46.4 Activating URLs

M-x goto-address-mode

Activate URLs and e-mail addresses in the current buffer.

M-x global-goto-address-mode

Activate goto-address-mode in all buffers.

You can make Emacs mark out URLs specially in the current buffer, by typing M-x goto-address-mode. When this buffer-local minor mode is enabled, it finds all the URLs in the buffer, highlights them, and turns them into clickable buttons. You can follow the URL by typing C-c RET ( goto-address-at-point) while point is on its text; or by clicking with mouse-2, or by clicking mouse-1 quickly (see Following References with the Mouse). Following a URL is done by calling browse-url as a subroutine (see Following URLs).

It can be useful to add goto-address-mode to mode hooks and hooks for displaying an incoming message (e.g., rmail-show-message-hook for Rmail). This is not needed for Gnus or MH-E, which have similar features of their own.