark-ring and makes that mark become
the buffer’s actual mark. This does not move point in the buffer, and it does nothing
if mark-ring is empty. It deactivates the mark.
transient-mark-mode [User Option]
This variable, if non-nil, enables Transient Mark mode. In Transient Mark mode,
every buffer-modifying primitive sets deactivate-mark. As a consequence, most
commands that modify the buffer also deactivate the mark.
When Transient Mark mode is enabled and the mark is active, many commands that
normally apply to the text near point instead apply to the region. Such commands
should use the function use-region-p to test whether they should operate on the
region. See Section 31.8 [The Region], page 764.
Lisp programs can set transient-mark-mode to non-nil, non-t values to enable
Transient Mark mode temporarily. If the value is lambda, Transient Mark mode is
automatically turned off after any action, such as buffer modification, that would nor-
mally deactivate the mark. If the value is (only . oldval), then transient-mark-
mode is set to the value oldval after any subsequent command that moves point and
is not shift-translated (see Section 21.8.1 [Key Sequence Input], page 397), or after
any other action that would normally deactivate the mark.
mark-even-if-inactive [User Option]
If this is non-nil, Lisp programs and the Emacs user can use the mark even when it is
inactive. This option affects the behavior of Transient Mark mode. When the option
is non-nil, deactivation of the mark turns off region highlighting, but commands that
use the mark behave as if the mark were still active.
deactivate-mark [Variable]
If an editor command sets this variable non-nil, then the editor command loop
deactivates the mark after the command returns (if Transient Mark mode is enabled).
All the primitives that change the buffer set deactivate-mark, to deactivate the mark
when the command is finished. Setting this variable makes it buffer-local.
Chapter 31: Markers 763

To write Lisp code that modifies the buffer without causing deactivation of the mark
at the end of the command, bind deactivate-mark to nil around the code that does
the modification. For example:
(let (deactivate-mark)
(insert " "))

deactivate-mark &optional force [Function]

If Transient Mark mode is enabled or force is non-nil, this function deactivates the
mark and runs the normal hook deactivate-mark-hook. Otherwise, it does nothing.

mark-active [Variable]
The mark is active when this variable is non-nil. This variable is always buffer-local
in each buffer. Do not use the value of this variable to decide whether a command
that normally operates on text near point should operate on the region instead. Use
the function use-region-p for that (see Section 31.8 [The Region], page 764).

activate-mark-hook [Variable]
deactivate-mark-hook [Variable]
These normal hooks are run, respectively, when the mark becomes active and when
it becomes inactive. The hook activate-mark-hook is also run at the end of the
command loop if the mark is active and it is possible that the region may have
changed.

handle-shift-selection [Function]
This function implements the shift-selection behavior of point-motion commands. See
Section “Shift Selection” in The GNU Emacs Manual. It is called automatically by the
Emacs command loop whenever a command with a ‘^’ character in its interactive
spec is invoked, before the command itself is executed (see Section 21.2.2 [Interactive
Codes], page 371).
If shift-select-mode is non-nil and the current command was invoked via shift
translation (see Section 21.8.1 [Key Sequence Input], page 397), this function sets the
mark and temporarily activates the region, unless the region was already temporarily
activated in this way. Otherwise, if the region has been activated temporarily, it
deactivates the mark and restores the variable transient-mark-mode to its earlier
value.

mark-ring [Variable]
The value of this buffer-local variable is the list of saved former marks of the current
buffer, most recent first.
mark-ring
⇒ (#<marker at 11050 in markers.texi>
#<marker at 10832 in markers.texi>
...)

mark-ring-max [User Option]

The value of this variable is the maximum size of mark-ring. If more marks than
this are pushed onto the mark-ring, push-mark discards an old mark when it adds a
new one.
Chapter 31: Markers 764

When Delete Selection mode (see Section “Using Region” in The GNU Emacs Man-
ual) is enabled, commands that operate on the active region (a.k.a. “selection”) behave
slightly differently. This works by adding the function delete-selection-pre-hook to the
pre-command-hook (see Section 21.1 [Command Overview], page 368). That function calls
delete-selection-helper to delete the selection as appropriate for the command. If you
want to adapt a command to Delete Selection mode, put the delete-selection property
on the function’s symbol (see Section 9.4.1 [Symbol Plists], page 125); commands that don’t
have this property on their symbol won’t delete the selection. This property can have one
of several values to tailor the behavior to what the command is supposed to do; see the doc
strings of delete-selection-pre-hook and delete-selection-helper for the details.

31.8 The Region

The text between point and the mark is known as the region. Various functions operate on
text delimited by point and the mark, but only those functions specifically related to the
region itself are described here.
The next two functions signal an error if the mark does not point anywhere. If Transient
Mark mode is enabled and mark-even-if-inactive is nil, they also signal an error if the
mark is inactive.

region-beginning [Function]
This function returns the position of the beginning of the region (as an integer). This
is the position of either point or the mark, whichever is smaller.

region-end [Function]
This function returns the position of the end of the region (as an integer). This is the
position of either point or the mark, whichever is larger.

Instead of using region-beginning and region-end, a command designed to operate on

a region should normally use interactive with the ‘r’ specification to find the beginning
and end of the region. This lets other Lisp programs specify the bounds explicitly as
arguments. See Section 21.2.2 [Interactive Codes], page 371.

use-region-p [Function]
This function returns t if Transient Mark mode is enabled, the mark is active, and
there is a valid region in the buffer. This function is intended to be used by commands
that operate on the region, instead of on text near point, when the mark is active.
A region is valid if it has a non-zero size, or if the user option use-empty-active-
region is non-nil (by default, it is nil). The function region-active-p is similar
to use-region-p, but considers all regions as valid. In most cases, you should not
use region-active-p, since if the region is empty it is often more appropriate to
operate on point.
 765

32 Text
This chapter describes the functions that deal with the text in a buffer. Most examine,
insert, or delete text in the current buffer, often operating at point or on text adjacent to
point. Many are interactive. All the functions that change the text provide for undoing the
changes (see Section 32.9 [Undo], page 781).
Many text-related functions operate on a region of text defined by two buffer positions
passed in arguments named start and end. These arguments should be either markers (see
Chapter 31 [Markers], page 756) or numeric character positions (see Chapter 30 [Positions],
page 742). The order of these arguments does not matter; it is all right for start to be
the end of the region and end the beginning. For example, (delete-region 1 10) and
(delete-region 10 1) are equivalent. An args-out-of-range error is signaled if either
start or end is outside the accessible portion of the buffer. In an interactive call, point and
the mark are used for these arguments.
Throughout this chapter, “text” refers to the characters in the buffer, together with their
properties (when relevant). Keep in mind that point is always between two characters, and
the cursor appears on the character after point.

32.1 Examining Text Near Point

Many functions are provided to look at the characters around point. Several simple functions
are described here. See also looking-at in Section 34.4 [Regexp Search], page 878.
In the following four functions, “beginning” or “end” of buffer refers to the beginning or
end of the accessible portion.
char-after &optional position [Function]
This function returns the character in the current buffer at (i.e., immediately after)
position position. If position is out of range for this purpose, either before the begin-
ning of the buffer, or at or beyond the end, then the value is nil. The default for
position is point.
In the following example, assume that the first character in the buffer is ‘@’:
(string (char-after 1))
⇒ "@"

char-before &optional position [Function]

This function returns the character in the current buffer immediately before position
position. If position is out of range for this purpose, either at or before the beginning
of the buffer, or beyond the end, then the value is nil. The default for position is
point.
following-char [Function]
This function returns the character following point in the current buffer. This is
similar to (char-after (point)). However, if point is at the end of the buffer, then
following-char returns 0.
Remember that point is always between characters, and the cursor normally
appears over the character following point. Therefore, the character returned by
following-char is the character the cursor is over.
Chapter 32: Text 766

In this example, point is between the ‘a’ and the ‘c’.

---------- Buffer: foo ----------
Gentlemen may cry ``Pea?ce! Peace!,''
but there is no peace.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(string (preceding-char))
⇒ "a"
(string (following-char))
⇒ "c"
preceding-char [Function]
This function returns the character preceding point in the current buffer. See above,
under following-char, for an example. If point is at the beginning of the buffer,
preceding-char returns 0.
bobp [Function]
This function returns t if point is at the beginning of the buffer. If narrowing is
in effect, this means the beginning of the accessible portion of the text. See also
point-min in Section 30.1 [Point], page 742.
eobp [Function]
This function returns t if point is at the end of the buffer. If narrowing is in effect,
this means the end of accessible portion of the text. See also point-max in See
Section 30.1 [Point], page 742.
bolp [Function]
This function returns t if point is at the beginning of a line. See Section 30.2.4 [Text
Lines], page 745. The beginning of the buffer (or of its accessible portion) always
counts as the beginning of a line.
eolp [Function]
This function returns t if point is at the end of a line. The end of the buffer (or of
its accessible portion) is always considered the end of a line.

32.2 Examining Buffer Contents

This section describes functions that allow a Lisp program to convert any portion of the
text in the buffer into a string.
buffer-substring start end [Function]
This function returns a string containing a copy of the text of the region defined by
positions start and end in the current buffer. If the arguments are not positions in the
accessible portion of the buffer, buffer-substring signals an args-out-of-range
error.
Here’s an example which assumes Font-Lock mode is not enabled:
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This is the contents of buffer foo

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

Chapter 32: Text 767

(buffer-substring 1 10)
⇒ "This is t"
(buffer-substring (point-max) 10)
⇒ "he contents of buffer foo\n"
If the text being copied has any text properties, these are copied into the string along
with the characters they belong to. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802.
However, overlays (see Section 39.9 [Overlays], page 985) in the buffer and their
properties are ignored, not copied.
For example, if Font-Lock mode is enabled, you might get results like these:
(buffer-substring 1 10)
⇒ #("This is t" 0 1 (fontified t) 1 9 (fontified t))

buffer-substring-no-properties start end [Function]

This is like buffer-substring, except that it does not copy text properties, just the
characters themselves. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802.

buffer-string [Function]
This function returns the contents of the entire accessible portion of the current buffer,
as a string.

If you need to make sure the resulting string, when copied to a different location,
will not change its visual appearance due to reordering of bidirectional text, use the
buffer-substring-with-bidi-context function (see Section 39.26 [Bidirectional
Display], page 1067).

filter-buffer-substring start end &optional delete [Function]

This function filters the buffer text between start and end using a function specified
by the variable filter-buffer-substring-function, and returns the result.
The default filter function consults the obsolete wrapper hook filter-buffer-
substring-functions (see the documentation string of the macro with-wrapper-
hook for the details about this obsolete facility), and the obsolete variable
buffer-substring-filters. If both of these are nil, it returns the unaltered text
from the buffer, i.e., what buffer-substring would return.
If delete is non-nil, the function deletes the text between start and end after copying
it, like delete-and-extract-region.
Lisp code should use this function instead of buffer-substring, buffer-substring-
no-properties, or delete-and-extract-region when copying into user-accessible
data structures such as the kill-ring, X clipboard, and registers. Major and minor
modes can modify filter-buffer-substring-function to alter such text as it is
copied out of the buffer.

filter-buffer-substring-function [Variable]
The value of this variable is a function that filter-buffer-substring will call to
do the actual work. The function receives three arguments, the same as those of
filter-buffer-substring, which it should treat as per the documentation of that
function. It should return the filtered text (and optionally delete the source text).
Chapter 32: Text 768

The following two variables are obsoleted by filter-buffer-substring-function, but

are still supported for backward compatibility.

filter-buffer-substring-functions [Variable]
This obsolete variable is a wrapper hook, whose members should be functions that
accept four arguments: fun, start, end, and delete. fun is a function that takes three
arguments (start, end, and delete), and returns a string. In both cases, the start,
end, and delete arguments are the same as those of filter-buffer-substring.
The first hook function is passed a fun that is equivalent to the default operation of
filter-buffer-substring, i.e., it returns the buffer-substring between start and end
(processed by any buffer-substring-filters) and optionally deletes the original
text from the buffer. In most cases, the hook function will call fun once, and then do
its own processing of the result. The next hook function receives a fun equivalent to
this, and so on. The actual return value is the result of all the hook functions acting
in sequence.

buffer-substring-filters [Variable]
The value of this obsolete variable should be a list of functions that accept a single
string argument and return another string. The default filter-buffer-substring
function passes the buffer substring to the first function in this list, and the return
value of each function is passed to the next function. The return value of the last
function is passed to filter-buffer-substring-functions.

current-word &optional strict really-word [Function]

This function returns the symbol (or word) at or near point, as a string. The return
value includes no text properties.
If the optional argument really-word is non-nil, it finds a word; otherwise, it finds a
symbol (which includes both word characters and symbol constituent characters).
If the optional argument strict is non-nil, then point must be in or next to the symbol
or word—if no symbol or word is there, the function returns nil. Otherwise, a nearby
symbol or word on the same line is acceptable.

thing-at-point thing &optional no-properties [Function]

Return the thing around or next to point, as a string.
The argument thing is a symbol which specifies a kind of syntactic entity. Possibilities
include symbol, list, sexp, defun, filename, url, word, sentence, whitespace,
line, page, and others.
When the optional argument no-properties is non-nil, this function strips text prop-
erties from the return value.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
Gentlemen may cry ``Pea?ce! Peace!,''
but there is no peace.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(thing-at-point 'word)
⇒ "Peace"
(thing-at-point 'line)
Chapter 32: Text 769

⇒ "Gentlemen may cry ``Peace! Peace!,''\n"

(thing-at-point 'whitespace)
⇒ nil

32.3 Comparing Text

This function lets you compare portions of the text in a buffer, without copying them into
strings first.
compare-buffer-substrings buffer1 start1 end1 buffer2 start2 end2 [Function]
This function lets you compare two substrings of the same buffer or two different
buffers. The first three arguments specify one substring, giving a buffer (or a buffer
name) and two positions within the buffer. The last three arguments specify the other
substring in the same way. You can use nil for buffer1, buffer2, or both to stand for
the current buffer.
The value is negative if the first substring is less, positive if the first is greater, and
zero if they are equal. The absolute value of the result is one plus the index of the
first differing characters within the substrings.
This function ignores case when comparing characters if case-fold-search is non-
nil. It always ignores text properties.
Suppose you have the text ‘foobarbar haha!rara!’ in the current buffer; then in this
example the two substrings are ‘rbar ’ and ‘rara!’. The value is 2 because the first
substring is greater at the second character.
(compare-buffer-substrings nil 6 11 nil 16 21)
⇒ 2

32.4 Inserting Text

Insertion means adding new text to a buffer. The inserted text goes at point—between the
character before point and the character after point. Some insertion functions leave point
before the inserted text, while other functions leave it after. We call the former insertion
after point and the latter insertion before point.
Insertion moves markers located at positions after the insertion point, so that they stay
with the surrounding text (see Chapter 31 [Markers], page 756). When a marker points
at the place of insertion, insertion may or may not relocate the marker, depending on the
marker’s insertion type (see Section 31.5 [Marker Insertion Types], page 759). Certain
special functions such as insert-before-markers relocate all such markers to point after
the inserted text, regardless of the markers’ insertion type.
Insertion functions signal an error if the current buffer is read-only (see Section 27.7
[Read Only Buffers], page 590) or if they insert within read-only text (see Section 32.19.4
[Special Properties], page 808).
These functions copy text characters from strings and buffers along with their properties.
The inserted characters have exactly the same properties as the characters they were copied
from. By contrast, characters specified as separate arguments, not part of a string or buffer,
inherit their text properties from the neighboring text.
The insertion functions convert text from unibyte to multibyte in order to insert in a
multibyte buffer, and vice versa—if the text comes from a string or from a buffer. However,
Chapter 32: Text 770

they do not convert unibyte character codes 128 through 255 to multibyte characters, not
even if the current buffer is a multibyte buffer. See Section 33.3 [Converting Representa-
tions], page 837.

insert &rest args [Function]

This function inserts the strings and/or characters args into the current buffer, at
point, moving point forward. In other words, it inserts the text before point. An
error is signaled unless all args are either strings or characters. The value is nil.

insert-before-markers &rest args [Function]

This function inserts the strings and/or characters args into the current buffer, at
point, moving point forward. An error is signaled unless all args are either strings or
characters. The value is nil.
This function is unlike the other insertion functions in that it relocates markers ini-
tially pointing at the insertion point, to point after the inserted text. If an overlay
begins at the insertion point, the inserted text falls outside the overlay; if a nonempty
overlay ends at the insertion point, the inserted text falls inside that overlay.

insert-char character &optional count inherit [Command]

This command inserts count instances of character into the current buffer before
point. The argument count must be an integer, and character must be a character.
If called interactively, this command prompts for character using its Unicode name
or its code point. See Section “Inserting Text” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
This function does not convert unibyte character codes 128 through 255 to multibyte
characters, not even if the current buffer is a multibyte buffer. See Section 33.3
[Converting Representations], page 837.
If inherit is non-nil, the inserted characters inherit sticky text properties from the two
characters before and after the insertion point. See Section 32.19.6 [Sticky Properties],
page 814.

insert-buffer-substring from-buffer-or-name &optional start end [Function]

This function inserts a portion of buffer from-buffer-or-name into the current buffer
before point. The text inserted is the region between start (inclusive) and end (ex-
clusive). (These arguments default to the beginning and end of the accessible portion
of that buffer.) This function returns nil.
In this example, the form is executed with buffer ‘bar’ as the current buffer. We
assume that buffer ‘bar’ is initially empty.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(insert-buffer-substring "foo" 1 20)

⇒ nil

---------- Buffer: bar ----------

We hold these truth?
---------- Buffer: bar ----------
Chapter 32: Text 771

insert-buffer-substring-no-properties from-buffer-or-name [Function]

&optional start end
This is like insert-buffer-substring except that it does not copy any text prop-
erties.
See Section 32.19.6 [Sticky Properties], page 814, for other insertion functions that inherit
text properties from the nearby text in addition to inserting it. Whitespace inserted by
indentation functions also inherits text properties.

32.5 User-Level Insertion Commands

This section describes higher-level commands for inserting text, commands intended pri-
marily for the user but useful also in Lisp programs.
insert-buffer from-buffer-or-name [Command]
This command inserts the entire accessible contents of from-buffer-or-name (which
must exist) into the current buffer after point. It leaves the mark after the inserted
text. The value is nil.
self-insert-command count [Command]
This command inserts the last character typed; it does so count times, before point,
and returns nil. Most printing characters are bound to this command. In routine use,
self-insert-command is the most frequently called function in Emacs, but programs
rarely use it except to install it on a keymap.
In an interactive call, count is the numeric prefix argument.
Self-insertion translates the input character through translation-table-for-input.
See Section 33.9 [Translation of Characters], page 847.
This command calls auto-fill-function whenever that is non-nil and the character
inserted is in the table auto-fill-chars (see Section 32.14 [Auto Filling], page 790).
This command performs abbrev expansion if Abbrev mode is enabled and the in-
serted character does not have word-constituent syntax. (See Chapter 36 [Abbrevs],
page 908, and Section 35.2.1 [Syntax Class Table], page 893.) It is also responsible
for calling blink-paren-function when the inserted character has close parenthesis
syntax (see Section 39.21 [Blinking], page 1058).
The final thing this command does is to run the hook post-self-insert-hook. You
could use this to automatically reindent text as it is typed, for example. If any function
on this hook needs to act on the region (see Section 31.8 [The Region], page 764), it
should make sure Delete Selection mode (see Section “Using Region” in The GNU
Emacs Manual) doesn’t delete the region before post-self-insert-hook functions
are invoked. The way to do so is to add a function that returns nil to self-insert-
uses-region-functions, a special hook that tells Delete Selection mode it should
not delete the region.
Do not try substituting your own definition of self-insert-command for the standard
one. The editor command loop handles this function specially.
newline &optional number-of-newlines [Command]
This command inserts newlines into the current buffer before point. If number-of-
newlines is supplied, that many newline characters are inserted.
Chapter 32: Text 772

This function calls auto-fill-function if the current column number is greater than
the value of fill-column and number-of-newlines is nil. Typically what auto-fill-
function does is insert a newline; thus, the overall result in this case is to insert two
newlines at different places: one at point, and another earlier in the line. newline
does not auto-fill if number-of-newlines is non-nil.
This command indents to the left margin if that is not zero. See Section 32.12
[Margins], page 788.
The value returned is nil. In an interactive call, count is the numeric prefix argument.
overwrite-mode [Variable]
This variable controls whether overwrite mode is in effect. The value should be
overwrite-mode-textual, overwrite-mode-binary, or nil. overwrite-mode-
textual specifies textual overwrite mode (treats newlines and tabs specially), and
overwrite-mode-binary specifies binary overwrite mode (treats newlines and tabs
like any other characters).

32.6 Deleting Text

Deletion means removing part of the text in a buffer, without saving it in the kill ring (see
Section 32.8 [The Kill Ring], page 775). Deleted text can’t be yanked, but can be reinserted
using the undo mechanism (see Section 32.9 [Undo], page 781). Some deletion functions do
save text in the kill ring in some special cases.
All of the deletion functions operate on the current buffer.
erase-buffer [Command]
This function deletes the entire text of the current buffer (not just the accessible por-
tion), leaving it empty. If the buffer is read-only, it signals a buffer-read-only error;
if some of the text in it is read-only, it signals a text-read-only error. Otherwise,
it deletes the text without asking for any confirmation. It returns nil.
Normally, deleting a large amount of text from a buffer inhibits further auto-saving
of that buffer because it has shrunk. However, erase-buffer does not do this, the
idea being that the future text is not really related to the former text, and its size
should not be compared with that of the former text.
delete-region start end [Command]
This command deletes the text between positions start and end in the current buffer,
and returns nil. If point was inside the deleted region, its value afterward is start.
Otherwise, point relocates with the surrounding text, as markers do.
delete-and-extract-region start end [Function]
This function deletes the text between positions start and end in the current buffer,
and returns a string containing the text just deleted.
If point was inside the deleted region, its value afterward is start. Otherwise, point
relocates with the surrounding text, as markers do.
delete-char count &optional killp [Command]
This command deletes count characters directly after point, or before point if count
is negative. If killp is non-nil, then it saves the deleted characters in the kill ring.
Chapter 32: Text 773

In an interactive call, count is the numeric prefix argument, and killp is the unpro-
cessed prefix argument. Therefore, if a prefix argument is supplied, the text is saved
in the kill ring. If no prefix argument is supplied, then one character is deleted, but
not saved in the kill ring.
The value returned is always nil.

delete-backward-char count &optional killp [Command]

This command deletes count characters directly before point, or after point if count
is negative. If killp is non-nil, then it saves the deleted characters in the kill ring.
In an interactive call, count is the numeric prefix argument, and killp is the unpro-
cessed prefix argument. Therefore, if a prefix argument is supplied, the text is saved
in the kill ring. If no prefix argument is supplied, then one character is deleted, but
not saved in the kill ring.
The value returned is always nil.

backward-delete-char-untabify count &optional killp [Command]

This command deletes count characters backward, changing tabs into spaces. When
the next character to be deleted is a tab, it is first replaced with the proper number
of spaces to preserve alignment and then one of those spaces is deleted instead of the
tab. If killp is non-nil, then the command saves the deleted characters in the kill
ring.
Conversion of tabs to spaces happens only if count is positive. If it is negative, exactly
−count characters after point are deleted.
In an interactive call, count is the numeric prefix argument, and killp is the unpro-
cessed prefix argument. Therefore, if a prefix argument is supplied, the text is saved
in the kill ring. If no prefix argument is supplied, then one character is deleted, but
not saved in the kill ring.
The value returned is always nil.

backward-delete-char-untabify-method [User Option]

This option specifies how backward-delete-char-untabify should deal with white-
space. Possible values include untabify, the default, meaning convert a tab to many
spaces and delete one; hungry, meaning delete all tabs and spaces before point with
one command; all meaning delete all tabs, spaces and newlines before point, and
nil, meaning do nothing special for whitespace characters.

32.7 User-Level Deletion Commands

This section describes higher-level commands for deleting text, commands intended primar-
ily for the user but useful also in Lisp programs.

delete-horizontal-space &optional backward-only [Command]

This function deletes all spaces and tabs around point. It returns nil.
If backward-only is non-nil, the function deletes spaces and tabs before point, but
not after point.
Chapter 32: Text 774

In the following examples, we call delete-horizontal-space four times, once on

each line, with point between the second and third characters on the line each time.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
I ?thought
I ? thought
We? thought
Yo?u thought
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(delete-horizontal-space) ; Four times.

⇒ nil

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

Ithought
Ithought
Wethought
You thought
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

delete-indentation &optional join-following-p [Command]

This function joins the line point is on to the previous line, deleting any whitespace
at the join and in some cases replacing it with one space. If join-following-p is non-
nil, delete-indentation joins this line to the following line instead. The function
returns nil.
If there is a fill prefix, and the second of the lines being joined starts with the pre-
fix, then delete-indentation deletes the fill prefix before joining the lines. See
Section 32.12 [Margins], page 788.
In the example below, point is located on the line starting ‘events’, and it makes no
difference if there are trailing spaces in the preceding line.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
When in the course of human
? events, it becomes necessary
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(delete-indentation)
⇒ nil

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

When in the course of human? events, it becomes necessary
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
After the lines are joined, the function fixup-whitespace is responsible for deciding
whether to leave a space at the junction.

fixup-whitespace [Command]
This function replaces all the horizontal whitespace surrounding point with either one
space or no space, according to the context. It returns nil.
At the beginning or end of a line, the appropriate amount of space is none. Before
a character with close parenthesis syntax, or after a character with open parenthesis
Chapter 32: Text 775

or expression-prefix syntax, no space is also appropriate. Otherwise, one space is

appropriate. See Section 35.2.1 [Syntax Class Table], page 893.
In the example below, fixup-whitespace is called the first time with point before
the word ‘spaces’ in the first line. For the second invocation, point is directly after
the ‘(’.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This has too many ?spaces
This has too many spaces at the start of (? this list)
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(fixup-whitespace)
⇒ nil
(fixup-whitespace)
⇒ nil

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

This has too many spaces
This has too many spaces at the start of (this list)
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

just-one-space &optional n [Command]

This command replaces any spaces and tabs around point with a single space, or n
spaces if n is specified. It returns nil.

delete-blank-lines [Command]
This function deletes blank lines surrounding point. If point is on a blank line with
one or more blank lines before or after it, then all but one of them are deleted. If
point is on an isolated blank line, then it is deleted. If point is on a nonblank line,
the command deletes all blank lines immediately following it.
A blank line is defined as a line containing only tabs and spaces.
delete-blank-lines returns nil.

delete-trailing-whitespace &optional start end [Command]

Delete trailing whitespace in the region defined by start and end.
This command deletes whitespace characters after the last non-whitespace character
in each line in the region.
If this command acts on the entire buffer (i.e., if called interactively with the mark
inactive, or called from Lisp with end nil), it also deletes all trailing lines at the end
of the buffer if the variable delete-trailing-lines is non-nil.

32.8 The Kill Ring

Kill functions delete text like the deletion functions, but save it so that the user can reinsert
it by yanking. Most of these functions have ‘kill-’ in their name. By contrast, the functions
whose names start with ‘delete-’ normally do not save text for yanking (though they can
still be undone); these are deletion functions.
Most of the kill commands are primarily for interactive use, and are not described here.
What we do describe are the functions provided for use in writing such commands. You
can use these functions to write commands for killing text. When you need to delete text
Chapter 32: Text 776

for internal purposes within a Lisp function, you should normally use deletion functions, so
as not to disturb the kill ring contents. See Section 32.6 [Deletion], page 772.
Killed text is saved for later yanking in the kill ring. This is a list that holds a number
of recent kills, not just the last text kill. We call this a “ring” because yanking treats it as
having elements in a cyclic order. The list is kept in the variable kill-ring, and can be
operated on with the usual functions for lists; there are also specialized functions, described
in this section, that treat it as a ring.
Some people think this use of the word “kill” is unfortunate, since it refers to operations
that specifically do not destroy the entities killed. This is in sharp contrast to ordinary life,
in which death is permanent and killed entities do not come back to life. Therefore, other
metaphors have been proposed. For example, the term “cut ring” makes sense to people
who, in pre-computer days, used scissors and paste to cut up and rearrange manuscripts.
However, it would be difficult to change the terminology now.

32.8.1 Kill Ring Concepts

The kill ring records killed text as strings in a list, most recent first. A short kill ring, for
example, might look like this:
("some text" "a different piece of text" "even older text")
When the list reaches kill-ring-max entries in length, adding a new entry automatically
deletes the last entry.
When kill commands are interwoven with other commands, each kill command makes
a new entry in the kill ring. Multiple kill commands in succession build up a single kill
ring entry, which would be yanked as a unit; the second and subsequent consecutive kill
commands add text to the entry made by the first one.
For yanking, one entry in the kill ring is designated the front of the ring. Some yank
commands rotate the ring by designating a different element as the front. But this virtual
rotation doesn’t change the list itself—the most recent entry always comes first in the list.

32.8.2 Functions for Killing

kill-region is the usual subroutine for killing text. Any command that calls this function
is a kill command (and should probably have ‘kill’ in its name). kill-region puts the
newly killed text in a new element at the beginning of the kill ring or adds it to the most
recent element. It determines automatically (using last-command) whether the previous
command was a kill command, and if so appends the killed text to the most recent entry.
The commands described below can filter the killed text before they save it in the kill
ring. They call filter-buffer-substring (see Section 32.2 [Buffer Contents], page 766)
to perform the filtering. By default, there’s no filtering, but major and minor modes and
hook functions can set up filtering, so that text saved in the kill ring is different from what
was in the buffer.

kill-region start end &optional region [Command]

This function kills the stretch of text between start and end; but if the optional
argument region is non-nil, it ignores start and end, and kills the text in the current
region instead. The text is deleted but saved in the kill ring, along with its text
properties. The value is always nil.
Chapter 32: Text 777

In an interactive call, start and end are point and the mark, and region is always
non-nil, so the command always kills the text in the current region.
If the buffer or text is read-only, kill-region modifies the kill ring just the same,
then signals an error without modifying the buffer. This is convenient because it lets
the user use a series of kill commands to copy text from a read-only buffer into the
kill ring.
kill-read-only-ok [User Option]
If this option is non-nil, kill-region does not signal an error if the buffer or text
is read-only. Instead, it simply returns, updating the kill ring but not changing the
buffer.
copy-region-as-kill start end &optional region [Command]
This function saves the stretch of text between start and end on the kill ring (including
text properties), but does not delete the text from the buffer. However, if the optional
argument region is non-nil, the function ignores start and end, and saves the current
region instead. It always returns nil.
In an interactive call, start and end are point and the mark, and region is always
non-nil, so the command always saves the text in the current region.
The command does not set this-command to kill-region, so a subsequent kill com-
mand does not append to the same kill ring entry.

32.8.3 Yanking
Yanking means inserting text from the kill ring, but it does not insert the text blindly. The
yank command, and related commands, use insert-for-yank to perform special processing
on the text before it is inserted.
insert-for-yank string [Function]
This function works like insert, except that it processes the text in string ac-
cording to the yank-handler text property, as well as the variables yank-handled-
properties and yank-excluded-properties (see below), before inserting the result
into the current buffer.
insert-buffer-substring-as-yank buf &optional start end [Function]
This function resembles insert-buffer-substring, except that it processes the text
according to yank-handled-properties and yank-excluded-properties. (It does
not handle the yank-handler property, which does not normally occur in buffer text
anyway.)
If you put a yank-handler text property on all or part of a string, that alters
how insert-for-yank inserts the string. If different parts of the string have different
yank-handler values (comparison being done with eq), each substring is handled
separately. The property value must be a list of one to four elements, with the following
format (where elements after the first may be omitted):
(function param noexclude undo)
Here is what the elements do:
function When function is non-nil, it is called instead of insert to insert the string,
with one argument—the string to insert.
Chapter 32: Text 778

param If param is present and non-nil, it replaces string (or the substring of string
being processed) as the object passed to function (or insert). For example,
if function is yank-rectangle, param should be a list of strings to insert as a
rectangle.
noexclude If noexclude is present and non-nil, that disables the normal action of
yank-handled-properties and yank-excluded-properties on the inserted
string.
undo If undo is present and non-nil, it is a function that will be called by yank-pop
to undo the insertion of the current object. It is called with two arguments,
the start and end of the current region. function can set yank-undo-function
to override the undo value.

yank-handled-properties [User Option]

This variable specifies special text property handling conditions for yanked text. It
takes effect after the text has been inserted (either normally, or via the yank-handler
property), and prior to yank-excluded-properties taking effect.
The value should be an alist of elements (prop . fun). Each alist element is handled
in order. The inserted text is scanned for stretches of text having text properties eq
to prop; for each such stretch, fun is called with three arguments: the value of the
property, and the start and end positions of the text.

yank-excluded-properties [User Option]

The value of this variable is the list of properties to remove from inserted text. Its
default value contains properties that might lead to annoying results, such as causing
the text to respond to the mouse or specifying key bindings. It takes effect after
yank-handled-properties.

32.8.4 Functions for Yanking

This section describes higher-level commands for yanking, which are intended primar-
ily for the user but useful also in Lisp programs. Both yank and yank-pop honor the
yank-excluded-properties variable and yank-handler text property (see Section 32.8.3
[Yanking], page 777).

yank &optional arg [Command]

This command inserts before point the text at the front of the kill ring. It sets the
mark at the beginning of that text, using push-mark (see Section 31.7 [The Mark],
page 760), and puts point at the end.
If arg is a non-nil list (which occurs interactively when the user types C-u with
no digits), then yank inserts the text as described above, but puts point before the
yanked text and sets the mark after it.
If arg is a number, then yank inserts the argth most recently killed text—the argth
element of the kill ring list, counted cyclically from the front, which is considered the
first element for this purpose.
yank does not alter the contents of the kill ring, unless it used text provided by
another program, in which case it pushes that text onto the kill ring. However if arg
Chapter 32: Text 779

is an integer different from one, it rotates the kill ring to place the yanked string at
the front.
yank returns nil.
yank-pop &optional arg [Command]
This command replaces the just-yanked entry from the kill ring with a different entry
from the kill ring.
This is allowed only immediately after a yank or another yank-pop. At such a time,
the region contains text that was just inserted by yanking. yank-pop deletes that
text and inserts in its place a different piece of killed text. It does not add the deleted
text to the kill ring, since it is already in the kill ring somewhere. It does however
rotate the kill ring to place the newly yanked string at the front.
If arg is nil, then the replacement text is the previous element of the kill ring. If
arg is numeric, the replacement is the argth previous kill. If arg is negative, a more
recent kill is the replacement.
The sequence of kills in the kill ring wraps around, so that after the oldest one comes
the newest one, and before the newest one goes the oldest.
The return value is always nil.
yank-undo-function [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, the function yank-pop uses its value instead of
delete-region to delete the text inserted by the previous yank or yank-pop
command. The value must be a function of two arguments, the start and end of the
current region.
The function insert-for-yank automatically sets this variable according to the undo
element of the yank-handler text property, if there is one.

32.8.5 Low-Level Kill Ring

These functions and variables provide access to the kill ring at a lower level, but are still
convenient for use in Lisp programs, because they take care of interaction with window
system selections (see Section 29.20 [Window System Selections], page 733).
current-kill n &optional do-not-move [Function]
The function current-kill rotates the yanking pointer, which designates the front
of the kill ring, by n places (from newer kills to older ones), and returns the text at
that place in the ring.
If the optional second argument do-not-move is non-nil, then current-kill doesn’t
alter the yanking pointer; it just returns the nth kill, counting from the current
yanking pointer.
If n is zero, indicating a request for the latest kill, current-kill calls the value of
interprogram-paste-function (documented below) before consulting the kill ring.
If that value is a function and calling it returns a string or a list of several strings,
current-kill pushes the strings onto the kill ring and returns the first string. It also
sets the yanking pointer to point to the kill-ring entry of the first string returned by
interprogram-paste-function, regardless of the value of do-not-move. Otherwise,
current-kill does not treat a zero value for n specially: it returns the entry pointed
at by the yanking pointer and does not move the yanking pointer.
Chapter 32: Text 780

kill-new string &optional replace [Function]

This function pushes the text string onto the kill ring and makes the yanking pointer
point to it. It discards the oldest entry if appropriate. It also invokes the values
of interprogram-paste-function (subject to the user option save-interprogram-
paste-before-kill) and interprogram-cut-function (see below).
If replace is non-nil, then kill-new replaces the first element of the kill ring with
string, rather than pushing string onto the kill ring.

kill-append string before-p [Function]

This function appends the text string to the first entry in the kill ring and makes
the yanking pointer point to the combined entry. Normally string goes at the end
of the entry, but if before-p is non-nil, it goes at the beginning. This function calls
kill-new as a subroutine, thus causing the values of interprogram-cut-function
and possibly interprogram-paste-function (see below) to be invoked by extension.

interprogram-paste-function [Variable]
This variable provides a way of transferring killed text from other programs, when
you are using a window system. Its value should be nil or a function of no arguments.
If the value is a function, current-kill calls it to get the most recent kill. If the
function returns a non-nil value, then that value is used as the most recent kill. If it
returns nil, then the front of the kill ring is used.
To facilitate support for window systems that support multiple selections, this func-
tion may also return a list of strings. In that case, the first string is used as the most
recent kill, and all the other strings are pushed onto the kill ring, for easy access by
yank-pop.
The normal use of this function is to get the window system’s clipboard as the most
recent kill, even if the selection belongs to another application. See Section 29.20
[Window System Selections], page 733. However, if the clipboard contents come from
the current Emacs session, this function should return nil.

interprogram-cut-function [Variable]
This variable provides a way of communicating killed text to other programs, when
you are using a window system. Its value should be nil or a function of one required
argument.
If the value is a function, kill-new and kill-append call it with the new first element
of the kill ring as the argument.
The normal use of this function is to put newly killed text in the window system’s
clipboard. See Section 29.20 [Window System Selections], page 733.

32.8.6 Internals of the Kill Ring

The variable kill-ring holds the kill ring contents, in the form of a list of strings. The
most recent kill is always at the front of the list.
The kill-ring-yank-pointer variable points to a link in the kill ring list, whose car is
the text to yank next. We say it identifies the front of the ring. Moving kill-ring-yank-
pointer to a different link is called rotating the kill ring. We call the kill ring a “ring”
because the functions that move the yank pointer wrap around from the end of the list to
Chapter 32: Text 781

the beginning, or vice-versa. Rotation of the kill ring is virtual; it does not change the value
of kill-ring.
Both kill-ring and kill-ring-yank-pointer are Lisp variables whose values are nor-
mally lists. The word “pointer” in the name of the kill-ring-yank-pointer indicates
that the variable’s purpose is to identify one element of the list for use by the next yank
command.
The value of kill-ring-yank-pointer is always eq to one of the links in the kill ring
list. The element it identifies is the car of that link. Kill commands, which change the kill
ring, also set this variable to the value of kill-ring. The effect is to rotate the ring so
that the newly killed text is at the front.
Here is a diagram that shows the variable kill-ring-yank-pointer pointing to the sec-
ond entry in the kill ring ("some text" "a different piece of text" "yet older text").
kill-ring ---- kill-ring-yank-pointer
| |
| v
| --- --- --- --- --- ---
--> | | |------> | | |--> | | |--> nil
--- --- --- --- --- ---
| | |
| | |
| | -->"yet older text"
| |
| --> "a different piece of text"
|
--> "some text"
This state of affairs might occur after C-y (yank) immediately followed by M-y (yank-pop).
kill-ring [Variable]
This variable holds the list of killed text sequences, most recently killed first.
kill-ring-yank-pointer [Variable]
This variable’s value indicates which element of the kill ring is at the front of the ring
for yanking. More precisely, the value is a tail of the value of kill-ring, and its car
is the kill string that C-y should yank.
kill-ring-max [User Option]
The value of this variable is the maximum length to which the kill ring can grow,
before elements are thrown away at the end. The default value for kill-ring-max is
60.

32.9 Undo
Most buffers have an undo list, which records all changes made to the buffer’s text so that
they can be undone. (The buffers that don’t have one are usually special-purpose buffers
for which Emacs assumes that undoing is not useful. In particular, any buffer whose name
begins with a space has its undo recording off by default; see Section 27.3 [Buffer Names],
page 584.) All the primitives that modify the text in the buffer automatically add elements
to the front of the undo list, which is in the variable buffer-undo-list.
Chapter 32: Text 782

buffer-undo-list [Variable]
This buffer-local variable’s value is the undo list of the current buffer. A value of t
disables the recording of undo information.
Here are the kinds of elements an undo list can have:
position This kind of element records a previous value of point; undoing this element
moves point to position. Ordinary cursor motion does not make any sort of
undo record, but deletion operations use these entries to record where point
was before the command.
(beg . end)
This kind of element indicates how to delete text that was inserted. Upon
insertion, the text occupied the range beg–end in the buffer.
(text . position)
This kind of element indicates how to reinsert text that was deleted. The
deleted text itself is the string text. The place to reinsert it is (abs position).
If position is positive, point was at the beginning of the deleted text, other-
wise it was at the end. Zero or more (marker . adjustment) elements follow
immediately after this element.
(t . time-flag)
This kind of element indicates that an unmodified buffer became modified.
A time-flag of the form (sec-high sec-low microsec picosec) represents
the visited file’s modification time as of when it was previously visited or
saved, using the same format as current-time; see Section 40.5 [Time of Day],
page 1086. A time-flag of 0 means the buffer does not correspond to any file;
−1 means the visited file previously did not exist. primitive-undo uses these
values to determine whether to mark the buffer as unmodified once again; it
does so only if the file’s status matches that of time-flag.
(nil property value beg . end)
This kind of element records a change in a text property. Here’s how you might
undo the change:
(put-text-property beg end property value)
(marker . adjustment)
This kind of element records the fact that the marker marker was relocated
due to deletion of surrounding text, and that it moved adjustment character
positions. If the marker’s location is consistent with the (text . position)
element preceding it in the undo list, then undoing this element moves marker
− adjustment characters.
(apply funname . args)
This is an extensible undo item, which is undone by calling funname with
arguments args.
(apply delta beg end funname . args)
This is an extensible undo item, which records a change limited to the range
beg to end, which increased the size of the buffer by delta characters. It is
undone by calling funname with arguments args.
Chapter 32: Text 783

This kind of element enables undo limited to a region to determine whether the
element pertains to that region.
nil This element is a boundary. The elements between two boundaries are called
a change group; normally, each change group corresponds to one keyboard
command, and undo commands normally undo an entire group as a unit.

undo-boundary [Function]
This function places a boundary element in the undo list. The undo command stops
at such a boundary, and successive undo commands undo to earlier and earlier bound-
aries. This function returns nil.
Calling this function explicitly is useful for splitting the effects of a command into
more than one unit. For example, query-replace calls undo-boundary after each
replacement, so that the user can undo individual replacements one by one.
Mostly, however, this function is called automatically at an appropriate time.

undo-auto-amalgamate [Function]
The editor command loop automatically calls undo-boundary just before executing
each key sequence, so that each undo normally undoes the effects of one command. A
few exceptional commands are amalgamating: these commands generally cause small
changes to buffers, so with these a boundary is inserted only every 20th command, al-
lowing the changes to be undone as a group. By default, the commands self-insert-
command, which produces self-inserting input characters (see Section 32.5 [Commands
for Insertion], page 771), and delete-char, which deletes characters (see Section 32.6
[Deletion], page 772), are amalgamating. Where a command affects the contents of
several buffers, as may happen, for example, when a function on the post-command-
hook affects a buffer other than the current-buffer, then undo-boundary will be
called in each of the affected buffers.

undo-auto-current-boundary-timer [Variable]
Some buffers, such as process buffers, can change even when no commands are exe-
cuting. In these cases, undo-boundary is normally called periodically by the timer in
this variable. Setting this variable to non-nil prevents this behavior.

undo-in-progress [Variable]
This variable is normally nil, but the undo commands bind it to t. This is so
that various kinds of change hooks can tell when they’re being called for the sake of
undoing.

primitive-undo count list [Function]

This is the basic function for undoing elements of an undo list. It undoes the first
count elements of list, returning the rest of list.
primitive-undo adds elements to the buffer’s undo list when it changes the buffer.
Undo commands avoid confusion by saving the undo list value at the beginning of a
sequence of undo operations. Then the undo operations use and update the saved
value. The new elements added by undoing are not part of this saved value, so they
don’t interfere with continuing to undo.
This function does not bind undo-in-progress.
Chapter 32: Text 784

32.10 Maintaining Undo Lists

This section describes how to enable and disable undo information for a given buffer. It
also explains how the undo list is truncated automatically so it doesn’t get too big.
Recording of undo information in a newly created buffer is normally enabled to start
with; but if the buffer name starts with a space, the undo recording is initially disabled.
You can explicitly enable or disable undo recording with the following two functions, or by
setting buffer-undo-list yourself.

buffer-enable-undo &optional buffer-or-name [Command]

This command enables recording undo information for buffer buffer-or-name, so that
subsequent changes can be undone. If no argument is supplied, then the current
buffer is used. This function does nothing if undo recording is already enabled in the
buffer. It returns nil.
In an interactive call, buffer-or-name is the current buffer. You cannot specify any
other buffer.

buffer-disable-undo &optional buffer-or-name [Command]

This function discards the undo list of buffer-or-name, and disables further recording
of undo information. As a result, it is no longer possible to undo either previous
changes or any subsequent changes. If the undo list of buffer-or-name is already
disabled, this function has no effect.
In an interactive call, BUFFER-OR-NAME is the current buffer. You cannot specify
any other buffer. This function returns nil.

As editing continues, undo lists get longer and longer. To prevent them from using up all
available memory space, garbage collection trims them back to size limits you can set. (For
this purpose, the size of an undo list measures the cons cells that make up the list, plus the
strings of deleted text.) Three variables control the range of acceptable sizes: undo-limit,
undo-strong-limit and undo-outer-limit. In these variables, size is counted as the
number of bytes occupied, which includes both saved text and other data.

undo-limit [User Option]

This is the soft limit for the acceptable size of an undo list. The change group at
which this size is exceeded is the last one kept.

undo-strong-limit [User Option]

This is the upper limit for the acceptable size of an undo list. The change group at
which this size is exceeded is discarded itself (along with all older change groups).
There is one exception: the very latest change group is only discarded if it exceeds
undo-outer-limit.

undo-outer-limit [User Option]

If at garbage collection time the undo info for the current command exceeds this limit,
Emacs discards the info and displays a warning. This is a last ditch limit to prevent
memory overflow.
Chapter 32: Text 785

undo-ask-before-discard [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, when the undo info exceeds undo-outer-limit, Emacs
asks in the echo area whether to discard the info. The default value is nil, which
means to discard it automatically.
This option is mainly intended for debugging. Garbage collection is inhibited while
the question is asked, which means that Emacs might leak memory if the user waits
too long before answering the question.

32.11 Filling
Filling means adjusting the lengths of lines (by moving the line breaks) so that they are
nearly (but no greater than) a specified maximum width. Additionally, lines can be justified,
which means inserting spaces to make the left and/or right margins line up precisely. The
width is controlled by the variable fill-column. For ease of reading, lines should be no
longer than 70 or so columns.
You can use Auto Fill mode (see Section 32.14 [Auto Filling], page 790) to fill text
automatically as you insert it, but changes to existing text may leave it improperly filled.
Then you must fill the text explicitly.
Most of the commands in this section return values that are not meaningful. All the
functions that do filling take note of the current left margin, current right margin, and
current justification style (see Section 32.12 [Margins], page 788). If the current justification
style is none, the filling functions don’t actually do anything.
Several of the filling functions have an argument justify. If it is non-nil, that requests
some kind of justification. It can be left, right, full, or center, to request a specific
style of justification. If it is t, that means to use the current justification style for this part
of the text (see current-justification, below). Any other value is treated as full.
When you call the filling functions interactively, using a prefix argument implies the
value full for justify.

fill-paragraph &optional justify region [Command]

This command fills the paragraph at or after point. If justify is non-nil, each line is
justified as well. It uses the ordinary paragraph motion commands to find paragraph
boundaries. See Section “Paragraphs” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
When region is non-nil, then if Transient Mark mode is enabled and the mark is
active, this command calls fill-region to fill all the paragraphs in the region, instead
of filling only the current paragraph. When this command is called interactively,
region is t.

fill-region start end &optional justify nosqueeze to-eop [Command]

This command fills each of the paragraphs in the region from start to end. It justifies
as well if justify is non-nil.
If nosqueeze is non-nil, that means to leave whitespace other than line breaks un-
touched. If to-eop is non-nil, that means to keep filling to the end of the paragraph—
or the next hard newline, if use-hard-newlines is enabled (see below).
The variable paragraph-separate controls how to distinguish paragraphs. See
Section 34.8 [Standard Regexps], page 890.
Chapter 32: Text 786

fill-individual-paragraphs start end &optional justify [Command]

citation-regexp
This command fills each paragraph in the region according to its individual fill prefix.
Thus, if the lines of a paragraph were indented with spaces, the filled paragraph will
remain indented in the same fashion.
The first two arguments, start and end, are the beginning and end of the region to be
filled. The third and fourth arguments, justify and citation-regexp, are optional. If
justify is non-nil, the paragraphs are justified as well as filled. If citation-regexp is
non-nil, it means the function is operating on a mail message and therefore should
not fill the header lines. If citation-regexp is a string, it is used as a regular expression;
if it matches the beginning of a line, that line is treated as a citation marker.
Ordinarily, fill-individual-paragraphs regards each change in indentation as
starting a new paragraph. If fill-individual-varying-indent is non-nil, then
only separator lines separate paragraphs. That mode can handle indented paragraphs
with additional indentation on the first line.

fill-individual-varying-indent [User Option]

This variable alters the action of fill-individual-paragraphs as described above.

fill-region-as-paragraph start end &optional justify nosqueeze [Command]

squeeze-after
This command considers a region of text as a single paragraph and fills it. If the
region was made up of many paragraphs, the blank lines between paragraphs are
removed. This function justifies as well as filling when justify is non-nil.
If nosqueeze is non-nil, that means to leave whitespace other than line breaks un-
touched. If squeeze-after is non-nil, it specifies a position in the region, and means
don’t canonicalize spaces before that position.
In Adaptive Fill mode, this command calls fill-context-prefix to choose a fill
prefix by default. See Section 32.13 [Adaptive Fill], page 789.

justify-current-line &optional how eop nosqueeze [Command]

This command inserts spaces between the words of the current line so that the line
ends exactly at fill-column. It returns nil.
The argument how, if non-nil specifies explicitly the style of justification. It can be
left, right, full, center, or none. If it is t, that means to follow specified justifi-
cation style (see current-justification, below). nil means to do full justification.
If eop is non-nil, that means do only left-justification if current-justification
specifies full justification. This is used for the last line of a paragraph; even if the
paragraph as a whole is fully justified, the last line should not be.
If nosqueeze is non-nil, that means do not change interior whitespace.

default-justification [User Option]

This variable’s value specifies the style of justification to use for text that doesn’t
specify a style with a text property. The possible values are left, right, full,
center, or none. The default value is left.
Chapter 32: Text 787

current-justification [Function]
This function returns the proper justification style to use for filling the text around
point.
This returns the value of the justification text property at point, or the variable
default-justification if there is no such text property. However, it returns nil
rather than none to mean “don’t justify”.

sentence-end-double-space [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, a period followed by just one space does not count as the
end of a sentence, and the filling functions avoid breaking the line at such a place.

sentence-end-without-period [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, a sentence can end without a period. This is used for
languages like Thai, where sentences end with a double space but without a period.

sentence-end-without-space [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, it should be a string of characters that can end a sentence
without following spaces.

fill-separate-heterogeneous-words-with-space [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, two words of different kind (e.g., English and CJK) will
be separated with a space when concatenating one that is in the end of a line and the
other that is in the beginning of the next line for filling.

fill-paragraph-function [Variable]
This variable provides a way to override the filling of paragraphs. If its value is non-
nil, fill-paragraph calls this function to do the work. If the function returns a
non-nil value, fill-paragraph assumes the job is done, and immediately returns
that value.
The usual use of this feature is to fill comments in programming language modes. If
the function needs to fill a paragraph in the usual way, it can do so as follows:
(let ((fill-paragraph-function nil))
(fill-paragraph arg))

fill-forward-paragraph-function [Variable]
This variable provides a way to override how the filling functions, such as fill-region
and fill-paragraph, move forward to the next paragraph. Its value should be a
function, which is called with a single argument n, the number of paragraphs to
move, and should return the difference between n and the number of paragraphs
actually moved. The default value of this variable is forward-paragraph. See Section
“Paragraphs” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

use-hard-newlines [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, the filling functions do not delete newlines that have the
hard text property. These hard newlines act as paragraph separators. See Section
“Hard and Soft Newlines” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
Chapter 32: Text 788

32.12 Margins for Filling

fill-prefix [User Option]
This buffer-local variable, if non-nil, specifies a string of text that appears at the
beginning of normal text lines and should be disregarded when filling them. Any line
that fails to start with the fill prefix is considered the start of a paragraph; so is any
line that starts with the fill prefix followed by additional whitespace. Lines that start
with the fill prefix but no additional whitespace are ordinary text lines that can be
filled together. The resulting filled lines also start with the fill prefix.
The fill prefix follows the left margin whitespace, if any.

fill-column [User Option]

This buffer-local variable specifies the maximum width of filled lines. Its value should
be an integer, which is a number of columns. All the filling, justification, and centering
commands are affected by this variable, including Auto Fill mode (see Section 32.14
[Auto Filling], page 790).
As a practical matter, if you are writing text for other people to read, you should set
fill-column to no more than 70. Otherwise the line will be too long for people to
read comfortably, and this can make the text seem clumsy.
The default value for fill-column is 70.

set-left-margin from to margin [Command]

This sets the left-margin property on the text from from to to to the value margin.
If Auto Fill mode is enabled, this command also refills the region to fit the new
margin.

set-right-margin from to margin [Command]

This sets the right-margin property on the text from from to to to the value margin.
If Auto Fill mode is enabled, this command also refills the region to fit the new margin.

current-left-margin [Function]
This function returns the proper left margin value to use for filling the text around
point. The value is the sum of the left-margin property of the character at the start
of the current line (or zero if none), and the value of the variable left-margin.

current-fill-column [Function]
This function returns the proper fill column value to use for filling the text around
point. The value is the value of the fill-column variable, minus the value of the
right-margin property of the character after point.

move-to-left-margin &optional n force [Command]

This function moves point to the left margin of the current line. The column moved
to is determined by calling the function current-left-margin. If the argument n is
non-nil, move-to-left-margin moves forward n−1 lines first.
If force is non-nil, that says to fix the line’s indentation if that doesn’t match the
left margin value.
Chapter 32: Text 789

delete-to-left-margin &optional from to [Function]

This function removes left margin indentation from the text between from and to.
The amount of indentation to delete is determined by calling current-left-margin.
In no case does this function delete non-whitespace. If from and to are omitted, they
default to the whole buffer.
indent-to-left-margin [Function]
This function adjusts the indentation at the beginning of the current line to the value
specified by the variable left-margin. (That may involve either inserting or deleting
whitespace.) This function is value of indent-line-function in Paragraph-Indent
Text mode.
left-margin [User Option]
This variable specifies the base left margin column. In Fundamental mode, RET in-
dents to this column. This variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set in
any fashion.
fill-nobreak-predicate [User Option]
This variable gives major modes a way to specify not to break a line at certain places.
Its value should be a list of functions. Whenever filling considers breaking the line at
a certain place in the buffer, it calls each of these functions with no arguments and
with point located at that place. If any of the functions returns non-nil, then the
line won’t be broken there.

32.13 Adaptive Fill Mode

When Adaptive Fill Mode is enabled, Emacs determines the fill prefix automatically from
the text in each paragraph being filled rather than using a predetermined value. During
filling, this fill prefix gets inserted at the start of the second and subsequent lines of the
paragraph as described in Section 32.11 [Filling], page 785, and in Section 32.14 [Auto
Filling], page 790.
adaptive-fill-mode [User Option]
Adaptive Fill mode is enabled when this variable is non-nil. It is t by default.
fill-context-prefix from to [Function]
This function implements the heart of Adaptive Fill mode; it chooses a fill prefix
based on the text between from and to, typically the start and end of a paragraph.
It does this by looking at the first two lines of the paragraph, based on the variables
described below.
Usually, this function returns the fill prefix, a string. However, before doing this,
the function makes a final check (not specially mentioned in the following) that a
line starting with this prefix wouldn’t look like the start of a paragraph. Should this
happen, the function signals the anomaly by returning nil instead.
In detail, fill-context-prefix does this:
1. It takes a candidate for the fill prefix from the first line—it tries first the
function in adaptive-fill-function (if any), then the regular expression
adaptive-fill-regexp (see below). The first non-nil result of these, or the
empty string if they’re both nil, becomes the first line’s candidate.
Chapter 32: Text 790

2. If the paragraph has as yet only one line, the function tests the validity of the
prefix candidate just found. The function then returns the candidate if it’s valid,
or a string of spaces otherwise. (see the description of adaptive-fill-first-
line-regexp below).
3. When the paragraph already has two lines, the function next looks for a prefix
candidate on the second line, in just the same way it did for the first line. If it
doesn’t find one, it returns nil.
4. The function now compares the two candidate prefixes heuristically: if the non-
whitespace characters in the line 2 candidate occur in the same order in the line
1 candidate, the function returns the line 2 candidate. Otherwise, it returns the
largest initial substring which is common to both candidates (which might be
the empty string).
adaptive-fill-regexp [User Option]
Adaptive Fill mode matches this regular expression against the text starting after
the left margin whitespace (if any) on a line; the characters it matches are that line’s
candidate for the fill prefix.
The default value matches whitespace with certain punctuation characters intermin-
gled.
adaptive-fill-first-line-regexp [User Option]
Used only in one-line paragraphs, this regular expression acts as an additional check
of the validity of the one available candidate fill prefix: the candidate must match
this regular expression, or match comment-start-skip. If it doesn’t, fill-context-
prefix replaces the candidate with a string of spaces of the same width as it.
The default value of this variable is "\\`[ \t]*\\'", which matches only a string
of whitespace. The effect of this default is to force the fill prefixes found in one-line
paragraphs always to be pure whitespace.
adaptive-fill-function [User Option]
You can specify more complex ways of choosing a fill prefix automatically by setting
this variable to a function. The function is called with point after the left margin (if
any) of a line, and it must preserve point. It should return either that line’s fill prefix
or nil, meaning it has failed to determine a prefix.

32.14 Auto Filling

Auto Fill mode is a minor mode that fills lines automatically as text is inserted. See
Section “Auto Fill” in The GNU Emacs Manual. This section describes some variables
used by Auto Fill mode. For a description of functions that you can call explicitly to fill
and justify existing text, see Section 32.11 [Filling], page 785.
Auto Fill mode also enables the functions that change the margins and justification style
to refill portions of the text. See Section 32.12 [Margins], page 788.
auto-fill-function [Variable]
The value of this buffer-local variable should be a function (of no arguments) to be
called after self-inserting a character from the table auto-fill-chars, see below. It
may be nil, in which case nothing special is done in that case.
Chapter 32: Text 791

The value of auto-fill-function is do-auto-fill when Auto Fill mode is enabled.

That is a function whose sole purpose is to implement the usual strategy for breaking
a line.

normal-auto-fill-function [Variable]
This variable specifies the function to use for auto-fill-function, if and when Auto
Fill is turned on. Major modes can set buffer-local values for this variable to alter
how Auto Fill works.

auto-fill-chars [Variable]
A char table of characters which invoke auto-fill-function when self-inserted—
space and newline in most language environments. They have an entry t in the
table.

comment-auto-fill-only-comments [User Option]

This variable, if non-nil, means to fill lines automatically within comments only.
More precisely, this means that if a comment syntax was defined for the current
buffer, then self-inserting a character outside of a comment will not call auto-fill-
function.

32.15 Sorting Text

The sorting functions described in this section all rearrange text in a buffer. This is in
contrast to the function sort, which rearranges the order of the elements of a list (see
Section 5.6.3 [Rearrangement], page 80). The values returned by these functions are not
meaningful.

sort-subr reverse nextrecfun endrecfun &optional startkeyfun [Function]

endkeyfun predicate
This function is the general text-sorting routine that subdivides a buffer into records
and then sorts them. Most of the commands in this section use this function.
To understand how sort-subr works, consider the whole accessible portion of the
buffer as being divided into disjoint pieces called sort records. The records may or
may not be contiguous, but they must not overlap. A portion of each sort record
(perhaps all of it) is designated as the sort key. Sorting rearranges the records in
order by their sort keys.
Usually, the records are rearranged in order of ascending sort key. If the first argument
to the sort-subr function, reverse, is non-nil, the sort records are rearranged in order
of descending sort key.
The next four arguments to sort-subr are functions that are called to move point
across a sort record. They are called many times from within sort-subr.
1. nextrecfun is called with point at the end of a record. This function moves point
to the start of the next record. The first record is assumed to start at the position
of point when sort-subr is called. Therefore, you should usually move point to
the beginning of the buffer before calling sort-subr.
This function can indicate there are no more sort records by leaving point at the
end of the buffer.
Chapter 32: Text 792

2. endrecfun is called with point within a record. It moves point to the end of the
record.
3. startkeyfun is called to move point from the start of a record to the start of the
sort key. This argument is optional; if it is omitted, the whole record is the sort
key. If supplied, the function should either return a non-nil value to be used as
the sort key, or return nil to indicate that the sort key is in the buffer starting
at point. In the latter case, endkeyfun is called to find the end of the sort key.
4. endkeyfun is called to move point from the start of the sort key to the end of
the sort key. This argument is optional. If startkeyfun returns nil and this
argument is omitted (or nil), then the sort key extends to the end of the record.
There is no need for endkeyfun if startkeyfun returns a non-nil value.

The argument predicate is the function to use to compare keys. If keys are numbers,
it defaults to <; otherwise it defaults to string<.
As an example of sort-subr, here is the complete function definition for sort-lines:
;; Note that the first two lines of doc string
;; are effectively one line when viewed by a user.
(defun sort-lines (reverse beg end)
"Sort lines in region alphabetically;\
argument means descending order.
Called from a program, there are three arguments:
REVERSE (non-nil means reverse order),\
BEG and END (region to sort).
The variable `sort-fold-case' determines\
whether alphabetic case affects
the sort order."
(interactive "P\nr")
(save-excursion
(save-restriction
(narrow-to-region beg end)
(goto-char (point-min))
(let ((inhibit-field-text-motion t))
(sort-subr reverse 'forward-line 'end-of-line)))))
Here forward-line moves point to the start of the next record, and end-of-line
moves point to the end of record. We do not pass the arguments startkeyfun and
endkeyfun, because the entire record is used as the sort key.
The sort-paragraphs function is very much the same, except that its sort-subr
call looks like this:
(sort-subr reverse
(function
(lambda ()
(while (and (not (eobp))
(looking-at paragraph-separate))
(forward-line 1))))
'forward-paragraph)
Chapter 32: Text 793

Markers pointing into any sort records are left with no useful position after sort-subr
returns.

sort-fold-case [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, sort-subr and the other buffer sorting functions ignore
case when comparing strings.

sort-regexp-fields reverse record-regexp key-regexp start end [Command]

This command sorts the region between start and end alphabetically as specified
by record-regexp and key-regexp. If reverse is a negative integer, then sorting is in
reverse order.
Alphabetical sorting means that two sort keys are compared by comparing the first
characters of each, the second characters of each, and so on. If a mismatch is found,
it means that the sort keys are unequal; the sort key whose character is less at the
point of first mismatch is the lesser sort key. The individual characters are compared
according to their numerical character codes in the Emacs character set.
The value of the record-regexp argument specifies how to divide the buffer into sort
records. At the end of each record, a search is done for this regular expression, and the
text that matches it is taken as the next record. For example, the regular expression
‘^.+$’, which matches lines with at least one character besides a newline, would make
each such line into a sort record. See Section 34.3 [Regular Expressions], page 868,
for a description of the syntax and meaning of regular expressions.
The value of the key-regexp argument specifies what part of each record is the sort
key. The key-regexp could match the whole record, or only a part. In the latter case,
the rest of the record has no effect on the sorted order of records, but it is carried
along when the record moves to its new position.
The key-regexp argument can refer to the text matched by a subexpression of record-
regexp, or it can be a regular expression on its own.
If key-regexp is:
‘\digit’ then the text matched by the digitth ‘\(...\)’ parenthesis grouping in
record-regexp is the sort key.
‘\&’ then the whole record is the sort key.
a regular expression
then sort-regexp-fields searches for a match for the regular expression
within the record. If such a match is found, it is the sort key. If there
is no match for key-regexp within a record then that record is ignored,
which means its position in the buffer is not changed. (The other records
may move around it.)
For example, if you plan to sort all the lines in the region by the first word on each line
starting with the letter ‘f’, you should set record-regexp to ‘^.*$’ and set key-regexp
to ‘\<f\w*\>’. The resulting expression looks like this:
(sort-regexp-fields nil "^.*$" "\\<f\\w*\\>"
(region-beginning)
(region-end))
Chapter 32: Text 794

If you call sort-regexp-fields interactively, it prompts for record-regexp and key-

regexp in the minibuffer.

sort-lines reverse start end [Command]

This command alphabetically sorts lines in the region between start and end. If
reverse is non-nil, the sort is in reverse order.

sort-paragraphs reverse start end [Command]

This command alphabetically sorts paragraphs in the region between start and end.
If reverse is non-nil, the sort is in reverse order.

sort-pages reverse start end [Command]

This command alphabetically sorts pages in the region between start and end. If
reverse is non-nil, the sort is in reverse order.

sort-fields field start end [Command]

This command sorts lines in the region between start and end, comparing them
alphabetically by the fieldth field of each line. Fields are separated by whitespace
and numbered starting from 1. If field is negative, sorting is by the −fieldth field
from the end of the line. This command is useful for sorting tables.

sort-numeric-fields field start end [Command]

This command sorts lines in the region between start and end, comparing them
numerically by the fieldth field of each line. Fields are separated by whitespace and
numbered starting from 1. The specified field must contain a number in each line of
the region. Numbers starting with 0 are treated as octal, and numbers starting with
‘0x’ are treated as hexadecimal.
If field is negative, sorting is by the −fieldth field from the end of the line. This
command is useful for sorting tables.

sort-numeric-base [User Option]

This variable specifies the default radix for sort-numeric-fields to parse numbers.

sort-columns reverse &optional beg end [Command]

This command sorts the lines in the region between beg and end, comparing them
alphabetically by a certain range of columns. The column positions of beg and end
bound the range of columns to sort on.
If reverse is non-nil, the sort is in reverse order.
One unusual thing about this command is that the entire line containing position beg,
and the entire line containing position end, are included in the region sorted.
Note that sort-columns rejects text that contains tabs, because tabs could be split
across the specified columns. Use M-x untabify to convert tabs to spaces before
sorting.
When possible, this command actually works by calling the sort utility program.
Chapter 32: Text 795

32.16 Counting Columns

The column functions convert between a character position (counting characters from the
beginning of the buffer) and a column position (counting screen characters from the begin-
ning of a line).
These functions count each character according to the number of columns it occupies
on the screen. This means control characters count as occupying 2 or 4 columns, de-
pending upon the value of ctl-arrow, and tabs count as occupying a number of columns
that depends on the value of tab-width and on the column where the tab begins. See
Section 39.22.1 [Usual Display], page 1059.
Column number computations ignore the width of the window and the amount of hor-
izontal scrolling. Consequently, a column value can be arbitrarily high. The first (or
leftmost) column is numbered 0. They also ignore overlays and text properties, aside from
invisibility.

current-column [Function]
This function returns the horizontal position of point, measured in columns, counting
from 0 at the left margin. The column position is the sum of the widths of all the
displayed representations of the characters between the start of the current line and
point.

move-to-column column &optional force [Command]

This function moves point to column in the current line. The calculation of col-
umn takes into account the widths of the displayed representations of the characters
between the start of the line and point.
When called interactively, column is the value of prefix numeric argument. If column
is not an integer, an error is signaled.
If it is impossible to move to column column because that is in the middle of a mul-
ticolumn character such as a tab, point moves to the end of that character. However,
if force is non-nil, and column is in the middle of a tab, then move-to-column either
converts the tab into spaces (when indent-tabs-mode is nil), or inserts enough spa-
ces before it (otherwise), so that point can move precisely to column column. Other
multicolumn characters can cause anomalies despite force, since there is no way to
split them.
The argument force also has an effect if the line isn’t long enough to reach column
column; if it is t, that means to add whitespace at the end of the line to reach that
column.
The return value is the column number actually moved to.

32.17 Indentation
The indentation functions are used to examine, move to, and change whitespace that is at
the beginning of a line. Some of the functions can also change whitespace elsewhere on a
line. Columns and indentation count from zero at the left margin.
Chapter 32: Text 796

32.17.1 Indentation Primitives

This section describes the primitive functions used to count and insert indentation. The
functions in the following sections use these primitives. See Section 39.10 [Size of Displayed
Text], page 992, for related functions.

current-indentation [Function]
This function returns the indentation of the current line, which is the horizontal
position of the first nonblank character. If the contents are entirely blank, then this
is the horizontal position of the end of the line.

indent-to column &optional minimum [Command]

This function indents from point with tabs and spaces until column is reached. If
minimum is specified and non-nil, then at least that many spaces are inserted even
if this requires going beyond column. Otherwise the function does nothing if point is
already beyond column. The value is the column at which the inserted indentation
ends.
The inserted whitespace characters inherit text properties from the surrounding text
(usually, from the preceding text only). See Section 32.19.6 [Sticky Properties],
page 814.

indent-tabs-mode [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, indentation functions can insert tabs as well as spaces.
Otherwise, they insert only spaces. Setting this variable automatically makes it buffer-
local in the current buffer.

32.17.2 Indentation Controlled by Major Mode

An important function of each major mode is to customize the TAB key to indent properly
for the language being edited. This section describes the mechanism of the TAB key and
how to control it. The functions in this section return unpredictable values.

indent-for-tab-command &optional rigid [Command]

This is the command bound to TAB in most editing modes. Its usual action is to
indent the current line, but it can alternatively insert a tab character or indent a
region.
Here is what it does:
• First, it checks whether Transient Mark mode is enabled and the region is ac-
tive. If so, it calls indent-region to indent all the text in the region (see
Section 32.17.3 [Region Indent], page 798).
• Otherwise, if the indentation function in indent-line-function is indent-to-
left-margin (a trivial command that inserts a tab character), or if the variable
tab-always-indent specifies that a tab character ought to be inserted (see be-
low), then it inserts a tab character.
• Otherwise, it indents the current line; this is done by calling the function
in indent-line-function. If the line is already indented, and the value of
tab-always-indent is complete (see below), it tries completing the text at
point.
Chapter 32: Text 797

If rigid is non-nil (interactively, with a prefix argument), then after this command
indents a line or inserts a tab, it also rigidly indents the entire balanced expression
which starts at the beginning of the current line, in order to reflect the new indenta-
tion. This argument is ignored if the command indents the region.

indent-line-function [Variable]
This variable’s value is the function to be used by indent-for-tab-command, and
various other indentation commands, to indent the current line. It is usually assigned
by the major mode; for instance, Lisp mode sets it to lisp-indent-line, C mode
sets it to c-indent-line, and so on. The default value is indent-relative. See
Section 23.7 [Auto-Indentation], page 499.

indent-according-to-mode [Command]
This command calls the function in indent-line-function to indent the current
line in a way appropriate for the current major mode.

newline-and-indent [Command]
This function inserts a newline, then indents the new line (the one following the
newline just inserted) according to the major mode. It does indentation by calling
indent-according-to-mode.

reindent-then-newline-and-indent [Command]
This command reindents the current line, inserts a newline at point, and then indents
the new line (the one following the newline just inserted). It does indentation on both
lines by calling indent-according-to-mode.

tab-always-indent [User Option]

This variable can be used to customize the behavior of the TAB (indent-for-tab-
command) command. If the value is t (the default), the command normally just
indents the current line. If the value is nil, the command indents the current line
only if point is at the left margin or in the line’s indentation; otherwise, it inserts a
tab character. If the value is complete, the command first tries to indent the current
line, and if the line was already indented, it calls completion-at-point to complete
the text at point (see Section 20.6.8 [Completion in Buffers], page 358).

Some major modes need to support embedded regions of text whose syntax belongs to
a different major mode. Examples include literate programming source files that combine
documentation and snippets of source code, Yacc/Bison programs that include snippets of
Python or JS code, etc. To correctly indent the embedded chunks, the primary mode needs
to delegate the indentation to another mode’s indentation engine (e.g., call js-indent-line
for JS code or python-indent-line for Python), while providing it with some context to
guide the indentation. Major modes, for their part, should avoid calling widen in their
indentation code and obey prog-first-column.

prog-indentation-context [Variable]
This variable, when non-nil, holds the indentation context for the sub-mode’s inden-
tation engine provided by the superior major mode. The value should be a list of the
form (first-column . rest. The members of the list have the following meaning:
Chapter 32: Text 798

first-column
The column to be used for top-level constructs. This replaces the default
value of the top-level column used by the sub-mode, usually zero.
rest This value is currently unused.

The following convenience function should be used by major mode’s indentation engine
in support of invocations as sub-modes of another major mode.

prog-first-column [Function]
Call this function instead of using a literal value (usually, zero) of the column number
for indenting top-level program constructs. The function’s value is the column number
to use for top-level constructs. When no superior mode is in effect, this function
returns zero.

32.17.3 Indenting an Entire Region

This section describes commands that indent all the lines in the region. They return un-
predictable values.

indent-region start end &optional to-column [Command]

This command indents each nonblank line starting between start (inclusive) and end
(exclusive). If to-column is nil, indent-region indents each nonblank line by calling
the current mode’s indentation function, the value of indent-line-function.
If to-column is non-nil, it should be an integer specifying the number of columns
of indentation; then this function gives each line exactly that much indentation, by
either adding or deleting whitespace.
If there is a fill prefix, indent-region indents each line by making it start with the
fill prefix.

indent-region-function [Variable]
The value of this variable is a function that can be used by indent-region as a
short cut. It should take two arguments, the start and end of the region. You should
design the function so that it will produce the same results as indenting the lines of
the region one by one, but presumably faster.
If the value is nil, there is no short cut, and indent-region actually works line by
line.
A short-cut function is useful in modes such as C mode and Lisp mode, where the
indent-line-function must scan from the beginning of the function definition: ap-
plying it to each line would be quadratic in time. The short cut can update the scan
information as it moves through the lines indenting them; this takes linear time. In
a mode where indenting a line individually is fast, there is no need for a short cut.
indent-region with a non-nil argument to-column has a different meaning and does
not use this variable.

indent-rigidly start end count [Command]

This function indents all lines starting between start (inclusive) and end (exclusive)
sideways by count columns. This preserves the shape of the affected region, moving
it as a rigid unit.
Chapter 32: Text 799

This is useful not only for indenting regions of unindented text, but also for indenting
regions of formatted code. For example, if count is 3, this command adds 3 columns
of indentation to every line that begins in the specified region.
If called interactively with no prefix argument, this command invokes a transient
mode for adjusting indentation rigidly. See Section “Indentation Commands” in The
GNU Emacs Manual.

indent-code-rigidly start end columns &optional [Command]

nochange-regexp
This is like indent-rigidly, except that it doesn’t alter lines that start within strings
or comments.
In addition, it doesn’t alter a line if nochange-regexp matches at the beginning of the
line (if nochange-regexp is non-nil).

32.17.4 Indentation Relative to Previous Lines

This section describes two commands that indent the current line based on the contents of
previous lines.

indent-relative &optional unindented-ok [Command]

This command inserts whitespace at point, extending to the same column as the
next indent point of the previous nonblank line. An indent point is a non-whitespace
character following whitespace. The next indent point is the first one at a column
greater than the current column of point. For example, if point is underneath and to
the left of the first non-blank character of a line of text, it moves to that column by
inserting whitespace.
If the previous nonblank line has no next indent point (i.e., none at a great enough
column position), indent-relative either does nothing (if unindented-ok is non-nil)
or calls tab-to-tab-stop. Thus, if point is underneath and to the right of the last
column of a short line of text, this command ordinarily moves point to the next tab
stop by inserting whitespace.
The return value of indent-relative is unpredictable.
In the following example, point is at the beginning of the second line:
This line is indented twelve spaces.
?The quick brown fox jumped.
Evaluation of the expression (indent-relative nil) produces the following:
This line is indented twelve spaces.
?The quick brown fox jumped.
In this next example, point is between the ‘m’ and ‘p’ of ‘jumped’:
This line is indented twelve spaces.
The quick brown fox jum?ped.
Evaluation of the expression (indent-relative nil) produces the following:
This line is indented twelve spaces.
The quick brown fox jum ?ped.
Chapter 32: Text 800

indent-relative-first-indent-point [Command]
This command indents the current line like the previous nonblank line, by calling
indent-relative with t as the first-only argument. The return value is unpre-
dictable.
If the previous nonblank line has no indent points beyond the current column, this
command does nothing.

32.17.5 Adjustable Tab Stops

This section explains the mechanism for user-specified tab stops and the mechanisms that
use and set them. The name “tab stops” is used because the feature is similar to that of
the tab stops on a typewriter. The feature works by inserting an appropriate number of
spaces and tab characters to reach the next tab stop column; it does not affect the display
of tab characters in the buffer (see Section 39.22.1 [Usual Display], page 1059). Note that
the TAB character as input uses this tab stop feature only in a few major modes, such as
Text mode. See Section “Tab Stops” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
tab-to-tab-stop [Command]
This command inserts spaces or tabs before point, up to the next tab stop column
defined by tab-stop-list.
tab-stop-list [User Option]
This variable defines the tab stop columns used by tab-to-tab-stop. It should be
either nil, or a list of increasing integers, which need not be evenly spaced. The list
is implicitly extended to infinity through repetition of the interval between the last
and penultimate elements (or tab-width if the list has fewer than two elements). A
value of nil means a tab stop every tab-width columns.
Use M-x edit-tab-stops to edit the location of tab stops interactively.

32.17.6 Indentation-Based Motion Commands

These commands, primarily for interactive use, act based on the indentation in the text.
back-to-indentation [Command]
This command moves point to the first non-whitespace character in the current line
(which is the line in which point is located). It returns nil.
backward-to-indentation &optional arg [Command]
This command moves point backward arg lines and then to the first nonblank char-
acter on that line. It returns nil. If arg is omitted or nil, it defaults to 1.
forward-to-indentation &optional arg [Command]
This command moves point forward arg lines and then to the first nonblank character
on that line. It returns nil. If arg is omitted or nil, it defaults to 1.

32.18 Case Changes

The case change commands described here work on text in the current buffer. See Section 4.8
[Case Conversion], page 63, for case conversion functions that work on strings and char-
acters. See Section 4.9 [Case Tables], page 65, for how to customize which characters are
upper or lower case and how to convert them.
Chapter 32: Text 801

capitalize-region start end [Command]

This function capitalizes all words in the region defined by start and end. To capitalize
means to convert each word’s first character to upper case and convert the rest of
each word to lower case. The function returns nil.
If one end of the region is in the middle of a word, the part of the word within the
region is treated as an entire word.
When capitalize-region is called interactively, start and end are point and the
mark, with the smallest first.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This is the contents of the 5th foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(capitalize-region 1 37)
⇒ nil

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

This Is The Contents Of The 5th Foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
downcase-region start end [Command]
This function converts all of the letters in the region defined by start and end to lower
case. The function returns nil.
When downcase-region is called interactively, start and end are point and the mark,
with the smallest first.
upcase-region start end [Command]
This function converts all of the letters in the region defined by start and end to
upper case. The function returns nil.
When upcase-region is called interactively, start and end are point and the mark,
with the smallest first.
capitalize-word count [Command]
This function capitalizes count words after point, moving point over as it does. To
capitalize means to convert each word’s first character to upper case and convert the
rest of each word to lower case. If count is negative, the function capitalizes the
−count previous words but does not move point. The value is nil.
If point is in the middle of a word, the part of the word before point is ignored when
moving forward. The rest is treated as an entire word.
When capitalize-word is called interactively, count is set to the numeric prefix
argument.
downcase-word count [Command]
This function converts the count words after point to all lower case, moving point
over as it does. If count is negative, it converts the −count previous words but does
not move point. The value is nil.
When downcase-word is called interactively, count is set to the numeric prefix argu-
ment.
Chapter 32: Text 802

upcase-word count [Command]

This function converts the count words after point to all upper case, moving point
over as it does. If count is negative, it converts the −count previous words but does
not move point. The value is nil.
When upcase-word is called interactively, count is set to the numeric prefix argument.

32.19 Text Properties

Each character position in a buffer or a string can have a text property list, much like the
property list of a symbol (see Section 5.9 [Property Lists], page 89). The properties belong
to a particular character at a particular place, such as, the letter ‘T’ at the beginning of
this sentence or the first ‘o’ in ‘foo’—if the same character occurs in two different places,
the two occurrences in general have different properties.
Each property has a name and a value. Both of these can be any Lisp object, but the
name is normally a symbol. Typically each property name symbol is used for a particular
purpose; for instance, the text property face specifies the faces for displaying the character
(see Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808). The usual way to access the property
list is to specify a name and ask what value corresponds to it.
If a character has a category property, we call it the property category of the character.
It should be a symbol. The properties of the symbol serve as defaults for the properties of
the character.
Copying text between strings and buffers preserves the properties along with the char-
acters; this includes such diverse functions as substring, insert, and buffer-substring.

32.19.1 Examining Text Properties

The simplest way to examine text properties is to ask for the value of a particular property
of a particular character. For that, use get-text-property. Use text-properties-at to
get the entire property list of a character. See Section 32.19.3 [Property Search], page 806,
for functions to examine the properties of a number of characters at once.
These functions handle both strings and buffers. Keep in mind that positions in a string
start from 0, whereas positions in a buffer start from 1.

get-text-property pos prop &optional object [Function]

This function returns the value of the prop property of the character after position
pos in object (a buffer or string). The argument object is optional and defaults to
the current buffer.
If there is no prop property strictly speaking, but the character has a property cat-
egory that is a symbol, then get-text-property returns the prop property of that
symbol.

get-char-property position prop &optional object [Function]

This function is like get-text-property, except that it checks overlays first and then
text properties. See Section 39.9 [Overlays], page 985.
The argument object may be a string, a buffer, or a window. If it is a window, then
the buffer displayed in that window is used for text properties and overlays, but only
the overlays active for that window are considered. If object is a buffer, then overlays
Chapter 32: Text 803

in that buffer are considered first, in order of decreasing priority, followed by the text
properties. If object is a string, only text properties are considered, since strings
never have overlays.
get-pos-property position prop &optional object [Function]
This function is like get-char-property, except that it pays attention to properties’
stickiness and overlays’ advancement settings instead of the property of the character
at (i.e., right after) position.
get-char-property-and-overlay position prop &optional object [Function]
This is like get-char-property, but gives extra information about the overlay that
the property value comes from.
Its value is a cons cell whose car is the property value, the same value get-char-
property would return with the same arguments. Its cdr is the overlay in which the
property was found, or nil, if it was found as a text property or not found at all.
If position is at the end of object, both the car and the cdr of the value are nil.
char-property-alias-alist [Variable]
This variable holds an alist which maps property names to a list of alternative prop-
erty names. If a character does not specify a direct value for a property, the alter-
native property names are consulted in order; the first non-nil value is used. This
variable takes precedence over default-text-properties, and category properties
take precedence over this variable.
text-properties-at position &optional object [Function]
This function returns the entire property list of the character at position in the string
or buffer object. If object is nil, it defaults to the current buffer.
default-text-properties [Variable]
This variable holds a property list giving default values for text properties. Whenever
a character does not specify a value for a property, neither directly, through a category
symbol, or through char-property-alias-alist, the value stored in this list is used
instead. Here is an example:
(setq default-text-properties '(foo 69)
char-property-alias-alist nil)
;; Make sure character 1 has no properties of its own.
(set-text-properties 1 2 nil)
;; What we get, when we ask, is the default value.
(get-text-property 1 'foo)
⇒ 69

32.19.2 Changing Text Properties

The primitives for changing properties apply to a specified range of text in a buffer or string.
The function set-text-properties (see end of section) sets the entire property list of the
text in that range; more often, it is useful to add, change, or delete just certain properties
specified by name.
Since text properties are considered part of the contents of the buffer (or string), and
can affect how a buffer looks on the screen, any change in buffer text properties marks the
Chapter 32: Text 804

buffer as modified. Buffer text property changes are undoable also (see Section 32.9 [Undo],
page 781). Positions in a string start from 0, whereas positions in a buffer start from 1.

put-text-property start end prop value &optional object [Function]

This function sets the prop property to value for the text between start and end in
the string or buffer object. If object is nil, it defaults to the current buffer.

add-text-properties start end props &optional object [Function]

This function adds or overrides text properties for the text between start and end in
the string or buffer object. If object is nil, it defaults to the current buffer.
The argument props specifies which properties to add. It should have the form of a
property list (see Section 5.9 [Property Lists], page 89): a list whose elements include
the property names followed alternately by the corresponding values.
The return value is t if the function actually changed some property’s value; nil
otherwise (if props is nil or its values agree with those in the text).
For example, here is how to set the comment and face properties of a range of text:
(add-text-properties start end
'(comment t face highlight))

remove-text-properties start end props &optional object [Function]

This function deletes specified text properties from the text between start and end in
the string or buffer object. If object is nil, it defaults to the current buffer.
The argument props specifies which properties to delete. It should have the form of
a property list (see Section 5.9 [Property Lists], page 89): a list whose elements are
property names alternating with corresponding values. But only the names matter—
the values that accompany them are ignored. For example, here’s how to remove the
face property.
(remove-text-properties start end '(face nil))
The return value is t if the function actually changed some property’s value; nil
otherwise (if props is nil or if no character in the specified text had any of those
properties).
To remove all text properties from certain text, use set-text-properties and specify
nil for the new property list.

remove-list-of-text-properties start end list-of-properties [Function]

&optional object
Like remove-text-properties except that list-of-properties is a list of property
names only, not an alternating list of property names and values.

set-text-properties start end props &optional object [Function]

This function completely replaces the text property list for the text between start and
end in the string or buffer object. If object is nil, it defaults to the current buffer.
The argument props is the new property list. It should be a list whose elements are
property names alternating with corresponding values.
After set-text-properties returns, all the characters in the specified range have
identical properties.
Chapter 32: Text 805

If props is nil, the effect is to get rid of all properties from the specified range of
text. Here’s an example:
(set-text-properties start end nil)
Do not rely on the return value of this function.

add-face-text-property start end face &optional appendp object [Function]

This function acts on the text between start and end, adding the face face to the face
text property. face should be a valid value for the face property (see Section 32.19.4
[Special Properties], page 808), such as a face name or an anonymous face (see
Section 39.12 [Faces], page 997).
If any text in the region already has a non-nil face property, those face(s) are
retained. This function sets the face property to a list of faces, with face as the
first element (by default) and the pre-existing faces as the remaining elements. If the
optional argument appendp is non-nil, face is appended to the end of the list instead.
Note that in a face list, the first occurring value for each attribute takes precedence.
For example, the following code would assign an italicized green face to the text
between start and end:
(add-face-text-property start end 'italic)
(add-face-text-property start end '(:foreground "red"))
(add-face-text-property start end '(:foreground "green"))
The optional argument object, if non-nil, specifies a buffer or string to act on, rather
than the current buffer. If object is a string, then start and end are zero-based indices
into the string.

The easiest way to make a string with text properties is with propertize:

propertize string &rest properties [Function]

This function returns a copy of string with the text properties properties added.
These properties apply to all the characters in the string that is returned. Here is an
example that constructs a string with a face property and a mouse-face property:
(propertize "foo" 'face 'italic
'mouse-face 'bold-italic)
⇒ #("foo" 0 3 (mouse-face bold-italic face italic))
To put different properties on various parts of a string, you can construct each part
with propertize and then combine them with concat:
(concat
(propertize "foo" 'face 'italic
'mouse-face 'bold-italic)
" and "
(propertize "bar" 'face 'italic
'mouse-face 'bold-italic))
⇒ #("foo and bar"
0 3 (face italic mouse-face bold-italic)
3 8 nil
8 11 (face italic mouse-face bold-italic))

See Section 32.2 [Buffer Contents], page 766, for the function buffer-substring-no-
properties, which copies text from the buffer but does not copy its properties.
Chapter 32: Text 806

If you wish to add text properties to a buffer or remove them without marking the buffer
as modified, you can wrap the calls above in the with-silent-modifications macro. See
Section 27.5 [Buffer Modification], page 587.

32.19.3 Text Property Search Functions

In typical use of text properties, most of the time several or many consecutive characters
have the same value for a property. Rather than writing your programs to examine char-
acters one by one, it is much faster to process chunks of text that have the same property
value.
Here are functions you can use to do this. They use eq for comparing property values.
In all cases, object defaults to the current buffer.
For good performance, it’s very important to use the limit argument to these functions,
especially the ones that search for a single property—otherwise, they may spend a long time
scanning to the end of the buffer, if the property you are interested in does not change.
These functions do not move point; instead, they return a position (or nil). Remember
that a position is always between two characters; the position returned by these functions
is between two characters with different properties.
next-property-change pos &optional object limit [Function]
The function scans the text forward from position pos in the string or buffer object
until it finds a change in some text property, then returns the position of the change.
In other words, it returns the position of the first character beyond pos whose prop-
erties are not identical to those of the character just after pos.
If limit is non-nil, then the scan ends at position limit. If there is no property change
before that point, this function returns limit.
The value is nil if the properties remain unchanged all the way to the end of object
and limit is nil. If the value is non-nil, it is a position greater than or equal to pos.
The value equals pos only when limit equals pos.
Here is an example of how to scan the buffer by chunks of text within which all
properties are constant:
(while (not (eobp))
(let ((plist (text-properties-at (point)))
(next-change
(or (next-property-change (point) (current-buffer))
(point-max))))
Process text from point to next-change . . .
(goto-char next-change)))

previous-property-change pos &optional object limit [Function]

This is like next-property-change, but scans back from pos instead of forward. If
the value is non-nil, it is a position less than or equal to pos; it equals pos only if
limit equals pos.
next-single-property-change pos prop &optional object limit [Function]
The function scans text for a change in the prop property, then returns the position
of the change. The scan goes forward from position pos in the string or buffer object.
In other words, this function returns the position of the first character beyond pos
whose prop property differs from that of the character just after pos.
Chapter 32: Text 807

If limit is non-nil, then the scan ends at position limit. If there is no property change
before that point, next-single-property-change returns limit.
The value is nil if the property remains unchanged all the way to the end of object
and limit is nil. If the value is non-nil, it is a position greater than or equal to pos;
it equals pos only if limit equals pos.
previous-single-property-change pos prop &optional object limit [Function]
This is like next-single-property-change, but scans back from pos instead of for-
ward. If the value is non-nil, it is a position less than or equal to pos; it equals pos
only if limit equals pos.
next-char-property-change pos &optional limit [Function]
This is like next-property-change except that it considers overlay properties as
well as text properties, and if no change is found before the end of the buffer, it
returns the maximum buffer position rather than nil (in this sense, it resembles the
corresponding overlay function next-overlay-change, rather than next-property-
change). There is no object operand because this function operates only on the
current buffer. It returns the next address at which either kind of property changes.
previous-char-property-change pos &optional limit [Function]
This is like next-char-property-change, but scans back from pos instead of forward,
and returns the minimum buffer position if no change is found.
next-single-char-property-change pos prop &optional object [Function]
limit
This is like next-single-property-change except that it considers overlay proper-
ties as well as text properties, and if no change is found before the end of the object,
it returns the maximum valid position in object rather than nil. Unlike next-char-
property-change, this function does have an object operand; if object is not a buffer,
only text-properties are considered.
previous-single-char-property-change pos prop &optional [Function]
object limit
This is like next-single-char-property-change, but scans back from pos instead
of forward, and returns the minimum valid position in object if no change is found.
text-property-any start end prop value &optional object [Function]
This function returns non-nil if at least one character between start and end has a
property prop whose value is value. More precisely, it returns the position of the first
such character. Otherwise, it returns nil.
The optional fifth argument, object, specifies the string or buffer to scan. Positions
are relative to object. The default for object is the current buffer.
text-property-not-all start end prop value &optional object [Function]
This function returns non-nil if at least one character between start and end does
not have a property prop with value value. More precisely, it returns the position of
the first such character. Otherwise, it returns nil.
The optional fifth argument, object, specifies the string or buffer to scan. Positions
are relative to object. The default for object is the current buffer.
Chapter 32: Text 808

32.19.4 Properties with Special Meanings

Here is a table of text property names that have special built-in meanings. The follow-
ing sections list a few additional special property names that control filling and property
inheritance. All other names have no standard meaning, and you can use them as you like.
Note: the properties composition, display, invisible and intangible can also cause
point to move to an acceptable place, after each Emacs command. See Section 21.6 [Ad-
justing Point], page 380.
category If a character has a category property, we call it the property category of
the character. It should be a symbol. The properties of this symbol serve as
defaults for the properties of the character.
face The face property controls the appearance of the character (see Section 39.12
[Faces], page 997). The value of the property can be the following:
• A face name (a symbol or string).
• An anonymous face: a property list of the form (keyword value ...),
where each keyword is a face attribute name and value is a value for that
attribute.
• A list of faces. Each list element should be either a face name or an
anonymous face. This specifies a face which is an aggregate of the attributes
of each of the listed faces. Faces occurring earlier in the list have higher
priority.
• A cons cell of the form (foreground-color . color-name) or
(background-color . color-name). This specifies the foreground
or background color, similar to (:foreground color-name) or
(:background color-name). This form is supported for backward
compatibility only, and should be avoided.
Font Lock mode (see Section 23.6 [Font Lock Mode], page 487) works in most
buffers by dynamically updating the face property of characters based on the
context.
The add-face-text-property function provides a convenient way to set this
text property. See Section 32.19.2 [Changing Properties], page 803.
font-lock-face
This property specifies a value for the face property that Font Lock mode
should apply to the underlying text. It is one of the fontification methods used
by Font Lock mode, and is useful for special modes that implement their own
highlighting. See Section 23.6.6 [Precalculated Fontification], page 495. When
Font Lock mode is disabled, font-lock-face has no effect.
mouse-face
This property is used instead of face when the mouse is on or near the character.
For this purpose, “near” means that all text between the character and where
the mouse is have the same mouse-face property value.
Emacs ignores all face attributes from the mouse-face property that alter the
text size (e.g., :height, :weight, and :slant). Those attributes are always
the same as for the unhighlighted text.
Chapter 32: Text 809

fontified
This property says whether the text is ready for display. If nil, Emacs’s
redisplay routine calls the functions in fontification-functions (see
Section 39.12.7 [Auto Faces], page 1009) to prepare this part of the buffer
before it is displayed. It is used internally by the just-in-time font locking
code.
display This property activates various features that change the way text is displayed.
For example, it can make text appear taller or shorter, higher or lower, wider
or narrow, or replaced with an image. See Section 39.16 [Display Property],
page 1028.
help-echo
If text has a string as its help-echo property, then when you move the mouse
onto that text, Emacs displays that string in the echo area, or in the tooltip
window (see Section 39.25 [Tooltips], page 1065).
If the value of the help-echo property is a function, that function is called
with three arguments, window, object and pos and should return a help string
or nil for none. The first argument, window is the window in which the help
was found. The second, object, is the buffer, overlay or string which had the
help-echo property. The pos argument is as follows:
• If object is a buffer, pos is the position in the buffer.
• If object is an overlay, that overlay has a help-echo property, and pos is
the position in the overlay’s buffer.
• If object is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with the display
property), pos is the position in that string.
If the value of the help-echo property is neither a function nor a string, it is
evaluated to obtain a help string.
You can alter the way help text is displayed by setting the variable show-help-
function (see [Help display], page 813).
This feature is used in the mode line and for other active text.
keymap The keymap property specifies an additional keymap for commands. When this
keymap applies, it is used for key lookup before the minor mode keymaps and
before the buffer’s local map. See Section 22.7 [Active Keymaps], page 422. If
the property value is a symbol, the symbol’s function definition is used as the
keymap.
The property’s value for the character before point applies if it is non-nil and
rear-sticky, and the property’s value for the character after point applies if it
is non-nil and front-sticky. (For mouse clicks, the position of the click is used
instead of the position of point.)
local-map
This property works like keymap except that it specifies a keymap to use instead
of the buffer’s local map. For most purposes (perhaps all purposes), it is better
to use the keymap property.
Chapter 32: Text 810

syntax-table
The syntax-table property overrides what the syntax table says about this
particular character. See Section 35.4 [Syntax Properties], page 899.

read-only
If a character has the property read-only, then modifying that character is
not allowed. Any command that would do so gets an error, text-read-only.
If the property value is a string, that string is used as the error message.
Insertion next to a read-only character is an error if inserting ordinary text
there would inherit the read-only property due to stickiness. Thus, you can
control permission to insert next to read-only text by controlling the stickiness.
See Section 32.19.6 [Sticky Properties], page 814.
Since changing properties counts as modifying the buffer, it is not possible
to remove a read-only property unless you know the special trick: bind
inhibit-read-only to a non-nil value and then remove the property. See
Section 27.7 [Read Only Buffers], page 590.

inhibit-read-only
Characters that have the property inhibit-read-only can be edited even in
read-only buffers. See Section 27.7 [Read Only Buffers], page 590.

invisible
A non-nil invisible property can make a character invisible on the screen.
See Section 39.6 [Invisible Text], page 977, for details.

intangible
If a group of consecutive characters have equal and non-nil intangible prop-
erties, then you cannot place point between them. If you try to move point
forward into the group, point actually moves to the end of the group. If you
try to move point backward into the group, point actually moves to the start
of the group.
If consecutive characters have unequal non-nil intangible properties, they
belong to separate groups; each group is separately treated as described above.
When the variable inhibit-point-motion-hooks is non-nil (as it is by de-
fault), the intangible property is ignored.
Beware: this property operates at a very low level, and affects a lot of code
in unexpected ways. So use it with extreme caution. A common misuse is
to put an intangible property on invisible text, which is actually unnecessary
since the command loop will move point outside of the invisible text at the end
of each command anyway. See Section 21.6 [Adjusting Point], page 380. For
these reasons, this property is obsolete; use the cursor-intangible property
instead.

cursor-intangible
When the minor mode cursor-intangible-mode is turned on, point is moved
away from any position that has a non-nil cursor-intangible property, just
before redisplay happens.
Chapter 32: Text 811

When the variable cursor-sensor-inhibit is non-nil, the

cursor-intangible property and the cursor-sensor-functions
property (described below) are ignored.
field Consecutive characters with the same field property constitute a field. Some
motion functions including forward-word and beginning-of-line stop mov-
ing at a field boundary. See Section 32.19.9 [Fields], page 819.
cursor Normally, the cursor is displayed at the beginning or the end of any overlay and
text property strings present at the current buffer position. You can place the
cursor on any desired character of these strings by giving that character a non-
nil cursor text property. In addition, if the value of the cursor property is an
integer, it specifies the number of buffer’s character positions, starting with the
position where the overlay or the display property begins, for which the cursor
should be displayed on that character. Specifically, if the value of the cursor
property of a character is the number n, the cursor will be displayed on this
character for any buffer position in the range [ovpos..ovpos+n), where ovpos
is the overlay’s starting position given by overlay-start (see Section 39.9.1
[Managing Overlays], page 985), or the position where the display text prop-
erty begins in the buffer.
In other words, the string character with the cursor property of any non-nil
value is the character where to display the cursor. The value of the property
says for which buffer positions to display the cursor there. If the value is an
integer n, the cursor is displayed there when point is anywhere between the
beginning of the overlay or display property and n positions after that. If
the value is anything else and non-nil, the cursor is displayed there only when
point is at the beginning of the display property or at overlay-start.
When the buffer has many overlay strings (e.g., see Section 39.9.2 [Overlay
Properties], page 988) that conceal some of the buffer text or display properties
that are strings, it is a good idea to use the cursor property on these strings to
cue the Emacs display about the places where to put the cursor while traversing
these strings. This directly communicates to the display engine where the Lisp
program wants to put the cursor, or where the user would expect the cursor,
when point is located on some buffer position that is “covered” by the display
or overlay string.
pointer This specifies a specific pointer shape when the mouse pointer is over this text
or image. See Section 29.19 [Pointer Shape], page 733, for possible pointer
shapes.
line-spacing
A newline can have a line-spacing text or overlay property that controls the
height of the display line ending with that newline. The property value overrides
the default frame line spacing and the buffer local line-spacing variable. See
Section 39.11 [Line Height], page 995.
line-height
A newline can have a line-height text or overlay property that controls the
total height of the display line ending in that newline. See Section 39.11 [Line
Height], page 995.
Chapter 32: Text 812

wrap-prefix
If text has a wrap-prefix property, the prefix it defines will be added at display
time to the beginning of every continuation line due to text wrapping (so if
lines are truncated, the wrap-prefix is never used). It may be a string or an
image (see Section 39.16.4 [Other Display Specs], page 1031), or a stretch of
whitespace such as specified by the :width or :align-to display properties
(see Section 39.16.2 [Specified Space], page 1029).
A wrap-prefix may also be specified for an entire buffer using the wrap-prefix
buffer-local variable (however, a wrap-prefix text-property takes precedence
over the value of the wrap-prefix variable). See Section 39.3 [Truncation],
page 968.
line-prefix
If text has a line-prefix property, the prefix it defines will be added at display
time to the beginning of every non-continuation line. It may be a string or an
image (see Section 39.16.4 [Other Display Specs], page 1031), or a stretch of
whitespace such as specified by the :width or :align-to display properties
(see Section 39.16.2 [Specified Space], page 1029).
A line-prefix may also be specified for an entire buffer using the line-prefix
buffer-local variable (however, a line-prefix text-property takes precedence
over the value of the line-prefix variable). See Section 39.3 [Truncation],
page 968.
modification-hooks
If a character has the property modification-hooks, then its value should be
a list of functions; modifying that character calls all of those functions before
the actual modification. Each function receives two arguments: the beginning
and end of the part of the buffer being modified. Note that if a particular
modification hook function appears on several characters being modified by a
single primitive, you can’t predict how many times the function will be called.
Furthermore, insertion will not modify any existing character, so this hook will
only be run when removing some characters, replacing them with others, or
changing their text-properties.
If these functions modify the buffer, they should bind inhibit-modification-
hooks to t around doing so, to avoid confusing the internal mechanism that
calls these hooks.
Overlays also support the modification-hooks property, but the details are
somewhat different (see Section 39.9.2 [Overlay Properties], page 988).
insert-in-front-hooks
insert-behind-hooks
The operation of inserting text in a buffer also calls the functions listed in
the insert-in-front-hooks property of the following character and in the
insert-behind-hooks property of the preceding character. These functions
receive two arguments, the beginning and end of the inserted text. The func-
tions are called after the actual insertion takes place.
See also Section 32.30 [Change Hooks], page 832, for other hooks that are called
when you change text in a buffer.
Chapter 32: Text 813

point-entered
point-left
The special properties point-entered and point-left record hook functions
that report motion of point. Each time point moves, Emacs compares these
two property values:
• the point-left property of the character after the old location, and
• the point-entered property of the character after the new location.
If these two values differ, each of them is called (if not nil) with two arguments:
the old value of point, and the new one.
The same comparison is made for the characters before the old and new lo-
cations. The result may be to execute two point-left functions (which may
be the same function) and/or two point-entered functions (which may be
the same function). In any case, all the point-left functions are called first,
followed by all the point-entered functions.
It is possible to use char-after to examine characters at various buffer posi-
tions without moving point to those positions. Only an actual change in the
value of point runs these hook functions.
The variable inhibit-point-motion-hooks by default inhibits running the
point-left and point-entered hooks, see [Inhibit point motion hooks],
page 813.
These properties are obsolete; please use cursor-sensor-functions instead.
cursor-sensor-functions
This special property records a list of functions that react to cursor motion.
Each function in the list is called, just before redisplay, with 3 arguments: the
affected window, the previous known position of the cursor, and one of the
symbols entered or left, depending on whether the cursor is entering the text
that has this property or leaving it. The functions are called only when the
minor mode cursor-sensor-mode is turned on.
When the variable cursor-sensor-inhibit is non-nil, the cursor-sensor-
functions property is ignored.
composition
This text property is used to display a sequence of characters as a single glyph
composed from components. But the value of the property itself is completely
internal to Emacs and should not be manipulated directly by, for instance,
put-text-property.
inhibit-point-motion-hooks [Variable]
When this obsolete variable is non-nil, point-left and point-entered hooks are
not run, and the intangible property has no effect. Do not set this variable globally;
bind it with let. Since the affected properties are obsolete, this variable’s default
value is t, to effectively disable them.
show-help-function [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, it specifies a function called to display help strings. These
may be help-echo properties, menu help strings (see Section 22.17.1.1 [Simple Menu
Chapter 32: Text 814

Items], page 440, see Section 22.17.1.2 [Extended Menu Items], page 441), or tool
bar help strings (see Section 22.17.6 [Tool Bar], page 447). The specified function
is called with one argument, the help string to display, which is passed through
substitute-command-keys before being given to the function; see Section 24.3 [Keys
in Documentation], page 513. Tooltip mode (see Section “Tooltips” in The GNU
Emacs Manual) provides an example.

32.19.5 Formatted Text Properties

These text properties affect the behavior of the fill commands. They are used for repre-
senting formatted text. See Section 32.11 [Filling], page 785, and Section 32.12 [Margins],
page 788.
hard If a newline character has this property, it is a “hard” newline. The fill com-
mands do not alter hard newlines and do not move words across them. How-
ever, this property takes effect only if the use-hard-newlines minor mode is
enabled. See Section “Hard and Soft Newlines” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
right-margin
This property specifies an extra right margin for filling this part of the text.
left-margin
This property specifies an extra left margin for filling this part of the text.
justification
This property specifies the style of justification for filling this part of the text.

32.19.6 Stickiness of Text Properties

Self-inserting characters, the ones that get inserted into a buffer when the user types them
(see Section 32.5 [Commands for Insertion], page 771), normally take on the same properties
as the preceding character. This is called inheritance of properties.
By contrast, a Lisp program can do insertion with inheritance or without, depending on
the choice of insertion primitive. The ordinary text insertion functions, such as insert, do
not inherit any properties. They insert text with precisely the properties of the string being
inserted, and no others. This is correct for programs that copy text from one context to
another—for example, into or out of the kill ring. To insert with inheritance, use the special
primitives described in this section. Self-inserting characters inherit properties because they
work using these primitives.
When you do insertion with inheritance, which properties are inherited, and from where,
depends on which properties are sticky. Insertion after a character inherits those of its
properties that are rear-sticky. Insertion before a character inherits those of its properties
that are front-sticky. When both sides offer different sticky values for the same property,
the previous character’s value takes precedence.
By default, a text property is rear-sticky but not front-sticky; thus, the default is to
inherit all the properties of the preceding character, and nothing from the following char-
acter.
You can control the stickiness of various text properties with two specific text proper-
ties, front-sticky and rear-nonsticky, and with the variable text-property-default-
nonsticky. You can use the variable to specify a different default for a given property. You
Chapter 32: Text 815

can use those two text properties to make any specific properties sticky or nonsticky in any
particular part of the text.
If a character’s front-sticky property is t, then all its properties are front-sticky. If the
front-sticky property is a list, then the sticky properties of the character are those whose
names are in the list. For example, if a character has a front-sticky property whose value
is (face read-only), then insertion before the character can inherit its face property and
its read-only property, but no others.
The rear-nonsticky property works the opposite way. Most properties are rear-sticky
by default, so the rear-nonsticky property says which properties are not rear-sticky. If
a character’s rear-nonsticky property is t, then none of its properties are rear-sticky. If
the rear-nonsticky property is a list, properties are rear-sticky unless their names are in
the list.
text-property-default-nonsticky [Variable]
This variable holds an alist which defines the default rear-stickiness of various text
properties. Each element has the form (property . nonstickiness), and it defines
the stickiness of a particular text property, property.
If nonstickiness is non-nil, this means that the property property is rear-nonsticky
by default. Since all properties are front-nonsticky by default, this makes property
nonsticky in both directions by default.
The text properties front-sticky and rear-nonsticky, when used, take precedence
over the default nonstickiness specified in text-property-default-nonsticky.
Here are the functions that insert text with inheritance of properties:
insert-and-inherit &rest strings [Function]
Insert the strings strings, just like the function insert, but inherit any sticky prop-
erties from the adjoining text.
insert-before-markers-and-inherit &rest strings [Function]
Insert the strings strings, just like the function insert-before-markers, but inherit
any sticky properties from the adjoining text.
See Section 32.4 [Insertion], page 769, for the ordinary insertion functions which do not
inherit.

32.19.7 Lazy Computation of Text Properties

Instead of computing text properties for all the text in the buffer, you can arrange to
compute the text properties for parts of the text when and if something depends on them.
The primitive that extracts text from the buffer along with its properties is
buffer-substring. Before examining the properties, this function runs the abnormal
hook buffer-access-fontify-functions.
buffer-access-fontify-functions [Variable]
This variable holds a list of functions for computing text properties. Before
buffer-substring copies the text and text properties for a portion of the buffer,
it calls all the functions in this list. Each of the functions receives two arguments
that specify the range of the buffer being accessed. (The buffer itself is always the
current buffer.)
Chapter 32: Text 816

The function buffer-substring-no-properties does not call these functions, since it

ignores text properties anyway.
In order to prevent the hook functions from being called more than once for the same
part of the buffer, you can use the variable buffer-access-fontified-property.

buffer-access-fontified-property [Variable]
If this variable’s value is non-nil, it is a symbol which is used as a text property
name. A non-nil value for that text property means the other text properties for
this character have already been computed.
If all the characters in the range specified for buffer-substring have a non-nil value
for this property, buffer-substring does not call the buffer-access-fontify-
functions functions. It assumes these characters already have the right text proper-
ties, and just copies the properties they already have.
The normal way to use this feature is that the buffer-access-fontify-functions
functions add this property, as well as others, to the characters they operate on. That
way, they avoid being called over and over for the same text.

32.19.8 Defining Clickable Text

Clickable text is text that can be clicked, with either the mouse or via a keyboard command,
to produce some result. Many major modes use clickable text to implement textual hyper-
links, or links for short.
The easiest way to insert and manipulate links is to use the button package. See
Section 39.19 [Buttons], page 1049. In this section, we will explain how to manually set up
clickable text in a buffer, using text properties. For simplicity, we will refer to the clickable
text as a link.
Implementing a link involves three separate steps: (1) indicating clickability when the
mouse moves over the link; (2) making RET or mouse-2 on that link do something; and (3)
setting up a follow-link condition so that the link obeys mouse-1-click-follows-link.
To indicate clickability, add the mouse-face text property to the text of the link; then
Emacs will highlight the link when the mouse moves over it. In addition, you should define
a tooltip or echo area message, using the help-echo text property. See Section 32.19.4
[Special Properties], page 808. For instance, here is how Dired indicates that file names are
clickable:
(if (dired-move-to-filename)
(add-text-properties
(point)
(save-excursion
(dired-move-to-end-of-filename)
(point))
'(mouse-face highlight
help-echo "mouse-2: visit this file in other window")))
To make the link clickable, bind RET and mouse-2 to commands that perform the de-
sired action. Each command should check to see whether it was called on a link, and act
accordingly. For instance, Dired’s major mode keymap binds mouse-2 to the following
command:
(defun dired-mouse-find-file-other-window (event)
"In Dired, visit the file or directory name you click on."
Chapter 32: Text 817

(interactive "e")
(let ((window (posn-window (event-end event)))
(pos (posn-point (event-end event)))
file)
(if (not (windowp window))
(error "No file chosen"))
(with-current-buffer (window-buffer window)
(goto-char pos)
(setq file (dired-get-file-for-visit)))
(if (file-directory-p file)
(or (and (cdr dired-subdir-alist)
(dired-goto-subdir file))
(progn
(select-window window)
(dired-other-window file)))
(select-window window)
(find-file-other-window (file-name-sans-versions file t)))))

This command uses the functions posn-window and posn-point to determine where the
click occurred, and dired-get-file-for-visit to determine which file to visit.
Instead of binding the mouse command in a major mode keymap, you can bind it within
the link text, using the keymap text property (see Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties],
page 808). For instance:
(let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
(define-key map [mouse-2] 'operate-this-button)
(put-text-property link-start link-end 'keymap map))
With this method, you can easily define different commands for different links. Furthermore,
the global definition of RET and mouse-2 remain available for the rest of the text in the
buffer.
The basic Emacs command for clicking on links is mouse-2. However, for compatibility
with other graphical applications, Emacs also recognizes mouse-1 clicks on links, provided
the user clicks on the link quickly without moving the mouse. This behavior is controlled
by the user option mouse-1-click-follows-link. See Section “Mouse References” in The
GNU Emacs Manual.
To set up the link so that it obeys mouse-1-click-follows-link, you must either (1)
apply a follow-link text or overlay property to the link text, or (2) bind the follow-link
event to a keymap (which can be a major mode keymap or a local keymap specified via
the keymap text property). The value of the follow-link property, or the binding for the
follow-link event, acts as a condition for the link action. This condition tells Emacs two
things: the circumstances under which a mouse-1 click should be regarded as occurring
inside the link, and how to compute an action code that says what to translate the mouse-1
click into. The link action condition can be one of the following:

mouse-face
If the condition is the symbol mouse-face, a position is inside a link if there is
a non-nil mouse-face property at that position. The action code is always t.
For example, here is how Info mode handles mouse-1:
(define-key Info-mode-map [follow-link] 'mouse-face)
Chapter 32: Text 818

a function If the condition is a function, func, then a position pos is inside a link if (func
pos) evaluates to non-nil. The value returned by func serves as the action
code.
For example, here is how pcvs enables mouse-1 to follow links on file names
only:
(define-key map [follow-link]
(lambda (pos)
(eq (get-char-property pos 'face) 'cvs-filename-face)))

anything else
If the condition value is anything else, then the position is inside a link and
the condition itself is the action code. Clearly, you should specify this kind of
condition only when applying the condition via a text or property overlay on
the link text (so that it does not apply to the entire buffer).
The action code tells mouse-1 how to follow the link:
a string or vector
If the action code is a string or vector, the mouse-1 event is translated into the
first element of the string or vector; i.e., the action of the mouse-1 click is the
local or global binding of that character or symbol. Thus, if the action code is
"foo", mouse-1 translates into f. If it is [foo], mouse-1 translates into foo.
anything else
For any other non-nil action code, the mouse-1 event is translated into a
mouse-2 event at the same position.
To define mouse-1 to activate a button defined with define-button-type, give the
button a follow-link property. The property value should be a link action condition, as
described above. See Section 39.19 [Buttons], page 1049. For example, here is how Help
mode handles mouse-1:
(define-button-type 'help-xref
'follow-link t
'action #'help-button-action)
To define mouse-1 on a widget defined with define-widget, give the widget a
:follow-link property. The property value should be a link action condition, as described
above. For example, here is how the link widget specifies that a mouse-1 click shall be
translated to RET:
(define-widget 'link 'item
"An embedded link."
:button-prefix 'widget-link-prefix
:button-suffix 'widget-link-suffix
:follow-link "\C-m"
:help-echo "Follow the link."
:format "%[%t%]")

mouse-on-link-p pos [Function]

This function returns non-nil if position pos in the current buffer is on a link. pos
can also be a mouse event location, as returned by event-start (see Section 21.7.13
[Accessing Mouse], page 393).
Chapter 32: Text 819

32.19.9 Defining and Using Fields

A field is a range of consecutive characters in the buffer that are identified by having the
same value (comparing with eq) of the field property (either a text-property or an overlay
property). This section describes special functions that are available for operating on fields.
You specify a field with a buffer position, pos. We think of each field as containing a
range of buffer positions, so the position you specify stands for the field containing that
position.
When the characters before and after pos are part of the same field, there is no doubt
which field contains pos: the one those characters both belong to. When pos is at a bound-
ary between fields, which field it belongs to depends on the stickiness of the field properties
of the two surrounding characters (see Section 32.19.6 [Sticky Properties], page 814). The
field whose property would be inherited by text inserted at pos is the field that contains
pos.
There is an anomalous case where newly inserted text at pos would not inherit the field
property from either side. This happens if the previous character’s field property is not
rear-sticky, and the following character’s field property is not front-sticky. In this case,
pos belongs to neither the preceding field nor the following field; the field functions treat it
as belonging to an empty field whose beginning and end are both at pos.
In all of these functions, if pos is omitted or nil, the value of point is used by default.
If narrowing is in effect, then pos should fall within the accessible portion. See Section 30.4
[Narrowing], page 753.
field-beginning &optional pos escape-from-edge limit [Function]
This function returns the beginning of the field specified by pos.
If pos is at the beginning of its field, and escape-from-edge is non-nil, then the return
value is always the beginning of the preceding field that ends at pos, regardless of the
stickiness of the field properties around pos.
If limit is non-nil, it is a buffer position; if the beginning of the field is before limit,
then limit will be returned instead.
field-end &optional pos escape-from-edge limit [Function]
This function returns the end of the field specified by pos.
If pos is at the end of its field, and escape-from-edge is non-nil, then the return value
is always the end of the following field that begins at pos, regardless of the stickiness
of the field properties around pos.
If limit is non-nil, it is a buffer position; if the end of the field is after limit, then
limit will be returned instead.
field-string &optional pos [Function]
This function returns the contents of the field specified by pos, as a string.
field-string-no-properties &optional pos [Function]
This function returns the contents of the field specified by pos, as a string, discarding
text properties.
delete-field &optional pos [Function]
This function deletes the text of the field specified by pos.
Chapter 32: Text 820

constrain-to-field new-pos old-pos &optional escape-from-edge [Function]

only-in-line inhibit-capture-property
This function constrains new-pos to the field that old-pos belongs to—in other words,
it returns the position closest to new-pos that is in the same field as old-pos.
If new-pos is nil, then constrain-to-field uses the value of point instead, and
moves point to the resulting position in addition to returning that position.
If old-pos is at the boundary of two fields, then the acceptable final positions depend
on the argument escape-from-edge. If escape-from-edge is nil, then new-pos must
be in the field whose field property equals what new characters inserted at old-
pos would inherit. (This depends on the stickiness of the field property for the
characters before and after old-pos.) If escape-from-edge is non-nil, new-pos can
be anywhere in the two adjacent fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by
another field with the special value boundary, then any point within this special field
is also considered to be on the boundary.
Commands like C-a with no argument, that normally move backward to a specific
kind of location and stay there once there, probably should specify nil for escape-
from-edge. Other motion commands that check fields should probably pass t.
If the optional argument only-in-line is non-nil, and constraining new-pos in the
usual way would move it to a different line, new-pos is returned unconstrained. This
used in commands that move by line, such as next-line and beginning-of-line,
so that they respect field boundaries only in the case where they can still move to the
right line.
If the optional argument inhibit-capture-property is non-nil, and old-pos has a non-
nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
You can cause constrain-to-field to ignore all field boundaries (and so never con-
strain anything) by binding the variable inhibit-field-text-motion to a non-nil
value.

32.19.10 Why Text Properties are not Intervals

Some editors that support adding attributes to text in the buffer do so by letting the
user specify intervals within the text, and adding the properties to the intervals. Those
editors permit the user or the programmer to determine where individual intervals start
and end. We deliberately provided a different sort of interface in Emacs Lisp to avoid
certain paradoxical behavior associated with text modification.
If the actual subdivision into intervals is meaningful, that means you can distinguish
between a buffer that is just one interval with a certain property, and a buffer containing
the same text subdivided into two intervals, both of which have that property.
Suppose you take the buffer with just one interval and kill part of the text. The text
remaining in the buffer is one interval, and the copy in the kill ring (and the undo list)
becomes a separate interval. Then if you yank back the killed text, you get two intervals
with the same properties. Thus, editing does not preserve the distinction between one
interval and two.
Suppose we attempt to fix this problem by coalescing the two intervals when the text is
inserted. That works fine if the buffer originally was a single interval. But suppose instead
that we have two adjacent intervals with the same properties, and we kill the text of one
Chapter 32: Text 821

interval and yank it back. The same interval-coalescence feature that rescues the other case
causes trouble in this one: after yanking, we have just one interval. Once again, editing
does not preserve the distinction between one interval and two.
Insertion of text at the border between intervals also raises questions that have no
satisfactory answer.
However, it is easy to arrange for editing to behave consistently for questions of the form,
“What are the properties of text at this buffer or string position?” So we have decided these
are the only questions that make sense; we have not implemented asking questions about
where intervals start or end.
In practice, you can usually use the text property search functions in place of explicit
interval boundaries. You can think of them as finding the boundaries of intervals, assuming
that intervals are always coalesced whenever possible. See Section 32.19.3 [Property Search],
page 806.
Emacs also provides explicit intervals as a presentation feature; see Section 39.9 [Over-
lays], page 985.

32.20 Substituting for a Character Code

The following functions replace characters within a specified region based on their character
codes.

subst-char-in-region start end old-char new-char &optional [Function]

noundo
This function replaces all occurrences of the character old-char with the character
new-char in the region of the current buffer defined by start and end.
If noundo is non-nil, then subst-char-in-region does not record the change for
undo and does not mark the buffer as modified. This was useful for controlling the
old selective display feature (see Section 39.7 [Selective Display], page 980).
subst-char-in-region does not move point and returns nil.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This is the contents of the buffer before.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(subst-char-in-region 1 20 ?i ?X)
⇒ nil

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

ThXs Xs the contents of the buffer before.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

translate-region start end table [Command]

This function applies a translation table to the characters in the buffer between po-
sitions start and end.
The translation table table is a string or a char-table; (aref table ochar) gives the
translated character corresponding to ochar. If table is a string, any characters with
codes larger than the length of table are not altered by the translation.
Chapter 32: Text 822

The return value of translate-region is the number of characters that were actually
changed by the translation. This does not count characters that were mapped into
themselves in the translation table.

32.21 Registers
A register is a sort of variable used in Emacs editing that can hold a variety of different
kinds of values. Each register is named by a single character. All ASCII characters and
their meta variants (but with the exception of C-g) can be used to name registers. Thus,
there are 255 possible registers. A register is designated in Emacs Lisp by the character
that is its name.
register-alist [Variable]
This variable is an alist of elements of the form (name . contents). Normally, there
is one element for each Emacs register that has been used.
The object name is a character (an integer) identifying the register.
The contents of a register can have several possible types:
a number A number stands for itself. If insert-register finds a number in the register,
it converts the number to decimal.
a marker A marker represents a buffer position to jump to.
a string A string is text saved in the register.
a rectangle
A rectangle is represented by a list of strings.
(window-configuration position)
This represents a window configuration to restore in one frame, and a position
to jump to in the current buffer.
(frame-configuration position)
This represents a frame configuration to restore, and a position to jump to in
the current buffer.
(file filename)
This represents a file to visit; jumping to this value visits file filename.
(file-query filename position)
This represents a file to visit and a position in it; jumping to this value visits file
filename and goes to buffer position position. Restoring this type of position
asks the user for confirmation first.
The functions in this section return unpredictable values unless otherwise stated.
get-register reg [Function]
This function returns the contents of the register reg, or nil if it has no contents.
set-register reg value [Function]
This function sets the contents of register reg to value. A register can be set to any
value, but the other register functions expect only certain data types. The return
value is value.
Chapter 32: Text 823

view-register reg [Command]

This command displays what is contained in register reg.
insert-register reg &optional beforep [Command]
This command inserts contents of register reg into the current buffer.
Normally, this command puts point before the inserted text, and the mark after it.
However, if the optional second argument beforep is non-nil, it puts the mark before
and point after.
When called interactively, the command defaults to putting point after text, and a
prefix argument inverts this behavior.
If the register contains a rectangle, then the rectangle is inserted with its upper left
corner at point. This means that text is inserted in the current line and underneath
it on successive lines.
If the register contains something other than saved text (a string) or a rectangle (a
list), currently useless things happen. This may be changed in the future.
register-read-with-preview prompt [Function]
This function reads and returns a register name, prompting with prompt and possibly
showing a preview of the existing registers and their contents. The preview is shown in
a temporary window, after the delay specified by the user option register-preview-
delay, if its value and register-alist are both non-nil. The preview is also shown
if the user requests help (e.g., by typing the help character). We recommend that all
interactive commands which read register names use this function.

