From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: tfb@hurricane.OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Thomas F. Burdick) Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: how to open an uninstalled info file from within emacs Date: 24 Sep 2002 10:55:32 -0700 Organization: University of California, Berkeley Sender: help-gnu-emacs-admin@gnu.org Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost.gmane.org X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1032890812 22256 127.0.0.1 (24 Sep 2002 18:06:52 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 18:06:52 +0000 (UTC) Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 17tu5C-0005mq-00 for ; Tue, 24 Sep 2002 20:06:50 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10) id 17tu5H-0006i2-00; Tue, 24 Sep 2002 14:06:55 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!nntp.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!cyclone.bc.net!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!agate.berkeley.edu!agate!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 41 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: hurricane.ocf.berkeley.edu Original-X-Trace: agate.berkeley.edu 1032890135 79155 192.58.221.201 (24 Sep 2002 17:55:35 GMT) Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@agate.berkeley.edu Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 17:55:35 +0000 (UTC) X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.7 Original-Xref: nntp.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:105251 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-admin@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.11 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:1805 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:1805 "Robert P. J. Day" writes: > On Tue, 24 Sep 2002, Jonas Steverud wrote: > > > "Robert P. J. Day" writes: > > > > > so, from within emacs, how can i open in info mode a specific > > > info file that i've downloaded from the net? > > > > C-u C-h i > > ok, i'll bite -- why does adding the "C-u" universal argument on the front > of "C-h i" cause this behavior? it certainly isn't intuitive, at least > not to me. should i have guessed this somehow? It is intuitive when you've internalized some of the logic of C-u, and I originally found it by guessing -- but that's not to say I would've expected J. Random Emacsuser to necessarily guess it. For commands where a numeric argument makes sense, they generally take a numeric argument as a repeat count. For commands where a numeric argument doesn't make sense, they generally give you an expanded version of the command. For C-s, this means using a regexp search. For something like C-x C-f (when you're using ffap), this means defaulting to whatever "thing" is right at or around the point. For something like C-h i, which has a default place to look (the system info dir file), this means prompting you for a different place. I found this originally by saying, "I want to look at this info file, but C-h i is defaulting to the wrong place ... maybe an `expanded' version of this would let me choose the default place". -- /|_ .-----------------------. ,' .\ / | No to Imperialist war | ,--' _,' | Wage class war! | / / `-----------------------' ( -. | | ) | (`-. '--.) `. )----'