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SERIES 60 (LEVEL 68)
EMACS TEXT EDITOR
USERS' GUIDE
SUBJECT
Tutorial Introduction to the Emacs Text Editor, Full Description of the Editing
Requests Available, and Instructions for Using Special Features of Emacs
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS
This manual presupposes some basic knowledge of the Multics system provided
by the two-volume set, New Users' Introduction to Multics. Some of the prelimi-
nary information covered in that set is summarized briefly here, however, so
that users at any level of experience can comprehend the techniques presented
in this manual.
SOFI'WARE SUPPORTED
Multics Software Release 8.0
ORDER NUMBER
CH27-00 December 1979
Honeywell
PREFACE
This book is a detailed description of the Multics Emacs
text editor, a real-time editing and formatting system designed
for use on video terminals. It is intended for - users; both
all
those who have relatively little experience on the Multics
operating system (or any other computer system) and experienced
programmers will find this a complete description. Users are,
however, expected to be familiar with the Multics concepts
described in the 2-volume set, New Userst Introduction to Multics
-- Part I (order No. CH24), and -- Part I1 (Order =.CH25),
referred to in this manual as New Users' Introduction.
Although Multics Emacs is easily used by technically
inexperienced people, those with some programming experience can
utilize it even more effectively by writing their own extensions.
Examples of supplied extensions are the Emacs message subsystem
and the various language modes, described in Appendices B and C
of this manual. Information about extensions and instructions
1 3,)
for writing them are provided in the Emacs Extension Writers'
Guide, Order No. CJ52, which is referred to in this book as
Extension Writerst Guide.
Many video terminal types are supported by Emacs, as
supplied. Information on how to support additional terminal
types is also available in the Extension Writers' Guide. It is
recommended that at least one person at your site have a copy;
someone should also b e familiar with the Emacs installatlon
information.
The term "fileu is used interchangeably with "segment1' in
this manual, since many of the editing requests have the word
"fileftas part of their command names.
@ Honeywell Information Systems Inc. , 1979 File No. : 1 1 3
1
CH27-00 .A
The sections of this manual fully describe the Emacs editor
and explain the steps required to edit effectively any type of
< user text. In general, the basic techniques are explained first;
1-
. more powerful or efficient requests are introduced as you proceed
through this book. The first sixteen sections are tutorial;
Section 17 summarizes, by editing function, all the Fundamental
mode requests, including both those described in the tutorial and
some additional requests that are used less frequently.
Section 1 is a brief introduction.
Section 2 describes how to begin: using the terminal,
logging into the Multics system, and entering the Multics
environment.
Section 3 tells how to enter text, move the cursor, make
simple corrections, and log out.
Section 4 describes a few requests for deleting text and
retrieving deleted text.
Section 5 explains how to read and write files (segments).
((.-
Section 6 describes some simple search requests for locating
character strings.
Section 7 introduces requests for manipulating blocks of
texts.
Section 8 describes numeric arguments and various other ways
to reexecute editing requests.
Section 9 defines an Emacs uword'l and describes the requests
that operate on words.
Section 1 deals with screens and buffers, telling
0 how to
display different areas of the buffer on your screen, how to
switch buffers, list them, and delete them.
iii
Section 1 1 includes the help facilities available on Emacs.
The editor is completely documented online, so information is
always available during editing. \
, T7
' ./I
Section 12 defines Emacs sentences and paragraphs, and
describes requests that operate on them.
Section 13 includes many requests for handling white space,
indentation, and formatting.
Section 1 gives more information on manipulating blocks of
4
text, inserting files, and using named regions and marks.
Section 15 describes keyboard macros that can easily be
created to perform. special editing tasks.
Section 16 describes the use of multiple windows, the window
editor, and the buffer editor.
Section 1 contains descriptions of all the Fundamental mode
7
requests, arranged by function.
-.) )
Appendix A documents the emacs command and lists,
alphabetically, all the Fundamental mode requests.
Appendix B describes the Emacs mail mode for sending and
reading electronic mail.
Appendix C describes the Emacs programming language modes
and their requests, which are tailored for use in writing and
editing programs in Lisp, FORTRAN, PL/I, and ALM.
Appendix D describes the Macro Edit mode for editing
keyboard macros.
Appendix E gives instructions for using Emacs on printing
and glass teletype terminals.
Appendix F describes the Emacs message facility for
accepting and responding to interactive messages.
