UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

B.1 Starting Emacs, File Commands

Most interactive commands like "find file" or "write file" prompt for input in the so-called mini buffer, the last line of the emacs window. The minibuffer supports edit commands like cut & paste and, what is very comfortable, the file name completion known from Unix shells: Just press the tab key to complete a filename, and space to get a list of possible completions, from which you can select one with the mouse. Navigating through your file structure with the keyboard and completion is much faster than double-clicking through file dialogs. The minibuffer also facilitates a history: repeated up brings back the last inputs. Minibuffer commands:

tab
Filename completion

space
List completions

up
History invokation

B.2.1 Find and Replace

C-s
Find... (Search)

C-s C-s
Find again

M-%
Replace...

C-g
Abort

Find and replace always start at the cursor position. If you want to move to the next occurence in a search, just hit C-s again.

After entering text and replacement you are prompted at each occurrence whether to replace or not. You have the options yes, no, ! to replace all and C-g to abort. (Abort and undo work in all contexts.)

Undo and Redo

"Rather than having a Redo mechanism (that is, by default) the Undo commands of Emacs can themselves be undone. This might be very confusing to newcomers to Emacs but, if you get it right, it is in fact very simple: 'Undo commands of Emacs are commands that later can be undone themselves.'"