# Emacs DWIM: do what \*I\* mean

**URL:** <https://forum.devtalk.com/t/emacs-dwim-do-what-i-mean/10263>\
**Category:** Code Editors\
**Tags:** emacs, in-the-news\
**Created:** [6 June 2021 15:28 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/emacs-dwim-do-what-i-mean/10263 "2021-06-06T15:28:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CommunityNews](https://forum.devtalk.com/user_avatar/forum.devtalk.com/communitynews/32/1113_2.png) [@CommunityNews](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/CommunityNews)\
**Post date:** [6 June 2021 15:28 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/emacs-dwim-do-what-i-mean/10263/1 "2021-06-06T15:28:35Z")

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> I was a rather puzzled the first time I spotted DWIM in an Emacs interactive command name. Don’t think I remember what the command itself was, but what’s important here is that [DWIM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DWIM) stands for [do what I mean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DWIM).
> 
> I love DWIM interactive commands. They enable commands to be smarter and thus pack more functionality, without incurring the typical cognitive overhead associated with remembering multiple commands (or key bindings). The Emacs manual does a great job describing DWIM for the [comment-dwim](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Comment-Commands.html) command:
> 
> The word “dwim” is an acronym for “Do What I Mean”; it indicates that this command can be used for many different jobs relating to comments, depending on the situation where you use it.

Read in full here:

[https://xenodium.com/emacs-dwim-do-what-i-mean](https://xenodium.com/emacs-dwim-do-what-i-mean)

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