Documentation - ecb-home/ecb GitHub Wiki

This is the user manual for ECB version 2.40.

ECB stands for "Emacs Code Browser". While (X)Emacs already has good editing support for many modes, its browsing support is somewhat lacking. That's where ECB comes in: it displays a number of informational windows that allow for easy source code navigation and overview.

The informational windows can contain:

The informational windows can contain:

  • A directory tree
  • A list of source files in the current directory (with full support and display of the VC-state)
  • A list of functions/classes/methods/etc. in the current file. (ECB uses CEDET-semantic, Imenu or tags for getting this list so all languages supported by any of these tools is automatically supported by ECB too)
  • A history of recently visited files (group able by several criteria)
  • A direct and auto-updated eco-window for semantic-analyzer for context analysis of source code
  • Speedbar support for conveniently navigating or operating on another frame
  • A compilation window used for compilation and the use of other command-line utilities such as help, grep, etc.

As an added bonus, ECB makes sure to keep these informational windows visible, even when you use C-x 1 and similar commands.

While ECB comes with a number of ready-made window layouts to choose from, the window layout is configurable to your desires.

NOTE: Experienced ECB users find a complete alphabetical list of all commands and user-options in Interactive ECB commands and Customizable options.

The latest version of ECB can always be found at ECB-Home Github page (http://ecb-home.github.io/ecb/).

To send bug reports, or participate in discussions about ECB, use the Issues mechanism for the ECB Github project.

NOTE: The mailing list [email protected] via http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ecb-list is now deprecated.