Unasked-for Search Lossage After a Crash
If you get the error message `Virtual memory exceeded
', save your
modified buffers with C-x s. This method of saving them has the
smallest need for additional memory. Emacs keeps a reserve of memory
which it makes available when this error happens; that should be enough
to enable C-x s to complete its work.
Once you have saved your modified buffers, you can exit this Emacs job and start another, or you can use M-x kill-some-buffers to free space in the current Emacs job. If you kill buffers containing a substantial amount of text, you can safely go on editing. Emacs refills its memory reserve automatically when it sees sufficient free space available, in case you run out of memory another time.
Do not use M-x buffer-menu to save or kill buffers when you run out of memory, because the buffer menu needs a fair amount memory itself, and the reserve supply may not be enough.
Unasked-for Search Lossage After a Crash