Emacs Cheatsheet
22 Jul 2014
Today’s post isn’t quite a normal post. I’m going to use this as a place to put all of my notes while using emacs.
Navigation
| Key |
Description |
C-v |
Page down |
M-v |
Page up |
C-l |
Move text around the cursor (center, top, bottom) |
C-p |
Previous line |
C-n |
Next line |
C-b |
Backwards character |
C-f |
Forward character |
M-b |
Backwards word |
M-f |
Forward word |
C-a |
Beginning of line |
C-e |
End of line |
M-a |
Beginning of sentence |
M-e |
End of sentence |
M-< |
Beginning of text |
M-> |
End of text |
Editing
| Key |
Description |
<DEL> |
Delete character before cursor |
C-d |
Delete character after cursor |
M-<DEL> |
Kill word before cursor |
M-d |
Kill word after cursor |
C-k |
Kill from cursor to EOL |
M-k |
Kill to the end of current sentence |
C-<SPC> |
Start selecting text |
C-x h |
Select the whole buffer |
C-w |
Kill selection |
M-w |
Save region but don’t kill it |
C-y |
Yank killed text |
M-y |
Cycle through previous kills |
C-/ |
Undo |
Utility
| Key |
Description |
C-g |
Exit current command |
C-u |
Repeat command |
M-x replace-string |
Find and replace |
M-x recover-file |
Recover file backup |
C-M-\ |
Indent selected region |
Files and Buffers
| Key |
Description |
C-x C-f |
Find a file (for opening) |
C-x C-s |
Save current file |
C-x C-b |
List buffers |
C-x b |
Switch to a buffer |
C-x s |
Save some buffers |
C-x C-c |
Quit emacs (prompt for saves) |
C-x k |
Kill buffer |
Windows and Frames
| Key |
Description |
C-x 1 |
Delete all but current window |
C-x 2 |
Split window horizontally |
C-x 3 |
Split window verticaly |
C-x 4 C-f |
Find a file into a new window |
C-x o |
Move to other window |
C-M-v |
Scroll bottom window |
M-x make-frame |
Create a new emacs frame |
M-x delete-frame |
Remove the selected emacs frame |
Modes
| Key |
Description |
M-x fundamental-mode |
Fundamental |
M-x text-mode |
Human text mode |
Help
| Key |
Description |
C-h m |
Documentation on current major mode |
C-h ? |
Get help on what you can get help on |
C-h c |
Get help on a command |
C-h f |
Get help on a function |
C-h a |
List commands by keyword |
C-h i |
Open manuals (open info buffer) |
Searching
| Key |
Description |
C-s |
Start forward incremental search |
C-r |
Start backward incremental search |
When searching forwards, C-s will take you through all of the occurences of the search term that has been found. <DEL> takes you backwards. <DEL> starts to effect the search term once you’ve reached the first result.
Dired
| Key |
Description |
M-x dired |
Open dired in a buffer |
o |
Open the highlighted file in the other buffer |
C-o |
Open the file but keep focus in the dired buffer |