This is Info file ../info/info.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.63 from the
input file info.texi.

   This file describes how to use Info, the on-line, menu-driven GNU
documentation system.

   Copyright (C) 1989, 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.


File: info.info,  Node: Parts of an Xref,  Next: Selecting Xrefs,  Up: Xref Commands

Parts of an Xref
----------------

  Cross references have two major parts: the first part is called the
"label"; it is the name that you can use to refer to the cross
reference, and the second is the "target"; it is the full name of the
node that the cross reference points to.

  The target is separated from the label by a colon `:'; first the
label appears, and then the target.  For example, in the sample menu
cross reference below, the single colon separates the label from the
target.

     * Foo Label: Foo Target.	More information about Foo.

  Note the `.' which ends the name of the target.  The `.' is not part
of the target; it serves only to let Info know where the target name
ends.

  A shorthand way of specifying references allows two adjacent colons to
stand for a target name which is the same as the label name:

     * Foo Commands::		Commands pertaining to Foo.

  In the above example, the name of the target is the same as the name
of the label, in this case `Foo Commands'.

  You will normally see two types of cross references while viewing
nodes: "menu" references, and "note" references.  Menu references
appear within a node's menu; they begin with a `*' at the beginning of
a line, and continue with a label, a target, and a comment which
describes what the contents of the node pointed to contains.

  Note references appear within the body of the node text; they begin
with `*Note', and continue with a label and a target.

  Like `Next', `Prev' and `Up' pointers, cross references can point to
any valid node.  They are used to refer you to a place where more
detailed information can be found on a particular subject.  Here is a
cross reference which points to a node within the Texinfo
documentation:  *Note Writing an Xref: (texinfo)xref, for more
information on creating your own texinfo cross references.


File: info.info,  Node: Selecting Xrefs,  Prev: Parts of an Xref,  Up: Xref Commands

Selecting Xrefs
---------------

  The following table lists the Info commands which operate on menu
items.

`1' (`menu-digit')
`2' ... `9'
     Within an Info window, pressing a single digit, (such as `1'),
     selects that menu item, and places its node in the current window.
     For convenience, there is one exception; pressing `0' selects the
     *last* item in the node's menu.

`0' (`last-menu-item')
     Select the last item in the current node's menu.

`m' (`menu-item')
     Reads the name of a menu item in the echo area and selects its
     node.  Completion is available while reading the menu label.

`M-x find-menu'
     Moves the cursor to the start of this node's menu.

  This table lists the Info commands which operate on note cross
references.

`f' (`xref-item')
`r'
     Reads the name of a note cross reference in the echo area and
     selects its node.  Completion is available while reading the cross
     reference label.

  Finally, the next few commands operate on menu or note references
alike:

`TAB' (`move-to-next-xref')
     Moves the cursor to the start of the next nearest menu item or note
     reference in this node.  You can then use RET
     (`select-reference-this-line' to select the menu or note reference.

`M-TAB' (`move-to-prev-xref')
     Moves the cursor the start of the nearest previous menu item or
     note reference in this node.

`RET' (`select-reference-this-line')
     Selects the menu item or note reference appearing on this line.


File: info.info,  Node: Window Commands,  Next: Printing Nodes,  Prev: Xref Commands,  Up: Using Stand-alone Info

Manipulating Multiple Windows
=============================

  A "window" is a place to show the text of a node.  Windows have a
view area where the text of the node is displayed, and an associated
"mode line", which briefly describes the node being viewed.

  GNU Info supports multiple windows appearing in a single screen; each
window is separated from the next by its modeline.  At any time, there
is only one "active" window, that is, the window in which the cursor
appears.  There are commands available for creating windows, changing
the size of windows, selecting which window is active, and for deleting
windows.

* Menu:

* The Mode Line::	What appears in the mode line?
* Basic Windows::	Manipulating windows in Info.
* The Echo Area::	Used for displaying errors and reading input.


