--- name: "xemacs" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "xemacs-support" version: "19.14-1" release: "Debian 1.3 (Bo)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/xemacs" --- # xemacs(1) Emacs: The Next Generation ## NAME xemacs - Emacs: The Next Generation ## SYNOPSIS **xemacs** \[ *command-line switches* \] \[ *files ...* \]\ ## DESCRIPTION *XEmacs* is a version of *Emacs*, compatible with and containing many improvements over *GNU* *Emacs*, written by Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation. It was originally based on an early release of *GNU Emacs Version* *19*, and has tracked subsequent releases of *GNU Emacs* as they have become available. The primary documentation of *XEmacs* is in the *XEmacs Reference* *Manual*, which you can read on line using Info, a subsystem of *XEmacs*. Please look there for complete and up-to-date documentation. Complete documentation on using Emacs Lisp is available on-line through the *XEmacs Lisp Programmer's* *Manual*. Both manuals also can be printed out nicely using the *TeX* formatting package. The user functionality of *XEmacs* encompasses everything other *Emacs* editors do, and it is easily extensible since its editing commands are written in Lisp. *XEmacs* has an extensive interactive help facility, but the facility assumes that you know how to manipulate *XEmacs* windows and buffers. CTRL-h enters the Help facility. Help Tutorial (CTRL-h t) requests an interactive tutorial which can teach beginners the fundamentals of *XEmacs* in a few minutes. Help Apropos (CTRL-h a) helps you find a command given its functionality, Help Key Binding (CTRL-h k) describes a given key sequence's effect, and Help Function (CTRL-h f) describes a given Lisp function specified by name. You can also lookup key sequences in the *XEmacs Reference Manual* using Lookup Key Binding (CTRL-h CTRL-k), and lookup Lisp functions in the *XEmacs Lisp Programmer's Manual* using Lookup Function (CTRL-h CTRL-f). All of these help functions, and more, are available on the Help menu if you are using a window system. *XEmacs* has extensive GUI (graphical user interface) support when running under a window system such as *X*, including multiple frames (top-level windows), a menubar, a toolbar, horizontal and vertical scrollbars, dialog boxes, and extensive mouse support. *XEmacs* has full support for multiple fonts and colors, variable-width fonts, and variable-height lines, and allows for pixmaps to be inserted into a buffer. (This is used in the W3 web-browsing package and in some of the debugger and outlining interfaces, among other things.) *XEmacs*'s Undo can undo several steps of modification to your buffers, so it is easy to recover from editing mistakes. *XEmacs*'s many special packages handle mail reading (VM, MH-E and RMail) and sending (Mail), Usenet news reading and posting (GNUS), World Wide Web browsing (W3), specialized modes for editing source code in all common programming languages, syntax highlighting for many languages (Font-Lock), compiling (Compile), running subshells within *XEmacs* windows (Shell), outline editing (Outline), running a Lisp read-eval-print loop (Lisp-Interaction-Mode), and automated psychotherapy (Doctor). There is an extensive reference manual, but users of other Emacsen should have little trouble adapting even without a copy. Users new to Emacs will be able to use basic features fairly rapidly by studying the tutorial and using the self-documentation features. XEmacs Options The following options are processed in the order encountered: - *file* Edit *file*. - **+***number* Go to the line specified by *number* (do not insert a space between the "+" sign and the number). - **-help** Print a help message and exit. - **-version** Print the version number and exit. - **-f** *function,* **-funcall** *function* Execute the lisp function *function*. - **-l** *file,* **-load** *file* Load the Lisp code in the file *file*. - **-eval** *form* Evaluate the Lisp form *form*. - **-insert** *file* Insert *file* into the current buffer. - **-kill** Exit *XEmacs* (useful with **-batch**). These options are processed only if they appear before all other options (and generally must be in the order given): - **-t** *file* Use specified *file* as the terminal instead of using stdin/stdout. This implies **-nw**. - **-batch** Edit in batch mode. The editor will send messages to stdout. You must