32.22 Transposition of Text

This function can be used to transpose stretches of text:
transpose-regions start1 end1 start2 end2 &optional leave-markers [Function]
This function exchanges two nonoverlapping portions of the buffer (if they overlap,
the function signals an error). Arguments start1 and end1 specify the bounds of one
portion and arguments start2 and end2 specify the bounds of the other portion.
Normally, transpose-regions relocates markers with the transposed text; a marker
previously positioned within one of the two transposed portions moves along with
that portion, thus remaining between the same two characters in their new position.
However, if leave-markers is non-nil, transpose-regions does not do this—it leaves
all markers unrelocated.

32.23 Replacing Buffer Text

You can use the following function to replace the text of one buffer with the text of another
buffer:
replace-buffer-contents source [Command]
This function replaces the accessible portion of the current buffer with the accessible
portion of the buffer source. source may either be a buffer object or the name of a
buffer. When replace-buffer-contents succeeds, the text of the accessible portion
of the current buffer will be equal to the text of the accessible portion of the source
Chapter 32: Text 824

buffer. This function attempts to keep point, markers, text properties, and overlays
in the current buffer intact. One potential case where this behavior is useful is ex-
ternal code formatting programs: they typically write the reformatted text into a
temporary buffer or file, and using delete-region and insert-buffer-substring
would destroy these properties. However, the latter combination is typically faster.
See Section 32.6 [Deletion], page 772, and Section 32.4 [Insertion], page 769.

32.24 Dealing With Compressed Data

When auto-compression-mode is enabled, Emacs automatically uncompresses compressed
files when you visit them, and automatically recompresses them if you alter and save them.
See Section “Compressed Files” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
The above feature works by calling an external executable (e.g., gzip). Emacs can also
be compiled with support for built-in decompression using the zlib library, which is faster
than calling an external program.

zlib-available-p [Function]
This function returns non-nil if built-in zlib decompression is available.

zlib-decompress-region start end [Function]

This function decompresses the region between start and end, using built-in zlib de-
compression. The region should contain data that were compressed with gzip or zlib.
On success, the function replaces the contents of the region with the decompressed
data. On failure, the function leaves the region unchanged and returns nil. This
function can be called only in unibyte buffers.

32.25 Base 64 Encoding

Base 64 code is used in email to encode a sequence of 8-bit bytes as a longer sequence of
ASCII graphic characters. It is defined in Internet RFC1 2045. This section describes the
functions for converting to and from this code.

base64-encode-region beg end &optional no-line-break [Command]

This function converts the region from beg to end into base 64 code. It returns
the length of the encoded text. An error is signaled if a character in the region is
multibyte, i.e., in a multibyte buffer the region must contain only characters from the
charsets ascii, eight-bit-control and eight-bit-graphic.
Normally, this function inserts newline characters into the encoded text, to avoid
overlong lines. However, if the optional argument no-line-break is non-nil, these
newlines are not added, so the output is just one long line.

base64-encode-string string &optional no-line-break [Function]

This function converts the string string into base 64 code. It returns a string con-
taining the encoded text. As for base64-encode-region, an error is signaled if a
character in the string is multibyte.
1
An RFC, an acronym for Request for Comments, is a numbered Internet informational document
describing a standard. RFCs are usually written by technical experts acting on their own initiative, and
are traditionally written in a pragmatic, experience-driven manner.
Chapter 32: Text 825

Normally, this function inserts newline characters into the encoded text, to avoid
overlong lines. However, if the optional argument no-line-break is non-nil, these
newlines are not added, so the result string is just one long line.
base64-decode-region beg end [Command]
This function converts the region from beg to end from base 64 code into the corre-
sponding decoded text. It returns the length of the decoded text.
The decoding functions ignore newline characters in the encoded text.
base64-decode-string string [Function]
This function converts the string string from base 64 code into the corresponding
decoded text. It returns a unibyte string containing the decoded text.
The decoding functions ignore newline characters in the encoded text.

32.26 Checksum/Hash
Emacs has built-in support for computing cryptographic hashes. A cryptographic hash, or
checksum, is a digital fingerprint of a piece of data (e.g., a block of text) which can be used
to check that you have an unaltered copy of that data.
Emacs supports several common cryptographic hash algorithms: MD5, SHA-1, SHA-
2, SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512. MD5 is the oldest of these algorithms,
and is commonly used in message digests to check the integrity of messages transmitted
over a network. MD5 is not collision resistant (i.e., it is possible to deliberately design
different pieces of data which have the same MD5 hash), so you should not used it for
anything security-related. A similar theoretical weakness also exists in SHA-1. Therefore,
for security-related applications you should use the other hash types, such as SHA-2.
secure-hash-algorithms [Function]
This function returns a list of symbols representing algorithms that secure-hash can
use.
secure-hash algorithm object &optional start end binary [Function]
This function returns a hash for object. The argument algorithm is a symbol stating
which hash to compute: one of md5, sha1, sha224, sha256, sha384 or sha512. The
argument object should be a buffer or a string.
The optional arguments start and end are character positions specifying the portion
of object to compute the message digest for. If they are nil or omitted, the hash is
computed for the whole of object.
If the argument binary is omitted or nil, the function returns the text form of the
hash, as an ordinary Lisp string. If binary is non-nil, it returns the hash in binary
form, as a sequence of bytes stored in a unibyte string.
This function does not compute the hash directly from the internal representation of
object’s text (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835). Instead, it encodes
the text using a coding system (see Section 33.10 [Coding Systems], page 848), and
computes the hash from that encoded text. If object is a buffer, the coding system
used is the one which would be chosen by default for writing the text into a file. If
object is a string, the user’s preferred coding system is used (see Section “Recognize
Coding” in GNU Emacs Manual).
Chapter 32: Text 826

md5 object &optional start end coding-system noerror [Function]

This function returns an MD5 hash. It is semi-obsolete, since for most purposes it is
equivalent to calling secure-hash with md5 as the algorithm argument. The object,
start and end arguments have the same meanings as in secure-hash.
If coding-system is non-nil, it specifies a coding system to use to encode the text; if
omitted or nil, the default coding system is used, like in secure-hash.
Normally, md5 signals an error if the text can’t be encoded using the specified or
chosen coding system. However, if noerror is non-nil, it silently uses raw-text
coding instead.

buffer-hash &optional buffer-or-name [Function]

Return a hash of buffer-or-name. If nil, this defaults to the current buffer. As
opposed to secure-hash, this function computes the hash based on the internal
representation of the buffer, disregarding any coding systems. It’s therefore only
useful when comparing two buffers running in the same Emacs, and is not guaranteed
to return the same hash between different Emacs versions. It should be somewhat
more efficient on larger buffers than secure-hash is, and should not allocate more
memory.

32.27 GnuTLS Cryptography

If compiled with GnuTLS, Emacs offers built-in cryptographic support. Following the
GnuTLS API terminology, the available tools are digests, MACs, symmetric ciphers, and
AEAD ciphers.
The terms used herein, such as IV (Initialization Vector), require some familiarity with
cryptography and will not be defined in detail. Please consult https://www.gnutls.org/
for specific documentation which may help you understand the terminology and structure
of the GnuTLS library.

32.27.1 Format of GnuTLS Cryptography Inputs

The inputs to GnuTLS cryptographic functions can be specified in several ways, both as
primitive Emacs Lisp types or as lists.
The list form is currently similar to how md5 and secure-hash operate.
buffer Simply passing a buffer as input means the whole buffer should be used.
string A string as input will be used directly. It may be modified by the function
(unlike most other Emacs Lisp functions) to reduce the chance of exposing
sensitive data after the function does its work.
(buffer-or-string start end coding-system noerror)
This specifies a buffer or a string as described above, but an optional range can
be specified with start and end.
In addition an optional coding-system can be specified if needed.
The last optional item, noerror, overrides the normal error when the text can’t
be encoded using the specified or chosen coding system. When noerror is non-
nil, this function silently uses raw-text coding instead.
Chapter 32: Text 827

(iv-auto length)
This will generate an IV (Initialization Vector) of the specified length using the
GnuTLS GNUTLS_RND_NONCE generator and pass it to the function. This ensures
that the IV is unpredictable and unlikely to be reused in the same session. The
actual value of the IV is returned by the function as described below.

32.27.2 GnuTLS Cryptographic Functions

gnutls-digests [Function]
This function returns the alist of the GnuTLS digest algorithms.
Each entry has a key which represents the algorithm, followed by a plist with internal
details about the algorithm. The plist will have :type gnutls-digest-algorithm
and also will have the key :digest-algorithm-length 64 to indicate the size, in
bytes, of the resulting digest.
There is a name parallel between GnuTLS MAC and digest algorithms but they are
separate things internally and should not be mixed.

gnutls-hash-digest digest-method input [Function]

The digest-method can be the whole plist from gnutls-digests, or just the symbol
key, or a string with the name of that symbol.
The input can be specified as a buffer or string or in other ways (see Section 32.27.1
[Format of GnuTLS Cryptography Inputs], page 826).
This function returns nil on error, and signals a Lisp error if the digest-method or
input are invalid. On success, it returns a list of a binary string (the output) and the
IV used.

gnutls-macs [Function]
This function returns the alist of the GnuTLS MAC algorithms.
Each entry has a key which represents the algorithm, followed by a plist with internal
details about the algorithm. The plist will have :type gnutls-mac-algorithm
and also will have the keys :mac-algorithm-length :mac-algorithm-keysize
:mac-algorithm-noncesize to indicate the size, in bytes, of the resulting hash, the
key, and the nonce respectively.
The nonce is currently unused and only some MACs support it.
There is a name parallel between GnuTLS MAC and digest algorithms but they are
separate things internally and should not be mixed.

gnutls-hash-mac hash-method key input [Function]

The hash-method can be the whole plist from gnutls-macs, or just the symbol key,
or a string with the name of that symbol.
The key can be specified as a buffer or string or in other ways (see Section 32.27.1
[Format of GnuTLS Cryptography Inputs], page 826). The key will be wiped after
use if it’s a string.
The input can be specified as a buffer or string or in other ways (see Section 32.27.1
[Format of GnuTLS Cryptography Inputs], page 826).
Chapter 32: Text 828

This function returns nil on error, and signals a Lisp error if the hash-method or
key or input are invalid.
On success, it returns a list of a binary string (the output) and the IV used.

gnutls-ciphers [Function]
This function returns the alist of the GnuTLS ciphers.
Each entry has a key which represents the cipher, followed by a plist with inter-
nal details about the algorithm. The plist will have :type gnutls-symmetric-
cipher and also will have the keys :cipher-aead-capable set to nil or t to indi-
cate AEAD capability; and :cipher-tagsize :cipher-blocksize :cipher-keysize
:cipher-ivsize to indicate the size, in bytes, of the tag, block size of the resulting
data, the key, and the IV respectively.

gnutls-symmetric-encrypt cipher key iv input &optional aead auth [Function]

The cipher can be the whole plist from gnutls-ciphers, or just the symbol key, or
a string with the name of that symbol.
The key can be specified as a buffer or string or in other ways (see Section 32.27.1
[Format of GnuTLS Cryptography Inputs], page 826). The key will be wiped after
use if it’s a string.
The iv and input and the optional aead auth can be specified as a buffer or string or in
other ways (see Section 32.27.1 [Format of GnuTLS Cryptography Inputs], page 826).
aead auth is only checked with AEAD ciphers, that is, ciphers whose plist has
:cipher-aead-capable t. Otherwise it’s ignored.
This function returns nil on error, and signals a Lisp error if the cipher or key, iv, or
input are invalid, or if aead auth was specified with an AEAD cipher and was invalid.
On success, it returns a list of a binary string (the output) and the IV used.

gnutls-symmetric-decrypt cipher key iv input &optional aead auth [Function]

The cipher can be the whole plist from gnutls-ciphers, or just the symbol key, or
a string with the name of that symbol.
The key can be specified as a buffer or string or in other ways (see Section 32.27.1
[Format of GnuTLS Cryptography Inputs], page 826). The key will be wiped after
use if it’s a string.
The iv and input and the optional aead auth can be specified as a buffer or string or in
other ways (see Section 32.27.1 [Format of GnuTLS Cryptography Inputs], page 826).
aead auth is only checked with AEAD ciphers, that is, ciphers whose plist has
:cipher-aead-capable t. Otherwise it’s ignored.
This function returns nil on decryption error, and signals a Lisp error if the cipher
or key, iv, or input are invalid, or if aead auth was specified with an AEAD cipher
and was invalid.
On success, it returns a list of a binary string (the output) and the IV used.
Chapter 32: Text 829

32.28 Parsing HTML and XML

When Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, the following functions are available to
parse HTML or XML text into Lisp object trees.

libxml-parse-html-region start end &optional base-url [Function]

discard-comments
This function parses the text between start and end as HTML, and returns a list rep-
resenting the HTML parse tree. It attempts to handle real-world HTML by robustly
coping with syntax mistakes.
The optional argument base-url, if non-nil, should be a string specifying the base
URL for relative URLs occurring in links.
If the optional argument discard-comments is non-nil, then the parse tree is created
without any comments.
In the parse tree, each HTML node is represented by a list in which the first element is
a symbol representing the node name, the second element is an alist of node attributes,
and the remaining elements are the subnodes.
The following example demonstrates this. Given this (malformed) HTML document:
<html><head></head><body width=101><div class=thing>Foo<div>Yes
A call to libxml-parse-html-region returns this DOM (document object model):
(html nil
(head nil)
(body ((width . "101"))
(div ((class . "thing"))
"Foo"
(div nil
"Yes"))))

shr-insert-document dom [Function]

This function renders the parsed HTML in dom into the current buffer. The argument
dom should be a list as generated by libxml-parse-html-region. This function is,
e.g., used by The Emacs Web Wowser Manual.

libxml-parse-xml-region start end &optional base-url [Function]

discard-comments
This function is the same as libxml-parse-html-region, except that it parses the
text as XML rather than HTML (so it is stricter about syntax).

32.28.1 Document Object Model

The DOM returned by libxml-parse-html-region (and the other XML parsing functions)
is a tree structure where each node has a node name (called a tag), and optional key/value
attribute list, and then a list of child nodes. The child nodes are either strings or DOM
objects.
(body ((width . "101"))
(div ((class . "thing"))
"Foo"
Chapter 32: Text 830

(div nil
"Yes")))

dom-node tag &optional attributes &rest children [Function]

This function creates a DOM node of type tag. If given, attributes should be a
key/value pair list. If given, children should be DOM nodes.

The following functions can be used to work with this structure. Each function takes a
DOM node, or a list of nodes. In the latter case, only the first node in the list is used.
Simple accessors:
dom-tag node
Return the tag (also called “node name”) of the node.
dom-attr node attribute
Return the value of attribute in the node. A common usage would be:
(dom-attr img 'href)
=> "https://fsf.org/logo.png"
dom-children node
Return all the children of the node.
dom-non-text-children node
Return all the non-string children of the node.
dom-attributes node
Return the key/value pair list of attributes of the node.
dom-text node
Return all the textual elements of the node as a concatenated string.
dom-texts node
Return all the textual elements of the node, as well as the textual elements of
all the children of the node, recursively, as a concatenated string. This function
also takes an optional separator to be inserted between the textual elements.
dom-parent dom node
Return the parent of node in dom.
dom-remove dom node
Remove node from dom.
The following are functions for altering the DOM.
dom-set-attribute node attribute value
Set the attribute of the node to value.
dom-append-child node child
Append child as the last child of node.
dom-add-child-before node child before
Add child to node’s child list before the before node. If before is nil, make
child the first child.
Chapter 32: Text 831

dom-set-attributes node attributes

Replace all the attributes of the node with a new key/value list.
The following are functions for searching for elements in the DOM. They all return lists
of matching nodes.
dom-by-tag dom tag
Return all nodes in dom that are of type tag. A typical use would be:
(dom-by-tag dom 'td)
=> '((td ...) (td ...) (td ...))
dom-by-class dom match
Return all nodes in dom that have class names that match match, which is a
regular expression.
dom-by-style dom style
Return all nodes in dom that have styles that match match, which is a regular
expression.
dom-by-id dom style
Return all nodes in dom that have IDs that match match, which is a regular
expression.
dom-strings dom
Return all strings in dom.
Utility functions:
dom-pp dom &optional remove-empty
Pretty-print dom at point. If remove-empty, don’t print textual nodes that just
contain white-space.

32.29 Atomic Change Groups

In database terminology, an atomic change is an indivisible change—it can succeed entirely
or it can fail entirely, but it cannot partly succeed. A Lisp program can make a series of
changes to one or several buffers as an atomic change group, meaning that either the entire
series of changes will be installed in their buffers or, in case of an error, none of them will
be.
To do this for one buffer, the one already current, simply write a call to atomic-change-
group around the code that makes the changes, like this:
(atomic-change-group
(insert foo)
(delete-region x y))
If an error (or other nonlocal exit) occurs inside the body of atomic-change-group, it
unmakes all the changes in that buffer that were during the execution of the body. This
kind of change group has no effect on any other buffers—any such changes remain.
If you need something more sophisticated, such as to make changes in various buffers con-
stitute one atomic group, you must directly call lower-level functions that atomic-change-
group uses.
Chapter 32: Text 832

prepare-change-group &optional buffer [Function]

This function sets up a change group for buffer buffer, which defaults to the current
buffer. It returns a handle that represents the change group. You must use this
handle to activate the change group and subsequently to finish it.
To use the change group, you must activate it. You must do this before making any
changes in the text of buffer.
activate-change-group handle [Function]
This function activates the change group that handle designates.
After you activate the change group, any changes you make in that buffer become part
of it. Once you have made all the desired changes in the buffer, you must finish the change
group. There are two ways to do this: you can either accept (and finalize) all the changes,
or cancel them all.
accept-change-group handle [Function]
This function accepts all the changes in the change group specified by handle, making
them final.
cancel-change-group handle [Function]
This function cancels and undoes all the changes in the change group specified by
handle.
Your code should use unwind-protect to make sure the group is always finished. The call
to activate-change-group should be inside the unwind-protect, in case the user types C-
g just after it runs. (This is one reason why prepare-change-group and activate-change-
group are separate functions, because normally you would call prepare-change-group
before the start of that unwind-protect.) Once you finish the group, don’t use the handle
again—in particular, don’t try to finish the same group twice.
To make a multibuffer change group, call prepare-change-group once for each buffer
you want to cover, then use nconc to combine the returned values, like this:
(nconc (prepare-change-group buffer-1)
(prepare-change-group buffer-2))
You can then activate the multibuffer change group with a single call to
activate-change-group, and finish it with a single call to accept-change-group or
cancel-change-group.
Nested use of several change groups for the same buffer works as you would expect.
Non-nested use of change groups for the same buffer will get Emacs confused, so don’t let it
happen; the first change group you start for any given buffer should be the last one finished.

32.30 Change Hooks

These hook variables let you arrange to take notice of changes in buffers (or in a partic-
ular buffer, if you make them buffer-local). See also Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties],
page 808, for how to detect changes to specific parts of the text.
The functions you use in these hooks should save and restore the match data if they do
anything that uses regular expressions; otherwise, they will interfere in bizarre ways with
the editing operations that call them.
Chapter 32: Text 833

before-change-functions [Variable]
This variable holds a list of functions to call when Emacs is about to modify a buffer.
Each function gets two arguments, the beginning and end of the region that is about
to change, represented as integers. The buffer that is about to change is always the
current buffer when the function is called.
after-change-functions [Variable]
This variable holds a list of functions to call after Emacs modifies a buffer. Each
function receives three arguments: the beginning and end of the region just changed,
and the length of the text that existed before the change. All three arguments are
integers. The buffer that has been changed is always the current buffer when the
function is called.
The length of the old text is the difference between the buffer positions before and
after that text as it was before the change. As for the changed text, its length is
simply the difference between the first two arguments.
Output of messages into the *Messages* buffer does not call these functions, and neither
do certain internal buffer changes, such as changes in buffers created by Emacs internally
for certain jobs, that should not be visible to Lisp programs.
The vast majority of buffer changing primitives will call before-change-functions and
after-change-functions in balanced pairs, once for each change, where the arguments
to these hooks exactly delimit the change being made. Yet, hook functions should not
rely on this always being the case, because some complex primitives call before-change-
functions once before making changes, and then call after-change-functions zero or
more times, depending on how many individual changes the primitive is making. When
that happens, the arguments to before-change-functions will enclose a region in which
the individual changes are made, but won’t necessarily be the minimal such region, and the
arguments to each successive call of after-change-functions will then delimit the part of
text being changed exactly. In general, we advise to use either before- or the after-change
hooks, but not both.
combine-after-change-calls body. . . [Macro]
The macro executes body normally, but arranges to call the after-change functions
just once for a series of several changes—if that seems safe.
If a program makes several text changes in the same area of the buffer, using the
macro combine-after-change-calls around that part of the program can make it
run considerably faster when after-change hooks are in use. When the after-change
hooks are ultimately called, the arguments specify a portion of the buffer including
all of the changes made within the combine-after-change-calls body.
Warning: You must not alter the values of after-change-functions within the body
of a combine-after-change-calls form.
Warning: if the changes you combine occur in widely scattered parts of the buffer,
this will still work, but it is not advisable, because it may lead to inefficient behavior
for some change hook functions.
first-change-hook [Variable]
This variable is a normal hook that is run whenever a buffer is changed that was
previously in the unmodified state.
Chapter 32: Text 834

inhibit-modification-hooks [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, all of the change hooks are disabled; none of them run.
This affects all the hook variables described above in this section, as well as the hooks
attached to certain special text properties (see Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties],
page 808) and overlay properties (see Section 39.9.2 [Overlay Properties], page 988).
Also, this variable is bound to non-nil while running those same hook variables,
so that by default modifying the buffer from a modification hook does not cause
other modification hooks to be run. If you do want modification hooks to be run
in a particular piece of code that is itself run from a modification hook, then rebind
locally inhibit-modification-hooks to nil.
 835

33 Non-ASCII Characters
This chapter covers the special issues relating to characters and how they are stored in
strings and buffers.

33.1 Text Representations

Emacs buffers and strings support a large repertoire of characters from many different
scripts, allowing users to type and display text in almost any known written language.
To support this multitude of characters and scripts, Emacs closely follows the Unicode
Standard. The Unicode Standard assigns a unique number, called a codepoint, to each and
every character. The range of codepoints defined by Unicode, or the Unicode codespace,
is 0..#x10FFFF (in hexadecimal notation), inclusive. Emacs extends this range with code-
points in the range #x110000..#x3FFFFF, which it uses for representing characters that
are not unified with Unicode and raw 8-bit bytes that cannot be interpreted as characters.
Thus, a character codepoint in Emacs is a 22-bit integer.
To conserve memory, Emacs does not hold fixed-length 22-bit numbers that are code-
points of text characters within buffers and strings. Rather, Emacs uses a variable-length
internal representation of characters, that stores each character as a sequence of 1 to 5 8-bit
bytes, depending on the magnitude of its codepoint1 . For example, any ASCII character
takes up only 1 byte, a Latin-1 character takes up 2 bytes, etc. We call this representation
of text multibyte.
Outside Emacs, characters can be represented in many different encodings, such as ISO-
8859-1, GB-2312, Big-5, etc. Emacs converts between these external encodings and its
internal representation, as appropriate, when it reads text into a buffer or a string, or when
it writes text to a disk file or passes it to some other process.
Occasionally, Emacs needs to hold and manipulate encoded text or binary non-text data
in its buffers or strings. For example, when Emacs visits a file, it first reads the file’s text
verbatim into a buffer, and only then converts it to the internal representation. Before the
conversion, the buffer holds encoded text.
Encoded text is not really text, as far as Emacs is concerned, but rather a sequence of raw
8-bit bytes. We call buffers and strings that hold encoded text unibyte buffers and strings,
because Emacs treats them as a sequence of individual bytes. Usually, Emacs displays
unibyte buffers and strings as octal codes such as \237. We recommend that you never use
unibyte buffers and strings except for manipulating encoded text or binary non-text data.
In a buffer, the buffer-local value of the variable enable-multibyte-characters speci-
fies the representation used. The representation for a string is determined and recorded in
the string when the string is constructed.

enable-multibyte-characters [Variable]
This variable specifies the current buffer’s text representation. If it is non-nil, the
buffer contains multibyte text; otherwise, it contains unibyte encoded text or binary
non-text data.
1
This internal representation is based on one of the encodings defined by the Unicode Standard, called
UTF-8, for representing any Unicode codepoint, but Emacs extends UTF-8 to represent the additional
codepoints it uses for raw 8-bit bytes and characters not unified with Unicode.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 836

You cannot set this variable directly; instead, use the function set-buffer-
multibyte to change a buffer’s representation.
position-bytes position [Function]
Buffer positions are measured in character units. This function returns the byte-
position corresponding to buffer position position in the current buffer. This is 1 at
the start of the buffer, and counts upward in bytes. If position is out of range, the
value is nil.
byte-to-position byte-position [Function]
Return the buffer position, in character units, corresponding to given byte-position
in the current buffer. If byte-position is out of range, the value is nil. In a multibyte
buffer, an arbitrary value of byte-position can be not at character boundary, but
inside a multibyte sequence representing a single character; in this case, this function
returns the buffer position of the character whose multibyte sequence includes byte-
position. In other words, the value does not change for all byte positions that belong
to the same character.
The following two functions are useful when a Lisp program needs to map buffer positions
to byte offsets in a file visited by the buffer.
bufferpos-to-filepos position &optional quality coding-system [Function]
This function is similar to position-bytes, but instead of byte position in the cur-
rent buffer it returns the offset from the beginning of the current buffer’s file of the
byte that corresponds to the given character position in the buffer. The conversion
requires to know how the text is encoded in the buffer’s file; this is what the coding-
system argument is for, defaulting to the value of buffer-file-coding-system. The
optional argument quality specifies how accurate the result should be; it should be
one of the following:
exact The result must be accurate. The function may need to encode and
decode a large part of the buffer, which is expensive and can be slow.
approximate
The value can be an approximation. The function may avoid expensive
processing and return an inexact result.
nil If the exact result needs expensive processing, the function will return
nil rather than an approximation. This is the default if the argument is
omitted.
filepos-to-bufferpos byte &optional quality coding-system [Function]
This function returns the buffer position corresponding to a file position specified
by byte, a zero-base byte offset from the file’s beginning. The function performs
the conversion opposite to what bufferpos-to-filepos does. Optional arguments
quality and coding-system have the same meaning and values as for bufferpos-to-
filepos.
multibyte-string-p string [Function]
Return t if string is a multibyte string, nil otherwise. This function also returns nil
if string is some object other than a string.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 837

string-bytes string [Function]

This function returns the number of bytes in string. If string is a multibyte string,
this can be greater than (length string).
unibyte-string &rest bytes [Function]
This function concatenates all its argument bytes and makes the result a unibyte
string.

33.2 Disabling Multibyte Characters

By default, Emacs starts in multibyte mode: it stores the contents of buffers and strings
using an internal encoding that represents non-ASCII characters using multi-byte sequences.
Multibyte mode allows you to use all the supported languages and scripts without limita-
tions.
Under very special circumstances, you may want to disable multibyte character support,
for a specific buffer. When multibyte characters are disabled in a buffer, we call that unibyte
mode. In unibyte mode, each character in the buffer has a character code ranging from 0
through 255 (0377 octal); 0 through 127 (0177 octal) represent ASCII characters, and 128
(0200 octal) through 255 (0377 octal) represent non-ASCII characters.
To edit a particular file in unibyte representation, visit it using find-file-literally.
See Section 25.1.1 [Visiting Functions], page 521. You can convert a multibyte buffer to
unibyte by saving it to a file, killing the buffer, and visiting the file again with find-file-
literally. Alternatively, you can use C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
and specify ‘raw-text’ as the coding system with which to visit or save a file. See Section
“Specifying a Coding System for File Text” in GNU Emacs Manual. Unlike find-file-
literally, finding a file as ‘raw-text’ doesn’t disable format conversion, uncompression,
or auto mode selection.
The buffer-local variable enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil in multibyte
buffers, and nil in unibyte ones. The mode line also indicates whether a buffer is
multibyte or not. With a graphical display, in a multibyte buffer, the portion of the mode
line that indicates the character set has a tooltip that (amongst other things) says that
the buffer is multibyte. In a unibyte buffer, the character set indicator is absent. Thus,
in a unibyte buffer (when using a graphical display) there is normally nothing before the
indication of the visited file’s end-of-line convention (colon, backslash, etc.), unless you are
using an input method.
You can turn off multibyte support in a specific buffer by invoking the command
toggle-enable-multibyte-characters in that buffer.

33.3 Converting Text Representations

Emacs can convert unibyte text to multibyte; it can also convert multibyte text to unibyte,
provided that the multibyte text contains only ASCII and 8-bit raw bytes. In general, these
conversions happen when inserting text into a buffer, or when putting text from several
strings together in one string. You can also explicitly convert a string’s contents to either
representation.
Emacs chooses the representation for a string based on the text from which it is con-
structed. The general rule is to convert unibyte text to multibyte text when combining it
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 838

with other multibyte text, because the multibyte representation is more general and can
hold whatever characters the unibyte text has.
When inserting text into a buffer, Emacs converts the text to the buffer’s representation,
as specified by enable-multibyte-characters in that buffer. In particular, when you
insert multibyte text into a unibyte buffer, Emacs converts the text to unibyte, even though
this conversion cannot in general preserve all the characters that might be in the multibyte
text. The other natural alternative, to convert the buffer contents to multibyte, is not
acceptable because the buffer’s representation is a choice made by the user that cannot be
overridden automatically.
Converting unibyte text to multibyte text leaves ASCII characters unchanged, and con-
verts bytes with codes 128 through 255 to the multibyte representation of raw eight-bit
bytes.
Converting multibyte text to unibyte converts all ASCII and eight-bit characters to their
single-byte form, but loses information for non-ASCII characters by discarding all but the
low 8 bits of each character’s codepoint. Converting unibyte text to multibyte and back to
unibyte reproduces the original unibyte text.
The next two functions either return the argument string, or a newly created string with
no text properties.

string-to-multibyte string [Function]

This function returns a multibyte string containing the same sequence of characters
as string. If string is a multibyte string, it is returned unchanged. The function
assumes that string includes only ASCII characters and raw 8-bit bytes; the latter are
converted to their multibyte representation corresponding to the codepoints #x3FFF80
through #x3FFFFF, inclusive (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835).

string-to-unibyte string [Function]

This function returns a unibyte string containing the same sequence of characters as
string. It signals an error if string contains a non-ASCII character. If string is a
unibyte string, it is returned unchanged. Use this function for string arguments that
contain only ASCII and eight-bit characters.

byte-to-string byte [Function]

This function returns a unibyte string containing a single byte of character data, byte.
It signals an error if byte is not an integer between 0 and 255.

multibyte-char-to-unibyte char [Function]

This converts the multibyte character char to a unibyte character, and returns that
character. If char is neither ASCII nor eight-bit, the function returns −1.

unibyte-char-to-multibyte char [Function]

This convert the unibyte character char to a multibyte character, assuming char is
either ASCII or raw 8-bit byte.

33.4 Selecting a Representation

Sometimes it is useful to examine an existing buffer or string as multibyte when it was
unibyte, or vice versa.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 839

set-buffer-multibyte multibyte [Function]

Set the representation type of the current buffer. If multibyte is non-nil, the buffer
becomes multibyte. If multibyte is nil, the buffer becomes unibyte.
This function leaves the buffer contents unchanged when viewed as a sequence of bytes.
As a consequence, it can change the contents viewed as characters; for instance, a se-
quence of three bytes which is treated as one character in multibyte representation will
count as three characters in unibyte representation. Eight-bit characters representing
raw bytes are an exception. They are represented by one byte in a unibyte buffer,
but when the buffer is set to multibyte, they are converted to two-byte sequences,
and vice versa.
This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which representation is
in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer (including overlays, text properties
and markers) so that they cover the same text as they did before.
This function signals an error if the buffer is narrowed, since the narrowing might
have occurred in the middle of multibyte character sequences.
This function also signals an error if the buffer is an indirect buffer. An indirect buffer
always inherits the representation of its base buffer.

string-as-unibyte string [Function]

If string is already a unibyte string, this function returns string itself. Otherwise,
it returns a new string with the same bytes as string, but treating each byte as a
separate character (so that the value may have more characters than string); as an
exception, each eight-bit character representing a raw byte is converted into a single
byte. The newly-created string contains no text properties.

string-as-multibyte string [Function]

If string is a multibyte string, this function returns string itself. Otherwise, it returns
a new string with the same bytes as string, but treating each multibyte sequence
as one character. This means that the value may have fewer characters than string
has. If a byte sequence in string is invalid as a multibyte representation of a single
character, each byte in the sequence is treated as a raw 8-bit byte. The newly-created
string contains no text properties.

33.5 Character Codes

The unibyte and multibyte text representations use different character codes. The valid
character codes for unibyte representation range from 0 to #xFF (255)—the values that can
fit in one byte. The valid character codes for multibyte representation range from 0 to
#x3FFFFF. In this code space, values 0 through #x7F (127) are for ASCII characters, and
values #x80 (128) through #x3FFF7F (4194175) are for non-ASCII characters.
Emacs character codes are a superset of the Unicode standard. Values 0 through
#x10FFFF (1114111) correspond to Unicode characters of the same codepoint; values
#x110000 (1114112) through #x3FFF7F (4194175) represent characters that are not unified
with Unicode; and values #x3FFF80 (4194176) through #x3FFFFF (4194303) represent
eight-bit raw bytes.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 840

characterp charcode [Function]

This returns t if charcode is a valid character, and nil otherwise.
(characterp 65)
⇒ t
(characterp 4194303)
⇒ t
(characterp 4194304)
⇒ nil

max-char [Function]
This function returns the largest value that a valid character codepoint can have.
(characterp (max-char))
⇒ t
(characterp (1+ (max-char)))
⇒ nil

char-from-name string &optional ignore-case [Function]

This function returns the character whose Unicode name is string. If ignore-case is
non-nil, case is ignored in string. This function returns nil if string does not name
a character.
;; U+03A3
(= (char-from-name "GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA") #x03A3)
⇒ t

get-byte &optional pos string [Function]

This function returns the byte at character position pos in the current buffer. If
the current buffer is unibyte, this is literally the byte at that position. If the buffer
is multibyte, byte values of ASCII characters are the same as character codepoints,
whereas eight-bit raw bytes are converted to their 8-bit codes. The function signals
an error if the character at pos is non-ASCII.
The optional argument string means to get a byte value from that string instead of
the current buffer.

33.6 Character Properties

A character property is a named attribute of a character that specifies how the character
behaves and how it should be handled during text processing and display. Thus, character
properties are an important part of specifying the character’s semantics.
On the whole, Emacs follows the Unicode Standard in its implementation of character
properties. In particular, Emacs supports the Unicode Character Property Model (http://
www.unicode.org/reports/tr23/), and the Emacs character property database is derived
from the Unicode Character Database (UCD). See the Character Properties chapter of the
Unicode Standard (http://www.unicode.org/versions/latest/ch04.pdf), for a detailed
description of Unicode character properties and their meaning. This section assumes you
are already familiar with that chapter of the Unicode Standard, and want to apply that
knowledge to Emacs Lisp programs.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 841

In Emacs, each property has a name, which is a symbol, and a set of possible val-
ues, whose types depend on the property; if a character does not have a certain prop-
erty, the value is nil. As a general rule, the names of character properties in Emacs are
produced from the corresponding Unicode properties by downcasing them and replacing
each ‘_’ character with a dash ‘-’. For example, Canonical_Combining_Class becomes
canonical-combining-class. However, sometimes we shorten the names to make their
use easier.
Some codepoints are left unassigned by the UCD—they don’t correspond to any char-
acter. The Unicode Standard defines default values of properties for such codepoints; they
are mentioned below for each property.
Here is the full list of value types for all the character properties that Emacs knows
about:
name Corresponds to the Name Unicode property. The value is a string consisting of
upper-case Latin letters A to Z, digits, spaces, and hyphen ‘-’ characters. For
unassigned codepoints, the value is nil.
general-category
Corresponds to the General_Category Unicode property. The value is a symbol
whose name is a 2-letter abbreviation of the character’s classification. For
unassigned codepoints, the value is Cn.
canonical-combining-class
Corresponds to the Canonical_Combining_Class Unicode property. The value
is an integer. For unassigned codepoints, the value is zero.
bidi-class
Corresponds to the Unicode Bidi_Class property. The value is a symbol whose
name is the Unicode directional type of the character. Emacs uses this property
when it reorders bidirectional text for display (see Section 39.26 [Bidirectional
Display], page 1067). For unassigned codepoints, the value depends on the
code blocks to which the codepoint belongs: most unassigned codepoints get
the value of L (strong L), but some get values of AL (Arabic letter) or R (strong
R).
decomposition
Corresponds to the Unicode properties Decomposition_Type and
Decomposition_Value. The value is a list, whose first element may be a
symbol representing a compatibility formatting tag, such as small2 ; the other
elements are characters that give the compatibility decomposition sequence
of this character. For characters that don’t have decomposition sequences,
and for unassigned codepoints, the value is a list with a single member, the
character itself.
decimal-digit-value
Corresponds to the Unicode Numeric_Value property for characters whose
Numeric_Type is ‘Decimal’. The value is an integer, or nil if the character
2
The Unicode specification writes these tag names inside ‘<..>’ brackets, but the tag names in Emacs do
not include the brackets; e.g., Unicode specifies ‘<small>’ where Emacs uses ‘small’.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 842

has no decimal digit value. For unassigned codepoints, the value is nil, which
means NaN, or “not a number”.

digit-value
Corresponds to the Unicode Numeric_Value property for characters whose
Numeric_Type is ‘Digit’. The value is an integer. Examples of such characters
include compatibility subscript and superscript digits, for which the value is
the corresponding number. For characters that don’t have any numeric value,
and for unassigned codepoints, the value is nil, which means NaN.

numeric-value
Corresponds to the Unicode Numeric_Value property for characters whose
Numeric_Type is ‘Numeric’. The value of this property is a number. Examples
of characters that have this property include fractions, subscripts, superscripts,
Roman numerals, currency numerators, and encircled numbers. For example,
the value of this property for the character U+2155 vulgar fraction one
fifth is 0.2. For characters that don’t have any numeric value, and for unas-
signed codepoints, the value is nil, which means NaN.

mirrored Corresponds to the Unicode Bidi_Mirrored property. The value of this prop-
erty is a symbol, either Y or N. For unassigned codepoints, the value is N.

mirroring
Corresponds to the Unicode Bidi_Mirroring_Glyph property. The value of this
property is a character whose glyph represents the mirror image of the char-
acter’s glyph, or nil if there’s no defined mirroring glyph. All the characters
whose mirrored property is N have nil as their mirroring property; however,
some characters whose mirrored property is Y also have nil for mirroring,
because no appropriate characters exist with mirrored glyphs. Emacs uses
this property to display mirror images of characters when appropriate (see
Section 39.26 [Bidirectional Display], page 1067). For unassigned codepoints,
the value is nil.

paired-bracket
Corresponds to the Unicode Bidi_Paired_Bracket property. The value of this
property is the codepoint of a character’s paired bracket, or nil if the character
is not a bracket character. This establishes a mapping between characters that
are treated as bracket pairs by the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm; Emacs uses
this property when it decides how to reorder for display parentheses, braces, and
other similar characters (see Section 39.26 [Bidirectional Display], page 1067).

bracket-type
Corresponds to the Unicode Bidi_Paired_Bracket_Type property. For charac-
ters whose paired-bracket property is non-nil, the value of this property is a
symbol, either o (for opening bracket characters) or c (for closing bracket char-
acters). For characters whose paired-bracket property is nil, the value is the
symbol n (None). Like paired-bracket, this property is used for bidirectional
display.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 843

old-name Corresponds to the Unicode Unicode_1_Name property. The value is a string.

For unassigned codepoints, and characters that have no value for this property,
the value is nil.
iso-10646-comment
Corresponds to the Unicode ISO_Comment property. The value is either a string
or nil. For unassigned codepoints, the value is nil.
uppercase
Corresponds to the Unicode Simple_Uppercase_Mapping property. The value
of this property is a single character. For unassigned codepoints, the value is
nil, which means the character itself.
lowercase
Corresponds to the Unicode Simple_Lowercase_Mapping property. The value
of this property is a single character. For unassigned codepoints, the value is
nil, which means the character itself.
titlecase
Corresponds to the Unicode Simple_Titlecase_Mapping property. Title case
is a special form of a character used when the first character of a word needs to
be capitalized. The value of this property is a single character. For unassigned
codepoints, the value is nil, which means the character itself.
special-uppercase
Corresponds to Unicode language- and context-independent special
upper-casing rules. The value of this property is a string (which may be
empty). For example mapping for U+00DF latin small letter sharp s is
"SS". For characters with no special mapping, the value is nil which means
uppercase property needs to be consulted instead.
special-lowercase
Corresponds to Unicode language- and context-independent special lower-casing
rules. The value of this property is a string (which may be empty). For example
mapping for U+0130 latin capital letter i with dot above the value is
"i\u0307" (i.e. 2-character string consisting of latin small letter i followed
by U+0307 combining dot above). For characters with no special mapping,
the value is nil which means lowercase property needs to be consulted instead.
special-titlecase
Corresponds to Unicode unconditional special title-casing rules. The value of
this property is a string (which may be empty). For example mapping for
U+FB01 latin small ligature fi the value is "Fi". For characters with no
special mapping, the value is nil which means titlecase property needs to
be consulted instead.
get-char-code-property char propname [Function]
This function returns the value of char’s propname property.
(get-char-code-property ?\s 'general-category)
⇒ Zs
(get-char-code-property ?1 'general-category)
⇒ Nd
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 844

;; U+2084
(get-char-code-property ?\N{SUBSCRIPT FOUR}
'digit-value)
⇒ 4
;; U+2155
(get-char-code-property ?\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE FIFTH}
'numeric-value)
⇒ 0.2
;; U+2163
(get-char-code-property ?\N{ROMAN NUMERAL FOUR}
'numeric-value)
⇒ 4
(get-char-code-property ?\( 'paired-bracket)
⇒ 41 ;; closing parenthesis
(get-char-code-property ?\) 'bracket-type)
⇒ c
char-code-property-description prop value [Function]
This function returns the description string of property prop’s value, or nil if value
has no description.
(char-code-property-description 'general-category 'Zs)
⇒ "Separator, Space"
(char-code-property-description 'general-category 'Nd)
⇒ "Number, Decimal Digit"
(char-code-property-description 'numeric-value '1/5)
⇒ nil
put-char-code-property char propname value [Function]
This function stores value as the value of the property propname for the character
char.
unicode-category-table [Variable]
The value of this variable is a char-table (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107) that
specifies, for each character, its Unicode General_Category property as a symbol.
char-script-table [Variable]
The value of this variable is a char-table that specifies, for each character, a symbol
whose name is the script to which the character belongs, according to the Unicode
Standard classification of the Unicode code space into script-specific blocks. This
char-table has a single extra slot whose value is the list of all script symbols.
char-width-table [Variable]
The value of this variable is a char-table that specifies the width of each character in
columns that it will occupy on the screen.
printable-chars [Variable]
The value of this variable is a char-table that specifies, for each character, whether it
is printable or not. That is, if evaluating (aref printable-chars char) results in
t, the character is printable, and if it results in nil, it is not.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 845

33.7 Character Sets

An Emacs character set, or charset, is a set of characters in which each character is as-
signed a numeric code point. (The Unicode Standard calls this a coded character set.)
Each Emacs charset has a name which is a symbol. A single character can belong to any
number of different character sets, but it will generally have a different code point in each
charset. Examples of character sets include ascii, iso-8859-1, greek-iso8859-7, and
windows-1255. The code point assigned to a character in a charset is usually different from
its code point used in Emacs buffers and strings.
Emacs defines several special character sets. The character set unicode includes all the
characters whose Emacs code points are in the range 0..#x10FFFF. The character set emacs
includes all ASCII and non-ASCII characters. Finally, the eight-bit charset includes the
8-bit raw bytes; Emacs uses it to represent raw bytes encountered in text.

charsetp object [Function]

Returns t if object is a symbol that names a character set, nil otherwise.

charset-list [Variable]
The value is a list of all defined character set names.

charset-priority-list &optional highestp [Function]

This function returns a list of all defined character sets ordered by their priority. If
highestp is non-nil, the function returns a single character set of the highest priority.

set-charset-priority &rest charsets [Function]

This function makes charsets the highest priority character sets.

char-charset character &optional restriction [Function]

This function returns the name of the character set of highest priority that character
belongs to. ASCII characters are an exception: for them, this function always returns
ascii.
If restriction is non-nil, it should be a list of charsets to search. Alternatively, it can
be a coding system, in which case the returned charset must be supported by that
coding system (see Section 33.10 [Coding Systems], page 848).

charset-plist charset [Function]

This function returns the property list of the character set charset. Although charset
is a symbol, this is not the same as the property list of that symbol. Charset properties
include important information about the charset, such as its documentation string,
short name, etc.

put-charset-property charset propname value [Function]

This function sets the propname property of charset to the given value.

get-charset-property charset propname [Function]

This function returns the value of charsets property propname.

list-charset-chars charset [Command]

This command displays a list of characters in the character set charset.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 846

Emacs can convert between its internal representation of a character and the character’s
codepoint in a specific charset. The following two functions support these conversions.

decode-char charset code-point [Function]

This function decodes a character that is assigned a code-point in charset, to the
corresponding Emacs character, and returns it. If charset doesn’t contain a character
of that code point, the value is nil. If code-point doesn’t fit in a Lisp integer (see
Section 3.1 [Integer Basics], page 35), it can be specified as a cons cell (high . low),
where low are the lower 16 bits of the value and high are the high 16 bits.

encode-char char charset [Function]

This function returns the code point assigned to the character char in charset. If the
result does not fit in a Lisp integer, it is returned as a cons cell (high . low) that
fits the second argument of decode-char above. If charset doesn’t have a codepoint
for char, the value is nil.

The following function comes in handy for applying a certain function to all or part of
the characters in a charset:

map-charset-chars function charset &optional arg from-code [Function]

to-code
Call function for characters in charset. function is called with two arguments. The
first one is a cons cell (from . to), where from and to indicate a range of characters
contained in charset. The second argument passed to function is arg.
By default, the range of codepoints passed to function includes all the characters
in charset, but optional arguments from-code and to-code limit that to the range
of characters between these two codepoints of charset. If either of them is nil, it
defaults to the first or last codepoint of charset, respectively.

33.8 Scanning for Character Sets

Sometimes it is useful to find out which character set a particular character belongs to. One
use for this is in determining which coding systems (see Section 33.10 [Coding Systems],
page 848) are capable of representing all of the text in question; another is to determine
the font(s) for displaying that text.

charset-after &optional pos [Function]

This function returns the charset of highest priority containing the character at po-
sition pos in the current buffer. If pos is omitted or nil, it defaults to the current
value of point. If pos is out of range, the value is nil.

find-charset-region beg end &optional translation [Function]

This function returns a list of the character sets of highest priority that contain
characters in the current buffer between positions beg and end.
The optional argument translation specifies a translation table to use for scanning the
text (see Section 33.9 [Translation of Characters], page 847). If it is non-nil, then
each character in the region is translated through this table, and the value returned
describes the translated characters instead of the characters actually in the buffer.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 847

find-charset-string string &optional translation [Function]

This function returns a list of character sets of highest priority that contain characters
in string. It is just like find-charset-region, except that it applies to the contents
of string instead of part of the current buffer.

33.9 Translation of Characters

A translation table is a char-table (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107) that specifies a
mapping of characters into characters. These tables are used in encoding and decoding, and
for other purposes. Some coding systems specify their own particular translation tables;
there are also default translation tables which apply to all other coding systems.
A translation table has two extra slots. The first is either nil or a translation table
that performs the reverse translation; the second is the maximum number of characters to
look up for translating sequences of characters (see the description of make-translation-
table-from-alist below).

make-translation-table &rest translations [Function]

This function returns a translation table based on the argument translations. Each
element of translations should be a list of elements of the form (from . to); this says
to translate the character from into to.
The arguments and the forms in each argument are processed in order, and if a
previous form already translates to to some other character, say to-alt, from is also
translated to to-alt.

During decoding, the translation table’s translations are applied to the characters that
result from ordinary decoding. If a coding system has the property :decode-translation-
table, that specifies the translation table to use, or a list of translation tables to apply in
sequence. (This is a property of the coding system, as returned by coding-system-get,
not a property of the symbol that is the coding system’s name. See Section 33.10.1 [Basic
Concepts of Coding Systems], page 848.) Finally, if standard-translation-table-for-
decode is non-nil, the resulting characters are translated by that table.
During encoding, the translation table’s translations are applied to the characters in
the buffer, and the result of translation is actually encoded. If a coding system has prop-
erty :encode-translation-table, that specifies the translation table to use, or a list of
translation tables to apply in sequence. In addition, if the variable standard-translation-
table-for-encode is non-nil, it specifies the translation table to use for translating the
result.

standard-translation-table-for-decode [Variable]
This is the default translation table for decoding. If a coding systems specifies its own
translation tables, the table that is the value of this variable, if non-nil, is applied
after them.

standard-translation-table-for-encode [Variable]
This is the default translation table for encoding. If a coding systems specifies its own
translation tables, the table that is the value of this variable, if non-nil, is applied
after them.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 848

translation-table-for-input [Variable]
Self-inserting characters are translated through this translation table before they are
inserted. Search commands also translate their input through this table, so they can
compare more reliably with what’s in the buffer.
This variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set.

make-translation-table-from-vector vec [Function]

This function returns a translation table made from vec that is an array of 256
elements to map bytes (values 0 through #xFF) to characters. Elements may be nil
for untranslated bytes. The returned table has a translation table for reverse mapping
in the first extra slot, and the value 1 in the second extra slot.
This function provides an easy way to make a private coding system that maps
each byte to a specific character. You can specify the returned table and the
reverse translation table using the properties :decode-translation-table
and :encode-translation-table respectively in the props argument to
define-coding-system.

make-translation-table-from-alist alist [Function]

This function is similar to make-translation-table but returns a complex trans-
lation table rather than a simple one-to-one mapping. Each element of alist is of
the form (from . to), where from and to are either characters or vectors specifying
a sequence of characters. If from is a character, that character is translated to to
(i.e., to a character or a character sequence). If from is a vector of characters, that
sequence is translated to to. The returned table has a translation table for reverse
mapping in the first extra slot, and the maximum length of all the from character
sequences in the second extra slot.

33.10 Coding Systems

When Emacs reads or writes a file, and when Emacs sends text to a subprocess or receives
text from a subprocess, it normally performs character code conversion and end-of-line
conversion as specified by a particular coding system.
How to define a coding system is an arcane matter, and is not documented here.

33.10.1 Basic Concepts of Coding Systems

Character code conversion involves conversion between the internal representation of charac-
ters used inside Emacs and some other encoding. Emacs supports many different encodings,
in that it can convert to and from them. For example, it can convert text to or from en-
codings such as Latin 1, Latin 2, Latin 3, Latin 4, Latin 5, and several variants of ISO
2022. In some cases, Emacs supports several alternative encodings for the same charac-
ters; for example, there are three coding systems for the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet: ISO,
Alternativnyj, and KOI8.
Every coding system specifies a particular set of character code conversions, but the cod-
ing system undecided is special: it leaves the choice unspecified, to be chosen heuristically
for each file, based on the file’s data. The coding system prefer-utf-8 is like undecided,
but it prefers to choose utf-8 when possible.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 849

In general, a coding system doesn’t guarantee roundtrip identity: decoding a byte se-
quence using a coding system, then encoding the resulting text in the same coding system,
can produce a different byte sequence. But some coding systems do guarantee that the byte
sequence will be the same as what you originally decoded. Here are a few examples:
iso-8859-1, utf-8, big5, shift jis, euc-jp
Encoding buffer text and then decoding the result can also fail to reproduce the original
text. For instance, if you encode a character with a coding system which does not support
that character, the result is unpredictable, and thus decoding it using the same coding
system may produce a different text. Currently, Emacs can’t report errors that result from
encoding unsupported characters.
End of line conversion handles three different conventions used on various systems for
representing end of line in files. The Unix convention, used on GNU and Unix systems, is to
use the linefeed character (also called newline). The DOS convention, used on MS-Windows
and MS-DOS systems, is to use a carriage return and a linefeed at the end of a line. The
Mac convention is to use just carriage return. (This was the convention used in Classic Mac
OS.)
Base coding systems such as latin-1 leave the end-of-line conversion unspecified, to be
chosen based on the data. Variant coding systems such as latin-1-unix, latin-1-dos and
latin-1-mac specify the end-of-line conversion explicitly as well. Most base coding systems
have three corresponding variants whose names are formed by adding ‘-unix’, ‘-dos’ and
‘-mac’.
The coding system raw-text is special in that it prevents character code conversion,
and causes the buffer visited with this coding system to be a unibyte buffer. For historical
reasons, you can save both unibyte and multibyte text with this coding system. When you
use raw-text to encode multibyte text, it does perform one character code conversion: it
converts eight-bit characters to their single-byte external representation. raw-text does
not specify the end-of-line conversion, allowing that to be determined as usual by the data,
and has the usual three variants which specify the end-of-line conversion.
no-conversion (and its alias binary) is equivalent to raw-text-unix: it specifies no
conversion of either character codes or end-of-line.
The coding system utf-8-emacs specifies that the data is represented in the internal
Emacs encoding (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835). This is like raw-text
in that no code conversion happens, but different in that the result is multibyte data.
The name emacs-internal is an alias for utf-8-emacs-unix (so it forces no conversion of
end-of-line, unlike utf-8-emacs, which can decode all 3 kinds of end-of-line conventions).

coding-system-get coding-system property [Function]

This function returns the specified property of the coding system coding-system.
Most coding system properties exist for internal purposes, but one that you might
find useful is :mime-charset. That property’s value is the name used in MIME for
the character coding which this coding system can read and write. Examples:
(coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 :mime-charset)
⇒ iso-8859-1
(coding-system-get 'iso-2022-cn :mime-charset)
⇒ iso-2022-cn
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 850

(coding-system-get 'cyrillic-koi8 :mime-charset)

⇒ koi8-r
The value of the :mime-charset property is also defined as an alias for the coding
system.

coding-system-aliases coding-system [Function]

This function returns the list of aliases of coding-system.

33.10.2 Encoding and I/O

The principal purpose of coding systems is for use in reading and writing files. The function
insert-file-contents uses a coding system to decode the file data, and write-region
uses one to encode the buffer contents.
You can specify the coding system to use either explicitly (see Section 33.10.6 [Specifying
Coding Systems], page 858), or implicitly using a default mechanism (see Section 33.10.5
[Default Coding Systems], page 855). But these methods may not completely specify what
to do. For example, they may choose a coding system such as undecided which leaves the
character code conversion to be determined from the data. In these cases, the I/O operation
finishes the job of choosing a coding system. Very often you will want to find out afterwards
which coding system was chosen.

buffer-file-coding-system [Variable]
This buffer-local variable records the coding system used for saving the buffer and
for writing part of the buffer with write-region. If the text to be written cannot
be safely encoded using the coding system specified by this variable, these operations
select an alternative encoding by calling the function select-safe-coding-system
(see Section 33.10.4 [User-Chosen Coding Systems], page 853). If selecting a different
encoding requires to ask the user to specify a coding system, buffer-file-coding-
system is updated to the newly selected coding system.
buffer-file-coding-system does not affect sending text to a subprocess.

save-buffer-coding-system [Variable]
This variable specifies the coding system for saving the buffer (by overriding
buffer-file-coding-system). Note that it is not used for write-region.
When a command to save the buffer starts out to use buffer-file-coding-system
(or save-buffer-coding-system), and that coding system cannot handle the ac-
tual text in the buffer, the command asks the user to choose another coding system
(by calling select-safe-coding-system). After that happens, the command also
updates buffer-file-coding-system to represent the coding system that the user
specified.

last-coding-system-used [Variable]
I/O operations for files and subprocesses set this variable to the coding system name
that was used. The explicit encoding and decoding functions (see Section 33.10.7
[Explicit Encoding], page 859) set it too.
Warning: Since receiving subprocess output sets this variable, it can change whenever
Emacs waits; therefore, you should copy the value shortly after the function call that
stores the value you are interested in.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 851

The variable selection-coding-system specifies how to encode selections for the win-
dow system. See Section 29.20 [Window System Selections], page 733.

file-name-coding-system [Variable]
The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system to use for en-
coding file names. Emacs encodes file names using that coding system for all file
operations. If file-name-coding-system is nil, Emacs uses a default coding system
determined by the selected language environment. In the default language environ-
ment, any non-ASCII characters in file names are not encoded specially; they appear
in the file system using the internal Emacs representation.

Warning: if you change file-name-coding-system (or the language environment) in

the middle of an Emacs session, problems can result if you have already visited files whose
names were encoded using the earlier coding system and are handled differently under the
new coding system. If you try to save one of these buffers under the visited file name, saving
may use the wrong file name, or it may get an error. If such a problem happens, use C-x
C-w to specify a new file name for that buffer.
On Windows 2000 and later, Emacs by default uses Unicode APIs to pass file names to
the OS, so the value of file-name-coding-system is largely ignored. Lisp applications that
need to encode or decode file names on the Lisp level should use utf-8 coding-system when
system-type is windows-nt; the conversion of UTF-8 encoded file names to the encoding
appropriate for communicating with the OS is performed internally by Emacs.

33.10.3 Coding Systems in Lisp

Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems:

coding-system-list &optional base-only [Function]

This function returns a list of all coding system names (symbols). If base-only is
non-nil, the value includes only the base coding systems. Otherwise, it includes alias
and variant coding systems as well.

coding-system-p object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a coding system name or nil.

check-coding-system coding-system [Function]

This function checks the validity of coding-system. If that is valid, it returns coding-
system. If coding-system is nil, the function return nil. For any other values, it
signals an error whose error-symbol is coding-system-error (see Section 11.7.3.1
[Signaling Errors], page 160).

coding-system-eol-type coding-system [Function]

This function returns the type of end-of-line (a.k.a. eol) conversion used by coding-
system. If coding-system specifies a certain eol conversion, the return value is an
integer 0, 1, or 2, standing for unix, dos, and mac, respectively. If coding-system
doesn’t specify eol conversion explicitly, the return value is a vector of coding systems,
each one with one of the possible eol conversion types, like this:
(coding-system-eol-type 'latin-1)
⇒ [latin-1-unix latin-1-dos latin-1-mac]
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 852

If this function returns a vector, Emacs will decide, as part of the text encoding or
decoding process, what eol conversion to use. For decoding, the end-of-line format
of the text is auto-detected, and the eol conversion is set to match it (e.g., DOS-
style CRLF format will imply dos eol conversion). For encoding, the eol conversion is
taken from the appropriate default coding system (e.g., default value of buffer-file-
coding-system for buffer-file-coding-system), or from the default eol conversion
appropriate for the underlying platform.
coding-system-change-eol-conversion coding-system eol-type [Function]
This function returns a coding system which is like coding-system except for its eol
conversion, which is specified by eol-type. eol-type should be unix, dos, mac, or
nil. If it is nil, the returned coding system determines the end-of-line conversion
from the data.
eol-type may also be 0, 1 or 2, standing for unix, dos and mac, respectively.
coding-system-change-text-conversion eol-coding text-coding [Function]
This function returns a coding system which uses the end-of-line conversion of eol-
coding, and the text conversion of text-coding. If text-coding is nil, it returns
undecided, or one of its variants according to eol-coding.
find-coding-systems-region from to [Function]
This function returns a list of coding systems that could be used to encode a text
between from and to. All coding systems in the list can safely encode any multibyte
characters in that portion of the text.
If the text contains no multibyte characters, the function returns the list (undecided).
find-coding-systems-string string [Function]
This function returns a list of coding systems that could be used to encode the text
of string. All coding systems in the list can safely encode any multibyte characters in
string. If the text contains no multibyte characters, this returns the list (undecided).
find-coding-systems-for-charsets charsets [Function]
This function returns a list of coding systems that could be used to encode all the
character sets in the list charsets.
check-coding-systems-region start end coding-system-list [Function]
This function checks whether coding systems in the list coding-system-list can
encode all the characters in the region between start and end. If all of the coding sys-
tems in the list can encode the specified text, the function returns nil. If some coding
systems cannot encode some of the characters, the value is an alist, each element of
which has the form (coding-system1 pos1 pos2 ...), meaning that coding-system1
cannot encode characters at buffer positions pos1, pos2, . . . .
start may be a string, in which case end is ignored and the returned value references
string indices instead of buffer positions.
detect-coding-region start end &optional highest [Function]
This function chooses a plausible coding system for decoding the text from start to
end. This text should be a byte sequence, i.e., unibyte text or multibyte text with only
ASCII and eight-bit characters (see Section 33.10.7 [Explicit Encoding], page 859).
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 853

Normally this function returns a list of coding systems that could handle decoding
the text that was scanned. They are listed in order of decreasing priority. But if
highest is non-nil, then the return value is just one coding system, the one that is
highest in priority.
If the region contains only ASCII characters except for such ISO-2022 control charac-
ters ISO-2022 as ESC, the value is undecided or (undecided), or a variant specifying
end-of-line conversion, if that can be deduced from the text.
If the region contains null bytes, the value is no-conversion, even if the region
contains text encoded in some coding system.

detect-coding-string string &optional highest [Function]

This function is like detect-coding-region except that it operates on the contents
of string instead of bytes in the buffer.

inhibit-null-byte-detection [Variable]
If this variable has a non-nil value, null bytes are ignored when detecting the encoding
of a region or a string. This allows the encoding of text that contains null bytes to
be correctly detected, such as Info files with Index nodes.

inhibit-iso-escape-detection [Variable]
If this variable has a non-nil value, ISO-2022 escape sequences are ignored when
detecting the encoding of a region or a string. The result is that no text is ever
detected as encoded in some ISO-2022 encoding, and all escape sequences become
visible in a buffer. Warning: Use this variable with extreme caution, because many
files in the Emacs distribution use ISO-2022 encoding.

coding-system-charset-list coding-system [Function]

This function returns the list of character sets (see Section 33.7 [Character Sets],
page 845) supported by coding-system. Some coding systems that support too many
character sets to list them all yield special values:
• If coding-system supports all Emacs characters, the value is (emacs).
• If coding-system supports all Unicode characters, the value is (unicode).
• If coding-system supports all ISO-2022 charsets, the value is iso-2022.
• If coding-system supports all the characters in the internal coding system used
by Emacs version 21 (prior to the implementation of internal Unicode support),
the value is emacs-mule.

See [Process Information], page 934, in particular the description of the functions
process-coding-system and set-process-coding-system, for how to examine or set
the coding systems used for I/O to a subprocess.

33.10.4 User-Chosen Coding Systems

select-safe-coding-system from to &optional [Function]
default-coding-system accept-default-p file
This function selects a coding system for encoding specified text, asking the user
to choose if necessary. Normally the specified text is the text in the current buffer
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 854

between from and to. If from is a string, the string specifies the text to encode, and
to is ignored.
If the specified text includes raw bytes (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations],
page 835), select-safe-coding-system suggests raw-text for its encoding.
If default-coding-system is non-nil, that is the first coding system to try; if that
can handle the text, select-safe-coding-system returns that coding system. It
can also be a list of coding systems; then the function tries each of them one by
one. After trying all of them, it next tries the current buffer’s value of buffer-file-
coding-system (if it is not undecided), then the default value of buffer-file-
coding-system and finally the user’s most preferred coding system, which the user
can set using the command prefer-coding-system (see Section “Recognizing Coding
Systems” in The GNU Emacs Manual).
If one of those coding systems can safely encode all the specified text, select-safe-
coding-system chooses it and returns it. Otherwise, it asks the user to choose from
a list of coding systems which can encode all the text, and returns the user’s choice.
default-coding-system can also be a list whose first element is t and whose other
elements are coding systems. Then, if no coding system in the list can handle the
text, select-safe-coding-system queries the user immediately, without trying any
of the three alternatives described above. This is handy for checking only the coding
systems in the list.
The optional argument accept-default-p determines whether a coding system selected
without user interaction is acceptable. If it’s omitted or nil, such a silent selection
is always acceptable. If it is non-nil, it should be a function; select-safe-coding-
system calls this function with one argument, the base coding system of the selected
coding system. If the function returns nil, select-safe-coding-system rejects the
silently selected coding system, and asks the user to select a coding system from a
list of possible candidates.
If the variable select-safe-coding-system-accept-default-p is non-nil, it
should be a function taking a single argument. It is used in place of accept-default-p,
overriding any value supplied for this argument.
As a final step, before returning the chosen coding system, select-safe-coding-
system checks whether that coding system is consistent with what would be selected
if the contents of the region were read from a file. (If not, this could lead to data
corruption in a file subsequently re-visited and edited.) Normally, select-safe-
coding-system uses buffer-file-name as the file for this purpose, but if file is
non-nil, it uses that file instead (this can be relevant for write-region and similar
functions). If it detects an apparent inconsistency, select-safe-coding-system
queries the user before selecting the coding system.

select-safe-coding-system-function [Variable]
This variable names the function to be called to request the user to select a proper cod-
ing system for encoding text when the default coding system for an output operation
cannot safely encode that text. The default value of this variable is select-safe-
coding-system. Emacs primitives that write text to files, such as write-region, or
send text to other processes, such as process-send-region, normally call the value
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 855

of this variable, unless coding-system-for-write is bound to a non-nil value (see

Section 33.10.6 [Specifying Coding Systems], page 858).
Here are two functions you can use to let the user specify a coding system, with com-
pletion. See Section 20.6 [Completion], page 342.
read-coding-system prompt &optional default [Function]
This function reads a coding system using the minibuffer, prompting with string
prompt, and returns the coding system name as a symbol. If the user enters null
input, default specifies which coding system to return. It should be a symbol or a
string.
read-non-nil-coding-system prompt [Function]
This function reads a coding system using the minibuffer, prompting with string
prompt, and returns the coding system name as a symbol. If the user tries to enter
null input, it asks the user to try again. See Section 33.10 [Coding Systems], page 848.

33.10.5 Default Coding Systems

This section describes variables that specify the default coding system for certain files or
when running certain subprograms, and the function that I/O operations use to access
them.
The idea of these variables is that you set them once and for all to the defaults you want,
and then do not change them again. To specify a particular coding system for a particular
operation in a Lisp program, don’t change these variables; instead, override them using
coding-system-for-read and coding-system-for-write (see Section 33.10.6 [Specifying
Coding Systems], page 858).
auto-coding-regexp-alist [User Option]
This variable is an alist of text patterns and corresponding coding systems. Each
element has the form (regexp . coding-system); a file whose first few kilobytes
match regexp is decoded with coding-system when its contents are read into a buffer.
The settings in this alist take priority over coding: tags in the files and the contents
of file-coding-system-alist (see below). The default value is set so that Emacs
automatically recognizes mail files in Babyl format and reads them with no code
conversions.
file-coding-system-alist [User Option]
This variable is an alist that specifies the coding systems to use for reading and writing
particular files. Each element has the form (pattern . coding), where pattern is a
regular expression that matches certain file names. The element applies to file names
that match pattern.
The cdr of the element, coding, should be either a coding system, a cons cell con-
taining two coding systems, or a function name (a symbol with a function definition).
If coding is a coding system, that coding system is used for both reading the file and
writing it. If coding is a cons cell containing two coding systems, its car specifies
the coding system for decoding, and its cdr specifies the coding system for encoding.
If coding is a function name, the function should take one argument, a list of all ar-
guments passed to find-operation-coding-system. It must return a coding system
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 856

or a cons cell containing two coding systems. This value has the same meaning as
described above.
If coding (or what returned by the above function) is undecided, the normal code-
detection is performed.

auto-coding-alist [User Option]

This variable is an alist that specifies the coding systems to use for reading and writing
particular files. Its form is like that of file-coding-system-alist, but, unlike the
latter, this variable takes priority over any coding: tags in the file.

process-coding-system-alist [Variable]
This variable is an alist specifying which coding systems to use for a subprocess,
depending on which program is running in the subprocess. It works like file-coding-
system-alist, except that pattern is matched against the program name used to
start the subprocess. The coding system or systems specified in this alist are used
to initialize the coding systems used for I/O to the subprocess, but you can specify
other coding systems later using set-process-coding-system.

Warning: Coding systems such as undecided, which determine the coding system from
the data, do not work entirely reliably with asynchronous subprocess output. This is because
Emacs handles asynchronous subprocess output in batches, as it arrives. If the coding
system leaves the character code conversion unspecified, or leaves the end-of-line conversion
unspecified, Emacs must try to detect the proper conversion from one batch at a time, and
this does not always work.
Therefore, with an asynchronous subprocess, if at all possible, use a coding system which
determines both the character code conversion and the end of line conversion—that is, one
like latin-1-unix, rather than undecided or latin-1.

network-coding-system-alist [Variable]
This variable is an alist that specifies the coding system to use for network streams.
It works much like file-coding-system-alist, with the difference that the pattern
in an element may be either a port number or a regular expression. If it is a regular
expression, it is matched against the network service name used to open the network
stream.

default-process-coding-system [Variable]
This variable specifies the coding systems to use for subprocess (and network stream)
input and output, when nothing else specifies what to do.
The value should be a cons cell of the form (input-coding . output-coding). Here
input-coding applies to input from the subprocess, and output-coding applies to
output to it.

auto-coding-functions [User Option]

This variable holds a list of functions that try to determine a coding system for a file
based on its undecoded contents.
Each function in this list should be written to look at text in the current buffer, but
should not modify it in any way. The buffer will contain the text of parts of the file.
Each function should take one argument, size, which tells it how many characters to
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 857

look at, starting from point. If the function succeeds in determining a coding system
for the file, it should return that coding system. Otherwise, it should return nil.
The functions in this list could be called either when the file is visited and Emacs
wants to decode its contents, and/or when the file’s buffer is about to be saved and
Emacs wants to determine how to encode its contents.
If a file has a ‘coding:’ tag, that takes precedence, so these functions won’t be called.

find-auto-coding filename size [Function]

This function tries to determine a suitable coding system for filename. It examines
the buffer visiting the named file, using the variables documented above in sequence,
until it finds a match for one of the rules specified by these variables. It then returns
a cons cell of the form (coding . source), where coding is the coding system to use
and source is a symbol, one of auto-coding-alist, auto-coding-regexp-alist,
:coding, or auto-coding-functions, indicating which one supplied the matching
rule. The value :coding means the coding system was specified by the coding: tag
in the file (see Section “coding tag” in The GNU Emacs Manual). The order of looking
for a matching rule is auto-coding-alist first, then auto-coding-regexp-alist,
then the coding: tag, and lastly auto-coding-functions. If no matching rule was
found, the function returns nil.
The second argument size is the size of text, in characters, following point. The
function examines text only within size characters after point. Normally, the buffer
should be positioned at the beginning when this function is called, because one of the
places for the coding: tag is the first one or two lines of the file; in that case, size
should be the size of the buffer.

set-auto-coding filename size [Function]

This function returns a suitable coding system for file filename. It uses find-auto-
coding to find the coding system. If no coding system could be determined, the
function returns nil. The meaning of the argument size is like in find-auto-coding.

find-operation-coding-system operation &rest arguments [Function]

This function returns the coding system to use (by default) for performing operation
with arguments. The value has this form:
(decoding-system . encoding-system)
The first element, decoding-system, is the coding system to use for decoding (in case
operation does decoding), and encoding-system is the coding system for encoding (in
case operation does encoding).
The argument operation is a symbol; it should be one of write-region,
start-process, call-process, call-process-region, insert-file-contents, or
open-network-stream. These are the names of the Emacs I/O primitives that can
do character code and eol conversion.
The remaining arguments should be the same arguments that might be given to the
corresponding I/O primitive. Depending on the primitive, one of those arguments is
selected as the target. For example, if operation does file I/O, whichever argument
specifies the file name is the target. For subprocess primitives, the process name is
the target. For open-network-stream, the target is the service name or port number.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 858

Depending on operation, this function looks up the target in file-coding-system-

alist, process-coding-system-alist, or network-coding-system-alist. If the
target is found in the alist, find-operation-coding-system returns its association
in the alist; otherwise it returns nil.
If operation is insert-file-contents, the argument corresponding to the target may
be a cons cell of the form (filename . buffer). In that case, filename is a file name
to look up in file-coding-system-alist, and buffer is a buffer that contains the
file’s contents (not yet decoded). If file-coding-system-alist specifies a function
to call for this file, and that function needs to examine the file’s contents (as it usually
does), it should examine the contents of buffer instead of reading the file.

33.10.6 Specifying a Coding System for One Operation

You can specify the coding system for a specific operation by binding the variables
coding-system-for-read and/or coding-system-for-write.

coding-system-for-read [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, it specifies the coding system to use for reading a file, or
for input from a synchronous subprocess.
It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network stream, but in a different
way: the value of coding-system-for-read when you start the subprocess or open
the network stream specifies the input decoding method for that subprocess or net-
work stream. It remains in use for that subprocess or network stream unless and until
overridden.
The right way to use this variable is to bind it with let for a specific I/O operation.
Its global value is normally nil, and you should not globally set it to any other value.
Here is an example of the right way to use the variable:
;; Read the file with no character code conversion.
(let ((coding-system-for-read 'no-conversion))
(insert-file-contents filename))
When its value is non-nil, this variable takes precedence over all other methods of
specifying a coding system to use for input, including file-coding-system-alist,
process-coding-system-alist and network-coding-system-alist.

coding-system-for-write [Variable]
This works much like coding-system-for-read, except that it applies to output
rather than input. It affects writing to files, as well as sending output to subprocesses
and net connections. It also applies to encoding command-line arguments with which
Emacs invokes subprocesses.
When a single operation does both input and output, as do call-process-region
and start-process, both coding-system-for-read and coding-system-for-
write affect it.

coding-system-require-warning [Variable]
Binding coding-system-for-write to a non-nil value prevents output primitives
from calling the function specified by select-safe-coding-system-function (see
Section 33.10.4 [User-Chosen Coding Systems], page 853). This is because C-x
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 859

RET c (universal-coding-system-argument) works by binding coding-system-

for-write, and Emacs should obey user selection. If a Lisp program binds
coding-system-for-write to a value that might not be safe for encoding the text
to be written, it can also bind coding-system-require-warning to a non-nil value,
which will force the output primitives to check the encoding by calling the value of
select-safe-coding-system-function even though coding-system-for-write
is non-nil. Alternatively, call select-safe-coding-system explicitly before using
the specified encoding.

inhibit-eol-conversion [User Option]

When this variable is non-nil, no end-of-line conversion is done, no matter which cod-
ing system is specified. This applies to all the Emacs I/O and subprocess primitives,
and to the explicit encoding and decoding functions (see Section 33.10.7 [Explicit
Encoding], page 859).

Sometimes, you need to prefer several coding systems for some operation, rather than fix
a single one. Emacs lets you specify a priority order for using coding systems. This ordering
affects the sorting of lists of coding systems returned by functions such as find-coding-
systems-region (see Section 33.10.3 [Lisp and Coding Systems], page 851).

coding-system-priority-list &optional highestp [Function]

This function returns the list of coding systems in the order of their current priorities.
Optional argument highestp, if non-nil, means return only the highest priority coding
system.

set-coding-system-priority &rest coding-systems [Function]

This function puts coding-systems at the beginning of the priority list for coding
systems, thus making their priority higher than all the rest.

with-coding-priority coding-systems &rest body. . . [Macro]

This macro execute body, like progn does (see Section 11.1 [Sequencing], page 140),
with coding-systems at the front of the priority list for coding systems. coding-systems
should be a list of coding systems to prefer during execution of body.

33.10.7 Explicit Encoding and Decoding

All the operations that transfer text in and out of Emacs have the ability to use a coding
system to encode or decode the text. You can also explicitly encode and decode text using
the functions in this section.
The result of encoding, and the input to decoding, are not ordinary text. They logically
consist of a series of byte values; that is, a series of ASCII and eight-bit characters. In unibyte
buffers and strings, these characters have codes in the range 0 through #xFF (255). In a
multibyte buffer or string, eight-bit characters have character codes higher than #xFF (see
Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835), but Emacs transparently converts them to
their single-byte values when you encode or decode such text.
The usual way to read a file into a buffer as a sequence of bytes, so you can decode the
contents explicitly, is with insert-file-contents-literally (see Section 25.3 [Reading
from Files], page 527); alternatively, specify a non-nil rawfile argument when visiting a file
with find-file-noselect. These methods result in a unibyte buffer.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 860

The usual way to use the byte sequence that results from explicitly encoding text is to
copy it to a file or process—for example, to write it with write-region (see Section 25.4
[Writing to Files], page 528), and suppress encoding by binding coding-system-for-write
to no-conversion.
Here are the functions to perform explicit encoding or decoding. The encoding functions
produce sequences of bytes; the decoding functions are meant to operate on sequences of
bytes. All of these functions discard text properties. They also set last-coding-system-
used to the precise coding system they used.
encode-coding-region start end coding-system &optional [Command]
destination
This command encodes the text from start to end according to coding system coding-
system. Normally, the encoded text replaces the original text in the buffer, but the
optional argument destination can change that. If destination is a buffer, the encoded
text is inserted in that buffer after point (point does not move); if it is t, the command
returns the encoded text as a unibyte string without inserting it.
If encoded text is inserted in some buffer, this command returns the length of the
encoded text.
The result of encoding is logically a sequence of bytes, but the buffer remains multi-
byte if it was multibyte before, and any 8-bit bytes are converted to their multibyte
representation (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations], page 835).
Do not use undecided for coding-system when encoding text, since that may lead to
unexpected results. Instead, use select-safe-coding-system (see Section 33.10.4
[User-Chosen Coding Systems], page 853) to suggest a suitable encoding, if there’s no
obvious pertinent value for coding-system.
encode-coding-string string coding-system &optional nocopy [Function]
buffer
This function encodes the text in string according to coding system coding-system.
It returns a new string containing the encoded text, except when nocopy is non-nil,
in which case the function may return string itself if the encoding operation is trivial.
The result of encoding is a unibyte string.
decode-coding-region start end coding-system &optional [Command]
destination
This command decodes the text from start to end according to coding system coding-
system. To make explicit decoding useful, the text before decoding ought to be a
sequence of byte values, but both multibyte and unibyte buffers are acceptable (in
the multibyte case, the raw byte values should be represented as eight-bit characters).
Normally, the decoded text replaces the original text in the buffer, but the optional
argument destination can change that. If destination is a buffer, the decoded text
is inserted in that buffer after point (point does not move); if it is t, the command
returns the decoded text as a multibyte string without inserting it.
If decoded text is inserted in some buffer, this command returns the length of the
decoded text. If that buffer is a unibyte buffer (see Section 33.4 [Selecting a Repre-
sentation], page 838), the internal representation of the decoded text (see Section 33.1
[Text Representations], page 835) is inserted into the buffer as individual bytes.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 861

This command puts a charset text property on the decoded text. The value of the
property states the character set used to decode the original text.

decode-coding-string string coding-system &optional nocopy [Function]

buffer
This function decodes the text in string according to coding-system. It returns a new
string containing the decoded text, except when nocopy is non-nil, in which case the
function may return string itself if the decoding operation is trivial. To make explicit
decoding useful, the contents of string ought to be a unibyte string with a sequence
of byte values, but a multibyte string is also acceptable (assuming it contains 8-bit
bytes in their multibyte form).
If optional argument buffer specifies a buffer, the decoded text is inserted in that
buffer after point (point does not move). In this case, the return value is the length
of the decoded text. If that buffer is a unibyte buffer, the internal representation of
the decoded text is inserted into it as individual bytes.
This function puts a charset text property on the decoded text. The value of the
property states the character set used to decode the original text:
(decode-coding-string "Gr\374ss Gott" 'latin-1)
⇒ #("Grüss Gott" 0 9 (charset iso-8859-1))

decode-coding-inserted-region from to filename &optional visit [Function]

beg end replace
This function decodes the text from from to to as if it were being read from file
filename using insert-file-contents using the rest of the arguments provided.
The normal way to use this function is after reading text from a file without decoding,
if you decide you would rather have decoded it. Instead of deleting the text and
reading it again, this time with decoding, you can call this function.

33.10.8 Terminal I/O Encoding

Emacs can use coding systems to decode keyboard input and encode terminal output.
This is useful for terminals that transmit or display text using a particular encoding, such
as Latin-1. Emacs does not set last-coding-system-used when encoding or decoding
terminal I/O.

keyboard-coding-system &optional terminal [Function]

This function returns the coding system used for decoding keyboard input from
terminal. A value of no-conversion means no decoding is done. If terminal is
omitted or nil, it means the selected frame’s terminal. See Section 29.2 [Multiple
Terminals], page 685.

set-keyboard-coding-system coding-system &optional terminal [Command]

This command specifies coding-system as the coding system to use for decoding key-
board input from terminal. If coding-system is nil, that means not to decode key-
board input. If terminal is a frame, it means that frame’s terminal; if it is nil, that
means the currently selected frame’s terminal. See Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals],
page 685.
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 862

terminal-coding-system &optional terminal [Function]

This function returns the coding system that is in use for encoding terminal output
from terminal. A value of no-conversion means no encoding is done. If terminal is
a frame, it means that frame’s terminal; if it is nil, that means the currently selected
frame’s terminal.

set-terminal-coding-system coding-system &optional terminal [Command]

This command specifies coding-system as the coding system to use for encoding termi-
nal output from terminal. If coding-system is nil, that means not to encode terminal
output. If terminal is a frame, it means that frame’s terminal; if it is nil, that means
the currently selected frame’s terminal.

33.11 Input Methods

Input methods provide convenient ways of entering non-ASCII characters from the keyboard.
Unlike coding systems, which translate non-ASCII characters to and from encodings meant
to be read by programs, input methods provide human-friendly commands. (See Section
“Input Methods” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for information on how users use input
methods to enter text.) How to define input methods is not yet documented in this manual,
but here we describe how to use them.
Each input method has a name, which is currently a string; in the future, symbols may
also be usable as input method names.

current-input-method [Variable]
This variable holds the name of the input method now active in the current buffer.
(It automatically becomes local in each buffer when set in any fashion.) It is nil if
no input method is active in the buffer now.

default-input-method [User Option]

This variable holds the default input method for commands that choose an input
method. Unlike current-input-method, this variable is normally global.

set-input-method input-method [Command]

This command activates input method input-method for the current buffer. It also
sets default-input-method to input-method. If input-method is nil, this command
deactivates any input method for the current buffer.

read-input-method-name prompt &optional default inhibit-null [Function]

This function reads an input method name with the minibuffer, prompting with
prompt. If default is non-nil, that is returned by default, if the user enters empty
input. However, if inhibit-null is non-nil, empty input signals an error.
The returned value is a string.

input-method-alist [Variable]
This variable defines all the supported input methods. Each element defines one input
method, and should have the form:
(input-method language-env activate-func
title description args...)
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 863

Here input-method is the input method name, a string; language-env is another string,
the name of the language environment this input method is recommended for. (That
serves only for documentation purposes.)
activate-func is a function to call to activate this method. The args, if any, are
passed as arguments to activate-func. All told, the arguments to activate-func are
input-method and the args.
title is a string to display in the mode line while this method is active. description is
a string describing this method and what it is good for.

The fundamental interface to input methods is through the variable input-method-

function. See Section 21.8.2 [Reading One Event], page 399, and Section 21.8.4 [Invoking
the Input Method], page 403.

33.12 Locales
In POSIX, locales control which language to use in language-related features. These Emacs
variables control how Emacs interacts with these features.

locale-coding-system [Variable]
This variable specifies the coding system to use for decoding system error mes-
sages and—on X Window system only—keyboard input, for sending batch output
to the standard output and error streams, for encoding the format argument to
format-time-string, and for decoding the return value of format-time-string.

system-messages-locale [Variable]
This variable specifies the locale to use for generating system error messages. Chang-
ing the locale can cause messages to come out in a different language or in a different
orthography. If the variable is nil, the locale is specified by environment variables in
the usual POSIX fashion.

system-time-locale [Variable]
This variable specifies the locale to use for formatting time values. Changing the locale
can cause messages to appear according to the conventions of a different language.
If the variable is nil, the locale is specified by environment variables in the usual
POSIX fashion.

locale-info item [Function]

This function returns locale data item for the current POSIX locale, if available. item
should be one of these symbols:
codeset Return the character set as a string (locale item CODESET).
days Return a 7-element vector of day names (locale items DAY_1 through
DAY_7);
months Return a 12-element vector of month names (locale items MON_1 through
MON_12).
paper Return a list (width height) for the default paper size measured in mil-
limeters (locale items PAPER_WIDTH and PAPER_HEIGHT).
Chapter 33: Non-ASCII Characters 864

If the system can’t provide the requested information, or if item is not one of
those symbols, the value is nil. All strings in the return value are decoded using
locale-coding-system. See Section “Locales” in The GNU Libc Manual, for more
information about locales and locale items.
 865

34 Searching and Matching

GNU Emacs provides two ways to search through a buffer for specified text: exact string
searches and regular expression searches. After a regular expression search, you can examine
the match data to determine which text matched the whole regular expression or various
portions of it.
The ‘skip-chars...’ functions also perform a kind of searching. See Section 30.2.7
[Skipping Characters], page 751. To search for changes in character properties, see
Section 32.19.3 [Property Search], page 806.

34.1 Searching for Strings

These are the primitive functions for searching through the text in a buffer. They are meant
for use in programs, but you may call them interactively. If you do so, they prompt for the
search string; the arguments limit and noerror are nil, and repeat is 1. For more details
on interactive searching, see Section “Searching and Replacement” in The GNU Emacs
Manual.
These search functions convert the search string to multibyte if the buffer is multibyte;
they convert the search string to unibyte if the buffer is unibyte. See Section 33.1 [Text
Representations], page 835.

search-forward string &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This function searches forward from point for an exact match for string. If successful,
it sets point to the end of the occurrence found, and returns the new value of point.
If no match is found, the value and side effects depend on noerror (see below).
In the following example, point is initially at the beginning of the line. Then
(search-forward "fox") moves point after the last letter of ‘fox’:
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
?The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(search-forward "fox")
⇒ 20

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

The quick brown fox? jumped over the lazy dog.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
The argument limit specifies the bound to the search, and should be a position in the
current buffer. No match extending after that position is accepted. If limit is omitted
or nil, it defaults to the end of the accessible portion of the buffer.
What happens when the search fails depends on the value of noerror. If noerror is
nil, a search-failed error is signaled. If noerror is t, search-forward returns nil
and does nothing. If noerror is neither nil nor t, then search-forward moves point
to the upper bound and returns nil.
The argument noerror only affects valid searches which fail to find a match. Invalid
arguments cause errors regardless of noerror.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 866

If count is a positive number n, the search is done n times; each successive search starts
at the end of the previous match. If all these successive searches succeed, the function
call succeeds, moving point and returning its new value. Otherwise the function call
fails, with results depending on the value of noerror, as described above. If count is a
negative number −n, the search is done n times in the opposite (backward) direction.

search-backward string &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This function searches backward from point for string. It is like search-forward,
except that it searches backwards rather than forwards. Backward searches leave
point at the beginning of the match.

word-search-forward string &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This function searches forward from point for a word match for string. If it finds
a match, it sets point to the end of the match found, and returns the new value of
point.
Word matching regards string as a sequence of words, disregarding punctuation that
separates them. It searches the buffer for the same sequence of words. Each word
must be distinct in the buffer (searching for the word ‘ball’ does not match the word
‘balls’), but the details of punctuation and spacing are ignored (searching for ‘ball
boy’ does match ‘ball. Boy!’).
In this example, point is initially at the beginning of the buffer; the search leaves it
between the ‘y’ and the ‘!’.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
?He said "Please! Find
the ball boy!"
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(word-search-forward "Please find the ball, boy.")

⇒ 39

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

He said "Please! Find
the ball boy?!"
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
If limit is non-nil, it must be a position in the current buffer; it specifies the upper
bound to the search. The match found must not extend after that position.
If noerror is nil, then word-search-forward signals an error if the search fails. If
noerror is t, then it returns nil instead of signaling an error. If noerror is neither
nil nor t, it moves point to limit (or the end of the accessible portion of the buffer)
and returns nil.
If count is a positive number, it specifies how many successive occurrences to search
for. Point is positioned at the end of the last match. If count is a negative number,
the search is backward and point is positioned at the beginning of the last match.
Internally, word-search-forward and related functions use the function
word-search-regexp to convert string to a regular expression that ignores
punctuation.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 867

word-search-forward-lax string &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This command is identical to word-search-forward, except that the beginning or
the end of string need not match a word boundary, unless string begins or ends in
whitespace. For instance, searching for ‘ball boy’ matches ‘ball boyee’, but does
not match ‘balls boy’.

word-search-backward string &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This function searches backward from point for a word match to string. This function
is just like word-search-forward except that it searches backward and normally
leaves point at the beginning of the match.

word-search-backward-lax string &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This command is identical to word-search-backward, except that the beginning or
the end of string need not match a word boundary, unless string begins or ends in
whitespace.

34.2 Searching and Case

By default, searches in Emacs ignore the case of the text they are searching through; if you
specify searching for ‘FOO’, then ‘Foo’ or ‘foo’ is also considered a match. This applies to
regular expressions, too; thus, ‘[aB]’ would match ‘a’ or ‘A’ or ‘b’ or ‘B’.
If you do not want this feature, set the variable case-fold-search to nil. Then all
letters must match exactly, including case. This is a buffer-local variable; altering the vari-
able affects only the current buffer. (See Section 12.11.1 [Intro to Buffer-Local], page 185.)
Alternatively, you may change the default value. In Lisp code, you will more typically use
let to bind case-fold-search to the desired value.
Note that the user-level incremental search feature handles case distinctions differently.
When the search string contains only lower case letters, the search ignores case, but when
the search string contains one or more upper case letters, the search becomes case-sensitive.
But this has nothing to do with the searching functions used in Lisp code. See Section
“Incremental Search” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

case-fold-search [User Option]

This buffer-local variable determines whether searches should ignore case. If the
variable is nil they do not ignore case; otherwise (and by default) they do ignore
case.

case-replace [User Option]

This variable determines whether the higher-level replacement functions should pre-
serve case. If the variable is nil, that means to use the replacement text verbatim.
A non-nil value means to convert the case of the replacement text according to the
text being replaced.
This variable is used by passing it as an argument to the function replace-match.
See Section 34.6.1 [Replacing Match], page 882.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 868

34.3 Regular Expressions

A regular expression, or regexp for short, is a pattern that denotes a (possibly infinite) set
of strings. Searching for matches for a regexp is a very powerful operation. This section
explains how to write regexps; the following section says how to search for them.
For interactive development of regular expressions, you can use the M-x re-builder
command. It provides a convenient interface for creating regular expressions, by giving
immediate visual feedback in a separate buffer. As you edit the regexp, all its matches in
the target buffer are highlighted. Each parenthesized sub-expression of the regexp is shown
in a distinct face, which makes it easier to verify even very complex regexps.

34.3.1 Syntax of Regular Expressions

Regular expressions have a syntax in which a few characters are special constructs and the
rest are ordinary. An ordinary character is a simple regular expression that matches that
character and nothing else. The special characters are ‘.’, ‘*’, ‘+’, ‘?’, ‘[’, ‘^’, ‘$’, and ‘\’; no
new special characters will be defined in the future. The character ‘]’ is special if it ends a
character alternative (see later). The character ‘-’ is special inside a character alternative.
A ‘[:’ and balancing ‘:]’ enclose a character class inside a character alternative. Any other
character appearing in a regular expression is ordinary, unless a ‘\’ precedes it.
For example, ‘f’ is not a special character, so it is ordinary, and therefore ‘f’ is a regular
expression that matches the string ‘f’ and no other string. (It does not match the string
‘fg’, but it does match a part of that string.) Likewise, ‘o’ is a regular expression that
matches only ‘o’.
Any two regular expressions a and b can be concatenated. The result is a regular
expression that matches a string if a matches some amount of the beginning of that string
and b matches the rest of the string.
As a simple example, we can concatenate the regular expressions ‘f’ and ‘o’ to get the
regular expression ‘fo’, which matches only the string ‘fo’. Still trivial. To do something
more powerful, you need to use one of the special regular expression constructs.

34.3.1.1 Special Characters in Regular Expressions

Here is a list of the characters that are special in a regular expression.
‘.’ (Period)
is a special character that matches any single character except a newline. Using
concatenation, we can make regular expressions like ‘a.b’, which matches any
three-character string that begins with ‘a’ and ends with ‘b’.
‘*’ is not a construct by itself; it is a postfix operator that means to match the
preceding regular expression repetitively as many times as possible. Thus, ‘o*’
matches any number of ‘o’s (including no ‘o’s).
‘*’ always applies to the smallest possible preceding expression. Thus, ‘fo*’
has a repeating ‘o’, not a repeating ‘fo’. It matches ‘f’, ‘fo’, ‘foo’, and so on.
The matcher processes a ‘*’ construct by matching, immediately, as many rep-
etitions as can be found. Then it continues with the rest of the pattern. If that
fails, backtracking occurs, discarding some of the matches of the ‘*’-modified
construct in the hope that this will make it possible to match the rest of the
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 869

pattern. For example, in matching ‘ca*ar’ against the string ‘caaar’, the ‘a*’
first tries to match all three ‘a’s; but the rest of the pattern is ‘ar’ and there is
only ‘r’ left to match, so this try fails. The next alternative is for ‘a*’ to match
only two ‘a’s. With this choice, the rest of the regexp matches successfully.
Warning: Nested repetition operators can run for an indefinitely
long time, if they lead to ambiguous matching. For example, try-
ing to match the regular expression ‘\(x+y*\)*a’ against the string
‘xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxz’ could take hours before it
ultimately fails. Emacs must try each way of grouping the ‘x’s before
concluding that none of them can work. Even worse, ‘\(x*\)*’ can match
the null string in infinitely many ways, so it causes an infinite loop. To avoid
these problems, check nested repetitions carefully, to make sure that they do
not cause combinatorial explosions in backtracking.
‘+’ is a postfix operator, similar to ‘*’ except that it must match the preceding
expression at least once. So, for example, ‘ca+r’ matches the strings ‘car’ and
‘caaaar’ but not the string ‘cr’, whereas ‘ca*r’ matches all three strings.
‘?’ is a postfix operator, similar to ‘*’ except that it must match the preceding
expression either once or not at all. For example, ‘ca?r’ matches ‘car’ or ‘cr’;
nothing else.
‘*?’, ‘+?’, ‘??’
These are non-greedy variants of the operators ‘*’, ‘+’ and ‘?’. Where those
operators match the largest possible substring (consistent with matching the en-
tire containing expression), the non-greedy variants match the smallest possible
substring (consistent with matching the entire containing expression).
For example, the regular expression ‘c[ad]*a’ when applied to the string
‘cdaaada’ matches the whole string; but the regular expression ‘c[ad]*?a’,
applied to that same string, matches just ‘cda’. (The smallest possible match
here for ‘[ad]*?’ that permits the whole expression to match is ‘d’.)
‘[ ... ]’ is a character alternative, which begins with ‘[’ and is terminated by ‘]’. In the
simplest case, the characters between the two brackets are what this character
alternative can match.
Thus, ‘[ad]’ matches either one ‘a’ or one ‘d’, and ‘[ad]*’ matches any string
composed of just ‘a’s and ‘d’s (including the empty string). It follows that
‘c[ad]*r’ matches ‘cr’, ‘car’, ‘cdr’, ‘caddaar’, etc.
You can also include character ranges in a character alternative, by writing the
starting and ending characters with a ‘-’ between them. Thus, ‘[a-z]’ matches
any lower-case ASCII letter. Ranges may be intermixed freely with individual
characters, as in ‘[a-z$%.]’, which matches any lower case ASCII letter or ‘$’,
‘%’ or period. However, the ending character of one range should not be the
starting point of another one; for example, ‘[a-m-z]’ should be avoided.
The usual regexp special characters are not special inside a character alterna-
tive. A completely different set of characters is special inside character alter-
natives: ‘]’, ‘-’ and ‘^’.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 870

To include a ‘]’ in a character alternative, you must make it the first character.
For example, ‘[]a]’ matches ‘]’ or ‘a’. To include a ‘-’, write ‘-’ as the first
or last character of the character alternative, or as the upper bound of a range.
Thus, ‘[]-]’ matches both ‘]’ and ‘-’. (As explained below, you cannot use
‘\]’ to include a ‘]’ inside a character alternative, since ‘\’ is not special there.)
To include ‘^’ in a character alternative, put it anywhere but at the beginning.
The following aspects of ranges are specific to Emacs, in that POSIX allows
but does not require this behavior and programs other than Emacs may behave
differently:
1. If case-fold-search is non-nil, ‘[a-z]’ also matches upper-case letters.
2. A range is not affected by the locale’s collation sequence: it always rep-
resents the set of characters with codepoints ranging between those of its
bounds, so that ‘[a-z]’ matches only ASCII letters, even outside the C or
POSIX locale.
3. As a special case, if either bound of a range is a raw 8-bit byte, the other
bound should be a unibyte character, and the range matches only unibyte
characters.
4. If the lower bound of a range is greater than its upper bound, the range is
empty and represents no characters. Thus, ‘[b-a]’ always fails to match,
and ‘[^b-a]’ matches any character, including newline. However, the lower
bound should be at most one greater than the upper bound; for example,
‘[c-a]’ should be avoided.
A character alternative can also specify named character classes (see
Section 34.3.1.2 [Char Classes], page 872). This is a POSIX feature. For
example, ‘[[:ascii:]]’ matches any ASCII character. Using a character class
is equivalent to mentioning each of the characters in that class; but the latter
is not feasible in practice, since some classes include thousands of different
characters. A character class should not appear as the lower or upper bound
of a range.
‘[^ ... ]’ ‘[^’ begins a complemented character alternative. This matches any character
except the ones specified. Thus, ‘[^a-z0-9A-Z]’ matches all characters except
letters and digits.
‘^’ is not special in a character alternative unless it is the first character. The
character following the ‘^’ is treated as if it were first (in other words, ‘-’ and
‘]’ are not special there).
A complemented character alternative can match a newline, unless newline is
mentioned as one of the characters not to match. This is in contrast to the
handling of regexps in programs such as grep.
You can specify named character classes, just like in character alternatives.
For instance, ‘[^[:ascii:]]’ matches any non-ASCII character. See
Section 34.3.1.2 [Char Classes], page 872.
‘^’ When matching a buffer, ‘^’ matches the empty string, but only at the beginning
of a line in the text being matched (or the beginning of the accessible portion
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 871

of the buffer). Otherwise it fails to match anything. Thus, ‘^foo’ matches a

‘foo’ that occurs at the beginning of a line.
When matching a string instead of a buffer, ‘^’ matches at the beginning of the
string or after a newline character.
For historical compatibility reasons, ‘^’ can be used only at the beginning of
the regular expression, or after ‘\(’, ‘\(?:’ or ‘\|’.
‘$’ is similar to ‘^’ but matches only at the end of a line (or the end of the accessible
portion of the buffer). Thus, ‘x+$’ matches a string of one ‘x’ or more at the
end of a line.
When matching a string instead of a buffer, ‘$’ matches at the end of the string
or before a newline character.
For historical compatibility reasons, ‘$’ can be used only at the end of the
regular expression, or before ‘\)’ or ‘\|’.
‘\’ has two functions: it quotes the special characters (including ‘\’), and it intro-
duces additional special constructs.
Because ‘\’ quotes special characters, ‘\$’ is a regular expression that matches
only ‘$’, and ‘\[’ is a regular expression that matches only ‘[’, and so on.
Note that ‘\’ also has special meaning in the read syntax of Lisp strings (see
Section 2.3.8 [String Type], page 18), and must be quoted with ‘\’. For exam-
ple, the regular expression that matches the ‘\’ character is ‘\\’. To write a
Lisp string that contains the characters ‘\\’, Lisp syntax requires you to quote
each ‘\’ with another ‘\’. Therefore, the read syntax for a regular expression
matching ‘\’ is "\\\\".
Please note: For historical compatibility, special characters are treated as ordinary ones
if they are in contexts where their special meanings make no sense. For example, ‘*foo’
treats ‘*’ as ordinary since there is no preceding expression on which the ‘*’ can act. It is
poor practice to depend on this behavior; quote the special character anyway, regardless of
where it appears.
As a ‘\’ is not special inside a character alternative, it can never remove the special
meaning of ‘-’ or ‘]’. So you should not quote these characters when they have no special
meaning either. This would not clarify anything, since backslashes can legitimately precede
these characters where they have special meaning, as in ‘[^\]’ ("[^\\]" for Lisp string
syntax), which matches any single character except a backslash.
In practice, most ‘]’ that occur in regular expressions close a character alternative and
hence are special. However, occasionally a regular expression may try to match a complex
pattern of literal ‘[’ and ‘]’. In such situations, it sometimes may be necessary to carefully
parse the regexp from the start to determine which square brackets enclose a character al-
ternative. For example, ‘[^][]]’ consists of the complemented character alternative ‘[^][]’
(which matches any single character that is not a square bracket), followed by a literal ‘]’.
The exact rules are that at the beginning of a regexp, ‘[’ is special and ‘]’ not. This lasts
until the first unquoted ‘[’, after which we are in a character alternative; ‘[’ is no longer
special (except when it starts a character class) but ‘]’ is special, unless it immediately
follows the special ‘[’ or that ‘[’ followed by a ‘^’. This lasts until the next special ‘]’
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 872

that does not end a character class. This ends the character alternative and restores the
ordinary syntax of regular expressions; an unquoted ‘[’ is special again and a ‘]’ not.

34.3.1.2 Character Classes

Here is a table of the classes you can use in a character alternative, and what they mean:
‘[:ascii:]’
This matches any ASCII character (codes 0–127).
‘[:alnum:]’
This matches any letter or digit. For multibyte characters, it matches charac-
ters whose Unicode ‘general-category’ property (see Section 33.6 [Character
Properties], page 840) indicates they are alphabetic or decimal number charac-
ters.
‘[:alpha:]’
This matches any letter. For multibyte characters, it matches characters whose
Unicode ‘general-category’ property (see Section 33.6 [Character Properties],
page 840) indicates they are alphabetic characters.
‘[:blank:]’
This matches horizontal whitespace, as defined by Annex C of the Unicode Tech-
nical Standard #18. In particular, it matches spaces, tabs, and other charac-
ters whose Unicode ‘general-category’ property (see Section 33.6 [Character
Properties], page 840) indicates they are spacing separators.
‘[:cntrl:]’
This matches any ASCII control character.
‘[:digit:]’
This matches ‘0’ through ‘9’. Thus, ‘[-+[:digit:]]’ matches any digit, as well
as ‘+’ and ‘-’.
‘[:graph:]’
This matches graphic characters—everything except whitespace, ASCII and
non-ASCII control characters, surrogates, and codepoints unassigned by
Unicode, as indicated by the Unicode ‘general-category’ property (see
Section 33.6 [Character Properties], page 840).
‘[:lower:]’
This matches any lower-case letter, as determined by the current case table (see
Section 4.9 [Case Tables], page 65). If case-fold-search is non-nil, this also
matches any upper-case letter.
‘[:multibyte:]’
This matches any multibyte character (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations],
page 835).
‘[:nonascii:]’
This matches any non-ASCII character.
‘[:print:]’
This matches any printing character—either whitespace, or a graphic character
matched by ‘[:graph:]’.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 873

‘[:punct:]’
This matches any punctuation character. (At present, for multibyte characters,
it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
‘[:space:]’
This matches any character that has whitespace syntax (see Section 35.2.1
[Syntax Class Table], page 893).
‘[:unibyte:]’
This matches any unibyte character (see Section 33.1 [Text Representations],
page 835).
‘[:upper:]’
This matches any upper-case letter, as determined by the current case table
(see Section 4.9 [Case Tables], page 65). If case-fold-search is non-nil, this
also matches any lower-case letter.
‘[:word:]’
This matches any character that has word syntax (see Section 35.2.1 [Syntax
Class Table], page 893).
‘[:xdigit:]’
This matches the hexadecimal digits: ‘0’ through ‘9’, ‘a’ through ‘f’ and ‘A’
through ‘F’.

34.3.1.3 Backslash Constructs in Regular Expressions

For the most part, ‘\’ followed by any character matches only that character. However,
there are several exceptions: certain sequences starting with ‘\’ that have special meanings.
Here is a table of the special ‘\’ constructs.
‘\|’ specifies an alternative. Two regular expressions a and b with ‘\|’ in between
form an expression that matches anything that either a or b matches.
Thus, ‘foo\|bar’ matches either ‘foo’ or ‘bar’ but no other string.
‘\|’ applies to the largest possible surrounding expressions. Only a surrounding
‘\( ... \)’ grouping can limit the grouping power of ‘\|’.
If you need full backtracking capability to handle multiple uses of ‘\|’, use
the POSIX regular expression functions (see Section 34.5 [POSIX Regexps],
page 881).
‘\{m\}’ is a postfix operator that repeats the previous pattern exactly m times. Thus,
‘x\{5\}’ matches the string ‘xxxxx’ and nothing else. ‘c[ad]\{3\}r’ matches
string such as ‘caaar’, ‘cdddr’, ‘cadar’, and so on.
‘\{m,n\}’ is a more general postfix operator that specifies repetition with a minimum of
m repeats and a maximum of n repeats. If m is omitted, the minimum is 0; if
n is omitted, there is no maximum. For both forms, m and n, if specified, may
be no larger than 215 − 1 .
For example, ‘c[ad]\{1,2\}r’ matches the strings ‘car’, ‘cdr’, ‘caar’, ‘cadr’,
‘cdar’, and ‘cddr’, and nothing else.
‘\{0,1\}’ or ‘\{,1\}’ is equivalent to ‘?’.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 874

‘\{0,\}’ or ‘\{,\}’ is equivalent to ‘*’.

‘\{1,\}’ is equivalent to ‘+’.
‘\( ... \)’
is a grouping construct that serves three purposes:
1. To enclose a set of ‘\|’ alternatives for other operations. Thus, the regular
expression ‘\(foo\|bar\)x’ matches either ‘foox’ or ‘barx’.
2. To enclose a complicated expression for the postfix operators ‘*’, ‘+’ and
‘?’ to operate on. Thus, ‘ba\(na\)*’ matches ‘ba’, ‘bana’, ‘banana’,
‘bananana’, etc., with any number (zero or more) of ‘na’ strings.
3. To record a matched substring for future reference with ‘\digit’ (see be-
low).
This last application is not a consequence of the idea of a parenthetical grouping;
it is a separate feature that was assigned as a second meaning to the same ‘\(
... \)’ construct because, in practice, there was usually no conflict between
the two meanings. But occasionally there is a conflict, and that led to the
introduction of shy groups.
‘\(?: ... \)’
is the shy group construct. A shy group serves the first two purposes of an
ordinary group (controlling the nesting of other operators), but it does not get
a number, so you cannot refer back to its value with ‘\digit’. Shy groups are
particularly useful for mechanically-constructed regular expressions, because
they can be added automatically without altering the numbering of ordinary,
non-shy groups.
Shy groups are also called non-capturing or unnumbered groups.
‘\(?num: ... \)’
is the explicitly numbered group construct. Normal groups get their number
implicitly, based on their position, which can be inconvenient. This construct
allows you to force a particular group number. There is no particular restriction
on the numbering, e.g., you can have several groups with the same number in
which case the last one to match (i.e., the rightmost match) will win. Implicitly
numbered groups always get the smallest integer larger than the one of any
previous group.
‘\digit’ matches the same text that matched the digitth occurrence of a grouping (‘\(
... \)’) construct.
In other words, after the end of a group, the matcher remembers the beginning
and end of the text matched by that group. Later on in the regular expression
you can use ‘\’ followed by digit to match that same text, whatever it may have
been.
The strings matching the first nine grouping constructs appearing in the entire
regular expression passed to a search or matching function are assigned num-
bers 1 through 9 in the order that the open parentheses appear in the regular
expression. So you can use ‘\1’ through ‘\9’ to refer to the text matched by
the corresponding grouping constructs.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 875

For example, ‘\(.*\)\1’ matches any newline-free string that is composed of

two identical halves. The ‘\(.*\)’ matches the first half, which may be any-
thing, but the ‘\1’ that follows must match the same exact text.
If a ‘\( ... \)’ construct matches more than once (which can happen, for
instance, if it is followed by ‘*’), only the last match is recorded.
If a particular grouping construct in the regular expression was never
matched—for instance, if it appears inside of an alternative that wasn’t used,
or inside of a repetition that repeated zero times—then the corresponding
‘\digit’ construct never matches anything. To use an artificial example,
‘\(foo\(b*\)\|lose\)\2’ cannot match ‘lose’: the second alternative inside
the larger group matches it, but then ‘\2’ is undefined and can’t match
anything. But it can match ‘foobb’, because the first alternative matches
‘foob’ and ‘\2’ matches ‘b’.
‘\w’ matches any word-constituent character. The editor syntax table determines
which characters these are. See Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892.
‘\W’ matches any character that is not a word constituent.
‘\scode’ matches any character whose syntax is code. Here code is a character that
represents a syntax code: thus, ‘w’ for word constituent, ‘-’ for whitespace, ‘(’
for open parenthesis, etc. To represent whitespace syntax, use either ‘-’ or a
space character. See Section 35.2.1 [Syntax Class Table], page 893, for a list of
syntax codes and the characters that stand for them.
‘\Scode’ matches any character whose syntax is not code.
‘\cc’ matches any character whose category is c. Here c is a character that repre-
sents a category: thus, ‘c’ for Chinese characters or ‘g’ for Greek characters in
the standard category table. You can see the list of all the currently defined
categories with M-x describe-categories RET. You can also define your own
categories in addition to the standard ones using the define-category function
(see Section 35.8 [Categories], page 905).
‘\Cc’ matches any character whose category is not c.
The following regular expression constructs match the empty string—that is, they don’t
use up any characters—but whether they match depends on the context. For all, the
beginning and end of the accessible portion of the buffer are treated as if they were the
actual beginning and end of the buffer.
‘\`’ matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the buffer or string
being matched against.
‘\'’ matches the empty string, but only at the end of the buffer or string being
matched against.
‘\=’ matches the empty string, but only at point. (This construct is not defined
when matching against a string.)
‘\b’ matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a word. Thus,
‘\bfoo\b’ matches any occurrence of ‘foo’ as a separate word. ‘\bballs?\b’
matches ‘ball’ or ‘balls’ as a separate word.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 876

‘\b’ matches at the beginning or end of the buffer (or string) regardless of what
text appears next to it.
‘\B’ matches the empty string, but not at the beginning or end of a word, nor at
the beginning or end of the buffer (or string).
‘\<’ matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of a word. ‘\<’ matches
at the beginning of the buffer (or string) only if a word-constituent character
follows.
‘\>’ matches the empty string, but only at the end of a word. ‘\>’ matches at the
end of the buffer (or string) only if the contents end with a word-constituent
character.
‘\_<’ matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of a symbol. A symbol is a
sequence of one or more word or symbol constituent characters. ‘\_<’ matches
at the beginning of the buffer (or string) only if a symbol-constituent character
follows.
‘\_>’ matches the empty string, but only at the end of a symbol. ‘\_>’ matches at the
end of the buffer (or string) only if the contents end with a symbol-constituent
character.
Not every string is a valid regular expression. For example, a string that ends inside a
character alternative without a terminating ‘]’ is invalid, and so is a string that ends with
a single ‘\’. If an invalid regular expression is passed to any of the search functions, an
invalid-regexp error is signaled.

34.3.2 Complex Regexp Example

Here is a complicated regexp which was formerly used by Emacs to recognize the end of a
sentence together with any whitespace that follows. (Nowadays Emacs uses a similar but
more complex default regexp constructed by the function sentence-end. See Section 34.8
[Standard Regexps], page 890.)
Below, we show first the regexp as a string in Lisp syntax (to distinguish spaces from tab
characters), and then the result of evaluating it. The string constant begins and ends with
a double-quote. ‘\"’ stands for a double-quote as part of the string, ‘\\’ for a backslash as
part of the string, ‘\t’ for a tab and ‘\n’ for a newline.
"[.?!][]\"')}]*\\($\\| $\\|\t\\| \\)[ \t\n]*"
⇒ "[.?!][]\"')}]*\\($\\| $\\| \\| \\)[
]*"
In the output, tab and newline appear as themselves.
This regular expression contains four parts in succession and can be deciphered as follows:
[.?!] The first part of the pattern is a character alternative that matches any one
of three characters: period, question mark, and exclamation mark. The match
must begin with one of these three characters. (This is one point where the
new default regexp used by Emacs differs from the old. The new value also
allows some non-ASCII characters that end a sentence without any following
whitespace.)
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 877

[]\"')}]*
The second part of the pattern matches any closing braces and quotation marks,
zero or more of them, that may follow the period, question mark or exclamation
mark. The \" is Lisp syntax for a double-quote in a string. The ‘*’ at the
end indicates that the immediately preceding regular expression (a character
alternative, in this case) may be repeated zero or more times.
\\($\\| $\\|\t\\| \\)
The third part of the pattern matches the whitespace that follows the end of a
sentence: the end of a line (optionally with a space), or a tab, or two spaces.
The double backslashes mark the parentheses and vertical bars as regular ex-
pression syntax; the parentheses delimit a group and the vertical bars separate
alternatives. The dollar sign is used to match the end of a line.
[ \t\n]* Finally, the last part of the pattern matches any additional whitespace beyond
the minimum needed to end a sentence.

34.3.3 Regular Expression Functions

These functions operate on regular expressions.

regexp-quote string [Function]

This function returns a regular expression whose only exact match is string. Using
this regular expression in looking-at will succeed only if the next characters in the
buffer are string; using it in a search function will succeed if the text being searched
contains string. See Section 34.4 [Regexp Search], page 878.
This allows you to request an exact string match or search when calling a function
that wants a regular expression.
(regexp-quote "^The cat$")
⇒ "\\^The cat\\$"
One use of regexp-quote is to combine an exact string match with context described
as a regular expression. For example, this searches for the string that is the value of
string, surrounded by whitespace:
(re-search-forward
(concat "\\s-" (regexp-quote string) "\\s-"))

regexp-opt strings &optional paren [Function]

This function returns an efficient regular expression that will match any of the strings
in the list strings. This is useful when you need to make matching or searching as
fast as possible—for example, for Font Lock mode1 .
The optional argument paren can be any of the following:
a string The resulting regexp is preceded by paren and followed by ‘\)’, e.g. use
‘"\\(?1:"’ to produce an explicitly numbered group.
words The resulting regexp is surrounded by ‘\<\(’ and ‘\)\>’.
1
Note that regexp-opt does not guarantee that its result is absolutely the most efficient form possible.
A hand-tuned regular expression can sometimes be slightly more efficient, but is almost never worth the
effort.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 878

symbols The resulting regexp is surrounded by ‘\_<\(’ and ‘\)\_>’ (this is of-
ten appropriate when matching programming-language keywords and the
like).
non-nil The resulting regexp is surrounded by ‘\(’ and ‘\)’.
nil The resulting regexp is surrounded by ‘\(?:’ and ‘\)’, if it is necessary
to ensure that a postfix operator appended to it will apply to the whole
expression.
The resulting regexp of regexp-opt is equivalent to but usually more efficient than
that of a simplified version:
(defun simplified-regexp-opt (strings &optional paren)
(let ((parens
(cond
((stringp paren) (cons paren "\\)"))
((eq paren 'words) '("\\<\\(" . "\\)\\>"))
((eq paren 'symbols) '("\\_<\\(" . "\\)\\_>"))
((null paren) '("\\(?:" . "\\)"))
(t '("\\(" . "\\)")))))
(concat (car parens)
(mapconcat 'regexp-quote strings "\\|")
(cdr parens))))

regexp-opt-depth regexp [Function]

This function returns the total number of grouping constructs (parenthesized expres-
sions) in regexp. This does not include shy groups (see Section 34.3.1.3 [Regexp
Backslash], page 873).

regexp-opt-charset chars [Function]

This function returns a regular expression matching a character in the list of characters
chars.
(regexp-opt-charset '(?a ?b ?c ?d ?e))
⇒ "[a-e]"

34.4 Regular Expression Searching

In GNU Emacs, you can search for the next match for a regular expression (see Section 34.3.1
[Syntax of Regexps], page 868) either incrementally or not. For incremental search com-
mands, see Section “Regular Expression Search” in The GNU Emacs Manual. Here we
describe only the search functions useful in programs. The principal one is re-search-
forward.
These search functions convert the regular expression to multibyte if the buffer is multi-
byte; they convert the regular expression to unibyte if the buffer is unibyte. See Section 33.1
[Text Representations], page 835.

re-search-forward regexp &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This function searches forward in the current buffer for a string of text that is matched
by the regular expression regexp. The function skips over any amount of text that
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 879

is not matched by regexp, and leaves point at the end of the first match found. It
returns the new value of point.
If limit is non-nil, it must be a position in the current buffer. It specifies the upper
bound to the search. No match extending after that position is accepted. If limit is
omitted or nil, it defaults to the end of the accessible portion of the buffer.
What re-search-forward does when the search fails depends on the value of noerror:
nil Signal a search-failed error.
t Do nothing and return nil.
anything else
Move point to limit (or the end of the accessible portion of the buffer)
and return nil.
The argument noerror only affects valid searches which fail to find a match. Invalid
arguments cause errors regardless of noerror.
If count is a positive number n, the search is done n times; each successive search starts
at the end of the previous match. If all these successive searches succeed, the function
call succeeds, moving point and returning its new value. Otherwise the function call
fails, with results depending on the value of noerror, as described above. If count is a
negative number −n, the search is done n times in the opposite (backward) direction.
In the following example, point is initially before the ‘T’. Evaluating the search call
moves point to the end of that line (between the ‘t’ of ‘hat’ and the newline).
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
I read "?The cat in the hat
comes back" twice.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(re-search-forward "[a-z]+" nil t 5)

⇒ 27

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

I read "The cat in the hat?
comes back" twice.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

re-search-backward regexp &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This function searches backward in the current buffer for a string of text that is
matched by the regular expression regexp, leaving point at the beginning of the first
text found.
This function is analogous to re-search-forward, but they are not simple mirror
images. re-search-forward finds the match whose beginning is as close as possible
to the starting point. If re-search-backward were a perfect mirror image, it would
find the match whose end is as close as possible. However, in fact it finds the match
whose beginning is as close as possible (and yet ends before the starting point). The
reason for this is that matching a regular expression at a given spot always works
from beginning to end, and starts at a specified beginning position.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 880

A true mirror-image of re-search-forward would require a special feature for match-

ing regular expressions from end to beginning. It’s not worth the trouble of imple-
menting that.
string-match regexp string &optional start [Function]
This function returns the index of the start of the first match for the regular expression
regexp in string, or nil if there is no match. If start is non-nil, the search starts at
that index in string.
For example,
(string-match
"quick" "The quick brown fox jumped quickly.")
⇒ 4
(string-match
"quick" "The quick brown fox jumped quickly." 8)
⇒ 27
The index of the first character of the string is 0, the index of the second character is
1, and so on.
If this function finds a match, the index of the first character beyond the match is
available as (match-end 0). See Section 34.6 [Match Data], page 882.
(string-match
"quick" "The quick brown fox jumped quickly." 8)
⇒ 27

(match-end 0)
⇒ 32
string-match-p regexp string &optional start [Function]
This predicate function does what string-match does, but it avoids modifying the
match data.
looking-at regexp [Function]
This function determines whether the text in the current buffer directly following point
matches the regular expression regexp. “Directly following” means precisely that: the
search is “anchored” and it can succeed only starting with the first character following
point. The result is t if so, nil otherwise.
This function does not move point, but it does update the match data. See
Section 34.6 [Match Data], page 882. If you need to test for a match without
modifying the match data, use looking-at-p, described below.
In this example, point is located directly before the ‘T’. If it were anywhere else, the
result would be nil.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
I read "?The cat in the hat
comes back" twice.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(looking-at "The cat in the hat$")

⇒ t
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 881

looking-back regexp limit &optional greedy [Function]

This function returns t if regexp matches the text immediately before point (i.e.,
ending at point), and nil otherwise.
Because regular expression matching works only going forward, this is implemented
by searching backwards from point for a match that ends at point. That can be
quite slow if it has to search a long distance. You can bound the time required by
specifying a non-nil value for limit, which says not to search before limit. In this
case, the match that is found must begin at or after limit. Here’s an example:
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
I read "?The cat in the hat
comes back" twice.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(looking-back "read \"" 3)

⇒ t
(looking-back "read \"" 4)
⇒ nil
If greedy is non-nil, this function extends the match backwards as far as possible,
stopping when a single additional previous character cannot be part of a match for
regexp. When the match is extended, its starting position is allowed to occur before
limit.
As a general recommendation, try to avoid using looking-back wherever possible,
since it is slow. For this reason, there are no plans to add a looking-back-p function.

looking-at-p regexp [Function]

This predicate function works like looking-at, but without updating the match data.

search-spaces-regexp [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, it should be a regular expression that says how to search for
whitespace. In that case, any group of spaces in a regular expression being searched
for stands for use of this regular expression. However, spaces inside of constructs such
as ‘[...]’ and ‘*’, ‘+’, ‘?’ are not affected by search-spaces-regexp.
Since this variable affects all regular expression search and match constructs, you
should bind it temporarily for as small as possible a part of the code.

34.5 POSIX Regular Expression Searching

The usual regular expression functions do backtracking when necessary to handle the ‘\|’
and repetition constructs, but they continue this only until they find some match. Then
they succeed and report the first match found.
This section describes alternative search functions which perform the full backtracking
specified by the POSIX standard for regular expression matching. They continue back-
tracking until they have tried all possibilities and found all matches, so they can report
the longest match, as required by POSIX. This is much slower, so use these functions only
when you really need the longest match.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 882

The POSIX search and match functions do not properly support the non-greedy repe-
tition operators (see Section 34.3.1.1 [Regexp Special], page 868). This is because POSIX
backtracking conflicts with the semantics of non-greedy repetition.

posix-search-forward regexp &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This is like re-search-forward except that it performs the full backtracking specified
by the POSIX standard for regular expression matching.

posix-search-backward regexp &optional limit noerror count [Command]

This is like re-search-backward except that it performs the full backtracking spec-
ified by the POSIX standard for regular expression matching.

posix-looking-at regexp [Function]

This is like looking-at except that it performs the full backtracking specified by the
POSIX standard for regular expression matching.

posix-string-match regexp string &optional start [Function]

This is like string-match except that it performs the full backtracking specified by
the POSIX standard for regular expression matching.

34.6 The Match Data

Emacs keeps track of the start and end positions of the segments of text found during a
search; this is called the match data. Thanks to the match data, you can search for a
complex pattern, such as a date in a mail message, and then extract parts of the match
under control of the pattern.
Because the match data normally describe the most recent search only, you must be
careful not to do another search inadvertently between the search you wish to refer back
to and the use of the match data. If you can’t avoid another intervening search, you must
save and restore the match data around it, to prevent it from being overwritten.
Notice that all functions are allowed to overwrite the match data unless they’re explic-
itly documented not to do so. A consequence is that functions that are run implicitly in
the background (see Section 40.11 [Timers], page 1094, and Section 40.12 [Idle Timers],
page 1096) should likely save and restore the match data explicitly.