Appendix G details how to write an Emacs start-up to
customize the environment automatically each time Emacs is
entered.
iL
Appendix H describes pop-up-windows mode, which dynamically
creates and removes windows as they are needed.
One other manual referred to in this book is the
Multics Programmers' Manual (MPM)-Commands and Active Functions,
Order No. AG92. It is referred to as the ~ P M o m m a n d s .
Multics Emacs was modelled after the EMACS editor at the MIT
Artificial Intelligence Lab. EMACS (on the A1 Lab PDP-10's) was
written, in TECO, by staff, members of the MIT A1 Lab and the
( N I T ) Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS), without whose
encouragement and support this project wouxd not have been
possible.
CONTENTS
Page
Section 1 Introduction... .
........... 1-1
Section 2 Getting Started . .
.....
The Terminal . .
.....
The Screen . .
.....
The Keyboard . . . . . .
Control Key . . . . .
Escape Key . . .
Linefeed Key . . . .
Delete Key . . . . .
Carriage Return Key .
The Modem . . . . . . .
Technical Requirements .
Logging In . . . . . . . .
Invoking the emacs Command
The Initial Display ..
Summary of Terms ..
Section 3 Entering Text and Simple Cursor Movements
Typing in Text ............
Editing with Emacs Requests ......
Correcting Typing Errors with Emacs
. . .
The Erase Character ( # )
The Delete Key (\177) ......
The Kill Character ( @ ).....
Moving the Cursor ...........
Getting to the Right Line
A
.....
Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
Moving Within the Line . . . . . . .
AF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
AB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Getting Back to the Right Line . . .
AN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Ends of the Line . . . . ...
AA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.,
...............
Getting Stopped . . . . . . . . . . . .
A~
Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Exiting from the Editor . . . . . .
"xAc . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Summary of Terms . . . . . . . .
Logging Out . . . . . .
CONTENTS (cont)
Page
Section 4 Simple Deleting and Killing ....... 41
-
DeletingCharacters .......... 41
-
Deleting One Character at a Time
"D
.. 4-2
4-2
. . . ........
e . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deleting Lines 4-2
"K ..... . . ........ 4-2
Retrieving Killed Lines . . . 4-2
.
The Kill Ring . . ........ 4-2
Summary of Terms . 4-4
Yanking Text Back .... ..... 4-4
.Y ..... ..... ..... 4-4
More about ^K..... ..... 4-5
Section 5 Writing and Reading Piles . 5-1
Writing a File Out . . . . . ..... 5-1
"XAW .............. 5-1
Is Your New File Really There?
Reading a File In ............
... 5-2
5-2
"XAF .............. 5-3
Counting the Lines in a File .... 5-3
"X=. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3
Saving (~ewriting) File .
a . . 5-5
AXAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5
Additional Notes on Writing Piles . . . 5-5
Access Restrictions . . . 5-5
The Default Pathname with ^XAW . .
. 5-5
Summary of Terms . . . . . . . . 5-6
Section 6 Locating a Sequence of Characters . . . . 6-1
Searching Forward. . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
"S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Getting Out of Trouble
"G . . . . . . . . 6-2
.....
^XAG. "Z^G. and ESC " G 6-3
Searching Backward . . . 6-3
"R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
General Rules for Searching . . . . . . 6-4
Locating and Replacing Strings
Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4
ESC $. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4
Section 7 Working with Blocks of Text . . . . . . . 7 1-
Marking a Region . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
Setting the Mark . . . . . . . . . . 7 1
A @ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2.-
Exchanging the Mark and the Point . 7-3
"XAX ..............
Deleting a Region
........... 7-3
7-3
"W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3
Yanking a Region Back ....... 7-3
vii CH27-00
CONTENTS (cont)
Page
ESCY .............. 7-4
Summary of Terms ........ 7-4
Section 8 Repeating Requests . . . . . . . . . . . .
Numeric Arguments . . . . . . . . . . .
Requests'Accepting Numeric
Arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Numeric Arguments with Regular
Characters . . . . . . . . . . . .
Reexecuting a Request . . . . . . . . . .
"n
b ...............
Multiple Executions of a Request
"TT
...
Going to a Specific Line Number . . . . 8-4-
ESCG .............. 8-4
Section 9 Workingwith Words ............
What's in a W o r d ...........
Moving Forward and Backward ......
ESC F ..............
ESC B ..............
Deleting Words .............
ESC # ..............
ESC \177 ............
ESC D ..............
Capitalization ............
