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Info Node: (emacs)Basic Window

(emacs)Basic Window


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Concepts of Emacs Windows
=========================

   Each Emacs window displays one Emacs buffer at any time.  A single
buffer may appear in more than one window; if it does, any changes in
its text are displayed in all the windows where it appears.  But the
windows showing the same buffer can show different parts of it, because
each window has its own value of point.

   At any time, one of the windows is the "selected window"; the buffer
this window is displaying is the current buffer.  The terminal's cursor
shows the location of point in this window.  Each other window has a
location of point as well, but since the terminal has only one cursor
there is no way to show where those locations are.  When multiple
frames are visible in X, each frame has a cursor which appears in the
frame's selected window.  The cursor in the selected frame is solid; the
cursor in other frames is a hollow box.

   Commands to move point affect the value of point for the selected
Emacs window only.  They do not change the value of point in any other
Emacs window, even one showing the same buffer.  The same is true for
commands such as `C-x b' to change the current buffer in the selected
window; they do not affect other windows at all.  However, there are
other commands such as `C-x 4 b' that select a different window and
switch buffers in it.  Also, all commands that display information in a
window, including (for example) `C-h f' (`describe-function') and `C-x
C-b' (`list-buffers'), work by switching buffers in a nonselected window
without affecting the selected window.

   When multiple windows show the same buffer, they can have different
regions, because they can have different values of point.  However,
they all have the same value for the mark, because each buffer has only
one mark position.

   Each window has its own mode line, which displays the buffer name,
modification status and major and minor modes of the buffer that is
displayed in the window.  Note: Mode Line, for full details on the
mode line.


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