@cindex startup screen
When Emacs starts up, the initial frame displays a special buffer
-named @samp{*GNU Emacs*}. This buffer contains @dfn{links} to common
-tasks that might be useful to beginning users. For instance,
-activating the @samp{Emacs Tutorial} link opens the Emacs tutorial;
-this does the same thing as the command @kbd{C-h t}
-(@code{help-with-tutorial}). To activate a link, either move point
-onto it and type @kbd{@key{RET}}, or click on it with @kbd{mouse-1}
-(the left mouse button).
+named @samp{*GNU Emacs*}. This buffer contains some information about
+Emacs, and includes @dfn{links} to common tasks that might be useful
+to beginning users. For instance, activating the @samp{Emacs
+Tutorial} link opens the Emacs tutorial; this does the same thing as
+the command @kbd{C-h t} (@code{help-with-tutorial}). To activate a
+link, either move point onto it and type @kbd{@key{RET}}, or click on
+it with @kbd{mouse-1} (the left mouse button).
Using a command line argument, you can tell Emacs to visit one or
more specific files as soon as it starts up. For example,
certain Lisp files, call certain functions, and so forth. These
features exist mainly for advanced users. @xref{Emacs Invocation}.
+@vindex inhibit-startup-screen
+ If the value of the variable @code{inhibit-startup-screen} is
+non-@code{nil}, Emacs does not display the startup screen. In that
+case, if one or more files were specified on the command line, Emacs
+simply displays those files; otherwise, it displays a buffer named
+@samp{*scratch*}, which can be used to evaluate Emacs Lisp expressions
+interactively. @xref{Lisp Interaction}.
+
@node Exiting, Basic, Entering Emacs, Top
@section Exiting Emacs
@cindex exiting