Emacs provides a wide variety of help commands, all accessible
through the prefix key C-h (or, equivalently, the function key
<F1>). These help commands are described in the following
sections. You can also type C-h C-h to view a list of help
commands (help-for-help
). You can scroll the list with
<SPC> and <DEL>, then type the help command you want. To
cancel, type C-g.
Many help commands display their information in a special help buffer. In this buffer, you can type <SPC> and <DEL> to scroll and type <RET> to follow hyperlinks. See Help Mode.
If you are looking for a certain feature, but don't know what it is called or where to look, we recommend three methods. First, try an apropos command, then try searching the manual index, then look in the FAQ and the package keywords.
C-h or <F1> mean “help” in various other contexts as well. For instance, you can type them after a prefix key to view a list of the keys that can follow the prefix key. (You can also use ? in this context. A few prefix keys don't support C-h or ? in this way, because they define other meanings for those inputs, but they all support <F1>.)