26.6.3 Emacs Lisp Documentation Lookup

When editing Emacs Lisp code, you can use the commands C-h f (describe-function) and C-h v (describe-variable) to view the built-in documentation for the Lisp functions and variables that you want to use. See Name Help.

ElDoc is a buffer-local minor mode that helps with looking up Lisp documentation. When it is enabled, the echo area displays some useful information whenever there is a Lisp function or variable at point; for a function, it shows the argument list, and for a variable it shows the first line of the variable’s documentation string. To toggle ElDoc mode, type M-x eldoc-mode. There’s also a Global ElDoc mode, which is turned on by default, and affects buffers, such as ‘*scratch*’, whose major mode is Emacs Lisp or Lisp Interaction (M-x global-eldoc-mode to turn it off globally).