File: info.info,  Node: The Mode Line,  Next: Basic Windows,  Up: Window Commands

The Mode Line
-------------

  A "mode line" is a line of inverse video which appears at the bottom
of an info window.  It describes the contents of the window just above
it; this information includes the name of the file and node appearing in
that window, the number of screen lines it takes to display the node,
and the percentage of text that is above the top of the window.  It can
also tell you if the indirect tags table for this info file needs to be
updated, and whether or not the info file was compressed when stored on
disk.

  Here is a sample mode line for a window containing an uncompressed
file named `dir', showing the node `Top'.

     -----Info: (dir)Top, 40 lines --Top---------------------------------------
                 ^^   ^   ^^^        ^^
               (file)Node #lines    where

  When a node comes from a file which is compressed on disk, this is
indicated in the mode line with two small `z''s.  In addition, if the
info file containing the node has been split into subfiles, the name of
the subfile containing the node appears in the modeline as well:

     --zz-Info: (emacs)Top, 291 lines --Top-- Subfile: emacs-1.Z---------------

  When Info makes a node internally, such that there is no corresponding
info file on disk, the name of the node is surrounded by asterisks
(`*').  The name itself tells you what the contents of the window are;
the sample mode line below shows an internally constructed node showing
possible completions:

     -----Info: *Completions*, 7 lines --All-----------------------------------


File: info.info,  Node: Basic Windows,  Next: The Echo Area,  Prev: The Mode Line,  Up: Window Commands

Window Commands
---------------

  It can be convenient to view more than one node at a time.  To allow
this, Info can display more than one "window".  Each window has its own
mode line (*note The Mode Line::.) and history of nodes viewed in that
window (*note `history-node': Node Commands.).

`C-x o' (`next-window')
     Selects the next window on the screen.  Note that the echo area
     can only be selected if it is already in use, and you have left it
     temporarily.  Normally, `C-x o' simply moves the cursor into the
     next window on the screen, or if you are already within the last
     window, into the first window on the screen.  Given a numeric
     argument, `C-x o' moves over that many windows.  A negative
     argument causes `C-x o' to select the previous window on the
     screen.

`M-x prev-window'
     Selects the previous window on the screen.  This is identical to
     `C-x o' with a negative argument.

`C-x 2' (`split-window')
     Splits the current window into two windows, both showing the same
     node.  Each window is one half the size of the original window,
     and the cursor remains in the original window.  The variable
     `automatic-tiling' can cause all of the windows on the screen to
     be resized for you automatically, please *note automatic-tiling:
     Variables. for more information.

`C-x 0' (`delete-window')
     Deletes the current window from the screen.  If you have made too
     many windows and your screen appears cluttered, this is the way to
     get rid of some of them.

`C-x 1' (`keep-one-window')
     Deletes all of the windows excepting the current one.

`ESC C-v' (`scroll-other-window')
     Scrolls the other window, in the same fashion that `C-v' might
     scroll the current window.  Given a negative argument, the "other"
     window is scrolled backward.

`C-x ^' (`grow-window')
     Grows (or shrinks) the current window.  Given a numeric argument,
     grows the current window that many lines; with a negative numeric
     argument, the window is shrunk instead.

`C-x t' (`tile-windows')
     Divides the available screen space among all of the visible
     windows.  Each window is given an equal portion of the screen in
     which to display its contents.  The variable `automatic-tiling'
     can cause `tile-windows' to be called when a window is created or
     deleted.  *Note `automatic-tiling': Variables.


File: info.info,  Node: The Echo Area,  Prev: Basic Windows,  Up: Window Commands

The Echo Area
-------------

  The "echo area" is a one line window which appears at the bottom of
the screen.  It is used to display informative or error messages, and to
read lines of input from you when that is necessary.  Almost all of the
commands available in the echo area are identical to their Emacs
counterparts, so please refer to that documentation for greater depth of
discussion on the concepts of editing a line of text.  The following
table briefly lists the commands that are available while input is being
read in the echo area:

`C-f' (`echo-area-forward')
     Moves forward a character.

