Emacs on Philipp K. Janert, Ph.D.

Useful Packages for Buffer and File Handling in Emacs

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 22:30:17 -0400

I recently discovered a set of useful packages and commands that facilitate some common file and buffer handling scenarios. Despite being really simple, all provide a real improvement over the standard, built-in alternatives, at least for me.

Building Regular Expressions with Emacs

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:08:03 -0400

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an environment in which to see the effect of a regular expression on a set of target strings? Ideally such that changes in matching immediately reflected, as one changes and experiments with the regular expression itself? The re-builder functionality built into Emacs does exactly that.

Better Highlighting for the Emacs Region

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 22:00:01 -0400

The default highlighting of the Emacs “region” (the part of a buffer between “point” and “mark” — selected text, if any, in other words) is, out of the box, barely visible, at least against a light background. An attempt to customize it runs into an interesting problem when used in a text- or terminal-based environment, rather than a GUI.

Compiling Emacs 29 for Debian/Ubuntu/Mint

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 11:36:02 -0400

I wanted to explore some of the new features in Emacs 29 (in particular Eglot). The version of Emacs that ships with my version of Linux Mint is Emacs 27, so I decided to build Emacs 29 from scratch.

This turned out to be absolutely painless; but installing the new version seamlessly into the existing environment did cause some hang-ups.

Changing Cursor Shape to Indicate Emacs Minor Modes

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 19:49:18 -0400

As it turns out, Emacs actually allows for different cursor shapes. We can use this feature to change the cursor based on the current minor mode.

eBook Review: Mastering Emacs

Fri, 12 Apr 2024 09:08:01 -0400

After seeing positive references to it on Linux Weekly News and elsewhere, I bought a copy of “Mastering Emacs” by Mickey Petersen.

Emacs Org Mode

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 12:38:50 -0800

Disclaimer: I use Emacs, but I am not deeply into various emacs cultish uses. I just write books and about everything else in it. (Except mail.)

That being said, I am currently dealing with Markdown and friends, and so I came across Org Mode.