Emacs Jargons (Glossary)

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

Editing Jargons

point

current cursor position (beginning of file is 1)

mark

A cursor position, that begin text selection. [see Emacs: Jump to Previous Position]

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

transient mark mode

A preference setting, to have text selection highlighted

cua-mode

A preference setting, to have standard copy cut paste undo keys

rectangle

a vertical rectangle area of text. [see Emacs: Edit Column Text, Rectangle]

fill

reformat lines so each line is no longer than 70 chars. (aka. hard-wrap lines.) [see

Emacs: Reformat to Long Lines (unfill-paragraph) 🚀

]

Universal Argument, prefix arg, digit argument

Emacs: Universal Argument (prefix arg)

Buffer and File

buffer

A opened file, or unsaved new file, or a working area where emacs displays text. Similar to browser's “tab”.

visiting file

Basically a opened file. when a buffer's content is a file, it's said the buffer is visiting the file.

Mode

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]

hook

a variable that stores a list of functions, to be called when some event happens. [see Emacs: What is Hook]

Keyboard Keys

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 Keys: Meta Key]

hyper key

a key that exist on lisp keyboards. [see Emacs Keys: Super Hyper]

super key

a key that exist on lisp keyboards. [see Emacs Keys: Super Hyper]