Emacs modes

Emacs has various editing modes in each of which it behaves slightly differently. When you often want features like word wrap so you don't have to press <Return> at the end of the line, you can set text mode. When you are programming, your code must be formatted; for example, for programming in C set C mode.

Text mode and C mode are major modes. A buffer can be in only one major mode at a time; to exit a major mode, you have to enter another one.

Whenever you edit a file, emacs attempts to put you into the correct major mode for what you are going to edit. If you are editing a file with the ending .c, it puts you in the C mode. If the file has the ending .tex, it puts you in the TeX mode. If emacs can't determine a special mode, it puts you in the fundamental mode, the most general of all modes.

You can also change the mode manually with the command:

<Esc-x> startup-command <Return>.

The important major modes and their startup-commands are in the following table:

 
 Mode     		  Description    		  Startup-command

 Fundamental 		 The default mode; no special behavior. 		
                          fundamental-mode

 Text     		 For writing text. 		
                          text-mode

 Directory 		 For editing directory contents. 		
                          dired-mode

 Indented text 		 Indents all the text you type. 		
                          indented-text-mode

 Picture  		 For creating simple drawings. 		
                          picture-mode

 C        		 For writing C programs. 		
                          c-mode

 FORTRAN  		 For writing FORTRAN programs. 		
                          fortran-mode

 nroff    		 For formatting file for nroff. 		
                          nroff-mode

TeX 		 For formatting file for TeX. 		
                          tex-mode

LaTeX 		 For formatting file for LaTeX. 		
                          latex-mode

 Outline  		 For writing outlines. 		
                          outline-mode

 View     		 For viewing files but not editing. 		
                          view-file

 Mail     		 For sending mail. 		
                          mail

 Read Mail 		 For reading mail. 		
                          rmail

In addition to the major modes there are also minor modes. These define a practical aspect of emacs and can be turned on and off within a major mode.

 
 Abbrev   		 Allows you to use word abbreviations. 		
                      abbrev-mode

 Fill     		 Enable word wrap. 		
                      auto-fill-mode

 Overwrite 		 Replaces characters as you type 
                            instead

                		 of inserting them. 		
                      overwrite-mode

 Auto-save 		 Saves your file automatically. 		
                      auto-save-mode

In your $HOME/.emacs file,  the startup file of emacs, you can set your favourite modes to be turned on automatically every time you start emacs.