Emacs

About Emacs

GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable, free/libre text editor built around an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a Lisp dialect extended for text editing. It supports content-aware editing modes with syntax coloring for many file types, full Unicode support for nearly all human scripts, and extensive customization through Emacs Lisp code or a graphical interface. It includes built-in documentation and a tutorial for new users, and is available on GNU/Linux, BSDs, Haiku, Windows, macOS, and Android.

Beyond text editing, it provides a project planner, mail and news reader, debugger interface, calendar, IRC client, and other tools, along with a packaging system for downloading and installing extensions. Recent releases (29.x and 30.x) have added native compilation, an Android port, native JSON support, tree-sitter-based major modes for languages including Elixir, HEEx, HTML, Lua, and PHP, an LSP client (Eglot), SQLite database access, WebP image display, and support for the EditorConfig standard.

It is suited to developers and users who want a highly customizable editing environment that can be extended or reprogrammed through Lisp code, rather than a fixed-feature text editor.

Key features

• Content-aware editing modes with syntax coloring for many file types
• Fully extensible and customizable via Emacs Lisp or a graphical interface
• Full Unicode support for nearly all human scripts
• Built-in extras like project planner, mail/news reader, debugger interface, calendar, and IRC client
• Packaging system for downloading and installing extensions
• Complete built-in documentation including a tutorial for new users

Frequently asked questions