34.6.1 Replacing the Text that Matched

This function replaces all or part of the text matched by the last search. It works by means
of the match data.

replace-match replacement &optional fixedcase literal string subexp [Function]

This function performs a replacement operation on a buffer or string.
If you did the last search in a buffer, you should omit the string argument or specify
nil for it, and make sure that the current buffer is the one in which you performed
the last search. Then this function edits the buffer, replacing the matched text with
replacement. It leaves point at the end of the replacement text.
If you performed the last search on a string, pass the same string as string. Then this
function returns a new string, in which the matched text is replaced by replacement.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 883

If fixedcase is non-nil, then replace-match uses the replacement text without case
conversion; otherwise, it converts the replacement text depending upon the capital-
ization of the text to be replaced. If the original text is all upper case, this converts
the replacement text to upper case. If all words of the original text are capitalized,
this capitalizes all the words of the replacement text. If all the words are one-letter
and they are all upper case, they are treated as capitalized words rather than all-
upper-case words.
If literal is non-nil, then replacement is inserted exactly as it is, the only alterations
being case changes as needed. If it is nil (the default), then the character ‘\’ is
treated specially. If a ‘\’ appears in replacement, then it must be part of one of the
following sequences:
‘\&’ This stands for the entire text being replaced.
‘\n’, where n is a digit
This stands for the text that matched the nth subexpression in the
original regexp. Subexpressions are those expressions grouped inside
‘\(...\)’. If the nth subexpression never matched, an empty string is
substituted.
‘\\’ This stands for a single ‘\’ in the replacement text.
‘\?’ This stands for itself (for compatibility with replace-regexp and related
commands; see Section “Regexp Replace” in The GNU Emacs Manual).
Any other character following ‘\’ signals an error.
The substitutions performed by ‘\&’ and ‘\n’ occur after case conversion, if any.
Therefore, the strings they substitute are never case-converted.
If subexp is non-nil, that says to replace just subexpression number subexp of the
regexp that was matched, not the entire match. For example, after matching ‘foo
\(ba*r\)’, calling replace-match with 1 as subexp means to replace just the text
that matched ‘\(ba*r\)’.

match-substitute-replacement replacement &optional fixedcase [Function]

literal string subexp
This function returns the text that would be inserted into the buffer by
replace-match, but without modifying the buffer. It is useful if you want to present
the user with actual replacement result, with constructs like ‘\n’ or ‘\&’ substituted
with matched groups. Arguments replacement and optional fixedcase, literal, string
and subexp have the same meaning as for replace-match.

34.6.2 Simple Match Data Access

This section explains how to use the match data to find out what was matched by the last
search or match operation, if it succeeded.
You can ask about the entire matching text, or about a particular parenthetical subex-
pression of a regular expression. The count argument in the functions below specifies which.
If count is zero, you are asking about the entire match. If count is positive, it specifies which
subexpression you want.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 884

Recall that the subexpressions of a regular expression are those expressions grouped
with escaped parentheses, ‘\(...\)’. The countth subexpression is found by counting oc-
currences of ‘\(’ from the beginning of the whole regular expression. The first subexpression
is numbered 1, the second 2, and so on. Only regular expressions can have subexpressions—
after a simple string search, the only information available is about the entire match.
Every successful search sets the match data. Therefore, you should query the match data
immediately after searching, before calling any other function that might perform another
search. Alternatively, you may save and restore the match data (see Section 34.6.4 [Saving
Match Data], page 886) around the call to functions that could perform another search. Or
use the functions that explicitly do not modify the match data; e.g., string-match-p.
A search which fails may or may not alter the match data. In the current implementation,
it does not, but we may change it in the future. Don’t try to rely on the value of the match
data after a failing search.
match-string count &optional in-string [Function]
This function returns, as a string, the text matched in the last search or match
operation. It returns the entire text if count is zero, or just the portion corresponding
to the countth parenthetical subexpression, if count is positive.
If the last such operation was done against a string with string-match, then you
should pass the same string as the argument in-string. After a buffer search or
match, you should omit in-string or pass nil for it; but you should make sure that the
current buffer when you call match-string is the one in which you did the searching
or matching. Failure to follow this advice will lead to incorrect results.
The value is nil if count is out of range, or for a subexpression inside a ‘\|’ alternative
that wasn’t used or a repetition that repeated zero times.
match-string-no-properties count &optional in-string [Function]
This function is like match-string except that the result has no text properties.
match-beginning count [Function]
If the last regular expression search found a match, this function returns the position
of the start of the matching text or of a subexpression of it.
If count is zero, then the value is the position of the start of the entire match. Oth-
erwise, count specifies a subexpression in the regular expression, and the value of the
function is the starting position of the match for that subexpression.
The value is nil for a subexpression inside a ‘\|’ alternative that wasn’t used or a
repetition that repeated zero times.
match-end count [Function]
This function is like match-beginning except that it returns the position of the end
of the match, rather than the position of the beginning.
Here is an example of using the match data, with a comment showing the positions
within the text:
(string-match "\\(qu\\)\\(ick\\)"
"The quick fox jumped quickly.")
;0123456789
⇒ 4
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 885

(match-string 0 "The quick fox jumped quickly.")

⇒ "quick"
(match-string 1 "The quick fox jumped quickly.")
⇒ "qu"
(match-string 2 "The quick fox jumped quickly.")
⇒ "ick"

(match-beginning 1) ; The beginning of the match

⇒ 4 ; with ‘qu’ is at index 4.

(match-beginning 2) ; The beginning of the match

⇒ 6 ; with ‘ick’ is at index 6.

(match-end 1) ; The end of the match

⇒ 6 ; with ‘qu’ is at index 6.

(match-end 2) ; The end of the match

⇒ 9 ; with ‘ick’ is at index 9.
Here is another example. Point is initially located at the beginning of the line. Searching
moves point to between the space and the word ‘in’. The beginning of the entire match
is at the 9th character of the buffer (‘T’), and the beginning of the match for the first
subexpression is at the 13th character (‘c’).
(list
(re-search-forward "The \\(cat \\)")
(match-beginning 0)
(match-beginning 1))
⇒ (17 9 13)

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

I read "The cat ?in the hat comes back" twice.
^ ^
9 13
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
(In this case, the index returned is a buffer position; the first character of the buffer counts
as 1.)

34.6.3 Accessing the Entire Match Data

The functions match-data and set-match-data read or write the entire match data, all at
once.

match-data &optional integers reuse reseat [Function]

This function returns a list of positions (markers or integers) that record all the
information on the text that the last search matched. Element zero is the position of
the beginning of the match for the whole expression; element one is the position of
the end of the match for the expression. The next two elements are the positions of
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 886

the beginning and end of the match for the first subexpression, and so on. In general,
element number 2n corresponds to (match-beginning n); and element number 2n+1
corresponds to (match-end n).
Normally all the elements are markers or nil, but if integers is non-nil, that means
to use integers instead of markers. (In that case, the buffer itself is appended as
an additional element at the end of the list, to facilitate complete restoration of the
match data.) If the last match was done on a string with string-match, then integers
are always used, since markers can’t point into a string.
If reuse is non-nil, it should be a list. In that case, match-data stores the match
data in reuse. That is, reuse is destructively modified. reuse does not need to have
the right length. If it is not long enough to contain the match data, it is extended.
If it is too long, the length of reuse stays the same, but the elements that were not
used are set to nil. The purpose of this feature is to reduce the need for garbage
collection.
If reseat is non-nil, all markers on the reuse list are reseated to point to nowhere.
As always, there must be no possibility of intervening searches between the call to a
search function and the call to match-data that is intended to access the match data
for that search.
(match-data)
⇒ (#<marker at 9 in foo>
#<marker at 17 in foo>
#<marker at 13 in foo>
#<marker at 17 in foo>)

set-match-data match-list &optional reseat [Function]

This function sets the match data from the elements of match-list, which should be
a list that was the value of a previous call to match-data. (More precisely, anything
that has the same format will work.)
If match-list refers to a buffer that doesn’t exist, you don’t get an error; that sets the
match data in a meaningless but harmless way.
If reseat is non-nil, all markers on the match-list list are reseated to point to nowhere.
store-match-data is a semi-obsolete alias for set-match-data.

34.6.4 Saving and Restoring the Match Data

When you call a function that may search, you may need to save and restore the match
data around that call, if you want to preserve the match data from an earlier search for
later use. Here is an example that shows the problem that arises if you fail to save the
match data:
(re-search-forward "The \\(cat \\)")
⇒ 48
(foo) ; foo does more searching.
(match-end 0)
⇒ 61 ; Unexpected result—not 48!
You can save and restore the match data with save-match-data:
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 887

save-match-data body. . . [Macro]

This macro executes body, saving and restoring the match data around it. The return
value is the value of the last form in body.

You could use set-match-data together with match-data to imitate the effect of the
special form save-match-data. Here is how:
(let ((data (match-data)))
(unwind-protect
... ; Ok to change the original match data.
(set-match-data data)))
Emacs automatically saves and restores the match data when it runs process filter func-
tions (see Section 38.9.2 [Filter Functions], page 940) and process sentinels (see Section 38.10
[Sentinels], page 944).

34.7 Search and Replace

If you want to find all matches for a regexp in part of the buffer, and replace them, the best
way is to write an explicit loop using re-search-forward and replace-match, like this:
(while (re-search-forward "foo[ \t]+bar" nil t)
(replace-match "foobar"))
See Section 34.6.1 [Replacing the Text that Matched], page 882, for a description of
replace-match.
However, replacing matches in a string is more complex, especially if you want to do it
efficiently. So Emacs provides a function to do this.

replace-regexp-in-string regexp rep string &optional fixedcase [Function]

literal subexp start
This function copies string and searches it for matches for regexp, and replaces them
with rep. It returns the modified copy. If start is non-nil, the search for matches
starts at that index in string, so matches starting before that index are not changed.
This function uses replace-match to do the replacement, and it passes the optional
arguments fixedcase, literal and subexp along to replace-match.
Instead of a string, rep can be a function. In that case, replace-regexp-in-string
calls rep for each match, passing the text of the match as its sole argument. It collects
the value rep returns and passes that to replace-match as the replacement string.
The match data at this point are the result of matching regexp against a substring
of string.

If you want to write a command along the lines of query-replace, you can use
perform-replace to do the work.

perform-replace from-string replacements query-flag regexp-flag [Function]

delimited-flag &optional repeat-count map start end backward
region-noncontiguous-p
This function is the guts of query-replace and related commands. It searches for
occurrences of from-string in the text between positions start and end and replaces
some or all of them. If start is nil (or omitted), point is used instead, and the end
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 888

of the buffer’s accessible portion is used for end. (If the optional argument backward
is non-nil, the search starts at end and goes backward.)
If query-flag is nil, it replaces all occurrences; otherwise, it asks the user what to do
about each one.
If regexp-flag is non-nil, then from-string is considered a regular expression; oth-
erwise, it must match literally. If delimited-flag is non-nil, then only replacements
surrounded by word boundaries are considered.
The argument replacements specifies what to replace occurrences with. If it is a
string, that string is used. It can also be a list of strings, to be used in cyclic order.
If replacements is a cons cell, (function . data), this means to call function after
each match to get the replacement text. This function is called with two arguments:
data, and the number of replacements already made.
If repeat-count is non-nil, it should be an integer. Then it specifies how many times
to use each of the strings in the replacements list before advancing cyclically to the
next one.
If from-string contains upper-case letters, then perform-replace binds case-fold-
search to nil, and it uses the replacements without altering their case.
Normally, the keymap query-replace-map defines the possible user responses
for queries. The argument map, if non-nil, specifies a keymap to use instead of
query-replace-map.
Non-nil region-noncontiguous-p means that the region between start and end is
composed of noncontiguous pieces. The most common example of this is a rectangular
region, where the pieces are separated by newline characters.
This function uses one of two functions to search for the next occurrence of from-
string. These functions are specified by the values of two variables: replace-re-
search-function and replace-search-function. The former is called when the
argument regexp-flag is non-nil, the latter when it is nil.
query-replace-map [Variable]
This variable holds a special keymap that defines the valid user responses for
perform-replace and the commands that use it, as well as y-or-n-p and
map-y-or-n-p. This map is unusual in two ways:
• The key bindings are not commands, just symbols that are meaningful to the
functions that use this map.
• Prefix keys are not supported; each key binding must be for a single-event key
sequence. This is because the functions don’t use read-key-sequence to get the
input; instead, they read a single event and look it up “by hand”.
Here are the meaningful bindings for query-replace-map. Several of them are mean-
ingful only for query-replace and friends.
act Do take the action being considered—in other words, “yes”.
skip Do not take action for this question—in other words, “no”.
exit Answer this question “no”, and give up on the entire series of questions, assum-
ing that the answers will be “no”.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 889

exit-prefix
Like exit, but add the key that was pressed to unread-command-events (see
Section 21.8.6 [Event Input Misc], page 404).
act-and-exit
Answer this question “yes”, and give up on the entire series of questions, as-
suming that subsequent answers will be “no”.
act-and-show
Answer this question “yes”, but show the results—don’t advance yet to the
next question.
automatic
Answer this question and all subsequent questions in the series with “yes”,
without further user interaction.
backup Move back to the previous place that a question was asked about.
undo Undo last replacement and move back to the place where that replacement was
performed.
undo-all Undo all replacements and move back to the place where the first replacement
was performed.
edit Enter a recursive edit to deal with this question—instead of any other action
that would normally be taken.
edit-replacement
Edit the replacement for this question in the minibuffer.
delete-and-edit
Delete the text being considered, then enter a recursive edit to replace it.
recenter
scroll-up
scroll-down
scroll-other-window
scroll-other-window-down
Perform the specified window scroll operation, then ask the same question again.
Only y-or-n-p and related functions use this answer.
quit Perform a quit right away. Only y-or-n-p and related functions use this answer.
help Display some help, then ask again.

multi-query-replace-map [Variable]
This variable holds a keymap that extends query-replace-map by providing ad-
ditional keybindings that are useful in multi-buffer replacements. The additional
bindings are:
automatic-all
Answer this question and all subsequent questions in the series with “yes”,
without further user interaction, for all remaining buffers.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 890

exit-current
Answer this question “no”, and give up on the entire series of questions
for the current buffer. Continue to the next buffer in the sequence.
replace-search-function [Variable]
This variable specifies a function that perform-replace calls to search for the next
string to replace. Its default value is search-forward. Any other value should name
a function of 3 arguments: the first 3 arguments of search-forward (see Section 34.1
[String Search], page 865).
replace-re-search-function [Variable]
This variable specifies a function that perform-replace calls to search for the next
regexp to replace. Its default value is re-search-forward. Any other value should
name a function of 3 arguments: the first 3 arguments of re-search-forward (see
Section 34.4 [Regexp Search], page 878).

34.8 Standard Regular Expressions Used in Editing

This section describes some variables that hold regular expressions used for certain purposes
in editing:
page-delimiter [User Option]
This is the regular expression describing line-beginnings that separate pages. The
default value is "^\014" (i.e., "^^L" or "^\C-l"); this matches a line that starts with
a formfeed character.
The following two regular expressions should not assume the match always starts at the
beginning of a line; they should not use ‘^’ to anchor the match. Most often, the paragraph
commands do check for a match only at the beginning of a line, which means that ‘^’ would
be superfluous. When there is a nonzero left margin, they accept matches that start after
the left margin. In that case, a ‘^’ would be incorrect. However, a ‘^’ is harmless in modes
where a left margin is never used.
paragraph-separate [User Option]
This is the regular expression for recognizing the beginning of a line that separates
paragraphs. (If you change this, you may have to change paragraph-start also.) The
default value is "[ \t\f]*$", which matches a line that consists entirely of spaces,
tabs, and form feeds (after its left margin).
paragraph-start [User Option]
This is the regular expression for recognizing the beginning of a line that starts or
separates paragraphs. The default value is "\f\\|[ \t]*$", which matches a line
containing only whitespace or starting with a form feed (after its left margin).
sentence-end [User Option]
If non-nil, the value should be a regular expression describing the end of a sentence,
including the whitespace following the sentence. (All paragraph boundaries also end
sentences, regardless.)
If the value is nil, as it is by default, then the function sentence-end constructs the
regexp. That is why you should always call the function sentence-end to obtain the
regexp to be used to recognize the end of a sentence.
Chapter 34: Searching and Matching 891

sentence-end [Function]
This function returns the value of the variable sentence-end, if non-nil.
Otherwise it returns a default value based on the values of the variables
sentence-end-double-space (see [Definition of sentence-end-double-space],
page 787), sentence-end-without-period, and sentence-end-without-space.
 892

35 Syntax Tables
A syntax table specifies the syntactic role of each character in a buffer. It can be used
to determine where words, symbols, and other syntactic constructs begin and end. This
information is used by many Emacs facilities, including Font Lock mode (see Section 23.6
[Font Lock Mode], page 487) and the various complex movement commands (see Section 30.2
[Motion], page 743).

35.1 Syntax Table Concepts

A syntax table is a data structure which can be used to look up the syntax class and other
syntactic properties of each character. Syntax tables are used by Lisp programs for scanning
and moving across text.
Internally, a syntax table is a char-table (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107). The
element at index c describes the character with code c; its value is a cons cell which specifies
the syntax of the character in question. See Section 35.7 [Syntax Table Internals], page 904,
for details. However, instead of using aset and aref to modify and inspect syntax table con-
tents, you should usually use the higher-level functions char-syntax and modify-syntax-
entry, which are described in Section 35.3 [Syntax Table Functions], page 897.

syntax-table-p object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a syntax table.

Each buffer has its own major mode, and each major mode has its own idea of the syntax
class of various characters. For example, in Lisp mode, the character ‘;’ begins a comment,
but in C mode, it terminates a statement. To support these variations, the syntax table is
local to each buffer. Typically, each major mode has its own syntax table, which it installs
in all buffers that use that mode. For example, the variable emacs-lisp-mode-syntax-
table holds the syntax table used by Emacs Lisp mode, and c-mode-syntax-table holds
the syntax table used by C mode. Changing a major mode’s syntax table alters the syntax
in all of that mode’s buffers, as well as in any buffers subsequently put in that mode.
Occasionally, several similar modes share one syntax table. See Section 23.2.9 [Example
Major Modes], page 469, for an example of how to set up a syntax table.
A syntax table can inherit from another syntax table, which is called its parent syntax
table. A syntax table can leave the syntax class of some characters unspecified, by giving
them the “inherit” syntax class; such a character then acquires the syntax class specified by
the parent syntax table (see Section 35.2.1 [Syntax Class Table], page 893). Emacs defines
a standard syntax table, which is the default parent syntax table, and is also the syntax
table used by Fundamental mode.

standard-syntax-table [Function]
This function returns the standard syntax table, which is the syntax table used in
Fundamental mode.

Syntax tables are not used by the Emacs Lisp reader, which has its own built-in syntactic
rules which cannot be changed. (Some Lisp systems provide ways to redefine the read
syntax, but we decided to leave this feature out of Emacs Lisp for simplicity.)
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 893

35.2 Syntax Descriptors

The syntax class of a character describes its syntactic role. Each syntax table specifies the
syntax class of each character. There is no necessary relationship between the class of a
character in one syntax table and its class in any other table.
Each syntax class is designated by a mnemonic character, which serves as the name of the
class when you need to specify a class. Usually, this designator character is one that is often
assigned that class; however, its meaning as a designator is unvarying and independent of
what syntax that character currently has. Thus, ‘\’ as a designator character always stands
for escape character syntax, regardless of whether the ‘\’ character actually has that syntax
in the current syntax table.
A syntax descriptor is a Lisp string that describes the syntax class and other syntactic
properties of a character. When you want to modify the syntax of a character, that is done
by calling the function modify-syntax-entry and passing a syntax descriptor as one of its
arguments (see Section 35.3 [Syntax Table Functions], page 897).
The first character in a syntax descriptor must be a syntax class designator character.
The second character, if present, specifies a matching character (e.g., in Lisp, the match-
ing character for ‘(’ is ‘)’); a space specifies that there is no matching character. Then
come characters specifying additional syntax properties (see Section 35.2.2 [Syntax Flags],
page 896).
If no matching character or flags are needed, only one character (specifying the syntax
class) is sufficient.
For example, the syntax descriptor for the character ‘*’ in C mode is ". 23" (i.e., punctu-
ation, matching character slot unused, second character of a comment-starter, first character
of a comment-ender), and the entry for ‘/’ is ‘. 14’ (i.e., punctuation, matching character
slot unused, first character of a comment-starter, second character of a comment-ender).
Emacs also defines raw syntax descriptors, which are used to describe syntax classes at
a lower level. See Section 35.7 [Syntax Table Internals], page 904.

35.2.1 Table of Syntax Classes

Here is a table of syntax classes, the characters that designate them, their meanings, and
examples of their use.

Whitespace characters: ‘ ’ or ‘-’

Characters that separate symbols and words from each other. Typically, white-
space characters have no other syntactic significance, and multiple whitespace
characters are syntactically equivalent to a single one. Space, tab, and formfeed
are classified as whitespace in almost all major modes.
This syntax class can be designated by either ‘ ’ or ‘-’. Both designators are
equivalent.
Word constituents: ‘w’
Parts of words in human languages. These are typically used in variable and
command names in programs. All upper- and lower-case letters, and the digits,
are typically word constituents.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 894

Symbol constituents: ‘_’

Extra characters used in variable and command names along with word con-
stituents. Examples include the characters ‘$&*+-_<>’ in Lisp mode, which may
be part of a symbol name even though they are not part of English words. In
standard C, the only non-word-constituent character that is valid in symbols is
underscore (‘_’).
Punctuation characters: ‘.’
Characters used as punctuation in a human language, or used in a programming
language to separate symbols from one another. Some programming language
modes, such as Emacs Lisp mode, have no characters in this class since the
few characters that are not symbol or word constituents all have other uses.
Other programming language modes, such as C mode, use punctuation syntax
for operators.
Open parenthesis characters: ‘(’
Close parenthesis characters: ‘)’
Characters used in dissimilar pairs to surround sentences or expressions. Such
a grouping is begun with an open parenthesis character and terminated with a
close. Each open parenthesis character matches a particular close parenthesis
character, and vice versa. Normally, Emacs indicates momentarily the match-
ing open parenthesis when you insert a close parenthesis. See Section 39.21
[Blinking], page 1058.
In human languages, and in C code, the parenthesis pairs are ‘()’, ‘[]’, and
‘{}’. In Emacs Lisp, the delimiters for lists and vectors (‘()’ and ‘[]’) are
classified as parenthesis characters.
String quotes: ‘"’
Characters used to delimit string constants. The same string quote character
appears at the beginning and the end of a string. Such quoted strings do not
nest.
The parsing facilities of Emacs consider a string as a single token. The usual
syntactic meanings of the characters in the string are suppressed.
The Lisp modes have two string quote characters: double-quote (‘"’) and ver-
tical bar (‘|’). ‘|’ is not used in Emacs Lisp, but it is used in Common Lisp. C
also has two string quote characters: double-quote for strings, and apostrophe
(‘'’) for character constants.
Human text has no string quote characters. We do not want quotation marks
to turn off the usual syntactic properties of other characters in the quotation.
Escape-syntax characters: ‘\’
Characters that start an escape sequence, such as is used in string and character
constants. The character ‘\’ belongs to this class in both C and Lisp. (In C, it
is used thus only inside strings, but it turns out to cause no trouble to treat it
this way throughout C code.)
Characters in this class count as part of words if words-include-escapes is
non-nil. See Section 30.2.2 [Word Motion], page 744.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 895

Character quotes: ‘/’

Characters used to quote the following character so that it loses its normal syn-
tactic meaning. This differs from an escape character in that only the character
immediately following is ever affected.
Characters in this class count as part of words if words-include-escapes is
non-nil. See Section 30.2.2 [Word Motion], page 744.
This class is used for backslash in TEX mode.
Paired delimiters: ‘$’
Similar to string quote characters, except that the syntactic properties of the
characters between the delimiters are not suppressed. Only TEX mode uses a
paired delimiter presently—the ‘$’ that both enters and leaves math mode.
Expression prefixes: ‘'’
Characters used for syntactic operators that are considered as part of an ex-
pression if they appear next to one. In Lisp modes, these characters include
the apostrophe, ‘'’ (used for quoting), the comma, ‘,’ (used in macros), and ‘#’
(used in the read syntax for certain data types).
Comment starters: ‘<’
Comment enders: ‘>’
Characters used in various languages to delimit comments. Human text has
no comment characters. In Lisp, the semicolon (‘;’) starts a comment and a
newline or formfeed ends one.
Inherit standard syntax: ‘@’
This syntax class does not specify a particular syntax. It says to look in the
standard syntax table to find the syntax of this character.
Generic comment delimiters: ‘!’
Characters that start or end a special kind of comment. Any generic comment
delimiter matches any generic comment delimiter, but they cannot match a
comment starter or comment ender; generic comment delimiters can only match
each other.
This syntax class is primarily meant for use with the syntax-table text prop-
erty (see Section 35.4 [Syntax Properties], page 899). You can mark any range
of characters as forming a comment, by giving the first and last characters of
the range syntax-table properties identifying them as generic comment de-
limiters.
Generic string delimiters: ‘|’
Characters that start or end a string. This class differs from the string quote
class in that any generic string delimiter can match any other generic string
delimiter; but they do not match ordinary string quote characters.
This syntax class is primarily meant for use with the syntax-table text prop-
erty (see Section 35.4 [Syntax Properties], page 899). You can mark any range
of characters as forming a string constant, by giving the first and last charac-
ters of the range syntax-table properties identifying them as generic string
delimiters.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 896

35.2.2 Syntax Flags

In addition to the classes, entries for characters in a syntax table can specify flags. There
are eight possible flags, represented by the characters ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’, ‘4’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘n’, and ‘p’.
All the flags except ‘p’ are used to describe comment delimiters. The digit flags are
used for comment delimiters made up of 2 characters. They indicate that a character can
also be part of a comment sequence, in addition to the syntactic properties associated with
its character class. The flags are independent of the class and each other for the sake of
characters such as ‘*’ in C mode, which is a punctuation character, and the second character
of a start-of-comment sequence (‘/*’), and the first character of an end-of-comment sequence
(‘*/’). The flags ‘b’, ‘c’, and ‘n’ are used to qualify the corresponding comment delimiter.
Here is a table of the possible flags for a character c, and what they mean:
• ‘1’ means c is the start of a two-character comment-start sequence.
• ‘2’ means c is the second character of such a sequence.
• ‘3’ means c is the start of a two-character comment-end sequence.
• ‘4’ means c is the second character of such a sequence.
• ‘b’ means that c as a comment delimiter belongs to the alternative “b” comment style.
For a two-character comment starter, this flag is only significant on the second char,
and for a 2-character comment ender it is only significant on the first char.
• ‘c’ means that c as a comment delimiter belongs to the alternative “c” comment style.
For a two-character comment delimiter, ‘c’ on either character makes it of style “c”.
• ‘n’ on a comment delimiter character specifies that this kind of comment can be nested.
Inside such a comment, only comments of the same style will be recognized. For a two-
character comment delimiter, ‘n’ on either character makes it nestable.
Emacs supports several comment styles simultaneously in any one syntax table. A
comment style is a set of flags ‘b’, ‘c’, and ‘n’, so there can be up to 8 different
comment styles, each one named by the set of its flags. Each comment delimiter has a
style and only matches comment delimiters of the same style. Thus if a comment starts
with the comment-start sequence of style “bn”, it will extend until the next matching
comment-end sequence of style “bn”. When the set of flags has neither flag ‘b’ nor flag
‘c’ set, the resulting style is called the “a” style.
The appropriate comment syntax settings for C++ can be as follows:
‘/’ ‘124’
‘*’ ‘23b’
newline ‘>’
This defines four comment-delimiting sequences:
‘/*’ This is a comment-start sequence for “b” style because the second charac-
ter, ‘*’, has the ‘b’ flag.
‘//’ This is a comment-start sequence for “a” style because the second charac-
ter, ‘/’, does not have the ‘b’ flag.
‘*/’ This is a comment-end sequence for “b” style because the first character,
‘*’, has the ‘b’ flag.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 897

newline This is a comment-end sequence for “a” style, because the newline character
does not have the ‘b’ flag.
• ‘p’ identifies an additional prefix character for Lisp syntax. These characters are treated
as whitespace when they appear between expressions. When they appear within an
expression, they are handled according to their usual syntax classes.
The function backward-prefix-chars moves back over these characters, as well as
over characters whose primary syntax class is prefix (‘'’). See Section 35.5 [Motion
and Syntax], page 900.

35.3 Syntax Table Functions

In this section we describe functions for creating, accessing and altering syntax tables.
make-syntax-table &optional table [Function]
This function creates a new syntax table. If table is non-nil, the parent of the new
syntax table is table; otherwise, the parent is the standard syntax table.
In the new syntax table, all characters are initially given the “inherit” (‘@’) syntax
class, i.e., their syntax is inherited from the parent table (see Section 35.2.1 [Syntax
Class Table], page 893).
copy-syntax-table &optional table [Function]
This function constructs a copy of table and returns it. If table is omitted or nil, it
returns a copy of the standard syntax table. Otherwise, an error is signaled if table
is not a syntax table.
modify-syntax-entry char syntax-descriptor &optional table [Command]
This function sets the syntax entry for char according to syntax-descriptor. char
must be a character, or a cons cell of the form (min . max); in the latter case, the
function sets the syntax entries for all characters in the range between min and max,
inclusive.
The syntax is changed only for table, which defaults to the current buffer’s syntax
table, and not in any other syntax table.
The argument syntax-descriptor is a syntax descriptor, i.e., a string whose first charac-
ter is a syntax class designator and whose second and subsequent characters optionally
specify a matching character and syntax flags. See Section 35.2 [Syntax Descriptors],
page 893. An error is signaled if syntax-descriptor is not a valid syntax descriptor.
This function always returns nil. The old syntax information in the table for this
character is discarded.
Examples:

;; Put the space character in class whitespace.

(modify-syntax-entry ?\s " ")
⇒ nil

;; Make ‘$’ an open parenthesis character,

;; with ‘^’ as its matching close.
(modify-syntax-entry ?$ "(^")
⇒ nil
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 898

;; Make ‘^’ a close parenthesis character,

;; with ‘$’ as its matching open.
(modify-syntax-entry ?^ ")$")
⇒ nil

;; Make ‘/’ a punctuation character,

;; the first character of a start-comment sequence,
;; and the second character of an end-comment sequence.
;; This is used in C mode.
(modify-syntax-entry ?/ ". 14")
⇒ nil
char-syntax character [Function]
This function returns the syntax class of character, represented by its designator
character (see Section 35.2.1 [Syntax Class Table], page 893). This returns only the
class, not its matching character or syntax flags.
The following examples apply to C mode. (We use string to make it easier to see
the character returned by char-syntax.)
;; Space characters have whitespace syntax class.
(string (char-syntax ?\s))
⇒ " "

;; Forward slash characters have punctuation syntax.

;; Note that this char-syntax call does not reveal
;; that it is also part of comment-start and -end sequences.
(string (char-syntax ?/))
⇒ "."

;; Open parenthesis characters have open parenthesis syntax.

;; Note that this char-syntax call does not reveal that
;; it has a matching character, ‘)’.
(string (char-syntax ?\())
⇒ "("
set-syntax-table table [Function]
This function makes table the syntax table for the current buffer. It returns table.
syntax-table [Function]
This function returns the current syntax table, which is the table for the current
buffer.
describe-syntax &optional buffer [Command]
This command displays the contents of the syntax table of buffer (by default, the
current buffer) in a help buffer.
with-syntax-table table body. . . [Macro]
This macro executes body using table as the current syntax table. It returns the
value of the last form in body, after restoring the old current syntax table.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 899

Since each buffer has its own current syntax table, we should make that more precise:
with-syntax-table temporarily alters the current syntax table of whichever buffer
is current at the time the macro execution starts. Other buffers are not affected.

35.4 Syntax Properties

When the syntax table is not flexible enough to specify the syntax of a language, you can
override the syntax table for specific character occurrences in the buffer, by applying a
syntax-table text property. See Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802, for how to
apply text properties.
The valid values of syntax-table text property are:
syntax-table
If the property value is a syntax table, that table is used instead of the current
buffer’s syntax table to determine the syntax for the underlying text character.
(syntax-code . matching-char)
A cons cell of this format is a raw syntax descriptor (see Section 35.7 [Syn-
tax Table Internals], page 904), which directly specifies a syntax class for the
underlying text character.
nil If the property is nil, the character’s syntax is determined from the current
syntax table in the usual way.
parse-sexp-lookup-properties [Variable]
If this is non-nil, the syntax scanning functions, like forward-sexp, pay attention
to syntax-table text properties. Otherwise they use only the current syntax table.
syntax-propertize-function [Variable]
This variable, if non-nil, should store a function for applying syntax-table proper-
ties to a specified stretch of text. It is intended to be used by major modes to install
a function which applies syntax-table properties in some mode-appropriate way.
The function is called by syntax-ppss (see Section 35.6.2 [Position Parse], page 901),
and by Font Lock mode during syntactic fontification (see Section 23.6.8 [Syntactic
Font Lock], page 496). It is called with two arguments, start and end, which are the
starting and ending positions of the text on which it should act. It is allowed to call
syntax-ppss on any position before end. However, it should not call syntax-ppss-
flush-cache; so, it is not allowed to call syntax-ppss on some position and later
modify the buffer at an earlier position.
syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions [Variable]
This abnormal hook is run by the syntax parsing code prior to calling
syntax-propertize-function. Its role is to help locate safe starting and ending
buffer positions for passing to syntax-propertize-function. For example, a major
mode can add a function to this hook to identify multi-line syntactic constructs, and
ensure that the boundaries do not fall in the middle of one.
Each function in this hook should accept two arguments, start and end. It should
return either a cons cell of two adjusted buffer positions, (new-start . new-end), or
nil if no adjustment is necessary. The hook functions are run in turn, repeatedly,
until they all return nil.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 900

35.5 Motion and Syntax

This section describes functions for moving across characters that have certain syntax
classes.
skip-syntax-forward syntaxes &optional limit [Function]
This function moves point forward across characters having syntax classes mentioned
in syntaxes (a string of syntax class characters). It stops when it encounters the end
of the buffer, or position limit (if specified), or a character it is not supposed to skip.
If syntaxes starts with ‘^’, then the function skips characters whose syntax is not in
syntaxes.
The return value is the distance traveled, which is a nonnegative integer.
skip-syntax-backward syntaxes &optional limit [Function]
This function moves point backward across characters whose syntax classes are men-
tioned in syntaxes. It stops when it encounters the beginning of the buffer, or position
limit (if specified), or a character it is not supposed to skip.
If syntaxes starts with ‘^’, then the function skips characters whose syntax is not in
syntaxes.
The return value indicates the distance traveled. It is an integer that is zero or less.
backward-prefix-chars [Function]
This function moves point backward over any number of characters with expression
prefix syntax. This includes both characters in the expression prefix syntax class, and
characters with the ‘p’ flag.

35.6 Parsing Expressions

This section describes functions for parsing and scanning balanced expressions. We will refer
to such expressions as sexps, following the terminology of Lisp, even though these functions
can act on languages other than Lisp. Basically, a sexp is either a balanced parenthetical
grouping, a string, or a symbol (i.e., a sequence of characters whose syntax is either word
constituent or symbol constituent). However, characters in the expression prefix syntax
class (see Section 35.2.1 [Syntax Class Table], page 893) are treated as part of the sexp if
they appear next to it.
The syntax table controls the interpretation of characters, so these functions can be
used for Lisp expressions when in Lisp mode and for C expressions when in C mode. See
Section 30.2.6 [List Motion], page 750, for convenient higher-level functions for moving over
balanced expressions.
A character’s syntax controls how it changes the state of the parser, rather than de-
scribing the state itself. For example, a string delimiter character toggles the parser state
between in-string and in-code, but the syntax of characters does not directly say whether
they are inside a string. For example (note that 15 is the syntax code for generic string
delimiters),
(put-text-property 1 9 'syntax-table '(15 . nil))
does not tell Emacs that the first eight chars of the current buffer are a string, but rather
that they are all string delimiters. As a result, Emacs treats them as four consecutive empty
string constants.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 901

35.6.1 Motion Commands Based on Parsing

This section describes simple point-motion functions that operate based on parsing expres-
sions.

scan-lists from count depth [Function]

This function scans forward count balanced parenthetical groupings from position
from. It returns the position where the scan stops. If count is negative, the scan
moves backwards.
If depth is nonzero, treat the starting position as being depth parentheses deep. The
scanner moves forward or backward through the buffer until the depth changes to
zero count times. Hence, a positive value for depth has the effect of moving out depth
levels of parenthesis from the starting position, while a negative depth has the effect
of moving deeper by -depth levels of parenthesis.
Scanning ignores comments if parse-sexp-ignore-comments is non-nil.
If the scan reaches the beginning or end of the accessible part of the buffer before it
has scanned over count parenthetical groupings, the return value is nil if the depth
at that point is zero; if the depth is non-zero, a scan-error error is signaled.

scan-sexps from count [Function]

This function scans forward count sexps from position from. It returns the position
where the scan stops. If count is negative, the scan moves backwards.
Scanning ignores comments if parse-sexp-ignore-comments is non-nil.
If the scan reaches the beginning or end of (the accessible part of) the buffer while in
the middle of a parenthetical grouping, an error is signaled. If it reaches the beginning
or end between groupings but before count is used up, nil is returned.

forward-comment count [Function]

This function moves point forward across count complete comments (that is, includ-
ing the starting delimiter and the terminating delimiter if any), plus any whitespace
encountered on the way. It moves backward if count is negative. If it encounters any-
thing other than a comment or whitespace, it stops, leaving point at the place where
it stopped. This includes (for instance) finding the end of a comment when moving
forward and expecting the beginning of one. The function also stops immediately
after moving over the specified number of complete comments. If count comments
are found as expected, with nothing except whitespace between them, it returns t;
otherwise it returns nil.
This function cannot tell whether the comments it traverses are embedded within a
string. If they look like comments, it treats them as comments.
To move forward over all comments and whitespace following point, use
(forward-comment (buffer-size)). (buffer-size) is a good argument to use,
because the number of comments in the buffer cannot exceed that many.

35.6.2 Finding the Parse State for a Position

For syntactic analysis, such as in indentation, often the useful thing is to compute the syn-
tactic state corresponding to a given buffer position. This function does that conveniently.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 902

syntax-ppss &optional pos [Function]

This function returns the parser state that the parser would reach at position pos
starting from the beginning of the visible portion of the buffer. See the next section
for for a description of the parser state.
The return value is the same as if you call the low-level parsing function
parse-partial-sexp to parse from the beginning of the visible portion of the buffer
to pos (see Section 35.6.4 [Low-Level Parsing], page 903). However, syntax-ppss
uses caches to speed up the computation. Due to this optimization, the second value
(previous complete subexpression) and sixth value (minimum parenthesis depth) in
the returned parser state are not meaningful.
This function has a side effect: it adds a buffer-local entry to before-change-
functions (see Section 32.30 [Change Hooks], page 832) for syntax-ppss-flush-
cache (see below). This entry keeps the cache consistent as the buffer is modi-
fied. However, the cache might not be updated if syntax-ppss is called while
before-change-functions is temporarily let-bound, or if the buffer is modified with-
out running the hook, such as when using inhibit-modification-hooks. In those
cases, it is necessary to call syntax-ppss-flush-cache explicitly.
syntax-ppss-flush-cache beg &rest ignored-args [Function]
This function flushes the cache used by syntax-ppss, starting at position beg. The
remaining arguments, ignored-args, are ignored; this function accepts them so that it
can be directly used on hooks such as before-change-functions (see Section 32.30
[Change Hooks], page 832).

35.6.3 Parser State

A parser state is a list of (currently) eleven elements describing the state of the syntactic
parser, after it parses the text between a specified starting point and a specified end point
in the buffer. Parsing functions such as syntax-ppss return a parser state as the value.
Some parsing functions accept a parser state as an argument, for resuming parsing.
Here are the meanings of the elements of the parser state:
0. The depth in parentheses, counting from 0. Warning: this can be negative if there are
more close parens than open parens between the parser’s starting point and end point.
1. The character position of the start of the innermost parenthetical grouping containing
the stopping point; nil if none.
2. The character position of the start of the last complete subexpression terminated; nil
if none.
3. Non-nil if inside a string. More precisely, this is the character that will terminate the
string, or t if a generic string delimiter character should terminate it.
4. t if inside a non-nestable comment (of any comment style; see Section 35.2.2 [Syntax
Flags], page 896); or the comment nesting level if inside a comment that can be nested.
5. t if the end point is just after a quote character.
6. The minimum parenthesis depth encountered during this scan.
7. What kind of comment is active: nil if not in a comment or in a comment of style
‘a’; 1 for a comment of style ‘b’; 2 for a comment of style ‘c’; and syntax-table for a
comment that should be ended by a generic comment delimiter character.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 903

8. The string or comment start position. While inside a comment, this is the position
where the comment began; while inside a string, this is the position where the string
began. When outside of strings and comments, this element is nil.
9. The list of the positions of the currently open parentheses, starting with the outermost.
10. When the last buffer position scanned was the (potential) first character of a two
character construct (comment delimiter or escaped/char-quoted character pair), the
syntax-code (see Section 35.7 [Syntax Table Internals], page 904) of that position.
Otherwise nil.

Elements 1, 2, and 6 are ignored in a state which you pass as an argument to continue
parsing. Elements 9 and 10 are mainly used internally by the parser code.
One additional piece of useful information is available from a parser state using this
function:

syntax-ppss-toplevel-pos state [Function]

This function extracts, from parser state state, the last position scanned in the parse
which was at top level in grammatical structure. “At top level” means outside of any
parentheses, comments, or strings.
The value is nil if state represents a parse which has arrived at a top level position.

35.6.4 Low-Level Parsing

The most basic way to use the expression parser is to tell it to start at a given position with
a certain state, and parse up to a specified end position.

parse-partial-sexp start limit &optional target-depth stop-before [Function]

state stop-comment
This function parses a sexp in the current buffer starting at start, not scanning past
limit. It stops at position limit or when certain criteria described below are met, and
sets point to the location where parsing stops. It returns a parser state describing
the status of the parse at the point where it stops.
If the third argument target-depth is non-nil, parsing stops if the depth in parentheses
becomes equal to target-depth. The depth starts at 0, or at whatever is given in state.
If the fourth argument stop-before is non-nil, parsing stops when it comes to any
character that starts a sexp. If stop-comment is non-nil, parsing stops after the start
of an unnested comment. If stop-comment is the symbol syntax-table, parsing stops
after the start of an unnested comment or a string, or after the end of an unnested
comment or a string, whichever comes first.
If state is nil, start is assumed to be at the top level of parenthesis structure, such
as the beginning of a function definition. Alternatively, you might wish to resume
parsing in the middle of the structure. To do this, you must provide a state argument
that describes the initial status of parsing. The value returned by a previous call to
parse-partial-sexp will do nicely.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 904

35.6.5 Parameters to Control Parsing

multibyte-syntax-as-symbol [Variable]
If this variable is non-nil, scan-sexps treats all non-ASCII characters as symbol
constituents regardless of what the syntax table says about them. (However,
syntax-table text properties can still override the syntax.)
parse-sexp-ignore-comments [User Option]
If the value is non-nil, then comments are treated as whitespace by the functions in
this section and by forward-sexp, scan-lists and scan-sexps.
The behavior of parse-partial-sexp is also affected by parse-sexp-lookup-
properties (see Section 35.4 [Syntax Properties], page 899).
comment-end-can-be-escaped [Variable]
If this buffer local variable is non-nil, a single character which usually terminates a
comment doesn’t do so when that character is escaped. This is used in C and C++
Modes, where line comments starting with ‘//’ can be continued onto the next line
by escaping the newline with ‘\’.
You can use forward-comment to move forward or backward over one comment or several
comments.

35.7 Syntax Table Internals

Syntax tables are implemented as char-tables (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107), but
most Lisp programs don’t work directly with their elements. Syntax tables do not store
syntax data as syntax descriptors (see Section 35.2 [Syntax Descriptors], page 893); they
use an internal format, which is documented in this section. This internal format can also
be assigned as syntax properties (see Section 35.4 [Syntax Properties], page 899).
Each entry in a syntax table is a raw syntax descriptor: a cons cell of the form (syntax-
code . matching-char). syntax-code is an integer which encodes the syntax class and
syntax flags, according to the table below. matching-char, if non-nil, specifies a matching
character (similar to the second character in a syntax descriptor).
Use aref (see Section 6.3 [Array Functions], page 104) to get the raw syntax descriptor
of a character, e.g. (aref (syntax-table) ch).
Here are the syntax codes corresponding to the various syntax classes:
Code Class Code Class
0 whitespace 8 paired delimiter
1 punctuation 9 escape
2 word 10 character quote
3 symbol 11 comment-start
4 open parenthesis 12 comment-end
5 close parenthesis 13 inherit
6 expression prefix 14 generic comment
7 string quote 15 generic string
For example, in the standard syntax table, the entry for ‘(’ is (4 . 41). 41 is the character
code for ‘)’.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 905

Syntax flags are encoded in higher order bits, starting 16 bits from the least significant
bit. This table gives the power of two which corresponds to each syntax flag.
Prefix Flag Prefix Flag
‘1’ (lsh 1 16) ‘p’ (lsh 1 20)
‘2’ (lsh 1 17) ‘b’ (lsh 1 21)
‘3’ (lsh 1 18) ‘n’ (lsh 1 22)
‘4’ (lsh 1 19) ‘c’ (lsh 1 23)

string-to-syntax desc [Function]

Given a syntax descriptor desc (a string), this function returns the corresponding raw
syntax descriptor.

syntax-after pos [Function]

This function returns the raw syntax descriptor for the character in the buffer after
position pos, taking account of syntax properties as well as the syntax table. If pos
is outside the buffer’s accessible portion (see Section 30.4 [Narrowing], page 753), the
return value is nil.

syntax-class syntax [Function]

This function returns the syntax code for the raw syntax descriptor syntax. More
precisely, it takes the raw syntax descriptor’s syntax-code component, masks off the
high 16 bits which record the syntax flags, and returns the resulting integer.
If syntax is nil, the return value is nil. This is so that the expression
(syntax-class (syntax-after pos))
evaluates to nil if pos is outside the buffer’s accessible portion, without throwing
errors or returning an incorrect code.

35.8 Categories
Categories provide an alternate way of classifying characters syntactically. You can define
several categories as needed, then independently assign each character to one or more cat-
egories. Unlike syntax classes, categories are not mutually exclusive; it is normal for one
character to belong to several categories.
Each buffer has a category table which records which categories are defined and also
which characters belong to each category. Each category table defines its own categories,
but normally these are initialized by copying from the standard categories table, so that
the standard categories are available in all modes.
Each category has a name, which is an ASCII printing character in the range ‘ ’ to ‘~’.
You specify the name of a category when you define it with define-category.
The category table is actually a char-table (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107). The
element of the category table at index c is a category set—a bool-vector—that indicates
which categories character c belongs to. In this category set, if the element at index cat is
t, that means category cat is a member of the set, and that character c belongs to category
cat.
For the next three functions, the optional argument table defaults to the current buffer’s
category table.
Chapter 35: Syntax Tables 906

define-category char docstring &optional table [Function]

This function defines a new category, with name char and documentation docstring,
for the category table table.
Here’s an example of defining a new category for characters that have strong right-to-
left directionality (see Section 39.26 [Bidirectional Display], page 1067) and using it in
a special category table. To obtain the information about the directionality of char-
acters, the example code uses the ‘bidi-class’ Unicode property (see Section 33.6
[Character Properties], page 840).
(defvar special-category-table-for-bidi
;; Make an empty category-table.
(let ((category-table (make-category-table))
;; Create a char-table which gives the 'bidi-class' Unicode
;; property for each character.
(uniprop-table
(unicode-property-table-internal 'bidi-class)))
(define-category ?R "Characters of bidi-class R, AL, or RLO"
category-table)
;; Modify the category entry of each character whose
;; 'bidi-class' Unicode property is R, AL, or RLO --
;; these have a right-to-left directionality.
(map-char-table
#'(lambda (key val)
(if (memq val '(R AL RLO))
(modify-category-entry key ?R category-table)))
uniprop-table)
category-table))

category-docstring category &optional table [Function]

This function returns the documentation string of category category in category table
table.
(category-docstring ?a)
⇒ "ASCII"
(category-docstring ?l)
⇒ "Latin"

get-unused-category &optional table [Function]

This function returns a category name (a character) which is not currently defined in
table. If all possible categories are in use in table, it returns nil.

category-table [Function]
This function returns the current buffer’s category table.

category-table-p object [Function]

This function returns t if object is a category table, otherwise nil.

standard-category-table [Function]
This function returns the standard category table.
 907

copy-category-table &optional table [Function]

This function constructs a copy of table and returns it. If table is not supplied (or is
nil), it returns a copy of the standard category table. Otherwise, an error is signaled
if table is not a category table.

set-category-table table [Function]

This function makes table the category table for the current buffer. It returns table.

make-category-table [Function]
This creates and returns an empty category table. In an empty category table, no
categories have been allocated, and no characters belong to any categories.

make-category-set categories [Function]

This function returns a new category set—a bool-vector—whose initial contents are
the categories listed in the string categories. The elements of categories should be
category names; the new category set has t for each of those categories, and nil for
all other categories.
(make-category-set "al")
⇒ #&128"\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\2\20\0\0"

char-category-set char [Function]

This function returns the category set for character char in the current buffer’s cate-
gory table. This is the bool-vector which records which categories the character char
belongs to. The function char-category-set does not allocate storage, because it
returns the same bool-vector that exists in the category table.
(char-category-set ?a)
⇒ #&128"\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\2\20\0\0"

category-set-mnemonics category-set [Function]

This function converts the category set category-set into a string containing the char-
acters that designate the categories that are members of the set.
(category-set-mnemonics (char-category-set ?a))
⇒ "al"

modify-category-entry char category &optional table reset [Function]

This function modifies the category set of char in category table table (which defaults
to the current buffer’s category table). char can be a character, or a cons cell of the
form (min . max); in the latter case, the function modifies the category sets of all
characters in the range between min and max, inclusive.
Normally, it modifies a category set by adding category to it. But if reset is non-nil,
then it deletes category instead.

describe-categories &optional buffer-or-name [Command]

This function describes the category specifications in the current category table. It
inserts the descriptions in a buffer, and then displays that buffer. If buffer-or-name
is non-nil, it describes the category table of that buffer instead.
 908

36 Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion

An abbreviation or abbrev is a string of characters that may be expanded to a longer string.
The user can insert the abbrev string and find it replaced automatically with the expansion
of the abbrev. This saves typing.
The set of abbrevs currently in effect is recorded in an abbrev table. Each buffer has a
local abbrev table, but normally all buffers in the same major mode share one abbrev table.
There is also a global abbrev table. Normally both are used.
An abbrev table is represented as an obarray. See Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols],
page 122, for information about obarrays. Each abbreviation is represented by a sym-
bol in the obarray. The symbol’s name is the abbreviation; its value is the expansion;
its function definition is the hook function for performing the expansion (see Section 36.2
[Defining Abbrevs], page 909); and its property list cell contains various additional proper-
ties, including the use count and the number of times the abbreviation has been expanded
(see Section 36.6 [Abbrev Properties], page 913).
Certain abbrevs, called system abbrevs, are defined by a major mode instead of the user.
A system abbrev is identified by its non-nil :system property (see Section 36.6 [Abbrev
Properties], page 913). When abbrevs are saved to an abbrev file, system abbrevs are
omitted. See Section 36.3 [Abbrev Files], page 910.
Because the symbols used for abbrevs are not interned in the usual obarray, they will
never appear as the result of reading a Lisp expression; in fact, normally they are never used
except by the code that handles abbrevs. Therefore, it is safe to use them in a nonstandard
way.
If the minor mode Abbrev mode is enabled, the buffer-local variable abbrev-mode is non-
nil, and abbrevs are automatically expanded in the buffer. For the user-level commands
for abbrevs, see Section “Abbrev Mode” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

36.1 Abbrev Tables

This section describes how to create and manipulate abbrev tables.

make-abbrev-table &optional props [Function]

This function creates and returns a new, empty abbrev table—an obarray containing
no symbols. It is a vector filled with zeros. props is a property list that is applied to
the new table (see Section 36.7 [Abbrev Table Properties], page 914).

abbrev-table-p object [Function]

This function returns a non-nil value if object is an abbrev table.

clear-abbrev-table abbrev-table [Function]

This function undefines all the abbrevs in abbrev-table, leaving it empty.

copy-abbrev-table abbrev-table [Function]

This function returns a copy of abbrev-table—a new abbrev table containing the same
abbrev definitions. It does not copy any property lists; only the names, values, and
functions.
Chapter 36: Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion 909

define-abbrev-table tabname definitions &optional docstring [Function]

&rest props
This function defines tabname (a symbol) as an abbrev table name, i.e., as a variable
whose value is an abbrev table. It defines abbrevs in the table according to definitions,
a list of elements of the form (abbrevname expansion [hook] [props...]). These
elements are passed as arguments to define-abbrev.
The optional string docstring is the documentation string of the variable tabname.
The property list props is applied to the abbrev table (see Section 36.7 [Abbrev Table
Properties], page 914).
If this function is called more than once for the same tabname, subsequent calls add
the definitions in definitions to tabname, rather than overwriting the entire original
contents. (A subsequent call only overrides abbrevs explicitly redefined or undefined
in definitions.)
abbrev-table-name-list [Variable]
This is a list of symbols whose values are abbrev tables. define-abbrev-table adds
the new abbrev table name to this list.
insert-abbrev-table-description name &optional human [Function]
This function inserts before point a description of the abbrev table named name. The
argument name is a symbol whose value is an abbrev table.
If human is non-nil, the description is human-oriented. System abbrevs are listed
and identified as such. Otherwise the description is a Lisp expression—a call to
define-abbrev-table that would define name as it is currently defined, but without
the system abbrevs. (The mode or package using name is supposed to add these to
name separately.)

36.2 Defining Abbrevs

define-abbrev is the low-level basic function for defining an abbrev in an abbrev table.
When a major mode defines a system abbrev, it should call define-abbrev and specify
t for the :system property. Be aware that any saved non-system abbrevs are restored at
startup, i.e., before some major modes are loaded. Therefore, major modes should not
assume that their abbrev tables are empty when they are first loaded.
define-abbrev abbrev-table name expansion &optional hook &rest [Function]
props
This function defines an abbrev named name, in abbrev-table, to expand to expansion
and call hook, with properties props (see Section 36.6 [Abbrev Properties], page 913).
The return value is name. The :system property in props is treated specially here:
if it has the value force, then it will overwrite an existing definition even for a non-
system abbrev of the same name.
name should be a string. The argument expansion is normally the desired expansion
(a string), or nil to undefine the abbrev. If it is anything but a string or nil, then
the abbreviation expands solely by running hook.
The argument hook is a function or nil. If hook is non-nil, then it is called with no
arguments after the abbrev is replaced with expansion; point is located at the end of
expansion when hook is called.
Chapter 36: Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion 910

If hook is a non-nil symbol whose no-self-insert property is non-nil, hook can

explicitly control whether to insert the self-inserting input character that triggered
the expansion. If hook returns non-nil in this case, that inhibits insertion of the
character. By contrast, if hook returns nil, expand-abbrev (or abbrev-insert)
also returns nil, as if expansion had not really occurred.
Normally, define-abbrev sets the variable abbrevs-changed to t, if it actually
changes the abbrev. This is so that some commands will offer to save the abbrevs. It
does not do this for a system abbrev, since those aren’t saved anyway.

only-global-abbrevs [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, it means that the user plans to use global abbrevs only. This
tells the commands that define mode-specific abbrevs to define global ones instead.
This variable does not alter the behavior of the functions in this section; it is examined
by their callers.

36.3 Saving Abbrevs in Files

A file of saved abbrev definitions is actually a file of Lisp code. The abbrevs are saved in the
form of a Lisp program to define the same abbrev tables with the same contents. Therefore,
you can load the file with load (see Section 16.1 [How Programs Do Loading], page 263).
However, the function quietly-read-abbrev-file is provided as a more convenient inter-
face. Emacs automatically calls this function at startup.
User-level facilities such as save-some-buffers can save abbrevs in a file automatically,
under the control of variables described here.

abbrev-file-name [User Option]

This is the default file name for reading and saving abbrevs. By default, Emacs will
look for ~/.emacs.d/abbrev_defs, and, if not found, for ~/.abbrev_defs; if neither
file exists, Emacs will create ~/.emacs.d/abbrev_defs.

quietly-read-abbrev-file &optional filename [Function]

This function reads abbrev definitions from a file named filename, previously writ-
ten with write-abbrev-file. If filename is omitted or nil, the file specified in
abbrev-file-name is used.
As the name implies, this function does not display any messages.

save-abbrevs [User Option]

A non-nil value for save-abbrevs means that Emacs should offer to save abbrevs
(if any have changed) when files are saved. If the value is silently, Emacs saves
the abbrevs without asking the user. abbrev-file-name specifies the file to save the
abbrevs in. The default value is t.

abbrevs-changed [Variable]
This variable is set non-nil by defining or altering any abbrevs (except system ab-
brevs). This serves as a flag for various Emacs commands to offer to save your
abbrevs.
Chapter 36: Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion 911

write-abbrev-file &optional filename [Command]

Save all abbrev definitions (except system abbrevs), for all abbrev tables listed
in abbrev-table-name-list, in the file filename, in the form of a Lisp program
that when loaded will define the same abbrevs. If filename is nil or omitted,
abbrev-file-name is used. This function returns nil.

36.4 Looking Up and Expanding Abbreviations

Abbrevs are usually expanded by certain interactive commands, including self-insert-
command. This section describes the subroutines used in writing such commands, as well as
the variables they use for communication.
abbrev-symbol abbrev &optional table [Function]
This function returns the symbol representing the abbrev named abbrev. It returns
nil if that abbrev is not defined. The optional second argument table is the abbrev
table in which to look it up. If table is nil, this function tries first the current buffer’s
local abbrev table, and second the global abbrev table.
abbrev-expansion abbrev &optional table [Function]
This function returns the string that abbrev would expand into (as defined by the ab-
brev tables used for the current buffer). It returns nil if abbrev is not a valid abbrev.
The optional argument table specifies the abbrev table to use, as in abbrev-symbol.
expand-abbrev [Command]
This command expands the abbrev before point, if any. If point does not follow an
abbrev, this command does nothing. To do the expansion, it calls the function that is
the value of the abbrev-expand-function variable, with no arguments, and returns
whatever that function does.
The default expansion function returns the abbrev symbol if it did expansion, and
nil otherwise. If the abbrev symbol has a hook function that is a symbol whose
no-self-insert property is non-nil, and if the hook function returns nil as its
value, then the default expansion function returns nil, even though expansion did
occur.
abbrev-insert abbrev &optional name start end [Function]
This function inserts the abbrev expansion of abbrev, replacing the text between
start and end. If start is omitted, it defaults to point. name, if non-nil, should be
the name by which this abbrev was found (a string); it is used to figure out whether to
adjust the capitalization of the expansion. The function returns abbrev if the abbrev
was successfully inserted, otherwise it returns nil.
abbrev-prefix-mark &optional arg [Command]
This command marks the current location of point as the beginning of an abbrev.
The next call to expand-abbrev will use the text from here to point (where it is then)
as the abbrev to expand, rather than using the previous word as usual.
First, this command expands any abbrev before point, unless arg is non-nil. (In-
teractively, arg is the prefix argument.) Then it inserts a hyphen before point, to
indicate the start of the next abbrev to be expanded. The actual expansion removes
the hyphen.
Chapter 36: Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion 912

abbrev-all-caps [User Option]

When this is set non-nil, an abbrev entered entirely in upper case is expanded using
all upper case. Otherwise, an abbrev entered entirely in upper case is expanded by
capitalizing each word of the expansion.
abbrev-start-location [Variable]
The value of this variable is a buffer position (an integer or a marker) for
expand-abbrev to use as the start of the next abbrev to be expanded. The
value can also be nil, which means to use the word before point instead.
abbrev-start-location is set to nil each time expand-abbrev is called. This
variable is also set by abbrev-prefix-mark.
abbrev-start-location-buffer [Variable]
The value of this variable is the buffer for which abbrev-start-location has been
set. Trying to expand an abbrev in any other buffer clears abbrev-start-location.
This variable is set by abbrev-prefix-mark.
last-abbrev [Variable]
This is the abbrev-symbol of the most recent abbrev expanded. This information is
left by expand-abbrev for the sake of the unexpand-abbrev command (see Section
“Expanding Abbrevs” in The GNU Emacs Manual).
last-abbrev-location [Variable]
This is the location of the most recent abbrev expanded. This contains information
left by expand-abbrev for the sake of the unexpand-abbrev command.
last-abbrev-text [Variable]
This is the exact expansion text of the most recent abbrev expanded, after case
conversion (if any). Its value is nil if the abbrev has already been unexpanded. This
contains information left by expand-abbrev for the sake of the unexpand-abbrev
command.
abbrev-expand-function [Variable]
The value of this variable is a function that expand-abbrev will call with no argu-
ments to do the expansion. The function can do anything it wants before and after
performing the expansion. It should return the abbrev symbol if expansion took place.
The following sample code shows a simple use of abbrev-expand-function. It assumes
that foo-mode is a mode for editing certain files in which lines that start with ‘#’ are com-
ments. You want to use Text mode abbrevs for those lines. The regular local abbrev table,
foo-mode-abbrev-table is appropriate for all other lines. See Section 36.5 [Standard Ab-
brev Tables], page 913, for the definitions of local-abbrev-table and text-mode-abbrev-
table. See Section 13.11 [Advising Functions], page 222, for details of add-function.
(defun foo-mode-abbrev-expand-function (expand)
(if (not (save-excursion (forward-line 0) (eq (char-after) ?#)))
;; Performs normal expansion.
(funcall expand)
;; We're inside a comment: use the text-mode abbrevs.
(let ((local-abbrev-table text-mode-abbrev-table))
(funcall expand))))
Chapter 36: Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion 913

(add-hook 'foo-mode-hook
#'(lambda ()
(add-function :around (local 'abbrev-expand-function)
#'foo-mode-abbrev-expand-function)))

36.5 Standard Abbrev Tables

Here we list the variables that hold the abbrev tables for the preloaded major modes of
Emacs.

global-abbrev-table [Variable]
This is the abbrev table for mode-independent abbrevs. The abbrevs defined in it
apply to all buffers. Each buffer may also have a local abbrev table, whose abbrev
definitions take precedence over those in the global table.

local-abbrev-table [Variable]
The value of this buffer-local variable is the (mode-specific) abbreviation table of the
current buffer. It can also be a list of such tables.

abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of elements of the form (mode . abbrev-table)
where mode is the name of a variable: if the variable is bound to a non-nil value,
then the abbrev-table is active, otherwise it is ignored. abbrev-table can also be a
list of abbrev tables.

fundamental-mode-abbrev-table [Variable]
This is the local abbrev table used in Fundamental mode; in other words, it is the
local abbrev table in all buffers in Fundamental mode.

text-mode-abbrev-table [Variable]
This is the local abbrev table used in Text mode.

lisp-mode-abbrev-table [Variable]
This is the local abbrev table used in Lisp mode. It is the parent of the local abbrev
table used in Emacs Lisp mode. See Section 36.7 [Abbrev Table Properties], page 914.

36.6 Abbrev Properties

Abbrevs have properties, some of which influence the way they work. You can provide them
as arguments to define-abbrev, and manipulate them with the following functions:

abbrev-put abbrev prop val [Function]

Set the property prop of abbrev to value val.

abbrev-get abbrev prop [Function]

Return the property prop of abbrev, or nil if the abbrev has no such property.

The following properties have special meanings:

:count This property counts the number of times the abbrev has been expanded. If
not explicitly set, it is initialized to 0 by define-abbrev.
Chapter 36: Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion 914

:system If non-nil, this property marks the abbrev as a system abbrev. Such abbrevs
are not saved (see Section 36.3 [Abbrev Files], page 910).
:enable-function
If non-nil, this property should be a function of no arguments which returns
nil if the abbrev should not be used and t otherwise.
:case-fixed
If non-nil, this property indicates that the case of the abbrev’s name is signif-
icant and should only match a text with the same pattern of capitalization. It
also disables the code that modifies the capitalization of the expansion.

36.7 Abbrev Table Properties

Like abbrevs, abbrev tables have properties, some of which influence the way they work.
You can provide them as arguments to define-abbrev-table, and manipulate them with
the functions:

abbrev-table-put table prop val [Function]

Set the property prop of abbrev table table to value val.

abbrev-table-get table prop [Function]

Return the property prop of abbrev table table, or nil if table has no such property.

The following properties have special meaning:

:enable-function
This is like the :enable-function abbrev property except that it applies to
all abbrevs in the table. It is used before even trying to find the abbrev before
point, so it can dynamically modify the abbrev table.
:case-fixed
This is like the :case-fixed abbrev property except that it applies to all ab-
brevs in the table.
:regexp If non-nil, this property is a regular expression that indicates how to extract
the name of the abbrev before point, before looking it up in the table. When
the regular expression matches before point, the abbrev name is expected to
be in submatch 1. If this property is nil, the default is to use backward-word
and forward-word to find the name. This property allows the use of abbrevs
whose name contains characters of non-word syntax.
:parents This property holds a list of tables from which to inherit other abbrevs.
:abbrev-table-modiff
This property holds a counter incremented each time a new abbrev is added to
the table.
 915

37 Threads
Emacs Lisp provides a limited form of concurrency, called threads. All the threads in a
given instance of Emacs share the same memory. Concurrency in Emacs Lisp is “mostly
cooperative”, meaning that Emacs will only switch execution between threads at well-
defined times. However, the Emacs thread support has been designed in a way to later
allow more fine-grained concurrency, and correct programs should not rely on cooperative
threading.
Currently, thread switching will occur upon explicit request via thread-yield, when
waiting for keyboard input or for process output from asynchronous processes (e.g., during
accept-process-output), or during blocking operations relating to threads, such as mutex
locking or thread-join.
Emacs Lisp provides primitives to create and control threads, and also to create and
control mutexes and condition variables, useful for thread synchronization.
While global variables are shared among all Emacs Lisp threads, local variables are
not—a dynamic let binding is local. Each thread also has its own current buffer (see
Section 27.2 [Current Buffer], page 581) and its own match data (see Section 34.6 [Match
Data], page 882).
Note that let bindings are treated specially by the Emacs Lisp implementation. There
is no way to duplicate this unwinding and rewinding behavior other than by using let. For
example, a manual implementation of let written using unwind-protect cannot arrange
for variable values to be thread-specific.
In the case of lexical bindings (see Section 12.10 [Variable Scoping], page 179), a closure
is an object like any other in Emacs Lisp, and bindings in a closure are shared by any
threads invoking the closure.

37.1 Basic Thread Functions

Threads can be created and waited for. A thread cannot be exited directly, but the current
thread can be exited implicitly, and other threads can be signaled.
make-thread function &optional name [Function]
Create a new thread of execution which invokes function. When function returns, the
thread exits.
The new thread is created with no local variable bindings in effect. The new thread’s
current buffer is inherited from the current thread.
name can be supplied to give a name to the thread. The name is used for debugging
and informational purposes only; it has no meaning to Emacs. If name is provided,
it must be a string.
This function returns the new thread.
threadp object [Function]
This function returns t if object represents an Emacs thread, nil otherwise.
thread-join thread [Function]
Block until thread exits, or until the current thread is signaled. If thread has already
exited, this returns immediately.
Chapter 37: Threads 916

thread-signal thread error-symbol data [Function]

Like signal (see Section 11.7.3.1 [Signaling Errors], page 160), but the signal is deliv-
ered in the thread thread. If thread is the current thread, then this just calls signal
immediately. Otherwise, thread will receive the signal as soon as it becomes current.
If thread was blocked by a call to mutex-lock, condition-wait, or thread-join;
thread-signal will unblock it.
thread-yield [Function]
Yield execution to the next runnable thread.
thread-name thread [Function]
Return the name of thread, as specified to make-thread.
thread-live-p thread [Function]
Return t if thread is alive, or nil if it is not. A thread is alive as long as its function
is still executing.
thread--blocker thread [Function]
Return the object that thread is waiting on. This function is primarily intended for
debugging, and is given a “double hyphen” name to indicate that.
If thread is blocked in thread-join, this returns the thread for which it is waiting.
If thread is blocked in mutex-lock, this returns the mutex.
If thread is blocked in condition-wait, this returns the condition variable.
Otherwise, this returns nil.
current-thread [Function]
Return the current thread.
all-threads [Function]
Return a list of all the live thread objects. A new list is returned by each invocation.
When code run by a thread signals an error that is unhandled, the thread exits. Other
threads can access the error form which caused the thread to exit using the following
function.
thread-last-error [Function]
This function returns the last error form recorded when a thread exited due to an
error. Each thread that exits abnormally overwrites the form stored by the previous
thread’s error with a new value, so only the last one can be accessed.

37.2 Mutexes
A mutex is an exclusive lock. At any moment, zero or one threads may own a mutex. If a
thread attempts to acquire a mutex, and the mutex is already owned by some other thread,
then the acquiring thread will block until the mutex becomes available.
Emacs Lisp mutexes are of a type called recursive, which means that a thread can re-
acquire a mutex it owns any number of times. A mutex keeps a count of how many times it
has been acquired, and each acquisition of a mutex must be paired with a release. The last
release by a thread of a mutex reverts it to the unowned state, potentially allowing another
thread to acquire the mutex.
Chapter 37: Threads 917

mutexp object [Function]

This function returns t if object represents an Emacs mutex, nil otherwise.
make-mutex &optional name [Function]
Create a new mutex and return it. If name is specified, it is a name given to the
mutex. It must be a string. The name is for debugging purposes only; it has no
meaning to Emacs.
mutex-name mutex [Function]
Return the name of mutex, as specified to make-mutex.
mutex-lock mutex [Function]
This will block until this thread acquires mutex, or until this thread is signaled using
thread-signal. If mutex is already owned by this thread, this simply returns.
mutex-unlock mutex [Function]
Release mutex. If mutex is not owned by this thread, this will signal an error.
with-mutex mutex body. . . [Macro]
This macro is the simplest and safest way to evaluate forms while holding a mutex.
It acquires mutex, invokes body, and then releases mutex. It returns the result of
body.

37.3 Condition Variables

A condition variable is a way for a thread to block until some event occurs. A thread can
wait on a condition variable, to be woken up when some other thread notifies the condition.
A condition variable is associated with a mutex and, conceptually, with some condition.
For proper operation, the mutex must be acquired, and then a waiting thread must loop,
testing the condition and waiting on the condition variable. For example:
(with-mutex mutex
(while (not global-variable)
(condition-wait cond-var)))
The mutex ensures atomicity, and the loop is for robustness—there may be spurious
notifications.
Similarly, the mutex must be held before notifying the condition. The typical, and best,
approach is to acquire the mutex, make the changes associated with this condition, and
then notify it:
(with-mutex mutex
(setq global-variable (some-computation))
(condition-notify cond-var))
make-condition-variable mutex &optional name [Function]
Make a new condition variable associated with mutex. If name is specified, it is a
name given to the condition variable. It must be a string. The name is for debugging
purposes only; it has no meaning to Emacs.
condition-variable-p object [Function]
This function returns t if object represents a condition variable, nil otherwise.
 918

condition-wait cond [Function]

Wait for another thread to notify cond, a condition variable. This function will
block until the condition is notified, or until a signal is delivered to this thread using
thread-signal.
It is an error to call condition-wait without holding the condition’s associated
mutex.
condition-wait releases the associated mutex while waiting. This allows other
threads to acquire the mutex in order to notify the condition.

condition-notify cond &optional all [Function]

Notify cond. The mutex with cond must be held before calling this. Ordinarily a
single waiting thread is woken by condition-notify; but if all is not nil, then all
threads waiting on cond are notified.
condition-notify releases the associated mutex while waiting. This allows other
threads to acquire the mutex in order to wait on the condition.

condition-name cond [Function]

Return the name of cond, as passed to make-condition-variable.

condition-mutex cond [Function]

Return the mutex associated with cond. Note that the associated mutex cannot be
changed.
 919

38 Processes
In the terminology of operating systems, a process is a space in which a program can execute.
Emacs runs in a process. Emacs Lisp programs can invoke other programs in processes of
their own. These are called subprocesses or child processes of the Emacs process, which is
their parent process.
A subprocess of Emacs may be synchronous or asynchronous, depending on how it is cre-
ated. When you create a synchronous subprocess, the Lisp program waits for the subprocess
to terminate before continuing execution. When you create an asynchronous subprocess, it
can run in parallel with the Lisp program. This kind of subprocess is represented within
Emacs by a Lisp object which is also called a “process”. Lisp programs can use this object
to communicate with the subprocess or to control it. For example, you can send signals,
obtain status information, receive output from the process, or send input to it.
In addition to processes that run programs, Lisp programs can open connections of sev-
eral types to devices or processes running on the same machine or on other machines. The
supported connection types are: TCP and UDP network connections, serial port connec-
tions, and pipe connections. Each such connection is also represented by a process object.

processp object [Function]

This function returns t if object represents an Emacs process object, nil otherwise.
The process object can represent a subprocess running a program or a connection of
any supported type.

In addition to subprocesses of the current Emacs session, you can also access other
processes running on your machine. See Section 38.12 [System Processes], page 946.

38.1 Functions that Create Subprocesses

There are three primitives that create a new subprocess in which to run a program. One
of them, make-process, creates an asynchronous process and returns a process object
(see Section 38.4 [Asynchronous Processes], page 926). The other two, call-process and
call-process-region, create a synchronous process and do not return a process object (see
Section 38.3 [Synchronous Processes], page 922). There are various higher-level functions
that make use of these primitives to run particular types of process.
Synchronous and asynchronous processes are explained in the following sections. Since
the three functions are all called in a similar fashion, their common arguments are described
here.
In all cases, the functions specify the program to be run. An error is signaled if the file is
not found or cannot be executed. If the file name is relative, the variable exec-path contains
a list of directories to search. Emacs initializes exec-path when it starts up, based on the
value of the environment variable PATH. The standard file name constructs, ‘~’, ‘.’, and
‘..’, are interpreted as usual in exec-path, but environment variable substitutions (‘$HOME’,
etc.) are not recognized; use substitute-in-file-name to perform them (see Section 25.9.4
[File Name Expansion], page 550). nil in this list refers to default-directory.
Executing a program can also try adding suffixes to the specified name:
Chapter 38: Processes 920

exec-suffixes [User Option]

This variable is a list of suffixes (strings) to try adding to the specified program file
name. The list should include "" if you want the name to be tried exactly as specified.
The default value is system-dependent.

Please note: The argument program contains only the name of the program file; it may
not contain any command-line arguments. You must use a separate argument, args, to
provide those, as described below.
Each of the subprocess-creating functions has a buffer-or-name argument that specifies
where the output from the program will go. It should be a buffer or a buffer name; if it is a
buffer name, that will create the buffer if it does not already exist. It can also be nil, which
says to discard the output, unless a custom filter function handles it. (See Section 38.9.2
[Filter Functions], page 940, and Chapter 19 [Read and Print], page 323.) Normally, you
should avoid having multiple processes send output to the same buffer because their output
would be intermixed randomly. For synchronous processes, you can send the output to a file
instead of a buffer (and the corresponding argument is therefore more appropriately called
destination). By default, both standard output and standard error streams go to the same
destination, but all the 3 primitives allow optionally to direct the standard error stream to
a different destination.
All three of the subprocess-creating functions allow to specify command-line arguments
for the process to run. For call-process and call-process-region, these come in the
form of a &rest argument, args. For make-process, both the program to run and its
command-line arguments are specified as a list of strings. The command-line arguments
must all be strings, and they are supplied to the program as separate argument strings.
Wildcard characters and other shell constructs have no special meanings in these strings,
since the strings are passed directly to the specified program.
The subprocess inherits its environment from Emacs, but you can specify overrides for
it with process-environment. See Section 40.3 [System Environment], page 1082. The
subprocess gets its current directory from the value of default-directory.

exec-directory [Variable]
The value of this variable is a string, the name of a directory that contains programs
that come with GNU Emacs and are intended for Emacs to invoke. The program
movemail is an example of such a program; Rmail uses it to fetch new mail from an
inbox.

exec-path [User Option]

The value of this variable is a list of directories to search for programs to run in
subprocesses. Each element is either the name of a directory (i.e., a string), or nil,
which stands for the default directory (which is the value of default-directory).
See Section 25.6.6 [Locating Files], page 540, for the details of this search.
The value of exec-path is used by call-process and start-process when the
program argument is not an absolute file name.
Generally, you should not modify exec-path directly. Instead, ensure that your PATH
environment variable is set appropriately before starting Emacs. Trying to modify
exec-path independently of PATH can lead to confusing results.
Chapter 38: Processes 921

38.2 Shell Arguments

Lisp programs sometimes need to run a shell and give it a command that contains file names
that were specified by the user. These programs ought to be able to support any valid file
name. But the shell gives special treatment to certain characters, and if these characters
occur in the file name, they will confuse the shell. To handle these characters, use the
function shell-quote-argument:

shell-quote-argument argument [Function]

This function returns a string that represents, in shell syntax, an argument whose
actual contents are argument. It should work reliably to concatenate the return value
into a shell command and then pass it to a shell for execution.
Precisely what this function does depends on your operating system. The function
is designed to work with the syntax of your system’s standard shell; if you use an
unusual shell, you will need to redefine this function. See Section 40.22 [Security
Considerations], page 1111.
;; This example shows the behavior on GNU and Unix systems.
(shell-quote-argument "foo > bar")
⇒ "foo\\ \\>\\ bar"

;; This example shows the behavior on MS-DOS and MS-Windows.

(shell-quote-argument "foo > bar")
⇒ "\"foo > bar\""
Here’s an example of using shell-quote-argument to construct a shell command:
(concat "diff -u "
(shell-quote-argument oldfile)
" "
(shell-quote-argument newfile))

The following two functions are useful for combining a list of individual command-line
argument strings into a single string, and taking a string apart into a list of individual
command-line arguments. These functions are mainly intended for converting user input in
the minibuffer, a Lisp string, into a list of string arguments to be passed to make-process,
call-process or start-process, or for converting such lists of arguments into a single
Lisp string to be presented in the minibuffer or echo area. Note that if a shell is in-
volved (e.g., if using call-process-shell-command), arguments should still be protected
by shell-quote-argument; combine-and-quote-strings is not intended to protect spe-
cial characters from shell evaluation.

split-string-and-unquote string &optional separators [Function]

This function splits string into substrings at matches for the regular expression
separators, like split-string does (see Section 4.3 [Creating Strings], page 51); in
addition, it removes quoting from the substrings. It then makes a list of the substrings
and returns it.
If separators is omitted or nil, it defaults to "\\s-+", which is a regular expres-
sion that matches one or more characters with whitespace syntax (see Section 35.2.1
[Syntax Class Table], page 893).
Chapter 38: Processes 922

This function supports two types of quoting: enclosing a whole string in double quotes
"...", and quoting individual characters with a backslash escape ‘\’. The latter is
also used in Lisp strings, so this function can handle those as well.
combine-and-quote-strings list-of-strings &optional separator [Function]
This function concatenates list-of-strings into a single string, quoting each string as
necessary. It also sticks the separator string between each pair of strings; if separator
is omitted or nil, it defaults to " ". The return value is the resulting string.
The strings in list-of-strings that need quoting are those that include separator as
their substring. Quoting a string encloses it in double quotes "...". In the simplest
case, if you are consing a command from the individual command-line arguments,
every argument that includes embedded blanks will be quoted.

38.3 Creating a Synchronous Process

After a synchronous process is created, Emacs waits for the process to terminate before
continuing. Starting Dired on GNU or Unix1 is an example of this: it runs ls in a syn-
chronous process, then modifies the output slightly. Because the process is synchronous,
the entire directory listing arrives in the buffer before Emacs tries to do anything with it.
While Emacs waits for the synchronous subprocess to terminate, the user can quit by
typing C-g. The first C-g tries to kill the subprocess with a SIGINT signal; but it waits
until the subprocess actually terminates before quitting. If during that time the user types
another C-g, that kills the subprocess instantly with SIGKILL and quits immediately (except
on MS-DOS, where killing other processes doesn’t work). See Section 21.11 [Quitting],
page 407.
The synchronous subprocess functions return an indication of how the process termi-
nated.
The output from a synchronous subprocess is generally decoded using a coding system,
much like text read from a file. The input sent to a subprocess by call-process-region is
encoded using a coding system, much like text written into a file. See Section 33.10 [Coding
Systems], page 848.
call-process program &optional infile destination display &rest [Function]
args
This function calls program and waits for it to finish.
The current working directory of the subprocess is set to the current buffer’s value
of default-directory if that is local (as determined by unhandled-file-name-
directory), or "~" otherwise. If you want to run a process in a remote directory use
process-file.
The standard input for the new process comes from file infile if infile is not nil,
and from the null device otherwise. The argument destination says where to put the
process output. Here are the possibilities:
a buffer Insert the output in that buffer, before point. This includes both the
standard output stream and the standard error stream of the process.
1
On other systems, Emacs uses a Lisp emulation of ls; see Section 25.10 [Contents of Directories],
page 556.
Chapter 38: Processes 923

a buffer name (a string)

Insert the output in a buffer with that name, before point.
t Insert the output in the current buffer, before point.
nil Discard the output.
0 Discard the output, and return nil immediately without waiting for the
subprocess to finish.
In this case, the process is not truly synchronous, since it can run in
parallel with Emacs; but you can think of it as synchronous in that Emacs
is essentially finished with the subprocess as soon as this function returns.
MS-DOS doesn’t support asynchronous subprocesses, so this option
doesn’t work there.
(:file file-name)
Send the output to the file name specified, overwriting it if it already
exists.
(real-destination error-destination)
Keep the standard output stream separate from the standard error
stream; deal with the ordinary output as specified by real-destination,
and dispose of the error output according to error-destination. If
error-destination is nil, that means to discard the error output, t means
mix it with the ordinary output, and a string specifies a file name to
redirect error output into.
You can’t directly specify a buffer to put the error output in; that is too
difficult to implement. But you can achieve this result by sending the
error output to a temporary file and then inserting the file into a buffer
when the subprocess finishes.

If display is non-nil, then call-process redisplays the buffer as output is inserted.

(However, if the coding system chosen for decoding output is undecided, meaning
deduce the encoding from the actual data, then redisplay sometimes cannot continue
once non-ASCII characters are encountered. There are fundamental reasons why it is
hard to fix this; see Section 38.9 [Output from Processes], page 938.)
Otherwise the function call-process does no redisplay, and the results become vis-
ible on the screen only when Emacs redisplays that buffer in the normal course of
events.
The remaining arguments, args, are strings that specify command line arguments for
the program. Each string is passed to program as a separate argument.
The value returned by call-process (unless you told it not to wait) indicates the
reason for process termination. A number gives the exit status of the subprocess; 0
means success, and any other value means failure. If the process terminated with a
signal, call-process returns a string describing the signal. If you told call-process
not to wait, it returns nil.
In the examples below, the buffer ‘foo’ is current.
Chapter 38: Processes 924

(call-process "pwd" nil t)

⇒ 0

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

/home/lewis/manual
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(call-process "grep" nil "bar" nil "lewis" "/etc/passwd")

⇒ 0

---------- Buffer: bar ----------

lewis:x:1001:1001:Bil Lewis,,,,:/home/lewis:/bin/bash

---------- Buffer: bar ----------

Here is an example of the use of call-process, as used to be found in the definition
of the insert-directory function:
(call-process insert-directory-program nil t nil switches
(if full-directory-p
(concat (file-name-as-directory file) ".")
file))

process-file program &optional infile buffer display &rest args [Function]

This function processes files synchronously in a separate process. It is similar to
call-process, but may invoke a file handler based on the value of the variable
default-directory, which specifies the current working directory of the subprocess.
The arguments are handled in almost the same way as for call-process, with the
following differences:
Some file handlers may not support all combinations and forms of the arguments
infile, buffer, and display. For example, some file handlers might behave as if display
were nil, regardless of the value actually passed. As another example, some file
handlers might not support separating standard output and error output by way of
the buffer argument.
If a file handler is invoked, it determines the program to run based on the first
argument program. For instance, suppose that a handler for remote files is invoked.
Then the path that is used for searching for the program might be different from
exec-path.
The second argument infile may invoke a file handler. The file handler could be
different from the handler chosen for the process-file function itself. (For example,
default-directory could be on one remote host, and infile on a different remote
host. Or default-directory could be non-special, whereas infile is on a remote
host.)
If buffer is a list of the form (real-destination error-destination), and error-
destination names a file, then the same remarks as for infile apply.
The remaining arguments (args) will be passed to the process verbatim. Emacs is
not involved in processing file names that are present in args. To avoid confusion, it
may be best to avoid absolute file names in args, but rather to specify all file names
as relative to default-directory. The function file-relative-name is useful for
constructing such relative file names. Alternatively, you can use file-local-name
Chapter 38: Processes 925

(see Section 25.12 [Magic File Names], page 559) to obtain an absolute file name as
seen from the remote host’s perspective.

process-file-side-effects [Variable]
This variable indicates whether a call of process-file changes remote files.
By default, this variable is always set to t, meaning that a call of process-file could
potentially change any file on a remote host. When set to nil, a file handler could
optimize its behavior with respect to remote file attribute caching.
You should only ever change this variable with a let-binding; never with setq.

call-process-region start end program &optional delete [Function]

destination display &rest args
This function sends the text from start to end as standard input to a process running
program. It deletes the text sent if delete is non-nil; this is useful when destination
is t, to insert the output in the current buffer in place of the input.
The arguments destination and display control what to do with the output from the
subprocess, and whether to update the display as it comes in. For details, see the
description of call-process, above. If destination is the integer 0, call-process-
region discards the output and returns nil immediately, without waiting for the
subprocess to finish (this only works if asynchronous subprocesses are supported; i.e.,
not on MS-DOS).
The remaining arguments, args, are strings that specify command line arguments for
the program.
The return value of call-process-region is just like that of call-process: nil if
you told it to return without waiting; otherwise, a number or string which indicates
how the subprocess terminated.
In the following example, we use call-process-region to run the cat utility, with
standard input being the first five characters in buffer ‘foo’ (the word ‘input’). cat
copies its standard input into its standard output. Since the argument destination is
t, this output is inserted in the current buffer.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
input?
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(call-process-region 1 6 "cat" nil t)

⇒ 0

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

inputinput?
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

For example, the shell-command-on-region command uses call-shell-region in

a manner similar to this:
(call-shell-region
start end
command ; shell command
nil ; do not delete region
buffer) ; send output to buffer
Chapter 38: Processes 926

call-process-shell-command command &optional infile destination [Function]

display
This function executes the shell command command synchronously. The other argu-
ments are handled as in call-process. An old calling convention allowed passing any
number of additional arguments after display, which were concatenated to command;
this is still supported, but strongly discouraged.

process-file-shell-command command &optional infile destination [Function]

display
This function is like call-process-shell-command, but uses process-file inter-
nally. Depending on default-directory, command can be executed also on remote
hosts. An old calling convention allowed passing any number of additional argu-
ments after display, which were concatenated to command; this is still supported,
but strongly discouraged.

call-shell-region start end command &optional delete destination [Function]

This function sends the text from start to end as standard input to an inferior shell
running command. This function is similar than call-process-region, with process
being a shell. The arguments delete, destination and the return value are like in
call-process-region. Note that this function doesn’t accept additional arguments.

shell-command-to-string command [Function]

This function executes command (a string) as a shell command, then returns the
command’s output as a string.

process-lines program &rest args [Function]

This function runs program, waits for it to finish, and returns its output as a list of
strings. Each string in the list holds a single line of text output by the program; the
end-of-line characters are stripped from each line. The arguments beyond program,
args, are strings that specify command-line arguments with which to run the program.
If program exits with a non-zero exit status, this function signals an error.
This function works by calling call-process, so program output is decoded in the
same way as for call-process.

38.4 Creating an Asynchronous Process

In this section, we describe how to create an asynchronous process. After an asynchronous
process is created, it runs in parallel with Emacs, and Emacs can communicate with it using
the functions described in the following sections (see Section 38.7 [Input to Processes],
page 935, and see Section 38.9 [Output from Processes], page 938). Note that process
communication is only partially asynchronous: Emacs sends and receives data to and from
a process only when those functions are called.
An asynchronous process is controlled either via a pty (pseudo-terminal) or a pipe. The
choice of pty or pipe is made when creating the process, by default based on the value of the
variable process-connection-type (see below). If available, ptys are usually preferable
for processes visible to the user, as in Shell mode, because they allow for job control (C-c,
C-z, etc.) between the process and its children, and because interactive programs treat ptys
as terminal devices, whereas pipes don’t support these features. However, for subprocesses
Chapter 38: Processes 927

used by Lisp programs for internal purposes (i.e., no user interaction with the subprocess is
required), where significant amounts of data need to be exchanged between the subprocess
and the Lisp program, it is often better to use a pipe, because pipes are more efficient.
Also, the total number of ptys is limited on many systems, and it is good not to waste them
unnecessarily.

make-process &rest args [Function]

This function is the basic low-level primitive for starting asynchronous subprocesses.
It returns a process object representing the subprocess. Compared to the more high-
level start-process, described below, it takes keyword arguments, is more flexible,
and allows to specify process filters and sentinels in a single call.
The arguments args are a list of keyword/argument pairs. Omitting a keyword is
always equivalent to specifying it with value nil. Here are the meaningful keywords:
:name name
Use the string name as the process name; if a process with this name
already exists, then name is modified (by appending ‘<1>’, etc.) to be
unique.
:buffer buffer
Use buffer as the process buffer. If the value is nil, the subprocess is not
associated with any buffer.
:command command
Use command as the command line of the process. The value should be a
list starting with the program’s executable file name, followed by strings
to give to the program as its arguments. If the first element of the list
is nil, Emacs opens a new pseudoterminal (pty) and associates its input
and output with buffer, without actually running any program; the rest
of the list elements are ignored in that case.
:coding coding
If coding is a symbol, it specifies the coding system to be used for both
reading and writing of data from and to the connection. If coding is a
cons cell (decoding . encoding), then decoding will be used for read-
ing and encoding for writing. The coding system used for encoding the
data written to the program is also used for encoding the command-line
arguments (but not the program itself, whose file name is encoded as any
other file name; see Section 33.10.2 [Encoding and I/O], page 850).
If coding is nil, the default rules for finding the coding system will apply.
See Section 33.10.5 [Default Coding Systems], page 855.
:connection-type type
Initialize the type of device used to communicate with the subprocess.
Possible values are pty to use a pty, pipe to use a pipe, or nil to use the
default derived from the value of the process-connection-type variable.
This parameter and the value of process-connection-type are ignored
if a non-nil value is specified for the :stderr parameter; in that case,
the type will always be pipe. On systems where ptys are not available
Chapter 38: Processes 928

(MS-Windows), this parameter is likewise ignored, and pipes are used

unconditionally.
:noquery query-flag
Initialize the process query flag to query-flag. See Section 38.11 [Query
Before Exit], page 946.
:stop stopped
If stopped is non-nil, start the process in the stopped state.
:filter filter
Initialize the process filter to filter. If not specified, a default filter will
be provided, which can be overridden later. See Section 38.9.2 [Filter
Functions], page 940.
:sentinel sentinel
Initialize the process sentinel to sentinel. If not specified, a default sen-
tinel will be used, which can be overridden later. See Section 38.10 [Sen-
tinels], page 944.
:stderr stderr
Associate stderr with the standard error of the process. A non-nil value
should be either a buffer or a pipe process created with make-pipe-
process, described below.
The original argument list, modified with the actual connection information, is avail-
able via the process-contact function.
The current working directory of the subprocess is set to the current buffer’s value
of default-directory if that is local (as determined by ‘unhandled-file-name-
directory’), or "~" otherwise. If you want to run a process in a remote directory use
start-file-process.
make-pipe-process &rest args [Function]
This function creates a bidirectional pipe which can be attached to a child process.
This is useful with the :stderr keyword of make-process. The function returns a
process object.
The arguments args are a list of keyword/argument pairs. Omitting a keyword is
always equivalent to specifying it with value nil.
Here are the meaningful keywords:
:name name
Use the string name as the process name. As with make-process, it is
modified if necessary to make it unique.
:buffer buffer
Use buffer as the process buffer.
:coding coding
If coding is a symbol, it specifies the coding system to be used for both
reading and writing of data from and to the connection. If coding is a
cons cell (decoding . encoding), then decoding will be used for reading
and encoding for writing.
Chapter 38: Processes 929

If coding is nil, the default rules for finding the coding system will apply.
See Section 33.10.5 [Default Coding Systems], page 855.

:noquery query-flag
Initialize the process query flag to query-flag. See Section 38.11 [Query
Before Exit], page 946.

:stop stopped
If stopped is non-nil, start the process in the stopped state. In the
stopped state, a pipe process does not accept incoming data, but you
can send outgoing data. The stopped state is set by stop-process and
cleared by continue-process (see Section 38.8 [Signals to Processes],
page 936).

:filter filter
Initialize the process filter to filter. If not specified, a default filter will
be provided, which can be changed later. See Section 38.9.2 [Filter Func-
tions], page 940.

:sentinel sentinel
Initialize the process sentinel to sentinel. If not specified, a default sen-
tinel will be used, which can be changed later. See Section 38.10 [Sen-
tinels], page 944.

The original argument list, modified with the actual connection information, is avail-
able via the process-contact function.

start-process name buffer-or-name program &rest args [Function]

This function is a higher-level wrapper around make-process, exposing an interface
that is similar to call-process. It creates a new asynchronous subprocess and starts
the specified program running in it. It returns a process object that stands for the new
subprocess in Lisp. The argument name specifies the name for the process object;
as with make-process, it is modified if necessary to make it unique. The buffer
buffer-or-name is the buffer to associate with the process.
If program is nil, Emacs opens a new pseudoterminal (pty) and associates its input
and output with buffer-or-name, without creating a subprocess. In that case, the
remaining arguments args are ignored.
The rest of args are strings that specify command line arguments for the subprocess.
In the example below, the first process is started and runs (rather, sleeps) for 100
seconds (the output buffer ‘foo’ is created immediately). Meanwhile, the second
process is started, and given the name ‘my-process<1>’ for the sake of uniqueness.
It inserts the directory listing at the end of the buffer ‘foo’, before the first process
finishes. Then it finishes, and a message to that effect is inserted in the buffer. Much
later, the first process finishes, and another message is inserted in the buffer for it.
(start-process "my-process" "foo" "sleep" "100")
⇒ #<process my-process>
Chapter 38: Processes 930

(start-process "my-process" "foo" "ls" "-l" "/bin")

⇒ #<process my-process<1>>

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

total 8336
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 971384 Mar 30 10:14 bash
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 146920 Jul 5 2011 bsd-csh
...
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 696880 Feb 28 15:55 zsh4

Process my-process<1> finished

Process my-process finished

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

start-file-process name buffer-or-name program &rest args [Function]

Like start-process, this function starts a new asynchronous subprocess running
program in it, and returns its process object.
The difference from start-process is that this function may invoke a file
handler based on the value of default-directory. This handler ought to run
program, perhaps on the local host, perhaps on a remote host that corresponds
to default-directory. In the latter case, the local part of default-directory
becomes the working directory of the process.
This function does not try to invoke file name handlers for program or for the rest
of args. For that reason, if program or any of args use the remote-file syntax (see
Section 25.12 [Magic File Names], page 559), they must be converted either to file
names relative to default-directory, or to names that identify the files locally on
the remote host, by running them through file-local-name.
Depending on the implementation of the file handler, it might not be possible to
apply process-filter or process-sentinel to the resulting process object. See
Section 38.9.2 [Filter Functions], page 940, and Section 38.10 [Sentinels], page 944.
Some file handlers may not support start-file-process (for example the function
ange-ftp-hook-function). In such cases, this function does nothing and returns
nil.

start-process-shell-command name buffer-or-name command [Function]

This function is like start-process, except that it uses a shell to execute the spec-
ified command. The argument command is a shell command string. The variable
shell-file-name specifies which shell to use.
The point of running a program through the shell, rather than directly with
make-process or start-process, is so that you can employ shell features such as
wildcards in the arguments. It follows that if you include any arbitrary user-specified
arguments in the command, you should quote them with shell-quote-argument
first, so that any special shell characters do not have their special shell meanings.
See Section 38.2 [Shell Arguments], page 921. Of course, when executing commands
based on user input you should also consider the security implications.
Chapter 38: Processes 931

start-file-process-shell-command name buffer-or-name [Function]

command
This function is like start-process-shell-command, but uses start-file-process
internally. Because of this, command can also be executed on remote hosts, depending
on default-directory.
process-connection-type [Variable]
This variable controls the type of device used to communicate with asynchronous
subprocesses. If it is non-nil, then ptys are used, when available. Otherwise, pipes
are used.
The value of process-connection-type takes effect when make-process or
start-process is called. So you can specify how to communicate with one
subprocess by binding the variable around the call to these functions.
Note that the value of this variable is ignored when make-process is called with a
non-nil value of the :stderr parameter; in that case, Emacs will communicate with
the process using pipes. It is also ignored if ptys are unavailable (MS-Windows).
(let ((process-connection-type nil)) ; use a pipe
(start-process ...))
To determine whether a given subprocess actually got a pipe or a pty, use the function
process-tty-name (see Section 38.6 [Process Information], page 932).

38.5 Deleting Processes

Deleting a process disconnects Emacs immediately from the subprocess. Processes are
deleted automatically after they terminate, but not necessarily right away. You can delete
a process explicitly at any time. If you explicitly delete a terminated process before it
is deleted automatically, no harm results. Deleting a running process sends a signal to
terminate it (and its child processes, if any), and calls the process sentinel. See Section 38.10
[Sentinels], page 944.
When a process is deleted, the process object itself continues to exist as long as other
Lisp objects point to it. All the Lisp primitives that work on process objects accept deleted
processes, but those that do I/O or send signals will report an error. The process mark
continues to point to the same place as before, usually into a buffer where output from the
process was being inserted.
delete-exited-processes [User Option]
This variable controls automatic deletion of processes that have terminated (due to
calling exit or to a signal). If it is nil, then they continue to exist until the user
runs list-processes. Otherwise, they are deleted immediately after they exit.
delete-process process [Function]
This function deletes a process, killing it with a SIGKILL signal if the process was
running a program. The argument may be a process, the name of a process, a
buffer, or the name of a buffer. (A buffer or buffer-name stands for the process
that get-buffer-process returns.) Calling delete-process on a running process
terminates it, updates the process status, and runs the sentinel immediately. If the
process has already terminated, calling delete-process has no effect on its status,
or on the running of its sentinel (which will happen sooner or later).
Chapter 38: Processes 932

If the process object represents a network, serial, or pipe connection, its status changes
to closed; otherwise, it changes to signal, unless the process already exited. See
Section 38.6 [Process Information], page 932.
(delete-process "*shell*")
⇒ nil

38.6 Process Information

Several functions return information about processes.
list-processes &optional query-only buffer [Command]
This command displays a listing of all living processes. In addition, it finally deletes
any process whose status was ‘Exited’ or ‘Signaled’. It returns nil.
The processes are shown in a buffer named *Process List* (unless you specify other-
wise using the optional argument buffer), whose major mode is Process Menu mode.
If query-only is non-nil, it only lists processes whose query flag is non-nil. See
Section 38.11 [Query Before Exit], page 946.
process-list [Function]
This function returns a list of all processes that have not been deleted.
(process-list)
⇒ (#<process display-time> #<process shell>)

get-process name [Function]

This function returns the process named name (a string), or nil if there is none. The
argument name can also be a process object, in which case it is returned.
(get-process "shell")
⇒ #<process shell>

process-command process [Function]

This function returns the command that was executed to start process. This is a
list of strings, the first string being the program executed and the rest of the strings
being the arguments that were given to the program. For a network, serial, or pipe
connection, this is either nil, which means the process is running or t (process is
stopped).
(process-command (get-process "shell"))
⇒ ("bash" "-i")

process-contact process &optional key [Function]

This function returns information about how a network, a serial, or a pipe connection
was set up. When key is nil, it returns (hostname service) for a network con-
nection, (port speed) for a serial connection, and t for a pipe connection. For an
ordinary child process, this function always returns t when called with a nil key.
If key is t, the value is the complete status information for the connection, server,
serial port, or pipe; that is, the list of keywords and values specified in make-network-
process, make-serial-process, or make-pipe-process, except that some of the
values represent the current status instead of what you specified.
For a network process, the values include (see make-network-process for a complete
list):
:buffer The associated value is the process buffer.
Chapter 38: Processes 933

:filter The associated value is the process filter function. See Section 38.9.2
[Filter Functions], page 940.
:sentinel
The associated value is the process sentinel function. See Section 38.10
[Sentinels], page 944.
:remote In a connection, the address in internal format of the remote peer.
:local The local address, in internal format.
:service In a server, if you specified t for service, this value is the actual port
number.
:local and :remote are included even if they were not specified explicitly in
make-network-process.
For a serial connection, see make-serial-process and serial-process-configure
for the list of keys. For a pipe connection, see make-pipe-process for the list of keys.
If key is a keyword, the function returns the value corresponding to that keyword.
process-id process [Function]
This function returns the PID of process. This is an integral number that distinguishes
the process process from all other processes running on the same computer at the
current time. The PID of a process is chosen by the operating system kernel when the
process is started and remains constant as long as the process exists. For network,
serial, and pipe connections, this function returns nil.
process-name process [Function]
This function returns the name of process, as a string.
process-status process-name [Function]
This function returns the status of process-name as a symbol. The argument process-
name must be a process, a buffer, or a process name (a string).
The possible values for an actual subprocess are:
run for a process that is running.
stop for a process that is stopped but continuable.
exit for a process that has exited.
signal for a process that has received a fatal signal.
open for a network, serial, or pipe connection that is open.
closed for a network, serial, or pipe connection that is closed. Once a connection
is closed, you cannot reopen it, though you might be able to open a new
connection to the same place.
connect for a non-blocking connection that is waiting to complete.
failed for a non-blocking connection that has failed to complete.
listen for a network server that is listening.
nil if process-name is not the name of an existing process.
Chapter 38: Processes 934

(process-status (get-buffer "*shell*"))

⇒ run
For a network, serial, or pipe connection, process-status returns one of the symbols
open, stop, or closed. The latter means that the other side closed the connection,
or Emacs did delete-process. The value stop means that stop-process was called
on the connection.

process-live-p process [Function]

This function returns non-nil if process is alive. A process is considered alive if its
status is run, open, listen, connect or stop.

process-type process [Function]

This function returns the symbol network for a network connection or server, serial
for a serial port connection, pipe for a pipe connection, or real for a subprocess
created for running a program.

process-exit-status process [Function]

This function returns the exit status of process or the signal number that killed it.
(Use the result of process-status to determine which of those it is.) If process has
not yet terminated, the value is 0. For network, serial, and pipe connections that are
already closed, the value is either 0 or 256, depending on whether the connection was
closed normally or abnormally.

process-tty-name process [Function]

This function returns the terminal name that process is using for its communication
with Emacs—or nil if it is using pipes instead of a pty (see process-connection-
type in Section 38.4 [Asynchronous Processes], page 926). If process represents a
program running on a remote host, the terminal name used by that program on the
remote host is provided as process property remote-tty. If process represents a
network, serial, or pipe connection, the value is nil.

process-coding-system process [Function]

This function returns a cons cell (decode . encode), describing the coding systems
in use for decoding output from, and encoding input to, process (see Section 33.10
[Coding Systems], page 848).

set-process-coding-system process &optional decoding-system [Function]

encoding-system
This function specifies the coding systems to use for subsequent output from and input
to process. It will use decoding-system to decode subprocess output, and encoding-
system to encode subprocess input.

Every process also has a property list that you can use to store miscellaneous values
associated with the process.

process-get process propname [Function]

This function returns the value of the propname property of process.

process-put process propname value [Function]

This function sets the value of the propname property of process to value.
Chapter 38: Processes 935

process-plist process [Function]

This function returns the process plist of process.

set-process-plist process plist [Function]

This function sets the process plist of process to plist.

38.7 Sending Input to Processes

Asynchronous subprocesses receive input when it is sent to them by Emacs, which is done
with the functions in this section. You must specify the process to send input to, and the
input data to send. If the subprocess runs a program, the data appears on the standard
input of that program; for connections, the data is sent to the connected device or program.
Some operating systems have limited space for buffered input in a pty. On these systems,
Emacs sends an EOF periodically amidst the other characters, to force them through. For
most programs, these EOFs do no harm.
Subprocess input is normally encoded using a coding system before the subprocess re-
ceives it, much like text written into a file. You can use set-process-coding-system to
specify which coding system to use (see Section 38.6 [Process Information], page 932). Oth-
erwise, the coding system comes from coding-system-for-write, if that is non-nil; or else
from the defaulting mechanism (see Section 33.10.5 [Default Coding Systems], page 855).
Sometimes the system is unable to accept input for that process, because the input
buffer is full. When this happens, the send functions wait a short while, accepting output
from subprocesses, and then try again. This gives the subprocess a chance to read more
of its pending input and make space in the buffer. It also allows filters (including the one
currently running), sentinels and timers to run—so take account of that in writing your
code.
In these functions, the process argument can be a process or the name of a process, or
a buffer or buffer name (which stands for a process via get-buffer-process). nil means
the current buffer’s process.

process-send-string process string [Function]

This function sends process the contents of string as standard input. It returns nil.
For example, to make a Shell buffer list files:
(process-send-string "shell<1>" "ls\n")
⇒ nil

process-send-region process start end [Function]

This function sends the text in the region defined by start and end as standard input
to process.
An error is signaled unless both start and end are integers or markers that indicate
positions in the current buffer. (It is unimportant which number is larger.)

process-send-eof &optional process [Function]

This function makes process see an end-of-file in its input. The EOF comes after any
text already sent to it. The function returns process.
(process-send-eof "shell")
⇒ "shell"
Chapter 38: Processes 936

process-running-child-p &optional process [Function]

This function will tell you whether a process, which must not be a connection but
a real subprocess, has given control of its terminal to a child process of its own. If
this is true, the function returns the numeric ID of the foreground process group of
process; it returns nil if Emacs can be certain that this is not so. The value is t if
Emacs cannot tell whether this is true. This function signals an error if process is a
network, serial, or pipe connection, or is the subprocess is not active.

38.8 Sending Signals to Processes

Sending a signal to a subprocess is a way of interrupting its activities. There are several
different signals, each with its own meaning. The set of signals and their names is defined
by the operating system. For example, the signal SIGINT means that the user has typed
C-c, or that some analogous thing has happened.
Each signal has a standard effect on the subprocess. Most signals kill the subprocess,
but some stop (or resume) execution instead. Most signals can optionally be handled by
programs; if the program handles the signal, then we can say nothing in general about its
effects.
You can send signals explicitly by calling the functions in this section. Emacs also sends
signals automatically at certain times: killing a buffer sends a SIGHUP signal to all its asso-
ciated processes; killing Emacs sends a SIGHUP signal to all remaining processes. (SIGHUP
is a signal that usually indicates that the user “hung up the phone”, i.e., disconnected.)
Each of the signal-sending functions takes two optional arguments: process and current-
group.
The argument process must be either a process, a process name, a buffer, a buffer name,
or nil. A buffer or buffer name stands for a process through get-buffer-process. nil
stands for the process associated with the current buffer. Except with stop-process and
continue-process, an error is signaled if process does not identify an active process, or if
it represents a network, serial, or pipe connection.
The argument current-group is a flag that makes a difference when you are running a
job-control shell as an Emacs subprocess. If it is non-nil, then the signal is sent to the
current process-group of the terminal that Emacs uses to communicate with the subprocess.
If the process is a job-control shell, this means the shell’s current subjob. If current-group
is nil, the signal is sent to the process group of the immediate subprocess of Emacs. If
the subprocess is a job-control shell, this is the shell itself. If current-group is lambda, the
signal is sent to the process-group that owns the terminal, but only if it is not the shell
itself.
The flag current-group has no effect when a pipe is used to communicate with the
subprocess, because the operating system does not support the distinction in the case
of pipes. For the same reason, job-control shells won’t work when a pipe is used. See
process-connection-type in Section 38.4 [Asynchronous Processes], page 926.

interrupt-process &optional process current-group [Function]

This function interrupts the process process by sending the signal SIGINT. Outside
of Emacs, typing the interrupt character (normally C-c on some systems, and DEL
on others) sends this signal. When the argument current-group is non-nil, you can
Chapter 38: Processes 937

think of this function as typing C-c on the terminal by which Emacs talks to the
subprocess.

kill-process &optional process current-group [Function]

This function kills the process process by sending the signal SIGKILL. This signal
kills the subprocess immediately, and cannot be handled by the subprocess.

quit-process &optional process current-group [Function]

This function sends the signal SIGQUIT to the process process. This signal is the one
sent by the quit character (usually C-\) when you are not inside Emacs.

stop-process &optional process current-group [Function]

This function stops the specified process. If it is a real subprocess running a program,
it sends the signal SIGTSTP to that subprocess. If process represents a network,
serial, or pipe connection, this function inhibits handling of the incoming data from
the connection; for a network server, this means not accepting new connections. Use
continue-process to resume normal execution.
Outside of Emacs, on systems with job control, the stop character (usually C-z)
normally sends the SIGTSTP signal to a subprocess. When current-group is non-
nil, you can think of this function as typing C-z on the terminal Emacs uses to
communicate with the subprocess.

continue-process &optional process current-group [Function]

This function resumes execution of the process process. If it is a real subprocess
running a program, it sends the signal SIGCONT to that subprocess; this presumes
that process was stopped previously. If process represents a network, serial, or pipe
connection, this function resumes handling of the incoming data from the connection.
For serial connections, data that arrived during the time the process was stopped
might be lost.

signal-process process signal [Command]

This function sends a signal to process process. The argument signal specifies which
signal to send; it should be an integer, or a symbol whose name is a signal.
The process argument can be a system process ID (an integer); that allows you to
send signals to processes that are not children of Emacs. See Section 38.12 [System
Processes], page 946.

Sometimes, it is necessary to send a signal to a non-local asynchronous process. This

is possible by writing an own interrupt-process implementation. This function must be
added then to interrupt-process-functions.

interrupt-process-functions [Variable]
This variable is a list of functions to be called for interrupt-process. The arguments
of the functions are the same as for interrupt-process. These functions are called
in the order of the list, until one of them returns non-nil. The default function, which
shall always be the last in this list, is internal-default-interrupt-process.
This is the mechanism, how Tramp implements interrupt-process.
Chapter 38: Processes 938

38.9 Receiving Output from Processes

The output that an asynchronous subprocess writes to its standard output stream is passed
to a function called the filter function. The default filter function simply inserts the output
into a buffer, which is called the associated buffer of the process (see Section 38.9.1 [Process
Buffers], page 938). If the process has no buffer then the default filter discards the output.
If the subprocess writes to its standard error stream, by default the error output is also
passed to the process filter function. If Emacs uses a pseudo-TTY (pty) for communication
with the subprocess, then it is impossible to separate the standard output and standard
error streams of the subprocess, because a pseudo-TTY has only one output channel. In
that case, if you want to keep the output to those streams separate, you should redirect one
of them to a file—for example, by using an appropriate shell command via start-process-
shell-command or a similar function.
Alternatively, you could use the :stderr parameter with a non-nil value in a call to
make-process (see Section 38.4 [Asynchronous Processes], page 926) to make the destina-
tion of the error output separate from the standard output; in that case, Emacs will use
pipes for communicating with the subprocess.
When a subprocess terminates, Emacs reads any pending output, then stops reading
output from that subprocess. Therefore, if the subprocess has children that are still live
and still producing output, Emacs won’t receive that output.
Output from a subprocess can arrive only while Emacs is waiting: when reading termi-
nal input (see the function waiting-for-user-input-p), in sit-for and sleep-for (see
Section 21.10 [Waiting], page 406), in accept-process-output (see Section 38.9.4 [Accept-
ing Output], page 942), and in functions which send data to processes (see Section 38.7
[Input to Processes], page 935). This minimizes the problem of timing errors that usually
plague parallel programming. For example, you can safely create a process and only then
specify its buffer or filter function; no output can arrive before you finish, if the code in
between does not call any primitive that waits.

process-adaptive-read-buffering [Variable]
On some systems, when Emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the output data
is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in very poor performance. This
behavior can be remedied to some extent by setting the variable process-adaptive-
read-buffering to a non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay read-
ing from such processes, thus allowing them to produce more output before Emacs
tries to read it.

38.9.1 Process Buffers

A process can (and usually does) have an associated buffer, which is an ordinary Emacs
buffer that is used for two purposes: storing the output from the process, and deciding when
to kill the process. You can also use the buffer to identify a process to operate on, since in
normal practice only one process is associated with any given buffer. Many applications of
processes also use the buffer for editing input to be sent to the process, but this is not built
into Emacs Lisp.
By default, process output is inserted in the associated buffer. (You can change this
by defining a custom filter function, see Section 38.9.2 [Filter Functions], page 940.) The
Chapter 38: Processes 939

position to insert the output is determined by the process-mark, which is then updated to
point to the end of the text just inserted. Usually, but not always, the process-mark is at
the end of the buffer.
Killing the associated buffer of a process also kills the process. Emacs asks for confir-
mation first, if the process’s process-query-on-exit-flag is non-nil (see Section 38.11
[Query Before Exit], page 946). This confirmation is done by the function process-kill-
buffer-query-function, which is run from kill-buffer-query-functions (see
Section 27.10 [Killing Buffers], page 594).
process-buffer process [Function]
This function returns the associated buffer of the specified process.
(process-buffer (get-process "shell"))
⇒ #<buffer *shell*>

process-mark process [Function]

This function returns the process marker for process, which is the marker that says
where to insert output from the process.
If process does not have a buffer, process-mark returns a marker that points nowhere.
The default filter function uses this marker to decide where to insert process output,
and updates it to point after the inserted text. That is why successive batches of
output are inserted consecutively.
Custom filter functions normally should use this marker in the same fashion. For an
example of a filter function that uses process-mark, see [Process Filter Example],
page 941.
When the user is expected to enter input in the process buffer for transmission to the
process, the process marker separates the new input from previous output.
set-process-buffer process buffer [Function]
This function sets the buffer associated with process to buffer. If buffer is nil, the
process becomes associated with no buffer.
get-buffer-process buffer-or-name [Function]
This function returns a nondeleted process associated with the buffer specified by
buffer-or-name. If there are several processes associated with it, this function chooses
one (currently, the one most recently created, but don’t count on that). Deletion of
a process (see delete-process) makes it ineligible for this function to return.
It is usually a bad idea to have more than one process associated with the same buffer.
(get-buffer-process "*shell*")
⇒ #<process shell>
Killing the process’s buffer deletes the process, which kills the subprocess with a
SIGHUP signal (see Section 38.8 [Signals to Processes], page 936).
If the process’s buffer is displayed in a window, your Lisp program may wish to tell
the process the dimensions of that window, so that the process could adapt its output to
those dimensions, much as it adapts to the screen dimensions. The following functions allow
communicating this kind of information to processes; however, not all systems support the
underlying functionality, so it is best to provide fallbacks, e.g., via command-line arguments
or environment variables.
Chapter 38: Processes 940

set-process-window-size process height width [Function]

Tell process that its logical window size has dimensions width by height, in character
units. If this function succeeds in communicating this information to the process, it
returns t; otherwise it returns nil.
When windows that display buffers associated with process change their dimensions,
the affected processes should be told about these changes. By default, when the window
configuration changes, Emacs will automatically call set-process-window-size on behalf
of every process whose buffer is displayed in a window, passing it the smallest dimensions
of all the windows displaying the process’s buffer. This works via window-configuration-
change-hook (see Section 28.28 [Window Hooks], page 681), which is told to invoke the
function that is the value of the variable window-adjust-process-window-size-function
for each process whose buffer is displayed in at least one window. You can customize this
behavior by setting the value of that variable.
window-adjust-process-window-size-function [User Option]
The value of this variable should be a function of two arguments: a process and the list
of windows displaying the process’s buffer. When the function is called, the process’s
buffer is the current buffer. The function should return a cons cell (width . height)
that describes the dimensions of the logical process window to be passed via a call to
set-process-window-size. The function can also return nil, in which case Emacs
will not call set-process-window-size for this process.
Emacs supplies two predefined values for this variable: window-adjust-process-
window-size-smallest, which returns the smallest of all the dimensions of the win-
dows that display a process’s buffer; and window-adjust-process-window-size-
largest, which returns the largest dimensions. For more complex strategies, write
your own function.
This variable can be buffer-local.
If the process has the adjust-window-size-function property (see Section 38.6
[Process Information], page 932), its value overrides the global and buffer-local values of
window-adjust-process-window-size-function.

38.9.2 Process Filter Functions

A process filter function is a function that receives the standard output from the associated
process. All output from that process is passed to the filter. The default filter simply
outputs directly to the process buffer.
By default, the error output from the process, if any, is also passed to the filter function,
unless the destination for the standard error stream of the process was separated from the
standard output when the process was created. Emacs will only call the filter function
during certain function calls. See Section 38.9 [Output from Processes], page 938. Note
that if any of those functions are called by the filter, the filter may be called recursively.
A filter function must accept two arguments: the associated process and a string, which
is output just received from it. The function is then free to do whatever it chooses with the
output.
Quitting is normally inhibited within a filter function—otherwise, the effect of typing
C-g at command level or to quit a user command would be unpredictable. If you want to
Chapter 38: Processes 941

permit quitting inside a filter function, bind inhibit-quit to nil. In most cases, the right
way to do this is with the macro with-local-quit. See Section 21.11 [Quitting], page 407.
If an error happens during execution of a filter function, it is caught automatically, so
that it doesn’t stop the execution of whatever program was running when the filter function
was started. However, if debug-on-error is non-nil, errors are not caught. This makes
it possible to use the Lisp debugger to debug filter functions. See Section 18.1 [Debugger],
page 289.
Many filter functions sometimes (or always) insert the output in the process’s buffer,
mimicking the actions of the default filter. Such filter functions need to make sure that
they save the current buffer, select the correct buffer (if different) before inserting output,
and then restore the original buffer. They should also check whether the buffer is still alive,
update the process marker, and in some cases update the value of point. Here is how to do
these things:
(defun ordinary-insertion-filter (proc string)
(when (buffer-live-p (process-buffer proc))
(with-current-buffer (process-buffer proc)
(let ((moving (= (point) (process-mark proc))))
(save-excursion
;; Insert the text, advancing the process marker.
(goto-char (process-mark proc))
(insert string)
(set-marker (process-mark proc) (point)))
(if moving (goto-char (process-mark proc)))))))
To make the filter force the process buffer to be visible whenever new text arrives, you
could insert a line like the following just before the with-current-buffer construct:
(display-buffer (process-buffer proc))
To force point to the end of the new output, no matter where it was previously, eliminate
the variable moving from the example and call goto-char unconditionally. Note that this
doesn’t necessarily move the window point. The default filter actually uses insert-before-
markers which moves all markers, including the window point. This may move unrelated
markers, so it’s generally better to move the window point explicitly, or set its insertion
type to t (see Section 28.19 [Window Point], page 660).
Note that Emacs automatically saves and restores the match data while executing filter
functions. See Section 34.6 [Match Data], page 882.
The output to the filter may come in chunks of any size. A program that produces the
same output twice in a row may send it as one batch of 200 characters one time, and five
batches of 40 characters the next. If the filter looks for certain text strings in the subprocess
output, make sure to handle the case where one of these strings is split across two or more
batches of output; one way to do this is to insert the received text into a temporary buffer,
which can then be searched.

set-process-filter process filter [Function]

This function gives process the filter function filter. If filter is nil, it gives the process
the default filter, which inserts the process output into the process buffer.

process-filter process [Function]

This function returns the filter function of process.
Chapter 38: Processes 942

In case the process’s output needs to be passed to several filters, you can use
add-function to combine an existing filter with a new one. See Section 13.11 [Advising
Functions], page 222.
Here is an example of the use of a filter function:
(defun keep-output (process output)
(setq kept (cons output kept)))
⇒ keep-output
(setq kept nil)
⇒ nil
(set-process-filter (get-process "shell") 'keep-output)
⇒ keep-output
(process-send-string "shell" "ls ~/other\n")
⇒ nil
kept
⇒ ("lewis@slug:$ "
"FINAL-W87-SHORT.MSS backup.otl kolstad.mss~
address.txt backup.psf kolstad.psf
backup.bib~ david.mss resume-Dec-86.mss~
backup.err david.psf resume-Dec.psf
backup.mss dland syllabus.mss
"
"#backups.mss# backup.mss~ kolstad.mss
")

38.9.3 Decoding Process Output

When Emacs writes process output directly into a multibyte buffer, it decodes the out-
put according to the process output coding system. If the coding system is raw-text
or no-conversion, Emacs converts the unibyte output to multibyte using string-to-
multibyte, and inserts the resulting multibyte text.
You can use set-process-coding-system to specify which coding system to use (see
Section 38.6 [Process Information], page 932). Otherwise, the coding system comes from
coding-system-for-read, if that is non-nil; or else from the defaulting mechanism (see
Section 33.10.5 [Default Coding Systems], page 855). If the text output by a process contains
null bytes, Emacs by default uses no-conversion for it; see Section 33.10.3 [Lisp and Coding
Systems], page 851, for how to control this behavior.
Warning: Coding systems such as undecided, which determine the coding system from
the data, do not work entirely reliably with asynchronous subprocess output. This is because
Emacs has to process asynchronous subprocess output in batches, as it arrives. Emacs
must try to detect the proper coding system from one batch at a time, and this does not
always work. Therefore, if at all possible, specify a coding system that determines both the
character code conversion and the end of line conversion—that is, one like latin-1-unix,
rather than undecided or latin-1.
When Emacs calls a process filter function, it provides the process output as a multi-
byte string or as a unibyte string according to the process’s filter coding system. Emacs
decodes the output according to the process output coding system, which usually produces
a multibyte string, except for coding systems such as binary and raw-text.

38.9.4 Accepting Output from Processes

Output from asynchronous subprocesses normally arrives only while Emacs is waiting for
some sort of external event, such as elapsed time or terminal input. Occasionally it is useful
Chapter 38: Processes 943

in a Lisp program to explicitly permit output to arrive at a specific point, or even to wait
until output arrives from a process.
accept-process-output &optional process seconds millisec [Function]
just-this-one
This function allows Emacs to read pending output from processes. The output is
given to their filter functions. If process is non-nil then this function does not return
until some output has been received from process or process has closed the connection.
The arguments seconds and millisec let you specify timeout periods. The former speci-
fies a period measured in seconds and the latter specifies one measured in milliseconds.
The two time periods thus specified are added together, and accept-process-output
returns after that much time, even if there is no subprocess output.
The argument millisec is obsolete (and should not be used), because seconds can be
floating point to specify waiting a fractional number of seconds. If seconds is 0, the
function accepts whatever output is pending but does not wait.
If process is a process, and the argument just-this-one is non-nil, only output from
that process is handled, suspending output from other processes until some output
has been received from that process or the timeout expires. If just-this-one is an
integer, also inhibit running timers. This feature is generally not recommended, but
may be necessary for specific applications, such as speech synthesis.
The function accept-process-output returns non-nil if it got output from process,
or from any process if process is nil; this can occur even after a process has exited if
the corresponding connection contains buffered data. The function returns nil if the
timeout expired or the connection was closed before output arrived.
If a connection from a process contains buffered data, accept-process-output can
return non-nil even after the process has exited. Therefore, although the following loop:
;; This loop contains a bug.
(while (process-live-p process)
(accept-process-output process))
will often read all output from process, it has a race condition and can miss some output
if process-live-p returns nil while the connection still contains data. Better is to write
the loop like this:
(while (accept-process-output process))

38.9.5 Processes and Threads

Because threads were a relatively late addition to Emacs Lisp, and due to the way dynamic
binding was sometimes used in conjunction with accept-process-output, by default a
process is locked to the thread that created it. When a process is locked to a thread, output
from the process can only be accepted by that thread.
A Lisp program can specify to which thread a process is to be locked, or instruct Emacs
to unlock a process, in which case its output can be processed by any thread. Only a
single thread will wait for output from a given process at one time—once one thread begins
waiting for output, the process is temporarily locked until accept-process-output or
sit-for returns.
If the thread exits, all the processes locked to it are unlocked.
Chapter 38: Processes 944

process-thread process [Function]

Return the thread to which process is locked. If process is unlocked, return nil.

set-process-thread process thread [Function]

Set the locking thread of process to thread. thread may be nil, in which case the
process is unlocked.

