Learning GNU Emacs, Second Edition

Help in Complex Emacs Commands

Many of the more complicated Emacs commands include their own sets of keystroke functions. These commands often have their own help functionality, but help is invoked with ? rather than the standard help key. Here is a summary of some popular complex commands and what ? does within each of them:

dired (C-x d)

You see a list of the most often used available commands in the minibuffer. This list is not complete. Type C-h m (for describe-mode) for more comprehensive documentation.

query-replace (ESC %)

You see a *Help* window listing the available commands. Typing C-h (even if your help key is rebound) does the same thing. This also works with query-replace-regexp.

save-some-buffers (C-x s)

Behavior is similar to query-replace just described.

list-buffers (C-x C-b)

You see a *Help* window giving information on buffer menu mode. This command has the same effect as typing C-h m (for describe-mode).

Completion

When you are responding to a minibuffer prompt with the name of something on which Emacs can do completion, typing ? at any time gives you a *Completions* window with the choices available at that point. Completion is explained earlier in this chapter.