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Info Node: (emacs)Format Indentation

(emacs)Format Indentation


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Indentation in Formatted Text
-----------------------------

   When editing formatted text, you can specify different amounts of
indentation for the right or left margin of an entire paragraph or a
part of a paragraph.  The margins you specify automatically affect the
Emacs fill commands (Note: Filling) and line-breaking commands.

   The Indentation submenu provides a convenient interface for
specifying these properties.  The submenu contains four items:

`Indent More'
     Indent the region by 4 columns (`increase-left-margin').  In
     Enriched mode, this command is also available on `C-x <TAB>'; if
     you supply a numeric argument, that says how many columns to add
     to the margin (a negative argument reduces the number of columns).

`Indent Less'
     Remove 4 columns of indentation from the region.

`Indent Right More'
     Make the text narrower by indenting 4 columns at the right margin.

`Indent Right Less'
     Remove 4 columns of indentation from the right margin.

   You can use these commands repeatedly to increase or decrease the
indentation.

   The most common way to use these commands is to change the
indentation of an entire paragraph.  However, that is not the only use.
You can change the margins at any point; the new values take effect at
the end of the line (for right margins) or the beginning of the next
line (for left margins).

   This makes it possible to format paragraphs with "hanging indents",
which means that the first line is indented less than subsequent lines.
To set up a hanging indent, increase the indentation of the region
starting after the first word of the paragraph and running until the end
of the paragraph.

   Indenting the first line of a paragraph is easier.  Set the margin
for the whole paragraph where you want it to be for the body of the
paragraph, then indent the first line by inserting extra spaces or tabs.

   Sometimes, as a result of editing, the filling of a paragraph becomes
messed up--parts of the paragraph may extend past the left or right
margins.  When this happens, use `M-q' (`fill-paragraph') to refill the
paragraph.

   The variable `standard-indent' specifies how many columns these
commands should add to or subtract from the indentation.  The default
value is 4.  The overall default right margin for Enriched mode is
controlled by the variable `fill-column', as usual.

   The fill prefix, if any, works in addition to the specified paragraph
indentation: `C-x .' does not include the specified indentation's
whitespace in the new value for the fill prefix, and the fill commands
look for the fill prefix after the indentation on each line.  Note:
Fill Prefix.


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