use the **-l**, **-f**, and **-eval** options to specify files to execute and functions to call. - **-nw** Inhibit the use of any window-system-specific display code: use the current TTY. This must be the first argument specified in the command line. - **-debug-init** Enter the debugger if an error in the init file occurs. - **-unmapped** Do not map the initial frame. - **-no-site-file** Do not load the site-specific init file (site-init.el). - **-q, -no-init-file** Do not load an init file. - **-u** *user,* **-user** *user* Load *user*'s init file. Using XEmacs with X *XEmacs* has been tailored to work well with the X window system. If you run *XEmacs* from under X windows, it will create its own X window to display in. You will probably want to start the editor as a background process so that you can continue using your original window. *XEmacs* can be started with the following X switches: - **-geometry** *##x##+##+##* Specify the geometry of the initial window. The ##'s represent a number; the four numbers are width (characters), height (characters), X offset (pixels), and Y offset (pixels), respectively. Partial specifications of the form *##x##* or *+##+##* are also allowed. (The geometry specification is in the standard X format; see *X*(1) for more information.) - **-iconic** Specifies that the initial window should initially appear iconified. - **-name** *name* Specifies the program name which should be used when looking up defaults in the user's X resources. - **-title** *title,* **-T** *title,* **-wn** *title* Specifies the title which should be assigned to the *XEmacs* window. - **-d** *displayname,* **-display** *displayname* Create the *XEmacs* window on the display specified by *displayname*. Must be the first option specified in the command line. - **-font** *font,* **-fn** *font* Set the *XEmacs* window's font to that specified by *font*. You will find the various *X* fonts in the */usr/lib/X11/fonts* directory. *XEmacs* works with either fixed- or variable-width fonts, but will probably look better with a fixed-width font. - **-scrollbar-width** *pixels* Specify the width of the vertical scrollbars. - **-scrollbar-height** *pixels* Specify the height of the horizontal scrollbars. - **-bw** *pixels,* **-borderwidth** *pixels* Set the *XEmacs* window's border width to the number of pixels specified by *pixels*. Defaults to one pixel on each side of the window. - **-ib** *pixels,* **-internal-border-width** *pixels* Specify the width between a frame's border and its text, in pixels. Defaults to one pixel on each side of the window. - **-fg** *color,* **-foreground** *color* Sets the color of the text. See the file */usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt* for a list of valid color names. - **-bg** *color,* **-background** *color* Sets the color of the window's background. - **-bd** *color,* **-bordercolor** *color* Sets the color of the window's border. - **-mc** *color* Sets the color of the mouse pointer. - **-cr** *color* Sets the color of the text cursor. - **-rv, -reverse** Reverses the foreground and background colors (reverse video). Consider explicitly setting the foreground and background colors instead of using this option. - **-xrm** *argument* This allows you to set an arbitrary resource on the command line. *argument* should be a resource specification, as might as in your *.Xresources* or *.Xdefaults* file. You can also set resources, i.e. *X* default values, for your *XEmacs* windows in your *.Xresources* or *.Xdefaults* file (see [*xrdb*(1)](/xrdb/1.md)). Use the following format: - Emacs.keyword:value or - Emacs\*EmacsFrame.keyword:value where *value* specifies the default value of *keyword*. (Some resources need the former format; some the latter.) You can also set resources for a particular frame by using the format - Emacs\*framename.keyword:value where *framename* is the resource name assigned to that particular frame. (Certain packages, such as VM, give their frames unique resource names, in this case "VM".) *XEmacs* lets you set default values for the following keywords: - **default.attributeFont (class Face.AttributeFont)** Sets the window's text font. - **default.attributeForeground (class Face.AttributeForeground)** Sets the window's text color. - **default.attributeBackground (class Face.AttributeBackground)** Sets the window's background color. - ***face*.attributeFont (*class* Face.AttributeFont)** Sets the font for *face*, which should be the name of a face. Common face names are FACE PURPOSE\ default Normal text.