# fill-paragraph(2)

[Home] [Commands] [Variables] [Macro-Dev] [Glossary]

## NAME

fill-paragraph - Format a paragraph

## SYNOPSIS

n fill-paragraph (esc o)

## DESCRIPTION

fill-paragraph this takes all the text in the current paragraph (as defined by surrounding blank lines, or a leading indent) and attempts to fill it from the left margin to the current fill column as defined by $buffer-fill-col(5). When an argument n is supplied n paragraphs are filled. If n is positive then MicroEmacs 2009 performs indented filling (i.e. indentation for a bullet mark etc). If n is negative then indented filling is disabled. If no argument n is supplied then the paragraph is filled and the point and mark positions are retained. This allows paragraphs to be filled, whilst in the middle of the paragraph and the word position is maintained.

If justify mode is enabled the variable $buffer-fill-mode(5) determines how the paragraph is filled (i.e. left, right, both or center). The variable $fill-eos-len(5) determines the trailing space used after a period (`.`) character (the trailing characters are specified by $fill-eos(5)), typically defined as 2.

A set of characters defined by $fill-bullet(5) enable bullet markers to be placed in the text at the beginning of the paragraph causing the left margin to be moved to the right of the bullet. The search depth for fill to locate a bullet character is defined by $fill-bullet-len(5). When the paragraph is formatted and one of the bullet characters is encountered then the user is prompted as to whether the paragraph should be indented following the marker or not. The point of indentation is shown with a `<<<<` marker.

Filling is automatically disabled on paragraphs which start with characters in the $fill-ignore(5) set.

The simple text formatting is generally used for mail messages, ASCII text README files etc.

## EXAMPLE

The following examples show how the text is formatted with indented filling enabled and both justification enabled:-

    This  is  regular  text  that  is on the
    margin

        This is a regular  paragraph that is
        offset  from  the  margin.  Note how
        MicroEmacs 2009 retains the indent.

        * With  the  introduction  of one of
          the  special  characters,  in this
          case a  bullet,  a  format  of the
          paragraph  offsets  the text  from
          the bullet.

        1) Numbered  lists   are  the  same.
           Note that the  paragraphs are all
           separated with a blank line.

        1. Numbered  lists  ending  with   a
           period.

        label - Or labeled lists, separated
                with a dash.

        >  '>' might be an ignore
        >  character so it skips the paragraph
        >
        >          it is up to the user to
        >   format these.

## SEE ALSO

$buffer-fill-col(5), $buffer-fill-mode(5), $fill-bullet(5), $fill-bullet-len(5), $fill-col(5), $fill-eos(5), $fill-eos-len(5), $fill-ignore(5), $fill-mode(5), ifill-paragraph(3), paragraph-to-line(3).

(c) Copyright JASSPA 2009
Last Modified: 2009/08/29
Generated On: 2009/10/12

</HMTL>