(info-stnd.info) Variables
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Manipulating Variables
**********************
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.
`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 ( completion The
Echo Area.); 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.
`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'.
`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.
`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,
( `next-index-match' Searching Commands.), the portion of the
string that you had typed is highlighted by displaying it in the
inverse case from its surrounding characters.
`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.
`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.
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