`C-b' (`echo-area-backward')
     Moves backward a character.

`C-a' (`echo-area-beg-of-line')
     Moves to the start of the input line.

`C-e' (`echo-area-end-of-line')
     Moves to the end of the input line.

`M-f' (`echo-area-forward-word')
     Moves forward a word.

`M-b' (`echo-area-backward-word')
     Moves backward a word.

`C-d' (`echo-area-delete')
     Deletes the character under the cursor.

`DEL' (`echo-area-rubout')
     Deletes the character behind the cursor.

`C-g' (`echo-area-abort')
     Cancels or quits the current operation.  If completion is being
     read, `C-g' discards the text of the input line which does not
     match any completion.  If the input line is empty, `C-g' aborts
     the calling function.

`RET' (`echo-area-newline')
     Accepts (or forces completion of) the current input line.

`C-q' (`echo-area-quoted-insert')
     Inserts the next character verbatim.  This is how you can insert
     control characters into a search string, for example.

PRINTING CHARACTER (`echo-area-insert')
     Inserts the character.

`M-TAB' (`echo-area-tab-insert')
     Inserts a TAB character.

`C-t' (`echo-area-transpose-chars')
     Transposes the characters at the cursor.

  The next group of commands deal with "killing", and "yanking" text.
For an in depth discussion of killing and yanking, *note Killing and
Deleting: (emacs)Killing.

`M-d' (`echo-area-kill-word')
     Kills the word following the cursor.

`M-DEL' (`echo-area-backward-kill-word')
     Kills the word preceding the cursor.

`C-k' (`echo-area-kill-line')
     Kills the text from the cursor to the end of the line.

`C-x DEL' (`echo-area-backward-kill-line')
     Kills the text from the cursor to the beginning of the line.

`C-y' (`echo-area-yank')
     Yanks back the contents of the last kill.

`M-y' (`echo-area-yank-pop')
     Yanks back a previous kill, removing the last yanked text first.

  Sometimes when reading input in the echo area, the command that needed
input will only accept one of a list of several choices.  The choices
represent the "possible completions", and you must respond with one of
them.  Since there are a limited number of responses you can make, Info
allows you to abbreviate what you type, only typing as much of the
response as is necessary to uniquely identify it.  In addition, you can
request Info to fill in as much of the response as is possible; this is
called "completion".

  The following commands are available when completing in the echo area:

`TAB' (`echo-area-complete')
`SPC'
     Inserts as much of a completion as is possible.

`?' (`echo-area-possible-completions')
     Displays a window containing a list of the possible completions of
     what you have typed so far.  For example, if the available choices
     are:
          bar
          foliate
          food
          forget
     and you have typed an `f', followed by `?', the possible
     completions would contain:
          foliate
          food
          forget
     i.e., all of the choices which begin with `f'.  Pressing SPC or
     TAB would result in `fo' appearing in the echo area, since all of
     the choices which begin with `f' continue with `o'.  Now, typing
     `l' followed by `TAB' results in `foliate' appearing in the echo
     area, since that is the only choice which begins with `fol'.

`ESC C-v' (`echo-area-scroll-completions-window')
     Scrolls the completions window, if that is visible, or the "other"
     window if not.


File: info.info,  Node: Printing Nodes,  Next: Miscellaneous Commands,  Prev: Window Commands,  Up: Using Stand-alone Info

Printing Out Nodes
==================

  You may wish to print out the contents of a node as  a quick reference
document for later use.  Info provides you with a command for doing
this.  In general, we recommend that you use TeX to format the document
and print sections of it, by running `tex' on the texinfo source file.

`M-x print-node'
     Pipes the contents of the current node through the command in the
     environment variable `INFO_PRINT_COMMAND'.  If the variable doesn't
     exist, the node is simply piped to `lpr'.


