3.15 Filling

3.15.1 Fill commands

Fill Paragraph

Editor Command

: Arguments: None
Key sequence: +Q
: Fills the current paragraph. If the current point is located between two paragraphs, the next paragraph is filled.
: A prefix argument causesFill-Columnto be set at the required value for the current operation.

Fill Region

Editor Command

: Arguments: None
Key sequence: +G
: Fills the region from the current point to the mark.
: A prefix argument causesFill-Column to be set at the required value for the current operation.

Fill-Column

Editor Variable

: Default value: 79
: Determines the column at which text in the current buffer is forced on to a new line.

Set Fill Column

Editor Command

: Arguments: None
Key sequence:Ctrl+X F
: Sets the value ofFill-Column, for the current buffer, as the column of the current point.
: A prefix argument causesFill-Column to be set at the required value.

Fill-Prefix

Editor Variable

: Default value:nil
: Defines a string which is excluded when each line of the current buffer is re-formatted using the filling commands. For example, if theFill-Prefix is set to;;, then these characters at the start of a line is skipped over when the text is re-formatted, so it is possible to re-format Lisp comments. If theFill-Prefix isnil, no characters are excluded when text is filled.
: If aFill-Prefix is defined, any line that does not begin with theFill-Prefixis considered to begin a new paragraph. Therefore, any re-formatting of comments in Lisp code does not intrude outside the commented lines.

Set Fill Prefix

Editor Command

: Arguments: None
Key sequence:Ctrl+X .
: Sets theFill-Prefixof the current buffer to be the text from the beginning of the current line up to the current point. TheFill-Prefix may be set tonil by using this command with the current point at the start of a line.

Center Line

Editor Command

: Arguments: None
Key sequence: None
: Centers the current line with reference to the current value ofFill-Column.
: A prefix argument causes the current line to be centered with reference to the required width.