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. See section Manipulating Variables.