ESC L. ESC U. ESC C . .....
Changing the Case of Regions
. .
"XAL. "xAu . . . . . . . . . . .
Underliningwords . . . . . . . . . . .
ESC - . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
AZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
~ocating-Words . . . . . . . . . . . .
AXW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Locating Words by Their Prefix
with * . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Section 10 Manipulating Screens and Buffers . . . . . 1 -01
Moving Through a Buffer Screen By
Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 -01
^V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - 01
E S C V . . . . . . . . . . . . . -10-1
Moving to Either End of a Buffer . . 10-2
E S C <. . . . . . . . . . . . . - 1 0 - 2
E S C >. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 - 2
Editing More than One Buffer . . 10-2
Going from One Buffer to Another . . 10-3
"XB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 0-3
Listing the Buffers and Local
Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4
viii CH27-00
CONTENTS (cont)
Page
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4
A X A ~
The Linefeed Key and ^J . . . . . 10-4
A Garbled Screen . . . . . . . . . . . 10-5
"L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-5
Markine an Entire Buffer . . . . . . . 10-5
XH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-6
Killing an Entire Buffer . . 10-6
"XK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . -10-6
Summary of Terms . . 10-6
Section 1 1 Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What Does This Key Do? . . . . . . . .
ESC ? . . . . . . . . . . '. . . .
Extended Requests . . . . . . . . . . .
ESC X . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What Keys Do This Job? . . . . . . . .
apropos . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What Does This Extended Request Do? . .
describe . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tangible Help . . . . . . . . . . . .
make-wall-chart . . . . . . . .
More Help and What Did I Just Do?
"
...
Section 12 Sentences and Paragraphs . . . . . . . . .
Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Moving Forward or Backward by
Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ESC A . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ESC E . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Killing Sentences . . . . . . . . .
.X# . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
^~\177 . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
ESC K . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Moving Forward or Backward by
Paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . .
ESC 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ESC . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Marking a Paragraph . . . . . . . .
ESC H..... . . .... ...
Formatting a Paragraph
ESC Q..... . . ....
.... ...
...
Section 13 Indentation and Spacing
BlankLines . . . . .
.
. .
. ....
.... .
. .
. . 13-1
. 1'3-1
Adding Them . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-1
...... . . . . . . . . . 13-1
Removing Them . . . . . . . . . . .
^xAo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-1
13-2
CONTENTS (cont)
Page
Dealing with White Space on a Line
Spacing Over Indentation .
..
13-2
13-2
ESCM .. 1 3 - 2
Deleting White Space . 13-2
ESC\
ESCA
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.......
. 1 3-2
.......
-13-3
Pill Mode.. . . . . . ........
13-4
Esc X fillon and Esc X filloff 13-4 .
Margins ... . . .
........ . 13-5 .
.......
setting the Margins 13-5 .
"X ............... 13-5 .
AXE' . . . . . . . . 13-5 .
.........
Centering a Line 13-6 .
ESCS ............. . I 3-6
..
More About Lines and White Space 13-6 .
. . . . . . . .
Shearing a Line 13-6 .
ESC "0 ............ 13-6 .
.
Undenting to the Fill Prefix 13-7
ESC ^I ............ 13-7 .
Indentation ............. 13-7 .
ESCI ............. -13-7
......
ESC Carriage Return 13-8 .
........
Two-Column Format 13-9 .
.......
Summary of terms 13-9 .
Section 14 Moving Blocks of Text . . . . . .. . .. . 14-1
Inserting an Entire File
.. . 14-1
^XI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-1
Copying a Region . . . . . . . . 14-2
ESCW ......... . 14-2
Selecting and Joining Text on the
Kill Ring ........ . . . 14-2
ESC "W ........ . 14-2
Named Regions ........ . 14-2
Storing the Region to a Variable . . 14-2
&XX . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
Inserting a Variable
..........
... .
14-3
14-3
"xG
Listing Your Variables
Esc X lvars ...... .. 14-3
14-3
Named Marks . . . . 14-3
Setting a Named Mark . . .. .. .. ... .. .. 14-4
" z A @. . . . . . . . 14-4
Going to a Named Mark . . . . . . . 14-4
AZG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-4
Listing Your Named Marks . . . . . . 14-5
Esc X list-named-marks . . . . . 14-5
Summary of Terms . . . . . . . . 14-5
CONTENTS (cont)
Page
ection 15 ...
Keyboard Macros . . . . . . . . . . 15-1
.
