@chapter Registers
@cindex registers
- Emacs @dfn{registers} are places you can save text or positions for
-later use. Once you save text or a rectangle in a register, you can
-copy it into the buffer once or many times; you can move point to a
-position saved in a register once or many times.
+ Emacs @dfn{registers} are compartments where you can save text,
+rectangles, positions, and other things for later use. Once you save
+text or a rectangle in a register, you can copy it into the buffer
+once or many times; you can move point to a position saved in a
+register once or many times.
@findex view-register
Each register has a name which is a single character. A register can
can be useful in keyboard macros (@pxref{Keyboard Macros}).
@table @kbd
-@item C-u @var{number} C-x r n @var{reg}
+@item C-u @var{number} C-x r n @var{r}
@kindex C-x r n
@findex number-to-register
-Store @var{number} into register @var{reg} (@code{number-to-register}).
-@item C-u @var{number} C-x r + @var{reg}
+Store @var{number} into register @var{r} (@code{number-to-register}).
+@item C-u @var{number} C-x r + @var{r}
@kindex C-x r +
@findex increment-register
-Increment the number in register @var{reg} by @var{number}
+Increment the number in register @var{r} by @var{number}
(@code{increment-register}).
-@item C-x r g @var{reg}
-Insert the number from register @var{reg} into the buffer.
+@item C-x r g @var{r}
+Insert the number from register @var{r} into the buffer.
@end table
- @kbd{C-x r g} is the same command used to insert any other
-sort of register contents into the buffer.
+ @kbd{C-x r g} is the same command used to insert any other sort of
+register contents into the buffer. @kbd{C-x r +} with no numeric
+argument increments the register value by 1; @kbd{C-x r n} with no
+numeric argument stores zero in the register.
@node RegFiles
@section Keeping File Names in Registers