erf(8)

NAME

erf - MicroEmacs registry file

SYNOPSIS

; Comment to the end of the line
<command> ::= "<identifier>" [ = "<string>" ][ { <command> } ] *

DESCRIPTION

MicroEmacs registry files are ASCII text files, given the file extension .erf. The registry file is a simple syntax that allows an identifier to be associated with a string. The identifiers are unique and allow a string value to be found when a search for a identifier is made. The string component is optional.

The syntax allows the identifier's to be hierarchically nested, children of the identifier node are enclosed in a set of curly braces { ... }. The enclosure itself comprises a number of identifiers, which may have their own enclosures, and so on.

The backslash character `\' is the escape character, the following sequences of escape character are recognized:

\\ - Literal backslash
\" - Double quote (used within a quoted string)
\n - New line character.
\t - Tab character.

The semi-colon character `;' introduces a comment which exists to the end of the line.

EXAMPLE

The following is an example of a registry file:

; -!- erf -!- 
; Comment on this line 
"dos" 
{ 
    "file-ignore" = "~ ./ .o" 
    "font" = "85" 
    "mail-dir" = "c:/mail/" 
    "mail-send" = "echo from \"%f\" file \"%o\"" 
    "mail-src" = "c:/mail/jon" 
    "nested"="value" 
    { 
        "foo"="bar" 
    } 
} 

The history file username.erf is a good example of the use of the registry. This file retains historical session information in The history registry file is automatically written at the end of a editing session when the editor is closed down (or may be saved explicitly using save-session(3)).

Every user should have their own personal history file in their personal MicroEmacs directory. The history file is located from the MicroEmacs search path defined by $user-path(5), and is named by the variable $user-name(5).

NOTES

• The registry files are not currently written with a backup.
• Special care should be taken when editing registry files when they are loaded into MicroEmacs. It is recommended that the registry file is not loaded as a registry item when editing the registry text file.

To edit the history registry file within MicroEmacs then the following sequence of steps should be followed:

• Save the current session save-session(3).
• Load the history registry file username.erf.
• Edit the file.
• Save edits back to the file.
• Re-install the history read-session(3). This flushes the current session and restores it from the file. The new edits should now be in the registry.
• Examine the loaded registry using list-registry(2).

SEE ALSO

list-registry(2), read-registry(2), read-session(3), save-session(3), $user-name(5), $user-path(5).

Ref: erf(8) File: m8fil004.8 Date: 2025/08/28

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