\ bold Bold text.\ italic Italicized text.\ bold-italic Bold and italicized text.\ modeline Modeline text.\ zmacs-region Text selected with the mouse.\ highlight Text highlighted when the mouse passes over.\ left-margin Text in the left margin.\ right-margin Text in the right margin.\ isearch Text highlighted during incremental search.\ info-node Text of Info menu items.\ info-xref Text of Info cross references. - ***face*.attributeForeground (*class* Face.AttributeForeground)** Sets the foreground color for *face*. - ***face*.attributeBackground (*class* Face.AttributeBackground)** Sets the background color for *face*. - ***face*.attributeBackgroundPixmap (*class* Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap)** Sets the background pixmap (stipple) for *face*. - ***face*.attributeUnderline (*class* Face.AttributeUnderline)** Whether *face* should be underlined. - **reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)** If set to *on*, the window will be displayed in reverse video. Consider explicitly setting the foreground and background colors instead of using this resources. - **borderWidth (class BorderWidth)** Sets the window's border width in pixels. - **internalBorderWidth (class InternalBorderWidth)** Sets the window's internal border width in pixels. - **borderColor (class BorderColor)** Sets the color of the window's border. - **cursorColor (class Foreground)** Sets the color of the window's text cursor. - **pointerColor (class Foreground)** Sets the color of the window's mouse cursor. - **geometry (class Geometry)** Sets the geometry of the *XEmacs* window (as described above). - **iconic (class Iconic)** If set to on, the *XEmacs* window will initially appear as an icon. - **menubar (class Menubar)** Whether the *XEmacs* window will have a menubar. Defaults to true. - **initiallyUnmapped (class InitiallyUnmapped)** Whether *XEmacs* will leave the initial frame unmapped when it starts up. - **barCursor (class BarCursor)** Whether the cursor should be a bar instead of the traditional box. - **title (class Title)** Sets the title of the *XEmacs* window. - **iconName (class Title)** Sets the icon name for the *XEmacs* window icon. - **scrollBarWidth (class ScrollBarWidth)** Sets the width of the vertical scrollbars, in pixels. A width of 0 means no vertical scrollbars. - **scrollBarHeight (class ScrollBarHeight)** Sets the height of the horizontal scrollbars, in pixels. A height of 0 means no horizontal scrollbars. - **scrollBarPlacement (class ScrollBarPlacement)** Sets the position of vertical and horizontal scrollbars. Should be one of the strings "top-left", "bottom-left", "top-right", or "bottom-right". The default is "bottom-right" for the Motif and Lucid scrollbars and "buttom-left" for the Athena scrollbars. - **topToolBarHeight (class TopToolBarHeight)** Sets the height of the top toolbar, in pixels. 0 means no top toolbar. - **bottomToolBarHeight (class BottomToolBarHeight)** Sets the height of the bottom toolbar, in pixels. 0 means no bottom toolbar. - **leftToolBarWidth (class LeftToolBarWidth)** Sets the width of the left toolbar, in pixels. 0 means no left toolbar. - **rightToolBarWidth (class RightToolBarWidth)** Sets the width of the right toolbar, in pixels. 0 means no right toolbar. - **topToolBarShadowColor (class TopToolBarShadowColor)** Sets the color of the top shadows for the toolbars. (For all toolbars, **not** just the toolbar at the top of the frame.) - **bottomToolBarShadowColor (class BottomToolBarShadowColor)** Sets the color of the bottom shadows for the toolbars. (For all toolbars, **not** just the toolbar at the bottom of the frame.) - **topToolBarShadowPixmap (class TopToolBarShadowPixmap)** Sets the pixmap of the top shadows for the toolbars. (For all toolbars, **not** just the toolbar at the top of the frame.) If set, this resource overrides the corresponding color resource. - **bottomToolBarShadowPixmap (class BottomToolBarShadowPixmap)** Sets the pixmap of the bottom shadows for the toolbars. (For all toolbars, **not** just the toolbar at the bottom of the frame.) If set, this resource overrides the corresponding color resource. - **toolBarShadowThickness (class ToolBarShadowThickness)** Thickness of the shadows around the toolbars, in pixels. - **visualBell (class VisualBell)** Whether