You don't really edit files with Emacs. Instead, Emacs copies the contents of a file into a temporary buffer and you edit that. The file on disk doesn't change until you save the buffer. Like files, Emacs buffers have names. The name of a buffer is usually the same as the name of the file that you're editing. There are a few exceptions. Some buffers don't have associated files for example, *scratch* is just a temporary practice buffer, like a scratchpad; the help facility displays help messages in a buffer named *Help*, which also isn't connected to a file. |