opening two documents side-by-side

opening two documents side-by-side

[Rich E]

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Hi,

When I open documents with, for example:

emacs doc1.txt doc2.txt

they will open one above the other.  Is there any way two tell emacs to open
them side by side instead?

Thanks,
Rich

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Re: opening two documents side-by-side

[Giorgos Keramidas]

On Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:51:03 -0700, "Rich E" <reakinator@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> When I open documents with, for example:
>
> emacs doc1.txt doc2.txt
>
> they will open one above the other.  Is there any way two tell emacs
> to open them side by side instead?

Yes, there are a few ways:

  * Use an Emacs window that is ``wide enough''.  GNU Emacs 23.X decides
    if a frame should be split vertically by comparing the current frame
    width with `split-width-threshold'.  When the current frame width
    exceeds `split-width-threshold' Emacs splits the frame in two
    vertical windows.

    You can try this, for example, by running Emacs (in a terminal that
    is at least 40 columns wide) like this:

        % emacs --eval '(setq-default split-width-threshold 40)' \
            doc1.txt doc2.txt

    If your terminal is at least 40 columns wide, Emacs should split the
    initial frame in two vertical windows.

  * Customize `split-width-threshold' by typing `M-x customize-variable
    RET split-width-threshold RET', set its value to a smaller width
    than the default (set to 160 columns here), save the customization
    for future sessions and you are done.  Now Emacs should split the
    frame vertically without the --eval trick shown above.

  * Fire up Emacs, set up the windows yourself, and *then* visit the two
    files in the windows you have pre-configured.