38.10 Sentinels: Detecting Process Status Changes

A process sentinel is a function that is called whenever the associated process changes status
for any reason, including signals (whether sent by Emacs or caused by the process’s own
actions) that terminate, stop, or continue the process. The process sentinel is also called
if the process exits. The sentinel receives two arguments: the process for which the event
occurred, and a string describing the type of event.
If no sentinel function was specified for a process, it will use the default sentinel func-
tion, which inserts a message in the process’s buffer with the process name and the string
describing the event.
The string describing the event looks like one of the following:
• "finished\n".
• "deleted\n".
• "exited abnormally with code exitcode (core dumped)\n". The “core dumped”
part is optional, and only appears if the process dumped core.
• "failed with code fail-code\n".
• "signal-description (core dumped)\n". The signal-description is a system-
dependent textual description of a signal, e.g., "killed" for SIGKILL. The “core
dumped” part is optional, and only appears if the process dumped core.
• "open from host-name\n".
• "open\n".
• "connection broken by remote peer\n".
A sentinel runs only while Emacs is waiting (e.g., for terminal input, or for time to
elapse, or for process output). This avoids the timing errors that could result from running
sentinels at random places in the middle of other Lisp programs. A program can wait, so that
sentinels will run, by calling sit-for or sleep-for (see Section 21.10 [Waiting], page 406),
or accept-process-output (see Section 38.9.4 [Accepting Output], page 942). Emacs also
allows sentinels to run when the command loop is reading input. delete-process calls the
sentinel when it terminates a running process.
Emacs does not keep a queue of multiple reasons to call the sentinel of one process; it
records just the current status and the fact that there has been a change. Therefore two
changes in status, coming in quick succession, can call the sentinel just once. However,
process termination will always run the sentinel exactly once. This is because the process
status can’t change again after termination.
Emacs explicitly checks for output from the process before running the process sentinel.
Once the sentinel runs due to process termination, no further output can arrive from the
process.
Chapter 38: Processes 945

A sentinel that writes the output into the buffer of the process should check whether the
buffer is still alive. If it tries to insert into a dead buffer, it will get an error. If the buffer
is dead, (buffer-name (process-buffer process)) returns nil.
Quitting is normally inhibited within a sentinel—otherwise, the effect of typing C-g at
command level or to quit a user command would be unpredictable. If you want to permit
quitting inside a sentinel, bind inhibit-quit to nil. In most cases, the right way to do
this is with the macro with-local-quit. See Section 21.11 [Quitting], page 407.
If an error happens during execution of a sentinel, it is caught automatically, so that it
doesn’t stop the execution of whatever programs was running when the sentinel was started.
However, if debug-on-error is non-nil, errors are not caught. This makes it possible to
use the Lisp debugger to debug the sentinel. See Section 18.1 [Debugger], page 289.
While a sentinel is running, the process sentinel is temporarily set to nil so that the
sentinel won’t run recursively. For this reason it is not possible for a sentinel to specify a
new sentinel.
Note that Emacs automatically saves and restores the match data while executing sen-
tinels. See Section 34.6 [Match Data], page 882.

set-process-sentinel process sentinel [Function]

This function associates sentinel with process. If sentinel is nil, then the process will
have the default sentinel, which inserts a message in the process’s buffer when the
process status changes.
Changes in process sentinels take effect immediately—if the sentinel is slated to be
run but has not been called yet, and you specify a new sentinel, the eventual call to
the sentinel will use the new one.
(defun msg-me (process event)
(princ
(format "Process: %s had the event '%s'" process event)))
(set-process-sentinel (get-process "shell") 'msg-me)
⇒ msg-me
(kill-process (get-process "shell"))
a Process: #<process shell> had the event 'killed'
⇒ #<process shell>

process-sentinel process [Function]

This function returns the sentinel of process.

In case a process status changes need to be passed to several sentinels, you can use
add-function to combine an existing sentinel with a new one. See Section 13.11 [Advising
Functions], page 222.

waiting-for-user-input-p [Function]
While a sentinel or filter function is running, this function returns non-nil if Emacs
was waiting for keyboard input from the user at the time the sentinel or filter function
was called, or nil if it was not.
Chapter 38: Processes 946

38.11 Querying Before Exit

When Emacs exits, it terminates all its subprocesses. For subprocesses that run a program,
it sends them the SIGHUP signal; connections are simply closed. Because subprocesses may
be doing valuable work, Emacs normally asks the user to confirm that it is ok to terminate
them. Each process has a query flag, which, if non-nil, says that Emacs should ask for
confirmation before exiting and thus killing that process. The default for the query flag is
t, meaning do query.
process-query-on-exit-flag process [Function]
This returns the query flag of process.
set-process-query-on-exit-flag process flag [Function]
This function sets the query flag of process to flag. It returns flag.
Here is an example of using set-process-query-on-exit-flag on a shell process to
avoid querying:
(set-process-query-on-exit-flag (get-process "shell") nil)
⇒ nil

confirm-kill-processes [User Option]

If this user option is set to t (the default), then Emacs asks for confirmation before
killing processes on exit. If it is nil, Emacs kills processes without confirmation, i.e.,
the query flag of all processes is ignored.

38.12 Accessing Other Processes

In addition to accessing and manipulating processes that are subprocesses of the current
Emacs session, Emacs Lisp programs can also access other processes running on the same
machine. We call these system processes, to distinguish them from Emacs subprocesses.
Emacs provides several primitives for accessing system processes. Not all platforms
support these primitives; on those which don’t, these primitives return nil.
list-system-processes [Function]
This function returns a list of all the processes running on the system. Each process
is identified by its PID, a numerical process ID that is assigned by the OS and distin-
guishes the process from all the other processes running on the same machine at the
same time.
process-attributes pid [Function]
This function returns an alist of attributes for the process specified by its process
ID pid. Each association in the alist is of the form (key . value), where key des-
ignates the attribute and value is the value of that attribute. The various attribute
keys that this function can return are listed below. Not all platforms support all of
these attributes; if an attribute is not supported, its association will not appear in
the returned alist. Values that are numbers can be either integer or floating point,
depending on the magnitude of the value.
euid The effective user ID of the user who invoked the process. The corre-
sponding value is a number. If the process was invoked by the same
user who runs the current Emacs session, the value is identical to what
user-uid returns (see Section 40.4 [User Identification], page 1085).
Chapter 38: Processes 947

user User name corresponding to the process’s effective user ID, a string.
egid The group ID of the effective user ID, a number.
group Group name corresponding to the effective user’s group ID, a string.
comm The name of the command that runs in the process. This is a string that
usually specifies the name of the executable file of the process, without the
leading directories. However, some special system processes can report
strings that do not correspond to an executable file of a program.
state The state code of the process. This is a short string that encodes the
scheduling state of the process. Here’s a list of the most frequently seen
codes:
"D" uninterruptible sleep (usually I/O)
"R" running
"S" interruptible sleep (waiting for some event)
"T" stopped, e.g., by a job control signal
"Z" zombie: a process that terminated, but was not reaped by its
parent
For the full list of the possible states, see the manual page of the ps
command.
ppid The process ID of the parent process, a number.
pgrp The process group ID of the process, a number.
sess The session ID of the process. This is a number that is the process ID of
the process’s session leader.
ttname A string that is the name of the process’s controlling terminal. On Unix
and GNU systems, this is normally the file name of the corresponding
terminal device, such as /dev/pts65.
tpgid The numerical process group ID of the foreground process group that
uses the process’s terminal.
minflt The number of minor page faults caused by the process since its begin-
ning. (Minor page faults are those that don’t involve reading from disk.)
majflt The number of major page faults caused by the process since its begin-
ning. (Major page faults require a disk to be read, and are thus more
expensive than minor page faults.)
cminflt
cmajflt Like minflt and majflt, but include the number of page faults for all
the child processes of the given process.
utime Time spent by the process in the user context, for running
the application’s code. The corresponding value is in the
(high low microsec picosec) format, the same format used by
functions current-time (see Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086) and
file-attributes (see Section 25.6.4 [File Attributes], page 536).
Chapter 38: Processes 948

stime Time spent by the process in the system (kernel) context, for processing
system calls. The corresponding value is in the same format as for utime.
time The sum of utime and stime. The corresponding value is in the same
format as for utime.
cutime
cstime
ctime Like utime, stime, and time, but include the times of all the child pro-
cesses of the given process.
pri The numerical priority of the process.
nice The nice value of the process, a number. (Processes with smaller nice
values get scheduled more favorably.)
thcount The number of threads in the process.
start The time when the process was started, in the same (high low microsec
picosec) format used by file-attributes and current-time.
etime The time elapsed since the process started, in the format (high low mi-
crosec picosec).
vsize The virtual memory size of the process, measured in kilobytes.
rss The size of the process’s resident set, the number of kilobytes occupied
by the process in the machine’s physical memory.
pcpu The percentage of the CPU time used by the process since it started. The
corresponding value is a floating-point number between 0 and 100.
pmem The percentage of the total physical memory installed on the machine
used by the process’s resident set. The value is a floating-point number
between 0 and 100.
args The command-line with which the process was invoked. This is a string
in which individual command-line arguments are separated by blanks;
whitespace characters that are embedded in the arguments are quoted
as appropriate for the system’s shell: escaped by backslash characters on
GNU and Unix, and enclosed in double quote characters on Windows.
Thus, this command-line string can be directly used in primitives such as
shell-command.

38.13 Transaction Queues

You can use a transaction queue to communicate with a subprocess using transactions.
First use tq-create to create a transaction queue communicating with a specified process.
Then you can call tq-enqueue to send a transaction.
tq-create process [Function]
This function creates and returns a transaction queue communicating with process.
The argument process should be a subprocess capable of sending and receiving streams
of bytes. It may be a child process, or it may be a TCP connection to a server, possibly
on another machine.
Chapter 38: Processes 949

tq-enqueue queue question regexp closure fn &optional [Function]

delay-question
This function sends a transaction to queue queue. Specifying the queue has the effect
of specifying the subprocess to talk to.
The argument question is the outgoing message that starts the transaction. The
argument fn is the function to call when the corresponding answer comes back; it is
called with two arguments: closure, and the answer received.
The argument regexp is a regular expression that should match text at the end of
the entire answer, but nothing before; that’s how tq-enqueue determines where the
answer ends.
If the argument delay-question is non-nil, delay sending this question until the pro-
cess has finished replying to any previous questions. This produces more reliable
results with some processes.
tq-close queue [Function]
Shut down transaction queue queue, waiting for all pending transactions to complete,
and then terminate the connection or child process.
Transaction queues are implemented by means of a filter function. See Section 38.9.2
[Filter Functions], page 940.

38.14 Network Connections

Emacs Lisp programs can open stream (TCP) and datagram (UDP) network connections
(see Section 38.16 [Datagrams], page 952) to other processes on the same machine or other
machines. A network connection is handled by Lisp much like a subprocess, and is repre-
sented by a process object. However, the process you are communicating with is not a child
of the Emacs process, has no process ID, and you can’t kill it or send it signals. All you
can do is send and receive data. delete-process closes the connection, but does not kill
the program at the other end; that program must decide what to do about closure of the
connection.
Lisp programs can listen for connections by creating network servers. A network server
is also represented by a kind of process object, but unlike a network connection, the network
server never transfers data itself. When it receives a connection request, it creates a new
network connection to represent the connection just made. (The network connection inherits
certain information, including the process plist, from the server.) The network server then
goes back to listening for more connection requests.
Network connections and servers are created by calling make-network-process with
an argument list consisting of keyword/argument pairs, for example :server t to create
a server process, or :type 'datagram to create a datagram connection. See Section 38.17
[Low-Level Network], page 953, for details. You can also use the open-network-stream
function described below.
To distinguish the different types of processes, the process-type function returns the
symbol network for a network connection or server, serial for a serial port connection,
pipe for a pipe connection, or real for a real subprocess.
The process-status function returns open, closed, connect, stop, or failed for
network connections. For a network server, the status is always listen. Except for stop,
Chapter 38: Processes 950

none of those values is possible for a real subprocess. See Section 38.6 [Process Information],
page 932.
You can stop and resume operation of a network process by calling stop-process and
continue-process. For a server process, being stopped means not accepting new connec-
tions. (Up to 5 connection requests will be queued for when you resume the server; you can
increase this limit, unless it is imposed by the operating system—see the :server keyword
of make-network-process, Section 38.17.1 [Network Processes], page 953.) For a network
stream connection, being stopped means not processing input (any arriving input waits
until you resume the connection). For a datagram connection, some number of packets may
be queued but input may be lost. You can use the function process-command to determine
whether a network connection or server is stopped; a non-nil value means yes.
Emacs can create encrypted network connections, using either built-in or external sup-
port. The built-in support uses the GnuTLS Transport Layer Security Library; see the
GnuTLS project page (https: / / www . gnu . org / software / gnutls / ). If your Emacs
was compiled with GnuTLS support, the function gnutls-available-p is defined and
returns non-nil. For more details, see Section “Overview” in The Emacs-GnuTLS manual.
The external support uses the starttls.el library, which requires a helper utility such
as gnutls-cli to be installed on the system. The open-network-stream function can
transparently handle the details of creating encrypted connections for you, using whatever
support is available.
open-network-stream name buffer host service &rest parameters [Function]
This function opens a TCP connection, with optional encryption, and returns a pro-
cess object that represents the connection.
The name argument specifies the name for the process object. It is modified as
necessary to make it unique.
The buffer argument is the buffer to associate with the connection. Output from
the connection is inserted in the buffer, unless you specify your own filter function to
handle the output. If buffer is nil, it means that the connection is not associated
with any buffer.
The arguments host and service specify where to connect to; host is the host name
(a string), and service is the name of a defined network service (a string) or a port
number (an integer like 80 or an integer string like "80").
The remaining arguments parameters are keyword/argument pairs that are mainly
relevant to encrypted connections:
:nowait boolean
If non-nil, try to make an asynchronous connection.
:type type
The type of connection. Options are:
plain An ordinary, unencrypted connection.
tls
ssl A TLS (Transport Layer Security) connection.
nil
network Start with a plain connection, and if parameters ‘:success’
and ‘:capability-command’ are supplied, try to upgrade to
Chapter 38: Processes 951

an encrypted connection via STARTTLS. If that fails, retain

the unencrypted connection.
starttls As for nil, but if STARTTLS fails drop the connection.
shell A shell connection.
:always-query-capabilities boolean
If non-nil, always ask for the server’s capabilities, even when doing a
‘plain’ connection.
:capability-command capability-command
Command string to query the host capabilities.
:end-of-command regexp
:end-of-capability regexp
Regular expression matching the end of a command, or the end of the
command capability-command. The latter defaults to the former.
:starttls-function function
Function of one argument (the response to capability-command), which
returns either nil, or the command to activate STARTTLS if supported.
:success regexp
Regular expression matching a successful STARTTLS negotiation.
:use-starttls-if-possible boolean
If non-nil, do opportunistic STARTTLS upgrades even if Emacs doesn’t
have built-in TLS support.
:warn-unless-encrypted boolean
If non-nil, and :return-value is also non-nil, Emacs will warn if the
connection isn’t encrypted. This is useful for protocols like IMAP and the
like, where most users would expect the network traffic to be encrypted.
:client-certificate list-or-t
Either a list of the form (key-file cert-file), naming the certificate
key file and certificate file itself, or t, meaning to query auth-source for
this information (see Section “Overview” in The Auth-Source Manual).
Only used for TLS or STARTTLS.
:return-list cons-or-nil
The return value of this function. If omitted or nil, return a process
object. Otherwise, a cons of the form (process-object . plist), where
plist has keywords:
:greeting string-or-nil
If non-nil, the greeting string returned by the host.
:capabilities string-or-nil
If non-nil, the host’s capability string.
:type symbol
The connection type: ‘plain’ or ‘tls’.
Chapter 38: Processes 952

:shell-command string-or-nil
If the connection type is shell, this parameter will be interpreted as a
format-spec string that will be executed to make the connection. The
specs available are ‘%s’ for the host name and ‘%p’ for the port number.
For instance, if you want to first ssh to ‘gateway’ before making a plain
connection, then this parameter could be something like ‘ssh gateway nc
%s %p’.

38.15 Network Servers

You create a server by calling make-network-process (see Section 38.17.1 [Network Pro-
cesses], page 953) with :server t. The server will listen for connection requests from clients.
When it accepts a client connection request, that creates a new network connection, itself
a process object, with the following parameters:
• The connection’s process name is constructed by concatenating the server process’s
name with a client identification string. The client identification string for an IPv4
connection looks like ‘<a.b.c.d:p>’, which represents an address and port number.
Otherwise, it is a unique number in brackets, as in ‘<nnn>’. The number is unique for
each connection in the Emacs session.
• If the server has a non-default filter, the connection process does not get a separate
process buffer; otherwise, Emacs creates a new buffer for the purpose. The buffer name
is the server’s buffer name or process name, concatenated with the client identification
string.
The server’s process buffer value is never used directly, but the log function can retrieve
it and use it to log connections by inserting text there.
• The communication type and the process filter and sentinel are inherited from those of
the server. The server never directly uses its filter and sentinel; their sole purpose is to
initialize connections made to the server.
• The connection’s process contact information is set according to the client’s addressing
information (typically an IP address and a port number). This information is associated
with the process-contact keywords :host, :service, :remote.
• The connection’s local address is set up according to the port number used for the
connection.
• The client process’s plist is initialized from the server’s plist.

38.16 Datagrams
A datagram connection communicates with individual packets rather than streams of data.
Each call to process-send sends one datagram packet (see Section 38.7 [Input to Processes],
page 935), and each datagram received results in one call to the filter function.
The datagram connection doesn’t have to talk with the same remote peer all the time.
It has a remote peer address which specifies where to send datagrams to. Each time an
incoming datagram is passed to the filter function, the peer address is set to the address that
datagram came from; that way, if the filter function sends a datagram, it will go back to that
place. You can specify the remote peer address when you create the datagram connection
Chapter 38: Processes 953

using the :remote keyword. You can change it later on by calling set-process-datagram-
address.

process-datagram-address process [Function]

If process is a datagram connection or server, this function returns its remote peer
address.

set-process-datagram-address process address [Function]

If process is a datagram connection or server, this function sets its remote peer address
to address.

38.17 Low-Level Network Access

You can also create network connections by operating at a lower level than that of
open-network-stream, using make-network-process.

38.17.1 make-network-process
The basic function for creating network connections and network servers is make-network-
process. It can do either of those jobs, depending on the arguments you give it.

make-network-process &rest args [Function]

This function creates a network connection or server and returns the process object
that represents it. The arguments args are a list of keyword/argument pairs. Omitting
a keyword is always equivalent to specifying it with value nil, except for :coding,
:filter-multibyte, and :reuseaddr. Here are the meaningful keywords (those
corresponding to network options are listed in the following section):
:name name
Use the string name as the process name. It is modified if necessary to
make it unique.
:type type Specify the communication type. A value of nil specifies a stream connec-
tion (the default); datagram specifies a datagram connection; seqpacket
specifies a sequenced packet stream connection. Both connections and
servers can be of these types.
:server server-flag
If server-flag is non-nil, create a server. Otherwise, create a connection.
For a stream type server, server-flag may be an integer, which then spec-
ifies the length of the queue of pending connections to the server. The
default queue length is 5.
:host host Specify the host to connect to. host should be a host name or Internet
address, as a string, or the symbol local to specify the local host. If you
specify host for a server, it must specify a valid address for the local host,
and only clients connecting to that address will be accepted.
:service service
service specifies a port number to connect to; or, for a server, the port
number to listen on. It should be a service name like ‘"http"’ that
translates to a port number, or an integer like ‘80’ or an integer string
Chapter 38: Processes 954

like ‘"80"’ that specifies the port number directly. For a server, it can
also be t, which means to let the system select an unused port number.
:family family
family specifies the address (and protocol) family for communication. nil
means determine the proper address family automatically for the given
host and service. local specifies a Unix socket, in which case host is
ignored. ipv4 and ipv6 specify to use IPv4 and IPv6, respectively.
:use-external-socket use-external-socket
If use-external-socket is non-nil use any sockets passed to Emacs on
invocation instead of allocating one. This is used by the Emacs server
code to allow on-demand socket activation. If Emacs wasn’t passed a
socket, this option is silently ignored.
:local local-address
For a server process, local-address is the address to listen on. It overrides
family, host and service, so you might as well not specify them.
:remote remote-address
For a connection, remote-address is the address to connect to. It overrides
family, host and service, so you might as well not specify them.
For a datagram server, remote-address specifies the initial setting of the
remote datagram address.
The format of local-address or remote-address depends on the address
family:
- An IPv4 address is represented as a five-element vector of four 8-bit
integers and one 16-bit integer [a b c d p] corresponding to numeric
IPv4 address a.b.c.d and port number p.
- An IPv6 address is represented as a nine-element vector of 16-bit
integers [a b c d e f g h p] corresponding to numeric IPv6 address
a:b:c:d:e:f :g:h and port number p.
- A local address is represented as a string, which specifies the address
in the local address space.
- An unsupported-family address is represented by a cons (f . av),
where f is the family number and av is a vector specifying the socket
address using one element per address data byte. Do not rely on
this format in portable code, as it may depend on implementation
defined constants, data sizes, and data structure alignment.
:nowait bool
If bool is non-nil for a stream connection, return without waiting for
the connection to complete. When the connection succeeds or fails,
Emacs will call the sentinel function, with a second argument match-
ing "open" (if successful) or "failed". The default is to block, so that
make-network-process does not return until the connection has suc-
ceeded or failed.
If you’re setting up an asynchronous TLS connection, you have to also
provide the :tls-parameters parameter (see below).
Chapter 38: Processes 955

Depending on the capabilities of Emacs, how asynchronous :nowait is

may vary. The three elements that may (or may not) be done asyn-
chronously are domain name resolution, socket setup, and (for TLS con-
nections) TLS negotiation.
Many functions that interact with process objects, (for instance,
process-datagram-address) rely on them at least having a socket
before they can return a useful value. These functions will block until
the socket has achieved the desired status. The recommended way
of interacting with asynchronous sockets is to place a sentinel on the
process, and not try to interact with it before it has changed status to
‘"run"’. That way, none of these functions will block.
:tls-parameters
When opening a TLS connection, this should be where the first element is
the TLS type (which should either be gnutls-x509pki or gnutls-anon,
and the remaining elements should form a keyword list acceptable for
gnutls-boot. (This keyword list can be obtained from the gnutls-boot-
parameters function.) The TLS connection will then be negotiated after
completing the connection to the host.
:stop stopped
If stopped is non-nil, start the network connection or server in the
stopped state.
:buffer buffer
Use buffer as the process buffer.
:coding coding
Use coding as the coding system for this process. To specify different
coding systems for decoding data from the connection and for encoding
data sent to it, specify (decoding . encoding) for coding.
If you don’t specify this keyword at all, the default is to determine the
coding systems from the data.
:noquery query-flag
Initialize the process query flag to query-flag. See Section 38.11 [Query
Before Exit], page 946.
:filter filter
Initialize the process filter to filter.
:filter-multibyte multibyte
If multibyte is non-nil, strings given to the process filter are multi-
byte, otherwise they are unibyte. The default is the default value of
enable-multibyte-characters.
:sentinel sentinel
Initialize the process sentinel to sentinel.
:log log Initialize the log function of a server process to log. The log function is
called each time the server accepts a network connection from a client.
Chapter 38: Processes 956

The arguments passed to the log function are server, connection, and
message; where server is the server process, connection is the new process
for the connection, and message is a string describing what has happened.
:plist plist Initialize the process plist to plist.
The original argument list, modified with the actual connection information, is avail-
able via the process-contact function.

38.17.2 Network Options

The following network options can be specified when you create a network process. Ex-
cept for :reuseaddr, you can also set or modify these options later, using set-network-
process-option.
For a server process, the options specified with make-network-process are not inherited
by the client connections, so you will need to set the necessary options for each child
connection as it is created.
:bindtodevice device-name
If device-name is a non-empty string identifying a network interface name (see
network-interface-list), only handle packets received on that interface. If
device-name is nil (the default), handle packets received on any interface.
Using this option may require special privileges on some systems.
:broadcast broadcast-flag
If broadcast-flag is non-nil for a datagram process, the process will receive
datagram packet sent to a broadcast address, and be able to send packets to a
broadcast address. This is ignored for a stream connection.
:dontroute dontroute-flag
If dontroute-flag is non-nil, the process can only send to hosts on the same
network as the local host.
:keepalive keepalive-flag
If keepalive-flag is non-nil for a stream connection, enable exchange of low-level
keep-alive messages.
:linger linger-arg
If linger-arg is non-nil, wait for successful transmission of all queued packets
on the connection before it is deleted (see delete-process). If linger-arg is an
integer, it specifies the maximum time in seconds to wait for queued packets
to be sent before closing the connection. The default is nil, which means to
discard unsent queued packets when the process is deleted.
:oobinline oobinline-flag
If oobinline-flag is non-nil for a stream connection, receive out-of-band data
in the normal data stream. Otherwise, ignore out-of-band data.
:priority priority
Set the priority for packets sent on this connection to the integer priority. The
interpretation of this number is protocol specific; such as setting the TOS (type
of service) field on IP packets sent on this connection. It may also have system
Chapter 38: Processes 957

dependent effects, such as selecting a specific output queue on the network

interface.

:reuseaddr reuseaddr-flag
If reuseaddr-flag is non-nil (the default) for a stream server process, allow this
server to reuse a specific port number (see :service), unless another process
on this host is already listening on that port. If reuseaddr-flag is nil, there
may be a period of time after the last use of that port (by any process on the
host) where it is not possible to make a new server on that port.

set-network-process-option process option value &optional [Function]

no-error
This function sets or modifies a network option for network process process. The
accepted options and values are as for make-network-process. If no-error is non-
nil, this function returns nil instead of signaling an error if option is not a supported
option. If the function successfully completes, it returns t.
The current setting of an option is available via the process-contact function.

38.17.3 Testing Availability of Network Features

To test for the availability of a given network feature, use featurep like this:
(featurep 'make-network-process '(keyword value))
The result of this form is t if it works to specify keyword with value value in make-network-
process. Here are some of the keyword—value pairs you can test in this way.

(:nowait t)
Non-nil if non-blocking connect is supported.

(:type datagram)
Non-nil if datagrams are supported.

(:family local)
Non-nil if local (a.k.a. “UNIX domain”) sockets are supported.

(:family ipv6)
Non-nil if IPv6 is supported.

(:service t)
Non-nil if the system can select the port for a server.

To test for the availability of a given network option, use featurep like this:
(featurep 'make-network-process 'keyword)
The accepted keyword values are :bindtodevice, etc. For the complete list, see
Section 38.17.2 [Network Options], page 956. This form returns non-nil if that particular
network option is supported by make-network-process (or set-network-process-
option).
Chapter 38: Processes 958

38.18 Misc Network Facilities

These additional functions are useful for creating and operating on network connections.
Note that they are supported only on some systems.
network-interface-list [Function]
This function returns a list describing the network interfaces of the machine you
are using. The value is an alist whose elements have the form (name . address).
address has the same form as the local-address and remote-address arguments to
make-network-process.
network-interface-info ifname [Function]
This function returns information about the network interface named ifname. The
value is a list of the form (addr bcast netmask hwaddr flags).
addr The Internet protocol address.
bcast The broadcast address.
netmask The network mask.
hwaddr The layer 2 address (Ethernet MAC address, for instance).
flags The current flags of the interface.
format-network-address address &optional omit-port [Function]
This function converts the Lisp representation of a network address to a string.
A five-element vector [a b c d p] represents an IPv4 address a.b.c.d and port number
p. format-network-address converts that to the string "a.b.c.d:p".
A nine-element vector [a b c d e f g h p] represents an IPv6 address along
with a port number. format-network-address converts that to the string
"[a:b:c:d:e:f:g:h]:p".
If the vector does not include the port number, p, or if omit-port is non-nil, the
result does not include the :p suffix.

38.19 Communicating with Serial Ports

Emacs can communicate with serial ports. For interactive use, M-x serial-term opens a
terminal window. In a Lisp program, make-serial-process creates a process object.
The serial port can be configured at run-time, without having to close and re-open it.
The function serial-process-configure lets you change the speed, bytesize, and other
parameters. In a terminal window created by serial-term, you can click on the mode line
for configuration.
A serial connection is represented by a process object, which can be used in a similar
way to a subprocess or network process. You can send and receive data, and configure the
serial port. A serial process object has no process ID, however, and you can’t send signals
to it, and the status codes are different from other types of processes. delete-process on
the process object or kill-buffer on the process buffer close the connection, but this does
not affect the device connected to the serial port.
The function process-type returns the symbol serial for a process object representing
a serial port connection.
Serial ports are available on GNU/Linux, Unix, and MS Windows systems.
Chapter 38: Processes 959

serial-term port speed [Command]

Start a terminal-emulator for a serial port in a new buffer. port is the name of the
serial port to connect to. For example, this could be /dev/ttyS0 on Unix. On MS
Windows, this could be COM1, or \\.\COM10 (double the backslashes in Lisp strings).
speed is the speed of the serial port in bits per second. 9600 is a common value. The
buffer is in Term mode; see Section “Term Mode” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for
the commands to use in that buffer. You can change the speed and the configuration
in the mode line menu.
make-serial-process &rest args [Function]
This function creates a process and a buffer. Arguments are specified as
keyword/argument pairs. Here’s the list of the meaningful keywords, with the first
two (port and speed) being mandatory:
:port port
This is the name of the serial port. On Unix and GNU systems, this is
a file name such as /dev/ttyS0. On Windows, this could be COM1, or
\\.\COM10 for ports higher than COM9 (double the backslashes in Lisp
strings).
:speed speed
The speed of the serial port in bits per second. This function calls
serial-process-configure to handle the speed; see the following doc-
umentation of that function for more details.
:name name
The name of the process. If name is not given, port will serve as the
process name as well.
:buffer buffer
The buffer to associate with the process. The value can be either a buffer
or a string that names a buffer. Process output goes at the end of that
buffer, unless you specify an output stream or filter function to handle
the output. If buffer is not given, the process buffer’s name is taken from
the value of the :name keyword.
:coding coding
If coding is a symbol, it specifies the coding system used for both reading
and writing for this process. If coding is a cons (decoding . encoding),
decoding is used for reading, and encoding is used for writing. If not
specified, the default is to determine the coding systems from the data
itself.
:noquery query-flag
Initialize the process query flag to query-flag. See Section 38.11 [Query
Before Exit], page 946. The flags defaults to nil if unspecified.
:stop bool
Start process in the stopped state if bool is non-nil. In the stopped
state, a serial process does not accept incoming data, but you can send
outgoing data. The stopped state is cleared by continue-process and
set by stop-process.
Chapter 38: Processes 960

:filter filter
Install filter as the process filter.
:sentinel sentinel
Install sentinel as the process sentinel.
:plist plist
Install plist as the initial plist of the process.
:bytesize
:parity
:stopbits
:flowcontrol
These are handled by serial-process-configure, which is called by
make-serial-process.

The original argument list, possibly modified by later configuration, is available via
the function process-contact.
Here is an example:
(make-serial-process :port "/dev/ttyS0" :speed 9600)

serial-process-configure &rest args [Function]

This function configures a serial port connection. Arguments are specified as key-
word/argument pairs. Attributes that are not given are re-initialized from the pro-
cess’s current configuration (available via the function process-contact), or set to
reasonable default values. The following arguments are defined:

:process process
:name name
:buffer buffer
:port port
Any of these arguments can be given to identify the process that is to
be configured. If none of these arguments is given, the current buffer’s
process is used.
:speed speed
The speed of the serial port in bits per second, a.k.a. baud rate. The
value can be any number, but most serial ports work only at a few defined
values between 1200 and 115200, with 9600 being the most common value.
If speed is nil, the function ignores all other arguments and does not
configure the port. This may be useful for special serial ports such as
Bluetooth-to-serial converters, which can only be configured through ‘AT’
commands sent through the connection. The value of nil for speed is
valid only for connections that were already opened by a previous call to
make-serial-process or serial-term.
:bytesize bytesize
The number of bits per byte, which can be 7 or 8. If bytesize is not given
or nil, it defaults to 8.
Chapter 38: Processes 961

:parity parity
The value can be nil (don’t use parity), the symbol odd (use odd parity),
or the symbol even (use even parity). If parity is not given, it defaults
to no parity.
:stopbits stopbits
The number of stopbits used to terminate a transmission of each byte.
stopbits can be 1 or 2. If stopbits is not given or nil, it defaults to 1.
:flowcontrol flowcontrol
The type of flow control to use for this connection, which is either nil
(don’t use flow control), the symbol hw (use RTS/CTS hardware flow
control), or the symbol sw (use XON/XOFF software flow control). If
flowcontrol is not given, it defaults to no flow control.
Internally, make-serial-process calls serial-process-configure for the initial
configuration of the serial port.

38.20 Packing and Unpacking Byte Arrays

This section describes how to pack and unpack arrays of bytes, usually for binary network
protocols. These functions convert byte arrays to alists, and vice versa. The byte array
can be represented as a unibyte string or as a vector of integers, while the alist associates
symbols either with fixed-size objects or with recursive sub-alists. To use the functions
referred to in this section, load the bindat library.
Conversion from byte arrays to nested alists is also known as deserializing or unpacking,
while going in the opposite direction is also known as serializing or packing.

38.20.1 Describing Data Layout

To control unpacking and packing, you write a data layout specification, a special nested
list describing named and typed fields. This specification controls the length of each field
to be processed, and how to pack or unpack it. We normally keep bindat specs in variables
whose names end in ‘-bindat-spec’; that kind of name is automatically recognized as risky.
A field’s type describes the size (in bytes) of the object that the field represents and, in
the case of multibyte fields, how the bytes are ordered within the field. The two possible
orderings are big endian (also known as “network byte ordering”) and little endian. For
instance, the number #x23cd (decimal 9165) in big endian would be the two bytes #x23
#xcd; and in little endian, #xcd #x23. Here are the possible type values:
u8
byte Unsigned byte, with length 1.
u16
word
short Unsigned integer in network byte order, with length 2.
u24 Unsigned integer in network byte order, with length 3.
u32
dword
long Unsigned integer in network byte order, with length 4. Note: These values may
be limited by Emacs’s integer implementation limits.
Chapter 38: Processes 962

u16r
u24r
u32r Unsigned integer in little endian order, with length 2, 3 and 4, respectively.
str len String of length len.
strz len Zero-terminated string, in a fixed-size field with length len.
vec len [type]
Vector of len elements of type type, defaulting to bytes. The type is any of the
simple types above, or another vector specified as a list of the form (vec len
[type]).
ip Four-byte vector representing an Internet address. For example: [127 0 0 1]
for localhost.
bits len List of set bits in len bytes. The bytes are taken in big endian order and the bits
are numbered starting with 8 * len − 1 and ending with zero. For example:
bits 2 unpacks #x28 #x1c to (2 3 4 11 13) and #x1c #x28 to (3 5 10 11 12).
(eval form)
form is a Lisp expression evaluated at the moment the field is unpacked or
packed. The result of the evaluation should be one of the above-listed type
specifications.

For a fixed-size field, the length len is given as an integer specifying the number of bytes
in the field.
When the length of a field is not fixed, it typically depends on the value of a preceding
field. In this case, the length len can be given either as a list (name ...) identifying a
field name in the format specified for bindat-get-field below, or by an expression (eval
form) where form should evaluate to an integer, specifying the field length.
A field specification generally has the form ([name] handler), where name is optional.
Don’t use names that are symbols meaningful as type specifications (above) or handler spec-
ifications (below), since that would be ambiguous. name can be a symbol or an expression
(eval form), in which case form should evaluate to a symbol.
handler describes how to unpack or pack the field and can be one of the following:

type Unpack/pack this field according to the type specification type.

eval form Evaluate form, a Lisp expression, for side-effect only. If the field name is spec-
ified, the value is bound to that field name.
fill len Skip len bytes. In packing, this leaves them unchanged, which normally means
they remain zero. In unpacking, this means they are ignored.
align len Skip to the next multiple of len bytes.
struct spec-name
Process spec-name as a sub-specification. This describes a structure nested
within another structure.
Chapter 38: Processes 963

union form (tag spec)...

Evaluate form, a Lisp expression, find the first tag that matches it, and process
its associated data layout specification spec. Matching can occur in one of three
ways:
• If a tag has the form (eval expr), evaluate expr with the variable tag
dynamically bound to the value of form. A non-nil result indicates a
match.
• tag matches if it is equal to the value of form.
• tag matches unconditionally if it is t.
repeat count field-specs...
Process the field-specs recursively, in order, then repeat starting from the first
one, processing all the specifications count times overall. The count is given
using the same formats as a field length—if an eval form is used, it is evaluated
just once. For correct operation, each specification in field-specs must include
a name.

For the (eval form) forms used in a bindat specification, the form can access and update
these dynamically bound variables during evaluation:

last Value of the last field processed.

bindat-raw
The data as a byte array.
bindat-idx
Current index (within bindat-raw) for unpacking or packing.
struct The alist containing the structured data that have been unpacked so far, or
the entire structure being packed. You can use bindat-get-field to access
specific fields of this structure.
count
index Inside a repeat block, these contain the maximum number of repetitions (as
specified by the count parameter), and the current repetition number (counting
from 0). Setting count to zero will terminate the inner-most repeat block after
the current repetition has completed.

38.20.2 Functions to Unpack and Pack Bytes

In the following documentation, spec refers to a data layout specification, bindat-raw to a
byte array, and struct to an alist representing unpacked field data.

bindat-unpack spec bindat-raw &optional bindat-idx [Function]

This function unpacks data from the unibyte string or byte array bindat-raw accord-
ing to spec. Normally, this starts unpacking at the beginning of the byte array, but
if bindat-idx is non-nil, it specifies a zero-based starting position to use instead.
The value is an alist or nested alist in which each element describes one unpacked
field.
Chapter 38: Processes 964

bindat-get-field struct &rest name [Function]

This function selects a field’s data from the nested alist struct. Usually struct was
returned by bindat-unpack. If name corresponds to just one argument, that means
to extract a top-level field value. Multiple name arguments specify repeated lookup
of sub-structures. An integer name acts as an array index.
For example, if name is (a b 2 c), that means to find field c in the third element of
subfield b of field a. (This corresponds to struct.a.b[2].c in C.)

Although packing and unpacking operations change the organization of data (in mem-
ory), they preserve the data’s total length, which is the sum of all the fields’ lengths, in
bytes. This value is not generally inherent in either the specification or alist alone; instead,
both pieces of information contribute to its calculation. Likewise, the length of a string
or array being unpacked may be longer than the data’s total length as described by the
specification.

bindat-length spec struct [Function]

This function returns the total length of the data in struct, according to spec.

bindat-pack spec struct &optional bindat-raw bindat-idx [Function]

This function returns a byte array packed according to spec from the data in the
alist struct. It normally creates and fills a new byte array starting at the beginning.
However, if bindat-raw is non-nil, it specifies a pre-allocated unibyte string or vector
to pack into. If bindat-idx is non-nil, it specifies the starting offset for packing into
bindat-raw.
When pre-allocating, you should make sure (length bindat-raw) meets or exceeds
the total length to avoid an out-of-range error.

bindat-ip-to-string ip [Function]
Convert the Internet address vector ip to a string in the usual dotted notation.
(bindat-ip-to-string [127 0 0 1])
⇒ "127.0.0.1"

38.20.3 Examples of Byte Unpacking and Packing

Here are two complete examples that use bindat.el. The first shows simple byte packing:
(require 'bindat)

(defun rfc868-payload ()
(bindat-pack
'((now-hi u16)
(now-lo u16))
;; Emacs uses Unix epoch, while RFC868 epoch
;; is 1900-01-01 00:00:00, which is 2208988800
;; (or #x83aa7e80) seconds more.
(let ((now (time-add nil '(#x83aa #x7e80))))
`((now-hi . ,(car now))
(now-lo . ,(cadr now))))))
Chapter 38: Processes 965

(let ((s (rfc868-payload)))

(list (multibyte-string-p s)
(mapconcat (lambda (byte)
(format "%02x" byte))
s " ")
(current-time-string)))
⇒ (nil "dc 6d 17 01" "Fri Mar 10 13:13:53 2017")
The following is an example of defining and unpacking a complex structure. Consider
the following C structures:
struct header {
unsigned long dest_ip;
unsigned long src_ip;
unsigned short dest_port;
unsigned short src_port;
};

struct data {
unsigned char type;
unsigned char opcode;
unsigned short length; /* in network byte order */
unsigned char id[8]; /* null-terminated string */
unsigned char data[/* (length + 3) & ~3 */];
};

struct packet {
struct header header;
unsigned long counters[2]; /* in little endian order */
unsigned char items;
unsigned char filler[3];
struct data item[/* items */];

};
The corresponding data layout specification is:
(setq header-spec
'((dest-ip ip)
(src-ip ip)
(dest-port u16)
(src-port u16)))

(setq data-spec
'((type u8)
(opcode u8)
(length u16) ; network byte order
(id strz 8)
(data vec (length))
(align 4)))
 966

(setq packet-spec
'((header struct header-spec)
(counters vec 2 u32r) ; little endian order
(items u8)
(fill 3)
(item repeat (items)
(struct data-spec))))
A binary data representation is:
(setq binary-data
[ 192 168 1 100 192 168 1 101 01 28 21 32
160 134 1 0 5 1 0 0 2 0 0 0
2 3 0 5 ?A ?B ?C ?D ?E ?F 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 0
1 4 0 7 ?B ?C ?D ?E ?F ?G 0 0 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 0 ])
The corresponding decoded structure is:
(setq decoded (bindat-unpack packet-spec binary-data))
⇒
((header
(dest-ip . [192 168 1 100])
(src-ip . [192 168 1 101])
(dest-port . 284)
(src-port . 5408))
(counters . [100000 261])
(items . 2)
(item ((data . [1 2 3 4 5])
(id . "ABCDEF")
(length . 5)
(opcode . 3)
(type . 2))
((data . [6 7 8 9 10 11 12])
(id . "BCDEFG")
(length . 7)
(opcode . 4)
(type . 1))))
An example of fetching data from this structure:
(bindat-get-field decoded 'item 1 'id)
⇒ "BCDEFG"
 967

39 Emacs Display
This chapter describes a number of features related to the display that Emacs presents to
the user.

39.1 Refreshing the Screen

The function redraw-frame clears and redisplays the entire contents of a given frame (see
Chapter 29 [Frames], page 683). This is useful if the screen is corrupted.

redraw-frame &optional frame [Function]

This function clears and redisplays frame frame. If frame is omitted or nil, it redraws
the selected frame.

Even more powerful is redraw-display:

redraw-display [Command]
This function clears and redisplays all visible frames.

In Emacs, processing user input takes priority over redisplay. If you call these functions
when input is available, they don’t redisplay immediately, but the requested redisplay does
happen eventually—after all the input has been processed.
On text terminals, suspending and resuming Emacs normally also refreshes the screen.
Some terminal emulators record separate contents for display-oriented programs such as
Emacs and for ordinary sequential display. If you are using such a terminal, you might
want to inhibit the redisplay on resumption.

no-redraw-on-reenter [User Option]

This variable controls whether Emacs redraws the entire screen after it has been
suspended and resumed. Non-nil means there is no need to redraw, nil means
redrawing is needed. The default is nil.

39.2 Forcing Redisplay

Emacs normally tries to redisplay the screen whenever it waits for input. With the following
function, you can request an immediate attempt to redisplay, in the middle of Lisp code,
without actually waiting for input.

redisplay &optional force [Function]

This function tries immediately to redisplay. The optional argument force, if non-nil,
forces the redisplay to be performed, instead of being preempted if input is pending.
The function returns t if it actually tried to redisplay, and nil otherwise. A value of t
does not mean that redisplay proceeded to completion; it could have been preempted
by newly arriving input.

Although redisplay tries immediately to redisplay, it does not change how Emacs de-
cides which parts of its frame(s) to redisplay. By contrast, the following function adds cer-
tain windows to the pending redisplay work (as if their contents had completely changed),
but does not immediately try to perform redisplay.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 968

force-window-update &optional object [Function]

This function forces some or all windows to be updated the next time Emacs does a
redisplay. If object is a window, that window is to be updated. If object is a buffer
or buffer name, all windows displaying that buffer are to be updated. If object is nil
(or omitted), all windows are to be updated.
This function does not do a redisplay immediately; Emacs does that as it waits for
input, or when the function redisplay is called.
pre-redisplay-function [Variable]
A function run just before redisplay. It is called with one argument, the set of windows
to be redisplayed. The set can be nil, meaning only the selected window, or t,
meaning all the windows.
pre-redisplay-functions [Variable]
This hook is run just before redisplay. It is called once in each window that is about
to be redisplayed, with current-buffer set to the buffer displayed in that window.

39.3 Truncation
When a line of text extends beyond the right edge of a window, Emacs can continue the
line (make it wrap to the next screen line), or truncate the line (limit it to one screen line).
The additional screen lines used to display a long text line are called continuation lines.
Continuation is not the same as filling; continuation happens on the screen only, not in the
buffer contents, and it breaks a line precisely at the right margin, not at a word boundary.
See Section 32.11 [Filling], page 785.
On a graphical display, tiny arrow images in the window fringes indicate truncated
and continued lines (see Section 39.13 [Fringes], page 1019). On a text terminal, a ‘$’ in
the rightmost column of the window indicates truncation; a ‘\’ on the rightmost column
indicates a line that wraps. (The display table can specify alternate characters to use for
this; see Section 39.22.2 [Display Tables], page 1060).
truncate-lines [User Option]
If this buffer-local variable is non-nil, lines that extend beyond the right edge of
the window are truncated; otherwise, they are continued. As a special exception,
the variable truncate-partial-width-windows takes precedence in partial-width
windows (i.e., windows that do not occupy the entire frame width).
truncate-partial-width-windows [User Option]
This variable controls line truncation in partial-width windows. A partial-width win-
dow is one that does not occupy the entire frame width (see Section 28.6 [Splitting
Windows], page 613). If the value is nil, line truncation is determined by the vari-
able truncate-lines (see above). If the value is an integer n, lines are truncated
if the partial-width window has fewer than n columns, regardless of the value of
truncate-lines; if the partial-width window has n or more columns, line truncation
is determined by truncate-lines. For any other non-nil value, lines are truncated
in every partial-width window, regardless of the value of truncate-lines.
When horizontal scrolling (see Section 28.23 [Horizontal Scrolling], page 669) is in use
in a window, that forces truncation.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 969

wrap-prefix [Variable]
If this buffer-local variable is non-nil, it defines a wrap prefix which Emacs displays
at the start of every continuation line. (If lines are truncated, wrap-prefix is never
used.) Its value may be a string or an image (see Section 39.16.4 [Other Display
Specs], page 1031), or a stretch of whitespace such as specified by the :width or
:align-to display properties (see Section 39.16.2 [Specified Space], page 1029). The
value is interpreted in the same way as a display text property. See Section 39.16
[Display Property], page 1028.
A wrap prefix may also be specified for regions of text, using the wrap-prefix text
or overlay property. This takes precedence over the wrap-prefix variable. See
Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808.

line-prefix [Variable]
If this buffer-local variable is non-nil, it defines a line prefix which Emacs displays
at the start of every non-continuation line. Its value may be a string or an image
(see Section 39.16.4 [Other Display Specs], page 1031), or a stretch of whitespace
such as specified by the :width or :align-to display properties (see Section 39.16.2
[Specified Space], page 1029). The value is interpreted in the same way as a display
text property. See Section 39.16 [Display Property], page 1028.
A line prefix may also be specified for regions of text using the line-prefix text
or overlay property. This takes precedence over the line-prefix variable. See
Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808.

39.4 The Echo Area

The echo area is used for displaying error messages (see Section 11.7.3 [Errors], page 160),
for messages made with the message primitive, and for echoing keystrokes. It is not the
same as the minibuffer, despite the fact that the minibuffer appears (when active) in the
same place on the screen as the echo area. See Section “The Minibuffer” in The GNU
Emacs Manual.
Apart from the functions documented in this section, you can print Lisp objects to the
echo area by specifying t as the output stream. See Section 19.4 [Output Streams], page 327.

39.4.1 Displaying Messages in the Echo Area

This section describes the standard functions for displaying messages in the echo area.

message format-string &rest arguments [Function]

This function displays a message in the echo area. format-string is a format string, and
arguments are the objects for its format specifications, like in the format-message
function (see Section 4.7 [Formatting Strings], page 60). The resulting formatted
string is displayed in the echo area; if it contains face text properties, it is displayed
with the specified faces (see Section 39.12 [Faces], page 997). The string is also added
to the *Messages* buffer, but without text properties (see Section 39.4.3 [Logging
Messages], page 973).
Typically grave accent and apostrophe in the format translate to matching curved
quotes, e.g., "Missing ‘%s’" might result in "Missing ‘foo’". See Section 24.4
[Text Quoting Style], page 515, for how to influence or inhibit this translation.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 970

In batch mode, the message is printed to the standard error stream, followed by a
newline.
When inhibit-message is non-nil, no message will be displayed in the echo area, it
will only be logged to ‘*Messages*’.
If format-string is nil or the empty string, message clears the echo area; if the
echo area has been expanded automatically, this brings it back to its normal size.
If the minibuffer is active, this brings the minibuffer contents back onto the screen
immediately.
(message "Reverting `%s'..." (buffer-name))
a Reverting ‘subr.el’...
⇒ "Reverting ‘subr.el’..."

---------- Echo Area ----------

Reverting ‘subr.el’...
---------- Echo Area ----------
To automatically display a message in the echo area or in a pop-buffer, depending on
its size, use display-message-or-buffer (see below).
Warning: If you want to use your own string as a message verbatim, don’t just write
(message string). If string contains ‘%’, ‘`’, or ‘'’ it may be reformatted, with
undesirable results. Instead, use (message "%s" string).

inhibit-message [Variable]
When this variable is non-nil, message and related functions will not use the Echo
Area to display messages.

with-temp-message message &rest body [Macro]

This construct displays a message in the echo area temporarily, during the execution
of body. It displays message, executes body, then returns the value of the last body
form while restoring the previous echo area contents.

message-or-box format-string &rest arguments [Function]

This function displays a message like message, but may display it in a dialog box
instead of the echo area. If this function is called in a command that was invoked using
the mouse—more precisely, if last-nonmenu-event (see Section 21.5 [Command Loop
Info], page 378) is either nil or a list—then it uses a dialog box or pop-up menu to
display the message. Otherwise, it uses the echo area. (This is the same criterion
that y-or-n-p uses to make a similar decision; see Section 20.7 [Yes-or-No Queries],
page 359.)
You can force use of the mouse or of the echo area by binding last-nonmenu-event
to a suitable value around the call.

message-box format-string &rest arguments [Function]

This function displays a message like message, but uses a dialog box (or a pop-up
menu) whenever that is possible. If it is impossible to use a dialog box or pop-up
menu, because the terminal does not support them, then message-box uses the echo
area, like message.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 971

display-message-or-buffer message &optional buffer-name action [Function]

frame
This function displays the message message, which may be either a string or a
buffer. If it is shorter than the maximum height of the echo area, as defined by
max-mini-window-height, it is displayed in the echo area, using message. Other-
wise, display-buffer is used to show it in a pop-up buffer.
Returns either the string shown in the echo area, or when a pop-up buffer is used,
the window used to display it.
If message is a string, then the optional argument buffer-name is the name of the
buffer used to display it when a pop-up buffer is used, defaulting to *Message*. In
the case where message is a string and displayed in the echo area, it is not specified
whether the contents are inserted into the buffer anyway.
The optional arguments action and frame are as for display-buffer, and only used
if a buffer is displayed.
current-message [Function]
This function returns the message currently being displayed in the echo area, or nil
if there is none.

39.4.2 Reporting Operation Progress

When an operation can take a while to finish, you should inform the user about the progress
it makes. This way the user can estimate remaining time and clearly see that Emacs is busy
working, not hung. A convenient way to do this is to use a progress reporter.
Here is a working example that does nothing useful:
(let ((progress-reporter
(make-progress-reporter "Collecting mana for Emacs..."
0 500)))
(dotimes (k 500)
(sit-for 0.01)
(progress-reporter-update progress-reporter k))
(progress-reporter-done progress-reporter))

make-progress-reporter message &optional min-value max-value [Function]

current-value min-change min-time
This function creates and returns a progress reporter object, which you will use as
an argument for the other functions listed below. The idea is to precompute as much
data as possible to make progress reporting very fast.
When this progress reporter is subsequently used, it will display message in the echo
area, followed by progress percentage. message is treated as a simple string. If you
need it to depend on a filename, for instance, use format-message before calling this
function.
The arguments min-value and max-value should be numbers standing for the starting
and final states of the operation. For instance, an operation that scans a buffer should
set these to the results of point-min and point-max correspondingly. max-value
should be greater than min-value.
Alternatively, you can set min-value and max-value to nil. In that case, the progress
reporter does not report process percentages; it instead displays a “spinner” that
rotates a notch each time you update the progress reporter.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 972

If min-value and max-value are numbers, you can give the argument current-value a
numerical value specifying the initial progress; if omitted, this defaults to min-value.
The remaining arguments control the rate of echo area updates. The progress reporter
will wait for at least min-change more percents of the operation to be completed before
printing next message; the default is one percent. min-time specifies the minimum
time in seconds to pass between successive prints; the default is 0.2 seconds. (On
some operating systems, the progress reporter may handle fractions of seconds with
varying precision).
This function calls progress-reporter-update, so the first message is printed im-
mediately.

progress-reporter-update reporter &optional value [Function]

This function does the main work of reporting progress of your operation. It displays
the message of reporter, followed by progress percentage determined by value. If per-
centage is zero, or close enough according to the min-change and min-time arguments,
then it is omitted from the output.
reporter must be the result of a call to make-progress-reporter. value specifies
the current state of your operation and must be between min-value and max-value
(inclusive) as passed to make-progress-reporter. For instance, if you scan a buffer,
then value should be the result of a call to point.
This function respects min-change and min-time as passed to make-progress-
reporter and so does not output new messages on every invocation. It is thus very
fast and normally you should not try to reduce the number of calls to it: resulting
overhead will most likely negate your effort.

progress-reporter-force-update reporter &optional value [Function]

new-message
This function is similar to progress-reporter-update except that it prints a message
in the echo area unconditionally.
The first two arguments have the same meaning as for progress-reporter-update.
Optional new-message allows you to change the message of the reporter. Since this
function always updates the echo area, such a change will be immediately presented
to the user.

progress-reporter-done reporter [Function]

This function should be called when the operation is finished. It prints the message
of reporter followed by word ‘done’ in the echo area.
You should always call this function and not hope for progress-reporter-update
to print ‘100%’. Firstly, it may never print it, there are many good reasons for this
not to happen. Secondly, ‘done’ is more explicit.

dotimes-with-progress-reporter (var count [result]) message [Macro]

body. . .
This is a convenience macro that works the same way as dotimes does, but also
reports loop progress using the functions described above. It allows you to save some
typing.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 973

You can rewrite the example in the beginning of this node using this macro this way:
(dotimes-with-progress-reporter
(k 500)
"Collecting some mana for Emacs..."
(sit-for 0.01))

39.4.3 Logging Messages in *Messages*

Almost all the messages displayed in the echo area are also recorded in the *Messages* buffer
so that the user can refer back to them. This includes all the messages that are output with
message. By default, this buffer is read-only and uses the major mode messages-buffer-
mode. Nothing prevents the user from killing the *Messages* buffer, but the next display of
a message recreates it. Any Lisp code that needs to access the *Messages* buffer directly
and wants to ensure that it exists should use the function messages-buffer.
messages-buffer [Function]
This function returns the *Messages* buffer. If it does not exist, it creates it, and
switches it to messages-buffer-mode.
message-log-max [User Option]
This variable specifies how many lines to keep in the *Messages* buffer. The value t
means there is no limit on how many lines to keep. The value nil disables message
logging entirely. Here’s how to display a message and prevent it from being logged:
(let (message-log-max)
(message ...))
To make *Messages* more convenient for the user, the logging facility combines suc-
cessive identical messages. It also combines successive related messages for the sake of two
cases: question followed by answer, and a series of progress messages.
A question followed by an answer has two messages like the ones produced by y-or-n-p:
the first is ‘question’, and the second is ‘question...answer’. The first message conveys
no additional information beyond what’s in the second, so logging the second message
discards the first from the log.
A series of progress messages has successive messages like those produced by
make-progress-reporter. They have the form ‘base...how-far’, where base is the same
each time, while how-far varies. Logging each message in the series discards the previous
one, provided they are consecutive.
The functions make-progress-reporter and y-or-n-p don’t have to do anything spe-
cial to activate the message log combination feature. It operates whenever two consecutive
messages are logged that share a common prefix ending in ‘...’.

39.4.4 Echo Area Customization

These variables control details of how the echo area works.
cursor-in-echo-area [Variable]
This variable controls where the cursor appears when a message is displayed in the
echo area. If it is non-nil, then the cursor appears at the end of the message.
Otherwise, the cursor appears at point—not in the echo area at all.
The value is normally nil; Lisp programs bind it to t for brief periods of time.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 974

echo-area-clear-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run whenever the echo area is cleared—either by (message nil)
or for any other reason.

echo-keystrokes [User Option]

This variable determines how much time should elapse before command characters
echo. Its value must be a number, and specifies the number of seconds to wait before
echoing. If the user types a prefix key (such as C-x) and then delays this many seconds
before continuing, the prefix key is echoed in the echo area. (Once echoing begins
in a key sequence, all subsequent characters in the same key sequence are echoed
immediately.)
If the value is zero, then command input is not echoed.

message-truncate-lines [Variable]
Normally, displaying a long message resizes the echo area to display the entire message.
But if the variable message-truncate-lines is non-nil, the echo area does not resize,
and the message is truncated to fit it.

The variable max-mini-window-height, which specifies the maximum height for resizing
minibuffer windows, also applies to the echo area (which is really a special use of the
minibuffer window; see Section 20.11 [Minibuffer Windows], page 364).

39.5 Reporting Warnings

Warnings are a facility for a program to inform the user of a possible problem, but continue
running.

39.5.1 Warning Basics

Every warning has a textual message, which explains the problem for the user, and a severity
level which is a symbol. Here are the possible severity levels, in order of decreasing severity,
and their meanings:
:emergency
A problem that will seriously impair Emacs operation soon if you do not attend
to it promptly.
:error A report of data or circumstances that are inherently wrong.
:warning A report of data or circumstances that are not inherently wrong, but raise
suspicion of a possible problem.
:debug A report of information that may be useful if you are debugging.
When your program encounters invalid input data, it can either signal a Lisp error by
calling error or signal or report a warning with severity :error. Signaling a Lisp error is
the easiest thing to do, but it means the program cannot continue processing. If you want
to take the trouble to implement a way to continue processing despite the bad data, then
reporting a warning of severity :error is the right way to inform the user of the problem.
For instance, the Emacs Lisp byte compiler can report an error that way and continue
compiling other functions. (If the program signals a Lisp error and then handles it with
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 975

condition-case, the user won’t see the error message; it could show the message to the
user by reporting it as a warning.)
Each warning has a warning type to classify it. The type is a list of symbols. The
first symbol should be the custom group that you use for the program’s user options.
For example, byte compiler warnings use the warning type (bytecomp). You can also
subcategorize the warnings, if you wish, by using more symbols in the list.

display-warning type message &optional level buffer-name [Function]

This function reports a warning, using message as the message and type as the warn-
ing type. level should be the severity level, with :warning being the default.
buffer-name, if non-nil, specifies the name of the buffer for logging the warning. By
default, it is *Warnings*.

lwarn type level message &rest args [Function]

This function reports a warning using the value of (format-message message
args...) as the message in the *Warnings* buffer. In other respects it is equivalent
to display-warning.

warn message &rest args [Function]

This function reports a warning using the value of (format-message message
args...) as the message, (emacs) as the type, and :warning as the severity level.
It exists for compatibility only; we recommend not using it, because you should
specify a specific warning type.

39.5.2 Warning Variables

Programs can customize how their warnings appear by binding the variables described in
this section.

warning-levels [Variable]
This list defines the meaning and severity order of the warning severity levels. Each
element defines one severity level, and they are arranged in order of decreasing severity.
Each element has the form (level string function), where level is the severity
level it defines. string specifies the textual description of this level. string should use
‘%s’ to specify where to put the warning type information, or it can omit the ‘%s’ so
as not to include that information.
The optional function, if non-nil, is a function to call with no arguments, to get the
user’s attention.
Normally you should not change the value of this variable.

warning-prefix-function [Variable]
If non-nil, the value is a function to generate prefix text for warnings. Programs can
bind the variable to a suitable function. display-warning calls this function with
the warnings buffer current, and the function can insert text in it. That text becomes
the beginning of the warning message.
The function is called with two arguments, the severity level and its entry in
warning-levels. It should return a list to use as the entry (this value need not be
an actual member of warning-levels). By constructing this value, the function can
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 976

change the severity of the warning, or specify different handling for a given severity
level.
If the variable’s value is nil then there is no function to call.

warning-series [Variable]
Programs can bind this variable to t to say that the next warning should begin a
series. When several warnings form a series, that means to leave point on the first
warning of the series, rather than keep moving it for each warning so that it appears on
the last one. The series ends when the local binding is unbound and warning-series
becomes nil again.
The value can also be a symbol with a function definition. That is equivalent to t,
except that the next warning will also call the function with no arguments with the
warnings buffer current. The function can insert text which will serve as a header for
the series of warnings.
Once a series has begun, the value is a marker which points to the buffer position in
the warnings buffer of the start of the series.
The variable’s normal value is nil, which means to handle each warning separately.

warning-fill-prefix [Variable]
When this variable is non-nil, it specifies a fill prefix to use for filling each warning’s
text.

warning-type-format [Variable]
This variable specifies the format for displaying the warning type in the warning
message. The result of formatting the type this way gets included in the message
under the control of the string in the entry in warning-levels. The default value is
" (%s)". If you bind it to "" then the warning type won’t appear at all.

39.5.3 Warning Options

These variables are used by users to control what happens when a Lisp program reports a
warning.

warning-minimum-level [User Option]

This user option specifies the minimum severity level that should be shown immedi-
ately to the user. The default is :warning, which means to immediately display all
warnings except :debug warnings.

warning-minimum-log-level [User Option]

This user option specifies the minimum severity level that should be logged in the
warnings buffer. The default is :warning, which means to log all warnings except
:debug warnings.

warning-suppress-types [User Option]

This list specifies which warning types should not be displayed immediately for the
user. Each element of the list should be a list of symbols. If its elements match the
first elements in a warning type, then that warning is not displayed immediately.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 977

warning-suppress-log-types [User Option]

This list specifies which warning types should not be logged in the warnings buffer.
Each element of the list should be a list of symbols. If it matches the first few elements
in a warning type, then that warning is not logged.

39.5.4 Delayed Warnings

Sometimes, you may wish to avoid showing a warning while a command is running, and only
show it only after the end of the command. You can use the variable delayed-warnings-
list for this.

delayed-warnings-list [Variable]
The value of this variable is a list of warnings to be displayed after the current
command has finished. Each element must be a list
(type message [level [buffer-name]])
with the same form, and the same meanings, as the argument list of
display-warning (see Section 39.5.1 [Warning Basics], page 974). Immediately after
running post-command-hook (see Section 21.1 [Command Overview], page 368), the
Emacs command loop displays all the warnings specified by this variable, then resets
it to nil.

Programs which need to further customize the delayed warnings mechanism can change
the variable delayed-warnings-hook:

delayed-warnings-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook which is run by the Emacs command loop, after post-command-
hook, in order to process and display delayed warnings.
Its default value is a list of two functions:
(collapse-delayed-warnings display-delayed-warnings)
The function collapse-delayed-warnings removes repeated entries from
delayed-warnings-list. The function display-delayed-warnings calls
display-warning on each of the entries in delayed-warnings-list, in turn, and
then sets delayed-warnings-list to nil.

39.6 Invisible Text

You can make characters invisible, so that they do not appear on the screen, with the
invisible property. This can be either a text property (see Section 32.19 [Text Properties],
page 802) or an overlay property (see Section 39.9 [Overlays], page 985). Cursor motion
also partly ignores these characters; if the command loop finds that point is inside a range
of invisible text after a command, it relocates point to the other side of the text.
In the simplest case, any non-nil invisible property makes a character invisible. This
is the default case—if you don’t alter the default value of buffer-invisibility-spec,
this is how the invisible property works. You should normally use t as the value of the
invisible property if you don’t plan to set buffer-invisibility-spec yourself.
More generally, you can use the variable buffer-invisibility-spec to control which
values of the invisible property make text invisible. This permits you to classify
the text into different subsets in advance, by giving them different invisible values,
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 978

and subsequently make various subsets visible or invisible by changing the value of
buffer-invisibility-spec.
Controlling visibility with buffer-invisibility-spec is especially useful in a program
to display the list of entries in a database. It permits the implementation of convenient
filtering commands to view just a part of the entries in the database. Setting this variable
is very fast, much faster than scanning all the text in the buffer looking for properties to
change.

buffer-invisibility-spec [Variable]
This variable specifies which kinds of invisible properties actually make a character
invisible. Setting this variable makes it buffer-local.
t A character is invisible if its invisible property is non-nil. This is the
default.
a list Each element of the list specifies a criterion for invisibility; if a charac-
ter’s invisible property fits any one of these criteria, the character is
invisible. The list can have two kinds of elements:
atom A character is invisible if its invisible property value is
atom or if it is a list with atom as a member; comparison is
done with eq.
(atom . t)
A character is invisible if its invisible property value is
atom or if it is a list with atom as a member; comparison
is done with eq. Moreover, a sequence of such characters
displays as an ellipsis.

Two functions are specifically provided for adding elements to buffer-invisibility-

spec and removing elements from it.

add-to-invisibility-spec element [Function]

This function adds the element element to buffer-invisibility-spec. If
buffer-invisibility-spec was t, it changes to a list, (t), so that text whose
invisible property is t remains invisible.

remove-from-invisibility-spec element [Function]

This removes the element element from buffer-invisibility-spec. This does noth-
ing if element is not in the list.

A convention for use of buffer-invisibility-spec is that a major mode should use

the mode’s own name as an element of buffer-invisibility-spec and as the value of the
invisible property:
;; If you want to display an ellipsis:
(add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
;; If you don’t want ellipsis:
(add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)

(overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end)

Chapter 39: Emacs Display 979

'invisible 'my-symbol)

;; When done with the invisibility:

(remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
;; Or respectively:
(remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
You can check for invisibility using the following function:
invisible-p pos-or-prop [Function]
If pos-or-prop is a marker or number, this function returns a non-nil value if the text
at that position is currently invisible.
If pos-or-prop is any other kind of Lisp object, that is taken to mean a possible value
of the invisible text or overlay property. In that case, this function returns a non-
nil value if that value would cause text to become invisible, based on the current
value of buffer-invisibility-spec.
The return value of this function is t if the text would be completely hidden on
display, or a non-nil, non-t value if the text would be replaced by an ellipsis.
Ordinarily, functions that operate on text or move point do not care whether the text
is invisible, they process invisible characters and visible characters alike. The user-level
line motion commands, such as next-line, previous-line, ignore invisible newlines if
line-move-ignore-invisible is non-nil (the default), i.e., behave like these invisible
newlines didn’t exist in the buffer, but only because they are explicitly programmed to do
so.
If a command ends with point inside or at the boundary of invisible text, the main
editing loop relocates point to one of the two ends of the invisible text. Emacs chooses
the direction of relocation so that it is the same as the overall movement direction of the
command; if in doubt, it prefers a position where an inserted char would not inherit the
invisible property. Additionally, if the text is not replaced by an ellipsis and the command
only moved within the invisible text, then point is moved one extra character so as to try
and reflect the command’s movement by a visible movement of the cursor.
Thus, if the command moved point back to an invisible range (with the usual stickiness),
Emacs moves point back to the beginning of that range. If the command moved point
forward into an invisible range, Emacs moves point forward to the first visible character
that follows the invisible text and then forward one more character.
These adjustments of point that ended up in the middle of invisible text can be disabled
by setting disable-point-adjustment to a non-nil value. See Section 21.6 [Adjusting
Point], page 380.
Incremental search can make invisible overlays visible temporarily and/or permanently
when a match includes invisible text. To enable this, the overlay should have a non-nil
isearch-open-invisible property. The property value should be a function to be called
with the overlay as an argument. This function should make the overlay visible permanently;
it is used when the match overlaps the overlay on exit from the search.
During the search, such overlays are made temporarily visible by temporarily modifying
their invisible and intangible properties. If you want this to be done differently for a certain
overlay, give it an isearch-open-invisible-temporary property which is a function. The
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 980

function is called with two arguments: the first is the overlay, and the second is nil to make
the overlay visible, or t to make it invisible again.

39.7 Selective Display

Selective display refers to a pair of related features for hiding certain lines on the screen.
The first variant, explicit selective display, was designed for use in a Lisp program: it
controls which lines are hidden by altering the text. This kind of hiding is now obsolete;
instead you can get the same effect with the invisible property (see Section 39.6 [Invisible
Text], page 977).
In the second variant, the choice of lines to hide is made automatically based on inden-
tation. This variant is designed to be a user-level feature.
The way you control explicit selective display is by replacing a newline (control-j) with
a carriage return (control-m). The text that was formerly a line following that newline is
now hidden. Strictly speaking, it is temporarily no longer a line at all, since only newlines
can separate lines; it is now part of the previous line.
Selective display does not directly affect editing commands. For example, C-f
(forward-char) moves point unhesitatingly into hidden text. However, the replacement
of newline characters with carriage return characters affects some editing commands. For
example, next-line skips hidden lines, since it searches only for newlines. Modes that
use selective display can also define commands that take account of the newlines, or that
control which parts of the text are hidden.
When you write a selectively displayed buffer into a file, all the control-m’s are output
as newlines. This means that when you next read in the file, it looks OK, with nothing
hidden. The selective display effect is seen only within Emacs.

selective-display [Variable]
This buffer-local variable enables selective display. This means that lines, or portions
of lines, may be made hidden.
• If the value of selective-display is t, then the character control-m marks the
start of hidden text; the control-m, and the rest of the line following it, are not
displayed. This is explicit selective display.
• If the value of selective-display is a positive integer, then lines that start with
more than that many columns of indentation are not displayed.

When some portion of a buffer is hidden, the vertical movement commands operate as
if that portion did not exist, allowing a single next-line command to skip any number
of hidden lines. However, character movement commands (such as forward-char) do
not skip the hidden portion, and it is possible (if tricky) to insert or delete text in a
hidden portion.
In the examples below, we show the display appearance of the buffer foo, which
changes with the value of selective-display. The contents of the buffer do not
change.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 981

(setq selective-display nil)

⇒ nil

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

1 on this column
2on this column
3n this column
3n this column
2on this column
1 on this column
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(setq selective-display 2)
⇒ 2

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

1 on this column
2on this column
2on this column
1 on this column
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

selective-display-ellipses [User Option]

If this buffer-local variable is non-nil, then Emacs displays ‘...’ at the end of a line
that is followed by hidden text. This example is a continuation of the previous one.
(setq selective-display-ellipses t)
⇒ t

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

1 on this column
2on this column ...
2on this column
1 on this column
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
You can use a display table to substitute other text for the ellipsis (‘...’). See
Section 39.22.2 [Display Tables], page 1060.

39.8 Temporary Displays

Temporary displays are used by Lisp programs to put output into a buffer and then present
it to the user for perusal rather than for editing. Many help commands use this feature.

with-output-to-temp-buffer buffer-name body. . . [Macro]

This function executes the forms in body while arranging to insert any output they
print into the buffer named buffer-name, which is first created if necessary, and put
into Help mode. (See the similar form with-temp-buffer-window below.) Finally,
the buffer is displayed in some window, but that window is not selected.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 982

If the forms in body do not change the major mode in the output buffer, so that it
is still Help mode at the end of their execution, then with-output-to-temp-buffer
makes this buffer read-only at the end, and also scans it for function and variable
names to make them into clickable cross-references. See [Tips for Documentation
Strings], page 1149, in particular the item on hyperlinks in documentation strings,
for more details.
The string buffer-name specifies the temporary buffer, which need not already exist.
The argument must be a string, not a buffer. The buffer is erased initially (with no
questions asked), and it is marked as unmodified after with-output-to-temp-buffer
exits.
with-output-to-temp-buffer binds standard-output to the temporary buffer,
then it evaluates the forms in body. Output using the Lisp output functions within
body goes by default to that buffer (but screen display and messages in the echo
area, although they are “output” in the general sense of the word, are not affected).
See Section 19.5 [Output Functions], page 329.
Several hooks are available for customizing the behavior of this construct; they are
listed below.
The value of the last form in body is returned.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This is the contents of foo.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(with-output-to-temp-buffer "foo"
(print 20)
(print standard-output))
⇒ #<buffer foo>

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

20

#<buffer foo>

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

temp-buffer-show-function [User Option]
If this variable is non-nil, with-output-to-temp-buffer calls it as a function to
do the job of displaying a help buffer. The function gets one argument, which is the
buffer it should display.
It is a good idea for this function to run temp-buffer-show-hook just as
with-output-to-temp-buffer normally would, inside of save-selected-window
and with the chosen window and buffer selected.
temp-buffer-setup-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run by with-output-to-temp-buffer before evaluating body.
When the hook runs, the temporary buffer is current. This hook is normally set up
with a function to put the buffer in Help mode.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 983

temp-buffer-show-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run by with-output-to-temp-buffer after displaying the tem-
porary buffer. When the hook runs, the temporary buffer is current, and the window
it was displayed in is selected.
with-temp-buffer-window buffer-or-name action quit-function [Macro]
body. . .
This macro is similar to with-output-to-temp-buffer. Like that construct, it ex-
ecutes body while arranging to insert any output it prints into the buffer named
buffer-or-name and displays that buffer in some window. Unlike with-output-to-
temp-buffer, however, it does not automatically switch that buffer to Help mode.
The argument buffer-or-name specifies the temporary buffer. It can be either a buffer,
which must already exist, or a string, in which case a buffer of that name is created,
if necessary. The buffer is marked as unmodified and read-only when with-temp-
buffer-window exits.
This macro does not call temp-buffer-show-function. Rather, it passes the action
argument to display-buffer (see Section 28.13.1 [Choosing Window], page 630) in
order to display the buffer.
The value of the last form in body is returned, unless the argument quit-function
is specified. In that case, it is called with two arguments: the window showing the
buffer and the result of body. The final return value is then whatever quit-function
returns.
This macro uses the normal hooks temp-buffer-window-setup-hook and
temp-buffer-window-show-hook in place of the analogous hooks run by
with-output-to-temp-buffer.
The two constructs described next are mostly identical to with-temp-buffer-window
but differ from it as specified:
with-current-buffer-window buffer-or-name action quit-function [Macro]
&rest body
This macro is like with-temp-buffer-window but unlike that makes the buffer spec-
ified by buffer-or-name current for running body.
with-displayed-buffer-window buffer-or-name action quit-function [Macro]
&rest body
This macro is like with-current-buffer-window but unlike that displays the buffer
specified by buffer-or-name before running body.
A window showing a temporary buffer can be fitted to the size of that buffer using the
following mode:
temp-buffer-resize-mode [User Option]
When this minor mode is enabled, windows showing a temporary buffer are automat-
ically resized to fit their buffer’s contents.
A window is resized if and only if it has been specially created for the buffer. In
particular, windows that have shown another buffer before are not resized. By de-
fault, this mode uses fit-window-to-buffer (see Section 28.4 [Resizing Windows],
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 984

page 608) for resizing. You can specify a different function by customizing the options
temp-buffer-max-height and temp-buffer-max-width below.

temp-buffer-max-height [User Option]

This option specifies the maximum height (in lines) of a window displaying a tempo-
rary buffer when temp-buffer-resize-mode is enabled. It can also be a function to
be called to choose the height for such a buffer. It gets one argument, the buffer, and
should return a positive integer. At the time the function is called, the window to be
resized is selected.

temp-buffer-max-width [User Option]

This option specifies the maximum width of a window (in columns) displaying a tem-
porary buffer when temp-buffer-resize-mode is enabled. It can also be a function
to be called to choose the width for such a buffer. It gets one argument, the buffer,
and should return a positive integer. At the time the function is called, the window
to be resized is selected.

The following function uses the current buffer for temporary display:

momentary-string-display string position &optional char message [Function]

This function momentarily displays string in the current buffer at position. It has no
effect on the undo list or on the buffer’s modification status.
The momentary display remains until the next input event. If the next input event
is char, momentary-string-display ignores it and returns. Otherwise, that event
remains buffered for subsequent use as input. Thus, typing char will simply remove
the string from the display, while typing (say) C-f will remove the string from the
display and later (presumably) move point forward. The argument char is a space by
default.
The return value of momentary-string-display is not meaningful.
If the string string does not contain control characters, you can do the same job in
a more general way by creating (and then subsequently deleting) an overlay with a
before-string property. See Section 39.9.2 [Overlay Properties], page 988.
If message is non-nil, it is displayed in the echo area while string is displayed in the
buffer. If it is nil, a default message says to type char to continue.
In this example, point is initially located at the beginning of the second line:
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
This is the contents of foo.
?Second line.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

(momentary-string-display
"**** Important Message! ****"
(point) ?\r
"Type RET when done reading")
⇒ t
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 985

---------- Buffer: foo ----------

This is the contents of foo.
**** Important Message! ****Second line.
---------- Buffer: foo ----------

---------- Echo Area ----------

Type RET when done reading
---------- Echo Area ----------

39.9 Overlays
You can use overlays to alter the appearance of a buffer’s text on the screen, for the sake of
presentation features. An overlay is an object that belongs to a particular buffer, and has
a specified beginning and end. It also has properties that you can examine and set; these
affect the display of the text within the overlay.
The visual effect of an overlay is the same as of the corresponding text property (see
Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802). However, due to a different implementation,
overlays generally don’t scale well (many operations take a time that is proportional to
the number of overlays in the buffer). If you need to affect the visual appearance of many
portions in the buffer, we recommend using text properties.
An overlay uses markers to record its beginning and end; thus, editing the text of the
buffer adjusts the beginning and end of each overlay so that it stays with the text. When
you create the overlay, you can specify whether text inserted at the beginning should be
inside the overlay or outside, and likewise for the end of the overlay.

39.9.1 Managing Overlays

This section describes the functions to create, delete and move overlays, and to examine
their contents. Overlay changes are not recorded in the buffer’s undo list, since the overlays
are not part of the buffer’s contents.

overlayp object [Function]

This function returns t if object is an overlay.

make-overlay start end &optional buffer front-advance rear-advance [Function]

This function creates and returns an overlay that belongs to buffer and ranges from
start to end. Both start and end must specify buffer positions; they may be integers
or markers. If buffer is omitted, the overlay is created in the current buffer.
An overlay whose start and end specify the same buffer position is known as empty. A
non-empty overlay can become empty if the text between its start and end is deleted.
When that happens, the overlay is by default not deleted, but you can cause it to be
deleted by giving it the ‘evaporate’ property (see Section 39.9.2 [Overlay Properties],
page 988).
The arguments front-advance and rear-advance specify the marker insertion type for
the start of the overlay and for the end of the overlay, respectively. See Section 31.5
[Marker Insertion Types], page 759. If they are both nil, the default, then the overlay
extends to include any text inserted at the beginning, but not text inserted at the end.
If front-advance is non-nil, text inserted at the beginning of the overlay is excluded
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 986

from the overlay. If rear-advance is non-nil, text inserted at the end of the overlay
is included in the overlay.

overlay-start overlay [Function]

This function returns the position at which overlay starts, as an integer.

overlay-end overlay [Function]

This function returns the position at which overlay ends, as an integer.

overlay-buffer overlay [Function]

This function returns the buffer that overlay belongs to. It returns nil if overlay has
been deleted.

delete-overlay overlay [Function]

This function deletes overlay. The overlay continues to exist as a Lisp object, and its
property list is unchanged, but it ceases to be attached to the buffer it belonged to,
and ceases to have any effect on display.
A deleted overlay is not permanently disconnected. You can give it a position in a
buffer again by calling move-overlay.

move-overlay overlay start end &optional buffer [Function]

This function moves overlay to buffer, and places its bounds at start and end. Both
arguments start and end must specify buffer positions; they may be integers or mark-
ers.
If buffer is omitted, overlay stays in the same buffer it was already associated with;
if overlay was deleted, it goes into the current buffer.
The return value is overlay.
This is the only valid way to change the endpoints of an overlay. Do not try modifying
the markers in the overlay by hand, as that fails to update other vital data structures
and can cause some overlays to be lost.

remove-overlays &optional start end name value [Function]

This function removes all the overlays between start and end whose property name
has the value value. It can move the endpoints of the overlays in the region, or split
them.
If name is omitted or nil, it means to delete all overlays in the specified region. If
start and/or end are omitted or nil, that means the beginning and end of the buffer
respectively. Therefore, (remove-overlays) removes all the overlays in the current
buffer.

copy-overlay overlay [Function]

This function returns a copy of overlay. The copy has the same endpoints and prop-
erties as overlay. However, the marker insertion type for the start of the overlay and
for the end of the overlay are set to their default values (see Section 31.5 [Marker
Insertion Types], page 759).

Here are some examples:

;; Create an overlay.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 987

(setq foo (make-overlay 1 10))

⇒ #<overlay from 1 to 10 in display.texi>
(overlay-start foo)
⇒ 1
(overlay-end foo)
⇒ 10
(overlay-buffer foo)
⇒ #<buffer display.texi>
;; Give it a property we can check later.
(overlay-put foo 'happy t)
⇒ t
;; Verify the property is present.
(overlay-get foo 'happy)
⇒ t
;; Move the overlay.
(move-overlay foo 5 20)
⇒ #<overlay from 5 to 20 in display.texi>
(overlay-start foo)
⇒ 5
(overlay-end foo)
⇒ 20
;; Delete the overlay.
(delete-overlay foo)
⇒ nil
;; Verify it is deleted.
foo
⇒ #<overlay in no buffer>
;; A deleted overlay has no position.
(overlay-start foo)
⇒ nil
(overlay-end foo)
⇒ nil
(overlay-buffer foo)
⇒ nil
;; Undelete the overlay.
(move-overlay foo 1 20)
⇒ #<overlay from 1 to 20 in display.texi>
;; Verify the results.
(overlay-start foo)
⇒ 1
(overlay-end foo)
⇒ 20
(overlay-buffer foo)
⇒ #<buffer display.texi>
;; Moving and deleting the overlay does not change its properties.
(overlay-get foo 'happy)
⇒ t
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 988

Emacs stores the overlays of each buffer in two lists, divided around an arbitrary center
position. One list extends backwards through the buffer from that center position, and the
other extends forwards from that center position. The center position can be anywhere in
the buffer.
overlay-recenter pos [Function]
This function recenters the overlays of the current buffer around position pos. That
makes overlay lookup faster for positions near pos, but slower for positions far away
from pos.
A loop that scans the buffer forwards, creating overlays, can run faster if you do
(overlay-recenter (point-max)) first.

39.9.2 Overlay Properties

Overlay properties are like text properties in that the properties that alter how a character
is displayed can come from either source. But in most respects they are different. See
Section 32.19 [Text Properties], page 802, for comparison.
Text properties are considered a part of the text; overlays and their properties are
specifically considered not to be part of the text. Thus, copying text between various buffers
and strings preserves text properties, but does not try to preserve overlays. Changing a
buffer’s text properties marks the buffer as modified, while moving an overlay or changing
its properties does not. Unlike text property changes, overlay property changes are not
recorded in the buffer’s undo list.
Since more than one overlay can specify a property value for the same character, Emacs
lets you specify a priority value of each overlay. The priority value is used to decide which
of the overlapping overlays will “win”.
These functions read and set the properties of an overlay:
overlay-get overlay prop [Function]
This function returns the value of property prop recorded in overlay, if any. If overlay
does not record any value for that property, but it does have a category property
which is a symbol, that symbol’s prop property is used. Otherwise, the value is nil.
overlay-put overlay prop value [Function]
This function sets the value of property prop recorded in overlay to value. It returns
value.
overlay-properties overlay [Function]
This returns a copy of the property list of overlay.
See also the function get-char-property which checks both overlay properties and text
properties for a given character. See Section 32.19.1 [Examining Properties], page 802.
Many overlay properties have special meanings; here is a table of them:
priority This property’s value determines the priority of the overlay. If you want to
specify a priority value, use either nil (or zero), or a positive integer. Any
other value has undefined behavior.
The priority matters when two or more overlays cover the same character and
both specify the same property; the one whose priority value is larger overrides
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 989

the other. (For the face property, the higher priority overlay’s value does not
completely override the other value; instead, its face attributes override the face
attributes of the lower priority face property.) If two overlays have the same
priority value, and one is nested in the other, then the inner one will prevail
over the outer one. If neither is nested in the other then you should not make
assumptions about which overlay will prevail.
Currently, all overlays take priority over text properties.
Note that Emacs sometimes uses non-numeric priority values for some of its
internal overlays, so do not try to do arithmetic on the priority of an overlay
(unless it is one that you created). In particular, the overlay used for showing
the region uses a priority value of the form (primary . secondary), where the
primary value is used as described above, and secondary is the fallback value
used when primary and the nesting considerations fail to resolve the precedence
between overlays. However, you are advised not to design Lisp programs based
on this implementation detail; if you need to put overlays in priority order, use
the sorted argument of overlays-at. See Section 39.9.3 [Finding Overlays],
page 992.
window If the window property is non-nil, then the overlay applies only on that window.
category If an overlay has a category property, we call it the category of the overlay.
It should be a symbol. The properties of the symbol serve as defaults for the
properties of the overlay.
face This property controls the appearance of the text (see Section 39.12 [Faces],
page 997). The value of the property can be the following:
• A face name (a symbol or string).
• An anonymous face: a property list of the form (keyword value ...),
where each keyword is a face attribute name and value is a value for that
attribute.
• A list of faces. Each list element should be either a face name or an
anonymous face. This specifies a face which is an aggregate of the attributes
of each of the listed faces. Faces occurring earlier in the list have higher
priority.
• A cons cell of the form (foreground-color . color-name) or
(background-color . color-name). This specifies the foreground
or background color, similar to (:foreground color-name) or
(:background color-name). This form is supported for backward
compatibility only, and should be avoided.
mouse-face
This property is used instead of face when the mouse is within the range of
the overlay. However, Emacs ignores all face attributes from this property that
alter the text size (e.g., :height, :weight, and :slant). Those attributes are
always the same as in the unhighlighted text.
display This property activates various features that change the way text is displayed.
For example, it can make text appear taller or shorter, higher or lower, wider
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 990

or narrower, or replaced with an image. See Section 39.16 [Display Property],

page 1028.
help-echo
If an overlay has a help-echo property, then when you move the mouse onto
the text in the overlay, Emacs displays a help string in the echo area, or in the
tooltip window. For details see [Text help-echo], page 809.
field Consecutive characters with the same field property constitute a field. Some
motion functions including forward-word and beginning-of-line stop mov-
ing at a field boundary. See Section 32.19.9 [Fields], page 819.
modification-hooks
This property’s value is a list of functions to be called if any character within
the overlay is changed or if text is inserted strictly within the overlay.
The hook functions are called both before and after each change. If the functions
save the information they receive, and compare notes between calls, they can
determine exactly what change has been made in the buffer text.
When called before a change, each function receives four arguments: the overlay,
nil, and the beginning and end of the text range to be modified.
When called after a change, each function receives five arguments: the overlay,
t, the beginning and end of the text range just modified, and the length of
the pre-change text replaced by that range. (For an insertion, the pre-change
length is zero; for a deletion, that length is the number of characters deleted,
and the post-change beginning and end are equal.)
If these functions modify the buffer, they should bind inhibit-modification-
hooks to t around doing so, to avoid confusing the internal mechanism that
calls these hooks.
Text properties also support the modification-hooks property, but the details
are somewhat different (see Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808).
insert-in-front-hooks
This property’s value is a list of functions to be called before and after inserting
text right at the beginning of the overlay. The calling conventions are the same
as for the modification-hooks functions.
insert-behind-hooks
This property’s value is a list of functions to be called before and after inserting
text right at the end of the overlay. The calling conventions are the same as for
the modification-hooks functions.
invisible
The invisible property can make the text in the overlay invisible, which
means that it does not appear on the screen. See Section 39.6 [Invisible Text],
page 977, for details.
intangible
The intangible property on an overlay works just like the intangible text
property. It is obsolete. See Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808, for
details.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 991

isearch-open-invisible
This property tells incremental search how to make an invisible overlay visible,
permanently, if the final match overlaps it. See Section 39.6 [Invisible Text],
page 977.

isearch-open-invisible-temporary
This property tells incremental search how to make an invisible overlay visible,
temporarily, during the search. See Section 39.6 [Invisible Text], page 977.

before-string
This property’s value is a string to add to the display at the beginning of the
overlay. The string does not appear in the buffer in any sense—only on the
screen.

after-string
This property’s value is a string to add to the display at the end of the overlay.
The string does not appear in the buffer in any sense—only on the screen.

line-prefix
This property specifies a display spec to prepend to each non-continuation line
at display-time. See Section 39.3 [Truncation], page 968.

wrap-prefix
This property specifies a display spec to prepend to each continuation line at
display-time. See Section 39.3 [Truncation], page 968.

evaporate
If this property is non-nil, the overlay is deleted automatically if it becomes
empty (i.e., if its length becomes zero). If you give an empty overlay (see
Section 39.9.1 [Managing Overlays], page 985) a non-nil evaporate property,
that deletes it immediately. Note that, unless an overlay has this property, it
will not be deleted when the text between its starting and ending positions is
deleted from the buffer.

keymap If this property is non-nil, it specifies a keymap for a portion of the text.
This keymap is used when the character after point is within the overlay, and
takes precedence over most other keymaps. See Section 22.7 [Active Keymaps],
page 422.

local-map
The local-map property is similar to keymap but replaces the buffer’s local
map rather than augmenting existing keymaps. This also means it has lower
precedence than minor mode keymaps.

The keymap and local-map properties do not affect a string displayed by the
before-string, after-string, or display properties. This is only relevant for mouse
clicks and other mouse events that fall on the string, since point is never on the string. To
bind special mouse events for the string, assign it a keymap or local-map text property.
See Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 992

39.9.3 Searching for Overlays

overlays-at pos &optional sorted [Function]
This function returns a list of all the overlays that cover the character at position pos
in the current buffer. If sorted is non-nil, the list is in decreasing order of priority,
otherwise it is in no particular order. An overlay contains position pos if it begins at
or before pos, and ends after pos.
To illustrate usage, here is a Lisp function that returns a list of the overlays that
specify property prop for the character at point:
(defun find-overlays-specifying (prop)
(let ((overlays (overlays-at (point)))
found)
(while overlays
(let ((overlay (car overlays)))
(if (overlay-get overlay prop)
(setq found (cons overlay found))))
(setq overlays (cdr overlays)))
found))

overlays-in beg end [Function]

This function returns a list of the overlays that overlap the region beg through end.
An overlay overlaps with a region if it contains one or more characters in the region;
empty overlays (see Section 39.9.1 [Managing Overlays], page 985) overlap if they are
at beg, strictly between beg and end, or at end when end denotes the position at the
end of the buffer.
next-overlay-change pos [Function]
This function returns the buffer position of the next beginning or end of an overlay,
after pos. If there is none, it returns (point-max).
previous-overlay-change pos [Function]
This function returns the buffer position of the previous beginning or end of an overlay,
before pos. If there is none, it returns (point-min).
As an example, here’s a simplified (and inefficient) version of the primitive function
next-single-char-property-change (see Section 32.19.3 [Property Search], page 806). It
searches forward from position pos for the next position where the value of a given property
prop, as obtained from either overlays or text properties, changes.
(defun next-single-char-property-change (position prop)
(save-excursion
(goto-char position)
(let ((propval (get-char-property (point) prop)))
(while (and (not (eobp))
(eq (get-char-property (point) prop) propval))
(goto-char (min (next-overlay-change (point))
(next-single-property-change (point) prop)))))
(point)))

39.10 Size of Displayed Text

Since not all characters have the same width, these functions let you check the width of
a character. See Section 32.17.1 [Primitive Indent], page 796, and Section 30.2.5 [Screen
Lines], page 747, for related functions.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 993

char-width char [Function]

This function returns the width in columns of the character char, if it were displayed
in the current buffer (i.e., taking into account the buffer’s display table, if any; see
Section 39.22.2 [Display Tables], page 1060). The width of a tab character is usually
tab-width (see Section 39.22.1 [Usual Display], page 1059).

string-width string [Function]

This function returns the width in columns of the string string, if it were displayed
in the current buffer and the selected window.

truncate-string-to-width string width &optional start-column [Function]

padding ellipsis
This function returns the part of string that fits within width columns, as a new
string.
If string does not reach width, then the result ends where string ends. If one multi-
column character in string extends across the column width, that character is not
included in the result. Thus, the result can fall short of width but cannot go beyond
it.
The optional argument start-column specifies the starting column. If this is non-
nil, then the first start-column columns of the string are omitted from the value. If
one multi-column character in string extends across the column start-column, that
character is not included.
The optional argument padding, if non-nil, is a padding character added at the
beginning and end of the result string, to extend it to exactly width columns. The
padding character is used at the end of the result if it falls short of width. It is also
used at the beginning of the result if one multi-column character in string extends
across the column start-column.
If ellipsis is non-nil, it should be a string which will replace the end of string (in-
cluding any padding) if it extends beyond width, unless the display width of string
is equal to or less than the display width of ellipsis. If ellipsis is non-nil and not a
string, it stands for the value of the variable truncate-string-ellipsis.
(truncate-string-to-width "\tab\t" 12 4)
⇒ "ab"
(truncate-string-to-width "\tab\t" 12 4 ?\s)
⇒ " ab "

The following function returns the size in pixels of text as if it were displayed in a given
window. This function is used by fit-window-to-buffer and fit-frame-to-buffer (see
Section 28.4 [Resizing Windows], page 608) to make a window exactly as large as the text
it contains.

window-text-pixel-size &optional window from to x-limit y-limit [Function]

mode-and-header-line
This function returns the size of the text of window’s buffer in pixels. window must
be a live window and defaults to the selected one. The return value is a cons of the
maximum pixel-width of any text line and the maximum pixel-height of all text lines.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 994

The optional argument from, if non-nil, specifies the first text position to consider
and defaults to the minimum accessible position of the buffer. If from is t, it uses the
minimum accessible position that is not a newline character. The optional argument
to, if non-nil, specifies the last text position to consider and defaults to the maximum
accessible position of the buffer. If to is t, it uses the maximum accessible position
that is not a newline character.
The optional argument x-limit, if non-nil, specifies the maximum pixel-width that
can be returned. x-limit nil or omitted, means to use the pixel-width of window’s
body (see Section 28.3 [Window Sizes], page 603); this is useful when the caller does
not intend to change the width of window. Otherwise, the caller should specify here
the maximum width window’s body may assume. Text whose x-coordinate is beyond
x-limit is ignored. Since calculating the width of long lines can take some time, it’s
always a good idea to make this argument as small as needed; in particular, if the
buffer might contain long lines that will be truncated anyway.
The optional argument y-limit, if non-nil, specifies the maximum pixel-height that
can be returned. Text lines whose y-coordinate is beyond y-limit are ignored. Since
calculating the pixel-height of a large buffer can take some time, it makes sense to
specify this argument; in particular, if the caller does not know the size of the buffer.
The optional argument mode-and-header-line nil or omitted means to not include
the height of the mode- or header-line of window in the return value. If it is either the
symbol mode-line or header-line, include only the height of that line, if present, in
the return value. If it is t, include the height of both, if present, in the return value.
window-text-pixel-size treats the text displayed in a window as a whole and does
not care about the size of individual lines. The following function does.
window-lines-pixel-dimensions &optional window first last body [Function]
inverse left
This function calculates the pixel dimensions of each line displayed in the specified
window. It does so by walking window’s current glyph matrix—a matrix storing
the glyph (see Section 39.22.4 [Glyphs], page 1062) of each buffer character currently
displayed in window. If successful, it returns a list of cons pairs representing the x- and
y-coordinates of the lower right corner of the last character of each line. Coordinates
are measured in pixels from an origin (0, 0) at the top-left corner of window. window
must be a live window and defaults to the selected one.
If the optional argument first is an integer, it denotes the index (starting with 0) of
the first line of window’s glyph matrix to be returned. Note that if window has a
header line, the line with index 0 is that header line. If first is nil, the first line to
be considered is determined by the value of the optional argument body: If body is
non-nil, this means to start with the first line of window’s body, skipping any header
line, if present. Otherwise, this function will start with the first line of window’s glyph
matrix, possibly the header line.
If the optional argument last is an integer, it denotes the index of the last line of
window’s glyph matrix that shall be returned. If last is nil, the last line to be
considered is determined by the value of body: If body is non-nil, this means to use
the last line of window’s body, omitting window’s mode line, if present. Otherwise,
this means to use the last line of window which may be the mode line.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 995

The optional argument inverse, if nil, means that the y-pixel value returned for any
line specifies the distance in pixels from the left edge (body edge if body is non-nil)
of window to the right edge of the last glyph of that line. inverse non-nil means that
the y-pixel value returned for any line specifies the distance in pixels from the right
edge of the last glyph of that line to the right edge (body edge if body is non-nil) of
window. This is useful for determining the amount of slack space at the end of each
line.
The optional argument left, if non-nil means to return the x- and y-coordinates of
the lower left corner of the leftmost character on each line. This is the value that
should be used for windows that mostly display text from right to left.
If left is non-nil and inverse is nil, this means that the y-pixel value returned for
any line specifies the distance in pixels from the left edge of the last (leftmost) glyph
of that line to the right edge (body edge if body is non-nil) of window. If left and
inverse are both non-nil, the y-pixel value returned for any line specifies the distance
in pixels from the left edge (body edge if body is non-nil) of window to the left edge
of the last (leftmost) glyph of that line.
This function returns nil if the current glyph matrix of window is not up-to-date
which usually happens when Emacs is busy, for example, when processing a command.
The value should be retrievable though when this function is run from an idle timer
with a delay of zero seconds.
line-pixel-height [Function]
This function returns the height in pixels of the line at point in the selected win-
dow. The value includes the line spacing of the line (see Section 39.11 [Line Height],
page 995).
When a buffer is displayed with line numbers (see Section “Display Custom” in The
GNU Emacs Manual), it is sometimes useful to know the width taken for displaying the
line numbers. The following function is for Lisp programs which need this information for
layout calculations.
line-number-display-width &optional pixelwise [Function]
This function returns the width used for displaying the line numbers in the selected
window. If the optional argument pixelwise is the symbol columns, the return value
is a float number of the frame’s canonical columns; if pixelwise is t or any other
non-nil value, the value is an integer and is measured in pixels. If pixelwise is
omitted or nil, the value is the integer number of columns of the font defined for the
line-number face, and doesn’t include the 2 columns used to pad the numbers on
display. If line numbers are not displayed in the selected window, the value is zero
regardless of the value of pixelwise. Use with-selected-window (see Section 28.9
[Selecting Windows], page 622) if you need this information about another window.

39.11 Line Height

The total height of each display line consists of the height of the contents of the line, plus
optional additional vertical line spacing above or below the display line.
The height of the line contents is the maximum height of any character or image on that
display line, including the final newline if there is one. (A display line that is continued
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 996

doesn’t include a final newline.) That is the default line height, if you do nothing to specify
a greater height. (In the most common case, this equals the height of the corresponding
frame’s default font, see Section 29.3.2 [Frame Font], page 694.)
There are several ways to explicitly specify a larger line height, either by specifying an
absolute height for the display line, or by specifying vertical space. However, no matter
what you specify, the actual line height can never be less than the default.
A newline can have a line-height text or overlay property that controls the total height
of the display line ending in that newline.
If the property value is t, the newline character has no effect on the displayed height
of the line—the visible contents alone determine the height. The line-spacing property,
described below, is also ignored in this case. This is useful for tiling small images (or image
slices) without adding blank areas between the images.
If the property value is a list of the form (height total), that adds extra space below
the display line. First Emacs uses height as a height spec to control extra space above the
line; then it adds enough space below the line to bring the total line height up to total. In
this case, any value of line-spacing property for the newline is ignored.
Any other kind of property value is a height spec, which translates into a number—the
specified line height. There are several ways to write a height spec; here’s how each of them
translates into a number:
integer If the height spec is a positive integer, the height value is that integer.
float If the height spec is a float, float, the numeric height value is float times the
frame’s default line height.
(face . ratio)
If the height spec is a cons of the format shown, the numeric height is ratio
times the height of face face. ratio can be any type of number, or nil which
means a ratio of 1. If face is t, it refers to the current face.
(nil . ratio)
If the height spec is a cons of the format shown, the numeric height is ratio
times the height of the contents of the line.
Thus, any valid height spec determines the height in pixels, one way or another. If the
line contents’ height is less than that, Emacs adds extra vertical space above the line to
achieve the specified total height.
If you don’t specify the line-height property, the line’s height consists of the contents’
height plus the line spacing. There are several ways to specify the line spacing for different
parts of Emacs text.
On graphical terminals, you can specify the line spacing for all lines in a frame, using the
line-spacing frame parameter (see Section 29.4.3.4 [Layout Parameters], page 707). How-
ever, if the default value of line-spacing is non-nil, it overrides the frame’s line-spacing
parameter. An integer specifies the number of pixels put below lines. A floating-point num-
ber specifies the spacing relative to the frame’s default line height.
You can specify the line spacing for all lines in a buffer via the buffer-local line-spacing
variable. An integer specifies the number of pixels put below lines. A floating-point number
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 997

specifies the spacing relative to the default frame line height. This overrides line spacings
specified for the frame.
Finally, a newline can have a line-spacing text or overlay property that can enlarge
the default frame line spacing and the buffer local line-spacing variable: if its value is
larger than the buffer or frame defaults, that larger value is used instead, for the display
line ending in that newline.
One way or another, these mechanisms specify a Lisp value for the spacing of each line.
The value is a height spec, and it translates into a Lisp value as described above. However,
in this case the numeric height value specifies the line spacing, rather than the line height.
On text terminals, the line spacing cannot be altered.

39.12 Faces
A face is a collection of graphical attributes for displaying text: font, foreground color,
background color, optional underlining, etc. Faces control how Emacs displays text in
buffers, as well as other parts of the frame such as the mode line.
One way to represent a face is as a property list of attributes, like (:foreground "red"
:weight bold). Such a list is called an anonymous face. For example, you can assign an
anonymous face as the value of the face text property, and Emacs will display the underlying
text with the specified attributes. See Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808.
More commonly, a face is referred to via a face name: a Lisp symbol associated
with a set of face attributes1 . Named faces are defined using the defface macro (see
Section 39.12.2 [Defining Faces], page 1001). Emacs comes with several standard named
faces (see Section 39.12.8 [Basic Faces], page 1010).
Many parts of Emacs require named faces, and do not accept anonymous faces. These in-
clude the functions documented in Section 39.12.3 [Attribute Functions], page 1003, and the
variable font-lock-keywords (see Section 23.6.2 [Search-based Fontification], page 489).
Unless otherwise stated, we will use the term face to refer only to named faces.

facep object [Function]

This function returns a non-nil value if object is a named face: a Lisp symbol or
string which serves as a face name. Otherwise, it returns nil.

39.12.1 Face Attributes

Face attributes determine the visual appearance of a face. The following table lists all the
face attributes, their possible values, and their effects.
Apart from the values given below, each face attribute can have the value unspecified.
This special value means that the face doesn’t specify that attribute directly. An
unspecified attribute tells Emacs to refer instead to a parent face (see the description
:inherit attribute below); or, failing that, to an underlying face (see Section 39.12.4
[Displaying Faces], page 1006). The default face must specify all attributes.
Some of these attributes are meaningful only on certain kinds of displays. If your display
cannot handle a certain attribute, the attribute is ignored.
1
For backward compatibility, you can also use a string to specify a face name; that is equivalent to a Lisp
symbol with the same name.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 998

:family Font family name (a string). See Section “Fonts” in The GNU Emacs Manual,
for more information about font families. The function font-family-list (see
below) returns a list of available family names.

:foundry The name of the font foundry for the font family specified by the :family
attribute (a string). See Section “Fonts” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

:width Relative character width. This should be one of the symbols ultra-condensed,
extra-condensed, condensed, semi-condensed, normal, semi-expanded,
expanded, extra-expanded, or ultra-expanded.

:height The height of the font. In the simplest case, this is an integer in units of 1/10
point.
The value can also be floating point or a function, which specifies the height rel-
ative to an underlying face (see Section 39.12.4 [Displaying Faces], page 1006).
A floating-point value specifies the amount by which to scale the height of the
underlying face. A function value is called with one argument, the height of
the underlying face, and returns the height of the new face. If the function is
passed an integer argument, it must return an integer.
The height of the default face must be specified using an integer; floating point
and function values are not allowed.

:weight Font weight—one of the symbols (from densest to faintest) ultra-bold,

extra-bold, bold, semi-bold, normal, semi-light, light, extra-light, or
ultra-light. On text terminals which support variable-brightness text, any
weight greater than normal is displayed as extra bright, and any weight less
than normal is displayed as half-bright.

:slant Font slant—one of the symbols italic, oblique, normal, reverse-italic,

or reverse-oblique. On text terminals that support variable-brightness text,
slanted text is displayed as half-bright.

:foreground
Foreground color, a string. The value can be a system-defined color name, or
a hexadecimal color specification. See Section 29.22 [Color Names], page 735.
On black-and-white displays, certain shades of gray are implemented by stipple
patterns.

:distant-foreground
Alternative foreground color, a string. This is like :foreground but the color is
only used as a foreground when the background color is near to the foreground
that would have been used. This is useful for example when marking text (i.e.,
the region face). If the text has a foreground that is visible with the region face,
that foreground is used. If the foreground is near the region face background,
:distant-foreground is used instead so the text is readable.

:background
Background color, a string. The value can be a system-defined color name, or
a hexadecimal color specification. See Section 29.22 [Color Names], page 735.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 999

:underline
Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what way. The possible
values of the :underline attribute are:
nil Don’t underline.
t Underline with the foreground color of the face.
color Underline in color color, a string specifying a color.
(:color color :style style)
color is either a string, or the symbol foreground-color, meaning
the foreground color of the face. Omitting the attribute :color
means to use the foreground color of the face. style should be
a symbol line or wave, meaning to use a straight or wavy line.
Omitting the attribute :style means to use a straight line.
:overline
Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color. If the value
is t, overlining uses the foreground color of the face. If the value is a string,
overlining uses that color. The value nil means do not overline.
:strike-through
Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what color. The
value is used like that of :overline.
:box Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its color, the width
of the box lines, and 3D appearance. Here are the possible values of the :box
attribute, and what they mean:
nil Don’t draw a box.
t Draw a box with lines of width 1, in the foreground color.
color Draw a box with lines of width 1, in color color.
(:line-width width :color color :style style)
This way you can explicitly specify all aspects of the box. The
value width specifies the width of the lines to draw; it defaults to
1. A negative width −n means to draw a line of width n whose
top and bottom parts occupy the space of the underlying text, thus
avoiding any increase in the character height.
The value color specifies the color to draw with. The default is the
foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
color of the face for 3D boxes.
The value style specifies whether to draw a 3D box. If it is
released-button, the box looks like a 3D button that is not
being pressed. If it is pressed-button, the box looks like a 3D
button that is being pressed. If it is nil or omitted, a plain 2D
box is used.
:inverse-video
Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video. The value
should be t (yes) or nil (no).
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1000

:stipple The background stipple, a bitmap.

The value can be a string; that should be the name of a file containing external-
format X bitmap data. The file is found in the directories listed in the variable
x-bitmap-file-path.
Alternatively, the value can specify the bitmap directly, with a list of the form
(width height data). Here, width and height specify the size in pixels, and
data is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap, row by row. Each row
occupies (width+7)/8 consecutive bytes in the string (which should be a unibyte
string for best results). This means that each row always occupies at least one
whole byte.
If the value is nil, that means use no stipple pattern.
Normally you do not need to set the stipple attribute, because it is used auto-
matically to handle certain shades of gray.
:font The font used to display the face. Its value should be a font object or a fontset.
See Section 39.12.12 [Low-Level Font], page 1015, for information about font
objects, font specs, and font entities. See Section 39.12.11 [Fontsets], page 1013,
for information about fontsets.
When specifying this attribute using set-face-attribute (see Section 39.12.3
[Attribute Functions], page 1003), you may also supply a font spec, a font
entity, or a string. Emacs converts such values to an appropriate font object,
and stores that font object as the actual attribute value. If you specify a string,
the contents of the string should be a font name (see Section “Fonts” in The
GNU Emacs Manual); if the font name is an XLFD containing wildcards, Emacs
chooses the first font matching those wildcards. Specifying this attribute also
changes the values of the :family, :foundry, :width, :height, :weight, and
:slant attributes.
:inherit The name of a face from which to inherit attributes, or a list of face names.
Attributes from inherited faces are merged into the face like an underlying
face would be, with higher priority than underlying faces (see Section 39.12.4
[Displaying Faces], page 1006). If the face to inherit from is unspecified, it is
treated the same as nil, since Emacs never merges :inherit attributes. If a
list of faces is used, attributes from faces earlier in the list override those from
later faces.

font-family-list &optional frame [Function]

This function returns a list of available font family names. The optional argument
frame specifies the frame on which the text is to be displayed; if it is nil, the selected
frame is used.

underline-minimum-offset [User Option]

This variable specifies the minimum distance between the baseline and the underline,
in pixels, when displaying underlined text.

x-bitmap-file-path [User Option]

This variable specifies a list of directories for searching for bitmap files, for the
:stipple attribute.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1001

bitmap-spec-p object [Function]

This returns t if object is a valid bitmap specification, suitable for use with :stipple
(see above). It returns nil otherwise.

39.12.2 Defining Faces

The usual way to define a face is through the defface macro. This macro associates a face
name (a symbol) with a default face spec. A face spec is a construct which specifies what
attributes a face should have on any given terminal; for example, a face spec might specify
one foreground color on high-color terminals, and a different foreground color on low-color
terminals.
People are sometimes tempted to create a variable whose value is a face name. In the
vast majority of cases, this is not necessary; the usual procedure is to define a face with
defface, and then use its name directly.
Note that once you have defined a face (usually with defface), you cannot later undefine
this face safely, except by restarting Emacs.

defface face spec doc [keyword value]. . . [Macro]

This macro declares face as a named face whose default face spec is given by spec.
You should not quote the symbol face, and it should not end in ‘-face’ (that would be
redundant). The argument doc is a documentation string for the face. The additional
keyword arguments have the same meanings as in defgroup and defcustom (see
Section 15.1 [Common Keywords], page 244).
If face already has a default face spec, this macro does nothing.
The default face spec determines face’s appearance when no customizations are in
effect (see Chapter 15 [Customization], page 244). If face has already been customized
(via Custom themes or via customizations read from the init file), its appearance is
determined by the custom face spec(s), which override the default face spec spec.
However, if the customizations are subsequently removed, the appearance of face will
again be determined by its default face spec.
As an exception, if you evaluate a defface form with C-M-x in Emacs Lisp mode
(eval-defun), a special feature of eval-defun overrides any custom face specs on
the face, causing the face to reflect exactly what the defface says.
The spec argument is a face spec, which states how the face should appear on different
kinds of terminals. It should be an alist whose elements each have the form
(display . plist)
display specifies a class of terminals (see below). plist is a property list of face
attributes and their values, specifying how the face appears on such terminals. For
backward compatibility, you can also write an element as (display plist).
The display part of an element of spec determines which terminals the element
matches. If more than one element of spec matches a given terminal, the first el-
ement that matches is the one used for that terminal. There are three possibilities
for display:
default This element of spec doesn’t match any terminal; instead, it specifies
defaults that apply to all terminals. This element, if used, must be the
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1002

first element of spec. Each of the following elements can override any or
all of these defaults.
t This element of spec matches all terminals. Therefore, any subsequent
elements of spec are never used. Normally t is used in the last (or only)
element of spec.
a list If display is a list, each element should have the form (characteristic
value...). Here characteristic specifies a way of classifying terminals,
and the values are possible classifications which display should apply to.
Here are the possible values of characteristic:
type The kind of window system the terminal uses—either
graphic (any graphics-capable display), x, pc (for the
MS-DOS console), w32 (for MS Windows 9X/NT/2K/XP),
or tty (a non-graphics-capable display). See Section 39.24
[Window Systems], page 1065.
class What kinds of colors the terminal supports—either color,
grayscale, or mono.
background
The kind of background—either light or dark.
min-colors
An integer that represents the minimum number of colors
the terminal should support. This matches a terminal if its
display-color-cells value is at least the specified integer.
supports Whether or not the terminal can display the face attributes
given in value . . . (see Section 39.12.1 [Face Attributes],
page 997). See [Display Face Attribute Testing], page 739,
for more information on exactly how this testing is done.
If an element of display specifies more than one value for a given
characteristic, any of those values is acceptable. If display has more
than one element, each element should specify a different characteristic;
then each characteristic of the terminal must match one of the values
specified for it in display.

For example, here’s the definition of the standard face highlight:

(defface highlight
'((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light))
:background "darkseagreen2")
(((class color) (min-colors 88) (background dark))
:background "darkolivegreen")
(((class color) (min-colors 16) (background light))
:background "darkseagreen2")
(((class color) (min-colors 16) (background dark))
:background "darkolivegreen")
(((class color) (min-colors 8))
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1003

:background "green" :foreground "black")

(t :inverse-video t))
"Basic face for highlighting."
:group 'basic-faces)
Internally, Emacs stores each face’s default spec in its face-defface-spec symbol prop-
erty (see Section 9.4 [Symbol Properties], page 125). The saved-face property stores
any face spec saved by the user using the customization buffer; the customized-face
property stores the face spec customized for the current session, but not saved; and the
theme-face property stores an alist associating the active customization settings and Cus-
tom themes with the face specs for that face. The face’s documentation string is stored in
the face-documentation property.
Normally, a face is declared just once, using defface, and any further changes to its
appearance are applied using the Customize framework (e.g., via the Customize user in-
terface or via the custom-set-faces function; see Section 15.5 [Applying Customizations],
page 260), or by face remapping (see Section 39.12.5 [Face Remapping], page 1007). In
the rare event that you need to change a face spec directly from Lisp, you can use the
face-spec-set function.

face-spec-set face spec &optional spec-type [Function]

This function applies spec as a face spec for face. spec should be a face spec, as
described in the above documentation for defface.
This function also defines face as a valid face name if it is not already one, and
(re)calculates its attributes on existing frames.
The optional argument spec-type determines which spec to set. If it is omitted or
nil or face-override-spec, this function sets the override spec, which overrides face
specs on face of all the other types mentioned below. This is useful when calling this
function outside of Custom code. If spec-type is customized-face or saved-face,
this function sets the customized spec or the saved custom spec, respectively. If it
is face-defface-spec, this function sets the default face spec (the same one set by
defface). If it is reset, this function clears out all customization specs and override
specs from face (in this case, the value of spec is ignored). The effect of any other
value of spec-type on the face specs is reserved for internal use, but the function will
still define face itself and recalculate its attributes, as described above.

39.12.3 Face Attribute Functions

This section describes functions for directly accessing and modifying the attributes of a
named face.

face-attribute face attribute &optional frame inherit [Function]

This function returns the value of the attribute attribute for face on frame.
If frame is omitted or nil, that means the selected frame (see Section 29.10 [Input
Focus], page 720). If frame is t, this function returns the value of the specified
attribute for newly-created frames (this is normally unspecified, unless you have
specified some value using set-face-attribute; see below).
If inherit is nil, only attributes directly defined by face are considered, so the return
value may be unspecified, or a relative value. If inherit is non-nil, face’s definition
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1004

of attribute is merged with the faces specified by its :inherit attribute; however the
return value may still be unspecified or relative. If inherit is a face or a list of faces,
then the result is further merged with that face (or faces), until it becomes specified
and absolute.
To ensure that the return value is always specified and absolute, use a value of default
for inherit; this will resolve any unspecified or relative values by merging with the
default face (which is always completely specified).
For example,
(face-attribute 'bold :weight)
⇒ bold

face-attribute-relative-p attribute value [Function]

This function returns non-nil if value, when used as the value of the face attribute
attribute, is relative. This means it would modify, rather than completely override,
any value that comes from a subsequent face in the face list or that is inherited from
another face.
unspecified is a relative value for all attributes. For :height, floating point and
function values are also relative.
For example:
(face-attribute-relative-p :height 2.0)
⇒ t

face-all-attributes face &optional frame [Function]

This function returns an alist of attributes of face. The elements of the result are
name-value pairs of the form (attr-name . attr-value). Optional argument frame
specifies the frame whose definition of face to return; if omitted or nil, the returned
value describes the default attributes of face for newly created frames.

merge-face-attribute attribute value1 value2 [Function]

If value1 is a relative value for the face attribute attribute, returns it merged with
the underlying value value2; otherwise, if value1 is an absolute value for the face
attribute attribute, returns value1 unchanged.

Normally, Emacs uses the face specs of each face to automatically calculate its attributes
on each frame (see Section 39.12.2 [Defining Faces], page 1001). The function set-face-
attribute can override this calculation by directly assigning attributes to a face, either on
a specific frame or for all frames. This function is mostly intended for internal usage.

set-face-attribute face frame &rest arguments [Function]

This function sets one or more attributes of face for frame. The attributes specifies
in this way override the face spec(s) belonging to face.
The extra arguments arguments specify the attributes to set, and the values for them.
They should consist of alternating attribute names (such as :family or :underline)
and values. Thus,
(set-face-attribute 'foo nil :weight 'bold :slant 'italic)
sets the attribute :weight to bold and the attribute :slant to italic.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1005

If frame is t, this function sets the default attributes for newly created frames. If
frame is nil, this function sets the attributes for all existing frames, as well as for
newly created frames.
The following commands and functions mostly provide compatibility with old versions
of Emacs. They work by calling set-face-attribute. Values of t and nil (or omitted)
for their frame argument are handled just like set-face-attribute and face-attribute.
The commands read their arguments using the minibuffer, if called interactively.
set-face-foreground face color &optional frame [Command]
set-face-background face color &optional frame [Command]
These set the :foreground attribute (or :background attribute, respectively) of face
to color.
set-face-stipple face pattern &optional frame [Command]
This sets the :stipple attribute of face to pattern.
set-face-font face font &optional frame [Command]
This sets the :font attribute of face to font.
set-face-bold face bold-p &optional frame [Function]
This sets the :weight attribute of face to normal if bold-p is nil, and to bold
otherwise.
set-face-italic face italic-p &optional frame [Function]
This sets the :slant attribute of face to normal if italic-p is nil, and to italic
otherwise.
set-face-underline face underline &optional frame [Command]
This sets the :underline attribute of face to underline.
set-face-inverse-video face inverse-video-p &optional frame [Command]
This sets the :inverse-video attribute of face to inverse-video-p.
invert-face face &optional frame [Command]
This swaps the foreground and background colors of face face.
The following functions examine the attributes of a face. They mostly provide compat-
ibility with old versions of Emacs. If you don’t specify frame, they refer to the selected
frame; t refers to the default data for new frames. They return unspecified if the face
doesn’t define any value for that attribute. If inherit is nil, only an attribute directly
defined by the face is returned. If inherit is non-nil, any faces specified by its :inherit
attribute are considered as well, and if inherit is a face or a list of faces, then they are also
considered, until a specified attribute is found. To ensure that the return value is always
specified, use a value of default for inherit.
face-font face &optional frame character [Function]
This function returns the name of the font of face face.
If the optional argument frame is specified, it returns the name of the font of face for
that frame. If frame is omitted or nil, the selected frame is used. And, in this case,
if the optional third argument character is supplied, it returns the font name used for
character.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1006

face-foreground face &optional frame inherit [Function]

face-background face &optional frame inherit [Function]
These functions return the foreground color (or background color, respectively) of
face face, as a string. If the color is unspecified, they return nil.

face-stipple face &optional frame inherit [Function]

This function returns the name of the background stipple pattern of face face, or nil
if it doesn’t have one.

face-bold-p face &optional frame inherit [Function]

This function returns a non-nil value if the :weight attribute of face is bolder than
normal (i.e., one of semi-bold, bold, extra-bold, or ultra-bold). Otherwise, it
returns nil.

face-italic-p face &optional frame inherit [Function]

This function returns a non-nil value if the :slant attribute of face is italic or
oblique, and nil otherwise.

face-underline-p face &optional frame inherit [Function]

This function returns non-nil if face face specifies a non-nil :underline attribute.

face-inverse-video-p face &optional frame inherit [Function]

This function returns non-nil if face face specifies a non-nil :inverse-video at-
tribute.

39.12.4 Displaying Faces

When Emacs displays a given piece of text, the visual appearance of the text may be
determined by faces drawn from different sources. If these various sources together specify
more than one face for a particular character, Emacs merges the attributes of the various
faces. Here is the order in which Emacs merges the faces, from highest to lowest priority:
• If the text consists of a special glyph, the glyph can specify a particular face. See
Section 39.22.4 [Glyphs], page 1062.
• If the text lies within an active region, Emacs highlights it using the region face. See
Section “Standard Faces” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
• If the text lies within an overlay with a non-nil face property, Emacs applies the
face(s) specified by that property. If the overlay has a mouse-face property and the
mouse is near enough to the overlay, Emacs applies the face or face attributes specified
by the mouse-face property instead. See Section 39.9.2 [Overlay Properties], page 988.
When multiple overlays cover one character, an overlay with higher priority overrides
those with lower priority. See Section 39.9 [Overlays], page 985.
• If the text contains a face or mouse-face property, Emacs applies the specified faces
and face attributes. See Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808. (This is how
Font Lock mode faces are applied. See Section 23.6 [Font Lock Mode], page 487.)
• If the text lies within the mode line of the selected window, Emacs applies the
mode-line face. For the mode line of a non-selected window, Emacs applies the
mode-line-inactive face. For a header line, Emacs applies the header-line face.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1007

• If the text comes from an overlay string via before-string or after-string proper-
ties (see Section 39.9.2 [Overlay Properties], page 988), or from a display string (see
Section 39.16.4 [Other Display Specs], page 1031), and the string doesn’t contain a
face or mouse-face property, but the buffer text affected by the overlay/display prop-
erty does define a face, Emacs applies the face attributes of the “underlying” buffer
text. Note that this is so even if the overlay or display string is displayed in the display
margins (see Section 39.16.5 [Display Margins], page 1033).
• If any given attribute has not been specified during the preceding steps, Emacs applies
the attribute of the default face.
At each stage, if a face has a valid :inherit attribute, Emacs treats any attribute with
an unspecified value as having the corresponding value drawn from the parent face(s).
see Section 39.12.1 [Face Attributes], page 997. Note that the parent face(s) may also leave
the attribute unspecified; in that case, the attribute remains unspecified at the next level
of face merging.

