Emacs

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Emacs
Version GNU Emacs 21.4.1
Cost free
Pundit Updated 7/18/2008


Emacs is a text-editing package, and it is available for free on the public computing systems running Linux.

Running emacs

To run emacs, simply type

emacs &

at the command prompt. The & will allow emacs to run in the background, keeping the command line available for future commands. You can also type

emacs FILENAME &

where FILENAME is either the name of an existing file or the name of a new file you want to create.

FAQ

How can I check spelling?

You can use the Spell-Check Buffer command in the Spell Checking part of the Tools menu in emacs.

Important: the spell checker in emacs does not like really really long lines of text - it will in fact skip over them. To solve this, you either need to hit return in long lines or set emacs up to do work wrap. The easiest way to do this is, once the file is open, see if the word "Fill" is in the gutter of emacs. If not, you need to turn auto word wrap on in one of the following ways:

  • go to the Options menu and select Word Wrap in Text Modes (Auto Fill)
  • hit "ESC-x" then type auto-fill-mode in the gutter and hit return

from there on out, any long lines you type will wrap. If you already have long lines, go to the end of that line and type a space - the whole line should auto-wrap. Re-save the work and spell check it from there.

=== The editor says my file is locked