emacs cheat sheet

Emacs Cheat Sheet

(original version by David Cohen)
(revised by Bob Rogers)

UNDO: C-_ ("control underscore")
Find (or Create) file: C-x C-f
Save file: C-x C-s
Exit Emacs: C-x C-c
Quit (i.e. interrupt) command: C-g

Cursor Motion	Operation
Cursor Motion	Move		Delete
Amount	forward	backward	forward	backward
Characters	`C-f`	`C-b`	`C-d`	`DEL`
Words	`M-f`	`M-b`	`M-d`	`M-DEL`
Lines	`C-n`	`C-p`	`C-k` (to EOL)	`C-SPC C-a C-w`
Sentences	`M-a`	`M-e`	`M-k`	`C-x DEL`
Expressions	`C-M-f`	`C-M-b`	`C-M-k`	`C-M-DEL`
Paragraphs	`M-}`	`M-{`	(no standard bindings for delete cmds)
End/start of line	`C-e`	`C-a`	(repeat count goes to following lines)
End/start of buffer	`M-<`	`M->`	(no repeat count)

Cutting and Pasting
`C-SPC`	Mark one end of region
`C-w`	Cut (after you Mark and move to other end)
`M-w`	Copy (after you Mark and move to other end)
`C-y`	Yank (paste) most recently killed (cut or copied); will also use text currently selected in another application.
`M-y`	Next most recently killed (do `C-y` first, repeat `M-y` to cycle thru all)
To make cut/copy/paste behave as it does in Macintosh and Windows apps, do `M-x pc-selection-mode`, or put (pc-selection-mode) in your `.emacs` file to enable this in every session.

Scrolling and Windows
`C-v`	Scroll down (toward end of buffer)
`M-v`	Scroll up (toward beginning of buffer)
`C-M-v`	Scroll other window down
`C-x 1`	One window on current buffer
`C-x 2`	Split window vertically
`C-x 3`	Split window horizontally
`C-x ^`	Grow window vertically; prefix is number of lines
Command-related Stuff
`ESC ESC ESC`	Get me out of where I am now
`C-u #`	Prefix numeric arg # (digits with optional `"-"` sign) to next cmd
`C-g`	Stop a command in progress, or quit out of a partially entered command
Getting help
`C-h k`	Show command documentation; prompts for keystrokes
`C-h a`	"Command apropos"; prompts for regexp and shows all matching commands
`C-h c`	Show command name on message line; prompts for keystrokes
`C-h f`	Describe function; prompts for command or function name, shows documentation in other window
`C-h i`	Info browser; gives access to online documentation for emacs and more

Miscellaneous
`C-_` or `C-x u`	Undo/redo (a series of these keeps undoing; after doing something else, `C-_` or `C-x u` will undo the undo's)
`C-q`	Quoted insert; inserts the next character typed, even if it is a control or meta character
`M-x shell-strip-ctrl-m RET`	Flush ^M at end of line
`C-z`	Suspend/iconify emacs (type `"%emacs"` in invoking shell to get it back)
`C-x C-c`	Exit emacs (asks about unsaved buffers and running programs)

Files and Buffers
`C-x C-f`	Find file (or create if not there); prompts for file name
`C-x C-s`	Save file
`C-x C-w`	Write file; prompts for new name
`C-x s`	Save modified buffers; asks about each
`C-x b`	Select buffer; prompts for buffer name
`C-x C-b`	List buffers; shows in other window
Searching/Replacing
`C-s`	Incremental search forward; searches as you type
`C-r`	Incremental search backward
`M-x replace-string RET`	String replace from here to end of buffer; prompts for string and replacement
`M-x query-replace RET`	String replace from here to end of buffer, querying for each occurrence

[This is from the Emacs tips page.]

Dave Cohen's original emacs cheat sheet at http://www.primenet.com/~cohen/emacs_cheat.html (dead link), written by an alumnus of the August bootcamp.
Tutorial outline for the tutorial presented at bootcamp on 4-Oct-99.
emacsis.great tutorial page (not hypertext), with a topical command summary at the bottom. This is very dense, and covers a lot of ground.
GNU emacs FAQ. This is also available in emacs itself by typing "C-h F" (note that the "F" must be capitalized). The Web version is hypertext, though it isn't very easy to navigate, and it does have a reference page that points to all kinds of good stuff. The version within emacs is not hypertext, but it's all on one page, and you can use C-s (incremental search) to find things of interest.

$Id: emacs_cheat.html,v 1.5 2004/09/19 21:45:35 rogers Exp $