Creating a Macro
. . . . . . . . . . . 15-1
. . . . . . . . . . 15-1
"X( and "x)
.
ExecutingaMacro
.....
. . . . . . . . . . 15-2
. . . . . . . . . . 15-2
"XE
.....
Mid-Macro Query
"XQ .. . . . . . . . . . . 15-3
. . . . . . . . . . 15-3
Displaying a Macro
.*
X........
... . . . . . . . 15-4
. . . . . . . 15-4
.....
Saving a Macro . . . . . . . 15-4
.
Esc X save-macro . .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. 15-4
Displaying a Saved Macro
.
Esc X show-macro . . . . . . . 15-5
15-5
.....
Editing a Macro . . . . . . .15-5
.
ESC X edit.macros . . . . . . . 15-5
Setting and Changing Key Bindings
ESC X set-key and ESC X
. . 15-5
set-permanent-key . . 15-5
Examples of Acceptable Forms of
Key Names . . . . . . . . . . . 15-7
Section 16 Multiple Windows and the Buffer Editor . . 16-1
(h- Adding Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-3
"X2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6-3
"X3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-3
Removing Windows . . . . . . . . . . . 16-3
"Xl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-3
. O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-3
X
Selecting a Window . . . . . . . . . . 16-3
"XO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6-3
"X4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 1 6 - 4
Editing with Multiple Windows . . . . . 16-4
ESC~V . . . . . . . . . . . . I
. . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4
Dedicated Buffers 16-5
The Window Editor . . . . . . . . . . . 16-5
"ZAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 6-6
Window Editor Requests . . . 16-7
Leaving the Window Editor . . . . 16-8
The Buffer Editor . . . . . . . . . . . 16-8
^ Z A B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-9
Buffer Editor Requests ..... . . 16-9
Leaving the Buffer Editor .. . . 16-10
Section 17 Summarv of Emacs Fundamental Mode
Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-1
"
List of Editing Functions and the
Keys that perform Them . . . . . . . . 17-1
Movements ~orward/~ackward . .
. . . 17-1
Deletion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-1
Retrievals/~anks........ . .17-1
CONTENTS (cont)
Page
Marks. Regions. Variables .. . .
. 17-1
Searches and Substitutions
Files . ........
.
... .
. 17-2
.
.
Insertion ....... ... . . 17-2
. 17-2
Entry and Exit
Help..
.....
........
...
...
.
.
.
. 17-2
.
.
17-2
Error Recovery ..... ... . .
. 17-2
New ~ines/~lank Lines .... . .
. 17-2
Indentation and White Space . . .
. 17-2
Comments ........ ... . .
. 17-2
Formatting ....... ... . .
. 17-3
Literal Character Entry ... . .
. 17-3
Special Purpose Keys
Macros. ........
.. ...
...
.
.
.
. 17-3
.
. 17-3
Characters (Moving byl~eleting) . . 17-3
Lines (Moving in and by/Deleting) . 17-3
Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-3
Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-3
Paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-4
Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-4
Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-4
Multiple Windows . . . . . . . . 17-4
~aill~essages . . . . . . . . . . . 17-4
Typing Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . 17-4
Programming Modes . . . . . . . . . 17-4
Printing Terminal Usage . . . . . . 17-5
Extension Writing . . . . . . . . . 17-5
Additional Optional Settings . . . . 17-5
Descriptions of the Requests . . . . . 17-5
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-5
Movements Forward/~ackward
Deletion . . . 17-8
~etrievalsl~anks. . . . . . . . . . 17-10
Marks. Regions. Variables . . . . . 17-11
Searches and Substitutions. . . . . 17-12
Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-1 5
.............
Insertion 17-16
Entry and Exit. . . . . . . . . . . 17-16
Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-17
Error Recovery. . . . . . . . . . . 17-18
New ~ines/~lank Lines. . . . . . . 17-19
Indentation and White Space. . . . 17-19
Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-21
Formatting. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-21
Literal Character Entry . . . . . . 17-23
. . . . . . . . 17-23
Special Purpose Keys
Macros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-24
Characters (~oving byl~eleting). . 17-25
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-27
Lines (Moving in and byl~eleting)
Words . 17-26
Sentences. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-29
CONTENTS (cont)
Page
Paragraphs. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-30
Screens
Buffers
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-31
.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-30
Multiple Windows. . . . . . . . . . 17-33
Mail/~essages . . . . . . . . . . . 17-34
Typing Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . 17-35
Programming Modes . . . . . . . . . . 17-36
Printing Terminal Usage . . . . . . 17-37
Extension Writing . . . . . . . . . 17-37
Additional Optional Settings . . . . 17-38
Appendix A The Multics emacs Command ........ A-I
Alphabetized List of Fundamental Mode
Requests ................ A-2
Appendix B Emacs Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1
Sendine Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1
XM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1
Reading Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3
"XR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3
Appendix C Programming Language Modes . . . . . . . . C-1
Fundamental Mode Requests for
Programming Use . . . . . . . . . . C-1
^X. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-1
.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Z c-1
ESC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-2
ESCN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-2
ESCP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-2
ESC "B . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ESC "F . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ESC X set-comment-pr&fix . . . .