File: info.info,  Node: Miscellaneous Commands,  Next: Variables,  Prev: Printing Nodes,  Up: Using Stand-alone Info

Miscellaneous Commands
======================

  GNU Info contains several commands which self-document GNU Info:

`M-x describe-command'
     Reads the name of an Info command in the echo area and then
     displays a brief description of what that command does.

`M-x describe-key'
     Reads a key sequence in the echo area, and then displays the name
     and documentation of the Info command that the key sequence
     invokes.

`M-x describe-variable'
     Reads the name of a variable in the echo area and then displays a
     brief description of what the variable affects.

`M-x where-is'
     Reads the name of an Info command in the echo area, and then
     displays a key sequence which can be typed in order to invoke that
     command.

`C-h' (`get-help-window')
`?'
     Creates (or moves into) the window displaying `*Help*', and places
     a node containing a quick reference card into it.  This window
     displays the most concise information about GNU Info available.

`h' (`get-info-help-node')
     Tries hard to visit the node `(info)Help'.  The info file
     `info.texi' distributed with GNU Info contains this node.  Of
     course, the file must first be processed with `makeinfo', and then
     placed into the location of your info directory.

  Here are the commands for creating a numeric argument:

`C-u' (`universal-argument')
     Starts (or multiplies by 4) the current numeric argument.  `C-u' is
     a good way to give a small numeric argument to cursor movement or
     scrolling commands; `C-u C-v' scrolls the screen 4 lines, while
     `C-u C-u C-n' moves the cursor down 16 lines.

`M-1' (`add-digit-to-numeric-arg')
`M-2' ... `M-9'
     Adds the digit value of the invoking key to the current numeric
     argument.  Once Info is reading a numeric argument, you may just
     type the digits of the argument, without the Meta prefix.  For
     example, you might give `C-l' a numeric argument of 32 by typing:

          `C-u 3 2 C-l'
     or
          `M-3 2 C-l'

  `C-g' is used to abort the reading of a multi-character key sequence,
to cancel lengthy operations (such as multi-file searches) and to
cancel reading input in the echo area.

`C-g' (`abort-key')
     Cancels current operation.

  The `q' command of Info simply quits running Info.

`q' (`quit')
     Exits GNU Info.

  If the operating system tells GNU Info that the screen is 60 lines
tall, and it is actually only 40 lines tall, here is a way to tell Info
that the operating system is correct.

`M-x set-screen-height'
     Reads a height value in the echo area and sets the height of the
     displayed screen to that value.

  Finally, Info provides a convenient way to display footnotes which
might be associated with the current node that you are viewing:

`ESC C-f' (`show-footnotes')
     Shows the footnotes (if any) associated with the current node in
     another window.  You can have Info automatically display the
     footnotes associated with a node when the node is selected by
     setting the variable `automatic-footnotes'.  *Note
     `automatic-footnotes': Variables.


File: info.info,  Node: Variables,  Prev: Miscellaneous Commands,  Up: Using Stand-alone Info

Manipulating Variables
======================

  GNU Info contains several "variables" whose values are looked at by
various Info commands.  You can change the values of these variables,
and thus change the behaviour of Info to more closely match your
environment and info file reading manner.

`M-x set-variable'
     Reads the name of a variable, and the value for it, in the echo
     area and then sets the variable to that value.  Completion is
     available when reading the variable name; often, completion is
     available when reading the value to give to the variable, but that
     depends on the variable itself.  If a variable does *not* supply
     multiple choices to complete over, it expects a numeric value.

`M-x describe-variable'
     Reads the name of a variable in the echo area and then displays a
     brief description of what the variable affects.

  Here is a list of the variables that you can set in Info.