XEmacs should flash the screen rather than making an audible beep. - **bellVolume (class BellVolume)** Volume of the audible beep. Range is 0 through 100. - **useBackingStore (class UseBackingStore)** Whether *XEmacs* should set the backing-store attribute of the *X* windows it creates. This increases the memory usage of the *X* server but decreases the amount of *X* traffic necessary to update the screen, and is useful when the connection to the *X* server goes over a low-bandwidth line such as a modem connection. - **textPointer (class Cursor)** The cursor to use when the mouse is over text. - **selectionPointer (class Cursor)** The cursor to use when the mouse is over a mouse-highlighted text region. - **spacePointer (class Cursor)** The cursor to use when the mouse is over a blank space in a buffer (that is, after the end of a line or after the end-of-file). - **modeLinePointer (class Cursor)** The cursor to use when the mouse is over a mode line. - **gcPointer (class Cursor)** The cursor to display when a garbage-collection is in progress. - **scrollbarPointer (class Cursor)** The cursor to use when the mouse is over the scrollbar. - **pointerColor (class Foreground)** The foreground color of the mouse cursor. - **pointerBackground (class Background)** The background color of the mouse cursor. Using the Mouse The following lists the mouse button bindings for the *XEmacs* window under X11. MOUSE BUTTON FUNCTION\ left Set point or make a text selection.\ middle Paste text.\ right Pop up a menu of options.\ SHIFT-left Extend a selection.\ CTRL-left Make a selection and insert it at point.\ CTRL-middle Set point and move selected text there.\ CTRL-SHIFT-left Make a selection, delete it, and insert it at point.\ META-left Make a rectangular selection. ## FILES /usr/info - files for the Info documentation browser (a subsystem of *XEmacs*) to refer to. The complete text of the *XEmacs Reference Manual* and the *XEmacs Lisp Programmer's Manual* is included in a convenient tree structured form. /usr/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/info - the Info files may be here instead. /usr/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/src - C source files and object files. (May not be present.) /usr/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/lisp/\* - Lisp source files and compiled files that define most editing commands. The files are contained in subdirectories, categorized by function or individual package. Some are preloaded; others are autoloaded from these directories when used. /usr/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/etc - some files of information, pixmap files, other data files used by certain packages, etc. /usr/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/$CONFIGURATION - various programs that are used with XEmacs. /usr/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/$CONFIGURATION/DOC-$VERSION-XEmacs - contains the documentation strings for the Lisp primitives and preloaded Lisp functions of *XEmacs*. They are stored here to reduce the size of *XEmacs* proper. /usr/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/etc/SERVICE - lists people offering various services to assist users of *XEmacs*, including education, troubleshooting, porting and customization. /var/lib/xemacs/lock - holds lock files that are made for all files being modified in *XEmacs*, to prevent simultaneous modification of one file by two users. /usr/lib/xemacs/site-lisp, /usr/local/lib/xemacs/site-lisp - locally-provided Lisp files. /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt - list of valid X color names. ## BUGS AND HELP There is a newsgroup, comp.emacs.xemacs, for reporting *XEmacs* bugs and fixes and requesting help. But before reporting something as a bug, please try to be sure that it really is a bug, not a misunderstanding or a deliberate feature. We ask you to read the section \`\`Reporting XEmacs Bugs'' near the end of the reference manual (or Info system) for hints on how and when to report bugs. Also, include the version number of the *XEmacs* you are running and the system you are running it on in *every* bug report that you send in. Finally, the more you can isolate the cause of a bug and the conditions it happens under, the more likely it is to be fixed, so please take the time to do so. The newsgroup is bidirectionally gatewayed to and from the mailing list xemacs@xemacs.org. You