In most cases, the usual Text mode commands work the same in Texinfo
mode as they do in Text mode. Texinfo mode adds new editing commands
and tools to GNU Emacs' general purpose editing features. The major
difference concerns filling. In Texinfo mode, the paragraph
separation variable and syntax table are redefined so that Texinfo
commands that should be on lines of their own are not inadvertently
included in paragraphs. Thus, the M-q (fill-paragraph)
command will refill a paragraph but not mix an indexing command on a
line adjacent to it into the paragraph.
In addition, Texinfo mode sets the page-delimiter variable to
the value of texinfo-chapter-level-regexp; by default, this is
a regular expression matching the commands for chapters and their
equivalents, such as appendices. With this value for the page
delimiter, you can jump from chapter title to chapter title with the
C-x ] (forward-page) and C-x [
(backward-page) commands and narrow to a chapter with the
C-x p (narrow-to-page) command. (See Pages, for details about the page commands.)
You may name a Texinfo file however you wish, but the convention is to
end a Texinfo file name with one of the extensions
.texinfo, .texi, .txi, or .tex. A longer
extension is preferred, since it is explicit, but a shorter extension
may be necessary for operating systems that limit the length of file
names. GNU Emacs automatically enters Texinfo mode when you visit a
file with a .texinfo, .texi or .txi
extension. Also, Emacs switches to Texinfo mode
when you visit a
file that has -*-texinfo-*- in its first line. If ever you are
in another mode and wish to switch to Texinfo mode, type M-x
texinfo-mode.
Like all other Emacs features, you can customize or enhance Texinfo mode as you wish. In particular, the keybindings are very easy to change. The keybindings described here are the default or standard ones.