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(emacs)Major Modes

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Major Modes
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   Emacs provides many alternative "major modes", each of which
customizes Emacs for editing text of a particular sort.  The major modes
are mutually exclusive, and each buffer has one major mode at any time.
The mode line normally shows the name of the current major mode, in
parentheses (Note: Mode Line).

   The least specialized major mode is called "Fundamental mode".  This
mode has no mode-specific redefinitions or variable settings, so that
each Emacs command behaves in its most general manner, and each option
is in its default state.  For editing text of a specific type that
Emacs knows about, such as Lisp code or English text, you should switch
to the appropriate major mode, such as Lisp mode or Text mode.

   Selecting a major mode changes the meanings of a few keys to become
more specifically adapted to the language being edited.  The ones that
are changed frequently are <TAB>, <DEL>, and `C-j'.  The prefix key
`C-c' normally contains mode-specific commands.  In addition, the
commands which handle comments use the mode to determine how comments
are to be delimited.  Many major modes redefine the syntactical
properties of characters appearing in the buffer.  Note: Syntax.

   The major modes fall into three major groups.  The first group
contains modes for normal text, either plain or with mark-up.  It
includes Text mode, HTML mode, SGML mode, TeX mode and Outline mode.
The second group contains modes for specific programming languages.
These include Lisp mode (which has several variants), C mode, Fortran
mode, and others.  The remaining major modes are not intended for use
on users' files; they are used in buffers created for specific purposes
by Emacs, such as Dired mode for buffers made by Dired (Note: Dired),
Mail mode for buffers made by `C-x m' (Note: Sending Mail), and Shell
mode for buffers used for communicating with an inferior shell process
(Note: Interactive Shell).

   Most programming-language major modes specify that only blank lines
separate paragraphs.  This is to make the paragraph commands useful.
(Note: Paragraphs.)  They also cause Auto Fill mode to use the
definition of <TAB> to indent the new lines it creates.  This is
because most lines in a program are usually indented (Note:
Indentation).

Choosing Modes

How major modes are specified or chosen.