GNU Info

(info-stnd.info)Variables

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Manipulating Variables
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   GNU Info contains several "variables" whose values are looked at by
various Info commands.  You can change the values of these variables,
and thus change the behavior of Info to more closely match your
environment and Info file reading manner.

   There are two ways to set the value of a variable: interactively,
using the `set-variable' command described below, or in the `#var'
section of the `.infokey' file.  Note: Custom Key Bindings.

`M-x set-variable'
     Read the name of a variable, and the value for it, in the echo
     area and then set the variable to that value.  Completion is
     available when reading the variable name (Note: completion.
); often, completion is available when reading the value
     to give to the variable, but that depends on the variable itself.
     If a variable does _not_ supply multiple choices to complete over,
     it expects a numeric value.

`M-x describe-variable'
     Read the name of a variable in the echo area and then display a
     brief description of what the variable affects.

   Here is a list of the variables that you can set in Info.

`automatic-footnotes'
     When set to `On', footnotes appear and disappear automatically.
     This variable is `On' by default.  When a node is selected, a
     window containing the footnotes which appear in that node is
     created, and the footnotes are displayed within the new window.
     The window that Info creates to contain the footnotes is called
     `*Footnotes*'.  If a node is selected which contains no footnotes,
     and a `*Footnotes*' window is on the screen, the `*Footnotes*'
     window is deleted.  Footnote windows created in this fashion are
     not automatically tiled so that they can use as little of the
     display as is possible.

`automatic-tiling'
     When set to `On', creating or deleting a window resizes other
     windows.  This variable is `Off' by default.  Normally, typing
     `C-x 2' divides the current window into two equal parts.  When
     `automatic-tiling' is set to `On', all of the windows are resized
     automatically, keeping an equal number of lines visible in each
     window.  There are exceptions to the automatic tiling;
     specifically, the windows `*Completions*' and `*Footnotes*' are
     _not_ resized through automatic tiling; they remain their original
     size.

`errors-ring-bell'
     When set to `On', errors cause the bell to ring.  The default
     setting of this variable is `On'.

`gc-compressed-files'
     When set to `On', Info garbage collects files which had to be
     uncompressed.  The default value of this variable is `Off'.
     Whenever a node is visited in Info, the Info file containing that
     node is read into core, and Info reads information about the tags
     and nodes contained in that file.  Once the tags information is
     read by Info, it is never forgotten.  However, the actual text of
     the nodes does not need to remain in core unless a particular Info
     window needs it.  For non-compressed files, the text of the nodes
     does not remain in core when it is no longer in use.  But
     de-compressing a file can be a time consuming operation, and so
     Info tries hard not to do it twice.  `gc-compressed-files' tells
     Info it is okay to garbage collect the text of the nodes of a file
     which was compressed on disk.

`ISO-Latin'
     When set to `On', Info accepts and displays ISO Latin characters.
     By default, Info assumes an ASCII character set.  `ISO-Latin' tells
     Info that it is running in an environment where the European
     standard character set is in use, and allows you to input such
     characters to Info, as well as display them.

`scroll-behavior'
     Control what happens when forward scrolling is requested at the
     end of a node, or when backward scrolling is requested at the
     beginning of a node.  The default value for this variable is
     `Continuous'.  There are three possible values for this variable:

    `Continuous'
          Try to get the first item in this node's menu, or failing
          that, the `Next' node, or failing that, the `Next' of the
          `Up'.  This behavior is identical to using the `]'
          (`global-next-node') and `[' (`global-prev-node') commands.

    `Next Only'
          Only try to get the `Next' node.

    `Page Only'
          Simply give up, changing nothing.  If `scroll-behavior' is
          `Page Only', no scrolling command can change the node that is
          being viewed.

`scroll-step'
     The number of lines to scroll when the cursor moves out of the
     window.  Scrolling happens automatically if the cursor has moved
     out of the visible portion of the node text when it is time to
     display.  Usually the scrolling is done so as to put the cursor on
     the center line of the current window.  However, if the variable
     `scroll-step' has a nonzero value, Info attempts to scroll the
     node text by that many lines; if that is enough to bring the
     cursor back into the window, that is what is done.  The default
     value of this variable is 0, thus placing the cursor (and the text
     it is attached to) in the center of the window.  Setting this
     variable to 1 causes a kind of "smooth scrolling" which some
     people prefer.

`show-index-match'
     When set to `On', the portion of the matched search string is
     highlighted in the message which explains where the matched search
     string was found.  The default value of this variable is `On'.
     When Info displays the location where an index match was found,
     (Note: `next-index-match'.), the portion of the
     string that you had typed is highlighted by displaying it in the
     inverse case from its surrounding characters.

`visible-bell'
     When set to `On', GNU Info attempts to flash the screen instead of
     ringing the bell.  This variable is `Off' by default.  Of course,
     Info can only flash the screen if the terminal allows it; in the
     case that the terminal does not allow it, the setting of this
     variable has no effect.  However, you can make Info perform
     quietly by setting the `errors-ring-bell' variable to `Off'.