spacemacs/layers/+emacs/helpful

helpful layer

• Description
  • Features:
• Install
• Key bindings
  • Global bindings
  • Helpful mode bindings

Description

This layer replaces the existing emacs related help buffers with more detailed ones.

Features:

• Better help buffers with helpful for emacs related buffers
• Source code shown implicitly in help buffer for all lisp objects
• More detailed descriptions in the emacs specific function, variable and key help buffers
• Better formatted elisp docstrings

Install

To use this configuration layer, add it to your ~/.spacemacs. You will need to add helpful to the existing dotspacemacs-configuration-layers list in this file.

Key bindings

Global bindings

This layer aims to silently replace the standard emacs help key bindings with improved versions. So it does not introduce new bindings. For the sake of completion you can find below all keys which are replaced by this layer.

Key binding	Description
SPC m h h	Open helpful buffer for item under point in elisp mode
SPC h d k	Open helpful buffer for key binding
SPC h d f	Open helpful buffer for any callable object
SPC h d v	Open helpful buffer for variable
C-h k	Open helpful buffer for key binding
C-h f	Open helpful buffer for any callable object
C-h v	Open helpful buffer for variable

Helpful mode bindings

Additional key bindings available in the helpful-mode buffers.

Key binding	Description
SPC m q	Close all helpful-mode buffers
gr	Reload the buffer (e.g. to see new variable value)
o	Open link with Avy
q	Close window (buffer is kept in background)