39.12.5 Face Remapping

The variable face-remapping-alist is used for buffer-local or global changes in the ap-
pearance of a face. For instance, it is used to implement the text-scale-adjust command
(see Section “Text Scale” in The GNU Emacs Manual).

face-remapping-alist [Variable]
The value of this variable is an alist whose elements have the form (face .
remapping). This causes Emacs to display any text having the face face with
remapping, rather than the ordinary definition of face.
remapping may be any face spec suitable for a face text property: either a face (i.e.,
a face name or a property list of attribute/value pairs), or a list of faces. For details,
see the description of the face text property in Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties],
page 808. remapping serves as the complete specification for the remapped face—it
replaces the normal definition of face, instead of modifying it.
If face-remapping-alist is buffer-local, its local value takes effect only within that
buffer.
Note: face remapping is non-recursive. If remapping references the same face name
face, either directly or via the :inherit attribute of some other face in remapping,
that reference uses the normal definition of face. For instance, if the mode-line face
is remapped using this entry in face-remapping-alist:
(mode-line italic mode-line)
then the new definition of the mode-line face inherits from the italic face, and the
normal (non-remapped) definition of mode-line face.

The following functions implement a higher-level interface to face-remapping-alist.

Most Lisp code should use these functions instead of setting face-remapping-alist di-
rectly, to avoid trampling on remappings applied elsewhere. These functions are intended
for buffer-local remappings, so they all make face-remapping-alist buffer-local as a side-
effect. They manage face-remapping-alist entries of the form
(face relative-spec-1 relative-spec-2 ... base-spec)
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1008

where, as explained above, each of the relative-spec-N and base-spec is either a face name,
or a property list of attribute/value pairs. Each of the relative remapping entries, relative-
spec-N, is managed by the face-remap-add-relative and face-remap-remove-relative
functions; these are intended for simple modifications like changing the text size. The base
remapping entry, base-spec, has the lowest priority and is managed by the face-remap-
set-base and face-remap-reset-base functions; it is intended for major modes to remap
faces in the buffers they control.

face-remap-add-relative face &rest specs [Function]

This function adds the face spec in specs as relative remappings for face face in the
current buffer. The remaining arguments, specs, should form either a list of face
names, or a property list of attribute/value pairs.
The return value is a Lisp object that serves as a cookie; you can pass this object as
an argument to face-remap-remove-relative if you need to remove the remapping
later.
;; Remap the 'escape-glyph' face into a combination
;; of the 'highlight' and 'italic' faces:
(face-remap-add-relative 'escape-glyph 'highlight 'italic)

;; Increase the size of the 'default' face by 50%:

(face-remap-add-relative 'default :height 1.5)

face-remap-remove-relative cookie [Function]

This function removes a relative remapping previously added by face-remap-add-
relative. cookie should be the Lisp object returned by face-remap-add-relative
when the remapping was added.

face-remap-set-base face &rest specs [Function]

This function sets the base remapping of face in the current buffer to specs. If specs is
empty, the default base remapping is restored, similar to calling face-remap-reset-
base (see below); note that this is different from specs containing a single value nil,
which has the opposite result (the global definition of face is ignored).
This overwrites the default base-spec, which inherits the global face definition, so it
is up to the caller to add such inheritance if so desired.

face-remap-reset-base face [Function]

This function sets the base remapping of face to its default value, which inherits from
face’s global definition.

39.12.6 Functions for Working with Faces

Here are additional functions for creating and working with faces.

face-list [Function]
This function returns a list of all defined face names.

face-id face [Function]

This function returns the face number of face face. This is a number that uniquely
identifies a face at low levels within Emacs. It is seldom necessary to refer to a face
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1009

by its face number. However, functions that manipulate glyphs, such as make-glyph-
code and glyph-face (see Section 39.22.4 [Glyphs], page 1062) access the face num-
bers internally. Note that the face number is stored as the value of the face property
of the face symbol, so we recommend not to set that property of a face to any value
of your own.

face-documentation face [Function]

This function returns the documentation string of face face, or nil if none was spec-
ified for it.

face-equal face1 face2 &optional frame [Function]

This returns t if the faces face1 and face2 have the same attributes for display.

face-differs-from-default-p face &optional frame [Function]

This returns non-nil if the face face displays differently from the default face.

A face alias provides an equivalent name for a face. You can define a face alias by
giving the alias symbol the face-alias property, with a value of the target face name. The
following example makes modeline an alias for the mode-line face.
(put 'modeline 'face-alias 'mode-line)

define-obsolete-face-alias obsolete-face current-face when [Macro]

This macro defines obsolete-face as an alias for current-face, and also marks it
as obsolete, indicating that it may be removed in future. when should be a string
indicating when obsolete-face was made obsolete (usually a version number string).

39.12.7 Automatic Face Assignment

This hook is used for automatically assigning faces to text in the buffer. It is part of the
implementation of Jit-Lock mode, used by Font-Lock.

fontification-functions [Variable]
This variable holds a list of functions that are called by Emacs redisplay as needed,
just before doing redisplay. They are called even when Font Lock Mode isn’t en-
abled. When Font Lock Mode is enabled, this variable usually holds just one function,
jit-lock-function.
The functions are called in the order listed, with one argument, a buffer position
pos. Collectively they should attempt to assign faces to the text in the current buffer
starting at pos.
The functions should record the faces they assign by setting the face property. They
should also add a non-nil fontified property to all the text they have assigned faces
to. That property tells redisplay that faces have been assigned to that text already.
It is probably a good idea for the functions to do nothing if the character after
pos already has a non-nil fontified property, but this is not required. If one
function overrides the assignments made by a previous one, the properties after the
last function finishes are the ones that really matter.
For efficiency, we recommend writing these functions so that they usually assign faces
to around 400 to 600 characters at each call.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1010

39.12.8 Basic Faces

If your Emacs Lisp program needs to assign some faces to text, it is often a good idea
to use certain existing faces or inherit from them, rather than defining entirely new faces.
This way, if other users have customized the basic faces to give Emacs a certain look, your
program will fit in without additional customization.
Some of the basic faces defined in Emacs are listed below. In addition to these, you
might want to make use of the Font Lock faces for syntactic highlighting, if highlighting is
not already handled by Font Lock mode, or if some Font Lock faces are not in use. See
Section 23.6.7 [Faces for Font Lock], page 495.

default The default face, whose attributes are all specified. All other faces implicitly
inherit from it: any unspecified attribute defaults to the attribute on this face
(see Section 39.12.1 [Face Attributes], page 997).

bold
italic
bold-italic
underline
fixed-pitch
fixed-pitch-serif
variable-pitch
These have the attributes indicated by their names (e.g., bold has a bold
:weight attribute), with all other attributes unspecified (and so given by
default).

shadow For dimmed-out text. For example, it is used for the ignored part of a filename
in the minibuffer (see Section “Minibuffers for File Names” in The GNU Emacs
Manual).

link
link-visited
For clickable text buttons that send the user to a different buffer or location.

highlight
For stretches of text that should temporarily stand out. For example, it is
commonly assigned to the mouse-face property for cursor highlighting (see
Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808).

match
isearch
lazy-highlight
For text matching (respectively) permanent search matches, interactive search
matches, and lazy highlighting other matches than the current interactive one.

error
warning
success For text concerning errors, warnings, or successes. For example, these are used
for messages in *Compilation* buffers.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1011

39.12.9 Font Selection

Before Emacs can draw a character on a graphical display, it must select a font for that
character2 . See Section “Fonts” in The GNU Emacs Manual. Normally, Emacs automat-
ically chooses a font based on the faces assigned to that character—specifically, the face
attributes :family, :weight, :slant, and :width (see Section 39.12.1 [Face Attributes],
page 997). The choice of font also depends on the character to be displayed; some fonts can
only display a limited set of characters. If no available font exactly fits the requirements,
Emacs looks for the closest matching font. The variables in this section control how Emacs
makes this selection.

face-font-family-alternatives [User Option]

If a given family is specified but does not exist, this variable specifies alternative font
families to try. Each element should have this form:
(family alternate-families...)
If family is specified but not available, Emacs will try the other families given in
alternate-families, one by one, until it finds a family that does exist.

face-font-selection-order [User Option]

If there is no font that exactly matches all desired face attributes (:width, :height,
:weight, and :slant), this variable specifies the order in which these attributes
should be considered when selecting the closest matching font. The value should be a
list containing those four attribute symbols, in order of decreasing importance. The
default is (:width :height :weight :slant).
Font selection first finds the best available matches for the first attribute in the list;
then, among the fonts which are best in that way, it searches for the best matches in
the second attribute, and so on.
The attributes :weight and :width have symbolic values in a range centered around
normal. Matches that are more extreme (farther from normal) are somewhat pre-
ferred to matches that are less extreme (closer to normal); this is designed to ensure
that non-normal faces contrast with normal ones, whenever possible.
One example of a case where this variable makes a difference is when the default font
has no italic equivalent. With the default ordering, the italic face will use a non-
italic font that is similar to the default one. But if you put :slant before :height,
the italic face will use an italic font, even if its height is not quite right.

face-font-registry-alternatives [User Option]

This variable lets you specify alternative font registries to try, if a given registry is
specified and doesn’t exist. Each element should have this form:
(registry alternate-registries...)
If registry is specified but not available, Emacs will try the other registries given in
alternate-registries, one by one, until it finds a registry that does exist.

Emacs can make use of scalable fonts, but by default it does not use them.
2
In this context, the term font has nothing to do with Font Lock (see Section 23.6 [Font Lock Mode],
page 487).
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1012

scalable-fonts-allowed [User Option]

This variable controls which scalable fonts to use. A value of nil, the default, means
do not use scalable fonts. t means to use any scalable font that seems appropriate
for the text.
Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. Then a scalable font is
enabled for use if its name matches any regular expression in the list. For example,
(setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("iso10646-1$"))
allows the use of scalable fonts with registry iso10646-1.
face-font-rescale-alist [Variable]
This variable specifies scaling for certain faces. Its value should be a list of elements
of the form
(fontname-regexp . scale-factor)
If fontname-regexp matches the font name that is about to be used, this says to choose
a larger similar font according to the factor scale-factor. You would use this feature
to normalize the font size if certain fonts are bigger or smaller than their nominal
heights and widths would suggest.

39.12.10 Looking Up Fonts

x-list-fonts name &optional reference-face frame maximum width [Function]
This function returns a list of available font names that match name. name should
be a string containing a font name in either the Fontconfig, GTK+, or XLFD format
(see Section “Fonts” in The GNU Emacs Manual). Within an XLFD string, wildcard
characters may be used: the ‘*’ character matches any substring, and the ‘?’ character
matches any single character. Case is ignored when matching font names.
If the optional arguments reference-face and frame are specified, the returned list
includes only fonts that are the same size as reference-face (a face name) currently is
on the frame frame.
The optional argument maximum sets a limit on how many fonts to return. If it is
non-nil, then the return value is truncated after the first maximum matching fonts.
Specifying a small value for maximum can make this function much faster, in cases
where many fonts match the pattern.
The optional argument width specifies a desired font width. If it is non-nil, the
function only returns those fonts whose characters are (on average) width times as
wide as reference-face.
x-family-fonts &optional family frame [Function]
This function returns a list describing the available fonts for family family on frame.
If family is omitted or nil, this list applies to all families, and therefore, it contains
all available fonts. Otherwise, family must be a string; it may contain the wildcards
‘?’ and ‘*’.
The list describes the display that frame is on; if frame is omitted or nil, it applies
to the selected frame’s display (see Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720).
Each element in the list is a vector of the following form:
[family width point-size weight slant
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1013

fixed-p full registry-and-encoding]

The first five elements correspond to face attributes; if you specify these attributes
for a face, it will use this font.
The last three elements give additional information about the font. fixed-p is non-nil
if the font is fixed-pitch. full is the full name of the font, and registry-and-encoding
is a string giving the registry and encoding of the font.

39.12.11 Fontsets
A fontset is a list of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes. An individual
font cannot display the whole range of characters that Emacs supports, but a fontset can.
Fontsets have names, just as fonts do, and you can use a fontset name in place of a font
name when you specify the font for a frame or a face. Here is information about defining a
fontset under Lisp program control.

create-fontset-from-fontset-spec fontset-spec &optional [Function]

style-variant-p noerror
This function defines a new fontset according to the specification string fontset-spec.
The string should have this format:
fontpattern, [charset:font]. . .
Whitespace characters before and after the commas are ignored.
The first part of the string, fontpattern, should have the form of a standard X font
name, except that the last two fields should be ‘fontset-alias’.
The new fontset has two names, one long and one short. The long name is fontpattern
in its entirety. The short name is ‘fontset-alias’. You can refer to the fontset by
either name. If a fontset with the same name already exists, an error is signaled,
unless noerror is non-nil, in which case this function does nothing.
If optional argument style-variant-p is non-nil, that says to create bold, italic and
bold-italic variants of the fontset as well. These variant fontsets do not have a short
name, only a long one, which is made by altering fontpattern to indicate the bold
and/or italic status.
The specification string also says which fonts to use in the fontset. See below for the
details.

The construct ‘charset:font’ specifies which font to use (in this fontset) for one partic-
ular character set. Here, charset is the name of a character set, and font is the font to use
for that character set. You can use this construct any number of times in the specification
string.
For the remaining character sets, those that you don’t specify explicitly, Emacs chooses
a font based on fontpattern: it replaces ‘fontset-alias’ with a value that names one
character set. For the ASCII character set, ‘fontset-alias’ is replaced with ‘ISO8859-1’.
In addition, when several consecutive fields are wildcards, Emacs collapses them into a
single wildcard. This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts. Fonts made by scaling larger
fonts are not usable for editing, and scaling a smaller font is not useful because it is better
to use the smaller font in its own size, which Emacs does.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1014

Thus if fontpattern is this,

-*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
the font specification for ASCII characters would be this:
-*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
and the font specification for Chinese GB2312 characters would be this:
-*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-gb2312*-*
You may not have any Chinese font matching the above font specification. Most X
distributions include only Chinese fonts that have ‘song ti’ or ‘fangsong ti’ in the family
field. In such a case, ‘Fontset-n’ can be specified as below:
Emacs.Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24,\
chinese-gb2312:-*-*-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-gb2312*-*
Then, the font specifications for all but Chinese GB2312 characters have ‘fixed’ in the
family field, and the font specification for Chinese GB2312 characters has a wild card ‘*’
in the family field.
set-fontset-font name character font-spec &optional frame add [Function]
This function modifies the existing fontset name to use the font matching with font-
spec for the specified character.
If name is nil, this function modifies the fontset of the selected frame or that of
frame if frame is not nil.
If name is t, this function modifies the default fontset, whose short name is
‘fontset-default’.
In addition to specifying a single codepoint, character may be a cons (from . to),
where from and to are character codepoints. In that case, use font-spec for all the
characters in the range from and to (inclusive).
character may be a charset (see Section 33.7 [Character Sets], page 845). In that
case, use font-spec for all the characters in the charset.
character may be a script name (see Section 33.6 [Character Properties], page 840).
In that case, use font-spec for all the characters belonging to the script.
character may be nil, which means to use font-spec for any character which no
font-spec is specified.
font-spec may be a font-spec object created by the function font-spec (see
Section 39.12.12 [Low-Level Font], page 1015).
font-spec may be a cons; (family . registry), where family is a family name of a
font (possibly including a foundry name at the head), registry is a registry name of
a font (possibly including an encoding name at the tail).
font-spec may be a font name, a string.
font-spec may be nil, which explicitly specifies that there’s no font for the specified
character. This is useful, for example, to avoid expensive system-wide search for
fonts for characters that have no glyphs, like those from the Unicode Private Use
Area (PUA).
The optional argument add, if non-nil, specifies how to add font-spec to the font
specifications previously set. If it is prepend, font-spec is prepended. If it is append,
font-spec is appended. By default, font-spec overrides the previous settings.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1015

For instance, this changes the default fontset to use a font of which family name is
‘Kochi Gothic’ for all characters belonging to the charset japanese-jisx0208.
(set-fontset-font t 'japanese-jisx0208
(font-spec :family "Kochi Gothic"))

char-displayable-p char [Function]

This function returns t if Emacs ought to be able to display char. More precisely, if
the selected frame’s fontset has a font to display the character set that char belongs
to.
Fontsets can specify a font on a per-character basis; when the fontset does that, this
function’s value may not be accurate.

39.12.12 Low-Level Font Representation

Normally, it is not necessary to manipulate fonts directly. In case you need to do so, this
section explains how.
In Emacs Lisp, fonts are represented using three different Lisp object types: font objects,
font specs, and font entities.

fontp object &optional type [Function]

Return t if object is a font object, font spec, or font entity. Otherwise, return nil.
The optional argument type, if non-nil, determines the exact type of Lisp object
to check for. In that case, type should be one of font-object, font-spec, or
font-entity.

A font object is a Lisp object that represents a font that Emacs has opened. Font objects
cannot be modified in Lisp, but they can be inspected.

font-at position &optional window string [Function]

Return the font object that is being used to display the character at position position
in the window window. If window is nil, it defaults to the selected window. If string
is nil, position specifies a position in the current buffer; otherwise, string should be
a string, and position specifies a position in that string.

A font spec is a Lisp object that contains a set of specifications that can be used to find
a font. More than one font may match the specifications in a font spec.

font-spec &rest arguments [Function]

Return a new font spec using the specifications in arguments, which should come in
property-value pairs. The possible specifications are as follows:
:name The font name (a string), in either XLFD, Fontconfig, or GTK+ format.
See Section “Fonts” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
:family
:foundry
:weight
:slant
:width These have the same meanings as the face attributes of the same name.
See Section 39.12.1 [Face Attributes], page 997.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1016

:size The font size—either a non-negative integer that specifies the pixel size,
or a floating-point number that specifies the point size.
:adstyle Additional typographic style information for the font, such as ‘sans’. The
value should be a string or a symbol.
:registry
The charset registry and encoding of the font, such as ‘iso8859-1’. The
value should be a string or a symbol.
:script The script that the font must support (a symbol).
:lang The language that the font should support. The value should be a symbol
whose name is a two-letter ISO-639 language name. On X, the value is
matched against the “Additional Style” field of the XLFD name of a font,
if it is non-empty. On MS-Windows, fonts matching the spec are required
to support codepages needed for the language. Currently, only a small
set of CJK languages is supported with this property: ‘ja’, ‘ko’, and ‘zh’.
:otf The font must be an OpenType font that supports these OpenType fea-
tures, provided Emacs is compiled with a library, such as ‘libotf’ on
GNU/Linux, that supports complex text layout for scripts which need
that. The value must be a list of the form
(script-tag langsys-tag gsub gpos)
where script-tag is the OpenType script tag symbol; langsys-tag is the
OpenType language system tag symbol, or nil to use the default language
system; gsub is a list of OpenType GSUB feature tag symbols, or nil
if none is required; and gpos is a list of OpenType GPOS feature tag
symbols, or nil if none is required. If gsub or gpos is a list, a nil element
in that list means that the font must not match any of the remaining tag
symbols. The gpos element may be omitted.

font-put font-spec property value [Function]

Set the font property property in the font-spec font-spec to value.

A font entity is a reference to a font that need not be open. Its properties are intermediate
between a font object and a font spec: like a font object, and unlike a font spec, it refers to
a single, specific font. Unlike a font object, creating a font entity does not load the contents
of that font into computer memory. Emacs may open multiple font objects of different sizes
from a single font entity referring to a scalable font.

find-font font-spec &optional frame [Function]

This function returns a font entity that best matches the font spec font-spec on frame
frame. If frame is nil, it defaults to the selected frame.

list-fonts font-spec &optional frame num prefer [Function]

This function returns a list of all font entities that match the font spec font-spec.
The optional argument frame, if non-nil, specifies the frame on which the fonts are
to be displayed. The optional argument num, if non-nil, should be an integer that
specifies the maximum length of the returned list. The optional argument prefer,
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1017

if non-nil, should be another font spec, which is used to control the order of the
returned list; the returned font entities are sorted in order of decreasing closeness to
that font spec.

If you call set-face-attribute and pass a font spec, font entity, or font name string
as the value of the :font attribute, Emacs opens the best matching font that is available
for display. It then stores the corresponding font object as the actual value of the :font
attribute for that face.
The following functions can be used to obtain information about a font. For these
functions, the font argument can be a font object, a font entity, or a font spec.

font-get font property [Function]

This function returns the value of the font property property for font.
If font is a font spec and the font spec does not specify property, the return value is
nil. If font is a font object or font entity, the value for the :script property may be
a list of scripts supported by the font.

font-face-attributes font &optional frame [Function]

This function returns a list of face attributes corresponding to font. The optional
argument frame specifies the frame on which the font is to be displayed. If it is nil,
the selected frame is used. The return value has the form
(:family family :height height :weight weight
:slant slant :width width)
where the values of family, height, weight, slant, and width are face attribute values.
Some of these key-attribute pairs may be omitted from the list if they are not specified
by font.

font-xlfd-name font &optional fold-wildcards [Function]

This function returns the XLFD (X Logical Font Descriptor), a string, matching font.
See Section “Fonts” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for information about XLFDs. If
the name is too long for an XLFD (which can contain at most 255 characters), the
function returns nil.
If the optional argument fold-wildcards is non-nil, consecutive wildcards in the XLFD
are folded into one.

The following two functions return important information about a font.

font-info name &optional frame [Function]

This function returns information about a font specified by its name, a string, as it
is used on frame. If frame is omitted or nil, it defaults to the selected frame.
The value returned by the function is a vector of the form [opened-name full-name
size height baseline-offset relative-compose default-ascent max-width
ascent descent space-width average-width filename capability]. Here’s the
description of each components of this vector:
opened-name
The name used to open the font, a string.
full-name The full name of the font, a string.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1018

size The pixel size of the font.

height The height of the font in pixels.
baseline-offset
The offset in pixels from the ASCII baseline, positive upward.
relative-compose
default-ascent
Numbers controlling how to compose characters.
ascent
descent The ascent and descent of this font. The sum of these two numbers should
be equal to the value of height above.
space-width
The width, in pixels, of the font’s space character.
average-width
The average width of the font characters. If this is zero, Emacs uses the
value of space-width instead, when it calculates text layout on display.
filename The file name of the font as a string. This can be nil if the font back-end
does not provide a way to find out the font’s file name.
capability A list whose first element is a symbol representing the font type, one
of x, opentype, truetype, type1, pcf, or bdf. For OpenType fonts,
the list includes 2 additional elements describing the gsub and gpos
features supported by the font. Each of these elements is a list of the form
((script (langsys feature ...) ...) ...), where script is a symbol
representing an OpenType script tag, langsys is a symbol representing
an OpenType langsys tag (or nil, which stands for the default langsys),
and each feature is a symbol representing an OpenType feature tag.

query-font font-object [Function]

This function returns information about a font-object. (This is in contrast to
font-info, which takes the font name, a string, as its argument.)
The value returned by the function is a vector of the form [name filename pixel-
size max-width ascent descent space-width average-width capability].
Here’s the description of each components of this vector:
name The font name, a string.
filename The file name of the font as a string. This can be nil if the font back-end
does not provide a way to find out the font’s file name.
pixel-size The pixel size of the font used to open the font.
max-width
The maximum advance width of the font.
ascent
descent The ascent and descent of this font. The sum of these two numbers gives
the font height.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1019

space-width
The width, in pixels, of the font’s space character.
average-width
The average width of the font characters. If this is zero, Emacs uses the
value of space-width instead, when it calculates text layout on display.
capability A list whose first element is a symbol representing the font type, one
of x, opentype, truetype, type1, pcf, or bdf. For OpenType fonts,
the list includes 2 additional elements describing the gsub and gpos
features supported by the font. Each of these elements is a list of the form
((script (langsys feature ...) ...) ...), where script is a symbol
representing an OpenType script tag, langsys is a symbol representing
an OpenType langsys tag (or nil, which stands for the default langsys),
and each feature is a symbol representing an OpenType feature tag.

The following four functions return size information about fonts used by various faces, al-
lowing various layout considerations in Lisp programs. These functions take face remapping
into consideration, returning information about the remapped face, if the face in question
was remapped. See Section 39.12.5 [Face Remapping], page 1007.

default-font-width [Function]
This function returns the average width in pixels of the font used by the current
buffer’s default face.

default-font-height [Function]
This function returns the height in pixels of the font used by the current buffer’s
default face.

window-font-width &optional window face [Function]

This function returns the average width in pixels for the font used by face in window.
The specified window must be a live window. If nil or omitted, window defaults to
the selected window, and face defaults to the default face in window.

window-font-height &optional window face [Function]

This function returns the height in pixels for the font used by face in window. The
specified window must be a live window. If nil or omitted, window defaults to the
selected window, and face defaults to the default face in window.

39.13 Fringes
On graphical displays, Emacs draws fringes next to each window: thin vertical strips down
the sides which can display bitmaps indicating truncation, continuation, horizontal scrolling,
and so on.

39.13.1 Fringe Size and Position

The following buffer-local variables control the position and width of fringes in windows
showing that buffer.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1020

fringes-outside-margins [Variable]
The fringes normally appear between the display margins and the window text. If
the value is non-nil, they appear outside the display margins. See Section 39.16.5
[Display Margins], page 1033.
left-fringe-width [Variable]
This variable, if non-nil, specifies the width of the left fringe in pixels. A value of
nil means to use the left fringe width from the window’s frame.
right-fringe-width [Variable]
This variable, if non-nil, specifies the width of the right fringe in pixels. A value of
nil means to use the right fringe width from the window’s frame.
Any buffer which does not specify values for these variables uses the values specified
by the left-fringe and right-fringe frame parameters (see Section 29.4.3.4 [Layout
Parameters], page 707).
The above variables actually take effect via the function set-window-buffer (see
Section 28.11 [Buffers and Windows], page 626), which calls set-window-fringes as a
subroutine. If you change one of these variables, the fringe display is not updated in
existing windows showing the buffer, unless you call set-window-buffer again in each
affected window. You can also use set-window-fringes to control the fringe display in
individual windows.
set-window-fringes window left &optional right outside-margins [Function]
This function sets the fringe widths of window window. If window is nil, the selected
window is used.
The argument left specifies the width in pixels of the left fringe, and likewise right
for the right fringe. A value of nil for either one stands for the default width. If
outside-margins is non-nil, that specifies that fringes should appear outside of the
display margins.
If window is not large enough to accommodate fringes of the desired width, this leaves
the fringes of window unchanged.
The values specified here may be later overridden by invoking set-window-buffer
(see Section 28.11 [Buffers and Windows], page 626) on window with its keep-margins
argument nil or omitted.
window-fringes &optional window [Function]
This function returns information about the fringes of a window window. If window
is omitted or nil, the selected window is used. The value has the form (left-width
right-width outside-margins).

39.13.2 Fringe Indicators

Fringe indicators are tiny icons displayed in the window fringe to indicate truncated or
continued lines, buffer boundaries, etc.
indicate-empty-lines [User Option]
When this is non-nil, Emacs displays a special glyph in the fringe of each empty line
at the end of the buffer, on graphical displays. See Section 39.13 [Fringes], page 1019.
This variable is automatically buffer-local in every buffer.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1021

indicate-buffer-boundaries [User Option]

This buffer-local variable controls how the buffer boundaries and window scrolling are
indicated in the window fringes.
Emacs can indicate the buffer boundaries—that is, the first and last line in the
buffer—with angle icons when they appear on the screen. In addition, Emacs can
display an up-arrow in the fringe to show that there is text above the screen, and a
down-arrow to show there is text below the screen.
There are three kinds of basic values:
nil Don’t display any of these fringe icons.
left Display the angle icons and arrows in the left fringe.
right Display the angle icons and arrows in the right fringe.
any non-alist
Display the angle icons in the left fringe and don’t display the arrows.
Otherwise the value should be an alist that specifies which fringe indicators to display
and where. Each element of the alist should have the form (indicator . position).
Here, indicator is one of top, bottom, up, down, and t (which covers all the icons not
yet specified), while position is one of left, right and nil.
For example, ((top . left) (t . right)) places the top angle bitmap in left fringe,
and the bottom angle bitmap as well as both arrow bitmaps in right fringe. To
show the angle bitmaps in the left fringe, and no arrow bitmaps, use ((top . left)
(bottom . left)).

fringe-indicator-alist [Variable]
This buffer-local variable specifies the mapping from logical fringe indicators to the
actual bitmaps displayed in the window fringes. The value is an alist of elements (in-
dicator . bitmaps), where indicator specifies a logical indicator type and bitmaps
specifies the fringe bitmaps to use for that indicator.
Each indicator should be one of the following symbols:
truncation, continuation.
Used for truncation and continuation lines.
up, down, top, bottom, top-bottom
Used when indicate-buffer-boundaries is non-nil: up and down in-
dicate a buffer boundary lying above or below the window edge; top
and bottom indicate the topmost and bottommost buffer text line; and
top-bottom indicates where there is just one line of text in the buffer.
empty-line
Used to indicate empty lines when indicate-empty-lines is non-nil.
overlay-arrow
Used for overlay arrows (see Section 39.13.6 [Overlay Arrow], page 1024).
Each bitmaps value may be a list of symbols (left right [left1 right1]). The
left and right symbols specify the bitmaps shown in the left and/or right fringe, for
the specific indicator. left1 and right1 are specific to the bottom and top-bottom
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1022

indicators, and are used to indicate that the last text line has no final newline. Al-
ternatively, bitmaps may be a single symbol which is used in both left and right
fringes.
See Section 39.13.4 [Fringe Bitmaps], page 1022, for a list of standard bitmap symbols
and how to define your own. In addition, nil represents the empty bitmap (i.e., an
indicator that is not shown).
When fringe-indicator-alist has a buffer-local value, and there is no bitmap
defined for a logical indicator, or the bitmap is t, the corresponding value from the
default value of fringe-indicator-alist is used.

39.13.3 Fringe Cursors

When a line is exactly as wide as the window, Emacs displays the cursor in the right fringe
instead of using two lines. Different bitmaps are used to represent the cursor in the fringe
depending on the current buffer’s cursor type.

overflow-newline-into-fringe [User Option]

If this is non-nil, lines exactly as wide as the window (not counting the final newline
character) are not continued. Instead, when point is at the end of the line, the cursor
appears in the right fringe.

fringe-cursor-alist [Variable]
This variable specifies the mapping from logical cursor type to the actual fringe bit-
maps displayed in the right fringe. The value is an alist where each element has
the form (cursor-type . bitmap), which means to use the fringe bitmap bitmap to
display cursors of type cursor-type.
Each cursor-type should be one of box, hollow, bar, hbar, or hollow-small. The
first four have the same meanings as in the cursor-type frame parameter (see
Section 29.4.3.9 [Cursor Parameters], page 713). The hollow-small type is used
instead of hollow when the normal hollow-rectangle bitmap is too tall to fit on a
specific display line.
Each bitmap should be a symbol specifying the fringe bitmap to be displayed for that
logical cursor type. See the next subsection for details.
When fringe-cursor-alist has a buffer-local value, and there is no bitmap
defined for a cursor type, the corresponding value from the default value of
fringes-indicator-alist is used.

39.13.4 Fringe Bitmaps

The fringe bitmaps are the actual bitmaps which represent the logical fringe indicators
for truncated or continued lines, buffer boundaries, overlay arrows, etc. Each bitmap is
represented by a symbol. These symbols are referred to by the variables fringe-indicator-
alist and fringe-cursor-alist, described in the previous subsections.
Lisp programs can also directly display a bitmap in the left or right fringe, by using a
display property for one of the characters appearing in the line (see Section 39.16.4 [Other
Display Specs], page 1031). Such a display specification has the form
(fringe bitmap [face])
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1023

fringe is either the symbol left-fringe or right-fringe. bitmap is a symbol identifying

the bitmap to display. The optional face names a face whose foreground color is used to
display the bitmap; this face is automatically merged with the fringe face.
Here is a list of the standard fringe bitmaps defined in Emacs, and how they are currently
used in Emacs (via fringe-indicator-alist and fringe-cursor-alist):
left-arrow, right-arrow
Used to indicate truncated lines.
left-curly-arrow, right-curly-arrow
Used to indicate continued lines.
right-triangle, left-triangle
The former is used by overlay arrows. The latter is unused.
up-arrow, down-arrow, top-left-angle top-right-angle
bottom-left-angle, bottom-right-angle
top-right-angle, top-left-angle
left-bracket, right-bracket, top-right-angle, top-left-angle
Used to indicate buffer boundaries.
filled-rectangle, hollow-rectangle
filled-square, hollow-square
vertical-bar, horizontal-bar
Used for different types of fringe cursors.
empty-line, exclamation-mark, question-mark, exclamation-mark
Not used by core Emacs features.
The next subsection describes how to define your own fringe bitmaps.
fringe-bitmaps-at-pos &optional pos window [Function]
This function returns the fringe bitmaps of the display line containing position pos in
window window. The return value has the form (left right ov), where left is the
symbol for the fringe bitmap in the left fringe (or nil if no bitmap), right is similar
for the right fringe, and ov is non-nil if there is an overlay arrow in the left fringe.
The value is nil if pos is not visible in window. If window is nil, that stands for the
selected window. If pos is nil, that stands for the value of point in window.

39.13.5 Customizing Fringe Bitmaps

define-fringe-bitmap bitmap bits &optional height width align [Function]
This function defines the symbol bitmap as a new fringe bitmap, or replaces an
existing bitmap with that name.
The argument bits specifies the image to use. It should be either a string or a vector
of integers, where each element (an integer) corresponds to one row of the bitmap.
Each bit of an integer corresponds to one pixel of the bitmap, where the low bit
corresponds to the rightmost pixel of the bitmap.
The height is normally the length of bits. However, you can specify a different height
with non-nil height. The width is normally 8, but you can specify a different width
with non-nil width. The width must be an integer between 1 and 16.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1024

The argument align specifies the positioning of the bitmap relative to the range of
rows where it is used; the default is to center the bitmap. The allowed values are top,
center, or bottom.
The align argument may also be a list (align periodic) where align is interpreted
as described above. If periodic is non-nil, it specifies that the rows in bits should
be repeated enough times to reach the specified height.

destroy-fringe-bitmap bitmap [Function]

This function destroy the fringe bitmap identified by bitmap. If bitmap identifies a
standard fringe bitmap, it actually restores the standard definition of that bitmap,
instead of eliminating it entirely.

set-fringe-bitmap-face bitmap &optional face [Function]

This sets the face for the fringe bitmap bitmap to face. If face is nil, it selects the
fringe face. The bitmap’s face controls the color to draw it in.
face is merged with the fringe face, so normally face should specify only the fore-
ground color.

39.13.6 The Overlay Arrow

The overlay arrow is useful for directing the user’s attention to a particular line in a buffer.
For example, in the modes used for interface to debuggers, the overlay arrow indicates
the line of code about to be executed. This feature has nothing to do with overlays (see
Section 39.9 [Overlays], page 985).

overlay-arrow-string [Variable]
This variable holds the string to display to call attention to a particular line, or nil
if the arrow feature is not in use. On a graphical display the contents of the string
are ignored; instead a glyph is displayed in the fringe area to the left of the display
area.

overlay-arrow-position [Variable]
This variable holds a marker that indicates where to display the overlay arrow. It
should point at the beginning of a line. On a non-graphical display the arrow text
appears at the beginning of that line, overlaying any text that would otherwise appear.
Since the arrow is usually short, and the line usually begins with indentation, normally
nothing significant is overwritten.
The overlay-arrow string is displayed in any given buffer if the value of
overlay-arrow-position in that buffer points into that buffer. Thus, it
is possible to display multiple overlay arrow strings by creating buffer-local
bindings of overlay-arrow-position. However, it is usually cleaner to use
overlay-arrow-variable-list to achieve this result.

You can do a similar job by creating an overlay with a before-string property. See
Section 39.9.2 [Overlay Properties], page 988.
You can define multiple overlay arrows via the variable overlay-arrow-variable-list.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1025

overlay-arrow-variable-list [Variable]
This variable’s value is a list of variables, each of which specifies the position of
an overlay arrow. The variable overlay-arrow-position has its normal meaning
because it is on this list.

Each variable on this list can have properties overlay-arrow-string and

overlay-arrow-bitmap that specify an overlay arrow string (for text terminals) or fringe
bitmap (for graphical terminals) to display at the corresponding overlay arrow position. If
either property is not set, the default overlay-arrow-string or overlay-arrow fringe
indicator is used.

39.14 Scroll Bars

Normally the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars controls whether the windows in
the frame have vertical scroll bars, and whether they are on the left or right. The frame
parameter scroll-bar-width specifies how wide they are (nil meaning the default).
The frame parameter horizontal-scroll-bars controls whether the windows in the
frame have horizontal scroll bars. The frame parameter scroll-bar-height specifies how
high they are (nil meaning the default). See Section 29.4.3.4 [Layout Parameters], page 707.
Horizontal scroll bars are not available on all platforms. The function
horizontal-scroll-bars-available-p which takes no argument returns non-nil if they
are available on your system.
The following three functions take as argument a live frame which defaults to the selected
one.

frame-current-scroll-bars &optional frame [Function]

This function reports the scroll bar types for frame frame. The value is a cons cell
(vertical-type . horizontal-type), where vertical-type is either left, right, or
nil (which means no vertical scroll bar.) horizontal-type is either bottom or nil
(which means no horizontal scroll bar).

frame-scroll-bar-width &optional frame [Function]

This function returns the width of vertical scroll bars of frame in pixels.

frame-scroll-bar-height &optional frame [Function]

This function returns the height of horizontal scroll bars of frame in pixels.

You can override the frame specific settings for individual windows by using the following
function:

set-window-scroll-bars window &optional width vertical-type [Function]

height horizontal-type
This function sets the width and/or height and the types of scroll bars for window
window. If window is nil, the selected window is used.
width specifies the width of the vertical scroll bar in pixels (nil means use the width
specified for the frame). vertical-type specifies whether to have a vertical scroll bar
and, if so, where. The possible values are left, right, t, which means to use the
frame’s default, and nil for no vertical scroll bar.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1026

height specifies the height of the horizontal scroll bar in pixels (nil means use the
height specified for the frame). horizontal-type specifies whether to have a horizontal
scroll bar. The possible values are bottom, t, which means to use the frame’s default,
and nil for no horizontal scroll bar.
If window is not large enough to accommodate a scroll bar of the desired dimension,
this leaves the corresponding scroll bar unchanged.
The values specified here may be later overridden by invoking set-window-buffer
(see Section 28.11 [Buffers and Windows], page 626) on window with its keep-margins
argument nil or omitted.

The following four functions take as argument a live window which defaults to the
selected one.

window-scroll-bars &optional window [Function]

This function returns a list of the form (width columns vertical-type height
lines horizontal-type).
The value width is the value that was specified for the width of the vertical scroll bar
(which may be nil); columns is the (possibly rounded) number of columns that the
vertical scroll bar actually occupies.
The value height is the value that was specified for the height of the horizontal scroll
bar (which may be nil); lines is the (possibly rounded) number of lines that the
horizontally scroll bar actually occupies.

window-current-scroll-bars &optional window [Function]

This function reports the scroll bar type for window window. The value is a cons
cell (vertical-type . horizontal-type). Unlike window-scroll-bars, this re-
ports the scroll bar type actually used, once frame defaults and scroll-bar-mode
are taken into account.

window-scroll-bar-width &optional window [Function]

This function returns the width in pixels of window’s vertical scrollbar.

window-scroll-bar-height &optional window [Function]

This function returns the height in pixels of window’s horizontal scrollbar.

If you don’t specify these values for a window with set-window-scroll-bars, the buffer-
local variables vertical-scroll-bar, horizontal-scroll-bar, scroll-bar-width and
scroll-bar-height in the buffer being displayed control the window’s scroll bars. The
function set-window-buffer examines these variables. If you change them in a buffer that
is already visible in a window, you can make the window take note of the new values by
calling set-window-buffer specifying the same buffer that is already displayed.
You can control the appearance of scroll bars for a particular buffer by setting the
following variables which automatically become buffer-local when set.

vertical-scroll-bar [Variable]
This variable specifies the location of the vertical scroll bar. The possible values are
left, right, t, which means to use the frame’s default, and nil for no scroll bar.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1027

horizontal-scroll-bar [Variable]
This variable specifies the location of the horizontal scroll bar. The possible values
are bottom, t, which means to use the frame’s default, and nil for no scroll bar.
scroll-bar-width [Variable]
This variable specifies the width of the buffer’s vertical scroll bars, measured in pixels.
A value of nil means to use the value specified by the frame.
scroll-bar-height [Variable]
This variable specifies the height of the buffer’s horizontal scroll bar, measured in
pixels. A value of nil means to use the value specified by the frame.
Finally you can toggle the display of scroll bars on all frames by customizing the variables
scroll-bar-mode and horizontal-scroll-bar-mode.
scroll-bar-mode [User Option]
This variable controls whether and where to put vertical scroll bars in all frames.
The possible values are nil for no scroll bars, left to put scroll bars on the left and
right to put scroll bars on the right.
horizontal-scroll-bar-mode [User Option]
This variable controls whether to display horizontal scroll bars on all frames.

39.15 Window Dividers

Window dividers are bars drawn between a frame’s windows. A right divider is drawn
between a window and any adjacent windows on the right. Its width (thickness) is specified
by the frame parameter right-divider-width. A bottom divider is drawn between a
window and adjacent windows on the bottom or the echo area. Its width is specified by the
frame parameter bottom-divider-width. In either case, specifying a width of zero means
to not draw such dividers. See Section 29.4.3.4 [Layout Parameters], page 707.
Technically, a right divider belongs to the window on its left, which means that its width
contributes to the total width of that window. A bottom divider belongs to the window
above it, which means that its width contributes to the total height of that window. See
Section 28.3 [Window Sizes], page 603. When a window has both, a right and a bottom
divider, the bottom divider prevails. This means that a bottom divider is drawn over the
full total width of its window while the right divider ends above the bottom divider.
Dividers can be dragged with the mouse and are therefore useful for adjusting the sizes
of adjacent windows with the mouse. They also serve to visually set apart adjacent win-
dows when no scroll bars or mode lines are present. The following three faces allow the
customization of the appearance of dividers:
window-divider
When a divider is less than three pixels wide, it is drawn solidly with the
foreground of this face. For larger dividers this face is used for the inner part
only, excluding the first and last pixel.
window-divider-first-pixel
This is the face used for drawing the first pixel of a divider that is at least three
pixels wide. To obtain a solid appearance, set this to the same value used for
the window-divider face.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1028

window-divider-last-pixel
This is the face used for drawing the last pixel of a divider that is at least three
pixels wide. To obtain a solid appearance, set this to the same value used for
the window-divider face.
You can get the sizes of the dividers of a specific window with the following two functions.
window-right-divider-width &optional window [Function]
Return the width (thickness) in pixels of window’s right divider. window must be a
live window and defaults to the selected one. The return value is always zero for a
rightmost window.
window-bottom-divider-width &optional window [Function]
Return the width (thickness) in pixels of window’s bottom divider. window must
be a live window and defaults to the selected one. The return value is zero for the
minibuffer window or a bottommost window on a minibuffer-less frame.

39.16 The display Property

The display text property (or overlay property) is used to insert images into text, and to
control other aspects of how text displays. The value of the display property should be
a display specification, or a list or vector containing several display specifications. Display
specifications in the same display property value generally apply in parallel to the text
they cover.
If several sources (overlays and/or a text property) specify values for the display prop-
erty, only one of the values takes effect, following the rules of get-char-property. See
Section 32.19.1 [Examining Properties], page 802.
Some of the display specifications allow inclusion of Lisp forms, which are evaluated at
display time. This could be unsafe in certain situations, e.g., when the display specification
was generated by some external program/agent. Wrapping a display specification in a
list that begins with the special symbol disable-eval, as in ('disable-eval spec), will
disable evaluation of any Lisp in spec, while still supporting all the other display property
features.
The rest of this section describes several kinds of display specifications and what they
mean.

39.16.1 Display Specs That Replace The Text

Some kinds of display specifications specify something to display instead of the text that
has the property. These are called replacing display specifications. Emacs does not allow
the user to interactively move point into the middle of buffer text that is replaced in this
way.
If a list of display specifications includes more than one replacing display specification,
the first overrides the rest. Replacing display specifications make most other display speci-
fications irrelevant, since those don’t apply to the replacement.
For replacing display specifications, the text that has the property means all the consec-
utive characters that have the same Lisp object as their display property; these characters
are replaced as a single unit. If two characters have different Lisp objects as their display
properties (i.e., objects which are not eq), they are handled separately.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1029

Here is an example which illustrates this point. A string serves as a replacing display
specification, which replaces the text that has the property with the specified string (see
Section 39.16.4 [Other Display Specs], page 1031). Consider the following function:
(defun foo ()
(dotimes (i 5)
(let ((string (concat "A"))
(start (+ i i (point-min))))
(put-text-property start (1+ start) 'display string)
(put-text-property start (+ 2 start) 'display string))))
This function gives each of the first ten characters in the buffer a display property which is
a string "A", but they don’t all get the same string object. The first two characters get the
same string object, so they are replaced with one ‘A’; the fact that the display property was
assigned in two separate calls to put-text-property is irrelevant. Similarly, the next two
characters get a second string (concat creates a new string object), so they are replaced
with one ‘A’; and so on. Thus, the ten characters appear as five A’s.

39.16.2 Specified Spaces

To display a space of specified width and/or height, use a display specification of the form
(space . props), where props is a property list (a list of alternating properties and values).
You can put this property on one or more consecutive characters; a space of the specified
height and width is displayed in place of all of those characters. These are the properties
you can use in props to specify the weight of the space:
:width width
If width is a number, it specifies that the space width should be width times
the normal character width. width can also be a pixel width specification (see
Section 39.16.3 [Pixel Specification], page 1030).
:relative-width factor
Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the first charac-
ter in the group of consecutive characters that have the same display property.
The space width is the pixel width of that character, multiplied by factor. (On
text-mode terminals, the “pixel width” of a character is usually 1, but it could
be more for TABs and double-width CJK characters.)
:align-to hpos
Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach hpos. If hpos is a
number, it is measured in units of the normal character width. hpos can also be
a pixel width specification (see Section 39.16.3 [Pixel Specification], page 1030).
You should use one and only one of the above properties. You can also specify the height
of the space, with these properties:
:height height
Specifies the height of the space. If height is a number, it specifies that the
space height should be height times the normal character height. The height
may also be a pixel height specification (see Section 39.16.3 [Pixel Specification],
page 1030).
:relative-height factor
Specifies the height of the space, multiplying the ordinary height of the text
having this display specification by factor.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1030

:ascent ascent
If the value of ascent is a non-negative number no greater than 100, it specifies
that ascent percent of the height of the space should be considered as the
ascent of the space—that is, the part above the baseline. The ascent may also
be specified in pixel units with a pixel ascent specification (see Section 39.16.3
[Pixel Specification], page 1030).
Don’t use both :height and :relative-height together.
The :width and :align-to properties are supported on non-graphic terminals, but the
other space properties in this section are not.
Note that space properties are treated as paragraph separators for the purposes of re-
ordering bidirectional text for display. See Section 39.26 [Bidirectional Display], page 1067,
for the details.

39.16.3 Pixel Specification for Spaces

The value of the :width, :align-to, :height, and :ascent properties can be a special
kind of expression that is evaluated during redisplay. The result of the evaluation is used
as an absolute number of pixels.
The following expressions are supported:
expr ::= num | (num) | unit | elem | pos | image | xwidget | form
num ::= integer | float | symbol
unit ::= in | mm | cm | width | height
elem ::= left-fringe | right-fringe | left-margin | right-margin
| scroll-bar | text
pos ::= left | center | right
form ::= (num . expr) | (op expr ...)
op ::= + | -
The form num specifies a fraction of the default frame font height or width. The form
(num) specifies an absolute number of pixels. If num is a symbol, symbol, its buffer-local
variable binding is used; that binding can be either a number or a cons cell of the forms
shown above (including yet another cons cell whose car is a symbol that has a buffer-local
binding).
The in, mm, and cm units specify the number of pixels per inch, millimeter, and centime-
ter, respectively. The width and height units correspond to the default width and height of
the current face. An image specification of the form (image . props) (see Section 39.17.2
[Image Descriptors], page 1035) corresponds to the width or height of the specified image.
Similarly, an xwidget specification of the form (xwidget . props) stands for the width or
height of the specified xwidget. See Section 39.18 [Xwidgets], page 1048.
The elements left-fringe, right-fringe, left-margin, right-margin, scroll-bar,
and text specify the width of the corresponding area of the window. When the window
displays line numbers (see Section 39.10 [Size of Displayed Text], page 992), the width of
the text area is decreased by the screen space taken by the line-number display.
The left, center, and right positions can be used with :align-to to specify a position
relative to the left edge, center, or right edge of the text area. When the window displays
line numbers, the left and the center positions are offset to account for the screen space
taken by the line-number display.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1031

Any of the above window elements (except text) can also be used with :align-to to
specify that the position is relative to the left edge of the given area. Once the base offset
for a relative position has been set (by the first occurrence of one of these symbols), further
occurrences of these symbols are interpreted as the width of the specified area. For example,
to align to the center of the left-margin, use
:align-to (+ left-margin (0.5 . left-margin))
If no specific base offset is set for alignment, it is always relative to the left edge of the
text area. For example, ‘:align-to 0’ in a header-line aligns with the first text column
in the text area. When the window displays line numbers, the text is considered to start
where the space used for line-number display ends.
A value of the form (num . expr) stands for the product of the values of num and expr.
For example, (2 . in) specifies a width of 2 inches, while (0.5 . image) specifies half the
width (or height) of the specified image (which should be given by its image spec).
The form (+ expr ...) adds up the value of the expressions. The form (- expr ...)
negates or subtracts the value of the expressions.

39.16.4 Other Display Specifications

Here are the other sorts of display specifications that you can use in the display text
property.
string Display string instead of the text that has this property.
Recursive display specifications are not supported—string’s display properties,
if any, are not used.
(image . image-props)
This kind of display specification is an image descriptor (see Section 39.17
[Images], page 1034). When used as a display specification, it means to display
the image instead of the text that has the display specification.
(slice x y width height)
This specification together with image specifies a slice (a partial area) of the
image to display. The elements y and x specify the top left corner of the slice,
within the image; width and height specify the width and height of the slice.
Integers are numbers of pixels. A floating-point number in the range 0.0–1.0
stands for that fraction of the width or height of the entire image.
((margin nil) string)
A display specification of this form means to display string instead of the text
that has the display specification, at the same position as that text. It is
equivalent to using just string, but it is done as a special case of marginal
display (see Section 39.16.5 [Display Margins], page 1033).
(left-fringe bitmap [face])
(right-fringe bitmap [face])
This display specification on any character of a line of text causes the specified
bitmap be displayed in the left or right fringes for that line, instead of the char-
acters that have the display specification. The optional face specifies the colors
to be used for the bitmap. See Section 39.13.4 [Fringe Bitmaps], page 1022, for
the details.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1032

(space-width factor)
This display specification affects all the space characters within the text that has
the specification. It displays all of these spaces factor times as wide as normal.
The element factor should be an integer or float. Characters other than spaces
are not affected at all; in particular, this has no effect on tab characters.
(height height)
This display specification makes the text taller or shorter. Here are the possi-
bilities for height:
(+ n) This means to use a font that is n steps larger. A step is defined
by the set of available fonts—specifically, those that match what
was otherwise specified for this text, in all attributes except height.
Each size for which a suitable font is available counts as another
step. n should be an integer.
(- n) This means to use a font that is n steps smaller.
a number, factor
A number, factor, means to use a font that is factor times as tall
as the default font.
a symbol, function
A symbol is a function to compute the height. It is called with the
current height as argument, and should return the new height to
use.
anything else, form
If the height value doesn’t fit the previous possibilities, it is a form.
Emacs evaluates it to get the new height, with the symbol height
bound to the current specified font height.
(raise factor)
This kind of display specification raises or lowers the text it applies to, relative
to the baseline of the line. It is mainly meant to support display of subscripts
and superscripts.
The factor must be a number, which is interpreted as a multiple of the height of
the affected text. If it is positive, that means to display the characters raised.
If it is negative, that means to display them lower down.
Note that if the text also has a height display specification, which was specified
before (i.e. to the left of) raise, the latter will affect the amount of raising or
lowering in pixels, because that is based on the height of the text being raised.
Therefore, if you want to display a sub- or superscript that is smaller than the
normal text height, consider specifying raise before height.
You can make any display specification conditional. To do that, package it in another
list of the form (when condition . spec). Then the specification spec applies only when
condition evaluates to a non-nil value. During the evaluation, object is bound to the string
or buffer having the conditional display property. position and buffer-position are
bound to the position within object and the buffer position where the display property
was found, respectively. Both positions can be different when object is a string.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1033

Note that condition will only be evaluated when redisplay examines the text where this
display spec is located, so this feature is best suited for conditions that are relatively stable,
i.e. yield, for each particular buffer position, the same results on every evaluation. If the
results change for the same text location, e.g., if the result depends on the position of point,
then the conditional specification might not do what you want, because redisplay examines
only those parts of buffer text where it has reasons to assume that something changed since
the last display cycle.

39.16.5 Displaying in the Margins

A buffer can have blank areas called display margins on the left and on the right. Ordinary
text never appears in these areas, but you can put things into the display margins using
the display property. There is currently no way to make text or images in the margin
mouse-sensitive.
The way to display something in the margins is to specify it in a margin display spec-
ification in the display property of some text. This is a replacing display specification,
meaning that the text you put it on does not get displayed; the margin display appears,
but that text does not.
A margin display specification looks like ((margin right-margin) spec) or ((margin
left-margin) spec). Here, spec is another display specification that says what to display
in the margin. Typically it is a string of text to display, or an image descriptor.
To display something in the margin in association with certain buffer text, without
altering or preventing the display of that text, put a before-string property on the text
and put the margin display specification on the contents of the before-string.
Note that if the string to be displayed in the margin doesn’t specify a face, its face is
determined using the same rules and priorities as it is for strings displayed in the text area
(see Section 39.12.4 [Displaying Faces], page 1006). If this results in undesirable “leaking”
of faces into the margin, make sure the string has an explicit face specified for it.
Before the display margins can display anything, you must give them a nonzero width.
The usual way to do that is to set these variables:
left-margin-width [Variable]
This variable specifies the width of the left margin, in character cell (a.k.a. “column”)
units. It is buffer-local in all buffers. A value of nil means no left marginal area.
right-margin-width [Variable]
This variable specifies the width of the right margin, in character cell units. It is
buffer-local in all buffers. A value of nil means no right marginal area.
Setting these variables does not immediately affect the window. These variables are
checked when a new buffer is displayed in the window. Thus, you can make changes take
effect by calling set-window-buffer.
You can also set the margin widths immediately.
set-window-margins window left &optional right [Function]
This function specifies the margin widths for window window, in character cell units.
The argument left controls the left margin, and right controls the right margin (default
0).
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1034

If window is not large enough to accommodate margins of the desired width, this
leaves the margins of window unchanged.
The values specified here may be later overridden by invoking set-window-buffer
(see Section 28.11 [Buffers and Windows], page 626) on window with its keep-margins
argument nil or omitted.

window-margins &optional window [Function]

This function returns the width of the left and right margins of window as a cons cell
of the form (left . right). If one of the two marginal areas does not exist, its width
is returned as nil; if neither of the two margins exist, the function returns (nil). If
window is nil, the selected window is used.

39.17 Images
To display an image in an Emacs buffer, you must first create an image descriptor, then use
it as a display specifier in the display property of text that is displayed (see Section 39.16
[Display Property], page 1028).
Emacs is usually able to display images when it is run on a graphical terminal. Images
cannot be displayed in a text terminal, on certain graphical terminals that lack the sup-
port for this, or if Emacs is compiled without image support. You can use the function
display-images-p to determine if images can in principle be displayed (see Section 29.25
[Display Feature Testing], page 738).

39.17.1 Image Formats

Emacs can display a number of different image formats. Some of these image formats are
supported only if particular support libraries are installed. On some platforms, Emacs can
load support libraries on demand; if so, the variable dynamic-library-alist can be used
to modify the set of known names for these dynamic libraries. See Section 40.21 [Dynamic
Libraries], page 1110.
Supported image formats (and the required support libraries) include PBM and XBM
(which do not depend on support libraries and are always available), XPM (libXpm),
GIF (libgif or libungif), JPEG (libjpeg), TIFF (libtiff), PNG (libpng), and SVG
(librsvg).
Each of these image formats is associated with an image type symbol. The symbols for
the above formats are, respectively, pbm, xbm, xpm, gif, jpeg, tiff, png, and svg.
Furthermore, if you build Emacs with ImageMagick (libMagickWand) support, Emacs
can display any image format that ImageMagick can. See Section 39.17.5 [ImageMagick
Images], page 1038. All images displayed via ImageMagick have type symbol imagemagick.

image-types [Variable]
This variable contains a list of type symbols for image formats which are potentially
supported in the current configuration.
“Potentially” means that Emacs knows about the image types, not necessarily that
they can be used (for example, they could depend on unavailable dynamic libraries).
To know which image types are really available, use image-type-available-p.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1035

image-type-available-p type [Function]

This function returns non-nil if images of type type can be loaded and displayed.
type must be an image type symbol.
For image types whose support libraries are statically linked, this function always
returns t. For image types whose support libraries are dynamically loaded, it returns
t if the library could be loaded and nil otherwise.

39.17.2 Image Descriptors

An image descriptor is a list which specifies the underlying data for an image, and how
to display it. It is typically used as the value of a display overlay or text property (see
Section 39.16.4 [Other Display Specs], page 1031); but See Section 39.17.9 [Showing Images],
page 1044, for convenient helper functions to insert images into buffers.
Each image descriptor has the form (image . props), where props is a property list
of alternating keyword symbols and values, including at least the pair :type type that
specifies the image type.
The following is a list of properties that are meaningful for all image types (there are
also properties which are meaningful only for certain image types, as documented in the
following subsections):
:type type
The image type. Every image descriptor must include this property.
:file file
This says to load the image from file file. If file is not an absolute file name,
it is expanded relative to the images subdirectory of data-directory, and
failing that, relative to the directories listed by x-bitmap-file-path (see
Section 39.12.1 [Face Attributes], page 997).
:data data
This specifies the raw image data. Each image descriptor must have either
:data or :file, but not both.
For most image types, the value of a :data property should be a string contain-
ing the image data. Some image types do not support :data; for some others,
:data alone is not enough, so you need to use other image properties along
with :data. See the following subsections for details.
:margin margin
This specifies how many pixels to add as an extra margin around the image.
The value, margin, must be a non-negative number, or a pair (x . y) of such
numbers. If it is a pair, x specifies how many pixels to add horizontally, and
y specifies how many pixels to add vertically. If :margin is not specified, the
default is zero.
:ascent ascent
This specifies the amount of the image’s height to use for its ascent—that is,
the part above the baseline. The value, ascent, must be a number in the range
0 to 100, or the symbol center.
If ascent is a number, that percentage of the image’s height is used for its ascent.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1036

If ascent is center, the image is vertically centered around a centerline which

would be the vertical centerline of text drawn at the position of the image,
in the manner specified by the text properties and overlays that apply to the
image.
If this property is omitted, it defaults to 50.
:relief relief
This adds a shadow rectangle around the image. The value, relief, specifies the
width of the shadow lines, in pixels. If relief is negative, shadows are drawn
so that the image appears as a pressed button; otherwise, it appears as an
unpressed button.
:conversion algorithm
This specifies a conversion algorithm that should be applied to the image before
it is displayed; the value, algorithm, specifies which algorithm.
laplace
emboss Specifies the Laplace edge detection algorithm, which blurs out
small differences in color while highlighting larger differences. Peo-
ple sometimes consider this useful for displaying the image for a
disabled button.
(edge-detection :matrix matrix :color-adjust adjust)
Specifies a general edge-detection algorithm. matrix must be either
a nine-element list or a nine-element vector of numbers. A pixel at
position x/y in the transformed image is computed from original
pixels around that position. matrix specifies, for each pixel in the
neighborhood of x/y, a factor with which that pixel will influence
the transformed pixel; element 0 specifies the factor for the pixel
at x − 1/y − 1, element 1 the factor for the pixel at x/y − 1 etc., as
shown below:
x − 1/y − 1 x/y − 1 x + 1/y − 1
 
 x − 1/y x/y x + 1/y 
x − 1/y + 1 x/y + 1 x + 1/y + 1
The resulting pixel is computed from the color intensity of the color
resulting from summing up the RGB values of surrounding pixels,
multiplied by the specified factors, and dividing that sum by the
sum of the factors’ absolute values.
Laplace edge-detection currently uses a matrix of
1 0 0
 
0 0 0 
0 0 −1
Emboss edge-detection uses a matrix of
2 −1 0
 
 −1 0 1 
0 1 −2
disabled Specifies transforming the image so that it looks disabled.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1037

:mask mask
If mask is heuristic or (heuristic bg), build a clipping mask for the image,
so that the background of a frame is visible behind the image. If bg is not
specified, or if bg is t, determine the background color of the image by looking
at the four corners of the image, assuming the most frequently occurring color
from the corners is the background color of the image. Otherwise, bg must be
a list (red green blue) specifying the color to assume for the background of
the image.
If mask is nil, remove a mask from the image, if it has one. Images in some
formats include a mask which can be removed by specifying :mask nil.
:pointer shape
This specifies the pointer shape when the mouse pointer is over this image. See
Section 29.19 [Pointer Shape], page 733, for available pointer shapes.
:map map This associates an image map of hot spots with this image.
An image map is an alist where each element has the format (area id plist).
An area is specified as either a rectangle, a circle, or a polygon.
A rectangle is a cons (rect . ((x0 . y0) . (x1 . y1))) which specifies the
pixel coordinates of the upper left and bottom right corners of the rectangle
area.
A circle is a cons (circle . ((x0 . y0) . r)) which specifies the center and
the radius of the circle; r may be a float or integer.
A polygon is a cons (poly . [x0 y0 x1 y1 ...]) where each pair in the vector
describes one corner in the polygon.
When the mouse pointer lies on a hot-spot area of an image, the plist of that
hot-spot is consulted; if it contains a help-echo property, that defines a tool-tip
for the hot-spot, and if it contains a pointer property, that defines the shape of
the mouse cursor when it is on the hot-spot. See Section 29.19 [Pointer Shape],
page 733, for available pointer shapes.
When you click the mouse when the mouse pointer is over a hot-spot, an event
is composed by combining the id of the hot-spot with the mouse event; for
instance, [area4 mouse-1] if the hot-spot’s id is area4.
image-mask-p spec &optional frame [Function]
This function returns t if image spec has a mask bitmap. frame is the frame on which
the image will be displayed. frame nil or omitted means to use the selected frame
(see Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720).

39.17.3 XBM Images

To use XBM format, specify xbm as the image type. This image format doesn’t require an
external library, so images of this type are always supported.
Additional image properties supported for the xbm image type are:
:foreground foreground
The value, foreground, should be a string specifying the image foreground color,
or nil for the default color. This color is used for each pixel in the XBM that
is 1. The default is the frame’s foreground color.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1038

:background background
The value, background, should be a string specifying the image background
color, or nil for the default color. This color is used for each pixel in the XBM
that is 0. The default is the frame’s background color.
If you specify an XBM image using data within Emacs instead of an external file, use
the following three properties:
:data data
The value, data, specifies the contents of the image. There are three formats
you can use for data:
• A vector of strings or bool-vectors, each specifying one line of the image.
Do specify :height and :width.
• A string containing the same byte sequence as an XBM file would contain.
You must not specify :height and :width in this case, because omitting
them is what indicates the data has the format of an XBM file. The file
contents specify the height and width of the image.
• A string or a bool-vector containing the bits of the image (plus perhaps
some extra bits at the end that will not be used). It should contain at least
width * height bits. In this case, you must specify :height and :width,
both to indicate that the string contains just the bits rather than a whole
XBM file, and to specify the size of the image.
:width width
The value, width, specifies the width of the image, in pixels.
:height height
The value, height, specifies the height of the image, in pixels.

39.17.4 XPM Images

To use XPM format, specify xpm as the image type. The additional image property
:color-symbols is also meaningful with the xpm image type:
:color-symbols symbols
The value, symbols, should be an alist whose elements have the form (name .
color). In each element, name is the name of a color as it appears in the image
file, and color specifies the actual color to use for displaying that name.

39.17.5 ImageMagick Images

If your Emacs build has ImageMagick support, you can use the ImageMagick library to
load many image formats (see Section “File Conveniences” in The GNU Emacs Manual).
The image type symbol for images loaded via ImageMagick is imagemagick, regardless of
the actual underlying image format.
To check for ImageMagick support, use the following:
(image-type-available-p 'imagemagick)
imagemagick-types [Function]
This function returns a list of image file extensions supported by the current Im-
ageMagick installation. Each list element is a symbol representing an internal Im-
ageMagick name for an image type, such as BMP for .bmp images.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1039

imagemagick-enabled-types [User Option]

The value of this variable is a list of ImageMagick image types which Emacs may
attempt to render using ImageMagick. Each list element should be one of the symbols
in the list returned by imagemagick-types, or an equivalent string. Alternatively, a
value of t enables ImageMagick for all possible image types. Regardless of the value
of this variable, imagemagick-types-inhibit (see below) takes precedence.

imagemagick-types-inhibit [User Option]

The value of this variable lists the ImageMagick image types which should never be
rendered using ImageMagick, regardless of the value of imagemagick-enabled-types.
A value of t disables ImageMagick entirely.

image-format-suffixes [Variable]
This variable is an alist mapping image types to file name extensions. Emacs uses
this in conjunction with the :format image property (see below) to give a hint to the
ImageMagick library as to the type of an image. Each element has the form (type
extension), where type is a symbol specifying an image content-type, and extension
is a string that specifies the associated file name extension.

Images loaded with ImageMagick support the following additional image descriptor prop-
erties:
:background background
background, if non-nil, should be a string specifying a color, which is used as
the image’s background color if the image supports transparency. If the value
is nil, it defaults to the frame’s background color.
:width width, :height height
The :width and :height keywords are used for scaling the image. If only one
of them is specified, the other one will be calculated so as to preserve the aspect
ratio. If both are specified, aspect ratio may not be preserved.
:max-width max-width, :max-height max-height
The :max-width and :max-height keywords are used for scaling if the size
of the image of the image exceeds these values. If :width is set it will have
precedence over max-width, and if :height is set it will have precedence
over max-height, but you can otherwise mix these keywords as you wish.
:max-width and :max-height will always preserve the aspect ratio.
If both :width and :max-height has been set (but :height has not been set),
then :max-height will have precedence. The same is the case for the oppo-
site combination: The “max” keyword has precedence. That is, if you have a
200x100 image and specify that :width should be 400 and :max-height should
be 150, you’ll end up with an image that is 300x150: Preserving the aspect
ratio and not exceeding the “max” setting. This combination of parameters is
a useful way of saying “display this image as large as possible, but no larger
than the available display area”.
:scale scale
This should be a number, where values higher than 1 means to increase the
size, and lower means to decrease the size. For instance, a value of 0.25 will
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1040

make the image a quarter size of what it originally was. If the scaling makes
the image larger than specified by :max-width or :max-height, the resulting
size will not exceed those two values. If both :scale and :height/:width are
specified, the height/width will be adjusted by the specified scaling factor.
:format type
The value, type, should be a symbol specifying the type of the image data, as
found in image-format-suffixes. This is used when the image does not have
an associated file name, to provide a hint to ImageMagick to help it detect the
image type.
:rotation angle
Specifies a rotation angle in degrees.
:index frame
See Section 39.17.10 [Multi-Frame Images], page 1046.

39.17.6 SVG Images

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an XML format for specifying images. If your Emacs
build has SVG support, you can create and manipulate these images with the following
functions from the svg.el library.

svg-create width height &rest args [Function]

Create a new, empty SVG image with the specified dimensions. args is an argument
plist with you can specify following:
:stroke-width
The default width (in pixels) of any lines created.
:stroke The default stroke color on any lines created.
This function returns an SVG object, a Lisp data structure that specifies an SVG
image, and all the following functions work on that structure. The argument svg in
the following functions specifies such an SVG object.

svg-gradient svg id type stops [Function]

Create a gradient in svg with identifier id. type specifies the gradient type, and can
be either linear or radial. stops is a list of percentage/color pairs.
The following will create a linear gradient that goes from red at the start, to green
25% of the way, to blue at the end:
(svg-gradient svg "gradient1" 'linear
'((0 . "red") (25 . "green") (100 . "blue")))
The gradient created (and inserted into the SVG object) can later be used by all
functions that create shapes.

All the following functions take an optional list of keyword parameters that alter the
various attributes from their default values. Valid attributes include:
:stroke-width
The width (in pixels) of lines drawn, and outlines around solid shapes.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1041

:stroke-color
The color of lines drawn, and outlines around solid shapes.
:fill-color
The color used for solid shapes.
:id The identified of the shape.
:gradient
If given, this should be the identifier of a previously defined gradient object.
svg-rectangle svg x y width height &rest args [Function]
Add to svg a rectangle whose upper left corner is at position x/y and whose size is
width/height.
(svg-rectangle svg 100 100 500 500 :gradient "gradient1")
svg-circle svg x y radius &rest args [Function]
Add to svg a circle whose center is at x/y and whose radius is radius.
svg-ellipse svg x y x-radius y-radius &rest args [Function]
Add to svg an ellipse whose center is at x/y, and whose horizontal radius is x-radius
and the vertical radius is y-radius.
svg-line svg x1 y1 x2 y2 &rest args [Function]
Add to svg a line that starts at x1/y1 and extends to x2/y2.
svg-polyline svg points &rest args [Function]
Add to svg a multiple-segment line (a.k.a. “polyline”) that goes through points, which
is a list of X/Y position pairs.
(svg-polyline svg '((200 . 100) (500 . 450) (80 . 100))
:stroke-color "green")
svg-polygon svg points &rest args [Function]
Add a polygon to svg where points is a list of X/Y pairs that describe the outer
circumference of the polygon.
(svg-polygon svg '((100 . 100) (200 . 150) (150 . 90))
:stroke-color "blue" :fill-color "red")
svg-text svg text &rest args [Function]
Add the specified text to svg.
(svg-text
svg "This is a text"
:font-size "40"
:font-weight "bold"
:stroke "black"
:fill "white"
:font-family "impact"
:letter-spacing "4pt"
:x 300
:y 400
:stroke-width 1)
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1042

svg-embed svg image image-type datap &rest args [Function]

Add an embedded (raster) image to svg. If datap is nil, image should be a file name;
otherwise it should be a string containing the image data as raw bytes. image-type
should be a MIME image type, for instance "image/jpeg".
(svg-embed svg "~/rms.jpg" "image/jpeg" nil
:width "100px" :height "100px"
:x "50px" :y "75px")

svg-remove svg id [Function]

Remove the element with identifier id from the svg.

svg-image svg [Function]

Finally, the svg-image takes an SVG object as its argument and returns an image
object suitable for use in functions like insert-image.

Here’s a complete example that creates and inserts an image with a circle:
(let ((svg (svg-create 400 400 :stroke-width 10)))
(svg-gradient svg "gradient1" 'linear '((0 . "red") (100 . "blue")))
(svg-circle svg 200 200 100 :gradient "gradient1"
:stroke-color "green")
(insert-image (svg-image svg)))

39.17.7 Other Image Types

For PBM images, specify image type pbm. Color, gray-scale and monochromatic images are
supported. For mono PBM images, two additional image properties are supported.

:foreground foreground
The value, foreground, should be a string specifying the image foreground color,
or nil for the default color. This color is used for each pixel in the PBM that
is 1. The default is the frame’s foreground color.

:background background
The value, background, should be a string specifying the image background
color, or nil for the default color. This color is used for each pixel in the PBM
that is 0. The default is the frame’s background color.

The remaining image types that Emacs can support are:

GIF Image type gif. Supports the :index property. See Section 39.17.10 [Multi-
Frame Images], page 1046.

JPEG Image type jpeg.

PNG Image type png.

TIFF Image type tiff. Supports the :index property. See Section 39.17.10 [Multi-
Frame Images], page 1046.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1043

39.17.8 Defining Images

The functions create-image, defimage and find-image provide convenient ways to create
image descriptors.
create-image file-or-data &optional type data-p &rest props [Function]
This function creates and returns an image descriptor which uses the data in file-or-
data. file-or-data can be a file name or a string containing the image data; data-p
should be nil for the former case, non-nil for the latter case.
The optional argument type is a symbol specifying the image type. If type is omitted
or nil, create-image tries to determine the image type from the file’s first few bytes,
or else from the file’s name.
The remaining arguments, props, specify additional image properties—for example,
(create-image "foo.xpm" 'xpm nil :heuristic-mask t)
The function returns nil if images of this type are not supported. Otherwise it
returns an image descriptor.
defimage symbol specs &optional doc [Macro]
This macro defines symbol as an image name. The arguments specs is a list which
specifies how to display the image. The third argument, doc, is an optional documen-
tation string.
Each argument in specs has the form of a property list, and each one should specify
at least the :type property and either the :file or the :data property. The value of
:type should be a symbol specifying the image type, the value of :file is the file to
load the image from, and the value of :data is a string containing the actual image
data. Here is an example:
(defimage test-image
((:type xpm :file "~/test1.xpm")
(:type xbm :file "~/test1.xbm")))
defimage tests each argument, one by one, to see if it is usable—that is, if the type
is supported and the file exists. The first usable argument is used to make an image
descriptor which is stored in symbol.
If none of the alternatives will work, then symbol is defined as nil.
image-property image property [Function]
Return the value of property in image. Properties can be set by using setf. Setting
a property to nil will remove the property from the image.
find-image specs [Function]
This function provides a convenient way to find an image satisfying one of a list of
image specifications specs.
Each specification in specs is a property list with contents depending on image
type. All specifications must at least contain the properties :type type and either
:file file or :data data, where type is a symbol specifying the image type, e.g.,
xbm, file is the file to load the image from, and data is a string containing the actual
image data. The first specification in the list whose type is supported, and file ex-
ists, is used to construct the image specification to be returned. If no specification is
satisfied, nil is returned.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1044

The image is looked for in image-load-path.

image-load-path [User Option]

This variable’s value is a list of locations in which to search for image files. If an
element is a string or a variable symbol whose value is a string, the string is taken to
be the name of a directory to search. If an element is a variable symbol whose value
is a list, that is taken to be a list of directories to search.
The default is to search in the images subdirectory of the directory specified by
data-directory, then the directory specified by data-directory, and finally in
the directories in load-path. Subdirectories are not automatically included in the
search, so if you put an image file in a subdirectory, you have to supply the sub-
directory explicitly. For example, to find the image images/foo/bar.xpm within
data-directory, you should specify the image as follows:
(defimage foo-image '((:type xpm :file "foo/bar.xpm")))

image-load-path-for-library library image &optional path [Function]

no-error
This function returns a suitable search path for images used by the Lisp package
library.
The function searches for image first using image-load-path, excluding
data-directory/images, and then in load-path, followed by a path suitable for
library, which includes ../../etc/images and ../etc/images relative to the
library file itself, and finally in data-directory/images.
Then this function returns a list of directories which contains first the directory in
which image was found, followed by the value of load-path. If path is given, it is
used instead of load-path.
If no-error is non-nil and a suitable path can’t be found, don’t signal an error.
Instead, return a list of directories as before, except that nil appears in place of the
image directory.
Here is an example of using image-load-path-for-library:
(defvar image-load-path) ; shush compiler
(let* ((load-path (image-load-path-for-library
"mh-e" "mh-logo.xpm"))
(image-load-path (cons (car load-path)
image-load-path)))
(mh-tool-bar-folder-buttons-init))

Images are automatically scaled when created based on the image-scaling-factor

variable. The value is either a floating point number (where numbers higher than 1 means
to increase the size and lower means to shrink the size), or the symbol auto, which will
compute a scaling factor based on the font pixel size.

39.17.9 Showing Images

You can use an image descriptor by setting up the display property yourself, but it is
easier to use the functions in this section.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1045

insert-image image &optional string area slice [Function]

This function inserts image in the current buffer at point. The value image should be
an image descriptor; it could be a value returned by create-image, or the value of a
symbol defined with defimage. The argument string specifies the text to put in the
buffer to hold the image. If it is omitted or nil, insert-image uses " " by default.
The argument area specifies whether to put the image in a margin. If it is
left-margin, the image appears in the left margin; right-margin specifies the
right margin. If area is nil or omitted, the image is displayed at point within the
buffer’s text.
The argument slice specifies a slice of the image to insert. If slice is nil or omitted the
whole image is inserted. Otherwise, slice is a list (x y width height) which specifies
the x and y positions and width and height of the image area to insert. Integer values
are in units of pixels. A floating-point number in the range 0.0–1.0 stands for that
fraction of the width or height of the entire image.
Internally, this function inserts string in the buffer, and gives it a display property
which specifies image. See Section 39.16 [Display Property], page 1028.
insert-sliced-image image &optional string area rows cols [Function]
This function inserts image in the current buffer at point, like insert-image, but
splits the image into rowsxcols equally sized slices.
Emacs displays each slice as a separate image, and allows more intuitive scrolling
up/down, instead of jumping up/down the entire image when paging through a buffer
that displays (large) images.
put-image image pos &optional string area [Function]
This function puts image image in front of pos in the current buffer. The argument
pos should be an integer or a marker. It specifies the buffer position where the image
should appear. The argument string specifies the text that should hold the image as
an alternative to the default.
The argument image must be an image descriptor, perhaps returned by create-image
or stored by defimage.
The argument area specifies whether to put the image in a margin. If it is
left-margin, the image appears in the left margin; right-margin specifies the
right margin. If area is nil or omitted, the image is displayed at point within the
buffer’s text.
Internally, this function creates an overlay, and gives it a before-string property
containing text that has a display property whose value is the image. (Whew!)
remove-images start end &optional buffer [Function]
This function removes images in buffer between positions start and end. If buffer is
omitted or nil, images are removed from the current buffer.
This removes only images that were put into buffer the way put-image does it, not
images that were inserted with insert-image or in other ways.
image-size spec &optional pixels frame [Function]
This function returns the size of an image as a pair (width . height). spec is an
image specification. pixels non-nil means return sizes measured in pixels, otherwise
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1046

return sizes measured in the default character size of frame (see Section 29.3.2 [Frame
Font], page 694). frame is the frame on which the image will be displayed. frame nil
or omitted means use the selected frame (see Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720).
max-image-size [Variable]
This variable is used to define the maximum size of image that Emacs will load.
Emacs will refuse to load (and display) any image that is larger than this limit.
If the value is an integer, it directly specifies the maximum image height and width,
measured in pixels. If it is floating point, it specifies the maximum image height and
width as a ratio to the frame height and width. If the value is non-numeric, there is
no explicit limit on the size of images.
The purpose of this variable is to prevent unreasonably large images from accidentally
being loaded into Emacs. It only takes effect the first time an image is loaded.
Once an image is placed in the image cache, it can always be displayed, even if
the value of max-image-size is subsequently changed (see Section 39.17.11 [Image
Cache], page 1047).
Images inserted with the insertion functions above also get a local keymap installed in
the text properties (or overlays) that span the displayed image. This keymap defines the
following commands:
+ Increase the image size (image-increase-size). A prefix value of ‘4’ means
to increase the size by 40%. The default is 20%.
- Decrease the image size (image-increase-size). A prefix value of ‘4’ means
to decrease the size by 40%. The default is 20%.
r Rotate the image by 90 degrees (image-rotate).
o Save the image to a file (image-save).

39.17.10 Multi-Frame Images

Some image files can contain more than one image. We say that there are multiple “frames”
in the image. At present, Emacs supports multiple frames for GIF, TIFF, and certain
ImageMagick formats such as DJVM.
The frames can be used either to represent multiple pages (this is usually the case with
multi-frame TIFF files, for example), or to create animation (usually the case with multi-
frame GIF files).
A multi-frame image has a property :index, whose value is an integer (counting from
0) that specifies which frame is being displayed.
image-multi-frame-p image [Function]
This function returns non-nil if image contains more than one frame. The actual
return value is a cons (nimages . delay), where nimages is the number of frames
and delay is the delay in seconds between them, or nil if the image does not specify a
delay. Images that are intended to be animated usually specify a frame delay, whereas
ones that are intended to be treated as multiple pages do not.
image-current-frame image [Function]
This function returns the index of the current frame number for image, counting from
0.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1047

image-show-frame image n &optional nocheck [Function]

This function switches image to frame number n. It replaces a frame number outside
the valid range with that of the end of the range, unless nocheck is non-nil. If image
does not contain a frame with the specified number, the image displays as a hollow
box.

image-animate image &optional index limit [Function]

This function animates image. The optional integer index specifies the frame from
which to start (default 0). The optional argument limit controls the length of the
animation. If omitted or nil, the image animates once only; if t it loops forever; if a
number animation stops after that many seconds.

Animation operates by means of a timer. Note that Emacs imposes a minimum frame delay
of 0.01 (image-minimum-frame-delay) seconds. If the image itself does not specify a delay,
Emacs uses image-default-frame-delay.

image-animate-timer image [Function]

This function returns the timer responsible for animating image, if there is one.

39.17.11 Image Cache

Emacs caches images so that it can display them again more efficiently. When Emacs
displays an image, it searches the image cache for an existing image specification equal
to the desired specification. If a match is found, the image is displayed from the cache.
Otherwise, Emacs loads the image normally.

image-flush spec &optional frame [Function]

This function removes the image with specification spec from the image cache of frame
frame. Image specifications are compared using equal. If frame is nil, it defaults to
the selected frame. If frame is t, the image is flushed on all existing frames.
In Emacs’s current implementation, each graphical terminal possesses an image cache,
which is shared by all the frames on that terminal (see Section 29.2 [Multiple Termi-
nals], page 685). Thus, refreshing an image in one frame also refreshes it in all other
frames on the same terminal.

One use for image-flush is to tell Emacs about a change in an image file. If an image
specification contains a :file property, the image is cached based on the file’s contents
when the image is first displayed. Even if the file subsequently changes, Emacs continues
displaying the old version of the image. Calling image-flush flushes the image from the
cache, forcing Emacs to re-read the file the next time it needs to display that image.
Another use for image-flush is for memory conservation. If your Lisp program cre-
ates a large number of temporary images over a period much shorter than image-cache-
eviction-delay (see below), you can opt to flush unused images yourself, instead of waiting
for Emacs to do it automatically.

clear-image-cache &optional filter [Function]

This function clears an image cache, removing all the images stored in it. If filter is
omitted or nil, it clears the cache for the selected frame. If filter is a frame, it clears
the cache for that frame. If filter is t, all image caches are cleared. Otherwise, filter
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1048

is taken to be a file name, and all images associated with that file name are removed
from all image caches.
If an image in the image cache has not been displayed for a specified period of time,
Emacs removes it from the cache and frees the associated memory.
image-cache-eviction-delay [Variable]
This variable specifies the number of seconds an image can remain in the cache without
being displayed. When an image is not displayed for this length of time, Emacs
removes it from the image cache.
Under some circumstances, if the number of images in the cache grows too large, the
actual eviction delay may be shorter than this.
If the value is nil, Emacs does not remove images from the cache except when you
explicitly clear it. This mode can be useful for debugging.

39.18 Embedded Native Widgets

Emacs is able to display native widgets, such as GTK+ WebKit widgets, in Emacs buffers
when it was built with the necessary support libraries and is running on a graphical ter-
minal. To test whether Emacs supports display of embedded widgets, check that the
xwidget-internal feature is available (see Section 16.7 [Named Features], page 273).
To display an embedded widget in a buffer, you must first create an xwidget object,
and then use that object as the display specifier in a display text or overlay property (see
Section 39.16 [Display Property], page 1028).
make-xwidget type title width height arguments &optional buffer [Function]
This creates and returns an xwidget object. If buffer is omitted or nil, it defaults to
the current buffer. If buffer names a buffer that doesn’t exist, it will be created. The
type identifies the type of the xwidget component, it can be one of the following:
webkit The WebKit component.
The width and height arguments specify the widget size in pixels, and title, a string,
specifies its title.
xwidgetp object [Function]
This function returns t if object is an xwidget, nil otherwise.
xwidget-plist xwidget [Function]
This function returns the property list of xwidget.
set-xwidget-plist xwidget plist [Function]
This function replaces the property list of xwidget with a new property list given by
plist.
xwidget-buffer xwidget [Function]
This function returns the buffer of xwidget.
get-buffer-xwidgets buffer [Function]
This function returns a list of xwidget objects associated with the buffer, which can
be specified as a buffer object or a name of an existing buffer, a string. The value is
nil if buffer contains no xwidgets.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1049

xwidget-webkit-goto-uri xwidget uri [Function]

This function browses the specified uri in the given xwidget. The uri is a string that
specifies the name of a file or a URL.
xwidget-webkit-execute-script xwidget script [Function]
This function causes the browser widget specified by xwidget to execute the specified
JavaScript script.
xwidget-webkit-execute-script-rv xwidget script &optional [Function]
default
This function executes the specified script like xwidget-webkit-execute-script
does, but it also returns the script’s return value as a string. If script doesn’t return
a value, this function returns default, or nil if default was omitted.
xwidget-webkit-get-title xwidget [Function]
This function returns the title of xwidget as a string.
xwidget-resize xwidget width height [Function]
This function resizes the specified xwidget to the size widthxheight pixels.
xwidget-size-request xwidget [Function]
This function returns the desired size of xwidget as a list of the form (width height).
The dimensions are in pixels.
xwidget-info xwidget [Function]
This function returns the attributes of xwidget as a vector of the form [type title
width height]. The attributes are usually determined by make-xwidget when the
xwidget is created.
set-xwidget-query-on-exit-flag xwidget flag [Function]
This function allows you to arrange that Emacs will ask the user for confirmation
before exiting or before killing a buffer that has xwidget associated with it. If flag is
non-nil, Emacs will query the user, otherwise it will not.
xwidget-query-on-exit-flag xwidget [Function]
This function returns the current setting of xwidgets query-on-exit flag, either t or
nil.

39.19 Buttons
The Button package defines functions for inserting and manipulating buttons that can be
activated with the mouse or via keyboard commands. These buttons are typically used for
various kinds of hyperlinks.
A button is essentially a set of text or overlay properties, attached to a stretch of text
in a buffer. These properties are called button properties. One of these properties, the
action property, specifies a function which is called when the user invokes the button using
the keyboard or the mouse. The action function may examine the button and use its other
properties as desired.
In some ways, the Button package duplicates the functionality in the Widget package.
See Section “Introduction” in The Emacs Widget Library. The advantage of the Button
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1050

package is that it is faster, smaller, and simpler to program. From the point of view of the
user, the interfaces produced by the two packages are very similar.

39.19.1 Button Properties

Each button has an associated list of properties defining its appearance and behavior, and
other arbitrary properties may be used for application specific purposes. The following
properties have special meaning to the Button package:
action The function to call when the user invokes the button, which is passed the single
argument button. By default this is ignore, which does nothing.
mouse-action
This is similar to action, and when present, will be used instead of action
for button invocations resulting from mouse-clicks (instead of the user hitting
RET). If not present, mouse-clicks use action instead.
face This is an Emacs face controlling how buttons of this type are displayed; by
default this is the button face.
mouse-face
This is an additional face which controls appearance during mouse-overs
(merged with the usual button face); by default this is the usual Emacs
highlight face.
keymap The button’s keymap, defining bindings active within the button region. By de-
fault this is the usual button region keymap, stored in the variable button-map,
which defines RET and mouse-2 to invoke the button.
type The button type. See Section 39.19.2 [Button Types], page 1050.
help-echo
A string displayed by the Emacs tool-tip help system; by default, "mouse-2,
RET: Push this button".
follow-link
The follow-link property, defining how a mouse-1 click behaves on this button,
See Section 32.19.8 [Clickable Text], page 816.
button All buttons have a non-nil button property, which may be useful in finding
regions of text that comprise buttons (which is what the standard button func-
tions do).
There are other properties defined for the regions of text in a button, but these are not
generally interesting for typical uses.

39.19.2 Button Types

Every button has a button type, which defines default values for the button’s properties.
Button types are arranged in a hierarchy, with specialized types inheriting from more general
types, so that it’s easy to define special-purpose types of buttons for specific tasks.
define-button-type name &rest properties [Function]
Define a button type called name (a symbol). The remaining arguments form a
sequence of property value pairs, specifying default property values for buttons with
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1051

this type (a button’s type may be set by giving it a type property when creating the
button, using the :type keyword argument).
In addition, the keyword argument :supertype may be used to specify a button-type
from which name inherits its default property values. Note that this inheritance hap-
pens only when name is defined; subsequent changes to a supertype are not reflected
in its subtypes.

Using define-button-type to define default properties for buttons is not necessary—

buttons without any specified type use the built-in button-type button—but it is encour-
aged, since doing so usually makes the resulting code clearer and more efficient.

39.19.3 Making Buttons

Buttons are associated with a region of text, using an overlay or text properties to hold
button-specific information, all of which are initialized from the button’s type (which de-
faults to the built-in button type button). Like all Emacs text, the appearance of the
button is governed by the face property; by default (via the face property inherited from
the button button-type) this is a simple underline, like a typical web-page link.
For convenience, there are two sorts of button-creation functions, those that add button
properties to an existing region of a buffer, called make-...button, and those that also
insert the button text, called insert-...button.
The button-creation functions all take the &rest argument properties, which should
be a sequence of property value pairs, specifying properties to add to the button; see
Section 39.19.1 [Button Properties], page 1050. In addition, the keyword argument
:type may be used to specify a button-type from which to inherit other properties; see
Section 39.19.2 [Button Types], page 1050. Any properties not explicitly specified during
creation will be inherited from the button’s type (if the type defines such a property).
The following functions add a button using an overlay (see Section 39.9 [Overlays],
page 985) to hold the button properties:

make-button beg end &rest properties [Function]

This makes a button from beg to end in the current buffer, and returns it.

insert-button label &rest properties [Function]

This insert a button with the label label at point, and returns it.

The following functions are similar, but using text properties (see Section 32.19 [Text
Properties], page 802) to hold the button properties. Such buttons do not add markers
to the buffer, so editing in the buffer does not slow down if there is an extremely large
numbers of buttons. However, if there is an existing face text property on the text (e.g.,
a face assigned by Font Lock mode), the button face may not be visible. Both of these
functions return the starting position of the new button.

make-text-button beg end &rest properties [Function]

This makes a button from beg to end in the current buffer, using text properties.

insert-text-button label &rest properties [Function]

This inserts a button with the label label at point, using text properties.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1052

39.19.4 Manipulating Buttons

These are functions for getting and setting properties of buttons. Often these are used by
a button’s invocation function to determine what to do.
Where a button parameter is specified, it means an object referring to a specific button,
either an overlay (for overlay buttons), or a buffer-position or marker (for text property
buttons). Such an object is passed as the first argument to a button’s invocation function
when it is invoked.

button-start button [Function]

Return the position at which button starts.

button-end button [Function]

Return the position at which button ends.

button-get button prop [Function]

Get the property of button button named prop.

button-put button prop val [Function]

Set button’s prop property to val.

button-activate button &optional use-mouse-action [Function]

Call button’s action property (i.e., invoke the function that is the value of that
property, passing it the single argument button). If use-mouse-action is non-nil, try
to invoke the button’s mouse-action property instead of action; if the button has
no mouse-action property, use action as normal.

button-label button [Function]

Return button’s text label.

button-type button [Function]

Return button’s button-type.

button-has-type-p button type [Function]

Return t if button has button-type type, or one of type’s subtypes.

button-at pos [Function]

Return the button at position pos in the current buffer, or nil. If the button at pos
is a text property button, the return value is a marker pointing to pos.

button-type-put type prop val [Function]

Set the button-type type’s prop property to val.

button-type-get type prop [Function]

Get the property of button-type type named prop.

button-type-subtype-p type supertype [Function]

Return t if button-type type is a subtype of supertype.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1053

39.19.5 Button Buffer Commands

These are commands and functions for locating and operating on buttons in an Emacs
buffer.
push-button is the command that a user uses to actually push a button, and is bound
by default in the button itself to RET and to mouse-2 using a local keymap in the button’s
overlay or text properties. Commands that are useful outside the buttons itself, such as
forward-button and backward-button are additionally available in the keymap stored in
button-buffer-map; a mode which uses buttons may want to use button-buffer-map as
a parent keymap for its keymap.
If the button has a non-nil follow-link property, and mouse-1-click-follows-
link is set, a quick mouse-1 click will also activate the push-button command. See
Section 32.19.8 [Clickable Text], page 816.
push-button &optional pos use-mouse-action [Command]
Perform the action specified by a button at location pos. pos may be either a buffer
position or a mouse-event. If use-mouse-action is non-nil, or pos is a mouse-event (see
Section 21.7.3 [Mouse Events], page 383), try to invoke the button’s mouse-action
property instead of action; if the button has no mouse-action property, use action
as normal. pos defaults to point, except when push-button is invoked interactively
as the result of a mouse-event, in which case, the mouse event’s position is used. If
there’s no button at pos, do nothing and return nil, otherwise return t.
forward-button n &optional wrap display-message [Command]
Move to the nth next button, or nth previous button if n is negative. If n is zero,
move to the start of any button at point. If wrap is non-nil, moving past either
end of the buffer continues from the other end. If display-message is non-nil, the
button’s help-echo string is displayed. Any button with a non-nil skip property is
skipped over. Returns the button found.
backward-button n &optional wrap display-message [Command]
Move to the nth previous button, or nth next button if n is negative. If n is zero,
move to the start of any button at point. If wrap is non-nil, moving past either
end of the buffer continues from the other end. If display-message is non-nil, the
button’s help-echo string is displayed. Any button with a non-nil skip property is
skipped over. Returns the button found.
next-button pos &optional count-current [Function]
previous-button pos &optional count-current [Function]
Return the next button after (for next-button) or before (for previous-button)
position pos in the current buffer. If count-current is non-nil, count any button at
pos in the search, instead of starting at the next button.

39.20 Abstract Display

The Ewoc package constructs buffer text that represents a structure of Lisp objects, and
updates the text to follow changes in that structure. This is like the “view” component in
the “model–view–controller” design paradigm. Ewoc means “Emacs’s Widget for Object
Collections”.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1054

An ewoc is a structure that organizes information required to construct buffer text that
represents certain Lisp data. The buffer text of the ewoc has three parts, in order: first,
fixed header text; next, textual descriptions of a series of data elements (Lisp objects that
you specify); and last, fixed footer text. Specifically, an ewoc contains information on:
• The buffer which its text is generated in.
• The text’s start position in the buffer.
• The header and footer strings.
• A doubly-linked chain of nodes, each of which contains:
• A data element, a single Lisp object.
• Links to the preceding and following nodes in the chain.
• A pretty-printer function which is responsible for inserting the textual representation
of a data element value into the current buffer.
Typically, you define an ewoc with ewoc-create, and then pass the resulting ewoc
structure to other functions in the Ewoc package to build nodes within it, and display it in
the buffer. Once it is displayed in the buffer, other functions determine the correspondence
between buffer positions and nodes, move point from one node’s textual representation to
another, and so forth. See Section 39.20.1 [Abstract Display Functions], page 1054.
A node encapsulates a data element much the way a variable holds a value. Normally,
encapsulation occurs as a part of adding a node to the ewoc. You can retrieve the data
element value and place a new value in its place, like so:
(ewoc-data node)
⇒ value

(ewoc-set-data node new-value)

⇒ new-value
You can also use, as the data element value, a Lisp object (list or vector) that is a container
for the real value, or an index into some other structure. The example (see Section 39.20.2
[Abstract Display Example], page 1056) uses the latter approach.
When the data changes, you will want to update the text in the buffer. You can update
all nodes by calling ewoc-refresh, or just specific nodes using ewoc-invalidate, or all
nodes satisfying a predicate using ewoc-map. Alternatively, you can delete invalid nodes
using ewoc-delete or ewoc-filter, and add new nodes in their place. Deleting a node
from an ewoc deletes its associated textual description from buffer, as well.

39.20.1 Abstract Display Functions

In this subsection, ewoc and node stand for the structures described above (see Section 39.20
[Abstract Display], page 1053), while data stands for an arbitrary Lisp object used as a data
element.
ewoc-create pretty-printer &optional header footer nosep [Function]
This constructs and returns a new ewoc, with no nodes (and thus no data elements).
pretty-printer should be a function that takes one argument, a data element of the
sort you plan to use in this ewoc, and inserts its textual description at point using
insert (and never insert-before-markers, because that would interfere with the
Ewoc package’s internal mechanisms).
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1055

Normally, a newline is automatically inserted after the header, the footer and every
node’s textual description. If nosep is non-nil, no newline is inserted. This may be
useful for displaying an entire ewoc on a single line, for example, or for making nodes
invisible by arranging for pretty-printer to do nothing for those nodes.
An ewoc maintains its text in the buffer that is current when you create it, so switch
to the intended buffer before calling ewoc-create.

ewoc-buffer ewoc [Function]

This returns the buffer where ewoc maintains its text.

ewoc-get-hf ewoc [Function]

This returns a cons cell (header . footer) made from ewoc’s header and footer.

ewoc-set-hf ewoc header footer [Function]

This sets the header and footer of ewoc to the strings header and footer, respectively.

ewoc-enter-first ewoc data [Function]

ewoc-enter-last ewoc data [Function]
These add a new node encapsulating data, putting it, respectively, at the beginning
or end of ewoc’s chain of nodes.

ewoc-enter-before ewoc node data [Function]

ewoc-enter-after ewoc node data [Function]
These add a new node encapsulating data, adding it to ewoc before or after node,
respectively.

ewoc-prev ewoc node [Function]

ewoc-next ewoc node [Function]
These return, respectively, the previous node and the next node of node in ewoc.

ewoc-nth ewoc n [Function]

This returns the node in ewoc found at zero-based index n. A negative n means count
from the end. ewoc-nth returns nil if n is out of range.

ewoc-data node [Function]

This extracts the data encapsulated by node and returns it.

ewoc-set-data node data [Function]

This sets the data encapsulated by node to data.

ewoc-locate ewoc &optional pos guess [Function]

This determines the node in ewoc which contains point (or pos if specified), and
returns that node. If ewoc has no nodes, it returns nil. If pos is before the first
node, it returns the first node; if pos is after the last node, it returns the last node.
The optional third arg guess should be a node that is likely to be near pos; this
doesn’t alter the result, but makes the function run faster.

ewoc-location node [Function]

This returns the start position of node.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1056

ewoc-goto-prev ewoc arg [Function]

ewoc-goto-next ewoc arg [Function]
These move point to the previous or next, respectively, argth node in ewoc.
ewoc-goto-prev does not move if it is already at the first node or if ewoc is empty,
whereas ewoc-goto-next moves past the last node, returning nil. Excepting this
special case, these functions return the node moved to.

ewoc-goto-node ewoc node [Function]

This moves point to the start of node in ewoc.

ewoc-refresh ewoc [Function]

This function regenerates the text of ewoc. It works by deleting the text between the
header and the footer, i.e., all the data elements’ representations, and then calling
the pretty-printer function for each node, one by one, in order.

ewoc-invalidate ewoc &rest nodes [Function]

This is similar to ewoc-refresh, except that only nodes in ewoc are updated instead
of the entire set.

ewoc-delete ewoc &rest nodes [Function]

This deletes each node in nodes from ewoc.

ewoc-filter ewoc predicate &rest args [Function]

This calls predicate for each data element in ewoc and deletes those nodes for which
predicate returns nil. Any args are passed to predicate.

ewoc-collect ewoc predicate &rest args [Function]

This calls predicate for each data element in ewoc and returns a list of those elements
for which predicate returns non-nil. The elements in the list are ordered as in the
buffer. Any args are passed to predicate.

ewoc-map map-function ewoc &rest args [Function]

This calls map-function for each data element in ewoc and updates those nodes for
which map-function returns non-nil. Any args are passed to map-function.

39.20.2 Abstract Display Example

Here is a simple example using functions of the ewoc package to implement a color compo-
nents display, an area in a buffer that represents a vector of three integers (itself representing
a 24-bit RGB value) in various ways.
(setq colorcomp-ewoc nil
colorcomp-data nil
colorcomp-mode-map nil
colorcomp-labels ["Red" "Green" "Blue"])

(defun colorcomp-pp (data)

(if data
(let ((comp (aref colorcomp-data data)))
(insert (aref colorcomp-labels data) "\t: #x"
(format "%02X" comp) " "
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1057

(make-string (ash comp -2) ?#) "\n"))

(let ((cstr (format "#%02X%02X%02X"
(aref colorcomp-data 0)
(aref colorcomp-data 1)
(aref colorcomp-data 2)))
(samp " (sample text) "))
(insert "Color\t: "
(propertize samp 'face
`(foreground-color . ,cstr))
(propertize samp 'face
`(background-color . ,cstr))
"\n"))))

(defun colorcomp (color)

"Allow fiddling with COLOR in a new buffer.
The buffer is in Color Components mode."
(interactive "sColor (name or #RGB or #RRGGBB): ")
(when (string= "" color)
(setq color "green"))
(unless (color-values color)
(error "No such color: %S" color))
(switch-to-buffer
(generate-new-buffer (format "originally: %s" color)))
(kill-all-local-variables)
(setq major-mode 'colorcomp-mode
mode-name "Color Components")
(use-local-map colorcomp-mode-map)
(erase-buffer)
(buffer-disable-undo)
(let ((data (apply 'vector (mapcar (lambda (n) (ash n -8))
(color-values color))))
(ewoc (ewoc-create 'colorcomp-pp
"\nColor Components\n\n"
(substitute-command-keys
"\n\\{colorcomp-mode-map}"))))
(set (make-local-variable 'colorcomp-data) data)
(set (make-local-variable 'colorcomp-ewoc) ewoc)
(ewoc-enter-last ewoc 0)
(ewoc-enter-last ewoc 1)
(ewoc-enter-last ewoc 2)
(ewoc-enter-last ewoc nil)))
This example can be extended to be a color selection widget (in other words, the “con-
troller” part of the “model–view–controller” design paradigm) by defining commands to
modify colorcomp-data and to finish the selection process, and a keymap to tie it all
together conveniently.
(defun colorcomp-mod (index limit delta)
(let ((cur (aref colorcomp-data index)))
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1058

(unless (= limit cur)

(aset colorcomp-data index (+ cur delta)))
(ewoc-invalidate
colorcomp-ewoc
(ewoc-nth colorcomp-ewoc index)
(ewoc-nth colorcomp-ewoc -1))))

(defun colorcomp-R-more () (interactive) (colorcomp-mod 0 255 1))

(defun colorcomp-G-more () (interactive) (colorcomp-mod 1 255 1))
(defun colorcomp-B-more () (interactive) (colorcomp-mod 2 255 1))
(defun colorcomp-R-less () (interactive) (colorcomp-mod 0 0 -1))
(defun colorcomp-G-less () (interactive) (colorcomp-mod 1 0 -1))
(defun colorcomp-B-less () (interactive) (colorcomp-mod 2 0 -1))

(defun colorcomp-copy-as-kill-and-exit ()
"Copy the color components into the kill ring and kill the buffer.
The string is formatted #RRGGBB (hash followed by six hex digits)."
(interactive)
(kill-new (format "#%02X%02X%02X"
(aref colorcomp-data 0)
(aref colorcomp-data 1)
(aref colorcomp-data 2)))
(kill-buffer nil))

(setq colorcomp-mode-map
(let ((m (make-sparse-keymap)))
(suppress-keymap m)
(define-key m "i" 'colorcomp-R-less)
(define-key m "o" 'colorcomp-R-more)
(define-key m "k" 'colorcomp-G-less)
(define-key m "l" 'colorcomp-G-more)
(define-key m "," 'colorcomp-B-less)
(define-key m "." 'colorcomp-B-more)
(define-key m " " 'colorcomp-copy-as-kill-and-exit)
m))
Note that we never modify the data in each node, which is fixed when the ewoc is created
to be either nil or an index into the vector colorcomp-data, the actual color components.

39.21 Blinking Parentheses

This section describes the mechanism by which Emacs shows a matching open parenthesis
when the user inserts a close parenthesis.

blink-paren-function [Variable]
The value of this variable should be a function (of no arguments) to be called whenever
a character with close parenthesis syntax is inserted. The value of blink-paren-
function may be nil, in which case nothing is done.

blink-matching-paren [User Option]

If this variable is nil, then blink-matching-open does nothing.

blink-matching-paren-distance [User Option]

This variable specifies the maximum distance to scan for a matching parenthesis
before giving up.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1059

blink-matching-delay [User Option]

This variable specifies the number of seconds to keep indicating the matching paren-
thesis. A fraction of a second often gives good results, but the default is 1, which
works on all systems.
blink-matching-open [Command]
This function is the default value of blink-paren-function. It assumes that point
follows a character with close parenthesis syntax and applies the appropriate effect
momentarily to the matching opening character. If that character is not already
on the screen, it displays the character’s context in the echo area. To avoid long
delays, this function does not search farther than blink-matching-paren-distance
characters.
Here is an example of calling this function explicitly.
(defun interactive-blink-matching-open ()
"Indicate momentarily the start of parenthesized sexp before point."
(interactive)
(let ((blink-matching-paren-distance
(buffer-size))
(blink-matching-paren t))
(blink-matching-open)))

39.22 Character Display

This section describes how characters are actually displayed by Emacs. Typically, a charac-
ter is displayed as a glyph (a graphical symbol which occupies one character position on the
screen), whose appearance corresponds to the character itself. For example, the character
‘a’ (character code 97) is displayed as ‘a’. Some characters, however, are displayed specially.
For example, the formfeed character (character code 12) is usually displayed as a sequence
of two glyphs, ‘^L’, while the newline character (character code 10) starts a new screen line.
You can modify how each character is displayed by defining a display table, which
maps each character code into a sequence of glyphs. See Section 39.22.2 [Display Tables],
page 1060.

39.22.1 Usual Display Conventions

Here are the conventions for displaying each character code (in the absence of a display
table, which can override these conventions).
• The printable ASCII characters, character codes 32 through 126 (consisting of numerals,
English letters, and symbols like ‘#’) are displayed literally.
• The tab character (character code 9) displays as whitespace stretching up to the next
tab stop column. See Section “Text Display” in The GNU Emacs Manual. The variable
tab-width controls the number of spaces per tab stop (see below).
• The newline character (character code 10) has a special effect: it ends the preceding
line and starts a new line.
• The non-printable ASCII control characters—character codes 0 through 31, as well
as the DEL character (character code 127)—display in one of two ways according to
the variable ctl-arrow. If this variable is non-nil (the default), these characters are
displayed as sequences of two glyphs, where the first glyph is ‘^’ (a display table can
specify a glyph to use instead of ‘^’); e.g., the DEL character is displayed as ‘^?’.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1060

If ctl-arrow is nil, these characters are displayed as octal escapes (see below).
This rule also applies to carriage return (character code 13), if that character appears in
the buffer. But carriage returns usually do not appear in buffer text; they are eliminated
as part of end-of-line conversion (see Section 33.10.1 [Coding System Basics], page 848).
• Raw bytes are non-ASCII characters with codes 128 through 255 (see Section 33.1 [Text
Representations], page 835). These characters display as octal escapes: sequences of
four glyphs, where the first glyph is the ASCII code for ‘\’, and the others are digit
characters representing the character code in octal. (A display table can specify a glyph
to use instead of ‘\’.)
• Each non-ASCII character with code above 255 is displayed literally, if the terminal
supports it. If the terminal does not support it, the character is said to be glyphless,
and it is usually displayed using a placeholder glyph. For example, if a graphical
terminal has no font for a character, Emacs usually displays a box containing the
character code in hexadecimal. See Section 39.22.5 [Glyphless Chars], page 1063.
The above display conventions apply even when there is a display table, for any character
whose entry in the active display table is nil. Thus, when you set up a display table, you
need only specify the characters for which you want special behavior.
The following variables affect how certain characters are displayed on the screen. Since
they change the number of columns the characters occupy, they also affect the indentation
functions. They also affect how the mode line is displayed; if you want to force redisplay
of the mode line using the new values, call the function force-mode-line-update (see
Section 23.4 [Mode Line Format], page 476).
ctl-arrow [User Option]
This buffer-local variable controls how control characters are displayed. If it is non-
nil, they are displayed as a caret followed by the character: ‘^A’. If it is nil, they
are displayed as octal escapes: a backslash followed by three octal digits, as in ‘\001’.
tab-width [User Option]
The value of this buffer-local variable is the spacing between tab stops used for dis-
playing tab characters in Emacs buffers. The value is in units of columns, and the
default is 8. Note that this feature is completely independent of the user-settable tab
stops used by the command tab-to-tab-stop. See Section 32.17.5 [Indent Tabs],
page 800.

39.22.2 Display Tables

A display table is a special-purpose char-table (see Section 6.6 [Char-Tables], page 107),
with display-table as its subtype, which is used to override the usual character display
conventions. This section describes how to make, inspect, and assign elements to a display
table object.
make-display-table [Function]
This creates and returns a display table. The table initially has nil in all elements.
The ordinary elements of the display table are indexed by character codes; the element
at index c says how to display the character code c. The value should be nil (which means
to display the character c according to the usual display conventions; see Section 39.22.1
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1061

[Usual Display], page 1059), or a vector of glyph codes (which means to display the character
c as those glyphs; see Section 39.22.4 [Glyphs], page 1062).
Warning: if you use the display table to change the display of newline characters, the
whole buffer will be displayed as one long line.
The display table also has six extra slots which serve special purposes. Here is a table
of their meanings; nil in any slot means to use the default for that slot, as stated below.
0 The glyph for the end of a truncated screen line (the default for this is ‘$’). See
Section 39.22.4 [Glyphs], page 1062. On graphical terminals, Emacs by default
uses arrows in the fringes to indicate truncation, so the display table has no
effect, unless you disable the fringes (see Section “Window Fringes” in the GNU
Emacs Manual).
1 The glyph for the end of a continued line (the default is ‘\’). On graphical
terminals, Emacs by default uses curved arrows in the fringes to indicate con-
tinuation, so the display table has no effect, unless you disable the fringes.
2 The glyph for indicating a character displayed as an octal character code (the
default is ‘\’).
3 The glyph for indicating a control character (the default is ‘^’).
4 A vector of glyphs for indicating the presence of invisible lines (the default is
‘...’). See Section 39.7 [Selective Display], page 980.
5 The glyph used to draw the border between side-by-side windows (the default
is ‘|’). See Section 28.6 [Splitting Windows], page 613. This currently has
effect only on text terminals; on graphical terminals, if vertical scroll bars are
supported and in use, a scroll bar separates the two windows, and if there are
no vertical scroll bars and no dividers (see Section 39.15 [Window Dividers],
page 1027), Emacs uses a thin line to indicate the border.
For example, here is how to construct a display table that mimics the effect of setting
ctl-arrow to a non-nil value (see Section 39.22.4 [Glyphs], page 1062, for the function
make-glyph-code):
(setq disptab (make-display-table))
(dotimes (i 32)
(or (= i ?\t)
(= i ?\n)
(aset disptab i
(vector (make-glyph-code ?^ 'escape-glyph)
(make-glyph-code (+ i 64) 'escape-glyph)))))
(aset disptab 127
(vector (make-glyph-code ?^ 'escape-glyph)
(make-glyph-code ?? 'escape-glyph)))))

display-table-slot display-table slot [Function]

This function returns the value of the extra slot slot of display-table. The argument
slot may be a number from 0 to 5 inclusive, or a slot name (symbol). Valid symbols are
truncation, wrap, escape, control, selective-display, and vertical-border.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1062

set-display-table-slot display-table slot value [Function]

This function stores value in the extra slot slot of display-table. The argument slot
may be a number from 0 to 5 inclusive, or a slot name (symbol). Valid symbols are
truncation, wrap, escape, control, selective-display, and vertical-border.

describe-display-table display-table [Function]

This function displays a description of the display table display-table in a help buffer.

describe-current-display-table [Command]
This command displays a description of the current display table in a help buffer.

39.22.3 Active Display Table

Each window can specify a display table, and so can each buffer. The window’s display
table, if there is one, takes precedence over the buffer’s display table. If neither exists,
Emacs tries to use the standard display table; if that is nil, Emacs uses the usual character
display conventions (see Section 39.22.1 [Usual Display], page 1059).
Note that display tables affect how the mode line is displayed, so if you want to force
redisplay of the mode line using a new display table, call force-mode-line-update (see
Section 23.4 [Mode Line Format], page 476).

window-display-table &optional window [Function]

This function returns window’s display table, or nil if there is none. The default for
window is the selected window.

set-window-display-table window table [Function]

This function sets the display table of window to table. The argument table should
be either a display table or nil.

buffer-display-table [Variable]
This variable is automatically buffer-local in all buffers; its value specifies the buffer’s
display table. If it is nil, there is no buffer display table.

standard-display-table [Variable]
The value of this variable is the standard display table, which is used when Emacs
is displaying a buffer in a window with neither a window display table nor a buffer
display table defined, or when Emacs is outputting text to the standard output or
error streams. Although its default is typically nil, in an interactive session if the
terminal cannot display curved quotes, its default maps curved quotes to ASCII ap-
proximations. See Section 24.4 [Text Quoting Style], page 515.

The disp-table library defines several functions for changing the standard display table.

39.22.4 Glyphs
A glyph is a graphical symbol which occupies a single character position on the screen. Each
glyph is represented in Lisp as a glyph code, which specifies a character and optionally a
face to display it in (see Section 39.12 [Faces], page 997). The main use of glyph codes is as
the entries of display tables (see Section 39.22.2 [Display Tables], page 1060). The following
functions are used to manipulate glyph codes:
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1063

make-glyph-code char &optional face [Function]

This function returns a glyph code representing char char with face face. If face is
omitted or nil, the glyph uses the default face; in that case, the glyph code is an
integer. If face is non-nil, the glyph code is not necessarily an integer object.
glyph-char glyph [Function]
This function returns the character of glyph code glyph.
glyph-face glyph [Function]
This function returns face of glyph code glyph, or nil if glyph uses the default face.

39.22.5 Glyphless Character Display

Glyphless characters are characters which are displayed in a special way, e.g., as a box
containing a hexadecimal code, instead of being displayed literally. These include characters
which are explicitly defined to be glyphless, as well as characters for which there is no
available font (on a graphical display), and characters which cannot be encoded by the
terminal’s coding system (on a text terminal).
glyphless-char-display [Variable]
The value of this variable is a char-table which defines glyphless characters and how
they are displayed. Each entry must be one of the following display methods:
nil Display the character in the usual way.
zero-width
Don’t display the character.
thin-space
Display a thin space, 1-pixel wide on graphical displays, or 1-character
wide on text terminals.
empty-box
Display an empty box.
hex-code Display a box containing the Unicode codepoint of the character, in hex-
adecimal notation.
an ASCII string
Display a box containing that string. The string should contain at most
6 ASCII characters.
a cons cell (graphical . text)
Display with graphical on graphical displays, and with text on text ter-
minals. Both graphical and text must be one of the display methods
described above.
The thin-space, empty-box, hex-code, and ASCII string display methods are drawn
with the glyphless-char face. On text terminals, a box is emulated by square
brackets, ‘[]’.
The char-table has one extra slot, which determines how to display any character
that cannot be displayed with any available font, or cannot be encoded by the ter-
minal’s coding system. Its value should be one of the above display methods, except
zero-width or a cons cell.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1064

If a character has a non-nil entry in an active display table, the display table takes
effect; in this case, Emacs does not consult glyphless-char-display at all.
glyphless-char-display-control [User Option]
This user option provides a convenient way to set glyphless-char-display for
groups of similar characters. Do not set its value directly from Lisp code; the value
takes effect only via a custom :set function (see Section 15.3 [Variable Definitions],
page 247), which updates glyphless-char-display.
Its value should be an alist of elements (group . method), where group is a symbol
specifying a group of characters, and method is a symbol specifying how to display
them.
group should be one of the following:
c0-control
ASCII control characters U+0000 to U+001F, excluding the newline and tab
characters (normally displayed as escape sequences like ‘^A’; see Section
“How Text Is Displayed” in The GNU Emacs Manual).
c1-control
Non-ASCII, non-printing characters U+0080 to U+009F (normally
displayed as octal escape sequences like ‘\230’).
format-control
Characters of Unicode General Category [Cf], such as U+200E left-to-
right mark, but excluding characters that have graphic images, such as
U+00AD soft hyphen.
no-font Characters for which there is no suitable font, or which cannot be encoded
by the terminal’s coding system.
The method symbol should be one of zero-width, thin-space, empty-box, or
hex-code. These have the same meanings as in glyphless-char-display, above.

39.23 Beeping
This section describes how to make Emacs ring the bell (or blink the screen) to attract the
user’s attention. Be conservative about how often you do this; frequent bells can become
irritating. Also be careful not to use just beeping when signaling an error is more appropriate
(see Section 11.7.3 [Errors], page 160).
ding &optional do-not-terminate [Function]
This function beeps, or flashes the screen (see visible-bell below). It also termi-
nates any keyboard macro currently executing unless do-not-terminate is non-nil.
beep &optional do-not-terminate [Function]
This is a synonym for ding.
visible-bell [User Option]
This variable determines whether Emacs should flash the screen to represent a bell.
Non-nil means yes, nil means no. This is effective on graphical displays, and on
text terminals provided the terminal’s Termcap entry defines the visible bell capability
(‘vb’).
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1065

ring-bell-function [User Option]

If this is non-nil, it specifies how Emacs should ring the bell. Its value should
be a function of no arguments. If this is non-nil, it takes precedence over the
visible-bell variable.

39.24 Window Systems

Emacs works with several window systems, most notably the X Window System. Both
Emacs and X use the term “window”, but use it differently. An Emacs frame is a single
window as far as X is concerned; the individual Emacs windows are not known to X at all.

window-system [Variable]
This terminal-local variable tells Lisp programs what window system Emacs is using
for displaying the frame. The possible values are
x Emacs is displaying the frame using X.
w32 Emacs is displaying the frame using native MS-Windows GUI.
ns Emacs is displaying the frame using the Nextstep interface (used on
GNUstep and macOS).
pc Emacs is displaying the frame using MS-DOS direct screen writes.
nil Emacs is displaying the frame on a character-based terminal.

initial-window-system [Variable]
This variable holds the value of window-system used for the first frame created by
Emacs during startup. (When Emacs is invoked as a daemon, it does not create any
initial frames, so initial-window-system is nil, except on MS-Windows, where it
is still w32. See Section “Initial Options” in The GNU Emacs Manual.)

window-system &optional frame [Function]

This function returns a symbol whose name tells what window system is used for
displaying frame (which defaults to the currently selected frame). The list of possible
symbols it returns is the same one documented for the variable window-system above.

Do not use window-system and initial-window-system as predicates or boolean flag

variables, if you want to write code that works differently on text terminals and graphic
displays. That is because window-system is not a good indicator of Emacs capabilities on
a given display type. Instead, use display-graphic-p or any of the other display-*-p
predicates described in Section 29.25 [Display Feature Testing], page 738.

39.25 Tooltips
Tooltips are special frames (see Chapter 29 [Frames], page 683) that are used to display
helpful hints (a.k.a. “tips”) related to the current position of the mouse pointer. Emacs
uses tooltips to display help strings about active portions of text (see Section 32.19.4
[Special Properties], page 808) and about various UI elements, such as menu items
(see Section 22.17.1.2 [Extended Menu Items], page 441) and tool-bar buttons (see
Section 22.17.6 [Tool Bar], page 447).
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1066

tooltip-mode [Function]
Tooltip Mode is a minor mode that enables display of tooltips. Turning off this mode
causes the tooltips be displayed in the echo area. On text-mode (a.k.a. “TTY”)
frames, tooltips are always displayed in the echo area.

When Emacs is built with GTK+ support, it by default displays tooltips using GTK+
functions, and the appearance of the tooltips is then controlled by GTK+ settings. GTK+
tooltips can be disabled by changing the value of the variable x-gtk-use-system-tooltips
to nil. The rest of this subsection describes how to control non-GTK+ tooltips, which are
presented by Emacs itself.
Tooltips are displayed in special frames called tooltip frames, which have their own
frame parameters (see Section 29.4 [Frame Parameters], page 699). Unlike other frames,
the default parameters for tooltip frames are stored in a special variable.

tooltip-frame-parameters [User Option]

This customizable option holds the default frame parameters used for displaying
tooltips. Any font and color parameters are ignored, and the corresponding attributes
of the tooltip face are used instead. If left or top parameters are included, they
are used as absolute frame-relative coordinates where the tooltip should be shown.
(Mouse-relative position of the tooltip can be customized using the variables described
in Section “Tooltips” in The GNU Emacs Manual.) Note that the left and top pa-
rameters, if present, override the values of mouse-relative offsets.

The tooltip face determines the appearance of text shown in tooltips. It should gen-
erally use a variable-pitch font of size that is preferably smaller than the default frame
font.

tooltip-functions [Variable]
This abnormal hook is a list of functions to call when Emacs needs to display a
tooltip. Each function is called with a single argument event which is a copy of the
last mouse movement event. If a function on this list actually displays the tooltip,
it should return non-nil, and then the rest of the functions will not be called. The
default value of this variable is a single function tooltip-help-tips.

If you write your own function to be put on the tooltip-functions list, you may need
to know the buffer of the mouse event that triggered the tooltip display. The following
function provides that information.

tooltip-event-buffer event [Function]

This function returns the buffer over which event occurred. Call it with the argument
of the function from tooltip-functions to obtain the buffer whose text triggered
the tooltip. Note that the event might occur not over a buffer (e.g., over the tool
bar), in which case this function will return nil.

Other aspects of tooltip display are controlled by several customizable settings; see
Section “Tooltips” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1067

39.26 Bidirectional Display

Emacs can display text written in scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, whose natural
ordering for horizontal text display runs from right to left. Furthermore, segments of Latin
script and digits embedded in right-to-left text are displayed left-to-right, while segments of
right-to-left script embedded in left-to-right text (e.g., Arabic or Hebrew text in comments
or strings in a program source file) are appropriately displayed right-to-left. We call such
mixtures of left-to-right and right-to-left text bidirectional text. This section describes the
facilities and options for editing and displaying bidirectional text.
Text is stored in Emacs buffers and strings in logical (or reading) order, i.e., the order
in which a human would read each character. In right-to-left and bidirectional text, the
order in which characters are displayed on the screen (called visual order) is not the same
as logical order; the characters’ screen positions do not increase monotonically with string
or buffer position. In performing this bidirectional reordering, Emacs follows the Unicode
Bidirectional Algorithm (a.k.a. UBA), which is described in Annex #9 of the Unicode stan-
dard (http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr9/). Emacs provides a “Full Bidirectionality”
class implementation of the UBA, consistent with the requirements of the Unicode Standard
v9.0. Note, however, that the way Emacs displays continuation lines when text direction is
opposite to the base paragraph direction deviates from the UBA, which requires to perform
line wrapping before reordering text for display.

bidi-display-reordering [Variable]
If the value of this buffer-local variable is non-nil (the default), Emacs performs
bidirectional reordering for display. The reordering affects buffer text, as well as
display strings and overlay strings from text and overlay properties in the buffer
(see Section 39.9.2 [Overlay Properties], page 988, and see Section 39.16 [Display
Property], page 1028). If the value is nil, Emacs does not perform bidirectional
reordering in the buffer.
The default value of bidi-display-reordering controls the reordering of strings
which are not directly supplied by a buffer, including the text displayed in mode lines
(see Section 23.4 [Mode Line Format], page 476) and header lines (see Section 23.4.7
[Header Lines], page 484).

