M-x describe-variable
とやると
Describe variable:
とか出るので、調べたい変数名を入力します。
幸いにして、tabが効くのでうろ覚えでも何とかなります。
load-pathとやると、こんな感じの出力を得ます
load-path is a variable defined in `C source code'. Its value is ("/Users/shuzo/.emacs.d/elpa/anything-20130606.946" ... "/Users/shuzo/.emacs.d/elpa/cl-lib-0.3") This variable may be risky if used as a file-local variable. Documentation: List of directories to search for files to load. Each element is a string (directory name) or nil (try default directory). Initialized based on EMACSLOADPATH environment variable, if any, otherwise to default specified by file `epaths.h' when Emacs was built. [back]
結果は"*help*"に書き込まれるため、
関連する変数や大元のelファイルへのリンクが貼られていることもあります。
たとえばtwittering-account-authorizationの場合
twittering-account-authorization is a variable defined in `twittering-mode.el'. Its value is nil Documentation: State of account authorization for `twittering-username' and `twittering-password'. The value is one of the following symbols: nil -- The account have not been authorized yet. queried -- The authorization has been queried, but not finished yet. authorized -- The account has been authorized. [back] [forward]
てな感じで、簡易リファレンスとしても使えます。