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(emacs)Two-Column

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Two-Column Editing
==================

   Two-column mode lets you conveniently edit two side-by-side columns
of text.  It uses two side-by-side windows, each showing its own buffer.

   There are three ways to enter two-column mode:

`<F2> 2' or `C-x 6 2'
     Enter two-column mode with the current buffer on the left, and on
     the right, a buffer whose name is based on the current buffer's
     name (`2C-two-columns').  If the right-hand buffer doesn't already
     exist, it starts out empty; the current buffer's contents are not
     changed.

     This command is appropriate when the current buffer is empty or
     contains just one column and you want to add another column.

`<F2> s' or `C-x 6 s'
     Split the current buffer, which contains two-column text, into two
     buffers, and display them side by side (`2C-split').  The current
     buffer becomes the left-hand buffer, but the text in the right-hand
     column is moved into the right-hand buffer.  The current column
     specifies the split point.  Splitting starts with the current line
     and continues to the end of the buffer.

     This command is appropriate when you have a buffer that already
     contains two-column text, and you wish to separate the columns
     temporarily.

`<F2> b BUFFER <RET>'
`C-x 6 b BUFFER <RET>'
     Enter two-column mode using the current buffer as the left-hand
     buffer, and using buffer BUFFER as the right-hand buffer
     (`2C-associate-buffer').

   `<F2> s' or `C-x 6 s' looks for a column separator, which is a
string that appears on each line between the two columns.  You can
specify the width of the separator with a numeric argument to `<F2> s';
that many characters, before point, constitute the separator string.
By default, the width is 1, so the column separator is the character
before point.

   When a line has the separator at the proper place, `<F2> s' puts the
text after the separator into the right-hand buffer, and deletes the
separator.  Lines that don't have the column separator at the proper
place remain unsplit; they stay in the left-hand buffer, and the
right-hand buffer gets an empty line to correspond.  (This is the way
to write a line that "spans both columns while in two-column mode":
write it in the left-hand buffer, and put an empty line in the
right-hand buffer.)

   The command `C-x 6 <RET>' or `<F2> <RET>' (`2C-newline') inserts a
newline in each of the two buffers at corresponding positions.  This is
the easiest way to add a new line to the two-column text while editing
it in split buffers.

   When you have edited both buffers as you wish, merge them with `<F2>
1' or `C-x 6 1' (`2C-merge').  This copies the text from the right-hand
buffer as a second column in the other buffer.  To go back to
two-column editing, use `<F2> s'.

   Use `<F2> d' or `C-x 6 d' to dissociate the two buffers, leaving
each as it stands (`2C-dissociate').  If the other buffer, the one not
current when you type `<F2> d', is empty, `<F2> d' kills it.