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Specialized

§ 17.G: Getting Help in emacs

emacs is an ocean of opportunity whose surface we have just been skimming. Yet already you know enough to do a lot. There are many resources available if want to learn more, including "Coping With Unix" , " UNIXhelp for Users" , and the built-in emacs manual.

In recognition of our inate desire never to go to much trouble, emacs is also self-documenting. This means that it has it's own tutorial and internal help section. To enter the tutorial, enter the command

C-h t

    start emacs tutorial

Help with individual commands is accessed by the C-h command

C-h

    emacs help me

Once you type this command, your are a help session which will lead you along. Some of the help options are

C-h a string

    Searches commands for any that contain string
C-h c command

    Displays a brief description of command
C-h f function

    Describes a function
C-h k command

    more details than c

For example, you can search the help section for a description of the help section itself with the command C-h C-h. The C-h a string command is analogous to the man -k string command in Unix. It searches the data base for all matches to the string and tells you what it found. Try playing around with these for a little while now, it will pay off in the future when you are under time pressure.

Another kind of help emacs offers is a spell checker:

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