Emacs never reorders the text of a unibyte buffer, even if bidi-display-reordering

is non-nil in the buffer. This is because unibyte buffers contain raw bytes, not charac-
ters, and thus lack the directionality properties required for reordering. Therefore, to test
whether text in a buffer will be reordered for display, it is not enough to test the value of
bidi-display-reordering alone. The correct test is this:
(if (and enable-multibyte-characters
bidi-display-reordering)
;; Buffer is being reordered for display
)
However, unibyte display and overlay strings are reordered if their parent buffer is re-
ordered. This is because plain-ascii strings are stored by Emacs as unibyte strings. If a
unibyte display or overlay string includes non-ascii characters, these characters are assumed
to have left-to-right direction.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1068

Text covered by display text properties, by overlays with display properties whose
value is a string, and by any other properties that replace buffer text, is treated as a single
unit when it is reordered for display. That is, the entire chunk of text covered by these
properties is reordered together. Moreover, the bidirectional properties of the characters in
such a chunk of text are ignored, and Emacs reorders them as if they were replaced with
a single character U+FFFC, known as the Object Replacement Character. This means that
placing a display property over a portion of text may change the way that the surrounding
text is reordered for display. To prevent this unexpected effect, always place such properties
on text whose directionality is identical with text that surrounds it.
Each paragraph of bidirectional text has a base direction, either right-to-left or left-to-
right. Left-to-right paragraphs are displayed beginning at the left margin of the window, and
are truncated or continued when the text reaches the right margin. Right-to-left paragraphs
are displayed beginning at the right margin, and are continued or truncated at the left
margin.
Where exactly paragraphs start and end, for the purpose of the Emacs UBA implementa-
tion, is determined by the following two buffer-local variables (note that paragraph-start
and paragraph-separate have no influence on this). By default both of these variables are
nil, and paragraphs are bounded by empty lines, i.e., lines that consist entirely of zero or
more whitespace characters followed by a newline.

bidi-paragraph-start-re [Variable]
If non-nil, this variable’s value should be a regular expression matching a line that
starts or separates two paragraphs. The regular expression is always matched after a
newline, so it is best to anchor it, i.e., begin it with a "^".

bidi-paragraph-separate-re [Variable]
If non-nil, this variable’s value should be a regular expression matching a line sepa-
rates two paragraphs. The regular expression is always matched after a newline, so
it is best to anchor it, i.e., begin it with a "^".

If you modify any of these two variables, you should normally modify both, to make
sure they describe paragraphs consistently. For example, to have each new line start a new
paragraph for bidi-reordering purposes, set both variables to "^".
By default, Emacs determines the base direction of each paragraph by looking at the
text at its beginning. The precise method of determining the base direction is specified by
the UBA; in a nutshell, the first character in a paragraph that has an explicit directionality
determines the base direction of the paragraph. However, sometimes a buffer may need to
force a certain base direction for its paragraphs. For example, buffers containing program
source code should force all paragraphs to be displayed left-to-right. You can use following
variable to do this:

bidi-paragraph-direction [User Option]

If the value of this buffer-local variable is the symbol right-to-left or left-to-
right, all paragraphs in the buffer are assumed to have that specified direction. Any
other value is equivalent to nil (the default), which means to determine the base
direction of each paragraph from its contents.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1069

Modes for program source code should set this to left-to-right. Prog mode does
this by default, so modes derived from Prog mode do not need to set this explicitly
(see Section 23.2.5 [Basic Major Modes], page 464).

current-bidi-paragraph-direction &optional buffer [Function]

This function returns the paragraph direction at point in the named buffer. The
returned value is a symbol, either left-to-right or right-to-left. If buffer is
omitted or nil, it defaults to the current buffer. If the buffer-local value of the vari-
able bidi-paragraph-direction is non-nil, the returned value will be identical to
that value; otherwise, the returned value reflects the paragraph direction determined
dynamically by Emacs. For buffers whose value of bidi-display-reordering is nil
as well as unibyte buffers, this function always returns left-to-right.

Sometimes there’s a need to move point in strict visual order, either to the left or to the
right of its current screen position. Emacs provides a primitive to do that.

move-point-visually direction [Function]

This function moves point of the currently selected window to the buffer position that
appears immediately to the right or to the left of point on the screen. If direction
is positive, point will move one screen position to the right, otherwise it will move
one screen position to the left. Note that, depending on the surrounding bidirectional
context, this could potentially move point many buffer positions away. If invoked at
the end of a screen line, the function moves point to the rightmost or leftmost screen
position of the next or previous screen line, as appropriate for the value of direction.
The function returns the new buffer position as its value.

Bidirectional reordering can have surprising and unpleasant effects when two strings with
bidirectional content are juxtaposed in a buffer, or otherwise programmatically concatenated
into a string of text. A typical problematic case is when a buffer consists of sequences of
text fields separated by whitespace or punctuation characters, like Buffer Menu mode or
Rmail Summary Mode. Because the punctuation characters used as separators have weak
directionality, they take on the directionality of surrounding text. As result, a numeric field
that follows a field with bidirectional content can be displayed to the left of the preceding
field, messing up the expected layout. There are several ways to avoid this problem:
− Append the special character U+200E left-to-right mark, or LRM, to the end of
each field that may have bidirectional content, or prepend it to the beginning of the
following field. The function bidi-string-mark-left-to-right, described below,
comes in handy for this purpose. (In a right-to-left paragraph, use U+200F right-
to-left mark, or RLM, instead.) This is one of the solutions recommended by the
UBA.
− Include the tab character in the field separator. The tab character plays the role of
segment separator in bidirectional reordering, causing the text on either side to be
reordered separately.
− Separate fields with a display property or overlay with a property value of the form
(space . PROPS) (see Section 39.16.2 [Specified Space], page 1029). Emacs treats this
display specification as a paragraph separator, and reorders the text on either side
separately.
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1070

bidi-string-mark-left-to-right string [Function]

This function returns its argument string, possibly modified, such that the result can
be safely concatenated with another string, or juxtaposed with another string in a
buffer, without disrupting the relative layout of this string and the next one on display.
If the string returned by this function is displayed as part of a left-to-right paragraph,
it will always appear on display to the left of the text that follows it. The function
works by examining the characters of its argument, and if any of those characters
could cause reordering on display, the function appends the LRM character to the
string. The appended LRM character is made invisible by giving it an invisible
text property of t (see Section 39.6 [Invisible Text], page 977).
The reordering algorithm uses the bidirectional properties of the characters stored as
their bidi-class property (see Section 33.6 [Character Properties], page 840). Lisp pro-
grams can change these properties by calling the put-char-code-property function. How-
ever, doing this requires a thorough understanding of the UBA, and is therefore not recom-
mended. Any changes to the bidirectional properties of a character have global effect: they
affect all Emacs frames and windows.
Similarly, the mirroring property is used to display the appropriate mirrored character
in the reordered text. Lisp programs can affect the mirrored display by changing this
property. Again, any such changes affect all of Emacs display.
The bidirectional properties of characters can be overridden by inserting into the text
special directional control characters, LEFT-TO-RIGHT OVERRIDE (LRO) and RIGHT-
TO-LEFT OVERRIDE (RLO). Any characters between a RLO and the following newline
or POP DIRECTIONAL FORMATTING (PDF) control character, whichever comes first,
will be displayed as if they were strong right-to-left characters, i.e. they will be reversed
on display. Similarly, any characters between LRO and PDF or newline will display as if
they were strong left-to-right, and will not be reversed even if they are strong right-to-left
characters.
These overrides are useful when you want to make some text unaffected by the reordering
algorithm, and instead directly control the display order. But they can also be used for
malicious purposes, known as phishing. Specifically, a URL on a Web page or a link in an
email message can be manipulated to make its visual appearance unrecognizable, or similar
to some popular benign location, while the real location, interpreted by a browser in the
logical order, is very different.
Emacs provides a primitive that applications can use to detect instances of text whose
bidirectional properties were overridden so as to make a left-to-right character display as if
it were a right-to-left character, or vise versa.
bidi-find-overridden-directionality from to &optional object [Function]
This function looks at the text of the specified object between positions from (in-
clusive) and to (exclusive), and returns the first position where it finds a strong
left-to-right character whose directional properties were forced to display the charac-
ter as right-to-left, or for a strong right-to-left character that was forced to display as
left-to-right. If it finds no such characters in the specified region of text, it returns
nil.
The optional argument object specifies which text to search, and defaults to the
current buffer. If object is non-nil, it can be some other buffer, or it can be a string
Chapter 39: Emacs Display 1071

or a window. If it is a string, the function searches that string. If it is a window, the

function searches the buffer displayed in that window. If a buffer whose text you want
to examine is displayed in some window, we recommend to specify it by that window,
rather than pass the buffer to the function. This is because telling the function about
the window allows it to correctly account for window-specific overlays, which might
change the result of the function if some text in the buffer is covered by overlays.

When text that includes mixed right-to-left and left-to-right characters and bidirectional
controls is copied into a different location, it can change its visual appearance, and also
can affect the visual appearance of the surrounding text at destination. This is because
reordering of bidirectional text specified by the UBA has non-trivial context-dependent
effects both on the copied text and on the text at copy destination that will surround it.
Sometimes, a Lisp program may need to preserve the exact visual appearance of the
copied text at destination, and of the text that surrounds the copy. Lisp programs can use
the following function to achieve that effect.

buffer-substring-with-bidi-context start end &optional [Function]

no-properties
This function works similar to buffer-substring (see Section 32.2 [Buffer Contents],
page 766), but it prepends and appends to the copied text bidi directional control
characters necessary to preserve the visual appearance of the text when it is inserted
at another place. Optional argument no-properties, if non-nil, means remove the
text properties from the copy of the text.
 1072

40 Operating System Interface

This chapter is about starting and getting out of Emacs, access to values in the operating
system environment, and terminal input, output.
See Section E.1 [Building Emacs], page 1156, for related information. See Chapter 39
[Display], page 967, for additional operating system status information pertaining to the
terminal and the screen.

40.1 Starting Up Emacs

This section describes what Emacs does when it is started, and how you can customize
these actions.

40.1.1 Summary: Sequence of Actions at Startup

When Emacs is started up, it performs the following operations (see normal-top-level in
startup.el):
1. It adds subdirectories to load-path, by running the file named subdirs.el in each
directory in the list. Normally, this file adds the directory’s subdirectories to the list,
and those are scanned in their turn. The files subdirs.el are normally generated
automatically when Emacs is installed.
2. It loads any leim-list.el that it finds in the load-path directories. This file is in-
tended for registering input methods. The search is only for any personal leim-list.el
files that you may have created; it skips the directories containing the standard Emacs
libraries (these should contain only a single leim-list.el file, which is compiled into
the Emacs executable).
3. It sets the variable before-init-time to the value of current-time (see Section 40.5
[Time of Day], page 1086). It also sets after-init-time to nil, which signals to Lisp
programs that Emacs is being initialized.
4. It sets the language environment and the terminal coding system, if requested by
environment variables such as LANG.
5. It does some basic parsing of the command-line arguments.
6. If not running in batch mode, it initializes the window system that the variable
initial-window-system specifies (see Section 39.24 [Window Systems], page 1065).
The initialization function, window-system-initialization, is a generic function
(see Section 13.8 [Generic Functions], page 217) whose actual implementation is
different for each supported window system. If the value of initial-window-system
is windowsystem, then the appropriate implementation of the initialization function is
defined in the file term/windowsystem-win.el. This file should have been compiled
into the Emacs executable when it was built.
7. It runs the normal hook before-init-hook.
8. If appropriate, it creates a graphical frame. As part of creating the graphical frame, it
initializes the window system specified by initial-frame-alist and default-frame-
alist (see Section 29.4.2 [Initial Parameters], page 701) for the graphical frame, by
calling the window-system-initialization function for that window system. This is
not done in batch (noninteractive) or daemon mode.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1073

9. It initializes the initial frame’s faces, and sets up the menu bar and tool bar if needed.
If graphical frames are supported, it sets up the tool bar even if the current frame is
not a graphical one, since a graphical frame may be created later on.
10. It use custom-reevaluate-setting to re-initialize the members of the list
custom-delayed-init-variables. These are any pre-loaded user options whose
default value depends on the run-time, rather than build-time, context. See
Section E.1 [Building Emacs], page 1156.
11. It loads the library site-start, if it exists. This is not done if the options ‘-Q’ or
‘--no-site-file’ were specified.
12. It loads your init file (see Section 40.1.2 [Init File], page 1075). This is not done if the
options ‘-q’, ‘-Q’, or ‘--batch’ were specified. If the ‘-u’ option was specified, Emacs
looks for the init file in that user’s home directory instead.
13. It loads the library default, if it exists. This is not done if inhibit-default-init is
non-nil, nor if the options ‘-q’, ‘-Q’, or ‘--batch’ were specified.
14. It loads your abbrevs from the file specified by abbrev-file-name, if that file exists
and can be read (see Section 36.3 [Abbrev Files], page 910). This is not done if the
option ‘--batch’ was specified.
15. It calls the function package-initialize to activate any optional Emacs Lisp package
that has been installed. See Section 41.1 [Packaging Basics], page 1114. However,
Emacs doesn’t initialize packages when package-enable-at-startup is nil or when
it’s started with one of the options ‘-q’, ‘-Q’, or ‘--batch’. To initialize packages in the
latter case, package-initialize should be called explicitly (e.g., via the ‘--funcall’
option).
16. It sets the variable after-init-time to the value of current-time. This variable was
set to nil earlier; setting it to the current time signals that the initialization phase is
over, and, together with before-init-time, provides the measurement of how long it
took.
17. It runs the normal hook after-init-hook.
18. If the buffer *scratch* exists and is still in Fundamental mode (as it should be by
default), it sets its major mode according to initial-major-mode.
19. If started on a text terminal, it loads the terminal-specific Lisp library (see
Section 40.1.3 [Terminal-Specific], page 1076), and runs the hook tty-setup-hook.
This is not done in --batch mode, nor if term-file-prefix is nil.
20. It displays the initial echo area message, unless you have suppressed that with
inhibit-startup-echo-area-message.
21. It processes any command-line options that were not handled earlier.
22. It now exits if the option --batch was specified.
23. If the *scratch* buffer exists and is empty, it inserts (substitute-command-keys
initial-scratch-message) into that buffer.
24. If initial-buffer-choice is a string, it visits the file (or directory) with that name.
If it is a function, it calls the function with no arguments and selects the buffer that it
returns. If one file is given as a command line argument, that file is visited and its buffer
displayed alongside initial-buffer-choice. If more than one file is given, all of the
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1074

files are visited and the *Buffer List* buffer is displayed alongside initial-buffer-
choice.
25. It runs emacs-startup-hook.
26. It calls frame-notice-user-settings, which modifies the parameters of the selected
frame according to whatever the init files specify.
27. It runs window-setup-hook. The only difference between this hook and
emacs-startup-hook is that this one runs after the previously mentioned
modifications to the frame parameters.
28. It displays the startup screen, which is a special buffer that contains information about
copyleft and basic Emacs usage. This is not done if inhibit-startup-screen or
initial-buffer-choice are non-nil, or if the ‘--no-splash’ or ‘-Q’ command-line
options were specified.
29. If a daemon was requested, it calls server-start. (On POSIX systems, if a background
daemon was requested, it then detaches from the controlling terminal.) See Section
“Emacs Server” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
30. If started by the X session manager, it calls emacs-session-restore passing it as
argument the ID of the previous session. See Section 40.18 [Session Management],
page 1102.
The following options affect some aspects of the startup sequence.

inhibit-startup-screen [User Option]

This variable, if non-nil, inhibits the startup screen. In that case, Emacs typically
displays the *scratch* buffer; but see initial-buffer-choice, below.
Do not set this variable in the init file of a new user, or in a way that affects more than
one user, as that would prevent new users from receiving information about copyleft
and basic Emacs usage.
inhibit-startup-message and inhibit-splash-screen are aliases for this variable.

initial-buffer-choice [User Option]

If non-nil, this variable is a string that specifies a file or directory for Emacs to
display after starting up, instead of the startup screen. If its value is a function,
Emacs calls that function which must return a buffer which is then displayed. If its
value is t, Emacs displays the *scratch* buffer.

inhibit-startup-echo-area-message [User Option]

This variable controls the display of the startup echo area message. You can suppress
the startup echo area message by adding text with this form to your init file:
(setq inhibit-startup-echo-area-message
"your-login-name")
Emacs explicitly checks for an expression as shown above in your init file; your login
name must appear in the expression as a Lisp string constant. You can also use
the Customize interface. Other methods of setting inhibit-startup-echo-area-
message to the same value do not inhibit the startup message. This way, you can
easily inhibit the message for yourself if you wish, but thoughtless copying of your
init file will not inhibit the message for someone else.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1075

initial-scratch-message [User Option]

This variable, if non-nil, should be a string, which is treated as documentation to be
inserted into the *scratch* buffer when Emacs starts up. If it is nil, the *scratch*
buffer is empty.
The following command-line options affect some aspects of the startup sequence. See Section
“Initial Options” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
--no-splash
Do not display a splash screen.
--batch Run without an interactive terminal. See Section 40.17 [Batch Mode],
page 1101.
--daemon
--bg-daemon
--fg-daemon
Do not initialize any display; just start a server. (A “background” daemon
automatically runs in the background.)
--no-init-file
-q Do not load either the init file, or the default library.
--no-site-file
Do not load the site-start library.
--quick
-Q Equivalent to ‘-q --no-site-file --no-splash’.

40.1.2 The Init File

When you start Emacs, it normally attempts to load your init file. This is either a file named
.emacs or .emacs.el in your home directory, or a file named init.el in a subdirectory
named .emacs.d in your home directory.
The command-line switches ‘-q’, ‘-Q’, and ‘-u’ control whether and where to find the
init file; ‘-q’ (and the stronger ‘-Q’) says not to load an init file, while ‘-u user’ says to
load user’s init file instead of yours. See Section “Entering Emacs” in The GNU Emacs
Manual. If neither option is specified, Emacs uses the LOGNAME environment variable, or the
USER (most systems) or USERNAME (MS systems) variable, to find your home directory and
thus your init file; this way, even if you have su’d, Emacs still loads your own init file. If
those environment variables are absent, though, Emacs uses your user-id to find your home
directory.
An Emacs installation may have a default init file, which is a Lisp library named
default.el. Emacs finds this file through the standard search path for libraries (see
Section 16.1 [How Programs Do Loading], page 263). The Emacs distribution does not
come with this file; it is intended for local customizations. If the default init file exists, it is
loaded whenever you start Emacs. But your own personal init file, if any, is loaded first; if
it sets inhibit-default-init to a non-nil value, then Emacs does not subsequently load
the default.el file. In batch mode, or if you specify ‘-q’ (or ‘-Q’), Emacs loads neither
your personal init file nor the default init file.
Another file for site-customization is site-start.el. Emacs loads this before the user’s
init file. You can inhibit the loading of this file with the option ‘--no-site-file’.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1076

site-run-file [User Option]

This variable specifies the site-customization file to load before the user’s init file. Its
normal value is "site-start". The only way you can change it with real effect is to
do so before dumping Emacs.

See Section “Init File Examples” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for examples of how to
make various commonly desired customizations in your .emacs file.

inhibit-default-init [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, it prevents Emacs from loading the default initialization
library file. The default value is nil.

before-init-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run, once, just before loading all the init files (site-start.el,
your init file, and default.el). (The only way to change it with real effect is before
dumping Emacs.)

after-init-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run, once, just after loading all the init files (site-start.el,
your init file, and default.el), before loading the terminal-specific library (if started
on a text terminal) and processing the command-line action arguments.

emacs-startup-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run, once, just after handling the command line arguments. In
batch mode, Emacs does not run this hook.

window-setup-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is very similar to emacs-startup-hook. The only difference is
that it runs slightly later, after setting of the frame parameters. See Section 40.1.1
[Startup Summary], page 1072.

user-init-file [Variable]
This variable holds the absolute file name of the user’s init file. If the actual init file
loaded is a compiled file, such as .emacs.elc, the value refers to the corresponding
source file.

user-emacs-directory [Variable]
This variable holds the name of the .emacs.d directory. It is ~/.emacs.d on all
platforms but MS-DOS.

40.1.3 Terminal-Specific Initialization

Each terminal type can have its own Lisp library that Emacs loads when run on that type
of terminal. The library’s name is constructed by concatenating the value of the variable
term-file-prefix and the terminal type (specified by the environment variable TERM).
Normally, term-file-prefix has the value "term/"; changing this is not recommended. If
there is an entry matching TERM in the term-file-aliases association list, Emacs uses the
associated value in place of TERM. Emacs finds the file in the normal manner, by searching
the load-path directories, and trying the ‘.elc’ and ‘.el’ suffixes.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1077

The usual role of a terminal-specific library is to enable special keys to send sequences
that Emacs can recognize. It may also need to set or add to input-decode-map if the Term-
cap or Terminfo entry does not specify all the terminal’s function keys. See Section 40.13
[Terminal Input], page 1097.
When the name of the terminal type contains a hyphen or underscore, and no library
is found whose name is identical to the terminal’s name, Emacs strips from the terminal’s
name the last hyphen or underscore and everything that follows it, and tries again. This
process is repeated until Emacs finds a matching library, or until there are no more hyphens
or underscores in the name (i.e., there is no terminal-specific library). For example, if
the terminal name is ‘xterm-256color’ and there is no term/xterm-256color.el library,
Emacs tries to load term/xterm.el. If necessary, the terminal library can evaluate (getenv
"TERM") to find the full name of the terminal type.
Your init file can prevent the loading of the terminal-specific library by setting the
variable term-file-prefix to nil.
You can also arrange to override some of the actions of the terminal-specific library by
using tty-setup-hook. This is a normal hook that Emacs runs after initializing a new text
terminal. You could use this hook to define initializations for terminals that do not have
their own libraries. See Section 23.1 [Hooks], page 453.
term-file-prefix [User Option]
If the value of this variable is non-nil, Emacs loads a terminal-specific initialization
file as follows:
(load (concat term-file-prefix (getenv "TERM")))
You may set the term-file-prefix variable to nil in your init file if you do not
wish to load the terminal-initialization file.
On MS-DOS, Emacs sets the TERM environment variable to ‘internal’.
term-file-aliases [User Option]
This variable is an association list mapping terminal types to their aliases. For exam-
ple, an element of the form ("vt102" . "vt100") means to treat a terminal of type
‘vt102’ like one of type ‘vt100’.
tty-setup-hook [Variable]
This variable is a normal hook that Emacs runs after initializing a new text terminal.
(This applies when Emacs starts up in non-windowed mode, and when making a tty
emacsclient connection.) The hook runs after loading your init file (if applicable)
and the terminal-specific Lisp file, so you can use it to adjust the definitions made by
that file.
For a related feature, see Section 40.1.2 [Init File], page 1075.

40.1.4 Command-Line Arguments

You can use command-line arguments to request various actions when you start Emacs.
Note that the recommended way of using Emacs is to start it just once, after logging
in, and then do all editing in the same Emacs session (see Section “Entering Emacs” in
The GNU Emacs Manual). For this reason, you might not use command-line arguments
very often; nonetheless, they can be useful when invoking Emacs from session scripts or
debugging Emacs. This section describes how Emacs processes command-line arguments.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1078

command-line [Function]
This function parses the command line that Emacs was called with, processes it, and
(amongst other things) loads the user’s init file and displays the startup messages.

command-line-processed [Variable]
The value of this variable is t once the command line has been processed.
If you redump Emacs by calling dump-emacs (see Section E.1 [Building Emacs],
page 1156), you may wish to set this variable to nil first in order to cause the
new dumped Emacs to process its new command-line arguments.

command-switch-alist [Variable]
This variable is an alist of user-defined command-line options and associated handler
functions. By default it is empty, but you can add elements if you wish.
A command-line option is an argument on the command line, which has the form:
-option
The elements of the command-switch-alist look like this:
(option . handler-function)
The car, option, is a string, the name of a command-line option (not including the
initial hyphen). The handler-function is called to handle option, and receives the
option name as its sole argument.
In some cases, the option is followed in the command line by an argument. In these
cases, the handler-function can find all the remaining command-line arguments in
the variable command-line-args-left (see below). (The entire list of command-line
arguments is in command-line-args.)
The command-line arguments are parsed by the command-line-1 function in the
startup.el file. See also Section “Command Line Arguments for Emacs Invocation”
in The GNU Emacs Manual.

command-line-args [Variable]
The value of this variable is the list of command-line arguments passed to Emacs.

command-line-args-left [Variable]
The value of this variable is the list of command-line arguments that have not yet
been processed.

command-line-functions [Variable]
This variable’s value is a list of functions for handling an unrecognized command-line
argument. Each time the next argument to be processed has no special meaning, the
functions in this list are called, in order of appearance, until one of them returns a
non-nil value.
These functions are called with no arguments. They can access the command-line
argument under consideration through the variable argi, which is bound temporarily
at this point. The remaining arguments (not including the current one) are in the
variable command-line-args-left.
When a function recognizes and processes the argument in argi, it should return a
non-nil value to say it has dealt with that argument. If it has also dealt with some of
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1079

the following arguments, it can indicate that by deleting them from command-line-
args-left.
If all of these functions return nil, then the argument is treated as a file name to
visit.

40.2 Getting Out of Emacs

There are two ways to get out of Emacs: you can kill the Emacs job, which exits perma-
nently, or you can suspend it, which permits you to reenter the Emacs process later. (In
a graphical environment, you can of course simply switch to another application without
doing anything special to Emacs, then switch back to Emacs when you want.)

40.2.1 Killing Emacs

Killing Emacs means ending the execution of the Emacs process. If you started Emacs from
a terminal, the parent process normally resumes control. The low-level primitive for killing
Emacs is kill-emacs.

kill-emacs &optional exit-data [Command]

This command calls the hook kill-emacs-hook, then exits the Emacs process and
kills it.
If exit-data is an integer, that is used as the exit status of the Emacs process. (This
is useful primarily in batch operation; see Section 40.17 [Batch Mode], page 1101.)
If exit-data is a string, its contents are stuffed into the terminal input buffer so that
the shell (or whatever program next reads input) can read them.

The kill-emacs function is normally called via the higher-level command C-x C-c
(save-buffers-kill-terminal). See Section “Exiting” in The GNU Emacs Manual. It
is also called automatically if Emacs receives a SIGTERM or SIGHUP operating system signal
(e.g., when the controlling terminal is disconnected), or if it receives a SIGINT signal while
running in batch mode (see Section 40.17 [Batch Mode], page 1101).

kill-emacs-hook [Variable]
This normal hook is run by kill-emacs, before it kills Emacs.
Because kill-emacs can be called in situations where user interaction is impossible
(e.g., when the terminal is disconnected), functions on this hook should not attempt
to interact with the user. If you want to interact with the user when Emacs is shutting
down, use kill-emacs-query-functions, described below.

When Emacs is killed, all the information in the Emacs process, aside from files that
have been saved, is lost. Because killing Emacs inadvertently can lose a lot of work, the
save-buffers-kill-terminal command queries for confirmation if you have buffers that
need saving or subprocesses that are running. It also runs the abnormal hook kill-emacs-
query-functions:

kill-emacs-query-functions [User Option]

When save-buffers-kill-terminal is killing Emacs, it calls the functions in this
hook, after asking the standard questions and before calling kill-emacs. The func-
tions are called in order of appearance, with no arguments. Each function can ask for
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1080

additional confirmation from the user. If any of them returns nil, save-buffers-
kill-emacs does not kill Emacs, and does not run the remaining functions in this
hook. Calling kill-emacs directly does not run this hook.

40.2.2 Suspending Emacs

On text terminals, it is possible to suspend Emacs, which means stopping Emacs temporarily
and returning control to its superior process, which is usually the shell. This allows you to
resume editing later in the same Emacs process, with the same buffers, the same kill ring,
the same undo history, and so on. To resume Emacs, use the appropriate command in the
parent shell—most likely fg.
Suspending works only on a terminal device from which the Emacs session was started.
We call that device the controlling terminal of the session. Suspending is not allowed if the
controlling terminal is a graphical terminal. Suspending is usually not relevant in graphical
environments, since you can simply switch to another application without doing anything
special to Emacs.
Some operating systems (those without SIGTSTP, or MS-DOS) do not support suspension
of jobs; on these systems, suspension actually creates a new shell temporarily as a subprocess
of Emacs. Then you would exit the shell to return to Emacs.

suspend-emacs &optional string [Command]

This function stops Emacs and returns control to the superior process. If and when
the superior process resumes Emacs, suspend-emacs returns nil to its caller in Lisp.
This function works only on the controlling terminal of the Emacs session; to relin-
quish control of other tty devices, use suspend-tty (see below). If the Emacs session
uses more than one terminal, you must delete the frames on all the other terminals
before suspending Emacs, or this function signals an error. See Section 29.2 [Multiple
Terminals], page 685.
If string is non-nil, its characters are sent to Emacs’s superior shell, to be read as
terminal input. The characters in string are not echoed by the superior shell; only
the results appear.
Before suspending, suspend-emacs runs the normal hook suspend-hook. After the
user resumes Emacs, suspend-emacs runs the normal hook suspend-resume-hook.
See Section 23.1 [Hooks], page 453.
The next redisplay after resumption will redraw the entire screen, unless the variable
no-redraw-on-reenter is non-nil. See Section 39.1 [Refresh Screen], page 967.
Here is an example of how you could use these hooks:
(add-hook 'suspend-hook
(lambda () (or (y-or-n-p "Really suspend? ")
(error "Suspend canceled"))))
(add-hook 'suspend-resume-hook (lambda () (message "Resumed!")
(sit-for 2)))
Here is what you would see upon evaluating (suspend-emacs "pwd"):
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
Really suspend? y
---------- Buffer: Minibuffer ----------
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1081

---------- Parent Shell ----------

bash$ /home/username
bash$ fg

---------- Echo Area ----------

Resumed!

Note that ‘pwd’ is not echoed after Emacs is suspended. But it is read and executed
by the shell.

suspend-hook [Variable]
This variable is a normal hook that Emacs runs before suspending.

suspend-resume-hook [Variable]
This variable is a normal hook that Emacs runs on resuming after a suspension.

suspend-tty &optional tty [Function]

If tty specifies a terminal device used by Emacs, this function relinquishes the device
and restores it to its prior state. Frames that used the device continue to exist, but
are not updated and Emacs doesn’t read input from them. tty can be a terminal
object, a frame (meaning the terminal for that frame), or nil (meaning the terminal
for the selected frame). See Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685.
If tty is already suspended, this function does nothing.
This function runs the hook suspend-tty-functions, passing the terminal object as
an argument to each function.

resume-tty &optional tty [Function]

This function resumes the previously suspended terminal device tty; where tty has
the same possible values as it does for suspend-tty.
This function reopens the terminal device, re-initializes it, and redraws it with that
terminal’s selected frame. It then runs the hook resume-tty-functions, passing the
terminal object as an argument to each function.
If the same device is already used by another Emacs terminal, this function signals
an error. If tty is not suspended, this function does nothing.

controlling-tty-p &optional tty [Function]

This function returns non-nil if tty is the controlling terminal of the Emacs session;
tty can be a terminal object, a frame (meaning the terminal for that frame), or nil
(meaning the terminal for the selected frame).

suspend-frame [Command]
This command suspends a frame. For GUI frames, it calls iconify-frame (see
Section 29.11 [Visibility of Frames], page 723); for frames on text terminals, it calls
either suspend-emacs or suspend-tty, depending on whether the frame is displayed
on the controlling terminal device or not.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1082

40.3 Operating System Environment

Emacs provides access to variables in the operating system environment through various
functions. These variables include the name of the system, the user’s UID, and so on.

system-configuration [Variable]
This variable holds the standard GNU configuration name for the hardware/software
configuration of your system, as a string. For example, a typical value for a 64-bit
GNU/Linux system is ‘"x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"’.

system-type [Variable]
The value of this variable is a symbol indicating the type of operating system Emacs
is running on. The possible values are:
aix IBM’s AIX.
berkeley-unix
Berkeley BSD and its variants.
cygwin Cygwin, a POSIX layer on top of MS-Windows.
darwin Darwin (macOS).
gnu The GNU system (using the GNU kernel, which consists of the HURD
and Mach).
gnu/linux
A GNU/Linux system—that is, a variant GNU system, using the Linux
kernel. (These systems are the ones people often call “Linux”, but actu-
ally Linux is just the kernel, not the whole system.)
gnu/kfreebsd
A GNU (glibc-based) system with a FreeBSD kernel.
hpux Hewlett-Packard HPUX operating system.
nacl Google Native Client (NaCl) sandboxing system.
ms-dos Microsoft’s DOS. Emacs compiled with DJGPP for MS-DOS binds
system-type to ms-dos even when you run it on MS-Windows.
usg-unix-v
AT&T Unix System V.
windows-nt
Microsoft Windows NT, 9X and later. The value of system-type is
always windows-nt, e.g., even on Windows 10.
We do not wish to add new symbols to make finer distinctions unless it is absolutely
necessary! In fact, we hope to eliminate some of these alternatives in the future.
If you need to make a finer distinction than system-type allows for, you can test
system-configuration, e.g., against a regexp.

system-name [Function]
This function returns the name of the machine you are running on, as a string.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1083

mail-host-address [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, it is used instead of system-name for purposes of generat-
ing email addresses. For example, it is used when constructing the default value of
user-mail-address. See Section 40.4 [User Identification], page 1085.

getenv var &optional frame [Command]

This function returns the value of the environment variable var, as a string. var
should be a string. If var is undefined in the environment, getenv returns nil. It
returns ‘""’ if var is set but null. Within Emacs, a list of environment variables and
their values is kept in the variable process-environment.
(getenv "USER")
⇒ "lewis"
The shell command printenv prints all or part of the environment:
bash$ printenv
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
USER=lewis
TERM=xterm
SHELL=/bin/bash
HOME=/home/lewis
...

setenv variable &optional value substitute [Command]

This command sets the value of the environment variable named variable to value.
variable should be a string. Internally, Emacs Lisp can handle any string. However,
normally variable should be a valid shell identifier, that is, a sequence of letters, digits
and underscores, starting with a letter or underscore. Otherwise, errors may occur
if subprocesses of Emacs try to access the value of variable. If value is omitted or
nil (or, interactively, with a prefix argument), setenv removes variable from the
environment. Otherwise, value should be a string.
If the optional argument substitute is non-nil, Emacs calls the function
substitute-env-vars to expand any environment variables in value.
setenv works by modifying process-environment; binding that variable with let
is also reasonable practice.
setenv returns the new value of variable, or nil if it removed variable from the
environment.

process-environment [Variable]
This variable is a list of strings, each describing one environment variable. The
functions getenv and setenv work by means of this variable.
process-environment
⇒ ("PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
"USER=lewis"
"TERM=xterm"
"SHELL=/bin/bash"
"HOME=/home/lewis"
...)
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1084

If process-environment contains multiple elements that specify the same environ-

ment variable, the first of these elements specifies the variable, and the others are
ignored.
initial-environment [Variable]
This variable holds the list of environment variables Emacs inherited from its parent
process when Emacs started.
path-separator [Variable]
This variable holds a string that says which character separates directories in a search
path (as found in an environment variable). Its value is ":" for Unix and GNU
systems, and ";" for MS systems.
parse-colon-path path [Function]
This function takes a search path string such as the value of the PATH environment
variable, and splits it at the separators, returning a list of directories. nil in this list
means the current directory. Although the function’s name says “colon”, it actually
uses the value of path-separator.
(parse-colon-path ":/foo:/bar")
⇒ (nil "/foo/" "/bar/")
invocation-name [Variable]
This variable holds the program name under which Emacs was invoked. The value is
a string, and does not include a directory name.
invocation-directory [Variable]
This variable holds the directory in which the Emacs executable was located when it
was run, or nil if that directory cannot be determined.
installation-directory [Variable]
If non-nil, this is a directory within which to look for the lib-src and etc sub-
directories. In an installed Emacs, it is normally nil. It is non-nil when Emacs
can’t find those directories in their standard installed locations, but can find them
in a directory related somehow to the one containing the Emacs executable (i.e.,
invocation-directory).
load-average &optional use-float [Function]
This function returns the current 1-minute, 5-minute, and 15-minute system load
averages, in a list. The load average indicates the number of processes trying to run
on the system.
By default, the values are integers that are 100 times the system load averages, but
if use-float is non-nil, then they are returned as floating-point numbers without
multiplying by 100.
If it is impossible to obtain the load average, this function signals an error. On some
platforms, access to load averages requires installing Emacs as setuid or setgid so that
it can read kernel information, and that usually isn’t advisable.
If the 1-minute load average is available, but the 5- or 15-minute averages are not,
this function returns a shortened list containing the available averages.
(load-average)
⇒ (169 48 36)
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1085

(load-average t)
⇒ (1.69 0.48 0.36)
The shell command uptime returns similar information.

emacs-pid [Function]
This function returns the process ID of the Emacs process, as an integer.

tty-erase-char [Variable]
This variable holds the erase character that was selected in the system’s terminal
driver, before Emacs was started.

40.4 User Identification

init-file-user [Variable]
This variable says which user’s init files should be used by Emacs—or nil if none. ""
stands for the user who originally logged in. The value reflects command-line options
such as ‘-q’ or ‘-u user’.
Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort of user profile, should
obey this variable in deciding where to find it. They should load the profile of the user
name found in this variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the ‘-q’, ‘-Q’,
or ‘-batch’ option was used, then Lisp packages should not load any customization
files or user profile.

user-mail-address [User Option]

This holds the email address of the user who is using Emacs.

user-login-name &optional uid [Function]

This function returns the name under which the user is logged in. It uses the envi-
ronment variables LOGNAME or USER if either is set. Otherwise, the value is based on
the effective UID, not the real UID.
If you specify uid (a number), the result is the user name that corresponds to uid, or
nil if there is no such user.

user-real-login-name [Function]
This function returns the user name corresponding to Emacs’s real UID. This ignores
the effective UID, and the environment variables LOGNAME and USER.

user-full-name &optional uid [Function]

This function returns the full name of the logged-in user—or the value of the envi-
ronment variable NAME, if that is set.
If the Emacs process’s user-id does not correspond to any known user (and provided
NAME is not set), the result is "unknown".
If uid is non-nil, then it should be a number (a user-id) or a string (a login name).
Then user-full-name returns the full name corresponding to that user-id or login
name. If you specify a user-id or login name that isn’t defined, it returns nil.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1086

The symbols user-login-name, user-real-login-name and user-full-name are vari-

ables as well as functions. The functions return the same values that the variables hold.
These variables allow you to fake out Emacs by telling the functions what to return.
The variables are also useful for constructing frame titles (see Section 29.6 [Frame Titles],
page 717).
user-real-uid [Function]
This function returns the real UID of the user. The value may be floating point, in
the (unlikely) event that the UID is too large to fit in a Lisp integer.
user-uid [Function]
This function returns the effective UID of the user. The value may be floating point.
group-gid [Function]
This function returns the effective GID of the Emacs process. The value may be
floating point.
group-real-gid [Function]
This function returns the real GID of the Emacs process. The value may be floating
point.
system-users [Function]
This function returns a list of strings, listing the user names on the system. If Emacs
cannot retrieve this information, the return value is a list containing just the value of
user-real-login-name.
system-groups [Function]
This function returns a list of strings, listing the names of user groups on the system.
If Emacs cannot retrieve this information, the return value is nil.

40.5 Time of Day

This section explains how to determine the current time and time zone.
Most of these functions represent time as a list of four integers (sec-high sec-low
microsec picosec). This represents the number of seconds from the epoch (January 1,
1970 at 00:00 UTC), using the formula: high ∗ 216 + low + micro ∗ 10−6 + pico ∗ 10−12 . The
return value of current-time represents time using this form, as do the timestamps in the
return values of other functions such as file-attributes (see [Definition of file-attributes],
page 537). In some cases, functions may return two- or three-element lists, with omitted
microsec and picosec components defaulting to zero.
Function arguments, e.g., the time argument to current-time-string, accept a more-
general time value format, which can be a list of integers as above, or a single number
for seconds since the epoch, or nil for the current time. You can convert a time value
into a human-readable string using current-time-string and format-time-string, into
a list of integers using seconds-to-time, and into other forms using decode-time and
float-time. These functions are described in the following sections.
current-time-string &optional time zone [Function]
This function returns the current time and date as a human-readable string. The
format does not vary for the initial part of the string, which contains the day of week,
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1087

month, day of month, and time of day in that order: the number of characters used
for these fields is always the same, so you can reliably use substring to extract them.
You should count characters from the beginning of the string rather than from the
end, as the year might not have exactly four digits, and additional information may
some day be added at the end.
The argument time, if given, specifies a time to format, instead of the current time.
The optional argument zone defaults to the current time zone rule. See Section 40.6
[Time Zone Rules], page 1087.
(current-time-string)
⇒ "Wed Oct 14 22:21:05 1987"

current-time [Function]
This function returns the current time, represented as a list of four integers (sec-
high sec-low microsec picosec). These integers have trailing zeros on systems
that return time with lower resolutions. On all current machines picosec is a multiple
of 1000, but this may change as higher-resolution clocks become available.

float-time &optional time [Function]

This function returns the current time as a floating-point number of seconds since
the epoch. The optional argument time, if given, specifies a time to convert instead
of the current time.
Warning: Since the result is floating point, it may not be exact. Do not use this
function if precise time stamps are required.
time-to-seconds is an alias for this function.

seconds-to-time time [Function]

This function converts a time value to list-of-integer form. For example, if time is
a number, (time-to-seconds (seconds-to-time time)) equals the number unless
overflow or rounding errors occur.

40.6 Time Zone Rules

The default time zone is determined by the TZ environment variable. See Section 40.3
[System Environment], page 1082. For example, you can tell Emacs to default to Universal
Time with (setenv "TZ" "UTC0"). If TZ is not in the environment, Emacs uses system wall
clock time, which is a platform-dependent default time zone.
The set of supported TZ strings is system-dependent. GNU and many other systems
support the tzdata database, e.g., ‘"America/New_York"’ specifies the time zone and day-
light saving time history for locations near New York City. GNU and most other systems
support POSIX-style TZ strings, e.g., ‘"EST+5EDT,M4.1.0/2,M10.5.0/2"’ specifies the rules
used in New York from 1987 through 2006. All systems support the string ‘"UTC0"’ meaning
Universal Time.
Functions that convert to and from local time accept an optional time zone rule argu-
ment, which specifies the conversion’s time zone and daylight saving time history. If the
time zone rule is omitted or nil, the conversion uses Emacs’s default time zone. If it is
t, the conversion uses Universal Time. If it is wall, the conversion uses the system wall
clock time. If it is a string, the conversion uses the time zone rule equivalent to setting
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1088

TZ to that string. If it is a list (offset abbr), where offset is an integer number of seconds
east of Universal Time and abbr is a string, the conversion uses a fixed time zone with
the given offset and abbreviation. An integer offset is treated as if it were (offset abbr),
where abbr is a numeric abbreviation on POSIX-compatible platforms and is unspecified
on MS-Windows.

current-time-zone &optional time zone [Function]

This function returns a list describing the time zone that the user is in.
The value has the form (offset abbr). Here offset is an integer giving the number of
seconds ahead of Universal Time (east of Greenwich). A negative value means west
of Greenwich. The second element, abbr, is a string giving an abbreviation for the
time zone, e.g., ‘"CST"’ for China Standard Time or for U.S. Central Standard Time.
Both elements can change when daylight saving time begins or ends; if the user has
specified a time zone that does not use a seasonal time adjustment, then the value is
constant through time.
If the operating system doesn’t supply all the information necessary to compute the
value, the unknown elements of the list are nil.
The argument time, if given, specifies a time value to analyze instead of the current
time. The optional argument zone defaults to the current time zone rule.

40.7 Time Conversion

These functions convert time values (see Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086) into calen-
drical information and vice versa.
Many 32-bit operating systems are limited to system times containing 32 bits of in-
formation in their seconds component; these systems typically handle only the times from
1901-12-13 20:45:52 through 2038-01-19 03:14:07 Universal Time. However, 64-bit and some
32-bit operating systems have larger seconds components, and can represent times far in
the past or future.
Time conversion functions always use the Gregorian calendar, even for dates before the
Gregorian calendar was introduced. Year numbers count the number of years since the
year 1 B.C., and do not skip zero as traditional Gregorian years do; for example, the year
number −37 represents the Gregorian year 38 B.C.

decode-time &optional time zone [Function]

This function converts a time value into calendrical information. If you don’t specify
time, it decodes the current time, and similarly zone defaults to the current time zone
rule. See Section 40.6 [Time Zone Rules], page 1087. The return value is a list of nine
elements, as follows:
(seconds minutes hour day month year dow dst utcoff)
Here is what the elements mean:
seconds The number of seconds past the minute, as an integer between 0 and 59.
On some operating systems, this is 60 for leap seconds.
minutes The number of minutes past the hour, as an integer between 0 and 59.
hour The hour of the day, as an integer between 0 and 23.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1089

day The day of the month, as an integer between 1 and 31.

month The month of the year, as an integer between 1 and 12.
year The year, an integer typically greater than 1900.
dow The day of week, as an integer between 0 and 6, where 0 stands for
Sunday.
dst t if daylight saving time is effect, otherwise nil.
utcoff An integer indicating the Universal Time offset in seconds, i.e., the num-
ber of seconds east of Greenwich.
Common Lisp Note: Common Lisp has different meanings for dow and utcoff.
encode-time seconds minutes hour day month year &optional zone [Function]
This function is the inverse of decode-time. It converts seven items of calendrical
data into a list-of-integer time value. For the meanings of the arguments, see the
table above under decode-time.
Year numbers less than 100 are not treated specially. If you want them to stand for
years above 1900, or years above 2000, you must alter them yourself before you call
encode-time.
The optional argument zone defaults to the current time zone rule. See Section 40.6
[Time Zone Rules], page 1087.
If you pass more than seven arguments to encode-time, the first six are used as
seconds through year, the last argument is used as zone, and the arguments in between
are ignored. This feature makes it possible to use the elements of a list returned by
decode-time as the arguments to encode-time, like this:
(apply 'encode-time (decode-time ...))
You can perform simple date arithmetic by using out-of-range values for the seconds,
minutes, hour, day, and month arguments; for example, day 0 means the day preced-
ing the given month.
The operating system puts limits on the range of possible time values; if you try to
encode a time that is out of range, an error results. For instance, years before 1970
do not work on some systems; on others, years as early as 1901 do work.

40.8 Parsing and Formatting Times

These functions convert time values to text in a string, and vice versa. Time values include
nil, numbers, and lists of two to four integers (see Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086).
date-to-time string [Function]
This function parses the time-string string and returns the corresponding time value.
The argument string should represent a date-time, and should be in one of the forms
recognized by parse-time-string (see below). This function assumes the GMT
timezone if string lacks an explicit timezone information.
parse-time-string string [Function]
This function parses the time-string string into a list of the following form:
(sec min hour day mon year dow dst tz)
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1090

The format of this list is the same as what decode-time accepts (see Section 40.7
[Time Conversion], page 1088), and is described in more detail there. Any element
that cannot be determined from the input will be set to nil. The argument string
should resemble an RFC 822 (or later) or ISO 8601 string, like “Fri, 25 Mar 2016
16:24:56 +0100” or “1998-09-12T12:21:54-0200”, but this function will attempt to
parse less well-formed time strings as well.
format-time-string format-string &optional time zone [Function]
This function converts time (or the current time, if time is omitted or nil) to a
string according to format-string. The conversion uses the time zone rule zone, which
defaults to the current time zone rule. See Section 40.6 [Time Zone Rules], page 1087.
The argument format-string may contain ‘%’-sequences which say to substitute parts
of the time. Here is a table of what the ‘%’-sequences mean:
‘%a’ This stands for the abbreviated name of the day of week.
‘%A’ This stands for the full name of the day of week.
‘%b’ This stands for the abbreviated name of the month.
‘%B’ This stands for the full name of the month.
‘%c’ This is a synonym for ‘%x %X’.
‘%C’ This stands for the century, that is, the year divided by 100, truncated
toward zero. The default field width is 2.
‘%d’ This stands for the day of month, zero-padded.
‘%D’ This is a synonym for ‘%m/%d/%y’.
‘%e’ This stands for the day of month, blank-padded.
‘%F’ This stands for the ISO 8601 date format, i.e., ‘"%Y-%m-%d"’.
‘%g’ This stands for the year corresponding to the ISO week within the century.
‘%G’ This stands for the year corresponding to the ISO week.
‘%h’ This is a synonym for ‘%b’.
‘%H’ This stands for the hour (00–23).
‘%I’ This stands for the hour (01–12).
‘%j’ This stands for the day of the year (001–366).
‘%k’ This stands for the hour (0–23), blank padded.
‘%l’ This stands for the hour (1–12), blank padded.
‘%m’ This stands for the month (01–12).
‘%M’ This stands for the minute (00–59).
‘%n’ This stands for a newline.
‘%N’ This stands for the nanoseconds (000000000–999999999). To ask for fewer
digits, use ‘%3N’ for milliseconds, ‘%6N’ for microseconds, etc. Any excess
digits are discarded, without rounding.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1091

‘%p’ This stands for ‘AM’ or ‘PM’, as appropriate.

‘%q’ This stands for the calendar quarter (1–4).
‘%r’ This is a synonym for ‘%I:%M:%S %p’.
‘%R’ This is a synonym for ‘%H:%M’.
‘%s’ This stands for the integer number of seconds since the epoch.
‘%S’ This stands for the second (00–59, or 00–60 on platforms that support
leap seconds).
‘%t’ This stands for a tab character.
‘%T’ This is a synonym for ‘%H:%M:%S’.
‘%u’ This stands for the numeric day of week (1–7). Monday is day 1.
‘%U’ This stands for the week of the year (01–52), assuming that weeks start
on Sunday.
‘%V’ This stands for the week of the year according to ISO 8601.
‘%w’ This stands for the numeric day of week (0–6). Sunday is day 0.
‘%W’ This stands for the week of the year (01–52), assuming that weeks start
on Monday.
‘%x’ This has a locale-specific meaning. In the default locale (named ‘C’), it
is equivalent to ‘%D’.
‘%X’ This has a locale-specific meaning. In the default locale (named ‘C’), it
is equivalent to ‘%T’.
‘%y’ This stands for the year without century (00–99).
‘%Y’ This stands for the year with century.
‘%Z’ This stands for the time zone abbreviation (e.g., ‘EST’).
‘%z’ This stands for the time zone numerical offset. The ‘z’ can be preceded
by one, two, or three colons; if plain ‘%z’ stands for ‘-0500’, then ‘%:z’
stands for ‘-05:00’, ‘%::z’ stands for ‘-05:00:00’, and ‘%:::z’ is like
‘%::z’ except it suppresses trailing instances of ‘:00’ so it stands for
‘-05’ in the same example.
‘%%’ This stands for a single ‘%’.
One or more flag characters can appear immediately after the ‘%’. ‘0’ pads with zeros,
‘_’ pads with blanks, ‘-’ suppresses padding, ‘^’ upper-cases letters, and ‘#’ reverses
the case of letters.
You can also specify the field width and type of padding for any of these ‘%’-sequences.
This works as in printf: you write the field width as digits in a ‘%’-sequence, after
any flags. For example, ‘%S’ specifies the number of seconds since the minute; ‘%03S’
means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, ‘%_3S’ to pad with spaces to 3 positions.
Plain ‘%3S’ pads with zeros, because that is how ‘%S’ normally pads to two positions.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1092

The characters ‘E’ and ‘O’ act as modifiers when used after any flags and field widths
in a ‘%’-sequence. ‘E’ specifies using the current locale’s alternative version of the date
and time. In a Japanese locale, for example, %Ex might yield a date format based on
the Japanese Emperors’ reigns. ‘E’ is allowed in ‘%Ec’, ‘%EC’, ‘%Ex’, ‘%EX’, ‘%Ey’, and
‘%EY’.
‘O’ means to use the current locale’s alternative representation of numbers, instead
of the ordinary decimal digits. This is allowed with most letters, all the ones that
output numbers.
To help debug programs, unrecognized ‘%’-sequences stand for themselves and are
output as-is. Programs should not rely on this behavior, as future versions of Emacs
may recognize new ‘%’-sequences as extensions.
This function uses the C library function strftime (see Section “Formatting Calendar
Time” in The GNU C Library Reference Manual) to do most of the work. In order
to communicate with that function, it first encodes its argument using the coding
system specified by locale-coding-system (see Section 33.12 [Locales], page 863);
after strftime returns the resulting string, format-time-string decodes the string
using that same coding system.

format-seconds format-string seconds [Function]

This function converts its argument seconds into a string of years, days, hours, etc.,
according to format-string. The argument format-string may contain ‘%’-sequences
which control the conversion. Here is a table of what the ‘%’-sequences mean:
‘%y’
‘%Y’ The integer number of 365-day years.
‘%d’
‘%D’ The integer number of days.
‘%h’
‘%H’ The integer number of hours.
‘%m’
‘%M’ The integer number of minutes.
‘%s’
‘%S’ The integer number of seconds.
‘%z’ Non-printing control flag. When it is used, other specifiers must be given
in the order of decreasing size, i.e., years before days, hours before min-
utes, etc. Nothing will be produced in the result string to the left of
‘%z’ until the first non-zero conversion is encountered. For example, the
default format used by emacs-uptime (see Section 40.9 [Processor Run
Time], page 1093) "%Y, %D, %H, %M, %z%S" means that the number of
seconds will always be produced, but years, days, hours, and minutes will
only be shown if they are non-zero.
‘%%’ Produces a literal ‘%’.
Upper-case format sequences produce the units in addition to the numbers, lower-case
formats produce only the numbers.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1093

You can also specify the field width by following the ‘%’ with a number; shorter
numbers will be padded with blanks. An optional period before the width requests
zero-padding instead. For example, "%.3Y" might produce "004 years".
Warning: This function works only with values of seconds that don’t exceed
most-positive-fixnum (see Section 3.1 [Integer Basics], page 35).

40.9 Processor Run time

Emacs provides several functions and primitives that return time, both elapsed and proces-
sor time, used by the Emacs process.

emacs-uptime &optional format [Command]

This function returns a string representing the Emacs uptime—the elapsed wall-clock
time this instance of Emacs is running. The string is formatted by format-seconds
according to the optional argument format. For the available format descriptors, see
Section 40.8 [Time Parsing], page 1089. If format is nil or omitted, it defaults to
"%Y, %D, %H, %M, %z%S".
When called interactively, it prints the uptime in the echo area.

get-internal-run-time [Function]
This function returns the processor run time used by Emacs as a list of four integers:
(sec-high sec-low microsec picosec), using the same format as current-time
(see Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086).
Note that the time returned by this function excludes the time Emacs was not using
the processor, and if the Emacs process has several threads, the returned value is the
sum of the processor times used up by all Emacs threads.
If the system doesn’t provide a way to determine the processor run time,
get-internal-run-time returns the same time as current-time.

emacs-init-time [Command]
This function returns the duration of the Emacs initialization (see Section 40.1.1
[Startup Summary], page 1072) in seconds, as a string. When called interactively, it
prints the duration in the echo area.

40.10 Time Calculations

These functions perform calendrical computations using time values (see Section 40.5 [Time
of Day], page 1086). A value of nil for any of their time-value arguments stands for the
current system time, and a single integer number stands for the number of seconds since
the epoch.

time-less-p t1 t2 [Function]
This returns t if time value t1 is less than time value t2.

time-subtract t1 t2 [Function]
This returns the time difference t1 − t2 between two time values, as a time value. If
you need the difference in units of elapsed seconds, use float-time (see Section 40.5
[Time of Day], page 1086) to convert the result into seconds.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1094

time-add t1 t2 [Function]
This returns the sum of two time values, as a time value. One argument should
represent a time difference rather than a point in time, either as a list or as a single
number of elapsed seconds. Here is how to add a number of seconds to a time value:
(time-add time seconds)
time-to-days time-value [Function]
This function returns the number of days between the beginning of year 1 and time-
value.
time-to-day-in-year time-value [Function]
This returns the day number within the year corresponding to time-value.
date-leap-year-p year [Function]
This function returns t if year is a leap year.

40.11 Timers for Delayed Execution

You can set up a timer to call a function at a specified future time or after a certain length
of idleness. A timer is a special object that stores the information about the next invocation
times and the function to invoke.
timerp object [Function]
This predicate function returns non-nil if object is a timer.
Emacs cannot run timers at any arbitrary point in a Lisp program; it can run them only
when Emacs could accept output from a subprocess: namely, while waiting or inside certain
primitive functions such as sit-for or read-event which can wait. Therefore, a timer’s
execution may be delayed if Emacs is busy. However, the time of execution is very precise
if Emacs is idle.
Emacs binds inhibit-quit to t before calling the timer function, because quitting out
of many timer functions can leave things in an inconsistent state. This is normally unprob-
lematical because most timer functions don’t do a lot of work. Indeed, for a timer to call a
function that takes substantial time to run is likely to be annoying. If a timer function needs
to allow quitting, it should use with-local-quit (see Section 21.11 [Quitting], page 407).
For example, if a timer function calls accept-process-output to receive output from an
external process, that call should be wrapped inside with-local-quit, to ensure that C-g
works if the external process hangs.
It is usually a bad idea for timer functions to alter buffer contents. When they do, they
usually should call undo-boundary both before and after changing the buffer, to separate
the timer’s changes from user commands’ changes and prevent a single undo entry from
growing to be quite large.
Timer functions should also avoid calling functions that cause Emacs to wait, such as
sit-for (see Section 21.10 [Waiting], page 406). This can lead to unpredictable effects,
since other timers (or even the same timer) can run while waiting. If a timer function needs
to perform an action after a certain time has elapsed, it can do this by scheduling a new
timer.
If a timer function calls functions that can change the match data, it should save and
restore the match data. See Section 34.6.4 [Saving Match Data], page 886.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1095

run-at-time time repeat function &rest args [Command]

This sets up a timer that calls the function function with arguments args at time
time. If repeat is a number (integer or floating point), the timer is scheduled to run
again every repeat seconds after time. If repeat is nil, the timer runs only once.
time may specify an absolute or a relative time.
Absolute times may be specified using a string with a limited variety of formats, and
are taken to be times today, even if already in the past. The recognized forms are
‘xxxx’, ‘x:xx’, or ‘xx:xx’ (military time), and ‘xxam’, ‘xxAM’, ‘xxpm’, ‘xxPM’, ‘xx:xxam’,
‘xx:xxAM’, ‘xx:xxpm’, or ‘xx:xxPM’. A period can be used instead of a colon to
separate the hour and minute parts.
To specify a relative time as a string, use numbers followed by units. For example:
‘1 min’ denotes 1 minute from now.
‘1 min 5 sec’
denotes 65 seconds from now.
‘1 min 2 sec 3 hour 4 day 5 week 6 fortnight 7 month 8 year’
denotes exactly 103 months, 123 days, and 10862 seconds from now.
For relative time values, Emacs considers a month to be exactly thirty days, and a
year to be exactly 365.25 days.
Not all convenient formats are strings. If time is a number (integer or floating point),
that specifies a relative time measured in seconds. The result of encode-time can
also be used to specify an absolute value for time.
In most cases, repeat has no effect on when first call takes place—time alone specifies
that. There is one exception: if time is t, then the timer runs whenever the time
is a multiple of repeat seconds after the epoch. This is useful for functions like
display-time.
The function run-at-time returns a timer value that identifies the particular sched-
uled future action. You can use this value to call cancel-timer (see below).

A repeating timer nominally ought to run every repeat seconds, but remember that any
invocation of a timer can be late. Lateness of one repetition has no effect on the scheduled
time of the next repetition. For instance, if Emacs is busy computing for long enough to
cover three scheduled repetitions of the timer, and then starts to wait, it will immediately
call the timer function three times in immediate succession (presuming no other timers
trigger before or between them). If you want a timer to run again no less than n seconds
after the last invocation, don’t use the repeat argument. Instead, the timer function should
explicitly reschedule the timer.

timer-max-repeats [User Option]

This variable’s value specifies the maximum number of times to repeat calling a timer
function in a row, when many previously scheduled calls were unavoidably delayed.

with-timeout (seconds timeout-forms. . . ) body. . . [Macro]

Execute body, but give up after seconds seconds. If body finishes before the time
is up, with-timeout returns the value of the last form in body. If, however, the
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1096

execution of body is cut short by the timeout, then with-timeout executes all the
timeout-forms and returns the value of the last of them.
This macro works by setting a timer to run after seconds seconds. If body finishes be-
fore that time, it cancels the timer. If the timer actually runs, it terminates execution
of body, then executes timeout-forms.
Since timers can run within a Lisp program only when the program calls a primitive
that can wait, with-timeout cannot stop executing body while it is in the midst of a
computation—only when it calls one of those primitives. So use with-timeout only
with a body that waits for input, not one that does a long computation.
The function y-or-n-p-with-timeout provides a simple way to use a timer to avoid
waiting too long for an answer. See Section 20.7 [Yes-or-No Queries], page 359.
cancel-timer timer [Function]
This cancels the requested action for timer, which should be a timer—usually, one
previously returned by run-at-time or run-with-idle-timer. This cancels the
effect of that call to one of these functions; the arrival of the specified time will not
cause anything special to happen.
The list-timers command lists all the currently active timers. There’s only one com-
mand available in the buffer displayed: c (timer-list-cancel) that will cancel the timer
on the line under point.

40.12 Idle Timers

Here is how to set up a timer that runs when Emacs is idle for a certain length of time.
Aside from how to set them up, idle timers work just like ordinary timers.
run-with-idle-timer secs repeat function &rest args [Command]
Set up a timer which runs the next time Emacs is idle for secs seconds. The value of
secs may be a number or a value of the type returned by current-idle-time.
If repeat is nil, the timer runs just once, the first time Emacs remains idle for a long
enough time. More often repeat is non-nil, which means to run the timer each time
Emacs remains idle for secs seconds.
The function run-with-idle-timer returns a timer value which you can use in calling
cancel-timer (see Section 40.11 [Timers], page 1094).
Emacs becomes idle when it starts waiting for user input, and it remains idle until the
user provides some input. If a timer is set for five seconds of idleness, it runs approximately
five seconds after Emacs first becomes idle. Even if repeat is non-nil, this timer will not
run again as long as Emacs remains idle, because the duration of idleness will continue to
increase and will not go down to five seconds again.
Emacs can do various things while idle: garbage collect, autosave or handle data from a
subprocess. But these interludes during idleness do not interfere with idle timers, because
they do not reset the clock of idleness to zero. An idle timer set for 600 seconds will run
when ten minutes have elapsed since the last user command was finished, even if subprocess
output has been accepted thousands of times within those ten minutes, and even if there
have been garbage collections and autosaves.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1097

When the user supplies input, Emacs becomes non-idle while executing the input. Then
it becomes idle again, and all the idle timers that are set up to repeat will subsequently run
another time, one by one.
Do not write an idle timer function containing a loop which does a certain amount of
processing each time around, and exits when (input-pending-p) is non-nil. This approach
seems very natural but has two problems:
• It blocks out all process output (since Emacs accepts process output only while waiting).
• It blocks out any idle timers that ought to run during that time.
Similarly, do not write an idle timer function that sets up another idle timer (including
the same idle timer) with secs argument less than or equal to the current idleness time.
Such a timer will run almost immediately, and continue running again and again, instead of
waiting for the next time Emacs becomes idle. The correct approach is to reschedule with
an appropriate increment of the current value of the idleness time, as described below.
current-idle-time [Function]
If Emacs is idle, this function returns the length of time Emacs has been idle, as a
list of four integers: (sec-high sec-low microsec picosec), using the same format
as current-time (see Section 40.5 [Time of Day], page 1086).
When Emacs is not idle, current-idle-time returns nil. This is a convenient way
to test whether Emacs is idle.
The main use of current-idle-time is when an idle timer function wants to “take a
break” for a while. It can set up another idle timer to call the same function again, after a
few seconds more idleness. Here’s an example:
(defvar my-resume-timer nil
"Timer for `my-timer-function' to reschedule itself, or nil.")

(defun my-timer-function ()
;; If the user types a command while my-resume-timer
;; is active, the next time this function is called from
;; its main idle timer, deactivate my-resume-timer.
(when my-resume-timer
(cancel-timer my-resume-timer))
...do the work for a while...
(when taking-a-break
(setq my-resume-timer
(run-with-idle-timer
;; Compute an idle time break-length
;; more than the current value.
(time-add (current-idle-time) break-length)
nil
'my-timer-function))))

40.13 Terminal Input

This section describes functions and variables for recording or manipulating terminal input.
See Chapter 39 [Display], page 967, for related functions.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1098

40.13.1 Input Modes

set-input-mode interrupt flow meta &optional quit-char [Function]
This function sets the mode for reading keyboard input. If interrupt is non-nil, then
Emacs uses input interrupts. If it is nil, then it uses cbreak mode. The default
setting is system-dependent. Some systems always use cbreak mode regardless of
what is specified.
When Emacs communicates directly with X, it ignores this argument and uses inter-
rupts if that is the way it knows how to communicate.
If flow is non-nil, then Emacs uses xon/xoff (C-q, C-s) flow control for output to
the terminal. This has no effect except in cbreak mode.
The argument meta controls support for input character codes above 127. If meta is
t, Emacs converts characters with the 8th bit set into Meta characters. If meta is
nil, Emacs disregards the 8th bit; this is necessary when the terminal uses it as a
parity bit. If meta is neither t nor nil, Emacs uses all 8 bits of input unchanged.
This is good for terminals that use 8-bit character sets.
If quit-char is non-nil, it specifies the character to use for quitting. Normally this
character is C-g. See Section 21.11 [Quitting], page 407.

The current-input-mode function returns the input mode settings Emacs is currently
using.

current-input-mode [Function]
This function returns the current mode for reading keyboard input. It returns a list,
corresponding to the arguments of set-input-mode, of the form (interrupt flow
meta quit) in which:
interrupt is non-nil when Emacs is using interrupt-driven input. If nil, Emacs is
using cbreak mode.
flow is non-nil if Emacs uses xon/xoff (C-q, C-s) flow control for output to
the terminal. This value is meaningful only when interrupt is nil.
meta is t if Emacs treats the eighth bit of input characters as the meta bit;
nil means Emacs clears the eighth bit of every input character; any other
value means Emacs uses all eight bits as the basic character code.
quit is the character Emacs currently uses for quitting, usually C-g.

40.13.2 Recording Input

recent-keys [Function]
This function returns a vector containing the last 300 input events from the keyboard
or mouse. All input events are included, whether or not they were used as parts of
key sequences. Thus, you always get the last 300 input events, not counting events
generated by keyboard macros. (These are excluded because they are less interesting
for debugging; it should be enough to see the events that invoked the macros.)
A call to clear-this-command-keys (see Section 21.5 [Command Loop Info],
page 378) causes this function to return an empty vector immediately afterward.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1099

open-dribble-file filename [Command]

This function opens a dribble file named filename. When a dribble file is open, each
input event from the keyboard or mouse (but not those from keyboard macros) is
written in that file. A non-character event is expressed using its printed representation
surrounded by ‘<...>’. Be aware that sensitive information (such as passwords) may
end up recorded in the dribble file.
You close the dribble file by calling this function with an argument of nil.
See also the open-termscript function (see Section 40.14 [Terminal Output], page 1099).

40.14 Terminal Output

The terminal output functions send output to a text terminal, or keep track of output sent
to the terminal. The variable baud-rate tells you what Emacs thinks is the output speed
of the terminal.
baud-rate [User Option]
This variable’s value is the output speed of the terminal, as far as Emacs knows.
Setting this variable does not change the speed of actual data transmission, but the
value is used for calculations such as padding.
It also affects decisions about whether to scroll part of the screen or repaint on text
terminals. See Section 39.2 [Forcing Redisplay], page 967, for the corresponding
functionality on graphical terminals.
The value is measured in baud.
If you are running across a network, and different parts of the network work at different
baud rates, the value returned by Emacs may be different from the value used by your local
terminal. Some network protocols communicate the local terminal speed to the remote
machine, so that Emacs and other programs can get the proper value, but others do not.
If Emacs has the wrong value, it makes decisions that are less than optimal. To fix the
problem, set baud-rate.
send-string-to-terminal string &optional terminal [Function]
This function sends string to terminal without alteration. Control characters in
string have terminal-dependent effects. (If you need to display non-ASCII text on
the terminal, encode it using one of the functions described in Section 33.10.7 [Explicit
Encoding], page 859.) This function operates only on text terminals. terminal may
be a terminal object, a frame, or nil for the selected frame’s terminal. In batch
mode, string is sent to stdout when terminal is nil.
One use of this function is to define function keys on terminals that have downloadable
function key definitions. For example, this is how (on certain terminals) to define
function key 4 to move forward four characters (by transmitting the characters C-u
C-f to the computer):
(send-string-to-terminal "\eF4\^U\^F")
⇒ nil
open-termscript filename [Command]
This function is used to open a termscript file that will record all the characters sent
by Emacs to the terminal. It returns nil. Termscript files are useful for investigating
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1100

problems where Emacs garbles the screen, problems that are due to incorrect Termcap
entries or to undesirable settings of terminal options more often than to actual Emacs
bugs. Once you are certain which characters were actually output, you can determine
reliably whether they correspond to the Termcap specifications in use.
(open-termscript "../junk/termscript")
⇒ nil
You close the termscript file by calling this function with an argument of nil.
See also open-dribble-file in Section 40.13.2 [Recording Input], page 1098.

40.15 Sound Output

To play sound using Emacs, use the function play-sound. Only certain systems are sup-
ported; if you call play-sound on a system which cannot really do the job, it gives an
error.
The sound must be stored as a file in RIFF-WAVE format (‘.wav’) or Sun Audio format
(‘.au’).

play-sound sound [Function]

This function plays a specified sound. The argument, sound, has the form (sound
properties...), where the properties consist of alternating keywords (particular
symbols recognized specially) and values corresponding to them.
Here is a table of the keywords that are currently meaningful in sound, and their
meanings:
:file file
This specifies the file containing the sound to play. If the file name is not
absolute, it is expanded against the directory data-directory.
:data data
This specifies the sound to play without need to refer to a file. The value,
data, should be a string containing the same bytes as a sound file. We
recommend using a unibyte string.
:volume volume
This specifies how loud to play the sound. It should be a number in the
range of 0 to 1. The default is to use whatever volume has been specified
before.
:device device
This specifies the system device on which to play the sound, as a string.
The default device is system-dependent.
Before actually playing the sound, play-sound calls the functions in the list
play-sound-functions. Each function is called with one argument, sound.

play-sound-file file &optional volume device [Command]

This function is an alternative interface to playing a sound file specifying an optional
volume and device.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1101

play-sound-functions [Variable]
A list of functions to be called before playing a sound. Each function is called with
one argument, a property list that describes the sound.

40.16 Operating on X11 Keysyms

To define system-specific X11 keysyms, set the variable system-key-alist.

system-key-alist [Variable]
This variable’s value should be an alist with one element for each system-specific
keysym. Each element has the form (code . symbol), where code is the numeric
keysym code (not including the vendor-specific bit, −228 ), and symbol is the name
for the function key.
For example (168 . mute-acute) defines a system-specific key (used by HP X servers)
whose numeric code is −228 + 168.
It is not crucial to exclude from the alist the keysyms of other X servers; those do no
harm, as long as they don’t conflict with the ones used by the X server actually in
use.
The variable is always local to the current terminal, and cannot be buffer-local. See
Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685.

You can specify which keysyms Emacs should use for the Control, Meta, Alt, Hyper,
and Super modifiers by setting these variables:

x-ctrl-keysym [Variable]
x-alt-keysym [Variable]
x-meta-keysym [Variable]
x-hyper-keysym [Variable]
x-super-keysym [Variable]
The name of the keysym that should stand for the Control modifier (respectively, for
Alt, Meta, Hyper, and Super). For example, here is how to swap the Meta and Alt
modifiers within Emacs:
(setq x-alt-keysym 'meta)
(setq x-meta-keysym 'alt)

40.17 Batch Mode

The command-line option ‘-batch’ causes Emacs to run noninteractively. In this mode,
Emacs does not read commands from the terminal, it does not alter the terminal modes,
and it does not expect to be outputting to an erasable screen. The idea is that you specify
Lisp programs to run; when they are finished, Emacs should exit. The way to specify the
programs to run is with ‘-l file’, which loads the library named file, or ‘-f function’,
which calls function with no arguments, or ‘--eval=form’.
Any Lisp program output that would normally go to the echo area, either using message,
or using prin1, etc., with t as the stream, goes instead to Emacs’s standard descriptors
when in batch mode: message writes to the standard error descriptor, while prin1 and
other print functions write to the standard output. Similarly, input that would normally
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1102

come from the minibuffer is read from the standard input descriptor. Thus, Emacs behaves
much like a noninteractive application program. (The echo area output that Emacs itself
normally generates, such as command echoing, is suppressed entirely.)
Non-ASCII text written to the standard output or error descriptors is by default encoded
using locale-coding-system (see Section 33.12 [Locales], page 863) if it is non-nil; this
can be overridden by binding coding-system-for-write to a coding system of you choice
(see Section 33.10.7 [Explicit Encoding], page 859).

noninteractive [Variable]
This variable is non-nil when Emacs is running in batch mode.

40.18 Session Management

Emacs supports the X Session Management Protocol, which is used to suspend and restart
applications. In the X Window System, a program called the session manager is responsible
for keeping track of the applications that are running. When the X server shuts down, the
session manager asks applications to save their state, and delays the actual shutdown until
they respond. An application can also cancel the shutdown.
When the session manager restarts a suspended session, it directs these applications to
individually reload their saved state. It does this by specifying a special command-line
argument that says what saved session to restore. For Emacs, this argument is ‘--smid
session’.

emacs-save-session-functions [Variable]
Emacs supports saving state via a hook called emacs-save-session-functions.
Emacs runs this hook when the session manager tells it that the window system
is shutting down. The functions are called with no arguments, and with the current
buffer set to a temporary buffer. Each function can use insert to add Lisp code to
this buffer. At the end, Emacs saves the buffer in a file, called the session file.
Subsequently, when the session manager restarts Emacs, it loads the session file au-
tomatically (see Chapter 16 [Loading], page 263). This is performed by a function
named emacs-session-restore, which is called during startup. See Section 40.1.1
[Startup Summary], page 1072.
If a function in emacs-save-session-functions returns non-nil, Emacs tells the
session manager to cancel the shutdown.

Here is an example that just inserts some text into *scratch* when Emacs is restarted
by the session manager.
(add-hook 'emacs-save-session-functions 'save-yourself-test)

(defun save-yourself-test ()
(insert "(save-current-buffer
(switch-to-buffer \"*scratch*\")
(insert \"I am restored\"))")
nil)
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1103

40.19 Desktop Notifications

Emacs is able to send notifications on systems that support the freedesktop.org Desktop
Notifications Specification and on MS-Windows. In order to use this functionality on POSIX
hosts, Emacs must have been compiled with D-Bus support, and the notifications library
must be loaded. See Section “D-Bus” in D-Bus integration in Emacs. The following function
is supported when D-Bus support is available:

notifications-notify &rest params [Function]

This function sends a notification to the desktop via D-Bus, consisting of the parame-
ters specified by the params arguments. These arguments should consist of alternating
keyword and value pairs. The supported keywords and values are as follows:
:bus bus The D-Bus bus. This argument is needed only if a bus other than
:session shall be used.
:title title
The notification title.
:body text
The notification body text. Depending on the implementation of the
notification server, the text could contain HTML markups, like ‘"<b>bold
text</b>"’, hyperlinks, or images. Special HTML characters must be
encoded, as ‘"Contact &lt;postmaster@localhost&gt;!"’.
:app-name name
The name of the application sending the notification. The default is
notifications-application-name.
:replaces-id id
The notification id that this notification replaces. id must be the result
of a previous notifications-notify call.
:app-icon icon-file
The file name of the notification icon. If set to nil, no icon is displayed.
The default is notifications-application-icon.
:actions (key title key title ...)
A list of actions to be applied. key and title are both strings. The default
action (usually invoked by clicking the notification) should have a key
named ‘"default"’. The title can be anything, though implementations
are free not to display it.
:timeout timeout
The timeout time in milliseconds since the display of the notification at
which the notification should automatically close. If −1, the notification’s
expiration time is dependent on the notification server’s settings, and
may vary for the type of notification. If 0, the notification never expires.
Default value is −1.
:urgency urgency
The urgency level. It can be low, normal, or critical.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1104

:action-items
When this keyword is given, the title string of the actions is interpreted
as icon name.
:category category
The type of notification this is, a string. See the Desktop Notifications
Specification (http://developer.gnome.org/notification-spec/ #
categories) for a list of standard categories.
:desktop-entry filename
This specifies the name of the desktop filename representing the calling
program, like ‘"emacs"’.
:image-data (width height rowstride has-alpha bits channels data)
This is a raw data image format that describes the width, height, row-
stride, whether there is an alpha channel, bits per sample, channels and
image data, respectively.
:image-path path
This is represented either as a URI (‘file://’ is the only URI schema
supported right now) or a name in a freedesktop.org-compliant icon theme
from ‘$XDG_DATA_DIRS/icons’.
:sound-file filename
The path to a sound file to play when the notification pops up.
:sound-name name
A themable named sound from the freedesktop.org sound naming spec-
ification from ‘$XDG_DATA_DIRS/sounds’, to play when the notification
pops up. Similar to the icon name, only for sounds. An example would
be ‘"message-new-instant"’.
:suppress-sound
Causes the server to suppress playing any sounds, if it has that ability.
:resident
When set the server will not automatically remove the notification when
an action has been invoked. The notification will remain resident in the
server until it is explicitly removed by the user or by the sender. This hint
is likely only useful when the server has the :persistence capability.
:transient
When set the server will treat the notification as transient and by-pass
the server’s persistence capability, if it should exist.
:x position
:y position
Specifies the X, Y location on the screen that the notification should point
to. Both arguments must be used together.
:on-action function
Function to call when an action is invoked. The notification id and the
key of the action are passed as arguments to the function.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1105

:on-close function
Function to call when the notification has been closed by timeout or by
the user. The function receive the notification id and the closing reason
as arguments:
• expired if the notification has expired
• dismissed if the notification was dismissed by the user
• close-notification if the notification was closed by a call to
notifications-close-notification
• undefined if the notification server hasn’t provided a reason
Which parameters are accepted by the notification server can be checked via
notifications-get-capabilities.
This function returns a notification id, an integer, which can be used to manipulate the
notification item with notifications-close-notification or the :replaces-id
argument of another notifications-notify call. For example:
(defun my-on-action-function (id key)
(message "Message %d, key \"%s\" pressed" id key))
⇒ my-on-action-function

(defun my-on-close-function (id reason)

(message "Message %d, closed due to \"%s\"" id reason))
⇒ my-on-close-function

(notifications-notify
:title "Title"
:body "This is <b>important</b>."
:actions '("Confirm" "I agree" "Refuse" "I disagree")
:on-action 'my-on-action-function
:on-close 'my-on-close-function)
⇒ 22

A message window opens on the desktop. Press ``I agree''.

⇒ Message 22, key "Confirm" pressed
Message 22, closed due to "dismissed"

notifications-close-notification id &optional bus [Function]

This function closes a notification with identifier id. bus can be a string denoting a
D-Bus connection, the default is :session.

notifications-get-capabilities &optional bus [Function]

Returns the capabilities of the notification server, a list of symbols. bus can be a string
denoting a D-Bus connection, the default is :session. The following capabilities can
be expected:
:actions The server will provide the specified actions to the user.
:body Supports body text.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1106

:body-hyperlinks
The server supports hyperlinks in the notifications.
:body-images
The server supports images in the notifications.
:body-markup
Supports markup in the body text.
:icon-multi
The server will render an animation of all the frames in a given image
array.
:icon-static
Supports display of exactly 1 frame of any given image array. This value
is mutually exclusive with :icon-multi.
:persistence
The server supports persistence of notifications.
:sound The server supports sounds on notifications.
Further vendor-specific caps start with :x-vendor, like :x-gnome-foo-cap.

notifications-get-server-information &optional bus [Function]

Return information on the notification server, a list of strings. bus can be a string
denoting a D-Bus connection, the default is :session. The returned list is (name
vendor version spec-version).
name The product name of the server.
vendor The vendor name. For example, ‘"KDE"’, ‘"GNOME"’.
version The server’s version number.
spec-version
The specification version the server is compliant with.
If spec version is nil, the server supports a specification prior to ‘"1.0"’.

When Emacs runs on MS-Windows as a GUI session, it supports a small subset of the
D-Bus notifications functionality via a native primitive:

w32-notification-notify &rest params [Function]

This function displays an MS-Windows tray notification as specified by params. MS-
Windows tray notifications are displayed in a balloon from an icon in the notification
area of the taskbar.
Value is the integer unique ID of the notification that can be used to remove the
notification using w32-notification-close, described below. If the function fails,
the return value is nil.
The arguments params are specified as keyword/value pairs. All the parameters are
optional, but if no parameters are specified, the function will do nothing and return
nil.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1107

The following parameters are supported:

:icon icon
Display icon in the system tray. If icon is a string, it should specify a
file name from which to load the icon; the specified file should be a .ico
Windows icon file. If icon is not a string, or if this parameter is not
specified, the standard Emacs icon will be used.
:tip tip Use tip as the tooltip for the notification. If tip is a string, this is the text
of a tooltip that will be shown when the mouse pointer hovers over the
tray icon added by the notification. If tip is not a string, or if this parame-
ter is not specified, the default tooltip text is ‘Emacs notification’. The
tooltip text can be up to 127 characters long (63 on Windows versions
before W2K). Longer strings will be truncated.
:level level
Notification severity level, one of info, warning, or error. If given, the
value determines the icon displayed to the left of the notification title,
but only if the :title parameter (see below) is also specified and is a
string.
:title title
The title of the notification. If title is a string, it is displayed in a larger
font immediately above the body text. The title text can be up to 63
characters long; longer text will be truncated.
:body body
The body of the notification. If body is a string, it specifies the text of
the notification message. Use embedded newlines to control how the text
is broken into lines. The body text can be up to 255 characters long, and
will be truncated if it’s longer. Unlike with D-Bus, the body text should
be plain text, with no markup.
Note that versions of Windows before W2K support only :icon and :tip. The other
parameters can be passed, but they will be ignored on those old systems.
There can be at most one active notification at any given time. An active notification
must be removed by calling w32-notification-close before a new one can be shown.

To remove the notification and its icon from the taskbar, use the following function:

w32-notification-close id [Function]
This function removes the tray notification given by its unique id.

40.20 Notifications on File Changes

Several operating systems support watching of filesystems for changes of files. If configured
properly, Emacs links a respective library like inotify, kqueue, gfilenotify, or w32notify
statically. These libraries enable watching of filesystems on the local machine.
It is also possible to watch filesystems on remote machines, see Section “Remote Files”
in The GNU Emacs Manual This does not depend on one of the libraries linked to Emacs.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1108

Since all these libraries emit different events on notified file changes, there is the Emacs
library filenotify which provides a unified interface. Lisp programs that want to receive
file notifications should always use this library in preference to the native ones.
file-notify-add-watch file flags callback [Function]
Add a watch for filesystem events pertaining to file. This arranges for filesystem
events pertaining to file to be reported to Emacs.
The returned value is a descriptor for the added watch. Its type depends on the
underlying library, it cannot be assumed to be an integer as in the example below. It
should be used for comparison by equal only.
If the file cannot be watched for some reason, this function signals a file-notify-
error error.
Sometimes, mounted filesystems cannot be watched for file changes. This is not
detected by this function, a non-nil return value does not guarantee that changes on
file will be notified.
flags is a list of conditions to set what will be watched for. It can include the following
symbols:
change watch for file changes
attribute-change
watch for file attribute changes, like permissions or modification time
If file is a directory, changes for all files in that directory will be notified. This does
not work recursively.
When any event happens, Emacs will call the callback function passing it a single
argument event, which is of the form
(descriptor action file [file1])
descriptor is the same object as the one returned by this function. action is the
description of the event. It could be any one of the following symbols:
created file was created
deleted file was deleted
changed file’s contents has changed; with w32notify library, reports attribute
changes as well
renamed file has been renamed to file1
attribute-changed
a file attribute was changed
stopped watching file has been stopped
Note that the w32notify library does not report attribute-changed events. When
some file’s attribute, like permissions or modification time, has changed, this library
reports a changed event. Likewise, the kqueue library does not report reliably file
attribute changes when watching a directory.
The stopped event reports, that watching the file has been stopped. This could
be because file-notify-rm-watch was called (see below), or because the file being
watched was deleted, or due to another error reported from the underlying library.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1109

file and file1 are the name of the file(s) whose event is being reported. For example:
(require 'filenotify)
⇒ filenotify

(defun my-notify-callback (event)

(message "Event %S" event))
⇒ my-notify-callback

(file-notify-add-watch
"/tmp" '(change attribute-change) 'my-notify-callback)
⇒ 35025468

(write-region "foo" nil "/tmp/foo")

⇒ Event (35025468 created "/tmp/.#foo")
Event (35025468 created "/tmp/foo")
Event (35025468 changed "/tmp/foo")
Event (35025468 deleted "/tmp/.#foo")

(write-region "bla" nil "/tmp/foo")

⇒ Event (35025468 created "/tmp/.#foo")
Event (35025468 changed "/tmp/foo")
Event (35025468 deleted "/tmp/.#foo")

(set-file-modes "/tmp/foo" (default-file-modes))

⇒ Event (35025468 attribute-changed "/tmp/foo")
Whether the action renamed is returned, depends on the used watch library. Other-
wise, the actions deleted and created could be returned in a random order.
(rename-file "/tmp/foo" "/tmp/bla")
⇒ Event (35025468 renamed "/tmp/foo" "/tmp/bla")

(delete-file "/tmp/bla")
⇒ Event (35025468 deleted "/tmp/bla")

file-notify-rm-watch descriptor [Function]

Removes an existing file watch specified by its descriptor. descriptor should be an
object returned by file-notify-add-watch.

file-notify-valid-p descriptor [Function]

Checks a watch specified by its descriptor for validity. descriptor should be an object
returned by file-notify-add-watch.
A watch can become invalid if the file or directory it watches is deleted, or if the
watcher thread exits abnormally for any other reason. Removing the watch by calling
file-notify-rm-watch also makes it invalid.
(make-directory "/tmp/foo")
⇒ Event (35025468 created "/tmp/foo")
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1110

(setq desc
(file-notify-add-watch
"/tmp/foo" '(change) 'my-notify-callback))
⇒ 11359632

(file-notify-valid-p desc)
⇒ t

(write-region "bla" nil "/tmp/foo/bla")

⇒ Event (11359632 created "/tmp/foo/.#bla")
Event (11359632 created "/tmp/foo/bla")
Event (11359632 changed "/tmp/foo/bla")
Event (11359632 deleted "/tmp/foo/.#bla")

;; Deleting a file in the directory doesn't invalidate the watch.

(delete-file "/tmp/foo/bla")
⇒ Event (11359632 deleted "/tmp/foo/bla")

(write-region "bla" nil "/tmp/foo/bla")

⇒ Event (11359632 created "/tmp/foo/.#bla")
Event (11359632 created "/tmp/foo/bla")
Event (11359632 changed "/tmp/foo/bla")
Event (11359632 deleted "/tmp/foo/.#bla")

;; Deleting the directory invalidates the watch.

;; Events arrive for different watch descriptors.
(delete-directory "/tmp/foo" 'recursive)
⇒ Event (35025468 deleted "/tmp/foo")
Event (11359632 deleted "/tmp/foo/bla")
Event (11359632 deleted "/tmp/foo")
Event (11359632 stopped "/tmp/foo")

(file-notify-valid-p desc)
⇒ nil

40.21 Dynamically Loaded Libraries

A dynamically loaded library is a library that is loaded on demand, when its facilities are
first needed. Emacs supports such on-demand loading of support libraries for some of its
features.

dynamic-library-alist [Variable]
This is an alist of dynamic libraries and external library files implementing them.
Each element is a list of the form (library files...), where the car is a symbol
representing a supported external library, and the rest are strings giving alternate
filenames for that library.
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1111

Emacs tries to load the library from the files in the order they appear in the list; if
none is found, the Emacs session won’t have access to that library, and the features
it provides will be unavailable.
Image support on some platforms uses this facility. Here’s an example of setting this
variable for supporting images on MS-Windows:
(setq dynamic-library-alist
'((xpm "libxpm.dll" "xpm4.dll" "libXpm-nox4.dll")
(png "libpng12d.dll" "libpng12.dll" "libpng.dll"
"libpng13d.dll" "libpng13.dll")
(jpeg "jpeg62.dll" "libjpeg.dll" "jpeg-62.dll"
"jpeg.dll")
(tiff "libtiff3.dll" "libtiff.dll")
(gif "giflib4.dll" "libungif4.dll" "libungif.dll")
(svg "librsvg-2-2.dll")
(gdk-pixbuf "libgdk_pixbuf-2.0-0.dll")
(glib "libglib-2.0-0.dll")
(gobject "libgobject-2.0-0.dll")))
Note that image types pbm and xbm do not need entries in this variable because they
do not depend on external libraries and are always available in Emacs.
Also note that this variable is not meant to be a generic facility for accessing external
libraries; only those already known by Emacs can be loaded through it.
This variable is ignored if the given library is statically linked into Emacs.

40.22 Security Considerations

Like any application, Emacs can be run in a secure environment, where the operating system
enforces rules about access and the like. With some care, Emacs-based applications can
also be part of a security perimeter that checks such rules. Although the default settings
for Emacs work well for a typical software development environment, they may require
adjustment in environments containing untrusted users that may include attackers. Here is
a compendium of security issues that may be helpful if you are developing such applications.
It is by no means complete; it is intended to give you an idea of the security issues involved,
rather than to be a security checklist.
File local variables
A file that Emacs visits can contain variable settings that affect the buffer
visiting that file; See Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191. Similarly, a
directory can specify local variable values common to all files in that directory;
see Section 12.13 [Directory Local Variables], page 194. Although Emacs takes
some effort to protect against misuse of these variables, a security hole can be
created merely by a package setting safe-local-variable too optimistically,
a problem that is all too common. To disable this feature for both files and
directories, set enable-local-variables to nil.
Access control
Although Emacs normally respects access permissions of the underlying operat-
ing system, in some cases it handles accesses specially. For example, file names
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1112

can have handlers that treat the files specially, with their own access checking.
See Section 25.12 [Magic File Names], page 559. Also, a buffer can be read-
only even if the corresponding file is writable, and vice versa, which can result
in messages such as ‘File passwd is write-protected; try to save anyway?
(yes or no)’. See Section 27.7 [Read Only Buffers], page 590.

Authentication
Emacs has several functions that deal with passwords, e.g., read-passwd. See
Section 20.9 [Reading a Password], page 363. Although these functions do
not attempt to broadcast passwords to the world, their implementations are
not proof against determined attackers with access to Emacs internals. For
example, even if Elisp code uses clear-string to scrub a password from its
memory after using it, remnants of the password may still reside in the garbage-
collected free list. See Section 4.4 [Modifying Strings], page 54.

Code injection
Emacs can send commands to many other applications, and applications should
take care that strings sent as operands of these commands are not misinter-
preted as directives. For example, when using a shell command to rename a file
a to b, do not simply use the string mv a b, because either file name might start
with ‘-’, or might contain shell metacharacters like ‘;’. Although functions
like shell-quote-argument can help avoid this sort of problem, they are not
panaceas; for example, on a POSIX platform shell-quote-argument quotes
shell metacharacters but not leading ‘-’. On MS-Windows, quoting for ‘%’ as-
sumes none of the environment variables have ‘^’ in their name. See Section 38.2
[Shell Arguments], page 921. Typically it is safer to use call-process than a
subshell. See Section 38.3 [Synchronous Processes], page 922. And it is safer
yet to use builtin Emacs functions; for example, use (rename-file "a" "b" t)
instead of invoking mv. See Section 25.7 [Changing Files], page 541.

Coding systems
Emacs attempts to infer the coding systems of the files and network connections
it accesses. See Section 33.10 [Coding Systems], page 848. If Emacs infers
incorrectly, or if the other parties to the network connection disagree with
Emacs’s inferences, the resulting system could be unreliable. Also, even when
it infers correctly, Emacs often can use bytes that other programs cannot. For
example, although to Emacs the null byte is just a character like any other,
many other applications treat it as a string terminator and mishandle strings
or files containing null bytes.

Environment and configuration variables

POSIX specifies several environment variables that can affect how Emacs
behaves. Any environment variable whose name consists entirely of uppercase
ASCII letters, digits, and the underscore may affect the internal behavior
of Emacs. Emacs uses several such variables, e.g., EMACSLOADPATH. See
Section 16.3 [Library Search], page 266. On some platforms some environment
variables (e.g., PATH, POSIXLY_CORRECT, SHELL, TMPDIR) need to have
properly-configured values in order to get standard behavior for any utility
Chapter 40: Operating System Interface 1113

Emacs might invoke. Even seemingly-benign variables like TZ may have

security implications. See Section 40.3 [System Environment], page 1082.
Emacs has customization and other variables with similar considerations. For
example, if the variable shell-file-name specifies a shell with nonstandard
behavior, an Emacs-based application may misbehave.
Installation
When Emacs is installed, if the installation directory hierarchy can be modified
by untrusted users, the application cannot be trusted. This applies also to the
directory hierarchies of the programs that Emacs uses, and of the files that
Emacs reads and writes.
Network access
Emacs often accesses the network, and you may want to configure it to avoid
network accesses that it would normally do. For example, unless you set
tramp-mode to nil, file names using a certain syntax are interpreted as being
network files, and are retrieved across the network. See The Tramp Manual.
Race conditions
Emacs applications have the same sort of race-condition issues that other ap-
plications do. For example, even when (file-readable-p "foo.txt") returns
t, it could be that foo.txt is unreadable because some other program changed
the file’s permissions between the call to file-readable-p and now. See
Section 25.6.1 [Testing Accessibility], page 531.
Resource limits
When Emacs exhausts memory or other operating system resources, its behav-
ior can be less reliable, in that computations that ordinarily run to completion
may abort back to the top level. This may cause Emacs to neglect operations
that it normally would have done.
 1114

41 Preparing Lisp code for distribution

Emacs provides a standard way to distribute Emacs Lisp code to users. A package is a
collection of one or more files, formatted and bundled in such a way that users can easily
download, install, uninstall, and upgrade it.
The following sections describe how to create a package, and how to put it in a package
archive for others to download. See Section “Packages” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for a
description of user-level features of the packaging system.

41.1 Packaging Basics

A package is either a simple package or a multi-file package. A simple package is stored in
a package archive as a single Emacs Lisp file, while a multi-file package is stored as a tar
file (containing multiple Lisp files, and possibly non-Lisp files such as a manual).
In ordinary usage, the difference between simple packages and multi-file packages is
relatively unimportant; the Package Menu interface makes no distinction between them.
However, the procedure for creating them differs, as explained in the following sections.
Each package (whether simple or multi-file) has certain attributes:
Name A short word (e.g., ‘auctex’). This is usually also the symbol prefix used in the
program (see Section D.1 [Coding Conventions], page 1142).
Version A version number, in a form that the function version-to-list understands
(e.g., ‘11.86’). Each release of a package should be accompanied by an increase
in the version number so that it will be recognized as an upgrade by users
querying the package archive.
Brief description
This is shown when the package is listed in the Package Menu. It should occupy
a single line, ideally in 36 characters or less.
Long description
This is shown in the buffer created by C-h P (describe-package), following the
package’s brief description and installation status. It normally spans multiple
lines, and should fully describe the package’s capabilities and how to begin using
it once it is installed.
Dependencies
A list of other packages (possibly including minimal acceptable version num-
bers) on which this package depends. The list may be empty, meaning this
package has no dependencies. Otherwise, installing this package also automat-
ically installs its dependencies, recursively; if any dependency cannot be found,
the package cannot be installed.
Installing a package, either via the command package-install-file, or via the Package
Menu, creates a subdirectory of package-user-dir named name-version, where name is
the package’s name and version its version (e.g., ~/.emacs.d/elpa/auctex-11.86/). We
call this the package’s content directory. It is where Emacs puts the package’s contents (the
single Lisp file for a simple package, or the files extracted from a multi-file package).
Chapter 41: Preparing Lisp code for distribution 1115

Emacs then searches every Lisp file in the content directory for autoload magic comments
(see Section 16.5 [Autoload], page 268). These autoload definitions are saved to a file
named name-autoloads.el in the content directory. They are typically used to autoload
the principal user commands defined in the package, but they can also perform other tasks,
such as adding an element to auto-mode-alist (see Section 23.2.2 [Auto Major Mode],
page 459). Note that a package typically does not autoload every function and variable
defined within it—only the handful of commands typically called to begin using the package.
Emacs then byte-compiles every Lisp file in the package.
After installation, the installed package is loaded: Emacs adds the package’s content
directory to load-path, and evaluates the autoload definitions in name-autoloads.el.
Whenever Emacs starts up, it automatically calls the function package-initialize to
load installed packages. This is done after loading the init file and abbrev file (if any)
and before running after-init-hook (see Section 40.1.1 [Startup Summary], page 1072).
Automatic package loading is disabled if the user option package-enable-at-startup is
nil.
package-initialize &optional no-activate [Command]
This function initializes Emacs’ internal record of which packages are installed, and
loads them. The user option package-load-list specifies which packages to load; by
default, all installed packages are loaded. If called during startup, this function also
sets package-enable-at-startup to nil, to avoid accidentally loading the packages
twice. See Section “Package Installation” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
The optional argument no-activate, if non-nil, causes Emacs to update its record of
installed packages without actually loading them; it is for internal use only.

41.2 Simple Packages

A simple package consists of a single Emacs Lisp source file. The file must conform to
the Emacs Lisp library header conventions (see Section D.8 [Library Headers], page 1152).
The package’s attributes are taken from the various headers, as illustrated by the following
example:
;;; superfrobnicator.el --- Frobnicate and bifurcate flanges

;; Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

;; Author: J. R. Hacker <jrh@example.com>

;; Version: 1.3
;; Package-Requires: ((flange "1.0"))
;; Keywords: multimedia, frobnicate
;; URL: http://example.com/jrhacker/superfrobnicate

...

;;; Commentary:

;; This package provides a minor mode to frobnicate and/or

;; bifurcate any flanges you desire. To activate it, just type
Chapter 41: Preparing Lisp code for distribution 1116

...

;;;###autoload
(define-minor-mode superfrobnicator-mode
...
The name of the package is the same as the base name of the file, as written on the first
line. Here, it is ‘superfrobnicator’.
The brief description is also taken from the first line. Here, it is ‘Frobnicate and
bifurcate flanges’.
The version number comes from the ‘Package-Version’ header, if it exists, or from the
‘Version’ header otherwise. One or the other must be present. Here, the version number
is 1.3.
If the file has a ‘;;; Commentary:’ section, this section is used as the long description.
(When displaying the description, Emacs omits the ‘;;; Commentary:’ line, as well as the
leading comment characters in the commentary itself.)
If the file has a ‘Package-Requires’ header, that is used as the package dependencies.
In the above example, the package depends on the ‘flange’ package, version 1.0 or higher.
See Section D.8 [Library Headers], page 1152, for a description of the ‘Package-Requires’
header. If the header is omitted, the package has no dependencies.
The ‘Keywords’ and ‘URL’ headers are optional, but recommended. The command
describe-package uses these to add links to its output. The ‘Keywords’ header should
contain at least one standard keyword from the finder-known-keywords list.
The file ought to also contain one or more autoload magic comments, as explained
in Section 41.1 [Packaging Basics], page 1114. In the above example, a magic comment
autoloads superfrobnicator-mode.
See Section 41.4 [Package Archives], page 1117, for an explanation of how to add a
single-file package to a package archive.

41.3 Multi-file Packages

A multi-file package is less convenient to create than a single-file package, but it offers more
features: it can include multiple Emacs Lisp files, an Info manual, and other file types (such
as images).
Prior to installation, a multi-file package is stored in a package archive as a tar file. The
tar file must be named name-version.tar, where name is the package name and version
is the version number. Its contents, once extracted, must all appear in a directory named
name-version, the content directory (see Section 41.1 [Packaging Basics], page 1114). Files
may also extract into subdirectories of the content directory.
One of the files in the content directory must be named name-pkg.el. It must contain
a single Lisp form, consisting of a call to the function define-package, described below.
This defines the package’s attributes: version, brief description, and requirements.
For example, if we distribute version 1.3 of the superfrobnicator as a multi-file
package, the tar file would be superfrobnicator-1.3.tar. Its contents would
extract into the directory superfrobnicator-1.3, and one of these would be the file
superfrobnicator-pkg.el.
Chapter 41: Preparing Lisp code for distribution 1117

define-package name version &optional docstring requirements [Function]

This function defines a package. name is the package name, a string. version is the
version, as a string of a form that can be understood by the function version-to-
list. docstring is the brief description.
requirements is a list of required packages and their versions. Each element in this list
should have the form (dep-name dep-version), where dep-name is a symbol whose
name is the dependency’s package name, and dep-version is the dependency’s version
(a string).
If the content directory contains a file named README, this file is used as the long de-
scription.
If the content directory contains a file named dir, this is assumed to be an Info directory
file made with install-info. See Section “Invoking install-info” in Texinfo. The relevant
Info files should also be present in the content directory. In this case, Emacs will automat-
ically add the content directory to Info-directory-list when the package is activated.
Do not include any .elc files in the package. Those are created when the package is
installed. Note that there is no way to control the order in which files are byte-compiled.
Do not include any file named name-autoloads.el. This file is reserved for the pack-
age’s autoload definitions (see Section 41.1 [Packaging Basics], page 1114). It is created
automatically when the package is installed, by searching all the Lisp files in the package
for autoload magic comments.
If the multi-file package contains auxiliary data files (such as images), the package’s Lisp
code can refer to these files via the variable load-file-name (see Chapter 16 [Loading],
page 263). Here is an example:
(defconst superfrobnicator-base (file-name-directory load-file-name))

(defun superfrobnicator-fetch-image (file)

(expand-file-name file superfrobnicator-base))

41.4 Creating and Maintaining Package Archives

Via the Package Menu, users may download packages from package archives. Such archives
are specified by the variable package-archives, whose default value contains a single entry:
the archive hosted by the GNU project at https://elpa.gnu.org. This section describes
how to set up and maintain a package archive.
package-archives [User Option]
The value of this variable is an alist of package archives recognized by the Emacs
package manager.
Each alist element corresponds to one archive, and should have the form (id .
location), where id is the name of the archive (a string) and location is its base
location (a string).
If the base location starts with ‘http:’ or ‘https:’, it is treated as an HTTP(S) URL,
and packages are downloaded from this archive via HTTP(S) (as is the case for the
default GNU archive).
Otherwise, the base location should be a directory name. In this case, Emacs retrieves
packages from this archive via ordinary file access. Such local archives are mainly
useful for testing.
Chapter 41: Preparing Lisp code for distribution 1118

A package archive is simply a directory in which the package files, and associated files,
are stored. If you want the archive to be reachable via HTTP, this directory must be
accessible to a web server. How to accomplish this is beyond the scope of this manual.
A convenient way to set up and update a package archive is via the package-x li-
brary. This is included with Emacs, but not loaded by default; type M-x load-library
RET package-x RET to load it, or add (require 'package-x) to your init file. See Section
“Lisp Libraries” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
After you create an archive, remember that it is not accessible in the Package Menu interface
unless it is in package-archives.
Maintaining a public package archive entails a degree of responsibility. When Emacs
users install packages from your archive, those packages can cause Emacs to run arbitrary
code with the permissions of the installing user. (This is true for Emacs code in general,
not just for packages.) So you should ensure that your archive is well-maintained and keep
the hosting system secure.
One way to increase the security of your packages is to sign them using a cryptographic
key. If you have generated a private/public gpg key pair, you can use gpg to sign the
package like this:
gpg -ba -o file.sig file
For a single-file package, file is the package Lisp file; for a multi-file package, it is the
package tar file. You can also sign the archive’s contents file in the same way. Make the
.sig files available in the same location as the packages. You should also make your public
key available for people to download; e.g., by uploading it to a key server such as http://
pgp.mit.edu/. When people install packages from your archive, they can use your public
key to verify the signatures.
A full explanation of these matters is outside the scope of this manual. For more informa-
tion on cryptographic keys and signing, see Section “GnuPG” in The GNU Privacy Guard
Manual. Emacs comes with an interface to GNU Privacy Guard, see Section “EasyPG” in
Emacs EasyPG Assistant Manual.
 1119

Appendix A Emacs 25 Antinews

For those users who live backwards in time, here is information about downgrading to Emacs
version 25.3. We hope you will enjoy the greater simplicity that results from the absence of
many Emacs 26.3 features.

A.1 Old Lisp Features in Emacs 25

• The concurrency features have been removed. Even in its limited “mostly cooperative”
form, with only one Lisp thread running at any given time, it made Emacs signifi-
cantly more complex for Lisp programs that need to work correctly in the presence of
additional threads.
• Handling of file attributes has been simplified by discarding the accessor functions,
such as file-attribute-type and file-attribute-modification-time. Real Lisp
programmers always access the individual attributes by their ordinal numbers, and can
recite those numbers in their sleep.
• The networking code is back at its pristine simplicity, as we deleted the use of asyn-
chronous DNS resolution, connection, and TLS negotiation for TLS streams. You no
longer need to consider the resulting complexity and interesting race conditions when
you write Lisp programs that use network communications. As a direct consequence,
the :complete-negotiation parameter of gnutls-boot has become unnecessary, and
was removed—just one example of how removal of asynchronicity simplifies Emacs.
• We’ve removed the puny.el library, so Web sites with non-ASCII URLs are no longer
easily accessible. But such sites become more and more rare as you move back in
time, so having a specialized library for their support was deemed an unnecessary
maintenance burden.
• The time conversion functions current-time-string, current-time-zone,
decode-time, format-time-string, and set-time-zone-rule no longer accept
integer offsets as time zone rules, to make it more of a challenge to convert foreign
timestamps. Also, format-time-string no longer converts ‘%q’ to the calendar
quarter, as that is something you can easily do for yourself.
• Field numbers like ‘%2$’ in format specifiers are no longer available. We decided that
their use makes code reading and comprehension much harder, and that having them
is unjustified in the past where similar features in popular C libraries will also be gone.
• Since the built-in capability to display line numbers has been removed (see Section “An-
tinews” in The GNU Emacs Manual), we’ve also deleted the line-number-display-
width function and the support for the display-line-numbers-disable property, as
Lisp programs that do their own display layout decisions no longer need to cater to
this tricky feature.
• Regular expressions have been simplified by removing support for Unicode character
properties in the [:blank:] regexp class. As result, this class will match only spaces
and tabs. Once again, this is in line with diminishing importance of Unicode as you
move back in time.
• For similar reasons, we removed the function char-from-name. It should be easy
enough to access the full list of Unicode characters returned by ucs-names instead, for
as long as Unicode support in Emacs exists (which shouldn’t be too long).
Appendix A: Emacs 25 Antinews 1120

• Various functions that accept file names as arguments, such as file-attributes,

file-symlink-p, and make-symbolic-link gained back the special support for file
names quoted with ‘/:’, and they now interpret ‘~’ in symlink targets as you’d expect:
to mean your home directory. The confusing differences between the operation of these
functions in interactive and non-interactive invocations has been removed.
• Several functions that create or rename their files now treat their destination specially
if it happens to be a directory, even when its name does not appear to be that of a
directory. For example, (rename-file "A" "B") no longer renames A to B if B happens
to be a directory. This is so that dealing with files becomes more of an adventure.
• The format function now returns new strings in more cases, to place more stress on
the Emacs memory manager and thereby test Emacs better.
• The function assoc has been simplified by removing its third optional argument. It
now always uses equal for comparison. Likewise, alist-get always uses assq, and
map-get and map-put always use eql for their comparisons.
• Numeric comparisons and the functions format, make-hash-table, min, max and logb
now occasionally round values internally to make their results less predictable.
• The functions ffloor, fceilingl, ftruncate and fround now accept integer argu-
ments. Conversely, functions like decode-char that accept floating-point integers now
accept arguments that are not integers. In both cases the results are amusingly non-
sensical sometimes.
• GnuTLS cryptographic functions are no longer available in Emacs. We have decided
that the needs for such functionality are deteriorating, and their cumbersome interfaces
make them hard to use.
• We have removed support for records of user-defined types, and cl-defstruct no
longer uses records. This removes the potential for quite a few places where existing
and past code could be broken by records.
• You can again use string-as-unibyte, string-make-multibyte, and other similar
functions, without being annoyed by messages about their deprecation. This is in
preparation for removal of multibyte text from Emacs in the distant past.
• The string-version-lessp function has been removed, to encourage programmers to
use their own idiosyncratic methods to determine whether one version string precedes
another.
• The function read-color no longer displays color names using each color as the back-
ground. We have determined that this surprises users and produces funny inconsistent
results on color-challenged terminals.
• Support for 24-bit color on text terminals has been dropped, since it wasn’t needed
long ago.
• We removed the function file-name-case-insensitive-p, as testing for the OS sym-
bol should be enough for the observable past to come, and learning to use yet another
API is a burden.
• The function read-multiple-choice is also gone, in recognition of the fact that noth-
ing makes Emacs Lisp hackers rejoice more than the need to sit down and write yet
another interactive question-and-answer function, and make it optimal for each specific
case.
Appendix A: Emacs 25 Antinews 1121

• The function add-variable-watcher and the corresponding debugger command

debug-on-variable-change have been removed. They make debugging more
complicated, while examining the value of a variable at each stop point is easy enough
to cover the same use cases. Let simplicity rule!
• The function mapcan is gone; use mapcar instead, and process the resulting list as you
see fit.
• Low-level list functions like length and member can now loop indefinitely when given
cyclic lists, causing Emacs to freeze. This can help these functions run a tiny bit faster
in the usual case where the input is not cyclic.
• The write-region function no longer propagates its lockname argument to file name
handlers.
• You can once again write a Lisp program that returns funny random values from
file-attributes by having another process alter the filesystem while Emacs is ac-
cessing the file. This can give rise to some interesting applications in the near past.
• The functions file-attributes, file-symlink-p, and make-symbolic-link now qui-
etly mutate the target of a local symbolic link in some cases, to make it more of a
challenge to deal with arbitrary symlinks in Emacs code.
• The error file-missing has been removed; operations now lump such errors into the
file-error category instead.
• The function delete-directory now signals an error if operating recursively and some
other process deletes the directory before this function gets to it.
• The dutch input method now attempts to support Turkish too, albeit incorrectly. Also,
it converts ‘IJ’ and ‘ij’ to special characters instead of leaving them alone.
• Non-breaking hyphens and approximations to quotes are now displayed just with the
escape-glyph face instead of having faces of their own. This is simpler and gives the
user amusing puzzles to solve when viewing text containing these characters.
• The user option electric-quote-context-sensitive and the variable
electric-quote-inhibit-functions, so that electric quoting is simpler and more
likely to do the wrong thing.
• The user option text-quoting-style has been removed, and is now just a variable.
• We have removed the functions file-name-quote, file-name-unquote, and
file-name-quoted-p. Writing code that checks whether a file name is already
quoted is easy, and doubly quoting a file name should not produce any problems for
well-written Lisp code.
• Frame parameters like z-group, min-width, parent-frame, delete-before, etc. have
been removed. Emacs should not replace your window-manager, certainly not as
window-managers become less and less capable.
• We decided that the format of mode line and header line should be customizable only
based on buffers; the mode-line-format and header-line-format window parameters
have been removed.
• Emacs now normally builds a limited movemail substitute that retrieves POP3 email
only via insecure channels, and the configure-time option --with-mailutils has been
removed. This simplifies Emacs setup when security is not important.
 1122

• The configure-time option --enable-gcc-warnings=warn-only has been removed, so

that build-time warnings are always fatal now.
• The configure-time option --disable-build-details has been removed. This way,
Emacs builds are unique and irreproducible.
• The variable emacs-version now includes the build number instead of storing it sep-
arately in emacs-build-number.
• Emacs has been ported to IRIX.
• Several options and variables have been removed to simplify Emacs and potentially
make it less reliable. These include the --module-assertions option, the
attempt-stack-overflow-recovery variable, and the attempt-orderly-shutdown-
on-fatal-signal variable.
• As part of the ongoing quest for simplicity, many other functions and variables have
been eliminated.
 1123

Appendix B GNU Free Documentation License

Version 1.3, 3 November 2008
Copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
c
https://fsf.org/

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies

of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
0. PREAMBLE
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and
useful document free in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom
to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or non-
commercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way
to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications
made by others.
This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative works of the document
must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public
License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.
We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because
free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals
providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to
software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or
whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for
works whose purpose is instruction or reference.
1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a
notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms
of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in
duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The “Document”,
below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and
is addressed as “you”. You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work
in a way requiring permission under copyright law.
A “Modified Version” of the Document means any work containing the Document or
a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into
another language.
A “Secondary Section” is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document
that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document
to the Document’s overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that
could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in part a
textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The
relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related
matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding
them.
The “Invariant Sections” are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as
being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released
Appendix B: GNU Free Documentation License 1124

under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is
not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant
Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.
The “Cover Texts” are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover
Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under
this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may
be at most 25 words.
A “Transparent” copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented
in a format whose specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for
revising the document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images com-
posed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing
editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to
a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise
Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to
thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image
format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is
not “Transparent” is called “Opaque”.
Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ASCII without
markup, Texinfo input format, LaTEX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly
available DTD, and standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed
for human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include PNG, XCF
and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be read and edited
only by proprietary word processors, SGML or XML for which the DTD and/or pro-
cessing tools are not generally available, and the machine-generated HTML, PostScript
or PDF produced by some word processors for output purposes only.
The “Title Page” means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following
pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the
title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, “Title Page”
means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work’s title, preceding the
beginning of the body of the text.
The “publisher” means any person or entity that distributes copies of the Document
to the public.
A section “Entitled XYZ” means a named subunit of the Document whose title either
is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses following text that translates XYZ in
another language. (Here XYZ stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such
as “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, “Endorsements”, or “History”.) To “Preserve
the Title” of such a section when you modify the Document means that it remains a
section “Entitled XYZ” according to this definition.
The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that
this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to
be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties:
any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no
effect on the meaning of this License.
2. VERBATIM COPYING
Appendix B: GNU Free Documentation License 1125

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or
noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license
notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and
that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use
technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies
you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies.
If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions
in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly
display copies.
3. COPYING IN QUANTITY
If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of
the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document’s license notice requires
Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all
these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on
the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher
of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title
equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition.
Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the
Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other
respects.
If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put
the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the
rest onto adjacent pages.
If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100,
you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque
copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which
the general network-using public has access to download using public-standard network
protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If
you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin
distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will
remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time
you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that
edition to the public.
It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well
before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you
with an updated version of the Document.
4. MODIFICATIONS
You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions
of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely
this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing
distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of
it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the
Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if there were any,
Appendix B: GNU Free Documentation License 1126

be listed in the History section of the Document). You may use the same title as
a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for
authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five
of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer
than five), unless they release you from this requirement.
C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the
publisher.
D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other
copyright notices.
F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public
permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form
shown in the Addendum below.
G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover
Texts given in the Document’s license notice.
H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
I. Preserve the section Entitled “History”, Preserve its Title, and add to it an item
stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version
as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled “History” in the Docu-
ment, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document
as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as
stated in the previous sentence.
J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to
a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in
the Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the
“History” section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published
at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the
version it refers to gives permission.
K. For any section Entitled “Acknowledgements” or “Dedications”, Preserve the Title
of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the
contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and
in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the
section titles.
M. Delete any section Entitled “Endorsements”. Such a section may not be included
in the Modified Version.
N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled “Endorsements” or to conflict in
title with any Invariant Section.
O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify
as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at
your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their
Appendix B: GNU Free Documentation License 1127

titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version’s license notice. These
titles must be distinct from any other section titles.
You may add a section Entitled “Endorsements”, provided it contains nothing but
endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties—for example, statements of
peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative
definition of a standard.
You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up
to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified
Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be
added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already
includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement
made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but
you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that
added the old one.
The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission
to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified
Version.
5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License,
under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you
include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents,
unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license
notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.
The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical
Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant
Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section
unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or
publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment
to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined
work.
In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled “History” in the vari-
ous original documents, forming one section Entitled “History”; likewise combine any
sections Entitled “Acknowledgements”, and any sections Entitled “Dedications”. You
must delete all sections Entitled “Endorsements.”
6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released
under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various
documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you
follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all
other respects.
You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individu-
ally under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted
document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of
that document.
Appendix B: GNU Free Documentation License 1128

7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent
documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called
an “aggregate” if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the
legal rights of the compilation’s users beyond what the individual works permit. When
the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other
works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document,
then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document’s Cover
Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the
electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they
must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.
8. TRANSLATION
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations
of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with
translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may
include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions
of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the
license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you
also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of
those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and
the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will
prevail.
If a section in the Document is Entitled “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, or “His-
tory”, the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require
changing the actual title.
9. TERMINATION
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly
provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or
distribute it is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular
copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder
explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright
holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days
after the cessation.
Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if
the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the
first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that
copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the
notice.
Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of parties
who have received copies or rights from you under this License. If your rights have
been terminated and not permanently reinstated, receipt of a copy of some or all of the
same material does not give you any rights to use it.
Appendix B: GNU Free Documentation License 1129

10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free
Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit
to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
See https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document
specifies that a particular numbered version of this License “or any later version”
applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that
specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by
the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of
this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free
Software Foundation. If the Document specifies that a proxy can decide which future
versions of this License can be used, that proxy’s public statement of acceptance of a
version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.
11. RELICENSING
“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site” (or “MMC Site”) means any World Wide
Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also provides prominent facilities
for anybody to edit those works. A public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of
such a server. A “Massive Multiauthor Collaboration” (or “MMC”) contained in the
site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC site.
“CC-BY-SA” means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license pub-
lished by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation with a principal
place of business in San Francisco, California, as well as future copyleft versions of that
license published by that same organization.
“Incorporate” means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or in part, as part
of another Document.
An MMC is “eligible for relicensing” if it is licensed under this License, and if all works
that were first published under this License somewhere other than this MMC, and
subsequently incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover texts
or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior to November 1, 2008.
The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the site under
CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1, 2009, provided the MMC is
eligible for relicensing.
Appendix B: GNU Free Documentation License 1130

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the
document and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:
Copyright (C) year your name.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
Free Documentation License''.
If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the
“with. . . Texts.” line with this:
with the Invariant Sections being list their titles, with
the Front-Cover Texts being list, and with the Back-Cover Texts
being list.
If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the
three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.
If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing
these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU
General Public License, to permit their use in free software.
 1131

Appendix C GNU General Public License

Version 3, 29 June 2007
Copyright
c 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. https://fsf.org/

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this

license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble
The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of
works.
The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your
freedom to share and change the works. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is
intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a program—to make
sure it remains free software for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the
GNU General Public License for most of our software; it applies also to any other work
released this way by its authors. You can apply it to your programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General
Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies
of free software (and charge for them if you wish), that you receive source code or can get
it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs,
and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you these rights or asking
you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have certain responsibilities if you distribute
copies of the software, or if you modify it: responsibilities to respect the freedom of others.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you
must pass on to the recipients the same freedoms that you received. You must make sure
that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so
they know their rights.
Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps: (1) assert copy-
right on the software, and (2) offer you this License giving you legal permission to copy,
distribute and/or modify it.
For the developers’ and authors’ protection, the GPL clearly explains that there is no
warranty for this free software. For both users’ and authors’ sake, the GPL requires that
modified versions be marked as changed, so that their problems will not be attributed
erroneously to authors of previous versions.
Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run modified versions of the
software inside them, although the manufacturer can do so. This is fundamentally incom-
patible with the aim of protecting users’ freedom to change the software. The systematic
pattern of such abuse occurs in the area of products for individuals to use, which is pre-
cisely where it is most unacceptable. Therefore, we have designed this version of the GPL
to prohibit the practice for those products. If such problems arise substantially in other
domains, we stand ready to extend this provision to those domains in future versions of the
GPL, as needed to protect the freedom of users.
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1132

Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. States should not
allow patents to restrict development and use of software on general-purpose computers, but
in those that do, we wish to avoid the special danger that patents applied to a free program
could make it effectively proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL assures that patents cannot
be used to render the program non-free.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

0. Definitions.
“This License” refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.
“Copyright” also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of works, such as
semiconductor masks.
“The Program” refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this License. Each
licensee is addressed as “you”. “Licensees” and “recipients” may be individuals or
organizations.
To “modify” a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the work in a fashion
requiring copyright permission, other than the making of an exact copy. The resulting
work is called a “modified version” of the earlier work or a work “based on” the earlier
work.
A “covered work” means either the unmodified Program or a work based on the Pro-
gram.
To “propagate” a work means to do anything with it that, without permission, would
make you directly or secondarily liable for infringement under applicable copyright law,
except executing it on a computer or modifying a private copy. Propagation includes
copying, distribution (with or without modification), making available to the public,
and in some countries other activities as well.
To “convey” a work means any kind of propagation that enables other parties to make
or receive copies. Mere interaction with a user through a computer network, with no
transfer of a copy, is not conveying.
An interactive user interface displays “Appropriate Legal Notices” to the extent that it
includes a convenient and prominently visible feature that (1) displays an appropriate
copyright notice, and (2) tells the user that there is no warranty for the work (except
to the extent that warranties are provided), that licensees may convey the work under
this License, and how to view a copy of this License. If the interface presents a list
of user commands or options, such as a menu, a prominent item in the list meets this
criterion.
1. Source Code.
The “source code” for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modi-
fications to it. “Object code” means any non-source form of a work.
A “Standard Interface” means an interface that either is an official standard defined
by a recognized standards body, or, in the case of interfaces specified for a particular
programming language, one that is widely used among developers working in that
language.
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1133

The “System Libraries” of an executable work include anything, other than the work as
a whole, that (a) is included in the normal form of packaging a Major Component, but
which is not part of that Major Component, and (b) serves only to enable use of the
work with that Major Component, or to implement a Standard Interface for which an
implementation is available to the public in source code form. A “Major Component”,
in this context, means a major essential component (kernel, window system, and so
on) of the specific operating system (if any) on which the executable work runs, or a
compiler used to produce the work, or an object code interpreter used to run it.
The “Corresponding Source” for a work in object code form means all the source code
needed to generate, install, and (for an executable work) run the object code and to
modify the work, including scripts to control those activities. However, it does not
include the work’s System Libraries, or general-purpose tools or generally available
free programs which are used unmodified in performing those activities but which are
not part of the work. For example, Corresponding Source includes interface definition
files associated with source files for the work, and the source code for shared libraries
and dynamically linked subprograms that the work is specifically designed to require,
such as by intimate data communication or control flow between those subprograms
and other parts of the work.
The Corresponding Source need not include anything that users can regenerate auto-
matically from other parts of the Corresponding Source.
The Corresponding Source for a work in source code form is that same work.
2. Basic Permissions.
All rights granted under this License are granted for the term of copyright on the
Program, and are irrevocable provided the stated conditions are met. This License ex-
plicitly affirms your unlimited permission to run the unmodified Program. The output
from running a covered work is covered by this License only if the output, given its
content, constitutes a covered work. This License acknowledges your rights of fair use
or other equivalent, as provided by copyright law.
You may make, run and propagate covered works that you do not convey, without
conditions so long as your license otherwise remains in force. You may convey covered
works to others for the sole purpose of having them make modifications exclusively
for you, or provide you with facilities for running those works, provided that you
comply with the terms of this License in conveying all material for which you do not
control copyright. Those thus making or running the covered works for you must do
so exclusively on your behalf, under your direction and control, on terms that prohibit
them from making any copies of your copyrighted material outside their relationship
with you.
Conveying under any other circumstances is permitted solely under the conditions
stated below. Sublicensing is not allowed; section 10 makes it unnecessary.
3. Protecting Users’ Legal Rights From Anti-Circumvention Law.
No covered work shall be deemed part of an effective technological measure under
any applicable law fulfilling obligations under article 11 of the WIPO copyright treaty
adopted on 20 December 1996, or similar laws prohibiting or restricting circumvention
of such measures.
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1134

When you convey a covered work, you waive any legal power to forbid circumvention of
technological measures to the extent such circumvention is effected by exercising rights
under this License with respect to the covered work, and you disclaim any intention
to limit operation or modification of the work as a means of enforcing, against the
work’s users, your or third parties’ legal rights to forbid circumvention of technological
measures.
4. Conveying Verbatim Copies.
You may convey verbatim copies of the Program’s source code as you receive it, in any
medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an
appropriate copyright notice; keep intact all notices stating that this License and any
non-permissive terms added in accord with section 7 apply to the code; keep intact all
notices of the absence of any warranty; and give all recipients a copy of this License
along with the Program.
You may charge any price or no price for each copy that you convey, and you may offer
support or warranty protection for a fee.
5. Conveying Modified Source Versions.
You may convey a work based on the Program, or the modifications to produce it from
the Program, in the form of source code under the terms of section 4, provided that
you also meet all of these conditions:
a. The work must carry prominent notices stating that you modified it, and giving a
relevant date.
b. The work must carry prominent notices stating that it is released under this Li-
cense and any conditions added under section 7. This requirement modifies the
requirement in section 4 to “keep intact all notices”.
c. You must license the entire work, as a whole, under this License to anyone who
comes into possession of a copy. This License will therefore apply, along with any
applicable section 7 additional terms, to the whole of the work, and all its parts,
regardless of how they are packaged. This License gives no permission to license
the work in any other way, but it does not invalidate such permission if you have
separately received it.
d. If the work has interactive user interfaces, each must display Appropriate Legal
Notices; however, if the Program has interactive interfaces that do not display
Appropriate Legal Notices, your work need not make them do so.
A compilation of a covered work with other separate and independent works, which
are not by their nature extensions of the covered work, and which are not combined
with it such as to form a larger program, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution
medium, is called an “aggregate” if the compilation and its resulting copyright are
not used to limit the access or legal rights of the compilation’s users beyond what the
individual works permit. Inclusion of a covered work in an aggregate does not cause
this License to apply to the other parts of the aggregate.
6. Conveying Non-Source Forms.
You may convey a covered work in object code form under the terms of sections 4 and
5, provided that you also convey the machine-readable Corresponding Source under
the terms of this License, in one of these ways:
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1135

a. Convey the object code in, or embodied in, a physical product (including a phys-
ical distribution medium), accompanied by the Corresponding Source fixed on a
durable physical medium customarily used for software interchange.
b. Convey the object code in, or embodied in, a physical product (including a physi-
cal distribution medium), accompanied by a written offer, valid for at least three
years and valid for as long as you offer spare parts or customer support for that
product model, to give anyone who possesses the object code either (1) a copy of
the Corresponding Source for all the software in the product that is covered by this
License, on a durable physical medium customarily used for software interchange,
for a price no more than your reasonable cost of physically performing this con-
veying of source, or (2) access to copy the Corresponding Source from a network
server at no charge.
c. Convey individual copies of the object code with a copy of the written offer to
provide the Corresponding Source. This alternative is allowed only occasionally
and noncommercially, and only if you received the object code with such an offer,
in accord with subsection 6b.
d. Convey the object code by offering access from a designated place (gratis or for
a charge), and offer equivalent access to the Corresponding Source in the same
way through the same place at no further charge. You need not require recipients
to copy the Corresponding Source along with the object code. If the place to
copy the object code is a network server, the Corresponding Source may be on
a different server (operated by you or a third party) that supports equivalent
copying facilities, provided you maintain clear directions next to the object code
saying where to find the Corresponding Source. Regardless of what server hosts
the Corresponding Source, you remain obligated to ensure that it is available for
as long as needed to satisfy these requirements.
e. Convey the object code using peer-to-peer transmission, provided you inform other
peers where the object code and Corresponding Source of the work are being offered
to the general public at no charge under subsection 6d.
A separable portion of the object code, whose source code is excluded from the Cor-
responding Source as a System Library, need not be included in conveying the object
code work.
A “User Product” is either (1) a “consumer product”, which means any tangible per-
sonal property which is normally used for personal, family, or household purposes, or
(2) anything designed or sold for incorporation into a dwelling. In determining whether
a product is a consumer product, doubtful cases shall be resolved in favor of coverage.
For a particular product received by a particular user, “normally used” refers to a
typical or common use of that class of product, regardless of the status of the par-
ticular user or of the way in which the particular user actually uses, or expects or is
expected to use, the product. A product is a consumer product regardless of whether
the product has substantial commercial, industrial or non-consumer uses, unless such
uses represent the only significant mode of use of the product.
“Installation Information” for a User Product means any methods, procedures, autho-
rization keys, or other information required to install and execute modified versions of a
covered work in that User Product from a modified version of its Corresponding Source.
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1136

The information must suffice to ensure that the continued functioning of the modified
object code is in no case prevented or interfered with solely because modification has
been made.
If you convey an object code work under this section in, or with, or specifically for
use in, a User Product, and the conveying occurs as part of a transaction in which
the right of possession and use of the User Product is transferred to the recipient in
perpetuity or for a fixed term (regardless of how the transaction is characterized),
the Corresponding Source conveyed under this section must be accompanied by the
Installation Information. But this requirement does not apply if neither you nor any
third party retains the ability to install modified object code on the User Product (for
example, the work has been installed in ROM).
The requirement to provide Installation Information does not include a requirement
to continue to provide support service, warranty, or updates for a work that has been
modified or installed by the recipient, or for the User Product in which it has been
modified or installed. Access to a network may be denied when the modification itself
materially and adversely affects the operation of the network or violates the rules and
protocols for communication across the network.
Corresponding Source conveyed, and Installation Information provided, in accord with
this section must be in a format that is publicly documented (and with an implementa-
tion available to the public in source code form), and must require no special password
or key for unpacking, reading or copying.
7. Additional Terms.
“Additional permissions” are terms that supplement the terms of this License by mak-
ing exceptions from one or more of its conditions. Additional permissions that are
applicable to the entire Program shall be treated as though they were included in this
License, to the extent that they are valid under applicable law. If additional permis-
sions apply only to part of the Program, that part may be used separately under those
permissions, but the entire Program remains governed by this License without regard
to the additional permissions.
When you convey a copy of a covered work, you may at your option remove any
additional permissions from that copy, or from any part of it. (Additional permissions
may be written to require their own removal in certain cases when you modify the
work.) You may place additional permissions on material, added by you to a covered
work, for which you have or can give appropriate copyright permission.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, for material you add to a covered
work, you may (if authorized by the copyright holders of that material) supplement
the terms of this License with terms:
a. Disclaiming warranty or limiting liability differently from the terms of sections 15
and 16 of this License; or
b. Requiring preservation of specified reasonable legal notices or author attributions
in that material or in the Appropriate Legal Notices displayed by works containing
it; or
c. Prohibiting misrepresentation of the origin of that material, or requiring that mod-
ified versions of such material be marked in reasonable ways as different from the
original version; or
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1137

d. Limiting the use for publicity purposes of names of licensors or authors of the
material; or
e. Declining to grant rights under trademark law for use of some trade names, trade-
marks, or service marks; or
f. Requiring indemnification of licensors and authors of that material by anyone who
conveys the material (or modified versions of it) with contractual assumptions
of liability to the recipient, for any liability that these contractual assumptions
directly impose on those licensors and authors.
All other non-permissive additional terms are considered “further restrictions” within
the meaning of section 10. If the Program as you received it, or any part of it, con-
tains a notice stating that it is governed by this License along with a term that is a
further restriction, you may remove that term. If a license document contains a further
restriction but permits relicensing or conveying under this License, you may add to a
covered work material governed by the terms of that license document, provided that
the further restriction does not survive such relicensing or conveying.
If you add terms to a covered work in accord with this section, you must place, in the
relevant source files, a statement of the additional terms that apply to those files, or a
notice indicating where to find the applicable terms.
Additional terms, permissive or non-permissive, may be stated in the form of a sep-
arately written license, or stated as exceptions; the above requirements apply either
way.
8. Termination.
You may not propagate or modify a covered work except as expressly provided un-
der this License. Any attempt otherwise to propagate or modify it is void, and will
automatically terminate your rights under this License (including any patent licenses
granted under the third paragraph of section 11).
However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular
copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder
explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright
holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days
after the cessation.
Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if
the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the
first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that
copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the
notice.
Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of parties
who have received copies or rights from you under this License. If your rights have
been terminated and not permanently reinstated, you do not qualify to receive new
licenses for the same material under section 10.
9. Acceptance Not Required for Having Copies.
You are not required to accept this License in order to receive or run a copy of the
Program. Ancillary propagation of a covered work occurring solely as a consequence of
using peer-to-peer transmission to receive a copy likewise does not require acceptance.
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1138

However, nothing other than this License grants you permission to propagate or modify
any covered work. These actions infringe copyright if you do not accept this License.
Therefore, by modifying or propagating a covered work, you indicate your acceptance
of this License to do so.
10. Automatic Licensing of Downstream Recipients.
Each time you convey a covered work, the recipient automatically receives a license
from the original licensors, to run, modify and propagate that work, subject to this
License. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties with this
License.
An “entity transaction” is a transaction transferring control of an organization, or
substantially all assets of one, or subdividing an organization, or merging organizations.
If propagation of a covered work results from an entity transaction, each party to that
transaction who receives a copy of the work also receives whatever licenses to the work
the party’s predecessor in interest had or could give under the previous paragraph, plus
a right to possession of the Corresponding Source of the work from the predecessor in
interest, if the predecessor has it or can get it with reasonable efforts.
You may not impose any further restrictions on the exercise of the rights granted or
affirmed under this License. For example, you may not impose a license fee, royalty, or
other charge for exercise of rights granted under this License, and you may not initiate
litigation (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that any patent
claim is infringed by making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the Program
or any portion of it.
11. Patents.
A “contributor” is a copyright holder who authorizes use under this License of the
Program or a work on which the Program is based. The work thus licensed is called
the contributor’s “contributor version”.
A contributor’s “essential patent claims” are all patent claims owned or controlled by
the contributor, whether already acquired or hereafter acquired, that would be infringed
by some manner, permitted by this License, of making, using, or selling its contributor
version, but do not include claims that would be infringed only as a consequence of
further modification of the contributor version. For purposes of this definition, “con-
trol” includes the right to grant patent sublicenses in a manner consistent with the
requirements of this License.
Each contributor grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free patent license
under the contributor’s essential patent claims, to make, use, sell, offer for sale, import
and otherwise run, modify and propagate the contents of its contributor version.
In the following three paragraphs, a “patent license” is any express agreement or com-
mitment, however denominated, not to enforce a patent (such as an express permission
to practice a patent or covenant not to sue for patent infringement). To “grant” such
a patent license to a party means to make such an agreement or commitment not to
enforce a patent against the party.
If you convey a covered work, knowingly relying on a patent license, and the Corre-
sponding Source of the work is not available for anyone to copy, free of charge and under
the terms of this License, through a publicly available network server or other readily
accessible means, then you must either (1) cause the Corresponding Source to be so
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1139

available, or (2) arrange to deprive yourself of the benefit of the patent license for this
particular work, or (3) arrange, in a manner consistent with the requirements of this
License, to extend the patent license to downstream recipients. “Knowingly relying”
means you have actual knowledge that, but for the patent license, your conveying the
covered work in a country, or your recipient’s use of the covered work in a country,
would infringe one or more identifiable patents in that country that you have reason
to believe are valid.
If, pursuant to or in connection with a single transaction or arrangement, you convey,
or propagate by procuring conveyance of, a covered work, and grant a patent license
to some of the parties receiving the covered work authorizing them to use, propagate,
modify or convey a specific copy of the covered work, then the patent license you grant
is automatically extended to all recipients of the covered work and works based on it.
A patent license is “discriminatory” if it does not include within the scope of its cover-
age, prohibits the exercise of, or is conditioned on the non-exercise of one or more of the
rights that are specifically granted under this License. You may not convey a covered
work if you are a party to an arrangement with a third party that is in the business of
distributing software, under which you make payment to the third party based on the
extent of your activity of conveying the work, and under which the third party grants,
to any of the parties who would receive the covered work from you, a discriminatory
patent license (a) in connection with copies of the covered work conveyed by you (or
copies made from those copies), or (b) primarily for and in connection with specific
products or compilations that contain the covered work, unless you entered into that
arrangement, or that patent license was granted, prior to 28 March 2007.
Nothing in this License shall be construed as excluding or limiting any implied license or
other defenses to infringement that may otherwise be available to you under applicable
patent law.
12. No Surrender of Others’ Freedom.
If conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that
contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions
of this License. If you cannot convey a covered work so as to satisfy simultaneously
your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a
consequence you may not convey it at all. For example, if you agree to terms that
obligate you to collect a royalty for further conveying from those to whom you convey
the Program, the only way you could satisfy both those terms and this License would
be to refrain entirely from conveying the Program.
13. Use with the GNU Affero General Public License.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have permission to link or
combine any covered work with a work licensed under version 3 of the GNU Affero
General Public License into a single combined work, and to convey the resulting work.
The terms of this License will continue to apply to the part which is the covered work,
but the special requirements of the GNU Affero General Public License, section 13,
concerning interaction through a network will apply to the combination as such.
14. Revised Versions of this License.
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1140

The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the GNU
General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit
to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies that
a certain numbered version of the GNU General Public License “or any later version”
applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that
numbered version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
If the Program does not specify a version number of the GNU General Public License,
you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
If the Program specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of the GNU
General Public License can be used, that proxy’s public statement of acceptance of a
version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Program.
Later license versions may give you additional or different permissions. However, no
additional obligations are imposed on any author or copyright holder as a result of your
choosing to follow a later version.
15. Disclaimer of Warranty.
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PER-
MITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN
WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE
THE PROGRAM “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EX-
PRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE
OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFEC-
TIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR
CORRECTION.
16. Limitation of Liability.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO
MODIFIES AND/OR CONVEYS THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, IN-
CIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR
INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUS-
TAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM
TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR
OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAM-
AGES.
17. Interpretation of Sections 15 and 16.
If the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provided above cannot be given
local legal effect according to their terms, reviewing courts shall apply local law that
most closely approximates an absolute waiver of all civil liability in connection with
the Program, unless a warranty or assumption of liability accompanies a copy of the
Program in return for a fee.
Appendix C: GNU General Public License 1141

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public,
the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and
change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the
start of each source file to most effectively state the exclusion of warranty; and each file
should have at least the “copyright” line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.
Copyright (C) year name of author

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify

it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but

WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short notice like this when it
starts in an interactive mode:
program Copyright (C) year name of author
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type ‘show w’.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type ‘show c’ for details.
The hypothetical commands ‘show w’ and ‘show c’ should show the appropriate parts of
the General Public License. Of course, your program’s commands might be different; for a
GUI interface, you would use an “about box”.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school, if any, to
sign a “copyright disclaimer” for the program, if necessary. For more information on this,
and how to apply and follow the GNU GPL, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into
proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more
useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want
to do, use the GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License. But first, please
read https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html.
 1142

Appendix D Tips and Conventions

This chapter describes no additional features of Emacs Lisp. Instead it gives advice on mak-
ing effective use of the features described in the previous chapters, and describes conventions
Emacs Lisp programmers should follow.
You can automatically check some of the conventions described below by running the
command M-x checkdoc RET when visiting a Lisp file. It cannot check all of the conven-
tions, and not all the warnings it gives necessarily correspond to problems, but it is worth
examining them all. Alternatively, use the command M-x checkdoc-current-buffer RET
to check the conventions in the current buffer, or checkdoc-file when you want to check
a file in batch mode, e.g., with a command run by M-x compile RET.

