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# Manipulating Variables

GNU Info contains several variables whose values are looked at by various Info commands. You can change the values of these variables, and thus change the behaviour of Info to more closely match your environment and info file reading manner.

`M-x set-variable`
  Reads the name of a variable, and the value for it, in the echo area and then sets the variable to that value. Completion is available when reading the variable name; often, completion is available when reading the value to give to the variable, but that depends on the variable itself. If a variable does not supply multiple choices to complete over, it expects a numeric value.
`M-x describe-variable`
  Reads the name of a variable in the echo area and then displays a brief description of what the variable affects.

Here is a list of the variables that you can set in Info.

`automatic-footnotes`
  When set to `On`, footnotes appear and disappear automatically. This variable is `On` by default. When a node is selected, a window containing the footnotes which appear in that node is created, and the footnotes are displayed within the new window. The window that Info creates to contain the footnotes is called ``*Footnotes*'`. If a node is selected which contains no footnotes, and a ``*Footnotes*'` window is on the screen, the ``*Footnotes*'` window is deleted. Footnote windows created in this fashion are not automatically tiled so that they can use as little of the display as is possible.
`automatic-tiling`
  When set to `On`, creating or deleting a window resizes other windows. This variable is `Off` by default. Normally, typing ``C-x 2'` divides the current window into two equal parts. When `automatic-tiling` is set to `On`, all of the windows are resized automatically, keeping an equal number of lines visible in each window. There are exceptions to the automatic tiling; specifically, the windows ``*Completions*'` and ``*Footnotes*'` are not resized through automatic tiling; they remain their original size.
`visible-bell`
  When set to `On`, GNU Info attempts to flash the screen instead of ringing the bell. This variable is `Off` by default. Of course, Info can only flash the screen if the terminal allows it; in the case that the terminal does not allow it, the setting of this variable has no effect. However, you can make Info perform quietly by setting the `errors-ring-bell` variable to `Off`.
`errors-ring-bell`
  When set to `On`, errors cause the bell to ring. The default setting of this variable is `On`.
`gc-compressed-files`
  When set to `On`, Info garbage collects files which had to be uncompressed. The default value of this variable is `Off`. Whenever a node is visited in Info, the info file containing that node is read into core, and Info reads information about the tags and nodes contained in that file. Once the tags information is read by Info, it is never forgotten. However, the actual text of the nodes does not need to remain in core unless a particular info window needs it. For non-compressed files, the text of the nodes does not remain in core when it is no longer in use. But de-compressing a file can be a time consuming operation, and so Info tries hard not to do it twice. `gc-compressed-files` tells Info it is okay to garbage collect the text of the nodes of a file which was compressed on disk.
`show-index-match`
  When set to `On`, the portion of the matched search string is highlighted in the message which explains where the matched search string was found. The default value of this variable is `On`. When Info displays the location where an index match was found, (see section Searching an Info File), the portion of the string that you had typed is highlighted by displaying it in the inverse case from its surrounding characters.
`scroll-behaviour`
  Controls what happens when forward scrolling is requested at the end of a node, or when backward scrolling is requested at the beginning of a node. The default value for this variable is `Continuous`. There are three possible values for this variable:
  `Continuous`
    Tries to get the first item in this node's menu, or failing that, the ``Next'` node, or failing that, the ``Next'` of the ``Up'`. This behaviour is identical to using the ``]'` (`global-next-node`) and ``['` (`global-prev-node`) commands.
  `Next Only`
    Only tries to get the ``Next'` node.
  `Page Only`
    Simply gives up, changing nothing. If `scroll-behaviour` is `Page Only`, no scrolling command can change the node that is being viewed.
`scroll-step`
  The number of lines to scroll when the cursor moves out of the window. Scrolling happens automatically if the cursor has moved out of the visible portion of the node text when it is time to display. Usually the scrolling is done so as to put the cursor on the center line of the current window. However, if the variable `scroll-step` has a nonzero value, Info attempts to scroll the node text by that many lines; if that is enough to bring the cursor back into the window, that is what is done. The default value of this variable is 0, thus placing the cursor (and the text it is attached to) in the center of the window. Setting this variable to 1 causes a kind of "smooth scrolling" which some people prefer.
`ISO-Latin`
  When set to `On`, Info accepts and displays ISO Latin-1 characters. By default, Info assumes an ASCII character set. `ISO-Latin` tells Info that it is running in an environment where the European standard character set is in use, and allows you to input such characters to Info, as well as display them.

@raisesections

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