`automatic-footnotes'
     When set to `On', footnotes appear and disappear automatically.
     This variable is `On' by default.  When a node is selected, a
     window containing the footnotes which appear in that node is
     created, and the footnotes are displayed within the new window.
     The window that Info creates to contain the footnotes is called
     `*Footnotes*'.  If a node is selected which contains no footnotes,
     and a `*Footnotes*' window is on the screen, the `*Footnotes*'
     window is deleted.  Footnote windows created in this fashion are
     not automatically tiled so that they can use as little of the
     display as is possible.

`automatic-tiling'
     When set to `On', creating or deleting a window resizes other
     windows.  This variable is `Off' by default.  Normally, typing
     `C-x 2' divides the current window into two equal parts.  When
     `automatic-tiling' is set to `On', all of the windows are resized
     automatically, keeping an equal number of lines visible in each
     window.  There are exceptions to the automatic tiling;
     specifically, the windows `*Completions*' and `*Footnotes*' are
     *not* resized through automatic tiling; they remain their original
     size.

`visible-bell'
     When set to `On', GNU Info attempts to flash the screen instead of
     ringing the bell.  This variable is `Off' by default.  Of course,
     Info can only flash the screen if the terminal allows it; in the
     case that the terminal does not allow it, the setting of this
     variable has no effect.  However, you can make Info perform
     quietly by setting the `errors-ring-bell' variable to `Off'.

`errors-ring-bell'
     When set to `On', errors cause the bell to ring.  The default
     setting of this variable is `On'.

`gc-compressed-files'
     When set to `On', Info garbage collects files which had to be
     uncompressed.  The default value of this variable is `Off'.
     Whenever a node is visited in Info, the info file containing that
     node is read into core, and Info reads information about the tags
     and nodes contained in that file.  Once the tags information is
     read by Info, it is never forgotten.  However, the actual text of
     the nodes does not need to remain in core unless a particular info
     window needs it.  For non-compressed files, the text of the nodes
     does not remain in core when it is no longer in use.  But
     de-compressing a file can be a time consuming operation, and so
     Info tries hard not to do it twice.  `gc-compressed-files' tells
     Info it is okay to garbage collect the text of the nodes of a file
     which was compressed on disk.

`show-index-match'
     When set to `On', the portion of the matched search string is
     highlighted in the message which explains where the matched search
     string was found.  The default value of this variable is `On'.
     When Info displays the location where an index match was found,
     (*note `next-index-match': Searching Commands.), the portion of the
     string that you had typed is highlighted by displaying it in the
     inverse case from its surrounding characters.

`scroll-behaviour'
     Controls what happens when forward scrolling is requested at the
     end of a node, or when backward scrolling is requested at the
     beginning of a node.  The default value for this variable is
     `Continuous'.  There are three possible values for this variable:

    `Continuous'
          Tries to get the first item in this node's menu, or failing
          that, the `Next' node, or failing that, the `Next' of the
          `Up'.  This behaviour is identical to using the `]'
          (`global-next-node') and `[' (`global-prev-node') commands.

    `Next Only'
          Only tries to get the `Next' node.

    `Page Only'
          Simply gives up, changing nothing.  If `scroll-behaviour' is
          `Page Only', no scrolling command can change the node that is
          being viewed.

`scroll-step'
     The number of lines to scroll when the cursor moves out of the
     window.  Scrolling happens automatically if the cursor has moved
     out of the visible portion of the node text when it is time to
     display.  Usually the scrolling is done so as to put the cursor on
     the center line of the current window.  However, if the variable
     `scroll-step' has a nonzero value, Info attempts to scroll the
     node text by that many lines; if that is enough to bring the
     cursor back into the window, that is what is done.  The default
     value of this variable is 0, thus placing the cursor (and the text
     it is attached to) in the center of the window.  Setting this
     variable to 1 causes a kind of "smooth scrolling" which some
     people prefer.

`ISO-Latin'
     When set to `On', Info accepts and displays ISO Latin-1 characters.
     By default, Info assumes an ASCII character set.  `ISO-Latin' tells
     Info that it is running in an environment where the European
     standard character set is in use, and allows you to input such
     characters to Info, as well as display them.


