Computing Resources in ESCI
Unix Software: Document Processing: GNU Emacs
Description
GNU Emacs is one of the "big two" (the other being vi) UNIX text
editors. While vi has mostly managed to remain a simple
screen-based text editor over the ears, Emacs has definately taken
an everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach, and now
hardcore Emacs users can compile their software, check their
e-mail and even surf the web from within this one program. Most
users, however, just use it to edit text. Emacs is particularly
useful for writing any kind of program code or even markup code
(e.g. HTML or LaTeX), because it automatically formats (with
indentation, etc) your code and, with colors, highlights key
syntax elements to make reading code easier. Because of all this
functionality, it does use quite a bit of memory and takes a long
time to load, so it is not a very good choice for quick editing of
small simple files. For that task, consider using something like
pico or vi
Location
/usr/site/gnuemacs
Commands
emacs - run
emacs.
Documentation
The emacs manpage linked above provides some decent documentation,
and also gives pointers to how to find more in-depth
documentation. The program itself has a very detailed online help
facility.
See Also
Vi - the Visual editor.
Pico - more user friendly than Vi.
Questions? Comments? Please contact Mary Cochran.