D.1 Emacs Lisp Coding Conventions

Here are conventions that you should follow when writing Emacs Lisp code intended for
widespread use:
• Simply loading a package should not change Emacs’s editing behavior. Include a com-
mand or commands to enable and disable the feature, or to invoke it.
This convention is mandatory for any file that includes custom definitions. If fixing
such a file to follow this convention requires an incompatible change, go ahead and
make the incompatible change; don’t postpone it.
• You should choose a short word to distinguish your program from other Lisp programs.
The names of all global symbols in your program, that is the names of variables,
constants, and functions, should begin with that chosen prefix. Separate the prefix
from the rest of the name with a hyphen, ‘-’. This practice helps avoid name conflicts,
since all global variables in Emacs Lisp share the same name space, and all functions
share another name space1 . Use two hyphens to separate prefix and name if the symbol
is not meant to be used by other packages.
Occasionally, for a command name intended for users to use, it is more convenient if
some words come before the package’s name prefix. For example, it is our convention
to have commands that list objects named as ‘list-something’, e.g., a package called
‘frob’ could have a command ‘list-frobs’, when its other global symbols begin with
‘frob-’. Also, constructs that define functions, variables, etc., work better if they start
with ‘defun’ or ‘defvar’, so put the name prefix later on in the name.
This recommendation applies even to names for traditional Lisp primitives that are not
primitives in Emacs Lisp—such as copy-list. Believe it or not, there is more than one
plausible way to define copy-list. Play it safe; append your name prefix to produce
a name like foo-copy-list or mylib-copy-list instead.
If you write a function that you think ought to be added to Emacs under a certain
name, such as twiddle-files, don’t call it by that name in your program. Call it
mylib-twiddle-files in your program, and send mail to ‘bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org’
suggesting we add it to Emacs. If and when we do, we can change the name easily
enough.
1
The benefits of a Common Lisp-style package system are considered not to outweigh the costs.
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1143

If one prefix is insufficient, your package can use two or three alternative common
prefixes, so long as they make sense.
• Put a call to provide at the end of each separate Lisp file. See Section 16.7 [Named
Features], page 273.
• If a file requires certain other Lisp programs to be loaded beforehand, then the com-
ments at the beginning of the file should say so. Also, use require to make sure they
are loaded. See Section 16.7 [Named Features], page 273.
• If a file foo uses a macro defined in another file bar, but does not use any functions or
variables defined in bar, then foo should contain the following expression:
(eval-when-compile (require 'bar))
This tells Emacs to load bar just before byte-compiling foo, so that the macro definition
is available during compilation. Using eval-when-compile avoids loading bar when
the compiled version of foo is used. It should be called before the first use of the macro
in the file. See Section 14.3 [Compiling Macros], page 238.
• Avoid loading additional libraries at run time unless they are really needed. If your file
simply cannot work without some other library, then just require that library at the
top-level and be done with it. But if your file contains several independent features,
and only one or two require the extra library, then consider putting require statements
inside the relevant functions rather than at the top-level. Or use autoload statements
to load the extra library when needed. This way people who don’t use those aspects
of your file do not need to load the extra library.
• If you need Common Lisp extensions, use the cl-lib library rather than the old cl
library. The latter does not use a clean namespace (i.e., its definitions do not start with
a ‘cl-’ prefix). If your package loads cl at run time, that could cause name clashes for
users who don’t use that package.
There is no problem with using the cl package at compile time, with (eval-when-
compile (require 'cl)). That’s sufficient for using the macros in the cl package,
because the compiler expands them before generating the byte-code. It is still better
to use the more modern cl-lib in this case, though.
• When defining a major mode, please follow the major mode conventions. See
Section 23.2.1 [Major Mode Conventions], page 456.
• When defining a minor mode, please follow the minor mode conventions. See
Section 23.3.1 [Minor Mode Conventions], page 471.
• If the purpose of a function is to tell you whether a certain condition is true or false,
give the function a name that ends in ‘p’ (which stands for “predicate”). If the name
is one word, add just ‘p’; if the name is multiple words, add ‘-p’. Examples are framep
and frame-live-p.
• If the purpose of a variable is to store a single function, give it a name that ends in
‘-function’. If the purpose of a variable is to store a list of functions (i.e., the variable
is a hook), please follow the naming conventions for hooks. See Section 23.1 [Hooks],
page 453.
• If loading the file adds functions to hooks, define a function feature-unload-function,
where feature is the name of the feature the package provides, and make it undo any
such changes. Using unload-feature to unload the file will run this function. See
Section 16.9 [Unloading], page 276.
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1144

• It is a bad idea to define aliases for the Emacs primitives. Normally you should use the
standard names instead. The case where an alias may be useful is where it facilitates
backwards compatibility or portability.
• If a package needs to define an alias or a new function for compatibility with some
other version of Emacs, name it with the package prefix, not with the raw name with
which it occurs in the other version. Here is an example from Gnus, which provides
many examples of such compatibility issues.
(defalias 'gnus-point-at-bol
(if (fboundp 'point-at-bol)
'point-at-bol
'line-beginning-position))
• Redefining or advising an Emacs primitive is a bad idea. It may do the right thing
for a particular program, but there is no telling what other programs might break as a
result.
• It is likewise a bad idea for one Lisp package to advise a function in another Lisp
package (see Section 13.11 [Advising Functions], page 222).
• Avoid using eval-after-load and with-eval-after-load in libraries and packages
(see Section 16.10 [Hooks for Loading], page 277). This feature is meant for personal
customizations; using it in a Lisp program is unclean, because it modifies the behavior
of another Lisp file in a way that’s not visible in that file. This is an obstacle for
debugging, much like advising a function in the other package.
• If a file does replace any of the standard functions or library programs of Emacs, promi-
nent comments at the beginning of the file should say which functions are replaced,
and how the behavior of the replacements differs from that of the originals.
• Constructs that define a function or variable should be macros, not functions, and their
names should start with ‘define-’. The macro should receive the name to be defined
as the first argument. That will help various tools find the definition automatically.
Avoid constructing the names in the macro itself, since that would confuse these tools.
• In some other systems there is a convention of choosing variable names that begin and
end with ‘*’. We don’t use that convention in Emacs Lisp, so please don’t use it in
your programs. (Emacs uses such names only for special-purpose buffers.) People will
find Emacs more coherent if all libraries use the same conventions.
• The default file coding system for Emacs Lisp source files is UTF-8 (see Section 33.1
[Text Representations], page 835). In the rare event that your program contains char-
acters which are not in UTF-8, you should specify an appropriate coding system in the
source file’s ‘-*-’ line or local variables list. See Section “Local Variables in Files” in
The GNU Emacs Manual.
• Indent the file using the default indentation parameters.
• Don’t make a habit of putting close-parentheses on lines by themselves; Lisp program-
mers find this disconcerting.
• Please put a copyright notice and copying permission notice on the file if you distribute
copies. See Section D.8 [Library Headers], page 1152.
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1145

D.2 Key Binding Conventions

• Many special major modes, like Dired, Info, Compilation, and Occur, are designed to
handle read-only text that contains hyper-links. Such a major mode should redefine
mouse-2 and RET to follow the links. It should also set up a follow-link condition,
so that the link obeys mouse-1-click-follows-link. See Section 32.19.8 [Clickable
Text], page 816. See Section 39.19 [Buttons], page 1049, for an easy method of imple-
menting such clickable links.
• Don’t define C-c letter as a key in Lisp programs. Sequences consisting of C-c and
a letter (either upper or lower case) are reserved for users; they are the only sequences
reserved for users, so do not block them.
Changing all the Emacs major modes to respect this convention was a lot of work;
abandoning this convention would make that work go to waste, and inconvenience
users. Please comply with it.
• Function keys F5 through F9 without modifier keys are also reserved for users to define.
• Sequences consisting of C-c followed by a control character or a digit are reserved for
major modes.
• Sequences consisting of C-c followed by {, }, <, >, : or ; are also reserved for major
modes.
• Sequences consisting of C-c followed by any other ASCII punctuation or symbol char-
acter are allocated for minor modes. Using them in a major mode is not absolutely
prohibited, but if you do that, the major mode binding may be shadowed from time to
time by minor modes.
• Don’t bind C-h following any prefix character (including C-c). If you don’t bind C-h, it
is automatically available as a help character for listing the subcommands of the prefix
character.
• Don’t bind a key sequence ending in ESC except following another ESC. (That is, it is
OK to bind a sequence ending in ESC ESC.)
The reason for this rule is that a non-prefix binding for ESC in any context prevents
recognition of escape sequences as function keys in that context.
• Similarly, don’t bind a key sequence ending in C-g, since that is commonly used to
cancel a key sequence.
• Anything that acts like a temporary mode or state that the user can enter and leave
should define ESC ESC or ESC ESC ESC as a way to escape.
For a state that accepts ordinary Emacs commands, or more generally any kind of state
in which ESC followed by a function key or arrow key is potentially meaningful, then you
must not define ESC ESC, since that would preclude recognizing an escape sequence after
ESC. In these states, you should define ESC ESC ESC as the way to escape. Otherwise,
define ESC ESC instead.

D.3 Emacs Programming Tips

Following these conventions will make your program fit better into Emacs when it runs.
• Don’t use next-line or previous-line in programs; nearly always, forward-line
is more convenient as well as more predictable and robust. See Section 30.2.4 [Text
Lines], page 745.
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1146

• Don’t call functions that set the mark, unless setting the mark is one of the intended
features of your program. The mark is a user-level feature, so it is incorrect to change
the mark except to supply a value for the user’s benefit. See Section 31.7 [The Mark],
page 760.
In particular, don’t use any of these functions:
• beginning-of-buffer, end-of-buffer
• replace-string, replace-regexp
• insert-file, insert-buffer
If you just want to move point, or replace a certain string, or insert a file or buffer’s
contents, without any of the other features intended for interactive users, you can
replace these functions with one or two lines of simple Lisp code.
• Use lists rather than vectors, except when there is a particular reason to use a vector.
Lisp has more facilities for manipulating lists than for vectors, and working with lists
is usually more convenient.
Vectors are advantageous for tables that are substantial in size and are accessed in
random order (not searched front to back), provided there is no need to insert or delete
elements (only lists allow that).
• The recommended way to show a message in the echo area is with the message function,
not princ. See Section 39.4 [The Echo Area], page 969.
• When you encounter an error condition, call the function error (or signal). The
function error does not return. See Section 11.7.3.1 [Signaling Errors], page 160.
Don’t use message, throw, sleep-for, or beep to report errors.
• An error message should start with a capital letter but should not end with a period.
• A question asked in the minibuffer with yes-or-no-p or y-or-n-p should start with a
capital letter and end with ‘? ’.
• When you mention a default value in a minibuffer prompt, put it and the word
‘default’ inside parentheses. It should look like this:
Enter the answer (default 42):
• In interactive, if you use a Lisp expression to produce a list of arguments, don’t try
to provide the correct default values for region or position arguments. Instead, provide
nil for those arguments if they were not specified, and have the function body compute
the default value when the argument is nil. For instance, write this:
(defun foo (pos)
(interactive
(list (if specified specified-pos)))
(unless pos (setq pos default-pos))
...)
rather than this:
(defun foo (pos)
(interactive
(list (if specified specified-pos
default-pos)))
...)
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1147

This is so that repetition of the command will recompute these defaults based on the
current circumstances.
You do not need to take such precautions when you use interactive specs ‘d’, ‘m’ and
‘r’, because they make special arrangements to recompute the argument values on
repetition of the command.
• Many commands that take a long time to execute display a message that says something
like ‘Operating...’ when they start, and change it to ‘Operating...done’ when they
finish. Please keep the style of these messages uniform: no space around the ellipsis,
and no period after ‘done’. See Section 39.4.2 [Progress], page 971, for an easy way to
generate such messages.
• Try to avoid using recursive edits. Instead, do what the Rmail e command does: use
a new local keymap that contains a command defined to switch back to the old local
keymap. Or simply switch to another buffer and let the user switch back at will. See
Section 21.13 [Recursive Editing], page 410.

D.4 Tips for Making Compiled Code Fast

Here are ways of improving the execution speed of byte-compiled Lisp programs.
• Profile your program, to find out where the time is being spent. See Section 18.5
[Profiling], page 322.
• Use iteration rather than recursion whenever possible. Function calls are slow in Emacs
Lisp even when a compiled function is calling another compiled function.
• Using the primitive list-searching functions memq, member, assq, or assoc is even faster
than explicit iteration. It can be worth rearranging a data structure so that one of
these primitive search functions can be used.
• Certain built-in functions are handled specially in byte-compiled code, avoiding the
need for an ordinary function call. It is a good idea to use these functions rather than
alternatives. To see whether a function is handled specially by the compiler, examine
its byte-compile property. If the property is non-nil, then the function is handled
specially.
For example, the following input will show you that aref is compiled specially (see
Section 6.3 [Array Functions], page 104):
(get 'aref 'byte-compile)
⇒ byte-compile-two-args
Note that in this case (and many others), you must first load the bytecomp library,
which defines the byte-compile property.
• If calling a small function accounts for a substantial part of your program’s running
time, make the function inline. This eliminates the function call overhead. Since
making a function inline reduces the flexibility of changing the program, don’t do it
unless it gives a noticeable speedup in something slow enough that users care about
the speed. See Section 13.13 [Inline Functions], page 230.

D.5 Tips for Avoiding Compiler Warnings

• Try to avoid compiler warnings about undefined free variables, by adding dummy
defvar definitions for these variables, like this:
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1148

(defvar foo)
Such a definition has no effect except to tell the compiler not to warn about uses of
the variable foo in this file.
• Similarly, to avoid a compiler warning about an undefined function that you know will
be defined, use a declare-function statement (see Section 13.15 [Declaring Functions],
page 232).
• If you use many functions, macros, and variables from a certain file, you can add
a require (see Section 16.7 [Named Features], page 273) for that package to avoid
compilation warnings for them, like this:
(require 'foo)
If you need only macros from some file, you can require it only at compile time (see
Section 17.5 [Eval During Compile], page 283). For instance,
(eval-when-compile
(require 'foo))
• If you bind a variable in one function, and use it or set it in another function, the
compiler warns about the latter function unless the variable has a definition. But
adding a definition would be unclean if the variable has a short name, since Lisp
packages should not define short variable names. The right thing to do is to rename
this variable to start with the name prefix used for the other functions and variables
in your package.
• The last resort for avoiding a warning, when you want to do something that is usually
a mistake but you know is not a mistake in your usage, is to put it inside with-no-
warnings. See Section 17.6 [Compiler Errors], page 284.

D.6 Tips for Documentation Strings

Here are some tips and conventions for the writing of documentation strings. You can check
many of these conventions by running the command M-x checkdoc-minor-mode.
• Every command, function, or variable intended for users to know about should have a
documentation string.
• An internal variable or subroutine of a Lisp program might as well have a documenta-
tion string. Documentation strings take up very little space in a running Emacs.
• Format the documentation string so that it fits in an Emacs window on an 80-column
screen. It is a good idea for most lines to be no wider than 60 characters. The first line
should not be wider than 67 characters or it will look bad in the output of apropos.
You can fill the text if that looks good. Emacs Lisp mode fills documentation strings
to the width specified by emacs-lisp-docstring-fill-column. However, you can
sometimes make a documentation string much more readable by adjusting its line
breaks with care. Use blank lines between sections if the documentation string is long.
• The first line of the documentation string should consist of one or two complete sen-
tences that stand on their own as a summary. M-x apropos displays just the first line,
and if that line’s contents don’t stand on their own, the result looks bad. In particular,
start the first line with a capital letter and end it with a period.
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1149

For a function, the first line should briefly answer the question, “What does this func-
tion do?” For a variable, the first line should briefly answer the question, “What does
this value mean?”
Don’t limit the documentation string to one line; use as many lines as you need to
explain the details of how to use the function or variable. Please use complete sentences
for the rest of the text too.
• When the user tries to use a disabled command, Emacs displays just the first paragraph
of its documentation string—everything through the first blank line. If you wish, you
can choose which information to include before the first blank line so as to make this
display useful.
• The first line should mention all the important arguments of the function, and should
mention them in the order that they are written in a function call. If the function
has many arguments, then it is not feasible to mention them all in the first line; in
that case, the first line should mention the first few arguments, including the most
important arguments.
• When a function’s documentation string mentions the value of an argument of the
function, use the argument name in capital letters as if it were a name for that value.
Thus, the documentation string of the function eval refers to its first argument as
‘FORM’, because the actual argument name is form:
Evaluate FORM and return its value.
Also write metasyntactic variables in capital letters, such as when you show the decom-
position of a list or vector into subunits, some of which may vary. ‘KEY’ and ‘VALUE’ in
the following example illustrate this practice:
The argument TABLE should be an alist whose elements
have the form (KEY . VALUE). Here, KEY is ...
• Never change the case of a Lisp symbol when you mention it in a doc string. If the
symbol’s name is foo, write “foo”, not “Foo” (which is a different symbol).
This might appear to contradict the policy of writing function argument values, but
there is no real contradiction; the argument value is not the same thing as the symbol
that the function uses to hold the value.
If this puts a lower-case letter at the beginning of a sentence and that annoys you,
rewrite the sentence so that the symbol is not at the start of it.
• Do not start or end a documentation string with whitespace.
• Do not indent subsequent lines of a documentation string so that the text is lined up
in the source code with the text of the first line. This looks nice in the source code,
but looks bizarre when users view the documentation. Remember that the indentation
before the starting double-quote is not part of the string!
• When a documentation string refers to a Lisp symbol, write it as it would be printed
(which usually means in lower case), surrounding it with curved single quotes (‘..’).
There are two exceptions: write t and nil without surrounding punctuation. For
example:
CODE can be ‘lambda’, nil, or t.
See Section “Quotation Marks” in The GNU Emacs Manual, for how to enter curved
single quotes.
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1150

Documentation strings can also use an older single-quoting convention, which quotes
symbols with grave accent ‘ and apostrophe ’: ‘like-this’ rather than ‘like-this’.
This older convention was designed for now-obsolete displays in which grave accent and
apostrophe were mirror images. Documentation using this convention is converted to
the user’s preferred format when it is copied into a help buffer. See Section 24.3 [Keys
in Documentation], page 513.
Help mode automatically creates a hyperlink when a documentation string uses a single-
quoted symbol name, if the symbol has either a function or a variable definition. You
do not need to do anything special to make use of this feature. However, when a
symbol has both a function definition and a variable definition, and you want to refer
to just one of them, you can specify which one by writing one of the words ‘variable’,
‘option’, ‘function’, or ‘command’, immediately before the symbol name. (Case makes
no difference in recognizing these indicator words.) For example, if you write
This function sets the variable `buffer-file-name'.
then the hyperlink will refer only to the variable documentation of buffer-file-name,
and not to its function documentation.
If a symbol has a function definition and/or a variable definition, but those are irrelevant
to the use of the symbol that you are documenting, you can write the words ‘symbol’
or ‘program’ before the symbol name to prevent making any hyperlink. For example,
If the argument KIND-OF-RESULT is the symbol `list',
this function returns a list of all the objects
that satisfy the criterion.
does not make a hyperlink to the documentation, irrelevant here, of the function list.
Normally, no hyperlink is made for a variable without variable documentation. You can
force a hyperlink for such variables by preceding them with one of the words ‘variable’
or ‘option’.
Hyperlinks for faces are only made if the face name is preceded or followed by the word
‘face’. In that case, only the face documentation will be shown, even if the symbol is
also defined as a variable or as a function.
To make a hyperlink to Info documentation, write the single-quoted name of the
Info node (or anchor), preceded by ‘info node’, ‘Info node’, ‘info anchor’ or ‘Info
anchor’. The Info file name defaults to ‘emacs’. For example,
See Info node `Font Lock' and Info node `(elisp)Font Lock Basics'.
Finally, to create a hyperlink to URLs, write the single-quoted URL, preceded by ‘URL’.
For example,
The home page for the GNU project has more information (see URL
`https://www.gnu.org/').
• Don’t write key sequences directly in documentation strings. Instead, use the ‘\\[...]’
construct to stand for them. For example, instead of writing ‘C-f’, write the construct
‘\\[forward-char]’. When Emacs displays the documentation string, it substitutes
whatever key is currently bound to forward-char. (This is normally ‘C-f’, but it may
be some other character if the user has moved key bindings.) See Section 24.3 [Keys
in Documentation], page 513.
• In documentation strings for a major mode, you will want to refer to the key bindings of
that mode’s local map, rather than global ones. Therefore, use the construct ‘\\<...>’
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1151

once in the documentation string to specify which key map to use. Do this before the
first use of ‘\\[...]’. The text inside the ‘\\<...>’ should be the name of the variable
containing the local keymap for the major mode.
It is not practical to use ‘\\[...]’ very many times, because display of the documen-
tation string will become slow. So use this to describe the most important commands
in your major mode, and then use ‘\\{...}’ to display the rest of the mode’s keymap.
• For consistency, phrase the verb in the first sentence of a function’s documentation
string as an imperative—for instance, use “Return the cons of A and B.” in preference
to “Returns the cons of A and B.” Usually it looks good to do likewise for the rest
of the first paragraph. Subsequent paragraphs usually look better if each sentence is
indicative and has a proper subject.
• The documentation string for a function that is a yes-or-no predicate should start with
words such as “Return t if”, to indicate explicitly what constitutes truth. The word
“return” avoids starting the sentence with lower-case “t”, which could be somewhat
distracting.
• If a line in a documentation string begins with an open-parenthesis, write a backslash
before the open-parenthesis, like this:
The argument FOO can be either a number
\(a buffer position) or a string (a file name).
This prevents the open-parenthesis from being treated as the start of a defun (see
Section “Defuns” in The GNU Emacs Manual).
• Write documentation strings in the active voice, not the passive, and in the present
tense, not the future. For instance, use “Return a list containing A and B.” instead of
“A list containing A and B will be returned.”
• Avoid using the word “cause” (or its equivalents) unnecessarily. Instead of, “Cause
Emacs to display text in boldface”, write just “Display text in boldface”.
• Avoid using “iff” (a mathematics term meaning “if and only if”), since many people
are unfamiliar with it and mistake it for a typo. In most cases, the meaning is clear
with just “if”. Otherwise, try to find an alternate phrasing that conveys the meaning.
• When a command is meaningful only in a certain mode or situation, do mention that
in the documentation string. For example, the documentation of dired-find-file is:
In Dired, visit the file or directory named on this line.
• When you define a variable that represents an option users might want to set, use
defcustom. See Section 12.5 [Defining Variables], page 173.
• The documentation string for a variable that is a yes-or-no flag should start with words
such as “Non-nil means”, to make it clear that all non-nil values are equivalent and
indicate explicitly what nil and non-nil mean.

D.7 Tips on Writing Comments

We recommend these conventions for comments:
‘;’ Comments that start with a single semicolon, ‘;’, should all be aligned to the
same column on the right of the source code. Such comments usually explain
how the code on that line does its job. For example:
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1152

(setq base-version-list ; There was a base

(assoc (substring fn 0 start-vn) ; version to which
file-version-assoc-list)) ; this looks like
; a subversion.

‘;;’ Comments that start with two semicolons, ‘;;’, should be aligned to the same
level of indentation as the code. Such comments usually describe the purpose
of the following lines or the state of the program at that point. For example:
(prog1 (setq auto-fill-function
...
...
;; Update mode line.
(force-mode-line-update)))
We also normally use two semicolons for comments outside functions.
;; This Lisp code is run in Emacs when it is to operate as
;; a server for other processes.
If a function has no documentation string, it should instead have a
two-semicolon comment right before the function, explaining what the function
does and how to call it properly. Explain precisely what each argument means
and how the function interprets its possible values. It is much better to
convert such comments to documentation strings, though.
‘;;;’ Comments that start with three semicolons, ‘;;;’, should start at the left mar-
gin. We use them for comments which should be considered a heading by Out-
line minor mode. By default, comments starting with at least three semicolons
(followed by a single space and a non-whitespace character) are considered head-
ings, comments starting with two or fewer are not. Historically, triple-semicolon
comments have also been used for commenting out lines within a function, but
this use is discouraged.
When commenting out entire functions, use two semicolons.
‘;;;;’ Comments that start with four semicolons, ‘;;;;’, should be aligned to the left
margin and are used for headings of major sections of a program. For example:
;;;; The kill ring

Generally speaking, the M-; (comment-dwim) command automatically starts a comment of

the appropriate type; or indents an existing comment to the right place, depending on the
number of semicolons. See Section “Manipulating Comments” in The GNU Emacs Manual.

D.8 Conventional Headers for Emacs Libraries

Emacs has conventions for using special comments in Lisp libraries to divide them into
sections and give information such as who wrote them. Using a standard format for these
items makes it easier for tools (and people) to extract the relevant information. This section
explains these conventions, starting with an example:
;;; foo.el --- Support for the Foo programming language

;; Copyright (C) 2010-2019 Your Name

;; Author: Your Name <yourname@example.com>

;; Maintainer: Someone Else <someone@example.com>
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1153

;; Created: 14 Jul 2010

;; Keywords: languages
;; Homepage: http://example.com/foo

;; This file is not part of GNU Emacs.

;; This file is free software...

...
;; along with this file. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
The very first line should have this format:
;;; filename --- description
The description should be contained in one line. If the file needs a ‘-*-’ specification, put
it after description. If this would make the first line too long, use a Local Variables section
at the end of the file.
The copyright notice usually lists your name (if you wrote the file). If you have an
employer who claims copyright on your work, you might need to list them instead. Do
not say that the copyright holder is the Free Software Foundation (or that the file is part
of GNU Emacs) unless your file has been accepted into the Emacs distribution. For more
information on the form of copyright and license notices, see the guide on the GNU website
(https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.html).
After the copyright notice come several header comment lines, each beginning with ‘;;
header-name:’. Here is a table of the conventional possibilities for header-name:
‘Author’ This line states the name and email address of at least the principal author of
the library. If there are multiple authors, list them on continuation lines led by
;; and a tab or at least two spaces. We recommend including a contact email
address, of the form ‘<...>’. For example:
;; Author: Your Name <yourname@example.com>
;; Someone Else <someone@example.com>
;; Another Person <another@example.com>

‘Maintainer’
This header has the same format as the Author header. It lists the person(s)
who currently maintain(s) the file (respond to bug reports, etc.).
If there is no maintainer line, the person(s) in the Author field is/are presumed
to be the maintainers. Some files in Emacs use ‘FSF’ for the maintainer. This
means that the original author is no longer responsible for the file, and that it
is maintained as part of Emacs.
‘Created’ This optional line gives the original creation date of the file, and is for historical
interest only.
‘Version’ If you wish to record version numbers for the individual Lisp program, put them
in this line. Lisp files distributed with Emacs generally do not have a ‘Version’
header, since the version number of Emacs itself serves the same purpose. If
you are distributing a collection of multiple files, we recommend not writing
the version in every file, but only the main one.
‘Keywords’
This line lists keywords for the finder-by-keyword help command. Please use
that command to see a list of the meaningful keywords. The command M-x
Appendix D: Tips and Conventions 1154

checkdoc-package-keywords RET will find and display any keywords that are
not in finder-known-keywords. If you set the variable checkdoc-package-
keywords-flag non-nil, checkdoc commands will include the keyword verifi-
cation in its checks.
This field is how people will find your package when they’re looking for things
by topic. To separate the keywords, you can use spaces, commas, or both.
The name of this field is unfortunate, since people often assume it is the place
to write arbitrary keywords that describe their package, rather than just the
relevant Finder keywords.
‘Homepage’
‘URL’ These lines state the homepage of the library.
‘Package-Version’
If ‘Version’ is not suitable for use by the package manager, then a package can
define ‘Package-Version’; it will be used instead. This is handy if ‘Version’ is
an RCS id or something else that cannot be parsed by version-to-list. See
Section 41.1 [Packaging Basics], page 1114.
‘Package-Requires’
If this exists, it names packages on which the current package depends for
proper operation. See Section 41.1 [Packaging Basics], page 1114. This is used
by the package manager both at download time (to ensure that a complete set
of packages is downloaded) and at activation time (to ensure that a package is
only activated if all its dependencies have been).
Its format is a list of lists on a single line. The car of each sub-list is the name
of a package, as a symbol. The cadr of each sub-list is the minimum acceptable
version number, as a string that can be parse by version-to-list. An entry
that lacks a version (i.e., an entry which is just a symbol, or a sub-list of one
element) is equivalent to entry with version "0". For instance:
;; Package-Requires: ((gnus "1.0") (bubbles "2.7.2") cl-lib (seq))
The package code automatically defines a package named ‘emacs’ with the ver-
sion number of the currently running Emacs. This can be used to require a
minimal version of Emacs for a package.
Just about every Lisp library ought to have the ‘Author’ and ‘Keywords’ header comment
lines. Use the others if they are appropriate. You can also put in header lines with other
header names—they have no standard meanings, so they can’t do any harm.
We use additional stylized comments to subdivide the contents of the library file. These
should be separated from anything else by blank lines. Here is a table of them:
‘;;; Commentary:’
This begins introductory comments that explain how the library works. It
should come right after the copying permissions, terminated by a ‘Change Log’,
‘History’ or ‘Code’ comment line. This text is used by the Finder package, so
it should make sense in that context.
‘;;; Change Log:’
This begins an optional log of changes to the file over time. Don’t put too much
information in this section—it is better to keep the detailed logs in a version
 1155

control system (as Emacs does) or in a separate ChangeLog file. ‘History’ is

an alternative to ‘Change Log’.
‘;;; Code:’
This begins the actual code of the program.
‘;;; filename ends here’
This is the footer line; it appears at the very end of the file. Its purpose is to
enable people to detect truncated versions of the file from the lack of a footer
line.
 1156

Appendix E GNU Emacs Internals

This chapter describes how the runnable Emacs executable is dumped with the preloaded
Lisp libraries in it, how storage is allocated, and some internal aspects of GNU Emacs that
may be of interest to C programmers.

E.1 Building Emacs

This section explains the steps involved in building the Emacs executable. You don’t have
to know this material to build and install Emacs, since the makefiles do all these things
automatically. This information is pertinent to Emacs developers.
Building Emacs requires GNU Make version 3.81 or later.
Compilation of the C source files in the src directory produces an executable file called
temacs, also called a bare impure Emacs. It contains the Emacs Lisp interpreter and I/O
routines, but not the editing commands.
The command temacs -l loadup would run temacs and direct it to load loadup.el.
The loadup library loads additional Lisp libraries, which set up the normal Emacs editing
environment. After this step, the Emacs executable is no longer bare.
Because it takes some time to load the standard Lisp files, the temacs executable usually
isn’t run directly by users. Instead, as one of the last steps of building Emacs, the com-
mand ‘temacs -batch -l loadup dump’ is run. The special ‘dump’ argument causes temacs
to dump out an executable program, called emacs, which has all the standard Lisp files
preloaded. (The ‘-batch’ argument prevents temacs from trying to initialize any of its
data on the terminal, so that the tables of terminal information are empty in the dumped
Emacs.)
The dumped emacs executable (also called a pure Emacs) is the one which is installed.
The variable preloaded-file-list stores a list of the Lisp files preloaded into the dumped
Emacs. If you port Emacs to a new operating system, and are not able to implement
dumping, then Emacs must load loadup.el each time it starts.
By default the dumped emacs executable records details such as the build time and host
name. Use the --disable-build-details option of configure to suppress these details,
so that building and installing Emacs twice from the same sources is more likely to result
in identical copies of Emacs.
You can specify additional files to preload by writing a library named site-load.el
that loads them. You may need to rebuild Emacs with an added definition
#define SITELOAD_PURESIZE_EXTRA n
to make n added bytes of pure space to hold the additional files; see src/puresize.h. (Try
adding increments of 20000 until it is big enough.) However, the advantage of preloading
additional files decreases as machines get faster. On modern machines, it is usually not
advisable.
After loadup.el reads site-load.el, it finds the documentation strings for primitive
and preloaded functions (and variables) in the file etc/DOC where they are stored, by calling
Snarf-documentation (see [Accessing Documentation], page 513).
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1157

You can specify other Lisp expressions to execute just before dumping by putting them
in a library named site-init.el. This file is executed after the documentation strings are
found.
If you want to preload function or variable definitions, there are three ways you can do
this and make their documentation strings accessible when you subsequently run Emacs:
• Arrange to scan these files when producing the etc/DOC file, and load them with
site-load.el.
• Load the files with site-init.el, then copy the files into the installation directory for
Lisp files when you install Emacs.
• Specify a nil value for byte-compile-dynamic-docstrings as a local variable in each
of these files, and load them with either site-load.el or site-init.el. (This method
has the drawback that the documentation strings take up space in Emacs all the time.)
It is not advisable to put anything in site-load.el or site-init.el that would alter
any of the features that users expect in an ordinary unmodified Emacs. If you feel you must
override normal features for your site, do it with default.el, so that users can override
your changes if they wish. See Section 40.1.1 [Startup Summary], page 1072. Note that if
either site-load.el or site-init.el changes load-path, the changes will be lost after
dumping. See Section 16.3 [Library Search], page 266. To make a permanent change to
load-path, use the --enable-locallisppath option of configure.
In a package that can be preloaded, it is sometimes necessary (or useful) to delay certain
evaluations until Emacs subsequently starts up. The vast majority of such cases relate to the
values of customizable variables. For example, tutorial-directory is a variable defined in
startup.el, which is preloaded. The default value is set based on data-directory. The
variable needs to access the value of data-directory when Emacs starts, not when it is
dumped, because the Emacs executable has probably been installed in a different location
since it was dumped.
custom-initialize-delay symbol value [Function]
This function delays the initialization of symbol to the next Emacs start. You nor-
mally use this function by specifying it as the :initialize property of a customizable
variable. (The argument value is unused, and is provided only for compatibility with
the form Custom expects.)
In the unlikely event that you need a more general functionality than
custom-initialize-delay provides, you can use before-init-hook (see Section 40.1.1
[Startup Summary], page 1072).
dump-emacs to-file from-file [Function]
This function dumps the current state of Emacs into an executable file to-file. It takes
symbols from from-file (this is normally the executable file temacs).
If you want to use this function in an Emacs that was already dumped, you must run
Emacs with ‘-batch’.

E.2 Pure Storage

Emacs Lisp uses two kinds of storage for user-created Lisp objects: normal storage and
pure storage. Normal storage is where all the new data created during an Emacs session
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1158

are kept (see Section E.3 [Garbage Collection], page 1158). Pure storage is used for certain
data in the preloaded standard Lisp files—data that should never change during actual use
of Emacs.
Pure storage is allocated only while temacs is loading the standard preloaded Lisp li-
braries. In the file emacs, it is marked as read-only (on operating systems that permit
this), so that the memory space can be shared by all the Emacs jobs running on the ma-
chine at once. Pure storage is not expandable; a fixed amount is allocated when Emacs is
compiled, and if that is not sufficient for the preloaded libraries, temacs allocates dynamic
memory for the part that didn’t fit. The resulting image will work, but garbage collection
(see Section E.3 [Garbage Collection], page 1158) is disabled in this situation, causing a
memory leak. Such an overflow normally won’t happen unless you try to preload additional
libraries or add features to the standard ones. Emacs will display a warning about the
overflow when it starts. If this happens, you should increase the compilation parameter
SYSTEM_PURESIZE_EXTRA in the file src/puresize.h and rebuild Emacs.
purecopy object [Function]
This function makes a copy in pure storage of object, and returns it. It copies a string
by simply making a new string with the same characters, but without text properties,
in pure storage. It recursively copies the contents of vectors and cons cells. It does
not make copies of other objects such as symbols, but just returns them unchanged.
It signals an error if asked to copy markers.
This function is a no-op except while Emacs is being built and dumped; it is usually
called only in preloaded Lisp files.
pure-bytes-used [Variable]
The value of this variable is the number of bytes of pure storage allocated so far.
Typically, in a dumped Emacs, this number is very close to the total amount of pure
storage available—if it were not, we would preallocate less.
purify-flag [Variable]
This variable determines whether defun should make a copy of the function definition
in pure storage. If it is non-nil, then the function definition is copied into pure
storage.
This flag is t while loading all of the basic functions for building Emacs initially
(allowing those functions to be shareable and non-collectible). Dumping Emacs as an
executable always writes nil in this variable, regardless of the value it actually has
before and after dumping.
You should not change this flag in a running Emacs.

E.3 Garbage Collection

When a program creates a list or the user defines a new function (such as by loading a
library), that data is placed in normal storage. If normal storage runs low, then Emacs
asks the operating system to allocate more memory. Different types of Lisp objects, such as
symbols, cons cells, small vectors, markers, etc., are segregated in distinct blocks in memory.
(Large vectors, long strings, buffers and certain other editing types, which are fairly large,
are allocated in individual blocks, one per object; small strings are packed into blocks of 8k
bytes, and small vectors are packed into blocks of 4k bytes).
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1159

Beyond the basic vector, a lot of objects like window, buffer, and frame are managed as
if they were vectors. The corresponding C data structures include the union vectorlike_
header field whose size member contains the subtype enumerated by enum pvec_type and
an information about how many Lisp_Object fields this structure contains and what the
size of the rest data is. This information is needed to calculate the memory footprint of an
object, and used by the vector allocation code while iterating over the vector blocks.
It is quite common to use some storage for a while, then release it by (for example)
killing a buffer or deleting the last pointer to an object. Emacs provides a garbage collector
to reclaim this abandoned storage. The garbage collector operates by finding and marking
all Lisp objects that are still accessible to Lisp programs. To begin with, it assumes all
the symbols, their values and associated function definitions, and any data presently on the
stack, are accessible. Any objects that can be reached indirectly through other accessible
objects are also accessible.
When marking is finished, all objects still unmarked are garbage. No matter what the
Lisp program or the user does, it is impossible to refer to them, since there is no longer a
way to reach them. Their space might as well be reused, since no one will miss them. The
second (sweep) phase of the garbage collector arranges to reuse them.
The sweep phase puts unused cons cells onto a free list for future allocation; likewise for
symbols and markers. It compacts the accessible strings so they occupy fewer 8k blocks;
then it frees the other 8k blocks. Unreachable vectors from vector blocks are coalesced to
create largest possible free areas; if a free area spans a complete 4k block, that block is
freed. Otherwise, the free area is recorded in a free list array, where each entry corresponds
to a free list of areas of the same size. Large vectors, buffers, and other large objects are
allocated and freed individually.
Common Lisp note: Unlike other Lisps, GNU Emacs Lisp does not call the
garbage collector when the free list is empty. Instead, it simply requests
the operating system to allocate more storage, and processing continues un-
til gc-cons-threshold bytes have been used.
This means that you can make sure that the garbage collector will not run
during a certain portion of a Lisp program by calling the garbage collector
explicitly just before it (provided that portion of the program does not use so
much space as to force a second garbage collection).
garbage-collect [Command]
This command runs a garbage collection, and returns information on the amount of
space in use. (Garbage collection can also occur spontaneously if you use more than
gc-cons-threshold bytes of Lisp data since the previous garbage collection.)
garbage-collect returns a list with information on amount of space in use, where
each entry has the form ‘(name size used)’ or ‘(name size used free)’. In the
entry, name is a symbol describing the kind of objects this entry represents, size is
the number of bytes used by each one, used is the number of those objects that were
found live in the heap, and optional free is the number of those objects that are not
live but that Emacs keeps around for future allocations. So an overall result is:
((conses cons-size used-conses free-conses)
(symbols symbol-size used-symbols free-symbols)
(miscs misc-size used-miscs free-miscs)
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1160

(strings string-size used-strings free-strings)

(string-bytes byte-size used-bytes)
(vectors vector-size used-vectors)
(vector-slots slot-size used-slots free-slots)
(floats float-size used-floats free-floats)
(intervals interval-size used-intervals free-intervals)
(buffers buffer-size used-buffers)
(heap unit-size total-size free-size))
Here is an example:
(garbage-collect)
⇒ ((conses 16 49126 8058) (symbols 48 14607 0)
(miscs 40 34 56) (strings 32 2942 2607)
(string-bytes 1 78607) (vectors 16 7247)
(vector-slots 8 341609 29474) (floats 8 71 102)
(intervals 56 27 26) (buffers 944 8)
(heap 1024 11715 2678))
Below is a table explaining each element. Note that last heap entry is optional and
present only if an underlying malloc implementation provides mallinfo function.
cons-size Internal size of a cons cell, i.e., sizeof (struct Lisp_Cons).
used-conses
The number of cons cells in use.
free-conses
The number of cons cells for which space has been obtained from the
operating system, but that are not currently being used.
symbol-size
Internal size of a symbol, i.e., sizeof (struct Lisp_Symbol).
used-symbols
The number of symbols in use.
free-symbols
The number of symbols for which space has been obtained from the op-
erating system, but that are not currently being used.
misc-size Internal size of a miscellaneous entity, i.e., sizeof (union Lisp_Misc),
which is a size of the largest type enumerated in enum Lisp_Misc_Type.
used-miscs
The number of miscellaneous objects in use. These include markers and
overlays, plus certain objects not visible to users.
free-miscs The number of miscellaneous objects for which space has been obtained
from the operating system, but that are not currently being used.
string-size Internal size of a string header, i.e., sizeof (struct Lisp_String).
used-strings
The number of string headers in use.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1161

free-strings
The number of string headers for which space has been obtained from the
operating system, but that are not currently being used.
byte-size This is used for convenience and equals to sizeof (char).
used-bytes The total size of all string data in bytes.
vector-size Internal size of a vector header, i.e., sizeof (struct Lisp_Vector).
used-vectors
The number of vector headers allocated from the vector blocks.
slot-size Internal size of a vector slot, always equal to sizeof (Lisp_Object).
used-slots The number of slots in all used vectors.
free-slots The number of free slots in all vector blocks.
float-size Internal size of a float object, i.e., sizeof (struct Lisp_Float). (Do
not confuse it with the native platform float or double.)
used-floats
The number of floats in use.
free-floats The number of floats for which space has been obtained from the operat-
ing system, but that are not currently being used.
interval-size
Internal size of an interval object, i.e., sizeof (struct interval).
used-intervals
The number of intervals in use.
free-intervals
The number of intervals for which space has been obtained from the
operating system, but that are not currently being used.
buffer-size Internal size of a buffer, i.e., sizeof (struct buffer). (Do not confuse
with the value returned by buffer-size function.)
used-buffers
The number of buffer objects in use. This includes killed buffers invisible
to users, i.e., all buffers in all_buffers list.
unit-size The unit of heap space measurement, always equal to 1024 bytes.
total-size Total heap size, in unit-size units.
free-size Heap space which is not currently used, in unit-size units.
If there was overflow in pure space (see Section E.2 [Pure Storage], page 1157),
garbage-collect returns nil, because a real garbage collection cannot be done.

garbage-collection-messages [User Option]

If this variable is non-nil, Emacs displays a message at the beginning and end of
garbage collection. The default value is nil.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1162

post-gc-hook [Variable]
This is a normal hook that is run at the end of garbage collection. Garbage collection
is inhibited while the hook functions run, so be careful writing them.
gc-cons-threshold [User Option]
The value of this variable is the number of bytes of storage that must be allocated for
Lisp objects after one garbage collection in order to trigger another garbage collection.
You can use the result returned by garbage-collect to get an information about
size of the particular object type; space allocated to the contents of buffers does not
count. Note that the subsequent garbage collection does not happen immediately
when the threshold is exhausted, but only the next time the Lisp interpreter is called.
The initial threshold value is GC_DEFAULT_THRESHOLD, defined in alloc.c. Since it’s
defined in word_size units, the value is 400,000 for the default 32-bit configuration
and 800,000 for the 64-bit one. If you specify a larger value, garbage collection will
happen less often. This reduces the amount of time spent garbage collecting, but
increases total memory use. You may want to do this when running a program that
creates lots of Lisp data.
You can make collections more frequent by specifying a smaller value, down to 1/10th
of GC_DEFAULT_THRESHOLD. A value less than this minimum will remain in effect only
until the subsequent garbage collection, at which time garbage-collect will set the
threshold back to the minimum.
gc-cons-percentage [User Option]
The value of this variable specifies the amount of consing before a garbage collection
occurs, as a fraction of the current heap size. This criterion and gc-cons-threshold
apply in parallel, and garbage collection occurs only when both criteria are satisfied.
As the heap size increases, the time to perform a garbage collection increases. Thus,
it can be desirable to do them less frequently in proportion.
The value returned by garbage-collect describes the amount of memory used by Lisp
data, broken down by data type. By contrast, the function memory-limit provides infor-
mation on the total amount of memory Emacs is currently using.
memory-limit [Function]
This function returns the address of the last byte Emacs has allocated, divided by
1024. We divide the value by 1024 to make sure it fits in a Lisp integer.
You can use this to get a general idea of how your actions affect the memory usage.
memory-full [Variable]
This variable is t if Emacs is nearly out of memory for Lisp objects, and nil otherwise.
memory-use-counts [Function]
This returns a list of numbers that count the number of objects created in this Emacs
session. Each of these counters increments for a certain kind of object. See the
documentation string for details.
memory-info [Function]
This functions returns an amount of total system memory and how much of it is free.
On an unsupported system, the value may be nil.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1163

gcs-done [Variable]
This variable contains the total number of garbage collections done so far in this
Emacs session.

gc-elapsed [Variable]
This variable contains the total number of seconds of elapsed time during garbage
collection so far in this Emacs session, as a floating-point number.

E.4 Stack-allocated Objects

The garbage collector described above is used to manage data visible from Lisp programs, as
well as most of the data internally used by the Lisp interpreter. Sometimes it may be useful
to allocate temporary internal objects using the C stack of the interpreter. This can help
performance, as stack allocation is typically faster than using heap memory to allocate and
the garbage collector to free. The downside is that using such objects after they are freed
results in undefined behavior, so uses should be well thought out and carefully debugged
by using the GC_CHECK_MARKED_OBJECTS feature (see src/alloc.c). In particular, stack-
allocated objects should never be made visible to user Lisp code.
Currently, cons cells and strings can be allocated this way. This is implemented by
C macros like AUTO_CONS and AUTO_STRING that define a named Lisp_Object with block
lifetime. These objects are not freed by the garbage collector; instead, they have automatic
storage duration, i.e., they are allocated like local variables and are automatically freed at
the end of execution of the C block that defined the object.
For performance reasons, stack-allocated strings are limited to ASCII characters, and
many of these strings are immutable, i.e., calling ASET on them produces undefined behavior.

E.5 Memory Usage

These functions and variables give information about the total amount of memory allocation
that Emacs has done, broken down by data type. Note the difference between these and the
values returned by garbage-collect; those count objects that currently exist, but these
count the number or size of all allocations, including those for objects that have since been
freed.

cons-cells-consed [Variable]
The total number of cons cells that have been allocated so far in this Emacs session.

floats-consed [Variable]
The total number of floats that have been allocated so far in this Emacs session.

vector-cells-consed [Variable]
The total number of vector cells that have been allocated so far in this Emacs session.

symbols-consed [Variable]
The total number of symbols that have been allocated so far in this Emacs session.

string-chars-consed [Variable]
The total number of string characters that have been allocated so far in this session.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1164

misc-objects-consed [Variable]
The total number of miscellaneous objects that have been allocated so far in this
session. These include markers and overlays, plus certain objects not visible to users.

intervals-consed [Variable]
The total number of intervals that have been allocated so far in this Emacs session.

strings-consed [Variable]
The total number of strings that have been allocated so far in this Emacs session.

E.6 C Dialect
The C part of Emacs is portable to C99 or later: C11-specific features such as
‘<stdalign.h>’ and ‘_Noreturn’ are not used without a check, typically at configuration
time, and the Emacs build procedure provides a substitute implementation if necessary.
Some C11 features, such as anonymous structures and unions, are too difficult to emulate,
so they are avoided entirely.
At some point in the future the base C dialect will no doubt change to C11.

E.7 Writing Emacs Primitives

Lisp primitives are Lisp functions implemented in C. The details of interfacing the C
function so that Lisp can call it are handled by a few C macros. The only way to really
understand how to write new C code is to read the source, but we can explain some things
here.
An example of a special form is the definition of or, from eval.c. (An ordinary function
would have the same general appearance.)
DEFUN ("or", For, Sor, 0, UNEVALLED, 0,
doc: /* Eval args until one of them yields non-nil,
then return that value.
The remaining args are not evalled at all.
If all args return nil, return nil.
usage: (or CONDITIONS...) */)
(Lisp_Object args)
{
Lisp_Object val = Qnil;

while (CONSP (args))

{
val = eval_sub (XCAR (args));
if (!NILP (val))
break;
args = XCDR (args);
maybe_quit ();
}

return val;
}
Let’s start with a precise explanation of the arguments to the DEFUN macro. Here is a
template for them:
DEFUN (lname, fname, sname, min, max, interactive, doc)
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1165

lname This is the name of the Lisp symbol to define as the function name; in the
example above, it is or.
fname This is the C function name for this function. This is the name that is used in
C code for calling the function. The name is, by convention, ‘F’ prepended to
the Lisp name, with all dashes (‘-’) in the Lisp name changed to underscores.
Thus, to call this function from C code, call For.
sname This is a C variable name to use for a structure that holds the data for the subr
object that represents the function in Lisp. This structure conveys the Lisp
symbol name to the initialization routine that will create the symbol and store
the subr object as its definition. By convention, this name is always fname with
‘F’ replaced with ‘S’.
min This is the minimum number of arguments that the function requires. The
function or allows a minimum of zero arguments.
max This is the maximum number of arguments that the function accepts, if there is
a fixed maximum. Alternatively, it can be UNEVALLED, indicating a special form
that receives unevaluated arguments, or MANY, indicating an unlimited number
of evaluated arguments (the equivalent of &rest). Both UNEVALLED and MANY
are macros. If max is a number, it must be more than min but less than 8.
interactive
This is an interactive specification, a string such as might be used as the argu-
ment of interactive in a Lisp function (see Section 21.2.1 [Using Interactive],
page 369). In the case of or, it is 0 (a null pointer), indicating that or cannot
be called interactively. A value of "" indicates a function that should receive no
arguments when called interactively. If the value begins with a ‘"(’, the string
is evaluated as a Lisp form. For example:
DEFUN ("foo", Ffoo, Sfoo, 0, 3,
"(list (read-char-by-name \"Insert character: \")\
(prefix-numeric-value current-prefix-arg)\
t)",
doc: /* ... */)
doc This is the documentation string. It uses C comment syntax rather than C
string syntax because comment syntax requires nothing special to include mul-
tiple lines. The ‘doc:’ identifies the comment that follows as the documentation
string. The ‘/*’ and ‘*/’ delimiters that begin and end the comment are not
part of the documentation string.
If the last line of the documentation string begins with the keyword ‘usage:’,
the rest of the line is treated as the argument list for documentation purposes.
This way, you can use different argument names in the documentation string
from the ones used in the C code. ‘usage:’ is required if the function has an
unlimited number of arguments.
All the usual rules for documentation strings in Lisp code (see Section D.6
[Documentation Tips], page 1148) apply to C code documentation strings too.
The documentation string can be followed by a list of C function attributes for
the C function that implements the primitive, like this:
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1166

DEFUN ("bar", Fbar, Sbar, 0, UNEVALLED, 0

doc: /* ... */
attributes: attr1 attr2 ...)
You can specify more than a single attribute, one after the other. Currently,
only the following attributes are recognized:
noreturn Declares the C function as one that never returns. This
corresponds to the C11 keyword _Noreturn and to
__attribute__ ((__noreturn__)) attribute of GCC (see Section
“Function Attributes” in Using the GNU Compiler Collection).
const Declares that the function does not examine any values except its
arguments, and has no effects except the return value. This corre-
sponds to __attribute__ ((__const__)) attribute of GCC.
noinline This corresponds to __attribute__ ((__noinline__)) attribute
of GCC, which prevents the function from being considered for
inlining. This might be needed, e.g., to countermand effects of
link-time optimizations on stack-based variables.
After the call to the DEFUN macro, you must write the argument list for the C function,
including the types for the arguments. If the primitive accepts a fixed maximum number
of Lisp arguments, there must be one C argument for each Lisp argument, and each ar-
gument must be of type Lisp_Object. (Various macros and functions for creating values
of type Lisp_Object are declared in the file lisp.h.) If the primitive is a special form, it
must accept a Lisp list containing its unevaluated Lisp arguments as a single argument of
type Lisp_Object. If the primitive has no upper limit on the number of evaluated Lisp
arguments, it must have exactly two C arguments: the first is the number of Lisp argu-
ments, and the second is the address of a block containing their values. These have types
ptrdiff_t and Lisp_Object *, respectively. Since Lisp_Object can hold any Lisp object
of any data type, you can determine the actual data type only at run time; so if you want
a primitive to accept only a certain type of argument, you must check the type explicitly
using a suitable predicate (see Section 2.6 [Type Predicates], page 29).
Within the function For itself, the local variable args refers to objects controlled by
Emacs’s stack-marking garbage collector. Although the garbage collector does not reclaim
objects reachable from C Lisp_Object stack variables, it may move some of the components
of an object, such as the contents of a string or the text of a buffer. Therefore, functions
that access these components must take care to refetch their addresses after performing Lisp
evaluation. This means that instead of keeping C pointers to string contents or buffer text,
the code should keep the buffer or string position, and recompute the C pointer from the
position after performing Lisp evaluation. Lisp evaluation can occur via calls to eval_sub
or Feval, either directly or indirectly.
Note the call to maybe_quit inside the loop: this function checks whether the user
pressed C-g, and if so, aborts the processing. You should do that in any loop that can
potentially require a large number of iterations; in this case, the list of arguments could be
very long. This increases Emacs responsiveness and improves user experience.
You must not use C initializers for static or global variables unless the variables are never
written once Emacs is dumped. These variables with initializers are allocated in an area
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1167

of memory that becomes read-only (on certain operating systems) as a result of dumping
Emacs. See Section E.2 [Pure Storage], page 1157.
Defining the C function is not enough to make a Lisp primitive available; you must also
create the Lisp symbol for the primitive and store a suitable subr object in its function cell.
The code looks like this:
defsubr (&sname);
Here sname is the name you used as the third argument to DEFUN.
If you add a new primitive to a file that already has Lisp primitives defined in it, find
the function (near the end of the file) named syms_of_something, and add the call to
defsubr there. If the file doesn’t have this function, or if you create a new file, add to it
a syms_of_filename (e.g., syms_of_myfile). Then find the spot in emacs.c where all of
these functions are called, and add a call to syms_of_filename there.
The function syms_of_filename is also the place to define any C variables that are to
be visible as Lisp variables. DEFVAR_LISP makes a C variable of type Lisp_Object visible
in Lisp. DEFVAR_INT makes a C variable of type int visible in Lisp with a value that is
always an integer. DEFVAR_BOOL makes a C variable of type int visible in Lisp with a value
that is either t or nil. Note that variables defined with DEFVAR_BOOL are automatically
added to the list byte-boolean-vars used by the byte compiler.
If you want to make a Lisp variable that is defined in C behave like one declared with
defcustom, add an appropriate entry to cus-start.el.
If you define a file-scope C variable of type Lisp_Object, you must protect it from
garbage-collection by calling staticpro in syms_of_filename, like this:
staticpro (&variable);
Here is another example function, with more complicated arguments. This comes from
the code in window.c, and it demonstrates the use of macros and functions to manipulate
Lisp objects.
DEFUN ("coordinates-in-window-p", Fcoordinates_in_window_p,
Scoordinates_in_window_p, 2, 2, 0,
doc: /* Return non-nil if COORDINATES are in WINDOW.
...
or `right-margin' is returned. */)
(register Lisp_Object coordinates, Lisp_Object window)
{
struct window *w;
struct frame *f;
int x, y;
Lisp_Object lx, ly;

w = decode_live_window (window);
f = XFRAME (w->frame);
CHECK_CONS (coordinates);
lx = Fcar (coordinates);
ly = Fcdr (coordinates);
CHECK_NUMBER (lx);
CHECK_NUMBER (ly);
x = FRAME_PIXEL_X_FROM_CANON_X (f, lx) + FRAME_INTERNAL_BORDER_WIDTH (f);
y = FRAME_PIXEL_Y_FROM_CANON_Y (f, ly) + FRAME_INTERNAL_BORDER_WIDTH (f);
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1168

switch (coordinates_in_window (w, x, y))

{
case ON_NOTHING: /* NOT in window at all. */
return Qnil;

...

case ON_MODE_LINE: /* In mode line of window. */

return Qmode_line;

...

case ON_SCROLL_BAR: /* On scroll-bar of window. */

/* Historically we are supposed to return nil in this case. */
return Qnil;

default:
emacs_abort ();
}
}
Note that C code cannot call functions by name unless they are defined in C. The way
to call a function written in Lisp is to use Ffuncall, which embodies the Lisp function
funcall. Since the Lisp function funcall accepts an unlimited number of arguments, in C
it takes two: the number of Lisp-level arguments, and a one-dimensional array containing
their values. The first Lisp-level argument is the Lisp function to call, and the rest are the
arguments to pass to it.
The C functions call0, call1, call2, and so on, provide handy ways to call a Lisp
function conveniently with a fixed number of arguments. They work by calling Ffuncall.
eval.c is a very good file to look through for examples; lisp.h contains the definitions
for some important macros and functions.
If you define a function which is side-effect free or pure, give it a non-nil side-effect-
free or pure property, respectively (see Section 9.4.2 [Standard Properties], page 126).

E.8 Writing Dynamically-Loaded Modules

This section describes the Emacs module API and how to use it as part of writing extension
modules for Emacs. The module API is defined in the C programming language, therefore
the description and the examples in this section assume the module is written in C. For
other programming languages, you will need to use the appropriate bindings, interfaces and
facilities for calling C code. Emacs C code requires a C99 or later compiler (see Section E.6
[C Dialect], page 1164), and so the code examples in this section also follow that standard.
Writing a module and integrating it into Emacs comprises the following tasks:
• Writing initialization code for the module.
• Writing one or more module functions.
• Communicating values and objects between Emacs and your module functions.
• Handling of error conditions and nonlocal exits.
The following subsections describe these tasks and the API itself in more detail.
Once your module is written, compile it to produce a shared library, according to the
conventions of the underlying platform. Then place the shared library in a directory men-
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1169

tioned in load-path (see Section 16.3 [Library Search], page 266), where Emacs will find
it.
If you wish to verify the conformance of a module to the Emacs dynamic module API,
invoke Emacs with the --module-assertions option. See Section “Initial Options” in The
GNU Emacs Manual.

E.8.1 Module Initialization Code

Begin your module by including the header file emacs-module.h and defining the GPL
compatibility symbol:
#include <emacs-module.h>

int plugin_is_GPL_compatible;
The emacs-module.h file is installed into your system’s include tree as part of the Emacs
installation. Alternatively, you can find it in the Emacs source tree.
Next, write an initialization function for the module.
int emacs_module_init (struct emacs runtime *runtime) [Function]
Emacs calls this function when it loads a module. If a module does not export a
function named emacs_module_init, trying to load the module will signal an error.
The initialization function should return zero if the initialization succeeds, non-zero
otherwise. In the latter case, Emacs will signal an error, and the loading of the
module will fail. If the user presses C-g during the initialization, Emacs ignores the
return value of the initialization function and quits (see Section 21.11 [Quitting],
page 407). (If needed, you can catch user quitting inside the initialization function,
see [should quit], page 1177.)
The argument runtime is a pointer to a C struct that includes 2 public fields: size,
which provides the size of the structure in bytes; and get_environment, which pro-
vides a pointer to a function that allows the module initialization function access to
the Emacs environment object and its interfaces.
The initialization function should perform whatever initialization is required for the
module. In addition, it can perform the following tasks:
Compatibility verification
A module can verify that the Emacs executable which loads the module
is compatible with the module, by comparing the size member of the
runtime structure with the value compiled into the module:
int
emacs_module_init (struct emacs_runtime *ert)
{
if (ert->size < sizeof (*ert))
return 1;
}
If the size of the runtime object passed to the module is smaller than what
it expects, it means the module was compiled for an Emacs version newer
(later) than the one which attempts to load it, i.e. the module might be
incompatible with the Emacs binary.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1170

In addition, a module can verify the compatibility of the module API with
what the module expects. The following sample code assumes it is part
of the emacs_module_init function shown above:
emacs_env *env = ert->get_environment (ert);
if (env->size < sizeof (*env))
return 2;
This calls the get_environment function using the pointer provided in
the runtime structure to retrieve a pointer to the API’s environment, a
C struct which also has a size field holding the size of the structure in
bytes.
Finally, you can write a module that will work with older versions of
Emacs, by comparing the size of the environment passed by Emacs with
known sizes, like this:
emacs_env *env = ert->get_environment (ert);
if (env->size >= sizeof (struct emacs_env_26))
emacs_version = 26; /* Emacs 26 or later. */
else if (env->size >= sizeof (struct emacs_env_25))
emacs_version = 25;
else
return 2; /* Unknown or unsupported version. */
This works because later Emacs versions always add members to the
environment, never remove any members, so the size can only grow with
new Emacs releases. Given the version of Emacs, the module can use
only the parts of the module API that existed in that version, since those
parts are identical in later versions.
We recommend that modules always perform the compatibility verifi-
cation, unless they do their job entirely in the initialization function,
and don’t access any Lisp objects or use any Emacs functions accessible
through the environment structure.
Binding module functions to Lisp symbols
This gives the module functions names so that Lisp code could call it
by that name. We describe how to do this in Section E.8.2 [Module
Functions], page 1170, below.

E.8.2 Writing Module Functions

The main reason for writing an Emacs module is to make additional functions available to
Lisp programs that load the module. This subsection describes how to write such module
functions.
A module function has the following general form and signature:

emacs_value module_func (emacs env *env, ptrdiff t nargs, [Function]

emacs value *args, void *data)
The env argument provides a pointer to the API environment, needed to access Emacs
objects and functions. The nargs argument is the required number of arguments,
which can be zero (see make_function below for more flexible specification of the
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1171

argument number), and args is a pointer to the array of the function arguments.
The argument data points to additional data required by the function, which was
arranged when make_function (see below) was called to create an Emacs function
from module_func.
Module functions use the type emacs_value to communicate Lisp objects between
Emacs and the module (see Section E.8.3 [Module Values], page 1172). The API,
described below and in the following subsections, provides facilities for conversion
between basic C data types and the corresponding emacs_value objects.
A module function always returns a value. If the function returns normally, the Lisp
code which called it will see the Lisp object corresponding to the emacs_value value
the function returned. However, if the user typed C-g, or if the module function or
its callees signaled an error or exited nonlocally (see Section E.8.5 [Module Nonlocal],
page 1177), Emacs will ignore the returned value and quit or throw as it does when
Lisp code encounters the same situations.

After writing your C code for a module function, you should make a Lisp function object
from it using the make_function function, whose pointer is provided in the environment
(recall that the pointer to the environment is returned by get_environment). This is
normally done in the module initialization function (see [module initialization function],
page 1169), after verifying the API compatibility.

emacs_value make_function (emacs env *env, ptrdiff t min_arity, [Function]

ptrdiff t max_arity, subr func, const char *docstring, void *data)
This returns an Emacs function created from the C function func, whose signature is
as described for module_func above (assumed here to be typedef’ed as subr). The
arguments min arity and max arity specify the minimum and maximum number of
arguments that func can accept. The max arity argument can have the special value
emacs_variadic_function, which makes the function accept an unlimited number
of arguments, like the &rest keyword in Lisp (see Section 13.2.3 [Argument List],
page 206).
The argument data is a way to arrange for arbitrary additional data to be passed to
func when it is called. Whatever pointer is passed to make_function will be passed
unaltered to func.
The argument docstring specifies the documentation string for the function. It should
be either an ASCII string, or a UTF-8 encoded non-ASCII string, or a NULL pointer;
in the latter case the function will have no documentation. The documentation string
can end with a line that specifies the advertised calling convention, see Section 13.2.4
[Function Documentation], page 208.
Since every module function must accept the pointer to the environment as its first
argument, the call to make_function could be made from any module function, but
you will normally want to do that from the module initialization function, so that all
the module functions are known to Emacs once the module is loaded.

Finally, you should bind the Lisp function to a symbol, so that Lisp code could call your
function by name. For that, use the module API function intern (see [intern], page 1176)
whose pointer is also provided in the environment that module functions can access.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1172

Combining the above steps, code that arranges for a C function module_func to be
callable as module-func from Lisp will look like this, as part of the module initialization
function:
emacs_env *env = ert->get_environment (ert);
emacs_value func = env->make_function (env, min_arity, max_arity,
module_func, docstring, data);
emacs_value symbol = env->intern (env, "module-func");
emacs_value args[] = {symbol, func};
env->funcall (env, env->intern (env, "defalias"), 2, args);
This makes the symbol module-func known to Emacs by calling env->intern, then invokes
defalias from Emacs to bind the function to that symbol. Note that it is possible to use
fset instead of defalias; the differences are described in Section 13.4 [Defining Functions],
page 209.
Using the module API, it is possible to define more complex function and data types:
interactive functions, inline functions, macros, etc. However, the resulting C code will be
cumbersome and hard to read. Therefore, we recommend that you limit the module code
which creates functions and data structures to the absolute minimum, and leave the rest
for a Lisp package that will accompany your module, because doing these additional tasks
in Lisp is much easier, and will produce a much more readable code. For example, given a
module function module-func defined as above, one way of making an interactive command
module-cmd based on it is with the following simple Lisp wrapper:
(defun module-cmd (&rest args)
"Documentation string for the command."
(interactive spec)
(apply 'module-func args))
The Lisp package which goes with your module could then load the module using the
module-load primitive (see Section 16.11 [Dynamic Modules], page 278) when the package
is loaded into Emacs.

E.8.3 Conversion Between Lisp and Module Values

With very few exceptions, most modules need to exchange data with Lisp programs that call
them: accept arguments to module functions and return values from module functions. For
this purpose, the module API provides the emacs_value type, which represents Emacs Lisp
objects communicated via the API; it is the functional equivalent of the Lisp_Object type
used in Emacs C primitives (see Section E.7 [Writing Emacs Primitives], page 1164). This
section describes the parts of the module API that allow to create emacs_value objects
corresponding to basic Lisp data types, and how to access from C data in emacs_value
objects that correspond to Lisp objects.
All of the functions described below are actually function pointers provided via the
pointer to the environment which every module function accepts. Therefore, module code
should call these functions through the environment pointer, like this:
emacs_env *env; /* the environment pointer */
env->some_function (arguments...);
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1173

The emacs_env pointer will usually come from the first argument to the module function, or
from the call to get_environment if you need the environment in the module initialization
function.
Most of the functions described below became available in Emacs 25, the first Emacs
release that supported dynamic modules. For the few functions that became available in
later Emacs releases, we mention the first Emacs version that supported them.
The following API functions extract values of various C data types from emacs_value
objects. They all raise the wrong-type-argument error condition (see Section 2.6 [Type
Predicates], page 29) if the argument emacs_value object is not of the type expected by
the function. See Section E.8.5 [Module Nonlocal], page 1177, for details of how signaling
errors works in Emacs modules, and how to catch error conditions inside the module before
they are reported to Emacs. The API function type_of (see Section E.8.4 [Module Misc],
page 1175) can be used to obtain the type of a emacs_value object.

intmax_t extract_integer (emacs env *env, emacs value arg) [Function]

This function returns the value of a Lisp integer specified by arg. The C data type
of the return value, intmax_t, is the widest integral data type supported by the C
compiler, typically long long.

double extract_float (emacs env *env, emacs value arg) [Function]

This function returns the value of a Lisp float specified by arg, as a C double value.

bool copy_string_contents (emacs env *env, emacs value arg, [Function]

char *buf, ptrdiff t *len)
This function stores the UTF-8 encoded text of a Lisp string specified by arg in the
array of char pointed by buf, which should have enough space to hold at least *len
bytes, including the terminating null byte. The argument len must not be a NULL
pointer, and, when the function is called, it should point to a value that specifies the
size of buf in bytes.
If the buffer size specified by *len is large enough to hold the string’s text, the function
stores in *len the actual number of bytes copied to buf, including the terminating null
byte, and returns true. If the buffer is too small, the function raises the args-out-
of-range error condition, stores the required number of bytes in *len, and returns
false. See Section E.8.5 [Module Nonlocal], page 1177, for how to handle pending
error conditions.
The argument buf can be a NULL pointer, in which case the function stores in *len
the number of bytes required for storing the contents of arg, and returns true. This
is how you can determine the size of buf needed to store a particular string: first
call copy_string_contents with NULL as buf, then allocate enough memory to hold
the number of bytes stored by the function in *len, and call the function again with
non-NULL buf to actually perform the text copying.

emacs_value vec_get (emacs env *env, emacs value vector, [Function]

ptrdiff t index)
This function returns the element of vector at index. The index of the first vector
element is zero. The function raises the args-out-of-range error condition if the
value of index is invalid. To extract C data from the value the function returns, use
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1174

the other extraction functions described here, as appropriate for the Lisp data type
stored in that element of the vector.

ptrdiff_t vec_size (emacs env *env, emacs value vector) [Function]

This function returns the number of elements in vector.

void vec_set (emacs env *env, emacs value vector, ptrdiff t [Function]
index, emacs value value)
This function stores value in the element of vector whose index is index. It raises the
args-out-of-range error condition if the value of index is invalid.

The following API functions create emacs_value objects from basic C data types. They
all return the created emacs_value object.

emacs_value make_integer (emacs env *env, intmax t n) [Function]

This function takes an integer argument n and returns the corresponding emacs_
value object. It raises the overflow-error error condition if the value of n cannot
be represented as an Emacs integer, i.e. is not inside the limits set by most-negative-
fixnum and most-positive-fixnum (see Section 3.1 [Integer Basics], page 35).

emacs_value make_float (emacs env *env, double d) [Function]

This function takes a double argument d and returns the corresponding Emacs
floating-point value.

emacs_value make_string (emacs env *env, const char *str, [Function]

ptrdiff t strlen)
This function creates an Emacs string from C text string pointed by str whose length
in bytes, not including the terminating null byte, is strlen. The original string in
str can be either an ASCII string or a UTF-8 encoded non-ASCII string; it can in-
clude embedded null bytes, and doesn’t have to end in a terminating null byte at
str[strlen]. The function raises the overflow-error error condition if strlen is
negative or exceeds the maximum length of an Emacs string.

The API does not provide functions to manipulate Lisp data structures, for example,
create lists with cons and list (see Section 5.4 [Building Lists], page 72), extract list
members with car and cdr (see Section 5.3 [List Elements], page 69), create vectors with
vector (see Section 6.5 [Vector Functions], page 105), etc. For these, use intern and
funcall, described in the next subsection, to call the corresponding Lisp functions.
Normally, emacs_value objects have a rather short lifetime: it ends when the emacs_
env pointer used for their creation goes out of scope. Occasionally, you may need to create
global references: emacs_value objects that live as long as you wish. Use the following two
functions to manage such objects.

emacs_value make_global_ref (emacs env *env, emacs value [Function]

value)
This function returns a global reference for value.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1175

void free_global_ref (emacs env *env, emacs value [Function]

global_value)
This function frees the global value previously created by make_global_ref. The
global value is no longer valid after the call. Your module code should pair each call
to make_global_ref with the corresponding free_global_ref.

An alternative to keeping around C data structures that need to be passed to module

functions later is to create user pointer objects. A user pointer, or user-ptr, object is a Lisp
object that encapsulates a C pointer and can have an associated finalizer function, which is
called when the object is garbage-collected (see Section E.3 [Garbage Collection], page 1158).
The module API provides functions to create and access user-ptr objects. These functions
raise the wrong-type-argument error condition if they are called on emacs_value that
doesn’t represent a user-ptr object.

emacs_value make_user_ptr (emacs env *env, emacs finalizer fin, [Function]

void *ptr)
This function creates and returns a user-ptr object which wraps the C pointer ptr.
The finalizer function fin can be a NULL pointer (meaning no finalizer), or it can be a
function of the following signature:
typedef void (*emacs_finalizer) (void *ptr);
If fin is not a NULL pointer, it will be called with the ptr as the argument when the
user-ptr object is garbage-collected. Don’t run any expensive code in a finalizer,
because GC must finish quickly to keep Emacs responsive.

void *get_user_ptr (emacs env *env, emacs value val) [Function]

This function extracts the C pointer from the Lisp object represented by val.

void set_user_ptr (emacs env *env, emacs value value, void *ptr) [Function]
This function sets the C pointer embedded in the user-ptr object represented by
value to ptr.

emacs_finalizer get_user_finalizer (emacs env *env, [Function]

emacs value val)
This function returns the finalizer of the user-ptr object represented by val, or NULL
if it doesn’t have a finalizer.

void set_user_finalizer (emacs env *env, emacs value val, [Function]

emacs finalizer fin)
This function changes the finalizer of the user-ptr object represented by val to be
fin. If fin is a NULL pointer, the user-ptr object will have no finalizer.

E.8.4 Miscellaneous Convenience Functions for Modules

This subsection describes a few convenience functions provided by the module API. Like the
functions described in previous subsections, all of them are actually function pointers, and
need to be called via the emacs_env pointer. Description of functions that were introduced
after Emacs 25 calls out the first version where they became available.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1176

bool eq (emacs env *env, emacs value val1, emacs value val2) [Function]
This function returns true if the Lisp objects represented by val1 and val2 are iden-
tical, false otherwise. This is the same as the Lisp function eq (see Section 2.7
[Equality Predicates], page 32), but avoids the need to intern the objects represented
by the arguments.
There are no API functions for other equality predicates, so you will need to use
intern and funcall, described below, to perform more complex equality tests.

bool is_not_nil (emacs env *env, emacs value val) [Function]

This function tests whether the Lisp object represented by val is non-nil; it returns
true or false accordingly.
Note that you could implement an equivalent test by using intern to get an emacs_
value representing nil, then use eq, described above, to test for equality. But using
this function is more convenient.

emacs_value type_of (emacs env *env, emacs value object) [Function]

This function returns the type of object as a value that represents a symbol: string
for a string, integer for an integer, process for a process, etc. See Section 2.6 [Type
Predicates], page 29. You can use intern and eq to compare against known type
symbols, if your code needs to depend on the object type.

emacs_value intern (emacs env *env, const char *name) [Function]

This function returns an interned Emacs symbol whose name is name, which should
be an ASCII null-terminated string. It creates a new symbol if one does not already
exist.
Together with funcall, described below, this function provides a means for invoking
any Lisp-callable Emacs function, provided that its name is a pure ASCII string.
For example, here’s how to intern a symbol whose name name_str is non-ASCII, by
calling the more powerful Emacs intern function (see Section 9.3 [Creating Symbols],
page 122):
emacs_value fintern = env->intern (env, "intern");
emacs_value sym_name =
env->make_string (env, name_str, strlen (name_str));
emacs_value intern_args[] = { sym_name, env->intern (env, "nil") };
emacs_value symbol = env->funcall (env, fintern, 2, intern_args);

emacs_value funcall (emacs env *env, emacs value func, ptrdiff t [Function]
nargs, emacs value *args)
This function calls the specified func passing it nargs arguments from the array
pointed to by args. The argument func can be a function symbol (e.g., returned
by intern described above), a module function returned by make_function (see
Section E.8.2 [Module Functions], page 1170), a subroutine written in C, etc. If nargs
is zero, args can be a NULL pointer.
The function returns the value that func returned.

If your module includes potentially long-running code, it is a good idea to check from time
to time in that code whether the user wants to quit, e.g., by typing C-g (see Section 21.11
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1177

[Quitting], page 407). The following function, which is available since Emacs 26.1, is pro-
vided for that purpose.

bool should_quit (emacs env *env) [Function]

This function returns true if the user wants to quit. In that case, we recommend that
your module function aborts any on-going processing and returns as soon as possible.

E.8.5 Nonlocal Exits in Modules

Emacs Lisp supports nonlocal exits, whereby program control is transfered from one point
in a program to another remote point. See Section 11.7 [Nonlocal Exits], page 158. Thus,
Lisp functions called by your module might exit nonlocally by calling signal or throw, and
your module functions must handle such nonlocal exits properly. Such handling is needed
because C programs will not automatically release resources and perform other cleanups in
these cases; your module code must itself do it. The module API provides facilities for that,
described in this subsection. They are generally available since Emacs 25; those of them
that became available in later releases explicitly call out the first Emacs version where they
became part of the API.
When some Lisp code called by a module function signals an error or throws, the nonlocal
exit is trapped, and the pending exit and its associated data are stored in the environment.
Whenever a nonlocal exit is pending in the environment, any module API function called
with a pointer to that environment will return immediately without any processing (the
functions non_local_exit_check, non_local_exit_get, and non_local_exit_clear are
exceptions from this rule). If your module function then does nothing and returns to
Emacs, a pending nonlocal exit will cause Emacs to act on it: signal an error or throw to
the corresponding catch.
So the simplest “handling” of nonlocal exits in module functions is to do nothing special
and let the rest of your code to run as if nothing happened. However, this can cause two
classes of problems:
− Your module function might use uninitialized or undefined values, since API functions
return immediately without producing the expected results.
− Your module might leak resources, because it might not have the opportunity to release
them.
Therefore, we recommend that your module functions check for nonlocal exit conditions
and recover from them, using the functions described below.

enum emacs_funcall_exit non local exit check (emacs env *env) [Function]
This function returns the kind of nonlocal exit condition stored in env. The possible
values are:
emacs_funcall_exit_return
The last API function exited normally.
emacs_funcall_exit_signal
The last API function signaled an error.
emacs_funcall_exit_throw
The last API function exited via throw.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1178

emacs_funcall_exit non_local_exit_get (emacs env *env, [Function]

emacs value *symbol, emacs value *data)
This function returns the kind of nonlocal exit condition stored in env, like non_
local_exit_check does, but it also returns the full information about the nonlocal
exit, if any. If the return value is emacs_funcall_exit_signal, the function stores
the error symbol in *symbol and the error data in *data (see Section 11.7.3.1 [Sig-
naling Errors], page 160). If the return value is emacs_funcall_exit_throw, the
function stores the catch tag symbol in *symbol and the throw value in *data. The
function doesn’t store anything in memory pointed by these arguments when the
return value is emacs_funcall_exit_return.
You should check nonlocal exit conditions where it matters: before you allocated some
resource or after you allocated a resource that might need freeing, or where a failure means
further processing is impossible or infeasible.
Once your module function detected that a nonlocal exit is pending, it can either return
to Emacs (after performing the necessary local cleanup), or it can attempt to recover from
the nonlocal exit. The following API functions will help with these tasks.
void non_local_exit_clear (emacs env *env) [Function]
This function clears the pending nonlocal exit conditions and data from env. After
calling it, the module API functions will work normally. Use this function if your
module function can recover from nonlocal exits of the Lisp functions it calls and
continue, and also before calling any of the following two functions (or any other API
functions, if you want them to perform their intended processing when a nonlocal exit
is pending).
void non_local_exit_throw (emacs env *env, emacs value tag, [Function]
emacs value value)
This function throws to the Lisp catch symbol represented by tag, passing it value as
the value to return. Your module function should in general return soon after calling
this function. One use of this function is when you want to re-throw a non-local exit
from one of the called API or Lisp functions.
void non_local_exit_signal (emacs env *env, emacs value error, [Function]
emacs value data)
This function signals the error represented by error with the specified error data data.
The module function should return soon after calling this function. This function
could be useful, e.g., for signaling errors from module functions to Emacs.

E.9 Object Internals

Emacs Lisp provides a rich set of the data types. Some of them, like cons cells, integers and
strings, are common to nearly all Lisp dialects. Some others, like markers and buffers, are
quite special and needed to provide the basic support to write editor commands in Lisp.
To implement such a variety of object types and provide an efficient way to pass objects
between the subsystems of an interpreter, there is a set of C data structures and a special
type to represent the pointers to all of them, which is known as tagged pointer.
In C, the tagged pointer is an object of type Lisp_Object. Any initialized variable of
such a type always holds the value of one of the following basic data types: integer, symbol,
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1179

string, cons cell, float, vectorlike or miscellaneous object. Each of these data types has the
corresponding tag value. All tags are enumerated by enum Lisp_Type and placed into a 3-bit
bitfield of the Lisp_Object. The rest of the bits is the value itself. Integers are immediate,
i.e., directly represented by those value bits, and all other objects are represented by the
C pointers to a corresponding object allocated from the heap. Width of the Lisp_Object
is platform- and configuration-dependent: usually it’s equal to the width of an underlying
platform pointer (i.e., 32-bit on a 32-bit machine and 64-bit on a 64-bit one), but also
there is a special configuration where Lisp_Object is 64-bit but all pointers are 32-bit.
The latter trick was designed to overcome the limited range of values for Lisp integers on a
32-bit system by using 64-bit long long type for Lisp_Object.
The following C data structures are defined in lisp.h to represent the basic data types
beyond integers:
struct Lisp_Cons
Cons cell, an object used to construct lists.
struct Lisp_String
String, the basic object to represent a sequence of characters.
struct Lisp_Vector
Array, a fixed-size set of Lisp objects which may be accessed by an index.
struct Lisp_Symbol
Symbol, the unique-named entity commonly used as an identifier.
struct Lisp_Float
Floating-point value.
union Lisp_Misc
Miscellaneous kinds of objects which don’t fit into any of the above.
These types are the first-class citizens of an internal type system. Since the tag space is
limited, all other types are the subtypes of either Lisp_Vectorlike or Lisp_Misc. Vector
subtypes are enumerated by enum pvec_type, and nearly all complex objects like windows,
buffers, frames, and processes fall into this category. The rest of special types, includ-
ing markers and overlays, are enumerated by enum Lisp_Misc_Type and form the set of
subtypes of Lisp_Misc.
Below there is a description of a few subtypes of Lisp_Vectorlike. Buffer object repre-
sents the text to display and edit. Window is the part of display structure which shows the
buffer or is used as a container to recursively place other windows on the same frame. (Do
not confuse Emacs Lisp window object with the window as an entity managed by the user
interface system like X; in Emacs terminology, the latter is called frame.) Finally, process
object is used to manage the subprocesses.

E.9.1 Buffer Internals

Two structures (see buffer.h) are used to represent buffers in C. The buffer_text struc-
ture contains fields describing the text of a buffer; the buffer structure holds other fields. In
the case of indirect buffers, two or more buffer structures reference the same buffer_text
structure.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1180

Here are some of the fields in struct buffer_text:

beg The address of the buffer contents. The buffer contents is a linear C array of
char, with the gap somewhere in its midst.
gpt
gpt_byte The character and byte positions of the buffer gap. See Section 27.13 [Buffer
Gap], page 597.
z
z_byte The character and byte positions of the end of the buffer text.
gap_size The size of buffer’s gap. See Section 27.13 [Buffer Gap], page 597.
modiff
save_modiff
chars_modiff
overlay_modiff
These fields count the number of buffer-modification events performed in this
buffer. modiff is incremented after each buffer-modification event, and is never
otherwise changed; save_modiff contains the value of modiff the last time
the buffer was visited or saved; chars_modiff counts only modifications to the
characters in the buffer, ignoring all other kinds of changes (such as text prop-
erties); and overlay_modiff counts only modifications to the buffer’s overlays.
beg_unchanged
end_unchanged
The number of characters at the start and end of the text that are known to
be unchanged since the last complete redisplay.
unchanged_modified
overlay_unchanged_modified
The values of modiff and overlay_modiff, respectively, after the last complete
redisplay. If their current values match modiff or overlay_modiff, that means
beg_unchanged and end_unchanged contain no useful information.
markers The markers that refer to this buffer. This is actually a single marker, and
successive elements in its marker chain are the other markers referring to this
buffer text.
intervals
The interval tree which records the text properties of this buffer.
Some of the fields of struct buffer are:
header A header of type union vectorlike_header is common to all vectorlike objects.
own_text A struct buffer_text structure that ordinarily holds the buffer contents. In
indirect buffers, this field is not used.
text A pointer to the buffer_text structure for this buffer. In an ordinary buffer,
this is the own_text field above. In an indirect buffer, this is the own_text field
of the base buffer.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1181

next A pointer to the next buffer, in the chain of all buffers, including killed buffers.
This chain is used only for allocation and garbage collection, in order to collect
killed buffers properly.
pt
pt_byte The character and byte positions of point in a buffer.
begv
begv_byte
The character and byte positions of the beginning of the accessible range of
text in the buffer.
zv
zv_byte The character and byte positions of the end of the accessible range of text in
the buffer.
base_buffer
In an indirect buffer, this points to the base buffer. In an ordinary buffer, it is
null.
local_flags
This field contains flags indicating that certain variables are local in this buffer.
Such variables are declared in the C code using DEFVAR_PER_BUFFER, and their
buffer-local bindings are stored in fields in the buffer structure itself. (Some of
these fields are described in this table.)
modtime The modification time of the visited file. It is set when the file is written or read.
Before writing the buffer into a file, this field is compared to the modification
time of the file to see if the file has changed on disk. See Section 27.5 [Buffer
Modification], page 587.
auto_save_modified
The time when the buffer was last auto-saved.
last_window_start
The window-start position in the buffer as of the last time the buffer was
displayed in a window.
clip_changed
This flag indicates that narrowing has changed in the buffer. See Section 30.4
[Narrowing], page 753.
prevent_redisplay_optimizations_p
This flag indicates that redisplay optimizations should not be used to display
this buffer.
overlay_center
This field holds the current overlay center position. See Section 39.9.1 [Manag-
ing Overlays], page 985.
overlays_before
overlays_after
These fields hold, respectively, a list of overlays that end at or before the current
overlay center, and a list of overlays that end after the current overlay center.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1182

See Section 39.9.1 [Managing Overlays], page 985. overlays_before is sorted

in order of decreasing end position, and overlays_after is sorted in order of
increasing beginning position.
name A Lisp string that names the buffer. It is guaranteed to be unique. See
Section 27.3 [Buffer Names], page 584. This and the following fields have their
names in the C struct definition end in a _ to indicate that they should not be
accessed directly, but via the BVAR macro, like this:
Lisp_Object buf_name = BVAR (buffer, name);
save_length
The length of the file this buffer is visiting, when last read or saved. It can
have 2 special values: −1 means auto-saving was turned off in this buffer, and
−2 means don’t turn off auto-saving if buffer text shrinks a lot. This and other
fields concerned with saving are not kept in the buffer_text structure because
indirect buffers are never saved.
directory
The directory for expanding relative file names. This is the value of the buffer-
local variable default-directory (see Section 25.9.4 [File Name Expansion],
page 550).
filename The name of the file visited in this buffer, or nil. This is the value of the
buffer-local variable buffer-file-name (see Section 27.4 [Buffer File Name],
page 585).
undo_list
backed_up
auto_save_file_name
auto_save_file_format
read_only
file_format
file_truename
invisibility_spec
display_count
display_time
These fields store the values of Lisp variables that are automatically buffer-local
(see Section 12.11 [Buffer-Local Variables], page 185), whose corresponding vari-
able names have the additional prefix buffer- and have underscores replaced
with dashes. For instance, undo_list stores the value of buffer-undo-list.
mark The mark for the buffer. The mark is a marker, hence it is also included on the
list markers. See Section 31.7 [The Mark], page 760.
local_var_alist
The association list describing the buffer-local variable bindings of this buffer,
not including the built-in buffer-local bindings that have special slots in the
buffer object. (Those slots are omitted from this table.) See Section 12.11
[Buffer-Local Variables], page 185.
major_mode
Symbol naming the major mode of this buffer, e.g., lisp-mode.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1183

mode_name
Pretty name of the major mode, e.g., "Lisp".

keymap
abbrev_table
syntax_table
category_table
display_table
These fields store the buffer’s local keymap (see Chapter 22 [Keymaps],
page 415), abbrev table (see Section 36.1 [Abbrev Tables], page 908),
syntax table (see Chapter 35 [Syntax Tables], page 892), category table (see
Section 35.8 [Categories], page 905), and display table (see Section 39.22.2
[Display Tables], page 1060).

downcase_table
upcase_table
case_canon_table
These fields store the conversion tables for converting text to lower case, upper
case, and for canonicalizing text for case-fold search. See Section 4.9 [Case
Tables], page 65.

minor_modes
An alist of the minor modes of this buffer.

pt_marker
begv_marker
zv_marker
These fields are only used in an indirect buffer, or in a buffer that is the base
of an indirect buffer. Each holds a marker that records pt, begv, and zv
respectively, for this buffer when the buffer is not current.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1184

mode_line_format
header_line_format
case_fold_search
tab_width
fill_column
left_margin
auto_fill_function
truncate_lines
word_wrap
ctl_arrow
bidi_display_reordering
bidi_paragraph_direction
selective_display
selective_display_ellipses
overwrite_mode
abbrev_mode
mark_active
enable_multibyte_characters
buffer_file_coding_system
cache_long_line_scans
point_before_scroll
left_fringe_width
right_fringe_width
fringes_outside_margins
scroll_bar_width
indicate_empty_lines
indicate_buffer_boundaries
fringe_indicator_alist
fringe_cursor_alist
scroll_up_aggressively
scroll_down_aggressively
cursor_type
cursor_in_non_selected_windows
These fields store the values of Lisp variables that are automatically buffer-
local (see Section 12.11 [Buffer-Local Variables], page 185), whose corresponding
variable names have underscores replaced with dashes. For instance, mode_
line_format stores the value of mode-line-format.

last_selected_window
This is the last window that was selected with this buffer in it, or nil if that
window no longer displays this buffer.

E.9.2 Window Internals

The fields of a window (for a complete list, see the definition of struct window in window.h)
include:

frame The frame that this window is on, as a Lisp object.

Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1185

mini Non-zero if this window is a minibuffer window, a window showing the mini-
buffer or the echo area.
pseudo_window_p
Non-zero if this window is a pseudo window. A pseudo window is either a
window used to display the menu bar or the tool bar (when Emacs uses toolkits
that don’t display their own menu bar and tool bar) or a window showing a
tooltip on a tooltip frame. Pseudo windows are in general not accessible from
Lisp code.
parent Internally, Emacs arranges windows in a tree; each group of siblings has a parent
window whose area includes all the siblings. This field points to the window’s
parent in that tree, as a Lisp object. For the root window of the tree and a
minibuffer window this is always nil.
Parent windows do not display buffers, and play little role in display except to
shape their child windows. Emacs Lisp programs cannot directly manipulate
parent windows; they operate on the windows at the leaves of the tree, which
actually display buffers.
contents For a leaf window and windows showing a tooltip, this is the buffer, as a Lisp
object, that the window is displaying. For an internal (“parent”) window, this
is its first child window. For a pseudo window showing a menu or tool bar this
is nil. It is also nil for a window that has been deleted.
next
prev The next and previous sibling of this window as Lisp objects. next is nil if the
window is the right-most or bottom-most in its group; prev is nil if it is the
left-most or top-most in its group. Whether the sibling is left/right or up/down
is determined by the horizontal field of the sibling’s parent: if it’s non-zero,
the siblings are arranged horizontally.
As a special case, next of a frame’s root window points to the frame’s minibuffer
window, provided this is not a minibuffer-only or minibuffer-less frame. On such
frames prev of the minibuffer window points to that frame’s root window. In
any other case, the root window’s next and the minibuffer window’s (if present)
prev fields are nil.
left_col The left-hand edge of the window, measured in columns, relative to the leftmost
column (column 0) of the window’s native frame.
top_line The top edge of the window, measured in lines, relative to the topmost line
(line 0) of the window’s native frame.
pixel_left
pixel_top
The left-hand and top edges of this window, measured in pixels, relative to the
top-left corner (0, 0) of the window’s native frame.
total_cols
total_lines
The total width and height of the window, measured in columns and lines
respectively. The values include scroll bars and fringes, dividers and/or the
separator line on the right of the window (if any).
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1186

pixel_width;
pixel_height;
The total width and height of the window measured in pixels.
start A marker pointing to the position in the buffer that is the first character (in the
logical order, see Section 39.26 [Bidirectional Display], page 1067) displayed in
the window.
pointm This is the value of point in the current buffer when this window is selected;
when it is not selected, it retains its previous value.
old_pointm
The value of pointm at the last redisplay time.
force_start
If this flag is non-nil, it says that the window has been scrolled explicitly by
the Lisp program, and the value of the the window’s start was set for redisplay
to honor. This affects what the next redisplay does if point is off the screen:
instead of scrolling the window to show the text around point, it moves point
to a location that is on the screen.
optional_new_start
This is similar to force_start, but the next redisplay will only obey it if point
stays visible.
start_at_line_beg
Non-nil means current value of start was the beginning of a line when it was
chosen.
use_time This is the last time that the window was selected. The function get-lru-
window uses this field.
sequence_number
A unique number assigned to this window when it was created.
last_modified
The modiff field of the window’s buffer, as of the last time a redisplay completed
in this window.
last_overlay_modified
The overlay_modiff field of the window’s buffer, as of the last time a redisplay
completed in this window.
last_point
The buffer’s value of point, as of the last time a redisplay completed in this
window.
last_had_star
A non-zero value means the window’s buffer was modified when the window
was last updated.
vertical_scroll_bar_type
horizontal_scroll_bar_type
The types of this window’s vertical and horizontal scroll bars.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1187

scroll_bar_width
scroll_bar_height
The width of this window’s vertical scroll bar and the height of this window’s
horizontal scroll bar, in pixels.
left_margin_cols
right_margin_cols
The widths of the left and right margins in this window. A value of zero means
no margin.
left_fringe_width
right_fringe_width
The pixel widths of the left and right fringes in this window. A value of −1
means use the values of the frame.
fringes_outside_margins
A non-zero value means the fringes outside the display margins; othersize they
are between the margin and the text.
window_end_pos
This is computed as z minus the buffer position of the last glyph in the current
matrix of the window. The value is only valid if window_end_valid is non-zero.
window_end_bytepos
The byte position corresponding to window_end_pos.
window_end_vpos
The window-relative vertical position of the line containing window_end_pos.
window_end_valid
This field is set to a non-zero value if window_end_pos and window_end_vpos
are truly valid. This is zero if nontrivial redisplay is pre-empted, since in that
case the display that window_end_pos was computed for did not get onto the
screen.
cursor A structure describing where the cursor is in this window.
last_cursor_vpos
The window-relative vertical position of the line showing the cursor as of the
last redisplay that finished.
phys_cursor
A structure describing where the cursor of this window physically is.
phys_cursor_type
phys_cursor_height
phys_cursor_width
The type, height, and width of the cursor that was last displayed on this window.
phys_cursor_on_p
This field is non-zero if the cursor is physically on.
cursor_off_p
Non-zero means the cursor in this window is logically off. This is used for
blinking the cursor.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1188

last_cursor_off_p
This field contains the value of cursor_off_p as of the time of the last redisplay.
must_be_updated_p
This is set to 1 during redisplay when this window must be updated.
hscroll This is the number of columns that the display in the window is scrolled hori-
zontally to the left. Normally, this is 0. When only the current line is hscrolled,
this describes how much the current line is scrolled.
min_hscroll
Minimum value of hscroll, set by the user via set-window-hscroll (see
Section 28.23 [Horizontal Scrolling], page 669). When only the current line is
hscrolled, this describes the horizontal scrolling of lines other than the current
one.
vscroll Vertical scroll amount, in pixels. Normally, this is 0.
dedicated
Non-nil if this window is dedicated to its buffer.
combination_limit
This window’s combination limit, meaningful only for a parent window. If this
is t, then it is not allowed to delete this window and recombine its child windows
with other siblings of this window.
window_parameters
The alist of this window’s parameters.
display_table
The window’s display table, or nil if none is specified for it.
update_mode_line
Non-zero means this window’s mode line needs to be updated.
mode_line_height
header_line_height
The height in pixels of the mode line and the header line, or −1 if not known.
base_line_number
The line number of a certain position in the buffer, or zero. This is used for
displaying the line number of point in the mode line.
base_line_pos
The position in the buffer for which the line number is known, or zero meaning
none is known. If it is −1, don’t display the line number as long as the window
shows that buffer.
column_number_displayed
The column number currently displayed in this window’s mode line, or −1 if
column numbers are not being displayed.
current_matrix
desired_matrix
Glyph matrices describing the current and desired display of this window.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1189

E.9.3 Process Internals

The fields of a process (for a complete list, see the definition of struct Lisp_Process in
process.h) include:
name A Lisp string, the name of the process.
command A list containing the command arguments that were used to start this process.
For a network or serial process, it is nil if the process is running or t if the
process is stopped.
filter A Lisp function used to accept output from the process.
sentinel A Lisp function called whenever the state of the process changes.
buffer The associated buffer of the process.
pid An integer, the operating system’s process ID. Pseudo-processes such as net-
work or serial connections use a value of 0.
childp A flag, t if this is really a child process. For a network or serial connection, it
is a plist based on the arguments to make-network-process or make-serial-
process.
mark A marker indicating the position of the end of the last output from this process
inserted into the buffer. This is often but not always the end of the buffer.
kill_without_query
If this is non-zero, killing Emacs while this process is still running does not ask
for confirmation about killing the process.
raw_status
The raw process status, as returned by the wait system call.
status The process status, as process-status should return it. This is a Lisp symbol,
a cons cell, or a list.
tick
update_tick
If these two fields are not equal, a change in the status of the process needs
to be reported, either by running the sentinel or by inserting a message in the
process buffer.
pty_flag Non-zero if communication with the subprocess uses a pty; zero if it uses a pipe.
infd The file descriptor for input from the process.
outfd The file descriptor for output to the process.
tty_name The name of the terminal that the subprocess is using, or nil if it is using
pipes.
decode_coding_system
Coding-system for decoding the input from this process.
decoding_buf
A working buffer for decoding.
Appendix E: GNU Emacs Internals 1190

decoding_carryover
Size of carryover in decoding.
encode_coding_system
Coding-system for encoding the output to this process.
encoding_buf
A working buffer for encoding.
inherit_coding_system_flag
Flag to set coding-system of the process buffer from the coding system used
to decode process output.
type Symbol indicating the type of process: real, network, serial.

