(emacs.info) Picture

 
 Editing Pictures
 ****************
 
    To edit a picture made out of text characters (for example, a picture
 of the division of a register into fields, as a comment in a program),
 use the command `M-x edit-picture' to enter Picture mode.
 
    In Picture mode, editing is based on the "quarter-plane" model of
 text, according to which the text characters lie studded on an area that
 stretches infinitely far to the right and downward.  The concept of the
 end of a line does not exist in this model; the most you can say is
 where the last nonblank character on the line is found.
 
    Of course, Emacs really always considers text as a sequence of
 characters, and lines really do have ends.  But Picture mode replaces
 the most frequently-used commands with variants that simulate the
 quarter-plane model of text.  They do this by inserting spaces or by
 converting tabs to spaces.
 
    Most of the basic editing commands of Emacs are redefined by Picture
 mode to do essentially the same thing but in a quarter-plane way.  In
 addition, Picture mode defines various keys starting with the `C-c'
 prefix to run special picture editing commands.
 
    One of these keys, `C-c C-c', is pretty important.  Often a picture
 is part of a larger file that is usually edited in some other major
 mode.  `M-x edit-picture' records the name of the previous major mode
 so you can use the `C-c C-c' command (`picture-mode-exit') later to go
 back to that mode.  `C-c C-c' also deletes spaces from the ends of
 lines, unless given a numeric argument.
 
    The special commands of Picture mode all work in other modes
 (provided the `picture' library is loaded), but are not bound to keys
 except in Picture mode.  The descriptions below talk of moving "one
 column" and so on, but all the picture mode commands handle numeric
 arguments as their normal equivalents do.
 
    Turning on Picture mode runs the hook `picture-mode-hook' (
 Hooks).

 
* Basic Picture         Basic concepts and simple commands of Picture Mode.
* Insert in Picture     Controlling direction of cursor motion
                             after "self-inserting" characters.
* Tabs in Picture       Various features for tab stops and indentation.
* Rectangles in Picture Clearing and superimposing rectangles.

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