Emacs Stack Exchange
Emacs Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [help]

Questions about using the built-in help system in Emacs or how to find help.

175 questions
68
votes
10 answers

How can I start learning Emacs Lisp?

Background: I'm mostly a vi user and am converting to Emacs. Past the basics and now use it for writing code in C and some Python with plans to do an R conversion too. I wrote (Common) LISP for years over two decades ago when I was in grad school…
user1172468
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43
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1 answer

What is the difference between a function and a command?

When posting questions and answers here, people sometimes use the terms "function" and "command" interchangeably. In other cases, people only use one of the two terms to discuss specific pieces of code. As their posts usually focus on other topics,…
itsjeyd
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21
votes
2 answers

Emacs manuals are missing on Debian/Ubuntu

I was expecting the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual at (C-h i m elisp). But there was no menu elisp or lisp there. C-h v and C-h f work fine for variables or functions though. C-h i 5 takes me to file permissions. What other binding is standard to find…
Pierre B
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14
votes
5 answers

Is there a command `describe-command', similar to command `describe-function'?

I use C-h f heavily, but this is all functions in Emacs. I'm often only interested in interactive functions, i.e. commands. Is there an equivalent for commands? Ideally I'd like ido completion too.
Wilfred Hughes
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12
votes
3 answers

If I know a keybinding/shortcut, how to get the corresponding function?

I want to use the function to switch to other window when there are only 2 windows in emacs. I know that the shortcut is C-x o, but I don't know which function that shortcut calls. How do I determine the mapping between shortcut and function?
Daniel Wu
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11
votes
3 answers

How can I have multiple *Help* buffers with different content?

Using C-h f and C-h v shows usefull help. Sometimes I want to compare information. So it would be useful to have more than one *Help* buffer, with different content, visible at the same time. But always when using the shortcuts the content of the…
jue
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8
votes
2 answers

Change focus to *Help* buffer after running describe-mode

When I type C-h m for describe-mode the frame splits into two windows with the current buffer on top and the *Help* buffer below. But the focus stays in the current buffer, so I usually have to type C-x o to move focus to the *Help* buffer, and then…
Håkon Hægland
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8
votes
1 answer

How to discover (standard) function names?

When programing emacs (or common) lisp, how to discover (standard) function names (using emacs and working offline)? Example: Let's say you want to shift bits of an integer, but you don't now the name of the function, which can do this…
jue
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8
votes
4 answers

How can I look up help for a key sequence that I can't type

I know that I can look up help for a key sequence using C-h k , but I use Emacs in the terminal, and my terminal emulator doesn't pass all key sequences through to Emacs. Sometimes I'll see the notation for a given key sequence written…
asmeurer
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8
votes
2 answers

Why does GNU Emacs use ksi(ξ) as its logo?

Why does GNU Emacs use ksi(ξ) as its logo, while most Lisp dialects use lambda(λ) as their logos? not mean this one:
cmal
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8
votes
1 answer

How do I create a button in Emacs?

I'm trying to create *Help* buffers in Emacs, documenting functions defined in other languages. I can create a simple help buffer easily: (defun wh/help-hello-world () (interactive) (with-help-window (help-buffer) (princ "foo_bar is a…
Wilfred Hughes
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8
votes
1 answer

How to describe a key sequence that starts with `C-u`?

I am trying to use C-h k to describe the function to which a key is bound. But when I use it with a key chord like C-u C-e C-x it retrieves the documentation for C-u before I can finish typing the chord. What is the correct way to describe this type…
lookyhooky
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7
votes
3 answers

lazy find/search for commands within emacs

Is there a way to do a lazy find/search within EMACS, for commands using their description? Something in the lines of: Say I am looking for how to add indent to org mode I suspect there is a commands for it I would like to type "org" and "indent"…
Pandian Le
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7
votes
2 answers

How to view package Full Description (commentary section) inside Emacs

I'm looking for a way to visualize inside Emacs the Full Description of a package as shown in Elpa index page. For example the undo-tree package has a nice and comprehensive help page/description embedded in its source code which is fully shown in…
Alexandro de Oliveira
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7
votes
2 answers

How can I find out exactly what my modeline is telling me?

I'd like to know exactly what my modeline is telling me and how it's derived. Right now, if I'm working with a graphical terminal I can hover over each modeline entry in turn, and if I'm lucky, a tooltip will pop up; obviously, this won't work in a…
Saint Aardvark the Carpeted
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