Opening a File in XEmacs
Opening a File Directly
You can open a file for editing in XEmacs using the "File" menu.
For this tutorial, we will create a copy of the file /class/sce/reference/xemacs/sample
and edit it in XEmacs. Let us create a copy of this file.
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These next two commands should be entered in your
xterm window and NOT in the emacs window!
Make sure you are in your home directory. Now create a directory Testdir
in your home directory.
Copy the file /class/sce/reference/xemacs/sample
into the directory Testdir.
Now switch over to your XEmacs window. Move the mouse pointer so that it
is located on the "File" menu, and hold down the left mouse button.
While holding down the button, drag the mouse down the screen until the
first menu item "Open..." is highlighted. Now release the mouse
button.
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Alternatively, you can also open a file simply by clicking on the Open
icon that appears in the icon row just below the "File" menu.
Notice again that next to the item in the "File" menu was the
key combination C-x C-f for performing the same function from
the XEmacs command line. As a review, the letter C is short for
the Control (Ctrl) key. C-x means hold the Ctrl key down
and press x. In other words, to achieve the same effect as choosing
the "Open..." menu item, you could hold the Ctrl key down
and press x and then hold the Ctrl key down and press
f.
In some cases, you will see a command like Esc %. This means you
should press the Esc key (release it), and then press the %
key.
If you open a file using the key combination C-x C-f, the command
line at the bottom of the XEmacs window should now display the prompt:
Find file: ~/
If you open a file using either of the mouse-based options, a window
will pop up instead, which displays the contents of the current directory
followed by the same prompt as above. The window will often be too small
to display every file in the directory, but you can click and drag along
the scroll bar to bring the other files into the viewing window.
Recall now that ~ is an abbreviation for the name of your home
directory. We are interested in opening the file ~/Testdir/sample.
We could type the rest of the filename (Testdir/sample) at this
point and XEmacs would open the file.
Opening a File From a Directory Listing
Instead, we'll use another way that most people find far easier to use
than the Open command or icon, and which we therefore recommend
that you use when you want to open a file in a buffer. The directory
edit feature (dired) lets you view directories and select files
within the directories. This is usually a more convenient way to open a
file than typing in its (possibly long) path name.
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Hit Enter after getting the prompt: Find file:
~/. XEmacs will display the complete and long listing (ls
-la) of the directory contents. Note that the mouse pointer does not
need to be located in the command line area when you hit Enter;
it can be anywhere in the XEmacs window.
Using the Arrow keys or clicking with the left button of the mouse, move
the cursor to select the subdirectory called Testdir which contains
the file you want edit. Now press Enter or 'f' (for find),
and the XEmacs window will open a buffer to display the contents of the
directory Testdir. (Alternatively, you can simply click on the
name of the directory you want to see with the middle mouse button.)
Select the line containing the file sample and press Enter
or
'f' again as above, and the file will be loaded into a new XEmacs
buffer. (Alternatively, you can simply click on the name of the file
you want to edit with the middle mouse button.)
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Stop for a moment and scan
over the menus to get an idea of the different key stroke shortcuts. You'll
find them very useful!
Last modified: Thu Jan 8 17:27:12 EST 1998
