The Emacs info browser

You can start up Emacs from the command-line by typing ``emacs,'' or ``emacs <filename>.'' It can be started from the menu in some desktops, e.g., on my GNOME desktop, it is under Main Menu -> Programming -> Emacs. If you are unfamiliar with Emacs, a tutorial can be started by typing ``C-h t'' in an Emacs window, or from the Help item in the menubar at the top. Emacs makes extensive use of the Control (sometimes labelled as ``CTRL'' or ``CTL'') and Meta (sometimes labelled as ``Edit'' or ``Alt'') keys. In Emacs parlance, a hyphenated sequence, such as ``C-h'' means to press the Control and `h' key simultaneously, while ``C-h t'' would mean to press the Control and `h' key together, release them, and press the `t' key. Similarly, ``M-x'' is used to indicate that the Meta and `x' keys should be pressed at the same time.

The info browser can be started by typing ``C-h i'' in Emacs. The first time you do this, it will briefly list some commands available inside the info browser, and present you with a menu of major topics. Each menu item, or cross-reference is hyperlinked to the appropriate node, and you can visit that node either by moving the cursor to the item and pressing Enter, or by clicking on it with the middle mouse button. To get to the gettext menu items, you can either scroll down to the line,

  * gettext: (gettext).                          GNU gettext utilities.

and visit that node. Or, as it is several pages down, you can locate it using ``I-search.'' Type ``C-s'' to enter ``I-search'' which will then prompt you for a string in the mini-buffer at the bottom of the window. This is an incremental search, so that Emacs will keep moving you forward through the buffer as you are entering your search string. If you have reached the last occurrence of the search string in the current buffer, you will get a message saying ``Failing I-search: ...'' on pressing ``C-s.'' At that point, press ``C-s'' again to resume the search at the beginning of the buffer. Likewise, ``C-r'' incrementally searches backwards from the present location.

Info nodes are listed in this document with a ``::'' separator, so that one can go to the gettext::Creating::Header Entry:: by visiting the ``gettext'' node from the main info menu, navigating to the ``Creating'' node, and following that to the ``Header Entry'' node.

A stand-alone info browser, independent of Emacs, is also available on many systems. Thus, the gettext info page can also be accessed by typing ``info gettext'' in a terminal. xinfo is an X application serving as an info browser, so that if it is installed, typing ``xinfo gettext'' from the command line will open a new browser window with the gettext info page.