can read the list instead of the newsgroup if you do not have convenient Usenet news access. To request to be added to the mailing list, send mail to xemacs-request@xemacs.org. (Do not send mail to the list itself.) The *XEmacs* maintainers read the newsgroup regularly and will attempt to fix bugs reported in a timely fashion. However, not every message will get a response from one of the maintainers. Note that there are many people other than the maintainers who read the newsgroup, and will usually be of assistance in helping with any problems encountered. If you need more personal assistance than can be provided by the newsgroup, look in the SERVICE file (see above) for a list of people who offer it. For more information about XEmacs mailing lists, see the file /usr/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/etc/MAILINGLISTS. ## UNRESTRICTIONS *XEmacs* is free; anyone may redistribute copies of *XEmacs* to anyone under the terms stated in the *XEmacs* General Public License, a copy of which accompanies each copy of *XEmacs* and which also appears in the reference manual. Copies of *XEmacs* may sometimes be received packaged with distributions of Unix systems, but it is never included in the scope of any license covering those systems. Such inclusion violates the terms on which distribution is permitted. In fact, the primary purpose of the General Public License is to prohibit anyone from attaching any other restrictions to redistribution of *XEmacs*. ## SEE ALSO X(1), [xlsfonts(1)](/xlsfonts/1.md), [xterm(1)](/xterm/1.md), [xrdb(1)](/xrdb/1.md), [emacs(1)](/emacs/1.md), [vi(1)](/vi/1.md) ## AUTHORS *XEmacs* was written by Chuck Thompson \, Ben Wing \, Jamie Zawinski \, Richard Mlynarik \, and many others. It was based on an early version of *GNU Emacs Version* *19*, written by Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation, and has tracked subsequent releases of *GNU Emacs* as they have become available. It was originally written by Lucid, Inc. (now defunct) and was called *Lucid* *Emacs*. Chuck Thompson wrote the *XEmacs* redisplay engine, maintains the *XEmacs* FTP and WWW sites, and has put out all releases of *XEmacs* since 19.11 (the first release called *XEmacs*). Ben Wing wrote the Asian-language support, the on-line documentation (including this man page and much of the FAQ), the external widget code, and retooled or rewrote most of the basic, low-level *XEmacs* subsystems. Jamie Zawinski put out all releases of *Lucid* *Emacs*, from the first (19.0) through the last (19.10), and was the primary code contributor for all of these releases. Richard Mlynarik rewrote the *XEmacs* Lisp-object allocation system, improved the keymap and minibuffer code, and did the initial synching of *XEmacs* with *GNU Emacs Version* *19*. Many others have also contributed significantly. For more detailed information, including a long history of *XEmacs* from multiple viewpoints and pretty pictures and bios of the major *XEmacs* contributors, see the *XEmacs About Page* (the About XEmacs option on the Help menu). ## MORE INFORMATION For more information about *XEmacs*, see the *XEmacs About Page* (mentioned above), look in the file /usr/lib/xemacs-$VERSION/etc/NEWS, or point your Web browser at http://www.xemacs.org/ for up-to-the-minute information about *XEmacs*. The *XEmacs* FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) can be found at the Web site just listed. A possibly out-of-date version is also accessible through the Info system inside of *XEmacs*. The latest version of *XEmacs* can be downloaded using anonymous FTP from ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/ or from a mirror site near you. Here is an approximate (possibly out-of-date) list of mirror sites: ftp://ftp.ai.mit.edu/pub/xemacs/\ ftp://ftp.uu.net/systems/gnu/xemacs/\ ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/gnu/xemacs/\ ftp://ftp.cenatls.cena.dgac.fr/pub/Emacs/xemacs/\ ftp://liasun3.epfl.ch/pub/gnu/xemacs/\ ftp://ftp.th-darmstadt.de/pub/editors/xemacs/\ ftp://audrey.levels.unisa.edu.au/xemacs/\ ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/gnu/xemacs/\ ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/emacs/xemacs/\ ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/packages/xemacs/\ ftp://ftp.technion.ac.il/pub/unsupported/gnu/xemacs/\ ftp://thphys.irb.hr/pub/xemacs/ See the Web site for an up-to-date list of mirror sites.