Question

I have just started to customize the emacs. If I want to enable some mode (globally) in emacs, I need to put some code in the .emacs file.
For visual mode the code will be (global-visual-line-mode t). But the same syntax doesn’t work for something like show-paren-mode.
So is there any way to recognise the syntax has to be used for globally enabling a mode? Or is it something which has to be known?

Answer 1

Use the Emacs help system:

M-x describe-function RET show-paren-mode RET

…or use the ‘Help’ menu in the menu bar:

Help => Describe => Describe Function... show-paren-mode RET

,,,or the keyboard binding:

C-h f describe-function RET show-paren-mode RET

Finally, consider using the Emacs ‘custom’ package (M-x customize RET) which will maintain many settings in your .emacs file for you. Or for a specific option, from the menu bar:

Options => Customize Emacs => Specific Option...

Also, while typing in the minibuffer, entering zero or more characters followed by TAB will offer completion options.