19.C: Cutting and Pasting

19: emacs

19.A: Moving

To insert text in emacs all you have to do is position your cursor and type. Be aware of sentences wrapping around the screen. In emacs there isn't an automatic return when you approach the margin of a page. Instead, the line is carried on to the next line but is marked with a back-slash(\) to show there is no carriage return there. This can create problems later but can be fixed by hitting the return at the end of a line or by putting the editor in a specific mode, which you will learn about in a later section.

To delete single characters in emacs, you can use the delete key (sometimes marked DEL) to remove single characters behind the cursor. The commands which delete significant amounts of data (words, lines, sections etc.) are called kill commands, which are similar to cut commands on word processors. You will learn these in the next section.

Try replacing NAME and DATE using emacs. If you make an error and wish to undo a command that you just typed in, use the command C-x u. This command can be repeated as many times as you have d edited the file.

An important command in emacs is the discard or quit command. This command interrupts and discards the last command typed. It is especially useful when you get caught in a long computation which you don't wish to finish. You can safely exit the computation by typing C-g command. You can also use it to discard the beginning of a command you don't wish to finish.

Now that you know how to make basic changes in emacs, let's move on to bigger changes, more specifically cutting and pasting.

19.C: Cutting and Pasting

19: emacs

19.A: Moving