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I'm new to emacs and using Spacemacs Doom. I pressed SPC f r t of find recent files and I used the arrow keys to select the one I want. Now I want to see what options I have for opening it (open in vertical split, new frame, etc).

How can I see what options I have?

I've heard of emacs great built-in help system, but I'm struggling to understand how to use it as there doesn't seem to be one built-in hotkey to say "I'm not sure what to do next"

To clarify:

I'm in a default Spacemacs setup. I'm now in a Doom setup, but am having the same problem.

I have pressed SPC f r t of find recent files. Now, there is a mapping of keys to actions. E.g. Enter → open file, Shift+Enter → open file in new split, etc

What hotkey can I press to see that mapping?

If there is no hotkey, what emacs command can I run to see that mapping?

Zaz
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  • There are no such options for opening a file: setting up a window/frame and opening a file are orthogonal and independent actions. You arrange a frame or a window the way you want and then open a file in *that* frame (or *that* window). Check out the `File` menu entry for some common actions. It is quite possible of course to extend Emacs and add such capabilities: but they don't necessarily exist out of the box. – NickD May 10 '23 at 21:20
  • @NickD: To give a specific example, Shift + Enter opens the file in a split. How am I supposed to discover that? – Zaz May 10 '23 at 21:27
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    Do `C-h c S-RET` to find out what command is bound to it. Then do `C-h f ` to find out about that command. Do `C-h i g(emacs)RET i ` to read about it in the manual. As for discovering it, I'm not sure what `spacemacs` provides in the way of tutorials: in vanilla Emacs, you learn about these things either by reading the manual (if you are inclined that way) or by running the Emacs tutorial (`C-h t`) or reading/viewing some other tutorial (there's lots of them on YouTube e.g.) – NickD May 10 '23 at 22:41
  • Too vague......... – Drew May 11 '23 at 03:05
  • Thank you both. I clarified my question. @NickD: If you're sure there's nothing I can press to see what options I have, feel free to make your comment an answer. – Zaz May 12 '23 at 05:40
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    I am not at all sure of that, so let's wait for a Spacemacs expert to chime in: from what you say in your edit, it may well be that `SPC f r` is a prefix key in Spacemacs, in which case Emacs has the capability of presenting the defined keys in that map (e.g by pressing `C-h`). Whether that (i.e. the prefix surmise) is true in Spacemacs and whether `C-h` will work to show the defined keys I don't know, but it's worth trying. But even if `C-h` does not work, there might be another key that does the same thing in Spacemacs. – NickD May 12 '23 at 13:11

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