How do I find out how to do something in GNU Emacs?

There are several methods for finding out how to do things in Emacs.

• The complete text of the Emacs manual is available online via the Info hypertext reader. Type "C-h i" to invoke Info.
• You can order a hardcopy of the manual from the FSF.See section How do I get a printed copy of the GNU Emacs manual?.
• You can get a printed reference card listing commands and keys to invoke them. You can order one from the FSF for $1 (or 10 for $5), or you can print your own from the etc/refcard.tex file in the Emacs distribution. {Are PostScript versions of this available for FTP?}
• You can list all of the commands whose names contain a certain word (actually which match a regular expression) using "C-h a" (M-x command-apropos).
• You can list all of the functions and variables whose names contain a certain word using M-x apropos.
• There are many other commands in Emacs for getting help and information. To get a list of these commands, type "C-h C-h C-h".

NOTE: You may find that command-apropos and apropos are extremely slow on your system. This will be fixed in Emacs 19. If you can't wait that long, there is a fast-apropos.el file available in the Emacs Lisp Archive (see section Where can I get GNU Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?) that contains the fix.