The next few subsections explain the basic commands used for editing in Emacs. If you are using Emacs from one of the Sun workstations in BH 215 there should be a function key template above the F1 through F12 function keys which allow simple execution of most of the commonly used editing functions in Emacs. You can start editing using these functions and bindings right away as their names are almost self explanatory. The control character sequence for the more commonly used commands are given in subsection 1.6.2
When you first start Emacs, there will be two separate ``windows,'' or buffers. The one-line buffer on the bottom is the minibuffer, and the other is, to begin with, the *scratch* buffer. The minibuffer is used to enter commands and filenames in response to a prompt. It is also the area where short messages are displayed. For example, when you first press F11 to Load a file, you must tell Emacs which file to load. You will be prompted for the name of the file in the minibuffer, where you type the filename and press RETURN. If you press SPACE, Emacs will attempt to complete the name of the file for you automatically. The file will be loaded into Emacs and the *scratch* buffer will no longer be visible. When you copy a region using the COPY key, the message `Region copied' will appear in the minibuffer. The keyboard keys Cut, Paste Copy, etc are often quicker and easier to use.
Multiple buffers are created as you load files and start processes.
Those that are created by Emacs will usually begin and end with an
asterisk, e.g., *scratch*, *Help*, etc. The name of the
buffer will appear in the mode line after Epoch: or
Emacs: so you know what file you are editing. The mode line
(in reverse or color video at the bottom of each buffer), displays
other useful information as well, such as the current major and minor
modes in parentheses on the right, and how far down into the buffer
the current screen display is as a percentage of the whole buffer. On the
far left may be two asterisks indicating that the buffer has been
modified. These asterisks disappear when you press F12 to save
the buffer to disk (looks like --**-Emacs: which will change to
-----Emacs:). If you see two percent signs instead (e.g.
--%%-Emacs: ), that means the file is marked ``
READ-ONLY'' and cannot be modified.