E.10 C Integer Types

Here are some guidelines for use of integer types in the Emacs C source code. These
guidelines sometimes give competing advice; common sense is advised.
• Avoid arbitrary limits. For example, avoid int len = strlen (s); unless the length
of s is required for other reasons to fit in int range.
• Do not assume that signed integer arithmetic wraps around on overflow. This is no
longer true of Emacs porting targets: signed integer overflow has undefined behavior
in practice, and can dump core or even cause earlier or later code to behave illogically.
Unsigned overflow does wrap around reliably, modulo a power of two.
• Prefer signed types to unsigned, as code gets confusing when signed and unsigned types
are combined. Many other guidelines assume that types are signed; in the rarer cases
where unsigned types are needed, similar advice may apply to the unsigned counterparts
(e.g., size_t instead of ptrdiff_t, or uintptr_t instead of intptr_t).
• Prefer int for Emacs character codes, in the range 0 .. 0x3FFFFF. More generally,
prefer int for integers known to be in int range, e.g., screen column counts.
• Prefer ptrdiff_t for sizes, i.e., for integers bounded by the maximum size of any
individual C object or by the maximum number of elements in any C array. This is
part of Emacs’s general preference for signed types. Using ptrdiff_t limits objects to
PTRDIFF_MAX bytes, but larger objects would cause trouble anyway since they would
break pointer subtraction, so this does not impose an arbitrary limit.
• Avoid ssize_t except when communicating to low-level APIs that have ssize_t-
related limitations. Although it’s equivalent to ptrdiff_t on typical platforms, ssize_
t is occasionally narrower, so using it for size-related calculations could overflow. Also,
ptrdiff_t is more ubiquitous and better-standardized, has standard printf formats,
and is the basis for Emacs’s internal size-overflow checking. When using ssize_t,
please note that POSIX requires support only for values in the range −1 .. SSIZE_MAX.
• Prefer intptr_t for internal representations of pointers, or for integers bounded only by
the number of objects that can exist at any given time or by the total number of bytes
that can be allocated. Currently Emacs sometimes uses other types when intptr_t
would be better; fixing this is lower priority, as the code works as-is on Emacs’s current
porting targets.
 1191

• Prefer the Emacs-defined type EMACS_INT for representing values converted to or from
Emacs Lisp fixnums, as fixnum arithmetic is based on EMACS_INT.
• When representing a system value (such as a file size or a count of seconds since the
Epoch), prefer the corresponding system type (e.g., off_t, time_t). Do not assume
that a system type is signed, unless this assumption is known to be safe. For example,
although off_t is always signed, time_t need not be.
• Prefer the Emacs-defined type printmax_t for representing values that might be any
signed integer that can be printed, using a printf-family function.
• Prefer intmax_t for representing values that might be any signed integer value.
• Prefer bool, false and true for booleans. Using bool can make programs easier to
read and a bit faster than using int. Although it is also OK to use int, 0 and 1,
this older style is gradually being phased out. When using bool, respect the limi-
tations of the replacement implementation of bool, as documented in the source file
lib/stdbool.in.h. In particular, boolean bitfields should be of type bool_bf, not
bool, so that they work correctly even when compiling Objective C with standard
GCC.
• In bitfields, prefer unsigned int or signed int to int, as int is less portable: it might
be signed, and might not be. Single-bit bit fields should be unsigned int or bool_bf
so that their values are 0 or 1.
 1192

Appendix F Standard Errors

Here is a list of the more important error symbols in standard Emacs, grouped by concept.
The list includes each symbol’s message and a cross reference to a description of how the
error can occur.
Each error symbol has a set of parent error conditions that is a list of symbols. Normally
this list includes the error symbol itself and the symbol error. Occasionally it includes ad-
ditional symbols, which are intermediate classifications, narrower than error but broader
than a single error symbol. For example, all the errors in accessing files have the condi-
tion file-error. If we do not say here that a certain error symbol has additional error
conditions, that means it has none.
As a special exception, the error symbol quit does not have the condition error, because
quitting is not considered an error.
Most of these error symbols are defined in C (mainly data.c), but some are defined in
Lisp. For example, the file userlock.el defines the file-locked and file-supersession
errors. Several of the specialized Lisp libraries distributed with Emacs define their own
error symbols. We do not attempt to list of all those here.
See Section 11.7.3 [Errors], page 160, for an explanation of how errors are generated and
handled.
error The message is ‘error’. See Section 11.7.3 [Errors], page 160.
quit The message is ‘Quit’. See Section 21.11 [Quitting], page 407.
args-out-of-range
The message is ‘Args out of range’. This happens when trying to access an
element beyond the range of a sequence, buffer, or other container-like object.
See Chapter 6 [Sequences Arrays Vectors], page 91, and See Chapter 32 [Text],
page 765.
arith-error
The message is ‘Arithmetic error’. This occurs when trying to perform integer
division by zero. See Section 3.5 [Numeric Conversions], page 40, and See
Section 3.6 [Arithmetic Operations], page 41.
beginning-of-buffer
The message is ‘Beginning of buffer’. See Section 30.2.1 [Character Motion],
page 743.
buffer-read-only
The message is ‘Buffer is read-only’. See Section 27.7 [Read Only Buffers],
page 590.
circular-list
The message is ‘List contains a loop’. This happens when a circular struc-
ture is encountered. See Section 2.5 [Circular Objects], page 28.
cl-assertion-failed
The message is ‘Assertion failed’. This happens when the cl-assert macro
fails a test. See Section “Assertions” in Common Lisp Extensions.
Appendix F: Standard Errors 1193

coding-system-error
The message is ‘Invalid coding system’. See Section 33.10.3 [Lisp and Coding
Systems], page 851.
cyclic-function-indirection
The message is ‘Symbol's chain of function indirections contains a
loop’. See Section 10.1.4 [Function Indirection], page 131.
cyclic-variable-indirection
The message is ‘Symbol's chain of variable indirections contains a
loop’. See Section 12.15 [Variable Aliases], page 198.
dbus-error
The message is ‘D-Bus error’. This is only defined if Emacs was compiled
with D-Bus support. See Section “Errors and Events” in D-Bus integration in
Emacs.
end-of-buffer
The message is ‘End of buffer’. See Section 30.2.1 [Character Motion],
page 743.
end-of-file
The message is ‘End of file during parsing’. Note that this is not a subcat-
egory of file-error, because it pertains to the Lisp reader, not to file I/O.
See Section 19.3 [Input Functions], page 325.
file-already-exists
This is a subcategory of file-error. See Section 25.4 [Writing to Files],
page 528.
file-date-error
This is a subcategory of file-error. It occurs when copy-file tries and fails
to set the last-modification time of the output file. See Section 25.7 [Changing
Files], page 541.
file-error
We do not list the error-strings of this error and its subcategories, because the
error message is normally constructed from the data items alone when the error
condition file-error is present. Thus, the error-strings are not very relevant.
However, these error symbols do have error-message properties, and if no
data is provided, the error-message property is used. See Chapter 25 [Files],
page 521.
file-missing
This is a subcategory of file-error. It occurs when an operation attempts to
act on a file that is missing. See Section 25.7 [Changing Files], page 541.
compression-error
This is a subcategory of file-error, which results from problems handling a
compressed file. See Section 16.1 [How Programs Do Loading], page 263.
file-locked
This is a subcategory of file-error. See Section 25.5 [File Locks], page 530.
Appendix F: Standard Errors 1194

file-supersession
This is a subcategory of file-error. See Section 27.6 [Modification Time],
page 588.
file-notify-error
This is a subcategory of file-error. It happens, when a file could not be
watched for changes. See Section 40.20 [File Notifications], page 1107.
ftp-error
This is a subcategory of file-error, which results from problems in accessing
a remote file using ftp. See Section “Remote Files” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
invalid-function
The message is ‘Invalid function’. See Section 10.1.4 [Function Indirection],
page 131.
invalid-read-syntax
The message is ‘Invalid read syntax’. See Section 2.1 [Printed Representa-
tion], page 8.
invalid-regexp
The message is ‘Invalid regexp’. See Section 34.3 [Regular Expressions],
page 868.
mark-inactive
The message is ‘The mark is not active now’. See Section 31.7 [The Mark],
page 760.
no-catch The message is ‘No catch for tag’. See Section 11.7.1 [Catch and Throw],
page 158.
scan-error
The message is ‘Scan error’. This happens when certain syntax-parsing func-
tions find invalid syntax or mismatched parentheses. Conventionally raised with
three argument: a human-readable error message, the start of the obstacle that
cannot be moved over, and the end of the obstacle. See Section 30.2.6 [List
Motion], page 750, and See Section 35.6 [Parsing Expressions], page 900.
search-failed
The message is ‘Search failed’. See Chapter 34 [Searching and Matching],
page 865.
setting-constant
The message is ‘Attempt to set a constant symbol’. This happens when at-
tempting to assign values to nil, t, most-positive-fixnum, most-negative-
fixnum, and keyword symbols. It also happens when attempting to assign
values to enable-multibyte-characters and some other symbols whose di-
rect assignment is not allowed for some reason. See Section 12.2 [Constant
Variables], page 169.
text-read-only
The message is ‘Text is read-only’. This is a subcategory of buffer-read-
only. See Section 32.19.4 [Special Properties], page 808.
Appendix F: Standard Errors 1195

undefined-color
The message is ‘Undefined color’. See Section 29.22 [Color Names], page 735.
user-error
The message is the empty string. See Section 11.7.3.1 [Signaling Errors],
page 160.
user-search-failed
This is like ‘search-failed’, but doesn’t trigger the debugger, like
‘user-error’. See Section 11.7.3.1 [Signaling Errors], page 160, and See
Chapter 34 [Searching and Matching], page 865. This is used for searching in
Info files, See Section “Search Text” in Info.
void-function
The message is ‘Symbol's function definition is void’. See Section 13.9
[Function Cells], page 221.
void-variable
The message is ‘Symbol's value as variable is void’. See Section 12.7 [Ac-
cessing Variables], page 177.
wrong-number-of-arguments
The message is ‘Wrong number of arguments’. See Section 13.2.3 [Argument
List], page 206.
wrong-type-argument
The message is ‘Wrong type argument’. See Section 2.6 [Type Predicates],
page 29.
 1196

Appendix G Standard Keymaps

In this section we list some of the more general keymaps. Many of these exist when Emacs
is first started, but some are loaded only when the respective feature is accessed.
There are many other, more specialized, maps than these; in particular those associated
with major and minor modes. The minibuffer uses several keymaps (see Section 20.6.3 [Com-
pletion Commands], page 347). For more details on keymaps, see Chapter 22 [Keymaps],
page 415.
2C-mode-map
A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x 6.
See Section “Two-Column Editing” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
abbrev-map
A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x a.
See Section “Defining Abbrevs” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
button-buffer-map
A sparse keymap useful for buffers containing buffers.
You may want to use this as a parent keymap. See Section 39.19 [Buttons],
page 1049.
button-map
A sparse keymap used by buttons.
ctl-x-4-map
A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x 4.
ctl-x-5-map
A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x 5.
ctl-x-map
A full keymap for C-x commands.
ctl-x-r-map
A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x r.
See Section “Registers” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
esc-map A full keymap for ESC (or Meta) commands.
facemenu-keymap
A sparse keymap used for the M-o prefix key.
function-key-map
The parent keymap of all local-function-key-map (q.v.) instances.
global-map
The full keymap containing default global key bindings.
Modes should not modify the Global map.
goto-map A sparse keymap used for the M-g prefix key.
help-map A sparse keymap for the keys following the help character C-h.
See Section 24.6 [Help Functions], page 517.
Appendix G: Standard Keymaps 1197

Helper-help-map
A full keymap used by the help utility package.
It has the same keymap in its value cell and in its function cell.
input-decode-map
The keymap for translating keypad and function keys.
If there are none, then it contains an empty sparse keymap. See Section 22.14
[Translation Keymaps], page 434.
key-translation-map
A keymap for translating keys. This one overrides ordinary key bindings, unlike
local-function-key-map. See Section 22.14 [Translation Keymaps], page 434.
kmacro-keymap
A sparse keymap for keys that follows the C-x C-k prefix search.
See Section “Keyboard Macros” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
local-function-key-map
The keymap for translating key sequences to preferred alternatives.
If there are none, then it contains an empty sparse keymap. See Section 22.14
[Translation Keymaps], page 434.
menu-bar-file-menu
menu-bar-edit-menu
menu-bar-options-menu
global-buffers-menu-map
menu-bar-tools-menu
menu-bar-help-menu
These keymaps display the main, top-level menus in the menu bar.
Some of them contain sub-menus. For example, the Edit menu contains
menu-bar-search-menu, etc. See Section 22.17.5 [Menu Bar], page 446.
minibuffer-inactive-mode-map
A full keymap used in the minibuffer when it is not active.
See Section “Editing in the Minibuffer” in The GNU Emacs Manual.
mode-line-coding-system-map
mode-line-input-method-map
mode-line-column-line-number-mode-map
These keymaps control various areas of the mode line.
See Section 23.4 [Mode Line Format], page 476.
mode-specific-map
The keymap for characters following C-c. Note, this is in the global map. This
map is not actually mode-specific: its name was chosen to be informative in
C-h b (display-bindings), where it describes the main use of the C-c prefix
key.
mouse-appearance-menu-map
A sparse keymap used for the S-mouse-1 key.
mule-keymap
The global keymap used for the C-x RET prefix key.
Appendix G: Standard Keymaps 1198

narrow-map
A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x n.
prog-mode-map
The keymap used by Prog mode.
See Section 23.2.5 [Basic Major Modes], page 464.
query-replace-map
multi-query-replace-map
A sparse keymap used for responses in query-replace and related commands;
also for y-or-n-p and map-y-or-n-p. The functions that use this map do
not support prefix keys; they look up one event at a time. multi-query-
replace-map extends query-replace-map for multi-buffer replacements. See
Section 34.7 [Search and Replace], page 887.
search-map
A sparse keymap that provides global bindings for search-related commands.
special-mode-map
The keymap used by Special mode.
See Section 23.2.5 [Basic Major Modes], page 464.
tool-bar-map
The keymap defining the contents of the tool bar.
See Section 22.17.6 [Tool Bar], page 447.
universal-argument-map
A sparse keymap used while processing C-u.
See Section 21.12 [Prefix Command Arguments], page 408.
vc-prefix-map
The global keymap used for the C-x v prefix key.
x-alternatives-map
A sparse keymap used to map certain keys under graphical frames.
The function x-setup-function-keys uses this.
 1199

Appendix H Standard Hooks

The following is a list of some hook variables that let you provide functions to be called
from within Emacs on suitable occasions.
Most of these variables have names ending with ‘-hook’. They are normal hooks, run by
means of run-hooks. The value of such a hook is a list of functions; the functions are called
with no arguments and their values are completely ignored. The recommended way to put
a new function on such a hook is to call add-hook. See Section 23.1 [Hooks], page 453, for
more information about using hooks.
The variables whose names end in ‘-functions’ are usually abnormal hooks (some old
code may also use the deprecated ‘-hooks’ suffix); their values are lists of functions, but
these functions are called in a special way (they are passed arguments, or their return
values are used). The variables whose names end in ‘-function’ have single functions as
their values.
This is not an exhaustive list, it only covers the more general hooks. For example, every
major mode defines a hook named ‘modename-mode-hook’. The major mode command runs
this normal hook with run-mode-hooks as the very last thing it does. See Section 23.2.6
[Mode Hooks], page 465. Most minor modes have mode hooks too.
A special feature allows you to specify expressions to evaluate if and when a file is loaded
(see Section 16.10 [Hooks for Loading], page 277). That feature is not exactly a hook, but
does a similar job.
activate-mark-hook
deactivate-mark-hook
See Section 31.7 [The Mark], page 760.
after-change-functions
before-change-functions
first-change-hook
See Section 32.30 [Change Hooks], page 832.
after-change-major-mode-hook
change-major-mode-after-body-hook
See Section 23.2.6 [Mode Hooks], page 465.
after-init-hook
before-init-hook
emacs-startup-hook
window-setup-hook
See Section 40.1.2 [Init File], page 1075.
after-insert-file-functions
write-region-annotate-functions
write-region-post-annotation-function
See Section 25.13 [Format Conversion], page 563.
after-make-frame-functions
before-make-frame-hook
See Section 29.1 [Creating Frames], page 684.
Appendix H: Standard Hooks 1200

after-save-hook
before-save-hook
write-contents-functions
write-file-functions
See Section 25.2 [Saving Buffers], page 525.
after-setting-font-hook
Hook run after a frame’s font changes.
auto-save-hook
See Section 26.2 [Auto-Saving], page 574.
before-hack-local-variables-hook
hack-local-variables-hook
See Section 12.12 [File Local Variables], page 191.
buffer-access-fontify-functions
See Section 32.19.7 [Lazy Properties], page 815.
buffer-list-update-hook
Hook run when the buffer list changes (see Section 27.8 [Buffer List], page 591).
buffer-quit-function
Function to call to quit the current buffer.
change-major-mode-hook
See Section 12.11.2 [Creating Buffer-Local], page 186.
command-line-functions
See Section 40.1.4 [Command-Line Arguments], page 1077.
delayed-warnings-hook
The command loop runs this soon after post-command-hook (q.v.).
focus-in-hook
focus-out-hook
See Section 29.10 [Input Focus], page 720.
delete-frame-functions
See Section 29.7 [Deleting Frames], page 718.
delete-terminal-functions
See Section 29.2 [Multiple Terminals], page 685.
pop-up-frame-function
split-window-preferred-function
See Section 28.13.4 [Choosing Window Options], page 638.
echo-area-clear-hook
See Section 39.4.4 [Echo Area Customization], page 973.
find-file-hook
find-file-not-found-functions
See Section 25.1.1 [Visiting Functions], page 521.
font-lock-extend-after-change-region-function
See Section 23.6.9.2 [Region to Refontify], page 499.
Appendix H: Standard Hooks 1201

font-lock-extend-region-functions
See Section 23.6.9 [Multiline Font Lock], page 497.
font-lock-fontify-buffer-function
font-lock-fontify-region-function
font-lock-mark-block-function
font-lock-unfontify-buffer-function
font-lock-unfontify-region-function
See Section 23.6.4 [Other Font Lock Variables], page 493.
fontification-functions
See Section 39.12.7 [Automatic Face Assignment], page 1009.
frame-auto-hide-function
See Section 28.16 [Quitting Windows], page 651.
kill-buffer-hook
kill-buffer-query-functions
See Section 27.10 [Killing Buffers], page 594.
kill-emacs-hook
kill-emacs-query-functions
See Section 40.2.1 [Killing Emacs], page 1079.
menu-bar-update-hook
See Section 22.17.5 [Menu Bar], page 446.
minibuffer-setup-hook
minibuffer-exit-hook
See Section 20.14 [Minibuffer Misc], page 366.
mouse-leave-buffer-hook
Hook run when about to switch windows with a mouse command.
mouse-position-function
See Section 29.16 [Mouse Position], page 730.
prefix-command-echo-keystrokes-functions
An abnormal hook run by prefix commands (such as C-u) which should return
a string describing the current prefix state. For example, C-u produces ‘C-u-’
and ‘C-u 1 2 3-’. Each hook function is called with no arguments and should
return a string describing the current prefix state, or nil if there’s no prefix
state. See Section 21.12 [Prefix Command Arguments], page 408.
prefix-command-preserve-state-hook
Hook run when a prefix command needs to preserve the prefix by passing the
current prefix command state to the next command. For example, C-u needs
to pass the state to the next command when the user types C-u - or follows
C-u with a digit.
pre-redisplay-functions
Hook run in each window just before redisplaying it. See Section 39.2 [Forcing
Redisplay], page 967.
Appendix H: Standard Hooks 1202

post-command-hook
pre-command-hook
See Section 21.1 [Command Overview], page 368.
post-gc-hook
See Section E.3 [Garbage Collection], page 1158.
post-self-insert-hook
See Section 23.3.2 [Keymaps and Minor Modes], page 473.
suspend-hook
suspend-resume-hook
suspend-tty-functions
resume-tty-functions
See Section 40.2.2 [Suspending Emacs], page 1080.
syntax-begin-function
syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions
syntax-propertize-function
font-lock-syntactic-face-function
See Section 23.6.8 [Syntactic Font Lock], page 496. See Section 35.4 [Syntax
Properties], page 899.
temp-buffer-setup-hook
temp-buffer-show-function
temp-buffer-show-hook
See Section 39.8 [Temporary Displays], page 981.
tty-setup-hook
See Section 40.1.3 [Terminal-Specific], page 1076.
window-configuration-change-hook
window-scroll-functions
window-size-change-functions
See Section 28.28 [Window Hooks], page 681.
 1203

Index

" +
‘"’ in printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
‘"’ in strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 ‘+’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869

# ,
‘##’ read syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 , (with backquote). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
‘#$’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 ,@ (with backquote) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
‘#'’ syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
‘#(’ read syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
‘#:’ read syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 –
‘#@count’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
‘#^’ read syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 --disable-build-details
‘#n#’ read syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 option to configure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
‘#n=’ read syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 --enable-locallisppath option
to configure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157

$
‘$’ in display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
.
‘$’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871 ‘.’ in lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
‘.’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
.#, lock file names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
% .emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075
% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
‘%’ in format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
/
/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
& /= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
‘&’ in replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883 /dev/tty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958
&optional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
&rest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
;
‘;’ for commenting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
’
‘'’ for quoting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
<
< . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
( <= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
‘(’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874
‘(...)’ in lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 =
‘(?:’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874
= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

) >
‘)’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
>= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
*
* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 ?
‘*’ in interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 ‘?’ in character constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
‘*’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868 ? in minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
*get_user_ptr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175 ‘?’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
*scratch* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
Index 1204

@ |
‘@’ in interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 ‘|’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873

[ 1
‘[’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869 1+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
[. . . ] (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 1- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
1value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

] 2
‘]’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
2C-mode-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
2D box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
^
‘^’ in interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 3
‘^’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870 3D box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999

‘ A
` . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 abbrev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908
‘ (list substitution) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 abbrev properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
abbrev table properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914
abbrev tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908
\ abbrev tables in modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
‘\’ in character constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 abbrev-all-caps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
‘\’ in display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968 abbrev-expand-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
‘\’ in printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 abbrev-expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
‘\’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871 abbrev-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910
‘\’ in replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883 abbrev-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
‘\’ in strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 abbrev-insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
‘\’ in symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 abbrev-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196
‘\'’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875 abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
\( in strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 abbrev-prefix-mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
‘\<’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876 abbrev-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
‘\=’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875 abbrev-start-location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
‘\>’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876 abbrev-start-location-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
‘\_<’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876 abbrev-symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
‘\_>’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876 abbrev-table-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914
‘\`’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875 abbrev-table-name-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909
abbrev-table-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908
‘\a’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
abbrev-table-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914
‘\b’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
abbreviate-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
‘\b’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
abbreviated file names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
‘\B’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876
abbrevs, looking up and expanding . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
‘\e’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
abbrevs-changed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910
‘\f’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
abnormal hook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
‘\n’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
abort-recursive-edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
‘\n’ in print. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
aborting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
‘\n’ in replacement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
abs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
‘\r’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
absolute edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
‘\s’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
absolute file name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
‘\s’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
absolute frame edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
‘\S’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
absolute frame position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
‘\t’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
absolute position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
‘\v’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
accept input from processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942
‘\w’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
accept-change-group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
‘\W’ in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
accept-process-output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 943
Index 1205

access control list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 after-load-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

access minibuffer contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 after-make-frame-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
access-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532 after-revert-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
accessibility of a file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 after-save-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
accessible portion (of a buffer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 after-setting-font-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200
accessible-keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 after-string (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
accessing documentation strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511 alias, for coding systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
accessing hash tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 alias, for faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009
accessing plist properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 alias, for functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
ACL entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 alias, for variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
acos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
action (button property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050 alist vs. plist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
action alist for buffer display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635 alist-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
action function, for buffer display . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632 all-completions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
action, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 all-threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916
activate-change-group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832 allow-no-window, a buffer display
activate-mark-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763 action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
active display table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062 alpha, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
active keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 alt characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
active keymap, controlling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424 alternatives, defining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
active-minibuffer-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 amalgamating commands, and undo . . . . . . . . . . . 783
ad-activate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
adaptive-fill-first-line-regexp . . . . . . . . . . . 790 animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
adaptive-fill-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790 anonymous face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
adaptive-fill-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789 anonymous function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
adaptive-fill-regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790 apostrophe for quoting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
add-face-text-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805 append. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
add-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 append-to-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
add-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 apply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
add-name-to-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 apply, and debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
add-text-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804 apply-partially . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
add-to-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 applying customizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
add-to-invisibility-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978 apropos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
add-to-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 aref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
add-to-ordered-list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 args, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
add-variable-watcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
address field of register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 argument binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
adjust-window-trailing-edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 argument lists, features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
adjusting point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 arguments for shell commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
advertised binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514 arguments, interactive entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
advice, add and remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 arguments, reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
advice-add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 argv. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078
advice-eval-interactive-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 arith-error example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
advice-function-mapc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 arith-error in division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
advice-function-member-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 arithmetic operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
advice-mapc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 arithmetic shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
advice-member-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
advice-remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 array elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
advices, porting from defadvice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 arrayp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
advising functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 ASCII character codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
advising named functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 ASCII control characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059
AEAD cipher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826 ascii-case-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
after-change-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833 aset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
after-change-major-mode-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
after-find-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524 asin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
after-init-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 ask-user-about-lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
after-init-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073 ask-user-about-supersession-threat . . . . . . . 589
after-insert-file-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567 asking the user questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Index 1206

assoc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 B
assoc-default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 back-to-indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
assoc-delete-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 background-color, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . 715
assoc-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 background-mode, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . 714
association list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 backing store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
assq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 backquote (list substitution) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
assq-delete-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 backquote-style patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
asynchronous subprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926 backslash in character constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
atan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 backslash in regular expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 backslash in strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
atomic changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831 backslash in symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
atomic windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658 backspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
atoms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 backtrace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
attributes of text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802 backtrace from emacsclient’s --eval . . . . . . . . . . 290
Auto Fill mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790 backtrace-debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
auto-coding-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856 backtrace-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
auto-coding-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856 backtracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
auto-coding-regexp-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855 backtracking and POSIX regular expressions . . 881
auto-fill-chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791 backtracking and regular expressions . . . . . . . . . . 868
backup file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
auto-fill-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790
backup files, rename or copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
auto-hide-function, a frame parameter . . . . . . 709
backup-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
auto-hscroll-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
backup-by-copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
auto-lower, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
backup-by-copying-when-linked . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
auto-mode-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461 backup-by-copying-when-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . 571
auto-raise, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711 backup-by-copying-when-
auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 privileged-mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
auto-resize-tool-bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 backup-directory-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
auto-save-default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 backup-enable-predicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
auto-save-file-name-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 backup-file-name-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
auto-save-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 backup-inhibited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
auto-save-interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 backups and auto-saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
auto-save-list-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 backward-button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
auto-save-list-file-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 backward-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
auto-save-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 backward-delete-char-untabify . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773
auto-save-timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 backward-delete-char-untabify-method . . . . . 773
auto-save-visited-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575 backward-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
auto-selection of window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675 backward-prefix-chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
auto-window-vscroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669 backward-sexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
autoload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 backward-to-indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
autoload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 backward-up-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
autoload by prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 backward-word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
autoload cookie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 backward-word-strictly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745
autoload cookie, and safe values of variable . . . . 193 balance-windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
autoload errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 balance-windows-area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
balanced parenthesis motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
autoload object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
balancing parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058
autoload, when to use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
balancing window sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
autoload-compute-prefixes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
barf-if-buffer-read-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
autoload-do-load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
base 64 encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
autoloadp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 base buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
automatic face assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009 base coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
automatically buffer-local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 base direction of a paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068
base for reading an integer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
base location, package archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117
base remapping, faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
base64-decode-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
base64-decode-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
Index 1207

base64-encode-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824 bobp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766

base64-encode-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824 body height of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
basic code (of input character) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 body of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
basic faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010 body of function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
batch mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 body size of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
batch-byte-compile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 body width of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
baud, in serial connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960 bolp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
baud-rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099 bool-vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
beep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064 bool-vector length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
before point, insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 bool-vector-count-consecutive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
before-change-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833 bool-vector-count-population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
before-hack-local-variables-hook . . . . . . . . . 192 bool-vector-exclusive-or . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
before-init-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 bool-vector-intersection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
before-init-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072 bool-vector-not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
before-make-frame-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684 bool-vector-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
before-revert-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579 bool-vector-set-difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
before-save-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527 bool-vector-subsetp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
before-string (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991 bool-vector-union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
beginning of line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746 Bool-vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
beginning of line in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870 boolean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
beginning-of-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 booleanp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
beginning-of-defun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 border-color, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
beginning-of-defun-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 border-width, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
beginning-of-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746 bottom dividers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027
bell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064 bottom-divider-width, a frame parameter . . . . 708
bell character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 bottom-visible, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . 711
benchmark.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 boundp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
benchmarking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 box diagrams, for lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
bidi-display-reordering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067 break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
bidi-find-overridden-directionality . . . . . 1070 breakpoints (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
bidi-paragraph-direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068 bucket (in obarray) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
bidi-paragraph-separate-re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068 buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
bidi-paragraph-start-re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068 buffer boundaries, indicating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021
bidi-string-mark-left-to-right . . . . . . . . . . . 1070 buffer contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
bidirectional class of characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841 buffer display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
bidirectional display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067 buffer display action alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
bidirectional reordering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067 buffer display action function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
big endian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961 buffer display action functions, precedence . . . . 641
binary coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 buffer display conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
binary I/O in batch mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 buffer display display action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
bindat-get-field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964 buffer file name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
bindat-ip-to-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964 buffer gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
bindat-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964 buffer input stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
bindat-pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964 buffer internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179
bindat-unpack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963 buffer list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
binding arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 buffer modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
binding local variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 buffer names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
binding of a key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 buffer output stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
bitmap-spec-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001 buffer portion as string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
bitmaps, fringe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022 buffer position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
bitwise arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 buffer text notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
blink-cursor-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714 buffer, read-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
blink-matching-delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059 buffer-access-fontified-property . . . . . . . . . 816
blink-matching-open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059 buffer-access-fontify-functions . . . . . . . . . . . 815
blink-matching-paren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058 buffer-auto-save-file-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
blink-matching-paren-distance . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058 buffer-auto-save-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
blink-paren-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058 buffer-backed-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
blinking parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058 buffer-base-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
Index 1208

buffer-chars-modified-tick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 button buffer commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053

buffer-disable-undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784 button properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
buffer-display-count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627 button types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
buffer-display-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062 button-activate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-display-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627 button-at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-enable-undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784 button-down event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
buffer-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743 button-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-file-coding-system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850 button-face, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . 258
buffer-file-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 button-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 button-has-type-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-file-number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 button-label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-file-truename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 button-prefix, customization keyword . . . . . . . 258
buffer-hash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826 button-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-invisibility-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978 button-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591 button-suffix, customization keyword . . . . . . . 258
buffer-list, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709 button-type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-list-update-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593, 1200 button-type-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-live-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 button-type-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-local variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 button-type-subtype-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
buffer-local variables in modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 buttons in buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
buffer-local-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 byte compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
buffer-local-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 byte compiler warnings, how to avoid . . . . . . . . 1147
buffer-modified-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 byte packing and unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
buffer-modified-tick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 byte to string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
buffer-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584 byte-boolean-vars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200, 1167
buffer-name-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 byte-code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
buffer-narrowed-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 byte-code function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
buffer-offer-save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 byte-code object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
buffer-predicate, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . 709 byte-code-function-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
buffer-quit-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200 byte-compile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
buffer-read-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 byte-compile-debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
buffer-save-without-query. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 byte-compile-dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
buffer-saved-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 byte-compile-dynamic-docstrings . . . . . . . . . . . 282
buffer-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743 byte-compile-error-on-warn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
buffer-stale-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579 byte-compile-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
buffer-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767 byte-compiler errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
buffer-substring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 byte-compiler warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
buffer-substring-filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768 byte-compiling macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
buffer-substring-no-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . 767 byte-compiling require . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
buffer-substring-with-bidi-context . . . . . . 1071 byte-recompile-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
buffer-swap-text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 byte-to-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
buffer-undo-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782 byte-to-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
bufferp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581 bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
bufferpos-to-filepos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 bytesize, in serial connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960
buffers to display on frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
buffers without undo information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
buffers, controlled in windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626 C
buffers, creating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593 C programming language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164
buffers, killing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 C-c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 C-g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
bugs in this manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 C-h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
build details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 C-M-x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
building Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 C-x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
building lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 C-x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
built-in function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 C-x 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
bury-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 C-x 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
butlast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 C-x C-a C-m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
button (button property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050 C-x RET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Index 1209

C-x v . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 cdaaar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

C-x X = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 cdaadr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
caaaar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cdaar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
caaadr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cdadar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
caaar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cdaddr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
caadar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cdadr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
caaddr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cdar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
caadr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cddaar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
caar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 cddadr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
cadaar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cddar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
cadadr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cdddar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
cadar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cddddr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
caddar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cdddr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
cadddr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cddr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
caddr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 cdr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
cadr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 cdr-safe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
calendrical computations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093 ceiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
calendrical information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088 centering point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
call stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 change hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
call-interactively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 change hooks for a character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
call-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922 change load-path at configure time . . . . . . . . . . 1157
call-process, command-line change-major-mode-after-body-hook . . . . . . . . 465
arguments from minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921 change-major-mode-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
call-process-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925 changing key bindings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
call-process-shell-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926 changing text properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
call-shell-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926 changing to another buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
called-interactively-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 changing window size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
calling a function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 char-after . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
cancel-change-group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832 char-before . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
cancel-debug-on-entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 char-category-set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
cancel-debug-on-variable-change . . . . . . . . . . . 292 char-charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
cancel-timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096 char-code-property-description . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
canonical character height. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694 char-displayable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
canonical character width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694 char-equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
capitalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 char-from-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840
capitalize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 char-or-string-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
capitalize-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 char-property-alias-alist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
capitalize-word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 char-script-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
caption bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 char-syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
car . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 char-table length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
car-safe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 char-table-extra-slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
case conversion in buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800 char-table-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
case conversion in Lisp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 char-table-parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
case in replacements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 char-table-range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
case-fold-search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867 char-table-subtype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
case-replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867 char-tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
case-table-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 char-to-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
catch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 char-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
categories of characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 char-width-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
category (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989 character alternative (in regexp) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
category (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808 character arrays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
category set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 character case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
category table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 character categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
category, regexp search for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875 character classes in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
category-docstring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 character code conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848
category-set-mnemonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907 character codepoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
category-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 character codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839
category-table-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 character event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Index 1210

character insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771 cl-old-struct-compat-mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

character printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 classification of file types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
character properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840 classifying events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
character set, searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846 cleanup forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
character sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845 clear-abbrev-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908
character to string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 clear-image-cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047
character translation tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847 clear-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
character width on display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992 clear-this-command-keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
characterp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840 clear-visited-file-modtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 click event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
characters for interactive codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 clickable buttons in buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
characters, multi-byte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835 clickable text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
characters, representation in clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
buffers and strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835 clipboard support (for MS-Windows) . . . . . . . . . . 734
charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845 clone-indirect-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
charset, coding systems to encode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 clone-of, a window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
charset, text property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861 CLOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
charset-after . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846 closure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
charset-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845 closures, example of using . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
charset-plist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845 clrhash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
charset-priority-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845 coded character set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
charsetp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845 codepoint, largest value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840
charsets supported by a coding system . . . . . . . . 853 codes, interactive, description of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
check-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851 codespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
check-coding-systems-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 coding conventions in Emacs Lisp . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142
checkdoc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142 coding standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142
checkdoc-current-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142 coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848
checkdoc-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142 coding system for operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858
checkdoc-minor-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1148 coding system, automatically determined . . . . . . 855
checkdoc-package-keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153 coding system, validity check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
checkdoc-package-keywords-flag . . . . . . . . . . . 1153 coding systems for encoding a string . . . . . . . . . . 852
child frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 coding systems for encoding region . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
child process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919 coding systems, priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
child window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 coding-system-aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
child-frame-parameters, a buffer coding-system-change-eol-conversion . . . . . . 852
display action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637 coding-system-change-text-conversion . . . . . 852
choice, customization types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 coding-system-charset-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
cipher, AEAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826 coding-system-eol-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
cipher, symmetric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826 coding-system-for-read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858
circular list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 coding-system-for-write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858
circular structure, read syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 coding-system-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
cl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 coding-system-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
CL note—allocate more storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159 coding-system-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
CL note—case of letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 coding-system-priority-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
CL note—default optional arg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 coding-system-require-warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858
CL note—integers vrs eq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 collapse-delayed-warnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
CL note—interning existing symbol . . . . . . . . . . . 123 color names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
CL note—lack union, intersection . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 color-defined-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
CL note—no continuable errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 color-gray-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
CL note—no setf functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 color-supported-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
CL note—only throw in Emacs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 color-values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
CL note—rplaca vs setcar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 colors on text terminals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
CL note—special forms compared . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 column width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
CL note—symbol in obarrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
cl-call-next-method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 COM1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958
cl-defgeneric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 combine-after-change-calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
cl-defmethod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 combine-and-quote-strings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922
cl-next-method-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 combining conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Index 1211

command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 completion-category-overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

command descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 completion-extra-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
command history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 completion-ignore-case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
command in keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 completion-ignored-extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
command loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 completion-in-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
command loop variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 completion-regexp-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
command loop, recursive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 completion-styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
command-debug-status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 completion-styles-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
command-error-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 completion-table-case-fold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
command-execute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 completion-table-dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
command-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 completion-table-in-turn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
command-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078 completion-table-merge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
command-line arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077 completion-table-subvert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
command-line options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078 completion-table-with-cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
command-line-args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078 completion-table-with-predicate . . . . . . . . . . . 345
command-line-args-left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078 completion-table-with-quoting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
command-line-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078 completion-table-with-terminator . . . . . . . . . 345
command-line-processed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078 complex arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
command-remapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 complex command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
command-switch-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078 composite types (customization) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
commandp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 composition (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
commandp example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 composition property, and point display . . . . . . 380
commands, defining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 compute-motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749
comment style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896 concat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
comment syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895 concatenating bidirectional strings . . . . . . . . . . . 1069
comment-auto-fill-only-comments . . . . . . . . . . . 791 concatenating lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
comment-end-can-be-escaped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904 concatenating strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
commentary, in a Lisp library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154 concurrency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 cond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
comments, Lisp convention for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151 condition name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Common Lisp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 condition-case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
compare-buffer-substrings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 condition-case-unless-debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
compare-strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 condition-mutex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918
compare-window-configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 condition-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918
comparing buffer text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 condition-notify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918
comparing file modification time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 condition-variable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
comparing numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 condition-wait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918
comparing time values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093 conditional evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
compatibility, between modules and Emacs . . . 1169 conditional selection of windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
compilation (Emacs Lisp) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 confirm-kill-processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946
compilation functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 connection local variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
compile-defun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 connection-local-criteria-alist . . . . . . . . . . . 197
compile-time constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 connection-local-profile-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
compiled function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 connection-local-set-profile-variables . . . 196
compiler errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 connection-local-set-profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
complete key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 cons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
completing-read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 cons cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
completing-read-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 cons-cells-consed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163
completion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 consing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
completion styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 consp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
completion table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 constant variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169, 174
completion table, modifying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 constrain-to-field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820
completion tables, combining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 content directory, package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114
completion, file name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 continuation lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
completion-at-point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 continue-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937
completion-at-point-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 control character key constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
completion-auto-help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 control character printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
completion-boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 control characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Index 1212

control characters in display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060 creating markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757

control characters, reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 creating strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
control structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 creating, copying and deleting directories . . . . . . 558
Control-X-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 cryptographic hash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825, 826
controller part, model/view/controller . . . . . . . . 1057 ctl-arrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060
controlling terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080 ctl-x-4-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
controlling-tty-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081 ctl-x-5-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
conventions for writing major modes . . . . . . . . . . 456 ctl-x-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
conventions for writing minor modes . . . . . . . . . . 471 ctl-x-r-map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196
conversion of strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 curly quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514, 515, 1149
convert buffer position to file byte . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 curly quotes, in formatted messages . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
convert file byte to buffer position . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 current binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
convert sequence to another type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 current buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
convert-standard-filename. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556 current buffer mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761
converting file names from/to current buffer point and mark (Edebug) . . . . . . . 311
MS-Windows syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 current buffer position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
converting numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 current command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
coordinate, relative to frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671 current stack frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
coordinates-in-window-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672 current-active-maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
copy-abbrev-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908 current-bidi-paragraph-direction . . . . . . . . 1069
copy-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 current-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
copy-category-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907 current-case-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
copy-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 current-column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
copy-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542 current-fill-column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
copy-hash-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 current-frame-configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
copy-keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 current-global-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
copy-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758 current-idle-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
copy-overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986 current-indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
copy-region-as-kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777 current-input-method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
copy-sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 current-input-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
copy-syntax-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897 current-justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
copy-tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 current-kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
copy_string_contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173 current-left-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
copying alists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 current-local-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
copying bidirectional text, current-message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971
preserve visual order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1071 current-minor-mode-maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
copying files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 current-prefix-arg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
copying lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 current-thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916
copying sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 current-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087
copying strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 current-time-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086
copying vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 current-time-zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088
copysign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 current-window-configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
cos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 current-word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768
count-lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747 currying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
count-loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660
count-screen-lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748 cursor (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
count-words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747 cursor position for display
counting columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795 properties and overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
coverage testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 cursor, and frame parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
coverage testing (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 cursor, fringe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
create subprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919 cursor-color, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
create-file-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524 cursor-in-echo-area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
create-fontset-from-fontset-spec . . . . . . . . 1013 cursor-in-non-selected-windows . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
create-image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043 cursor-intangible (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . 810
create-lockfiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 cursor-intangible-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
creating buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593 cursor-sensor-functions (text property) . . . . 813
creating hash tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 cursor-sensor-inhibit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
creating keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418 cursor-sensor-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
Index 1213

cursor-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713 debugging lisp programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

cursor-type, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713 debugging specific functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
curved quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514, 515, 1149 declare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
curved quotes, in formatted messages . . . . . . . . . . . 60 declare-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232, 233
cust-print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 declaring functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
custom themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 decode process output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942
custom-add-frequent-value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 decode-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846
custom-group property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 decode-coding-inserted-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
custom-initialize-delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157 decode-coding-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860
custom-known-themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 decode-coding-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
custom-reevaluate-setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 decode-time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088
custom-set-faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 decoding file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
custom-set-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 decoding in coding systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
custom-theme-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 decrement field of register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
custom-theme-set-faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 dedicated window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
custom-theme-set-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 def-edebug-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
custom-unlispify-remove-prefixes . . . . . . . . . 247 defadvice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
custom-variable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 defalias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
customizable variables, how to define . . . . . . . . . . 247 defalias-fset-function property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
customization groups, defining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 default argument string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
customization item. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 default character height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
customization keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 default character size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
customization types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 default character width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
customization types, define new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 default coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
customize-package-emacs-version-alist . . . . 246 default coding system,
cyclic ordering of windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 functions to determine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856
cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows . . . . 546 default filter function of a process . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940
cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows . . . . . . 546 default font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
default height of character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
default init file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075
D default key binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 default sentinel function of a process . . . . . . . . . . 944
data-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519 default value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
datagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952 default value of char-table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
date-leap-year-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094 default width of character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
date-to-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089 default-boundp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
deactivate-mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762, 763 default-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
deactivate-mark-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763 default-file-modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
debug. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 default-font-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
debug-ignored-errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 default-font-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
debug-on-entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 default-frame-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
debug-on-error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 default-input-method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
debug-on-error use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 default-justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786
debug-on-event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 default-minibuffer-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
debug-on-message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 default-process-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856
debug-on-next-call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 default-text-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
debug-on-quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 default-toplevel-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
debug-on-signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 default-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
debug-on-variable-change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 default.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073
debugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 defconst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
debugger command list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 defcustom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
debugger for Emacs Lisp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 defface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
debugger, explicit entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 defgroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
debugger-bury-or-kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 defimage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
debugger-stack-frame-as-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 define customization group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
debugging changes to variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 define customization options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
debugging errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 define hash comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
debugging invalid Lisp syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 define image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
Index 1214

define new customization types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 delete-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772

define-abbrev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909 delete-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
define-abbrev-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909 delete-dups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
define-advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 delete-exited-processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
define-alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 delete-field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819
define-button-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050 delete-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
define-category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 delete-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
define-derived-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 delete-frame event. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
define-error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 delete-frame-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
define-fringe-bitmap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023 delete-horizontal-space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773
define-generic-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 delete-indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774
define-globalized-minor-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476 delete-minibuffer-contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
define-hash-table-test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 delete-old-versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
define-inline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 delete-other-frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
define-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 delete-other-windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
define-key-after . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 delete-other-windows, a window parameter . . 679
define-minor-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 delete-overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986
define-obsolete-face-alias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009 delete-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
define-obsolete-function-alias . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 delete-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772
define-obsolete-variable-alias . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 delete-selection, symbol property . . . . . . . . . . 764
define-package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117 delete-selection-helper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
define-prefix-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 delete-selection-pre-hook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
defined-colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735 delete-terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
defining a function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 delete-terminal-functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
defining abbrevs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909 delete-to-left-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
defining commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 delete-trailing-whitespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
defining customization variables in C . . . . . . . . . 1167 delete-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
defining faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001 delete-window, a window parameter . . . . . . . . . . 679
defining Lisp variables in C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167 delete-windows-on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
defining macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 deleting files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
defining menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 deleting frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
defining tokens, SMIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 deleting list elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
defining-kbd-macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 deleting previous char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773
definition-prefixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 deleting processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
definitions of symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 deleting text vs killing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772
defmacro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 deleting whitespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773
defsubr, Lisp symbol for a primitive . . . . . . . . . 1167 deleting windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
defsubst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 delq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
deftheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114
defun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 derived mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
DEFUN, C macro to define Lisp primitives . . . . . 1164 derived-mode-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
defun-prompt-regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 describe characters and events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
defvar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 describe-bindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
defvar-local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 describe-buffer-case-table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
DEFVAR_INT, DEFVAR_LISP, DEFVAR_BOOL . . . . . . 1167 describe-categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
defvaralias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 describe-current-display-table . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
delay-mode-hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 describe-display-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
delayed warnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 describe-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
delayed-warnings-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977, 1200 describe-prefix-bindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
delayed-warnings-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 describe-syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
delete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 description for interactive codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
delete-and-extract-region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772 description format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
delete-auto-save-file-if-necessary . . . . . . . 576 deserializing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
delete-auto-save-files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 desktop notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103
delete-backward-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773 desktop save mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
delete-before, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 709 desktop-buffer-mode-handlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
delete-blank-lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775 desktop-save-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
delete-by-moving-to-trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543, 559 destroy-fringe-bitmap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024
Index 1215

destructive list operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 display-backing-store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740

destructuring with pcase patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 display-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
detect-coding-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 display-buffer-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
detect-coding-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853 display-buffer-at-bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
deterministic build . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 display-buffer-base-action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
diagrams, boxed, for lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 display-buffer-below-selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
dialog boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732 display-buffer-fallback-action . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
digit-argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 display-buffer-in-atom-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
ding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064 display-buffer-in-child-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
dir-locals-class-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 display-buffer-in-previous-window . . . . . . . . 633
dir-locals-directory-cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 display-buffer-in-side-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
dir-locals-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 display-buffer-no-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
dir-locals-set-class-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 display-buffer-overriding-action . . . . . . . . . 632
dir-locals-set-directory-class . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 display-buffer-pop-up-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
directional overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070 display-buffer-pop-up-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
directory file name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 display-buffer-reuse-mode-window . . . . . . . . . 633
directory local variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 display-buffer-reuse-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
directory name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 display-buffer-same-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
directory part (of file name) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 display-buffer-use-some-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
directory-abbrev-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 display-buffer-use-some-window . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
directory-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 display-color-cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
directory-files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 display-color-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738
directory-files-and-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 display-completion-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
directory-files-recursively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 display-delayed-warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
directory-name-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 display-graphic-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738
directory-oriented functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556 display-grayscale-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738
dired-kept-versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572 display-images-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
disable-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 display-message-or-buffer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971
disable-point-adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 display-mm-dimensions-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
disable-theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 display-mm-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
disabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 display-mm-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
disabled command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 display-monitor-attributes-list . . . . . . . . . . . 687
disabled-command-function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 display-mouse-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738
disabling multibyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837 display-pixel-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
disabling undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784 display-pixel-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
disassemble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 display-planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
disassembled byte-code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 display-popup-menus-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738
discard-input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 display-save-under . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
discarding input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 display-screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
dispatch of methods for generic function. . . . . . . 220 display-selections-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
display (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989 display-start position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
display (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028 display-supports-face-attributes-p . . . . . . . 739
display action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630 display-table-slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061
display area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692 display-type, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
display feature testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738 display-visual-class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
display margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033 display-warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
display message in echo area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969 displaying a buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
display name on X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 displaying faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
display origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692 displays, multiple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
display properties, and bidi distinguish interactive calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
reordering of text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067 dnd-protocol-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
display property, and point display . . . . . . . . . . . 380 do-auto-save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
display property, unsafe evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . 1028 DOC (documentation) file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
display specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028 doc, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
display table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060 doc-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
display, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702 Document Object Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
display, abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
display, arbitrary objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 documentation conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
Index 1216

documentation for major mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 edebug-all-defs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

documentation notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 edebug-all-forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
documentation of function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 edebug-continue-kbd-macro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
documentation strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 edebug-defun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
documentation strings, edebug-display-freq-count. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
conventions and tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1148 edebug-eval-macro-args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313, 318
documentation, keys in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 edebug-eval-top-level-form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
documentation-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511 edebug-global-break-condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
dolist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 edebug-initial-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
DOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829 edebug-max-depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
dom-node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830 edebug-on-error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
dotimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 edebug-on-quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
dotimes-with-progress-reporter . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 edebug-print-circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309, 319
dotted list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 edebug-print-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308, 319
dotted lists (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 edebug-print-level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308, 319
dotted pair notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 edebug-print-trace-after . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
double-click events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 edebug-print-trace-before. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
double-click-fuzz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 edebug-save-displayed-buffer-points . . . . . . 318
double-click-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 edebug-save-windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
double-quote in strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 edebug-set-global-break-condition . . . . . . . . 305
down-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750 edebug-set-initial-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
downcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 edebug-setup-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
downcase-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 edebug-sit-for-seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302, 319
downcase-word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 edebug-sit-on-break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
downcasing in lookup-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 edebug-temp-display-freq-count . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
drag and drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 edebug-test-coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
drag event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 edebug-trace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309, 318
drag-internal-border, a frame parameter . . . . 710 edebug-tracing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
drag-n-drop event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 edebug-unwrap-results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
drag-with-header-line, a frame parameter. . . 710 edge detection, images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036
drag-with-mode-line, a frame parameter . . . . . 710 edit-and-eval-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
dribble file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099 editing types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
dump-emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157 editor command loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
dumping Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 eight-bit, a charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
dynamic binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 electric-future-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
dynamic extent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 element (of list) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
dynamic libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110 elements of sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
dynamic loading of documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 elp.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
dynamic loading of functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 elt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
dynamic modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Emacs event standard notation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
dynamic modules, writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168 Emacs process run time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
dynamic scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 emacs, a charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
dynamic-library-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110 emacs-build-number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
emacs-build-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
emacs-init-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
E emacs-internal coding system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
eager macro expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 emacs-lisp-docstring-fill-column . . . . . . . . 1148
easy-menu-define . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 emacs-major-version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
easy-mmode-define-minor-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475 emacs-minor-version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
echo area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969 emacs-pid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085
echo area customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973 emacs-save-session-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
echo-area-clear-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974 emacs-session-restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
echo-keystrokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974 emacs-startup-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076
edebug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 emacs-uptime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
Edebug debugging facility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 emacs-version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Edebug execution modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 emacs_funcall_exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177
Edebug specification list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 emacs_funcall_exit, enumeration . . . . . . . . . . . 1177
edebug, failure to instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 emacs_funcall_exit_return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177
Index 1217

emacs_funcall_exit_signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 error in debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

emacs_funcall_exit_throw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 error message notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
emacs_module_init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278, 1169 error name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
emacs_value data type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172 error symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
emacs_variadic_function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171 error-conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
emacsclient, getting a backtrace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 error-message-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
EMACSLOADPATH environment variable . . . . . . . . . . 267 errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
embedded widgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048 ESC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
empty lines, indicating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020 esc-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
empty list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 ESC-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
empty overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 escape (ASCII character) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
empty region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764 escape characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
emulation-mode-map-alists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 escape characters in printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
enable-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 escape sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
enable-connection-local-variables . . . . . . . . 198 eval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
enable-dir-local-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 eval during compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
enable-local-eval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 eval, and debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
enable-local-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 eval-and-compile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
enable-multibyte-characters . . . . . . . . . . 835, 837 eval-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
enable-recursive-minibuffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 eval-buffer (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
enable-theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 eval-current-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
encapsulation, ewoc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054 eval-current-buffer (Edebug). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
encode-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846 eval-defun (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
encode-coding-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860 eval-defun, and defcustom forms . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
encode-coding-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860 eval-defun, and defface forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
encode-time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089 eval-defun, and defvar forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
encoding file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 eval-defun, and explicit entry to debugger . . . . 293
encoding in coding systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859 eval-expression (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
encrypted network connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950 eval-expression-debug-on-error . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
end of line in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871 eval-expression-print-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
end-of-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 eval-expression-print-level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
end-of-defun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 eval-minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
end-of-defun-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 eval-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
end-of-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 eval-region (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
end-of-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746 eval-when-compile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
end-of-line conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 evaluated expression argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
endianness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961 evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 evaluation error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
environment variable access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083 evaluation list group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
environment variables, subprocesses . . . . . . . . . . . 920 evaluation notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
eobp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 evaluation of buffer contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
EOL conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 evaluation of special forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
eol conversion of coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 evaporate (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
eol type of coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851 even-window-sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
eolp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 event printing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
epoch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 event translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
eq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 1176 event type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
eql . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 event, reading only one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 event-basic-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
equal-including-properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 event-click-count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 event-convert-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
erase-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772 event-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
error. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 event-modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
error cleanup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 event-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
error debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 eventp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
error description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
error display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969 ewoc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
error handler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 ewoc-buffer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055
Index 1218

ewoc-collect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056 extended menu item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

ewoc-create. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054 extended-command-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
ewoc-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 extent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
ewoc-delete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056 external border . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
ewoc-enter-after . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 external menu bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
ewoc-enter-before . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 external tool bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
ewoc-enter-first . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 external-debugging-output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
ewoc-enter-last . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 extra slots of char-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
ewoc-filter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056 extra-keyboard-modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
ewoc-get-hf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 extract_float . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173
ewoc-goto-next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056 extract_integer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173
ewoc-goto-node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056
ewoc-goto-prev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056
ewoc-invalidate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056 F
ewoc-locate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 face (button property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
ewoc-location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 face (non-removability of) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
ewoc-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056 face (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989
ewoc-next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 face (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
ewoc-nth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 face alias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009
ewoc-prev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 face attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
ewoc-refresh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056 face attributes, access and modification . . . . . . 1003
ewoc-set-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 face codes of text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
ewoc-set-hf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 face merging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
examining text properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802 face name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
examining the interactive form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 face number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
examining windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626 face property of face symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
examples of using interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 face remapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
excess close parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 face spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
excess open parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 face-all-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004
excursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752 face-attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1003
exec-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920 face-attribute-relative-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004
exec-path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920 face-background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
exec-suffixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920 face-bold-p. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
executable-find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 face-differs-from-default-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009
execute program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919 face-documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511, 1009
execute with prefix argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 face-equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009
execute-extended-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 face-font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
execute-kbd-macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 face-font-family-alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
executing-kbd-macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 face-font-registry-alternatives. . . . . . . . . . 1011
execution order of buffer display face-font-rescale-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012
action functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641 face-font-selection-order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
execution speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147 face-foreground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 face-id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
exit recursive editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 face-inverse-video-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
exit-minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 face-italic-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
exit-recursive-edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 face-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
exiting Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079 face-name-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
exp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 face-remap-add-relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
expand-abbrev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911 face-remap-remove-relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
expand-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 face-remap-reset-base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
expanding abbrevs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911 face-remap-set-base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
expansion of file names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 face-remapping-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
expansion of macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 face-spec-set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1003
explicit selective display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980 face-stipple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
explicit-name, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 702 face-underline-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 facemenu-keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
expt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 facep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
extended file attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
Index 1219

faces for font lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 file-error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

faces, automatic choice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009 file-executable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
false . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 file-exists-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
fboundp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 file-expand-wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
fceiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 file-extended-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
feature-unload-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 file-in-directory-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
featurep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 file-local-copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 file-local-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 file-local-variables-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
fetch-bytecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 file-locked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
ffloor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 file-locked-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
field (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990 file-modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
field (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811 file-modes-symbolic-to-number . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
field numbers in format spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 file-name encoding, MS-Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
field width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 file-name-absolute-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
field-beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819 file-name-all-completions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
field-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819 file-name-as-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
field-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819 file-name-base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
field-string-no-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819 file-name-case-insensitive-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819 file-name-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
fifo data structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 file-name-completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
file accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 file-name-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
file age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 file-name-extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
file attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 file-name-handler-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
file classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 file-name-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
file contents, and default coding system . . . . . . . 855 file-name-nondirectory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
file format conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 file-name-quote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
file handler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 file-name-quoted-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
file hard link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 file-name-sans-extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
file local variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191, 1111 file-name-sans-versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
file locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 file-name-unquote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
file mode specification error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 file-newer-than-file-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
file modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 file-newest-backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
file modes and MS-DOS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 file-nlinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
file modes, setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543 file-notify-add-watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1108
file modification time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 file-notify-rm-watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109
file name abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 file-notify-valid-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109
file name completion subroutines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 file-ownership-preserved-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
file name of buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 file-precious-flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
file name of directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 file-readable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
file name, and default coding system . . . . . . . . . . 855 file-regular-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
file names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 file-relative-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
file names in directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556 file-remote-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
file names, trailing whitespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 file-selinux-context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
file notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107 file-supersession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
file open error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524 file-symlink-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
file permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 file-truename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
file permissions, setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543 file-writable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
file with multiple names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 filepos-to-bufferpos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
file, information about . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 fill-column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
file-accessible-directory-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532 fill-context-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
file-acl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 fill-forward-paragraph-function . . . . . . . . . . . 787
file-already-exists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543 fill-individual-paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786
file-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537 fill-individual-varying-indent . . . . . . . . . . . . 786
file-chase-links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535 fill-nobreak-predicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
file-coding-system-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855 fill-paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
file-directory-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 fill-paragraph-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
file-equal-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535 fill-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
Index 1220

fill-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785 floatp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

fill-region-as-paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786 floats-consed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163
fill-separate-heterogeneous- floor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
words-with-space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787 flowcontrol, in serial connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960
fillarray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 flushing input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
filling text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785 fmakunbound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
filling, automatic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790 fn in function’s documentation string . . . . . . . . . 271
filter function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940 focus event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
filter multibyte flag, of process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942 focus-follows-mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
filter-buffer-substring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767 focus-in-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722, 1200
filter-buffer-substring-function . . . . . . . . . 767 focus-out-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722, 1200
filter-buffer-substring-functions . . . . . . . . 768 follow links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
filtering killed text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776 follow-link (button property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
filtering sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 follow-link (text or overlay property). . . . . . . . 817
find file in path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 following-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
find library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 font and color, frame parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
find-auto-coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857 font entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016
find-backup-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 font information for layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
find-buffer-visiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 font lock faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
find-charset-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846 Font Lock mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
find-charset-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847 font lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012
find-coding-systems-for-charsets . . . . . . . . . 852 font object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
find-coding-systems-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 font property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
find-coding-systems-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 font registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016
find-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522 font selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
find-file-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 font spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
find-file-literally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522, 524 font, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
find-file-name-handler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562 font-at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
find-file-noselect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522 font-backend, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
find-file-not-found-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 font-face-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
find-file-other-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 font-family-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000
find-file-read-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 font-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
find-file-wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 font-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
find-font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016 font-lock-add-keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
find-image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043 font-lock-builtin-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
find-operation-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857 font-lock-comment-delimiter-face . . . . . . . . . 496
find-word-boundary-function-table . . . . . . . . 744 font-lock-comment-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
finding files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 font-lock-constant-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
finding windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 font-lock-defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
first-change-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833 font-lock-doc-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
fit-frame-to-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610 font-lock-ensure &optional beg end . . . . . . . . 488
fit-frame-to-buffer-margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 font-lock-ensure-function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
fit-frame-to-buffer-margins, a font-lock-extend-after-change-
frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 region-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
fit-frame-to-buffer-sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 font-lock-extra-managed-props . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
fit-frame-to-buffer-sizes, a font-lock-face (text property). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 font-lock-flush &optional beg end. . . . . . . . . . 488
fit-window-to-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 font-lock-flush-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
fit-window-to-buffer-horizontally . . . . . . . . 610 font-lock-fontify-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
fixed-size window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 font-lock-fontify-buffer-function . . . . . . . . 494
fixup-whitespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774 font-lock-fontify-region beg end
flags in format specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 &optional loudly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
float . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 font-lock-fontify-region-function . . . . . . . . 494
float-e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 font-lock-function-name-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
float-output-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 font-lock-keyword-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
float-pi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 font-lock-keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
float-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087 font-lock-keywords-case-fold-search . . . . . . 492
floating-point functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 font-lock-keywords-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
Index 1221

font-lock-mark-block-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 forms, iteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

font-lock-multiline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 forms, list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
font-lock-negation-char-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 forms, macro call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
font-lock-preprocessor-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 forms, quote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
font-lock-remove-keywords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 forms, special . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
font-lock-string-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 forms, symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
font-lock-syntactic-face-function . . . . . . . . 497 forward-button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
font-lock-syntax-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 forward-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
font-lock-type-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 forward-comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
font-lock-unfontify-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 forward-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
font-lock-unfontify-buffer-function . . . . . . 494 forward-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
font-lock-unfontify-region beg end . . . . . . . . 488 forward-sexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
font-lock-unfontify-region-function . . . . . . 494 forward-to-indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
font-lock-variable-name-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 forward-word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
font-lock-warning-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 forward-word-strictly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745
font-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016 frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
font-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015 frame configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
font-xlfd-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017 frame creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
fontification-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009 frame geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
fontified (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809 frame height ratio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
fontp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015 frame interaction parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
fontset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013 frame layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
foo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 frame layout parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 frame parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
force coding system for operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858 frame parameters for windowed displays . . . . . . . 702
force entry to debugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 frame position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688, 695, 702
force-mode-line-update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 frame position changes, a hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696
force-window-update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968 frame size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688, 696
forcing redisplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967 frame stacking order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
foreground-color, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . 715 frame title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 frame visibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
form, self-evaluating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 frame width ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 frame without a minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
format definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564 frame Z-order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
format of gnutls cryptography inputs . . . . . . . . . . 826 frame, which buffers to display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
format of keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 frame-alpha-lower-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
format specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 frame-ancestor-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728
format, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 frame-auto-hide-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
format-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564 frame-char-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
format-find-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 frame-char-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
format-insert-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 frame-current-scroll-bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025
format-message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 frame-edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
format-mode-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 frame-first-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
format-network-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958 frame-geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693
format-seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1092 frame-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696
format-time-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1090 frame-inherited-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
format-write-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 frame-inhibit-implied-resize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
formatting strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 frame-inner-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
formatting time values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089 frame-inner-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
formfeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 frame-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
forms for cleanup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 frame-list-z-order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
forms for control structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 frame-live-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
forms for handling errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 frame-monitor-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
forms for nonlocal exits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 frame-native-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
forms for sequential execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 frame-native-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
forms, backquote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 frame-outer-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
forms, conditional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 frame-outer-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
forms, function call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 frame-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
Index 1222

frame-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700 function cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

frame-parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 function cell in autoload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
frame-pointer-visible-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731 function declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
frame-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695 function definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
frame-predicate, a buffer display function descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636 function form evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
frame-relative coordinate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671 function input stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
frame-resize-pixelwise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697 function invocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
frame-restack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724 function keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
frame-root-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 function name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
frame-scroll-bar-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 function not known to be defined,
frame-scroll-bar-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 compilation warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
frame-selected-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623 function output stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
frame-size-changed-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698 function quoting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
frame-terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 function safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
frame-text-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697 function-documentation property . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
frame-text-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697 function-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
frame-title-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717 function-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
frame-visible-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723 functionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
frame-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696 functionp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
framep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 functions in modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
frames, scanning all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 functions, making them interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
free list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159 fundamental-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
free variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 fundamental-mode-abbrev-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
free variable, byte-compiler warning . . . . . . . . . . . 284
free_global_ref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
frequency counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 G
frexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 gamma correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
fringe bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022 gap-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
fringe bitmaps, customizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023 gap-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
fringe cursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022 garbage collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159
fringe indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020 garbage collection protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1166
fringe-bitmaps-at-pos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023 garbage-collect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159
fringe-cursor-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022 garbage-collection-messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161
fringe-indicator-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021 gc-cons-percentage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
fringes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019 gc-cons-threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
fringes, and empty line indication . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020 gc-elapsed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163
fringes-outside-margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020 gcs-done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163
fround. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 generalized variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
fset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 generate-autoload-cookie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
ftp-login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 generate-new-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
ftruncate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 generate-new-buffer-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
full keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 generated-autoload-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
full-height window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
full-width window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 generic commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
fullboth frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706 generic functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
fullheight frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706 generic mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
fullscreen, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706 gensym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
fullscreen-restore, a frame parameter . . . . . . 706 geometry specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
fullwidth frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706 get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
func-arity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 get, defcustom keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
funcall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212, 1176 get-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
funcall, and debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 get-buffer-create . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
funcall-interactively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 get-buffer-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939
function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 get-buffer-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
function aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 get-buffer-window-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
function call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 get-buffer-xwidgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048
function call debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 get-byte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840
Index 1223

get-char-code-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 843 gui-get-selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734

get-char-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802 gui-set-selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
get-char-property-and-overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803 guidelines for buffer display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
get-charset-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845 gv-define-expander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
get-device-terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685 gv-define-setter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
get-file-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 gv-define-simple-setter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
get-internal-run-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093 gv-letplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
get-largest-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
get-load-suffixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
get-lru-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 H
get-mru-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 hack-connection-local-variables . . . . . . . . . . . 197
get-pos-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803 hack-connection-local-variables-apply . . . . 197
get-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 hack-dir-local-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
get-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822 hack-dir-local-variables-
get-text-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802 non-file-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
get-unused-category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 hack-local-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
get-variable-watchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 hack-local-variables-hook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
get-window-with-predicate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626 handle-shift-selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763
get_user_finalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175 handle-switch-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
getenv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083 handling errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
gethash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 hardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111
GID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 hash code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
global binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 hash notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
global break condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 hash table access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
global keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 hash tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
global variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 hash, cryptographic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825, 826
global-abbrev-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913 hash-table-count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
global-buffers-menu-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197 hash-table-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
global-disable-point-adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . 381 hash-table-rehash-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
global-key-binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 hash-table-rehash-threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
global-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424 hash-table-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
global-mode-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 hash-table-test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
global-set-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 hash-table-weakness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
global-unset-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 hashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
glyph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062 header comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1152
glyph code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062 header line (of a window) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
glyph-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063 header-line prefix key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
glyph-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063 header-line-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
glyphless characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063 header-line-format, a window parameter . . . . 680
glyphless-char-display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063 height of a line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
glyphless-char-display-control . . . . . . . . . . . 1064 height of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
gnutls cryptographic functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 height spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996
gnutls cryptography inputs format . . . . . . . . . . . . 826 height, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
gnutls-ciphers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828 help for major mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
gnutls-digests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 help functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
gnutls-hash-digest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 help-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
gnutls-hash-mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 help-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
gnutls-macs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 help-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
gnutls-symmetric-decrypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828 help-echo (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990
gnutls-symmetric-encrypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828 help-echo (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
goto-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743 help-echo event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
goto-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 help-echo, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
grammar, SMIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502 help-event-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
graphical display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 help-form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
graphical terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 help-index (button property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
group, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 help-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
group-gid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 help-setup-xref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
group-real-gid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 help-window-select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
Index 1224

Helper-describe-bindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518 image maps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037

Helper-help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519 image slice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
Helper-help-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519 image types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034
hex numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 image-animate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047
hidden buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584 image-animate-timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047
history list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 image-cache-eviction-delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048
history of commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 image-current-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
history-add-new-input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 image-default-frame-delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047
history-delete-duplicates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 image-flush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047
history-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 image-format-suffixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039
HOME environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919 image-load-path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
hook variables, list of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199 image-load-path-for-library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 image-mask-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037
hooks for changing a character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812 image-minimum-frame-delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047
hooks for loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 image-multi-frame-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
hooks for motion of point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813 image-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
hooks for text changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832 image-scaling-factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044
hooks for window operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681 image-show-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047
horizontal combination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 image-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
horizontal position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795 image-type-available-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035
horizontal scrolling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669 image-types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034
horizontal-scroll-bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 ImageMagick images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038
horizontal-scroll-bar prefix key . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 imagemagick-enabled-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039
horizontal-scroll-bar-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 imagemagick-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038
horizontal-scroll-bars, a imagemagick-types-inhibit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039
frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 images in buffers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034
horizontal-scroll-bars-available-p . . . . . . 1025 images, support for more formats . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038
how to visit files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 Imenu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
HTML DOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829 imenu-add-to-menubar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
hyper characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 imenu-case-fold-search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
hyperlinks in documentation strings . . . . . . . . . . 1150 imenu-create-index-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
imenu-extract-index-name-function . . . . . . . . 487
imenu-generic-expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
I imenu-prev-index-position-function . . . . . . . 486
icon-left, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704 imenu-syntax-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
icon-name, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711 implicit progn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
icon-title-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717 implied frame resizing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
icon-top, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704 implied resizing of frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
icon-type, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711 inactive minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
iconified frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723 inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
iconify-child-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 indefinite extent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
iconify-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723 indent-according-to-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
iconify-frame event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 indent-code-rigidly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799
identical-contents objects, and byte-compiler . . . 33 indent-for-tab-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 indent-line-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
idle timers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096 indent-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
idleness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096 indent-region-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
IEEE floating point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 indent-relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799
if . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 indent-relative-first-indent-point . . . . . . . 800
ignore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 indent-rigidly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
ignore-errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 indent-tabs-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
ignore-window-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679 indent-to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
ignored-local-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 indent-to-left-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
image animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046 indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
image cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047 indentation rules, SMIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
image descriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035 indicate-buffer-boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021
image formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034 indicate-empty-lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
image frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046 indicators, fringe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
Index 1225

indirect buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596 inner height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692

indirect specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 inner size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
indirect-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 inner width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
indirect-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 innermost containing parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
indirection for functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 input events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
infinite loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 input focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
infinite recursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 input methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
infinity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 input modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
inheritance, for faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000 input stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
inheritance, keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 input-decode-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
inheritance, syntax table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892 input-method-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
inheritance, text property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814 input-method-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
inhibit-default-init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 input-pending-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
inhibit-double-buffering, a insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712 insert-abbrev-table-description . . . . . . . . . . . 909
inhibit-eol-conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859 insert-and-inherit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
inhibit-field-text-motion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744 insert-before-markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
inhibit-file-name-handlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562 insert-before-markers-and-inherit . . . . . . . . 815
inhibit-file-name-operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562 insert-behind-hooks (overlay property) . . . . . . 990
inhibit-iso-escape-detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853 insert-behind-hooks (text property) . . . . . . . . . 812
inhibit-local-variables-regexps . . . . . . 192, 460 insert-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
inhibit-message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970 insert-buffer-substring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
inhibit-modification-hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834 insert-buffer-substring-as-yank . . . . . . . . . . . 777
inhibit-null-byte-detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853 insert-buffer-substring-no-properties . . . . 771
inhibit-point-motion-hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813 insert-button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
inhibit-quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 insert-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
inhibit-read-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 insert-default-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
inhibit-read-only (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . 810 insert-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
inhibit-same-window, a buffer display insert-directory-program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635 insert-file-contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
inhibit-splash-screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074 insert-file-contents-literally . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
inhibit-startup-echo-area-message . . . . . . . 1074 insert-for-yank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
inhibit-startup-message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074 insert-image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
inhibit-startup-screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074 insert-in-front-hooks (overlay property) . . . 990
inhibit-switch-frame, a buffer display insert-in-front-hooks (text property). . . . . . . 812
action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636 insert-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
inhibit-x-resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738 insert-sliced-image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
init file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075 insert-text-button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
init-file-user . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085 inserting killed text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
init.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075 insertion before point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
initial-buffer-choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074 insertion of text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
initial-environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084 insertion type of a marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
initial-frame-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701 inside comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
initial-major-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 inside string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
initial-scratch-message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075 installation-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084
initial-window-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065 instrumenting for Edebug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
initial-window-system, and startup . . . . . . . . 1072 int-to-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
initialization of Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072 intangible (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990
initialize, defcustom keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 intangible (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
inline completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 integer to decimal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
inline functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 integer to hexadecimal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
inline-const-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 integer to octal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
inline-const-val . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 integer to string. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
inline-error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 integer types (C programming language) . . . . . 1190
inline-letevals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 integer-or-marker-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
inline-quote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 integerp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
inner edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692 integers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
inner frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692 integers in specific radix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Index 1226

interaction parameters between frames . . . . . . . . 709 iter-yield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 iter-yield-from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
interactive call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 iteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
interactive code description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 iteration over vector or string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
interactive completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
interactive function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
interactive spec, using . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 J
interactive specification in primitives . . . . . . . . . 1165 jit-lock-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
interactive, examples of using . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 jit-lock-unregister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
interactive-form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 joining lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
interactive-form property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 jumbled display of bidirectional text . . . . . . . . . 1069
interactive-form, symbol property . . . . . . . . . . 369 just-one-space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
interactive-only property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 justify-current-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786
intern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123, 1176
intern-soft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
internal menu bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 K
internal representation of characters . . . . . . . . . . . 835 kbd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
internal tool bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691 kbd-macro-termination-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
internal windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 keep-ratio, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
internal-border-width, a frame parameter. . . 707 kept-new-versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
internals, of buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179 kept-old-versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
internals, of process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189 key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
internals, of window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1184 key binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
interning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 key binding, conventions for. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145
interpreter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 key lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
interpreter-mode-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 key sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
interprogram-cut-function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780 key sequence error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
interprogram-paste-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780 key sequence input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
interrupt Lisp functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 key substitution sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
interrupt-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936 key translation function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
interrupt-process-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937 key-binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
intersection of sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 key-description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820 key-translation-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
intervals-consed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164 keyboard events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
invalid prefix key error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 keyboard events in strings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
invalid-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 keyboard events, data in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
invalid-read-syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 keyboard input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
invalid-regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876 keyboard input decoding on X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
invert-face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 keyboard macro execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
invisible (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990 keyboard macro termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064
invisible (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 keyboard macro, terminating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
invisible frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723 keyboard macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
invisible text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 keyboard macros (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
invisible-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979 keyboard-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
invisible/intangible text, and point . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 keyboard-quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
invocation-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084 keyboard-translate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
invocation-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084 keyboard-translate-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
invoking input method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
invoking lisp debugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 keymap (button property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
is this call interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 keymap (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
is_not_nil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176 keymap (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
isnan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 keymap entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
italic text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998 keymap format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
iter-close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 keymap in keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
iter-defun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 keymap inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
iter-do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 keymap inheritance from multiple maps . . . . . . . 420
iter-lambda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 keymap of character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
iter-next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 keymap of character (and overlays) . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
Index 1227

keymap prompt string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 last-nonmenu-event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

keymap-parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 last-prefix-arg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
keymap-prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 last-repeatable-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
keymapp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418 lax-plist-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
keymaps for translating events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 lax-plist-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
keymaps in modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 layout of frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
keymaps, scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 layout on display, and bidirectional text . . . . . . 1069
keymaps, standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1196 layout parameters of frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
keys in documentation strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 lazy loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
keys, reserved. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145 lazy-completion-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
keystroke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 ldexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
keyword symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 least recently used window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
keywordp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 left position ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
kill command repetition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 left, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
kill ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775 left-fringe, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
kill-all-local-variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 left-fringe-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
kill-append . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780 left-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
kill-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 left-margin-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033
kill-buffer-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
kill-buffer-query-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 let . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
kill-emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079 let* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
kill-emacs-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079 lexical binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
kill-emacs-query-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079 lexical binding (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
kill-local-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 lexical comparison of strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
kill-new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780 lexical environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
kill-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937 lexical scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
kill-read-only-ok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777 lexical-binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
kill-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776 library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
kill-ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 library compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
kill-ring-max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 library header comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1152
kill-ring-yank-pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 library search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
killing buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 libxml-parse-html-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
killing Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079 libxml-parse-xml-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
kmacro-keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197 line end conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
line height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694, 995
line number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
L line truncation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
lambda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 line wrapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
lambda expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 line-beginning-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
lambda in debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 line-end-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
lambda in keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 line-height (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811, 996
lambda list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 line-move-ignore-invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979
lambda-list (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 line-number-at-pos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
language-change event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 line-number-display-width. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
largest Lisp integer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 line-pixel-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
largest window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 line-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
last . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 line-spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996
last visible position in a window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662 line-spacing (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . 811, 997
last-abbrev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912 line-spacing, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
last-abbrev-location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912 lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745
last-abbrev-text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912 lines in region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
last-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 link, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
last-coding-system-used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850 linked list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
last-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 linking files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
last-command-event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Lisp debugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
last-event-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Lisp expression motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
last-input-event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 Lisp history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
last-kbd-macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 Lisp library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Index 1228

Lisp nesting error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Lisp object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 loading hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Lisp objects, stack-allocated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163 loading, and non-ASCII characters . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Lisp package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 loadup.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
Lisp printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 local binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Lisp reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 local keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
lisp variables defined in C, restrictions. . . . . . . . . 199 local part of remote file name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
lisp-indent-function property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 local variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
lisp-mode-abbrev-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913 local variables, killed by major mode . . . . . . . . . . 189
lisp-mode.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 local-abbrev-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 local-function-key-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
list all coding systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851 local-key-binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
list elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 local-map (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
list form evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 local-map (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
list in keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 local-set-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
list length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 local-unset-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
list modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 local-variable-if-set-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
list motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750 local-variable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
list predicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 locale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
list reverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
locale-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
list structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 68
locale-dependent string comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
list to vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
locale-dependent string equivalence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
list, replace element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
locale-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
list-buffers-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
locate file in path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
list-charset-chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
locate-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
list-fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016
locate-library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
list-load-path-shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
list-processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 locate-user-emacs-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
list-system-processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946 lock file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
list-timers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096 lock-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
listify-key-sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
listing all buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591 logand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
listp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 logb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 logging echo-area messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
lists and cons cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 logical arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
lists as sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 logical order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067
literal evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 logical shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
literate programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797 logior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
little endian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961 lognot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
live buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 logxor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
live windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 looking up abbrevs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
ln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543 looking up fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012
load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 looking-at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 880
load error with require . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 looking-at-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881
load errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 looking-back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881
load, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 lookup tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
load-average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084 lookup-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
load-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 loops, infinite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
load-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 lower case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
load-file-rep-suffixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 lower-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
load-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 lowering a frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
load-in-progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 LRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070
load-library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 lsh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
load-path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 lwarn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
load-prefer-newer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
load-read-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
load-suffixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
load-theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Index 1229

M make-help-screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
M-g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 make-indirect-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
M-o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 make-keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
M-s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 make-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
M-x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 make-local-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Maclisp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 make-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758
macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 make-mutex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
macro argument evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 make-nearby-temp-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
macro call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 make-network-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
macro call evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 make-obsolete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
macro caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 make-obsolete-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
macro compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 make-overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985
macro descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 make-pipe-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 928
macro expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 make-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927
macro, how to define . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 make-progress-reporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971
macroexpand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 make-record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
macroexpand-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 make-ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
macroexpand-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 make-serial-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
macrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 make-sparse-keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 make-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
macros, at compile time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 make-symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
magic autoload comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 make-symbolic-link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
magic file names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 make-syntax-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
magic-fallback-mode-alist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461 make-temp-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
magic-mode-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461 make-temp-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
mail-host-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083 make-text-button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
main window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654 make-thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
main window of a frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654 make-translation-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
major mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 make-translation-table-from-alist . . . . . . . . 848
major mode command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 make-translation-table-from-vector . . . . . . . 848
major mode conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 make-variable-buffer-local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
major mode hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 make-vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
major mode keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 make-xwidget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048
major mode, automatic selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 make_float . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174
major-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 make_function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171
make-abbrev-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908 make_global_ref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174
make-auto-save-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575 make_integer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174
make-backup-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 make_string. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174
make-backup-file-name-function . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 make_user_ptr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
make-backup-files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 making backup files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
make-bool-vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 making buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
make-button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051 makunbound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
make-byte-code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 malicious use of directional overrides . . . . . . . . . 1070
make-category-set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907 managing overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985
make-category-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907 manipulating buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
make-char-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 map-char-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
make-composed-keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 map-charset-chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846
make-condition-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917 map-keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
make-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 map-y-or-n-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
make-display-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060 mapatoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
make-finalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 mapbacktrace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
make-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684 mapc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
make-frame-invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723 mapcan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
make-frame-on-display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 mapcar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
make-frame-visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723 mapconcat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
make-frame-visible event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 maphash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
make-glyph-code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063 mapped frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
make-hash-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 mapping functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Index 1230

margins, display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033 memory allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158

margins, filling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788 memory usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322, 1163
mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 memory-full. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
mark excursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 memory-info. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
mark ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 memory-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
mark, the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 memory-use-counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
mark-active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763 memq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
mark-even-if-inactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762 memql . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
mark-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 menu bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
mark-ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763 menu bar keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
mark-ring-max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763 menu definition example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
marker argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 menu item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
marker creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757 menu keymaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
marker garbage collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756 menu modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
marker information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 menu prompt string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
marker input stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 menu separators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
marker output stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 menu-bar prefix key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
marker relocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756 menu-bar-file-menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
marker, how to move position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 menu-bar-final-items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
marker-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 menu-bar-help-menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
marker-insertion-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 menu-bar-lines, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . 708
marker-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 menu-bar-options-menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
markerp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757 menu-bar-tools-menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756 menu-bar-update-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
markers as numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756 menu-item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
markers, predicates for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757 menu-prompt-more-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
match data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 menus, popup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
match, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 merge-face-attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004
match-alternatives, message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
customization keyword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 message digest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
match-beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 message, finding what causes a
match-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885 particular message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
match-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 message-box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970
match-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 message-log-max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
match-string-no-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 message-or-box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970
match-substitute-replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883 message-truncate-lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974
matching, structural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 messages-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973
mathematical functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 meta character key constants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 meta character printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
max-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840 meta characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
max-image-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046 meta characters lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
max-lisp-eval-depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 meta-prefix-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
max-mini-window-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 min . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
max-specpdl-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 min-height, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706
maximize-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 min-margins, a window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
maximized frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706 min-width, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
maximizing windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
maximum Lisp integer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 minibuffer completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
maximum value of character codepoint . . . . . . . . 840 minibuffer contents, accessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
maximum value of sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 minibuffer history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
maximum-scroll-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 minibuffer input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
maybe_quit, use in Lisp primitives . . . . . . . . . . . 1166 minibuffer input, and
md5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826 command-line arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
MD5 checksum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825, 826 minibuffer input, reading lisp objects . . . . . . . . . . 338
measuring resource usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 minibuffer input, reading text strings . . . . . . . . . . 335
member. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 minibuffer window, and next-window . . . . . . . . . . 624
member-ignore-case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 minibuffer windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
membership in a list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 minibuffer, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
Index 1231

minibuffer-allow-text-properties . . . . . . . . . 337 mode bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

minibuffer-auto-raise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725 mode help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
minibuffer-complete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 mode hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
minibuffer-complete-and-exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 mode line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
minibuffer-complete-word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 mode line construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
minibuffer-completion-confirm . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 mode loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
minibuffer-completion-help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 mode variable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
minibuffer-completion-predicate . . . . . . . . . . . 347 mode, a buffer display action alist entry . . . . . . . . 636
minibuffer-completion-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 mode-class (property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
minibuffer-confirm-exit-commands . . . . . . . . . 348 mode-line prefix key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
minibuffer-contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 mode-line-buffer-identification . . . . . . . . . . . 480
minibuffer-contents-no-properties . . . . . . . . 365 mode-line-client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
minibuffer-depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 mode-line-coding-system-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
minibuffer-exit, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . 709 mode-line-column-line-number-mode-map . . . 1197
minibuffer-exit-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 mode-line-end-spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
minibuffer-frame-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701 mode-line-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
minibuffer-help-form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 mode-line-format, a window parameter . . . . . . 680
minibuffer-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 mode-line-frame-identification . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
minibuffer-inactive-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 mode-line-front-space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
minibuffer-less frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692 mode-line-input-method-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197
minibuffer-local-completion-map . . . . . . . . . . . 349 mode-line-misc-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
minibuffer-local-filename- mode-line-modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
completion-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 mode-line-modified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
minibuffer-local-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 mode-line-mule-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
minibuffer-local-must-match-map . . . . . . . . . . . 349 mode-line-percent-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
minibuffer-local-ns-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 mode-line-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
minibuffer-local-shell-command-map . . . . . . . 354 mode-line-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
minibuffer-message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 mode-line-remote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
minibuffer-message-timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 mode-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
minibuffer-only frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692, 701 mode-specific-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
minibuffer-prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 model/view/controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
minibuffer-prompt-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 modification flag (of buffer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
minibuffer-prompt-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 modification of lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
minibuffer-prompt-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 modification time of buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
minibuffer-scroll-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 modification time of file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
minibuffer-selected-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 modification-hooks (overlay property) . . . . . . . 990
minibuffer-setup-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 modification-hooks (text property) . . . . . . . . . . 812
minibuffer-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 modifier bits (of input character) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
minibuffer-window-active-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 modifiers of events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
minibuffer-with-setup-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 modify a list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
minibufferp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 modify-all-frames-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
minimize-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 modify-category-entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
minimized frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723 modify-frame-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
minimizing windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 modify-syntax-entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
minimum Lisp integer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 modifying strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
minimum value of sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 module API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168
minor mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 module functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170
minor mode conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 module initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
minor-mode-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 module runtime environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170
minor-mode-key-binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 module values, conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172
minor-mode-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 module-file-suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
minor-mode-map-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 module-load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
minor-mode-overriding-map-alist . . . . . . . . . . . 426 module_func. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170
mirroring of characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842 modulus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
misc-objects-consed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164 momentary-string-display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984
mkdir. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 most recently selected windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
mod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 most recently used window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 most-negative-fixnum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Index 1232

most-positive-fixnum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 multi-tty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685

motion based on parsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901 multibyte characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
motion by chars, words, lines, lists . . . . . . . . . . . . 743 multibyte text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
motion event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 multibyte-char-to-unibyte. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
mouse click event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 multibyte-string-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
mouse drag event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 multibyte-syntax-as-symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
mouse dragging parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710 multiline font lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
mouse events, data in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 multiple terminals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
mouse events, in special parts of frame . . . . . . . . 398 multiple windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
mouse events, repeated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 multiple X displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
mouse motion events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 multiple yes-or-no questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
mouse pointer shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 multiple-dispatch methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
mouse position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730 multiple-frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
mouse position list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 mutex-lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
mouse position list, accessing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 mutex-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
mouse tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 mutex-unlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
mouse, availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738 mutexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
mouse-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
mouse-1-click-follows-link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
mouse-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145 N
mouse-absolute-pixel-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730 name, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
mouse-action (button property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050 named function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
mouse-appearance-menu-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197 naming backup files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
mouse-autoselect-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675 NaN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
mouse-color, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715 narrow-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198
mouse-face (button property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050 narrow-to-page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
mouse-face (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989 narrow-to-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
mouse-face (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808 narrowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
mouse-leave-buffer-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201 native edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
mouse-movement-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 native frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
mouse-on-link-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 818 native height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
mouse-pixel-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730 native position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
mouse-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730 native size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
mouse-position-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730 native width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
mouse-wheel-down-event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 natnump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
mouse-wheel-frame, a frame parameter . . . . . . . 709 natural numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
mouse-wheel-up-event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 nbutlast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
move to beginning or end of buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 nconc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
move-frame-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696 negative infinity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
move-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 negative-argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
move-overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986 nest frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
move-point-visually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069 network byte ordering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
move-to-column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795 network connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
move-to-left-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788 network connection, encrypted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950
move-to-window-group-line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749 network servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952
move-to-window-group-line-function . . . . . . . 749 network service name, and default
move-to-window-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748 coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856
movemail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920 network-coding-system-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856
moving across syntax classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 network-interface-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958
moving markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 network-interface-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958
MS-DOS and file modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 new file message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
MS-Windows file-name syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 newline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
mule-keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 newline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
multi-file package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1116 newline and Auto Fill mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
multi-frame images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046 newline in print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
multi-mode indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797 newline in strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
multi-monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687 newline-and-indent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
multi-query-replace-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889 next input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
Index 1233

next-button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 notifications-notify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103

next-char-property-change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 nreverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
next-complete-history-element . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 ns-appearance, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
next-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 ns-transparent-titlebar, a
next-history-element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
next-matching-history-element . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 nth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
next-overlay-change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992 nthcdr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
next-property-change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806 null . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
next-screen-context-lines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667 null bytes, and decoding text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
next-single-char-property-change . . . . . . . . . 807 num-input-keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
next-single-property-change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806 num-nonmacro-input-events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
next-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 number comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
nil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 number conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
nil as a list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 number-or-marker-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
nil in keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 number-sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
nil input stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 number-to-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
nil output stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 numbered backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
nlistp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 numberp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
no-accept-focus, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . 712 numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
no-byte-compile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 numeric prefix argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
no-catch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 numeric prefix argument usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
no-conversion coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 numerical RGB color specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
no-delete-other-windows, a
window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
no-focus-on-map, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . 712 O
no-other-frame, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . 709 obarray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
no-other-window, a window parameter . . . . . . . . 680 obarray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
no-redraw-on-reenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967 obarray in completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
no-self-insert property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909 object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
no-special-glyphs, a frame parameter . . . . . . . 708 object internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178
node, ewoc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054 object to string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
non-ASCII characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835 objects with identical contents,
non-ASCII characters in loaded files . . . . . . . . . . . 268 and byte-compiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
non-ASCII text in keybindings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 obsolete functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
non-capturing group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874 octal character code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
non-greedy repetition characters in regexp . . . . . 869 octal character input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
non_local_exit_clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178 octal escapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060
non_local_exit_get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178 octal numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
non_local_exit_signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178 old advices, porting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
non_local_exit_throw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178 one-window-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
nondirectory part (of file name) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 only-global-abbrevs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910
noninteractive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102 opacity, frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
nonlocal exits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 open-dribble-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
nonlocal exits, cleaning up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 open-network-stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950
nonlocal exits, in modules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start . . . . 751
nonprinting characters, reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 open-termscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
noreturn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 OpenType font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016
normal hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 operating system environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082
normal-auto-fill-function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791 operating system signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079
normal-backup-enable-predicate . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 operations (property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
normal-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 optimize regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 option descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
not-modified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 optional arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 options on command line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078
notifications, on desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103 options, defcustom keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
notifications-close-notification . . . . . . . . 1105 or . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
notifications-get-capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . 1105 ordering of windows, cyclic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
notifications-get-server-information . . . . 1106 origin of display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
Index 1234

other-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 package version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114

other-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 package-archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117
other-window, a window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . 680 package-initialize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115
other-window-scroll-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 package-version, customization keyword . . . . . 246
outer border . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690 packing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
outer edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 padding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
outer frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 page-delimiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890
outer height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 paragraph-separate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890
outer position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 paragraph-separate, and
outer size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 bidirectional display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068
outer width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 paragraph-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890
outer-window-id, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . 711 paragraph-start, and bidirectional display . . . . 1068
output from processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938 parameters for moving frames
output stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 with the mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
output-controlling variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 parameters for resizing frames
overall prompt string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 with the mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 parameters of initial frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
overflow-newline-into-fringe . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022 parent frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
overlay properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 parent of char-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
overlay, empty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 parent process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
overlay-arrow-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024 parent window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
overlay-arrow-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024 parent-frame, a buffer display
overlay-arrow-variable-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
overlay-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986 parent-frame, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
overlay-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986 parenthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
overlay-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 parenthesis depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
overlay-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 parenthesis matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058
overlay-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 parenthesis mismatch, debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
overlay-recenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 parity, in serial connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960
overlay-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986 parse state for a position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
overlayp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 parse-colon-path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084
overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 parse-partial-sexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
overlays, managing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 parse-sexp-ignore-comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
overlays, scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 parse-sexp-lookup-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899
overlays, searching for. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992 parse-time-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089
overlays-at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992 parser state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
overlays-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992 parsing buffer text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
overlined text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999 parsing expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
override existing functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 parsing html . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
override redirect frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713 parsing xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
override spec (for a face) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1003 parsing, control parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
override-redirect, a frame parameter . . . . . . . 712 partial application of functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
overriding bidirectional properties . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070 partial-width windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
overriding-local-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 passwords, reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
overriding-local-map-menu-flag . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 PATH environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
overriding-terminal-local-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 path-separator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084
overwrite-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772 pattern matching, programming style . . . . . . . . . 144
PBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
pcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
P pcase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 pcase pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
package archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117 pcase, defining new kinds of patterns . . . . . . . . . . 151
package archive security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118 pcase-defmacro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
package attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 pcase-dolist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
package autoloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 pcase-let . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
package dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 pcase-let* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
package name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 peculiar error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
package signing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118 peeking at input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
Index 1235

percent symbol in mode line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 position of frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688, 695

perform-replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887 position of mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
performance analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 position-bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
performance analysis (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 positive infinity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
permanent local variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 posix-looking-at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
permissions, file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533, 543 posix-search-backward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
persistent window parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 posix-search-forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
phishing using directional overrides . . . . . . . . . . 1070 posix-string-match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
piece of advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 posn-actual-col-row . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
pipe, when to use for subprocess posn-area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926 posn-at-point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
pixel height of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 posn-at-x-y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
pixel width of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 posn-col-row . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
pixelwise, resizing windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 posn-image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
place form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 posn-object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
play-sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 posn-object-width-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
play-sound-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 posn-object-x-y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
play-sound-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 posn-point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
plist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 posn-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
plist access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 posn-timestamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
plist vs. alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 posn-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
plist-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 posn-x-y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
plist-member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 posnp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
plist-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 post-command-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
plugin_is_GPL_compatible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 post-gc-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742 post-self-insert-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
point excursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 pp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
point in window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660 pre-command-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
point with narrowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742 pre-redisplay-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
point-entered (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813 pre-redisplay-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
point-left (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813 precedence of buffer display action functions. . . 641
point-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758 preceding-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
point-max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743 precision in format specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
point-max-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758 predicates for lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
point-min . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742 predicates for markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
point-min-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758 predicates for numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
pointer (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811 predicates for strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
pointer shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 prefer-utf-8 coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848
pointers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 prefix argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
polymorphism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 prefix argument unreading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
pop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 prefix command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
pop-mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762 prefix key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
pop-to-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 prefix, defgroup keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
pop-up-frame-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640 prefix-arg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
pop-up-frame-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640 prefix-command-echo-
pop-up-frame-parameters, a buffer keystrokes-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201
display action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637 prefix-command-preserve-state-hook . . . . . . 1201
pop-up-frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639 prefix-help-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
pop-up-frames, replacement for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641 prefix-numeric-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
pop-up-windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 preloaded Lisp files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
pop-up-windows, replacement for. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640 preloaded-file-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
port number, and default coding system . . . . . . . 856 preloading additional functions
pos-visible-in-window-group-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664 and variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
pos-visible-in-window-group-p-function . . . 664 prepare-change-group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
pos-visible-in-window-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663 preserve-size, a buffer display
position (in buffer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742 action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
position argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 preserving window sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
position in window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660 preventing backtracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Index 1236

preventing prefix key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 process sentinel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944

preventing quitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 process signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936
previous complete subexpression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902 process-adaptive-read-buffering . . . . . . . . . . . 938
previous-button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 process-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946
previous-char-property-change . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 process-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939
previous-complete-history-element . . . . . . . . 363 process-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
previous-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 process-coding-system-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856
previous-history-element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 process-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932
previous-matching-history-element . . . . . . . . 363 process-connection-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931
previous-overlay-change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992 process-contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932
previous-property-change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806 process-datagram-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
previous-single-char-property-change . . . . . 807 process-environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083
previous-single-property-change . . . . . . . . . . . 807 process-exit-status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
previous-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 process-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 924
previous-window, a buffer display process-file-shell-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926
action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635 process-file-side-effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925
primary selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 process-filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941
primitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 process-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
primitive function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 process-id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 933
primitive function internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164 process-kill-buffer-query-function . . . . . . . 939
primitive type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 process-lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926
primitive-undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783 process-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932
prin1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 process-live-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
prin1-to-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 process-mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939
princ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 process-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 933
print. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 process-plist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
print example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 process-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
print name cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 process-query-on-exit-flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946
print-circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 process-running-child-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936
print-continuous-numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 process-send-eof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
print-escape-control-characters . . . . . . . . . . . 332 process-send-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
print-escape-multibyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 process-send-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
print-escape-newlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 process-sentinel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
print-escape-nonascii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 process-status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 933
print-gensym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 process-thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944
print-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 process-tty-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
print-level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 process-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
print-number-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 processes, threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 943
print-quoted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 processing of errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
printable ASCII characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059 processor run time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
printable-chars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844 processp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
printed representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
printed representation for characters . . . . . . . . . . . 10 profiler-report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 profiler-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
printing (Edebug). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 profiler-stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
printing circular structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 profiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
printing limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 prog-first-column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
printing notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 prog-indentation-context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
priority (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 prog-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
priority order of coding systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859 prog-mode, and
process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919 bidi-paragraph-direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1068
process creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919 prog-mode-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
process filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940 prog1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
process filter multibyte flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942 prog2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
process information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 progn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
process input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935 program arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
process internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189 program directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
process output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938 program name, and default coding system . . . . . 856
Index 1237

programmed completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 quote special characters in regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877

programming conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145 quoted character input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
programming types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 quoted-insert suppression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
progress reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971 quoting and unquoting
progress-reporter-done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 command-line arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
progress-reporter-force-update . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 quoting characters in printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
progress-reporter-update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 quoting using apostrophe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
prompt for file name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
prompt string (of menu) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
prompt string of keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 R
proper list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 radio, customization types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
properties of text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802 radix for reading an integer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
propertize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805 raise-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
property category of text character . . . . . . . . . . . . 808 raising a frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
property list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 random. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
property list cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 random numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
property lists vs association lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 rassoc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
protect C variables from garbage collection . . . 1166 rassq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
protected forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 rassq-delete-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
provide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 raw prefix argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
provide-theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 raw prefix argument usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
providing features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 raw syntax descriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
pseudo window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185 raw-text coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
pty, when to use for subprocess re-builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926 re-search-backward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879
pure function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 re-search-forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
pure property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
pure storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157 read command name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
pure-bytes-used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158 read file names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
purecopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158 read input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
purify-flag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158 read syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 read syntax for characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
push-button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 read-answer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
push-mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762 read-answer-short . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 read-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
put-char-code-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844 read-buffer-completion-ignore-case . . . . . . . 350
put-charset-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845 read-buffer-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
put-image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045 read-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
put-text-property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804 read-char-choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
puthash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 read-char-exclusive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
read-circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
read-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
Q read-color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
query-font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018 read-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
query-replace-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 read-directory-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
query-replace-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888 read-event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
querying the user . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 read-expression-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
question mark in character constant . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 read-file-modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
quietly-read-abbrev-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910 read-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
quit-flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 read-file-name-completion-ignore-case . . . . 353
quit-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937 read-file-name-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
quit-restore, a window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . 680 read-from-minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
quit-restore-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652 read-from-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
quit-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651 read-hide-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
quitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 read-input-method-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
quitting from infinite loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 read-kbd-macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
quote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 read-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
quote character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902 read-key-sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Index 1238

read-key-sequence-vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 reducing sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

read-minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 reference to free variable,
read-multiple-choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 compilation warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
read-no-blanks-input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 references, following . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145
read-non-nil-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855 refresh the screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967
read-only (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
read-only buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 regexp alternative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
read-only buffers in interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 regexp grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874
read-only character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 regexp searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
read-only variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 regexp syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
read-only-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 regexp, special characters in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
read-passwd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 regexp-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
read-quoted-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 regexp-opt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
read-quoted-char quitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 regexp-opt-charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
read-regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 regexp-opt-depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
read-regexp-defaults-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 regexp-quote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
read-shell-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 regexps used standardly in editing . . . . . . . . . . . . 890
read-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
read-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 region argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 region-beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
reading a single event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 region-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
reading from files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527 register preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
reading from minibuffer with completion . . . . . . 345 register-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822
reading interactive arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 register-definition-prefixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
reading numbers in hex, octal, and binary . . . . . . 35 register-read-with-preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
reading order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067 registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822
reading symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 regular expression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
real-last-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 regular expression searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
rearrangement of lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 regular expressions, developing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
rebinding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 reindent-then-newline-and-indent . . . . . . . . . 797
recent-auto-save-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 relative file name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
recent-keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098 relative remapping, faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
recenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667 remainder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
recenter-positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668 remapping commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
recenter-redisplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668 remhash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
recenter-top-bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668 remote-file-name-inhibit-cache . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
recenter-window-group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668 remove. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
recenter-window-group-function . . . . . . . . . . . . 668 remove-from-invisibility-spec . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978
recombining windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617 remove-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 remove-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
record command history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 remove-images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
recording input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098 remove-list-of-text-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . 804
recordp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 remove-overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986
records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 remove-text-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804
rectangle, as contents of a register . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822 remove-variable-watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
recursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 removing from sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
recursion-depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 remq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
recursive command loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 rename-auto-save-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
recursive editing level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 rename-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
recursive evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 rename-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
recursive minibuffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 rendering html . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
recursive-edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 reordering, of bidirectional text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067
redefine existing functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 reordering, of elements in lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
redirect-frame-focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 reparent frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
redisplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967 repeat events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 repeated loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
redraw-display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967 replace bindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
redraw-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967 replace characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821
Index 1239

replace characters in region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821 ring-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

replace list element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 ring-ref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
replace matched text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 ring-remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
replace part of list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 ring-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
replace-buffer-contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823 risky, defcustom keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
replace-buffer-in-windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627 risky-local-variable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
replace-match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 RLO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070
replace-re-search-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890 rm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
replace-regexp-in-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887 root window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
replace-search-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890 root window of atomic window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
replacement after search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887 round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
replacing display specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028 rounding in conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
require . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 rounding without conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
require, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 rplaca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
require-final-newline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527 rplacd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
requiring features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 run time stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
reserved keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145 run-at-time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095
resize window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 run-hook-with-args . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
resize-mini-windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 run-hook-with-args-until-failure . . . . . . . . . 454
rest arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 run-hook-with-args-until-success . . . . . . . . . 454
restacking a frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724 run-hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
restore-buffer-modified-p. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 run-mode-hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
restricted-sexp, customization types . . . . . . . . . . . 256 run-window-configuration-change-hook . . . . . 682
restriction (in a buffer). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 run-window-scroll-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
resume (cf. no-redraw-on-reenter) . . . . . . . . . . . 967 run-with-idle-timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096
resume-tty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081 running a hook when a window gets selected . . 622
resume-tty-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081
rethrow a signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
return (ASCII character) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 S
return value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 S-expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
reusable-frames, a buffer display safe local variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636 safe, defcustom keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
reverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 safe-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
reversing a list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 safe-local-eval-forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
reversing a string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 safe-local-variable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
reversing a vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 safe-local-variable-values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
revert-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 safe-magic (property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
revert-buffer-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 safely encode a string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
revert-buffer-in-progress-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 safely encode characters in a charset . . . . . . . . . . 852
revert-buffer-insert-file- safely encode region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
contents-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 safety of functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
revert-without-query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 same-window-buffer-names, replacement for . . 641
reverting buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 same-window-regexps, replacement for . . . . . . . . 641
rgb value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736 save abbrevs in files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910
right dividers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 save-abbrevs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910
right-divider-width, a frame parameter . . . . . 708 save-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
right-fringe, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 save-buffer-coding-system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
right-fringe-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020 save-current-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
right-margin-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033 save-excursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
right-to-left text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067 save-mark-and-excursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
ring data structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 save-match-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
ring-bell-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065 save-restriction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
ring-copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 save-selected-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
ring-elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 save-some-buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
ring-empty-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 save-some-buffers-default-predicate . . . . . . 525
ring-insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 save-window-excursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
ring-insert-at-beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 SaveUnder feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
ring-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 saving buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Index 1240

saving text properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 secondary storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

saving window information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676 seconds-to-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087
scalability of overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 secure-hash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
scalable fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011 secure-hash-algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
scalable-fonts-allowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012 security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111
scan-lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901 security, and display specifications . . . . . . . . . . . 1028
scan-sexps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901 seed, for random number generation . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
scanning expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 select safe coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
scanning for character sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846 select window hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
scanning keymaps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 select-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 select-frame-set-input-focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
scoping rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 select-safe-coding-system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
screen layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 select-safe-coding-system-
screen lines, moving by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747 accept-default-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
screen of terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 select-safe-coding-system-function . . . . . . . 854
screen refresh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967 select-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
screen-gamma, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714 selected frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
script symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844 selected window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
scroll bar events, data in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 selected-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
scroll bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 selected-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
scroll-bar-background, a frame parameter. . . 716 selected-window-group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
scroll-bar-event-ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 selected-window-group-function . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
scroll-bar-foreground, a frame parameter. . . 716 selecting a buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
scroll-bar-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 selecting a font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
scroll-bar-height, a frame parameter . . . . . . . 707 selecting a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
scroll-bar-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 selection (for window systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
scroll-bar-scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 selection-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
scroll-bar-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 selective-display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980
scroll-bar-width, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . 707 selective-display-ellipses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
scroll-command property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667 self-evaluating form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
scroll-conservatively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 self-insert-and-exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
scroll-down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665 self-insert-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
scroll-down-aggressively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667 self-insert-command override . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
scroll-down-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665 self-insert-command, minor modes . . . . . . . . . . 473
scroll-error-top-bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667 self-insert-uses-region-functions . . . . . . . . 771
scroll-left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670 self-insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
scroll-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 SELinux context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
scroll-other-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 send-string-to-terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
scroll-preserve-screen-position . . . . . . . . . . . 667 sending signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936
scroll-right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670 sentence-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890, 891
scroll-step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667 sentence-end-double-space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
scroll-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665 sentence-end-without-period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
scroll-up-aggressively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667 sentence-end-without-space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
scroll-up-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665 sentinel (of process) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944
scrolling textually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665 seq library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
search-backward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866 seq-concatenate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
search-failed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865 seq-contains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
search-forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865 seq-count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
search-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 seq-difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
search-spaces-regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881 seq-do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865 seq-doseq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
searching active keymaps for keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 seq-drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
searching and case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867 seq-drop-while . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
searching and replacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887 seq-elt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
searching for overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992 seq-empty-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
searching for regexp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878 seq-every-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
searching text properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806 seq-filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
secondary selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 seq-find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Index 1241

seq-group-by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 set-case-syntax-delims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

seq-intersection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 set-case-syntax-pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
seq-into . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 set-case-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
seq-length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 set-category-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
seq-let . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 set-char-table-extra-slot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
seq-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 set-char-table-parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
seq-map-indexed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 set-char-table-range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
seq-mapcat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 set-charset-priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
seq-mapn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 set-coding-system-priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
seq-max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 set-default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
seq-min . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 set-default-file-modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
seq-partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 set-default-toplevel-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
seq-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 set-display-table-slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
seq-random-elt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 set-face-attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004
seq-reduce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 set-face-background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
seq-remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 set-face-bold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
seq-set-equal-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 set-face-font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
seq-some . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 set-face-foreground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
seq-sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 set-face-inverse-video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
seq-sort-by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 set-face-italic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
seq-subseq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 set-face-stipple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
seq-take . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 set-face-underline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
seq-take-while . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 set-file-acl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
seq-uniq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 set-file-extended-attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
seqp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 set-file-modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 set-file-selinux-context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
sequence destructuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 set-file-times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
sequence functions in seq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 set-fontset-font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1014
sequence iteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 set-frame-configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
sequence length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 set-frame-font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
sequence maximum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 set-frame-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
sequence minimum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 set-frame-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
sequence reverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 set-frame-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
sequencep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 set-frame-selected-window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
sequences, generalized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 set-frame-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
sequences, intersection of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 set-frame-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
sequencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 set-fringe-bitmap-face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024
sequencing pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 set-input-method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
sequential execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 set-input-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
serial connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958 set-keyboard-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
serial-process-configure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960 set-keymap-parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
serial-term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959 set-left-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
serializing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961 set-mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761
session file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102 set-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760
session manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102 set-marker-insertion-type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 set-match-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
set, defcustom keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 set-minibuffer-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
set-advertised-calling-convention . . . . . . . . 230 set-mouse-absolute-pixel-position . . . . . . . . 730
set-after, defcustom keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 set-mouse-pixel-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
set-auto-coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857 set-mouse-position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
set-auto-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 set-network-process-option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
set-binary-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 set-process-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939
set-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 set-process-coding-system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
set-buffer-auto-saved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 set-process-datagram-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
set-buffer-major-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 set-process-filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941
set-buffer-modified-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 set-process-plist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935
set-buffer-multibyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839 set-process-query-on-exit-flag . . . . . . . . . . . . 946
set-case-syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 set-process-sentinel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
Index 1242

set-process-thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944 show image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1044

set-process-window-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940 show-help-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
set-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822 shr-insert-document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
set-right-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788 shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer . . . . . . 611
set-standard-case-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 shy groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874
set-syntax-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898 sibling window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
set-terminal-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862 side effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
set-terminal-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716 side windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
set-text-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804 side, a buffer display action alist entry . . . . . . . . 638
set-transient-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 side-effect-free property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
set-visited-file-modtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589 SIGHUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079
set-visited-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 SIGINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079
set-window-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626 signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
set-window-combination-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620 signal-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937
set-window-configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676 signaling errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
set-window-dedicated-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651 signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936
set-window-display-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062 SIGTERM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079
set-window-fringes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020 SIGTSTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080
set-window-group-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663 sigusr1 event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
set-window-group-start-function . . . . . . . . . . . 663 sigusr2 event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
set-window-hscroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671 simple package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115
set-window-margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033 sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
set-window-next-buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649 single file package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115
set-window-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 single-function hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
set-window-point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 single-key-description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
set-window-prev-buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649 sit-for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
set-window-scroll-bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 site-init.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
set-window-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662 site-lisp directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
set-window-vscroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669 site-load.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
set-xwidget-plist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048 site-run-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076
set-xwidget-query-on-exit-flag . . . . . . . . . . . 1049 site-start.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073
set_user_finalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175 size of frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
set_user_ptr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175 size of image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
setcar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 size of text on display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
setcdr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 size of window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
setenv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083 skip-chars-backward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
setf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 skip-chars-forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
setplist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 skip-syntax-backward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
setq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 skip-syntax-forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
setq-default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 skip-taskbar, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712
setq-local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 skipping characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 skipping characters of certain syntax . . . . . . . . . . 900
setting modes of files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 skipping comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
setting-constant error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 sleep-for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
severity level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974 slice, image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
sexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 slot, a buffer display action alist entry . . . . . . . . 638
sexp motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750 small-temporary-file-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
SHA hash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825, 826 smallest Lisp integer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
shadowed Lisp files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 SMIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
shadowing of variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 SMIE grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
shared structure, read syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 SMIE lexer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
shell command arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921 smie-bnf->prec2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
shell-command-history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 smie-close-block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
shell-command-to-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926 smie-config . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
shell-quote-argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921 smie-config-guess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
shift-selection, and interactive spec . . . . . . . . . 370 smie-config-local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
shift-translation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 smie-config-save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
should_quit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 smie-config-set-indent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
Index 1243

smie-config-show-indent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 split-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

smie-down-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 split-window, a window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . 679
smie-merge-prec2s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 split-window-below . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
smie-prec2->grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 split-window-keep-point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
smie-precs->prec2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 split-window-preferred-function . . . . . . . . . . . 639
smie-rule-bolp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 split-window-right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
smie-rule-hanging-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 split-window-sensibly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
smie-rule-next-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 splitting windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
smie-rule-parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 sqrt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
smie-rule-parent-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 stable sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
smie-rule-prev-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 stack allocated Lisp objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163
smie-rule-separator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 standard abbrev tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913
smie-rule-sibling-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 standard colors for character terminals . . . . . . . . 714
smie-setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 standard errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192
snap-width, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710 standard hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199
Snarf-documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 standard regexps used in editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890
sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 standard syntax table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
sort-columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794 standard-case-table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
sort-fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794 standard-category-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906
sort-fold-case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793 standard-display-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
sort-lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794 standard-input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
sort-numeric-base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794 standard-output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
sort-numeric-fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794 standard-syntax-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
sort-pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794 standard-translation-table-for-decode . . . . 847
sort-paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794 standard-translation-table-for-encode . . . . 847
sort-regexp-fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793 standards of coding style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142
sort-subr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791 start-file-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930
sorting lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 start-file-process-shell-command . . . . . . . . . 931
sorting sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 start-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 929
sorting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791 start-process, command-line
sorting vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 arguments from minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921
sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 start-process-shell-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930
source breakpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 STARTTLS network connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950
space (ASCII character). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 startup of Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072
space display spec, and bidirectional text . . . . 1069 startup screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074
spaces, pixel specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1030 startup.el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072
spaces, specified height or width . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029 staticpro, protection from GC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167
sparse keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 stderr stream, use for debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
SPC in minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 sticky text properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
special events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 sticky, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712
special form descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 stop points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
special forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 stop-process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937
special forms for control structures . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 stopbits, in serial connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960
special modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 stopping an infinite loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
special variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 stopping on events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
special-event-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 storage of vector-like Lisp objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158
special-form-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 store-match-data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
special-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 store-substring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
special-variable-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 stream (for printing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
specify coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858 stream (for reading) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
specify color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735 strike-through text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
speedups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147 string. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
splicing (with backquote) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 string creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
split-height-threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639 string equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
split-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 string in keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
split-string-and-unquote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921 string input stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
split-string-default-separators . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 string length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
split-width-threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639 string modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Index 1244

string predicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 suspend evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

string reverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 suspend-emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080
string search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865 suspend-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081
string to number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 suspend-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081
string to object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 suspend-resume-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081
string to vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 suspend-tty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081
string, number of bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837 suspend-tty-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081
string, writing a doc string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 suspending Emacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080
string-as-multibyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839 SVG images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1040
string-as-unibyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839 SVG object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1040
string-bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837 svg-circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
string-chars-consed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163 svg-create . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1040
string-collate-equalp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 svg-ellipse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
string-collate-lessp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 svg-embed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
string-equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 svg-gradient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1040
string-greaterp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 svg-image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
string-lessp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 svg-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
string-match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 880 svg-polygon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
string-match-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 880 svg-polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
string-or-null-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 svg-rectangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
string-prefix-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 svg-remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
string-suffix-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 svg-text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041
string-to-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 swap text between buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
string-to-int . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 switch-to-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628
string-to-multibyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838 switch-to-buffer-in-dedicated-window . . . . . 628
string-to-number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 switch-to-buffer-other-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
string-to-syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 switch-to-buffer-other-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
string-to-unibyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838 switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point . . . 629
string-version-lessp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 switch-to-next-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
string-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993 switch-to-prev-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
string< . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 switch-to-visible-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
string= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 switches on command line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078
stringp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 switching to a buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628
strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 sxhash-eq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
strings with keyboard events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 sxhash-eql . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
strings, formatting them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 sxhash-equal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
strings-consed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164 symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
structural matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 symbol components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
sub-sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 symbol equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
submenu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 symbol evaluation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
subprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919 symbol forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
subr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 symbol function indirection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
subr-arity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 symbol in keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
subrp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 symbol name hashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
subst-char-in-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821 symbol property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
substitute characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821 symbol that evaluates to itself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
substitute-command-keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514 symbol with constant value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
substitute-in-file-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 symbol, where defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
substitute-key-definition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 symbol-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
substituting keys in documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . 513 symbol-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
substring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 symbol-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
substring-no-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 symbol-plist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
subtype of char-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 symbol-value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 symbolic links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
super characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 symbolp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
suppress-keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 symbols-consed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163
surrogate minibuffer frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 symmetric cipher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
suspend (cf. no-redraw-on-reenter) . . . . . . . . . . 967 synchronous subprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922
Index 1245

syntactic font lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 tabulated-list-init-header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

syntax class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893 tabulated-list-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
syntax class table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893 tabulated-list-padding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
syntax code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904 tabulated-list-print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
syntax descriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893 tabulated-list-printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
syntax entry, setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897 tabulated-list-put-tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
syntax error (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 tabulated-list-revert-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
syntax flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896 tabulated-list-set-col . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
syntax for characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 tabulated-list-sort-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
syntax of regular expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868 tabulated-list-use-header-line . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
syntax table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892 tag on run time stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
syntax table example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 tag, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
syntax table internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904 tan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
syntax tables (accessing elements of) . . . . . . . . . . 904 TCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
syntax tables in modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 temacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
syntax-after . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 TEMP environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
syntax-class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 temp-buffer-max-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984
syntax-ppss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902 temp-buffer-max-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984
syntax-ppss-flush-cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902 temp-buffer-resize-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
syntax-ppss-toplevel-pos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903 temp-buffer-setup-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 982
syntax-propertize-extend- temp-buffer-show-function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 982
region-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899 temp-buffer-show-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
syntax-propertize-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899 temp-buffer-window-setup-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
syntax-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898 temp-buffer-window-show-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
syntax-table (text property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899 temporary buffer display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
syntax-table-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892 temporary display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
system abbrev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908 temporary files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
system processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946 temporary-file-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553, 554
system type and name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082 TERM environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077
system-configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082 term-file-aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077
system-groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 term-file-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077
system-key-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 Termcap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076
system-messages-locale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863 terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
system-name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082 terminal input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
system-time-locale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863 terminal input modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
system-type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082 terminal output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
system-users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 terminal parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
terminal screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
terminal type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
T terminal-coding-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
t ............................................... 2 terminal-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
t input stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 terminal-live-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
t output stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 terminal-local variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
tab (ASCII character) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 terminal-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
tab deletion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773 terminal-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
TAB in minibuffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 terminal-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
tab-always-indent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797 terminal-specific initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076
tab-stop-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800 termscript file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
tab-to-tab-stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800 terpri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
tab-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060 test-completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
tabs stops for indentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800 testcover-mark-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Tabulated List mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 testcover-next-mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
tabulated-list-delete-entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 testcover-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
tabulated-list-entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 testing types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
tabulated-list-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
tabulated-list-get-entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 text area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
tabulated-list-get-id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 text area of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
tabulated-list-header-overlay-p . . . . . . . . . . . 468 text comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Index 1246

text conversion of coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 time-to-day-in-year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094

text deletion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772 time-to-days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094
text height of a frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696 timer-max-repeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095
text insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 timerp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094
text near point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765 timers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094
text parsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892 timestamp of a mouse event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
text properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802 timing programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
text properties in files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 tips for writing Lisp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142
text properties in the mode line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483 title bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
text properties, changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803 title, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
text properties, examining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802 TLS network connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950
text properties, read syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 TMP environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
text properties, searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806 TMPDIR environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
text representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835 toggle-enable-multibyte-characters . . . . . . . 837
text size of a frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696 tool bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
text terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 tool-bar-add-item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
text width of a frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696 tool-bar-add-item-from-menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
text-char-description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 tool-bar-border . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
text-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 tool-bar-button-margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
text-mode-abbrev-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913 tool-bar-button-relief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
text-properties-at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803 tool-bar-lines, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . 708
text-property-any . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 tool-bar-local-item-from-menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
text-property-default-nonsticky . . . . . . . . . . . 815 tool-bar-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
text-property-not-all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 tool-bar-position, a frame parameter . . . . . . . 708
text-quoting-style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514, 515 tooltip face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
textual order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 tooltip for help strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
textual scrolling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665 tooltip frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
thing-at-point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768 tooltip-event-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
this-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 tooltip-frame-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
this-command-keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 tooltip-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
this-command-keys-shift-translated . . . . . . . 398 tooltip-help-tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
this-command-keys-vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 tooltip-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
this-original-command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 tooltips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
thread--blocker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 top frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
thread-join . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915 top position ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
thread-last-error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 top, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
thread-live-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 top-level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
thread-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 top-level default value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
thread-signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 top-level form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
thread-yield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 top-level frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
threadp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915 top-visible, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915 total height of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
three-step-help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 total pixel height of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
throw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 total pixel width of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
throw example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 total width of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
tiled windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 tq-close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
time calculations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093 tq-create . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948
time conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088 tq-enqueue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
time formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089 trace buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
time of day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 tracing Lisp programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
time parsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089 track-mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
time value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 tracking frame size changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
time zone rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087 trailing blanks in file names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
time zone rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087 transaction queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948
time zone, current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088 transcendental functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
time-add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094 transient keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
time-less-p. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093 transient-mark-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762
time-subtract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093 translate-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821
Index 1247

translating input events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 underlined text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998

translation keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 undo avoidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821
translation tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847 undo-ask-before-discard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
translation-table-for-input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848 undo-auto-amalgamate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
transparency, frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715 undo-auto-current-boundary-timer . . . . . . . . . 783
transpose-regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823 undo-boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
trash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543, 559 undo-in-progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
tray notifications, MS-Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106 undo-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
triple-click events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 undo-outer-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
true. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 undo-strong-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
true list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 unexec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157
truename (of file) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535 unhandled-file-name-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
truncate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 unibyte buffers, and bidi reordering . . . . . . . . . . 1067
truncate-lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968 unibyte text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
truncate-partial-width-windows . . . . . . . . . . . . 968 unibyte-char-to-multibyte. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
truncate-string-ellipsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993 unibyte-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
truncate-string-to-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993 Unicode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
truth value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 unicode bidirectional algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067
try-completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 unicode character escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
tty-color-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 unicode general category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841
tty-color-approximate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 unicode, a charset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
tty-color-clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 unicode-category-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
tty-color-define . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736 unintern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
tty-color-mode, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . 714 uninterned symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
tty-color-translate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 unique file names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
tty-erase-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085 universal-argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
tty-setup-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077 universal-argument-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198
tty-top-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725 unless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
turn multibyte support on or off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837 unload-feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
two’s complement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 unload-feature-special-hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 unloading packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
type (button property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050 unloading packages, preparing for . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143
type checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 unlock-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
type checking internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1166 unmapped frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
type predicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 unnumbered group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874
type, defcustom keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
type-of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 unread-command-events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
type_of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176 unsafep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
typographic conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 unsplittable, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
TZ, environment variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087 unused lexical variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
unwind-protect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
unwinding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
U up-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
UBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067 upcase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
UDP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949 upcase-initials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
UID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 upcase-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
umask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544 upcase-word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802
unassigned character codepoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841 update-directory-autoloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
unbalanced parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 update-file-autoloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
unbinding keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 upper case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
unbury-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593 upper case key sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
undecided coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848 uptime of Emacs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093
undecided coding-system, when encoding . . . . . 860 use time of window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
undecorated, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712 use-empty-active-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
undefined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 use-global-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
undefined in keymap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 use-hard-newlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
undefined key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 use-local-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
underline-minimum-offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000 use-region-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
Index 1248

user errors, signaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 vectorp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

user groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 verify-visited-file-modtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
user identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085 version number (in file name) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
user options, how to define . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 version, customization keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
user pointer object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 version-control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
user pointer, using in module functions . . . . . . . 1175 vertical combination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
user signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 vertical fractional scrolling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
user-defined error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 vertical scroll position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668
user-emacs-directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 vertical tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
user-error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 vertical-line prefix key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
user-full-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085, 1086 vertical-motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
user-init-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 vertical-scroll-bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026
user-login-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085, 1086 vertical-scroll-bar prefix key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
user-mail-address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085 vertical-scroll-bars, a frame parameter . . . . 707
user-position, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 704 view part, model/view/controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
user-ptr object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 view-register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
user-ptrp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 virtual buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
user-real-login-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085, 1086 visibility, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
user-real-uid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 visible frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
user-size, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705 visible-bell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064
user-uid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086 visible-frame-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
utf-8-emacs coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 visited file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
visited file mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
visited-file-modtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
V visiting files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
valid windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 visiting files, functions for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
validity of coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851 visual order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1067
value cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 visual order, preserve when copying
value of expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 bidirectional text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1071
value of function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 visual-order cursor motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069
values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 void function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 void function cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
variable aliases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 void variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
variable definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 void-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
variable descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 void-text-area-pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
variable limit error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 void-variable error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
variable watchpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
variable with constant value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
variable write debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 W
variable, buffer-local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 w32-collate-ignore-punctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
variable-documentation property . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 w32-notification-close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107
variable-width spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029 w32-notification-notify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106
variant coding system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 wait-for-wm, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712
vc-mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480 waiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
vc-prefix-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 waiting for command key input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
vc-responsible-backend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 waiting-for-user-input-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
vconcat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 walk-windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
vec_get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173 warn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
vec_set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174 warning options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
vec_size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174 warning type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 warning variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
vector (type) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 warning-fill-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
vector evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 warning-levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
vector length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 warning-minimum-level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
vector reverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 warning-minimum-log-level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
vector to list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 warning-prefix-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
vector-cells-consed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1163 warning-series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
vector-like objects, storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158 warning-suppress-log-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
Index 1249

warning-suppress-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976 window splitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

warning-type-format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976 window start position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974 window state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
watch, for filesystem events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107 window that satisfies a predicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
watchpoints for Lisp variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 window top line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
webkit browser widget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048 window tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
wheel-down event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 window use time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
wheel-up event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 window width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
when . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 window, a buffer display action alist entry . . . . . 638
where was a symbol defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 window-absolute-body-pixel-edges . . . . . . . . . 674
where-is-internal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 window-absolute-pixel-edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
while. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 window-absolute-pixel-position . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
while-no-input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 window-adjust-process-window-
while-no-input-ignore-events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 size-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940
whitespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 window-at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672
wholenump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 window-at-side-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
widen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 window-atom, a window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
widening. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754 window-atom-root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
width of a window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604 window-body-edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672
width, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705 window-body-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 window-body-pixel-edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
window (overlay property) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989 window-body-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
window auto-selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675 window-body-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
window body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603 window-bottom-divider-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028
window body height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 window-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
window body size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 window-child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
window body width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 window-combination-limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619, 620
window combination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 window-combination-resize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
window combination limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620 window-combined-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
window configuration (Edebug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 window-configuration-change-hook . . . . . . . . . 682
window configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676 window-configuration-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
window dividers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 window-configuration-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
window end position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662 window-current-scroll-bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026
window excursions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 window-dedicated-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
window header line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 window-display-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
window height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604 window-edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
window history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649 window-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
window in direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602 window-font-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
window internals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1184 window-font-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
window layout in a frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 window-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
window layout, all frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 window-fringes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
window manager interaction, and window-full-height-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
frame parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711 window-full-width-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
window order by time of last use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623 window-group-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
window ordering, cyclic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 window-group-end-function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
window parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 window-group-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
window pixel height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 window-group-start-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
window pixel width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 window-header-line-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484, 607
window point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660 window-height, a buffer display
window point internals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1186 action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636
window position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660, 671 window-hscroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
window position on display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702 window-id, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
window positions and window managers . . . . . . . 704 window-in-direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
window resizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 window-largest-empty-rectangle . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
window selected within a frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599 window-left-child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
window size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603 window-line-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
window size on display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705 window-lines-pixel-dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994
window size, changing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 window-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
Index 1250

window-live-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 window-total-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

window-main-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656 window-tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
window-make-atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659 window-use-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
window-margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034 window-valid-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
window-max-chars-per-line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 window-vscroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
window-min-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 window-width, a buffer display
window-min-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
window-min-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 windowp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
window-minibuffer-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 windows, controlling precisely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
window-mode-line-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 windows, recombining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
window-next-buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649 with-case-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
window-next-sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 with-coding-priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
window-parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 with-connection-local-profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
window-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 with-current-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
window-parameters, a buffer display with-current-buffer-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
action alist entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636 with-demoted-errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
window-parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 with-displayed-buffer-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
window-persistent-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679 with-eval-after-load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
window-pixel-edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673 with-file-modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
window-pixel-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 with-help-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
window-pixel-height-before-size-change . . . 605 with-local-quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
window-pixel-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605 with-mutex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917
window-pixel-width-before-size-change . . . . 605 with-no-warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
window-point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 with-output-to-string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
window-point-insertion-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 with-output-to-temp-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
window-preserve-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612 with-selected-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
window-preserved-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613 with-silent-modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588, 805
window-preserved-size, a with-syntax-table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680 with-temp-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
window-prev-buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649 with-temp-buffer-window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
window-prev-sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 with-temp-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
window-resizable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 with-temp-message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970
window-resize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 with-timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095
window-resize-pixelwise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 word-search-backward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867
window-right-divider-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028 word-search-backward-lax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867
window-scroll-bar-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026 word-search-forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866
window-scroll-bar-width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026 word-search-forward-lax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867
window-scroll-bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026 word-search-regexp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866
window-scroll-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681 words in region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
window-setup-hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 words-include-escapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
window-side, a window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 680 wrap-prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
write-abbrev-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911
window-sides-reversed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
write-char . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
window-sides-slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
write-contents-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
window-sides-vertical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
write-file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
window-size-change-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
write-file-functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
window-size-fixed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
write-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529, 545
window-slot, a window parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
write-region-annotate-functions . . . . . . . . . . . 567
window-start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
write-region-inhibit-fsync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
window-state-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
write-region-post-annotation-function . . . . 567
window-state-put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
writing a documentation string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
window-swap-states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
writing buffer display actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
window-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
writing emacs modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168
window-system-initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072
writing Emacs primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164
window-text-pixel-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
writing module functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170
window-toggle-side-windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
writing to files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
window-top-child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 wrong-number-of-arguments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
window-total-height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604 wrong-type-argument. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
window-total-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
Index 1251

X XBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037
X display names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 XML DOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
X Window System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065 XPM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038
x-alt-keysym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 xwidget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048
x-alternatives-map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198 xwidget-buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048
x-bitmap-file-path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000 xwidget-info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
x-close-connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687 xwidget-plist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048
x-color-defined-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735 xwidget-query-on-exit-flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
x-color-values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736 xwidget-resize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
x-ctrl-keysym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 xwidget-size-request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
x-defined-colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735 xwidget-webkit-execute-script . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
x-display-color-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738 xwidget-webkit-execute-script-rv . . . . . . . . 1049
x-display-list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 xwidget-webkit-get-title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
x-dnd-known-types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 xwidget-webkit-goto-uri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
x-dnd-test-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 xwidgetp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048
x-dnd-types-alist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
x-double-buffered-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
x-family-fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012 Y
x-focus-frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 y-or-n-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
x-get-resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 y-or-n-p-with-timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
x-gtk-use-system-tooltips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066 yank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
x-hyper-keysym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 yank suppression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
x-list-fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012 yank-excluded-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
x-meta-keysym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 yank-handled-properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
x-open-connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687 yank-pop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
x-parse-geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716 yank-undo-function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
x-pointer-shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 yanking and text properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
x-popup-dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
yes-or-no questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
x-popup-menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
yes-or-no-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
x-resource-class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
x-resource-name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
x-sensitive-text-pointer-shape . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
x-server-vendor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741 Z
x-server-version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740 z-group, a frame parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
x-setup-function-keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198 Z-order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
x-stretch-cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714 zerop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
x-super-keysym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 zlib-available-p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
X11 keysyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 zlib-decompress-region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824