This section describes higher-level commands for inserting text, commands intended primarily for the user but useful also in Lisp programs.
This command inserts the entire accessible contents of
from-buffer-or-name (which must exist) into the current buffer
after point. It leaves the mark after the inserted text. The value
is nil.
This command inserts the character char (the last character typed);
it does so count times, before point, and returns nil.
Most printing characters are bound to this command. In routine use,
self-insert-command is the most frequently called function in Emacs,
but programs rarely use it except to install it on a keymap.
In an interactive call, count is the numeric prefix argument.
Self-insertion translates the input character through
translation-table-for-input. See Translation of Characters.
This command calls auto-fill-function whenever that is
non-nil and the character inserted is in the table
auto-fill-chars (see Auto Filling).
This command performs abbrev expansion if Abbrev mode is enabled and
the inserted character does not have word-constituent
syntax. (See Abbrevs and Abbrev Expansion, and Table of Syntax Classes.) It is also
responsible for calling blink-paren-function when the inserted
character has close parenthesis syntax (see Blinking Parentheses).
The final thing this command does is to run the hook
post-self-insert-hook. You could use this to automatically
reindent text as it is typed, for example. The functions on this hook
can use last-command-event (see Information from the Command Loop) to
access the character just inserted.
If any function on this hook needs to act on the region (see The Region), it should make sure Delete Selection mode (see Delete Selection in The GNU Emacs Manual) doesn’t
delete the region before post-self-insert-hook functions are
invoked. The way to do so is to add a function that returns
nil to self-insert-uses-region-functions, a special hook
that tells Delete Selection mode it should not delete the region.
Do not try substituting your own definition of
self-insert-command for the standard one. The editor command
loop handles this function specially.
This command inserts newlines into the current buffer before point. If number-of-newlines is supplied, that many newline characters are inserted. In an interactive call, number-of-newlines is the numeric prefix argument.
This command calls self-insert-command to insert newlines,
which may subsequently break the preceding line by calling
auto-fill-function (see Auto Filling). Typically what
auto-fill-function does is insert a newline; thus, the overall
result in this case is to insert two newlines at different places: one
at point, and another earlier in the line. newline does not
auto-fill if number-of-newlines is non-nil.
This command does not run the hook post-self-insert-hook unless
called interactively or interactive is non-nil.
This command indents to the left margin if that is not zero. See Margins for Filling.
The value returned is nil.
This command can be used to ensure that you have a specific number of empty lines before point. (An “empty line” is here defined as a line with no characters on it—a line with space characters isn’t an empty line.) It defaults to ensuring that there’s a single empty line before point.
If point isn’t at the beginning of a line, a newline character is inserted first. If there’s more empty lines before point than specified, the number of empty lines is reduced. Otherwise it’s increased to the specified number.
This variable controls whether overwrite mode is in effect. The value
should be overwrite-mode-textual, overwrite-mode-binary,
or nil. overwrite-mode-textual specifies textual
overwrite mode (treats newlines and tabs specially), and
overwrite-mode-binary specifies binary overwrite mode (treats
newlines and tabs like any other characters).