Re: indentation, setting variables, commands, and M-x

[John M. Gabriele]

Drew Adams wrote:
>     > In this case, you want to search the manual for "indent" or
>     > "indentation".
>     > Looking through the explanation of Info mode (from `C-h m'),
>     > you'll see that
>     > `i' looks up a topic in the index, and `s' searches the
>     > manual for a term.
>
>     Ok, I hit C-h m,and it waits for me to give a menu name. How do I get
>     to a place where I can hit 'i' to look up a topic in the "index"?
>     I see that 's' asks me for a regex to search for, and it searches
>     down the page, from the current cursor location to find it.
>     Is there a separate index page for each node? Or maybe only some nodes?
>
> I probably wasn't clear enough.
>
> C-h i            -- enters Info
> Click Emacs link -- enter Emacs manual
> C-h m            -- get help on Info mode
>
> Read the Info mode help;

Ah. I get it now. "Info" mode is just like any other mode. :)

Also: C-h m == M-x describe-mode

> it describes key bindings in Info mode, including
> these bindings (you may have to scroll down the *Help* window a bit (use C-x
> o to switch windows):
>
> i       Look up a topic in this file's Index and move to that node.
> s       Search through this Info file for specified regexp,
>           and select the node in which the next occurrence is found.
>
> In buffer (window) *info*, use `C-x 1' to get rid of the *Help* window.
>
> It is in Info mode (buffer *info*) that you can use the Info-mode key
> bindings such as `i' and `s'.

Got it. I previously had a problem with that because I wasn't first
at the Emacs node before hitting 'i'. Thanks.

> My guess is that you used simply `m' in Info mode, not `C-h m'. `m' asks for
> a menu item to visit.

Yes. 'm' gets to to where a menu item leads if I can type it in by name.

> `s' and `i' are totally separate. `s' simply searches; `i' looks up a term
> in the manual's index.
>
> `s' searches for a regexp, but that can be as simple as a word. You can use
> `s' again, hitting just `RET' (Return key) to reuse the last input (e.g.
> word). So, for example, `s indentation RET' finds the first occurrence in
> the manual of "indentation". Then, `s RET' finds the next occurrence of
> "indentation". Repeat `s RET' as needed. As I mentioned, when appropriate,
> `i' is much quicker; in this case it takes you directly to the manual
> section on indentation.
>
> HTH.

It does help. Thanks Drew. It's interesting how similar the info program
works compared to something like lynx (that is, if your docs were just
in html, and you used a text-mode html browser to access them). The main
difference I'm seeing right now is, that info nodes have an order to them
(you can hit 'n' for next, 'p' for previous) as well as having links
("menus" and "cross-references"), whereas html has only links.

---J

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