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Epsilon User's Manual and Reference > Commands by Topic > Getting Help >

Info Mode

An Info document is divided into nodes. Each node describes a specific topic. Nodes are normally linked together into a tree structure.

Every node has a name, which appears on the very first line of the node. The first line might look like this:

File: cp,  Node: Files,  Next: More Options,  Prev: Flags,  Up: Top

That line also indicates that the node named "More Options" comes next after this "Files" node. And it says which node comes before it, and which node is its parent. (Some nodes don't have a "Next" or a "Prev" or an "Up" node.) In Info mode, the keys N, P, and U move to the current node's Next node, its Prev node, or its Up node (its parent node).

You can scroll through a node with the usual Epsilon commands, but Info mode also lets you use <Space> to page forward and <Backspace> to page back. When you're at the end of a node, the <Space> key goes on to the next one, walking the tree structure so you can read through an entire Info file. The <Backspace> key does the reverse; it goes to the previous node when you press it and you're already at the top of a node. (The keys ] and [ move ahead and back similarly, but don't page; use them when you don't want to see any more of the current node.)

Some nodes have menus. They look like this:

  * Menu:

  * Buffers::
  * Flags::
  * Switches: Flags.

Press the M key to select an item from a menu, then type the name of the item (the part before the : character). You can press <Space> to complete the name, or type just part of the name. The first two menu items let you type Buffers or Flags and go to a node with that same name; the last item lets you type Switches but Epsilon will go to a node named Flags.

You can also press a digit like 1, 2, 3 to go to the corresponding node in the current node's menu. Press 0 to go to the last node, whatever its number. So in the menu above, either 3 or 0 would go to the Flags node. Typically when you select a node from a menu, that node's Up will lead back to the node with the menu.

A node can also have cross-references. A cross-reference looks like this: *Note: Command History::. Use the F key to follow a cross reference; it completes like M does.

Instead of typing M or F followed by a node name, you can use <Tab> and <Backtab> to move around in a node to the next or previous menu item or cross-reference, then press <Enter> to follow it. Or you can double-click with the mouse to follow one.

Epsilon keeps a history of the Info nodes you've visited, so you can retrace your steps. Press L to go to the last Info node you were at before this one. Press L repeatedly to revisit earlier nodes. When you're done looking at Info documentation, press Q to exit Info mode.

Info documentation is tree-structured. Normally each separate program has its own file of documentation, and the nodes within form a tree. Each Info file normally has a node named "top" that's the top node in its tree. Then all the trees are linked together in a directory file named "dir", which contains a menu listing all the available files. The T key goes to the top node in the current file. The D key goes to the top node in the directory file. The wrap-info-mode variable controls how long lines display.

When a node name reference contains a word in parentheses, like (epsilon)Language Modes, it indicates the node is in a file whose name is inside the parentheses. (Otherwise the node must be in the current file.) If you omit the node name and just say (epsilon), the Top node is implied.

When a complete path to an Info file isn't specified (as is usually the case), Epsilon looks along an Info path. First it looks in each directory of the colon-separated list in the variable info-path-unix (or, in non-Unix versions of Epsilon, the semicolon-separated list in info-path-non-unix). These paths may use %x to indicate the directory containing Epsilon's executable. If the Info file still isn't found, Epsilon tries directories listed in any INFOPATH environment variable.

Press S to search in an Info file. You can use the same keys as in other Epsilon search commands to perform a regular expression search, word search, or control case folding. This command will jump from node to node if necessary to find the next match. If you use normal searching keys like Ctrl-s or Ctrl-r, they will report a failing search if there are no more matches in the current node. Press Ctrl-s or Ctrl-r again to have Epsilon continue the search into other nodes.

Press I to use an Info file's index. I <Enter> simply moves to the first index node in a file. Or you can type some text, and Epsilon will display each of the nodes in the file that have an index entry containing that text. Use <Comma> to advance to the next such entry.

There are a few more Info commands. B goes to the beginning of the current node, like Alt-<. > goes to the last node of the file, viewed as a hierarchy. G prompts for the name of a node, then goes there. (You can use it to reach files that might not be linked into the Info hierarchy.) H displays this documentation. And ? displays a short list of Info commands.

You can navigate to Epsilon's manual using Info commands, as explained above, but Epsilon also provides some shortcut commands. Press F1 Ctrl-c to look up an Epsilon command's full documentation by command name. Press F1 Ctrl-k, then press any key and Epsilon will show the documentation for whatever command it runs. Press F1 Ctrl-v to look up a variable. Press F1 f <Enter> to go to the top of Epsilon's documentation tree, or type a topic name before the <Enter> and Epsilon will look up that word in the index to Epsilon's online documentation.

If you write you own Info file, Epsilon provides some commands that help. The info-validate command checks an Info file for errors (such as using a nonexistent node name). The info-tagify command builds or updates an Info file's tag table. (Info readers like Epsilon can find nodes more quickly when a file's tag table is up to date, so run this after you modify an Info file.)

Standard bindings:

	Info mode only: N		info-next
	Info mode only: P		info-previous
	Info mode only: U		info-up
	Info mode only: <Space>		info-next-page
	Info mode only: <Backspace>		info-previous-page
	Info mode only: [		info-backward-node
	Info mode only: ]		info-forward-node
	Info mode only: M		info-menu
	Info mode only: 0, 1, 2, ...		info-nth-menu-item
	Info mode only: F		info-follow-reference
	Info mode only: <Tab>		info-next-reference
	Info mode only: Shift-<Tab>		info-previous-reference
	Info mode only: <Enter>		info-follow-nearest-reference
	Info mode only: L		info-last
	Info mode only: Q		info-quit
	Info mode only: T		info-top
	Info mode only: D		info-directory-node
	Info mode only: S		info-search
	Info mode only: I		info-index
	Info mode only: <Comma>		info-index-next
	Info mode only: >		info-last-node
	Info mode only: G		info-goto
			info
			info-mode
			info-validate
			info-tagify

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Epsilon Programmer's Editor 14.04 manual. Copyright (C) 1984, 2021 by Lugaru Software Ltd. All rights reserved.