emacs jargons

By Xah Lee. Date: .

if you are new to emacs, here's some emacs jargons, terminology explained:

mark
A cursor position, that begin text selection.
point
Cursor or cursor position (beginning of file is 1)
region
Text selection
kill
cut text. Or, force quit processes and other.
kill ring
a history of copied text. [see Emacs: Copy/Paste, kill-ring]
yank
paste
fill
reformat lines so each line is no longer than 70 chars. (aka. hard-wrap lines.) [see Emacs: Hard Wrap Lines, fill]
transient mark mode
A preference setting, to have text selection highlighted
cua-mode
A preference setting, to have standard copy/cut/paste/undo keys
major mode
a specialized setting for a buffer for a particular task, such as programing languages, managing files, view image, etc. Each has a dedicated “major mode”. [see Emacs: What is Major Mode]
minor mode
a specialized setting, usually for all buffers. Think of this as a preference setting. [see Emacs: What is Minor Mode]
meta key
a key that exist on lisp keyboards. by default, it's the Alt key on Microsoft Windows or Linux. ⌥ option key on the Mac. [see Emacs: What is Meta Key]
hyper key
a key that exist on lisp keyboards. [see Emacs: How to Bind Super Hyper Keys]
super key
a key that exist on lisp keyboards. [see Emacs: How to Bind Super Hyper Keys]
hook
a variable that stores a list of functions, to be called when some event happens. [see Emacs: What is Hook]
rectangle
a vertical rectangle area of text. [see Emacs: Edit Column Text, Rectangle Commands]

Graphical User Interface Elements

buffer
A opened file, or unsaved new file, or a working area where emacs displays text. Similar to browser's “tab”.
frame
Window
window
A pane/frame, as in a pane in a split window
mini buffer
a special buffer that pops up at bottom to displays prompts and user input. e.g. when you press Alt + x
echo area
the bottom line of the screen that displays messages temporarily. the messages are stored in [see Emacs: Messages Buffer]
mode line
the bar at the bottom of a emacs window, indicating file name and major mode it's in. [see Emacs Mode Line Problem]
face
text style. e.g. font, size, coloring, underline, etc.
font lock
syntax coloring.
Fringe area
little vertical strip area on left and right sides of a window. sometimes used to display line number or line return symbol to indicate line continuation.

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Editing Brackets

Org Mode

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