ESC X set.compile.options ....
ESC X set-compiler . . . . . . .
ESC ESC . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ESC X ldebug . . . . . . . . .
ESC X fundamental.mode . . . . . . .
LispMode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FORTRAN Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . .
l?~/IMode . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
Electric PL/I Mode . . . . . . . . .
ALM Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Appendix D Macro Edit Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-1
Entering Macro Edit Mode . . D-1
Editing the Macros . . . . . . . . . . D-2
Redefining Macros . . . . . . . . . . . D-3
ESC "Z and ESC X
load-these-macros . . . . . . . D-3
Writing Macros Out to a File . . . . . D-3
xiii CH27-00
CONTENTS (cont)
Using Macros Previously Written to
a File ............ ..
ESC X load-macrofile .... ..
Appendix E Using Emacs on Printing Terminals and
Glass Teletypes . . . . . . . . . . . ..
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
Appendix 1' The Message Facility . . . . . . . . . ..
ESC X accept.msgs . . . . . . ..
Ax.. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
"X'. ............ ..
Appendix G Emacs Start-ups ..... ..... . ..
Compiling a Start-up . ..... . ..
More Features You Might Want .. . ..
Appendix H Pop-up Windows . . . . . . ..... . ..
Index . . . . . . . . . . ..... . ..
ILLUSTRATIONS
.
Figure 1
.
Figure 2
2 .
. A Screen Terminal .....
....
A Terminal Keyboard
.
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. 2-2
2-3
Figure - 1 ...
Editor Entry and Exit . . . . . . . 3-7
Figure 1
.7 . ..
The Cursor and The Point . . . . . . . 7-2
xiv CIit27-00
. . . . . . -.
-.
- ...
SECTION I
INTRODUCTION
Multics Emacs is an integrated editing, text preparation,
and screen management system designed to take advantage of the
features of modern display terminals. Text entry and editing on
these video screen display terminals are done interactively.
You, the user, can see the effects of Emacs editing on the screen
- you type.
as
This manual is arranged so that you, as a new Emacs user,
can learn Emacs by immediately beginning to use it. The first
part, Sections 2 through 16, are tutorial in nature, and cover
text entry and the more basic Emacs requests. Section 17
summarizes the requests covered in the preceding sections, and
K. introduces the remaining Fundamental mode (basic Emacs mode)
requests. Advanced users should immediately turn to this
section, which provides short descriptions of every Fundamental
mode request. The requests are presented there in functional
groups, i.e., for a particular type of editing task, all the
requests available to perform that task are described.
Users who work through the first sixteen sections will also
find Section 1 useful for reference and for learning the
7
additional requests not covered in the tutorial.
The appendices describe specialized uses of Emacs, including
the Emacs mail system and programming language modes. Appendix A
provides the emacs command description, and an alphabetized list
of the Fundamental mode requests.
Throughout this manual, llEmacsffdesignates the system, and
the all lowercase flemacs" designates the Multics command invoked
to use the system.
SECTION 2
GETTING STARTED
THE TERMINAL
Although it can be used on printing terminals, Emacs has
been designed especially for use on screen terminals. Sit down
at your screen terminal and note the three parts you will be
using as you edit:
the screen
the keyboard
a the modem communicating between the terminal and Multics
Figure 2-1 shows a typical screen terminal and Figure 2-2
shows a typical keyboard and the special keys described below.
The Screen
The screen of your terminal is like a television screen, and
displays the information needed to communicate with Multics and
Emacs. Messages from the system appear on the screen, and your
responses, typed on the keyboard, also appear.
The Keyboard
Your keyboard resembles the keyboard of a typewriter, with
its letters and special characters, but has additional keys.
Several of them are important for Emacs usage. They include the
J
following: