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(emacs)Mouse Commands


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Mouse Commands for Editing
==========================

   The mouse commands for selecting and copying a region are mostly
compatible with the `xterm' program.  You can use the same mouse
commands for copying between Emacs and other X client programs.

   If you select a region with any of these mouse commands, and then
immediately afterward type the <DELETE> function key, it deletes the
region that you selected.  The <BACKSPACE> function key and the ASCII
character <DEL> do not do this; if you type any other key in between
the mouse command and <DELETE>, it does not do this.

`Mouse-1'
     Move point to where you click (`mouse-set-point').  This is
     normally the left button.

`Drag-Mouse-1'
     Set the region to the text you select by dragging, and copy it to
     the kill ring (`mouse-set-region').  You can specify both ends of
     the region with this single command.

     If you move the mouse off the top or bottom of the window while
     dragging, the window scrolls at a steady rate until you move the
     mouse back into the window.  This way, you can select regions that
     don't fit entirely on the screen.  The number of lines scrolled
     per step depends on how far away from the window edge the mouse
     has gone; the variable `mouse-scroll-min-lines' specifies a
     minimum step size.

`Mouse-2'
     Yank the last killed text, where you click (`mouse-yank-at-click').
     This is normally the middle button.

`Mouse-3'
     This command, `mouse-save-then-kill', has several functions
     depending on where you click and the status of the region.

     The most basic case is when you click `Mouse-1' in one place and
     then `Mouse-3' in another.  This selects the text between those two
     positions as the region.  It also copies the new region to the kill
     ring, so that you can copy it to someplace else.

     If you click `Mouse-1' in the text, scroll with the scroll bar, and
     then click `Mouse-3', it remembers where point was before scrolling
     (where you put it with `Mouse-1'), and uses that position as the
     other end of the region.  This is so that you can select a region
     that doesn't fit entirely on the screen.

     More generally, if you do not have a highlighted region, `Mouse-3'
     selects the text between point and the click position as the
     region.  It does this by setting the mark where point was, and
     moving point to where you click.

     If you have a highlighted region, or if the region was set just
     before by dragging button 1, `Mouse-3' adjusts the nearer end of
     the region by moving it to where you click.  The adjusted region's
     text also replaces the old region's text in the kill ring.

     If you originally specified the region using a double or triple
     `Mouse-1', so that the region is defined to consist of entire words
     or lines, then adjusting the region with `Mouse-3' also proceeds by
     entire words or lines.

     If you use `Mouse-3' a second time consecutively, at the same
     place, that kills the region already selected.

`Double-Mouse-1'
     This key sets the region around the word which you click on.  If
     you click on a character with "symbol" syntax (such as underscore,
     in C mode), it sets the region around the symbol surrounding that
     character.

     If you click on a character with open-parenthesis or
     close-parenthesis syntax, it sets the region around the
     parenthetical grouping which that character starts or ends.  If
     you click on a character with string-delimiter syntax (such as a
     singlequote or doublequote in C), it sets the region around the
     string constant (using heuristics to figure out whether that
     character is the beginning or the end of it).

`Double-Drag-Mouse-1'
     This key selects a region made up of the words you drag across.

`Triple-Mouse-1'
     This key sets the region around the line you click on.

`Triple-Drag-Mouse-1'
     This key selects a region made up of the lines you drag across.

   The simplest way to kill text with the mouse is to press `Mouse-1'
at one end, then press `Mouse-3' twice at the other end.  Note:
Killing.  To copy the text into the kill ring without deleting it
from the buffer, press `Mouse-3' just once--or just drag across the
text with `Mouse-1'.  Then you can copy it elsewhere by yanking it.

   To yank the killed or copied text somewhere else, move the mouse
there and press `Mouse-2'.  Note: Yanking.  However, if
`mouse-yank-at-point' is non-`nil', `Mouse-2' yanks at point.  Then it
does not matter where you click, or even which of the frame's windows
you click on.  The default value is `nil'.  This variable also affects
yanking the secondary selection.

   To copy text to another X window, kill it or save it in the kill
ring.  Under X, this also sets the "primary selection".  Then use the
"paste" or "yank" command of the program operating the other window to
insert the text from the selection.

   To copy text from another X window, use the "cut" or "copy" command
of the program operating the other window, to select the text you want.
Then yank it in Emacs with `C-y' or `Mouse-2'.

   The standard coding system for X selections is `compound-text'.  To
specify another coding system for X selections, use `C-x <RET> x' or
`C-x <RET> X'.  Note: Specify Coding.

   These cutting and pasting commands also work on MS-Windows.

   When Emacs puts text into the kill ring, or rotates text to the front
of the kill ring, it sets the "primary selection" in the X server.
This is how other X clients can access the text.  Emacs also stores the
text in the cut buffer, but only if the text is short enough (the value
of `x-cut-buffer-max' specifies the maximum number of characters);
putting long strings in the cut buffer can be slow.

   The commands to yank the first entry in the kill ring actually check
first for a primary selection in another program; after that, they check
for text in the cut buffer.  If neither of those sources provides text
to yank, the kill ring contents are used.


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