Below we list a few important commands and how to activate them.
- Cut/Copy/Paste
These commands follow Unix/X11 traditions. You're best suited with a
three-button mouse. After selecting using the left-mouse (double-click
uses word-mode and triple line-mode), the selected text is
automatically copied to the clipboard (X11 primary selection on
Unix). Cut is achieved using the DEL key or by
typing something else at the location. Paste is achieved using
the middle-mouse (or wheel) button. If you don't have a middle-mouse
button, pressing the left- and right-button at the same time is
interpreted as a middle-button click. If nothing helps, there is the Edit/Paste
menu entry. Text is pasted at the caret location.
- Undo
Undo is bound to the GNU-Emacs Control-_ as well as the
MS-Windows
Control-Z sequence.
- Abort
Multi-key sequences can be aborted at any stage using Control-G.
- Find
Find (Search) is started using Control-S (forward) or
Control-R (backward). PceEmacs implements incremental
search. This is difficult to use for novices, but very powerful
once you get the clue. After one of the above start keys, the system
indicates search mode in the status line. As you are typing the search
string, the system searches for it, extending the search with every
character you type. It illustrates the current match using a green
background.
If the target cannot be found, PceEmacs warns you and no longer
extends the search string.47GNU-Emacs
keeps extending the string, but why? Adding more text will not make it
match. During search, some characters have special meaning.
Typing anything but these characters commits the search, re-starting
normal edit mode. Special commands are:
Control-S- Search forwards for next.
Control-R- Search backwards for next.
Control-W- Extend search to next word boundary.
Control-G- Cancel search, go back to where it started.
ESC- Commit search, leaving caret at found location.
Backspace- Remove a character from the search string.
- Dynamic Abbreviation
Also called dabbrev, dynamic abbreviation is an important
feature of Emacs clones to support programming. After typing the first
few letters of an identifier, you may press Alt-/, causing
PceEmacs to search backwards for identifiers that start the same and use
it to complete the text you typed. A second Alt-/ searches
further backwards. If there are no hits before the caret, it starts
searching forwards. With some practice, this system allows for entering
code very fast with nice and readable identifiers (or other difficult
long words).
- Open (a file)
Is called File/Find file (Control-x Control-f).
By default the file is loaded into the current window. If you want to
keep this window, press Alt-s or click the little icon at
the bottom left to make the window sticky.
- Split view
Sometimes you want to look at two places in the same file. To do this,
use Control-x 2 to create a new window pointing to the same
file. Do not worry, you can edit as well as move around in both.
Control-x 1 kills all other windows running on the same
file.
These are the most commonly used commands. In
section 3.4.3 we
discuss specific support for dealing with Prolog source code.
