Emacs

Movements

  • C-v = Move forward of a screenful
  • M-v = Move backwards of a screenful
  • C-l = Center the screen on the cursor
  • C-f = Move 1 character forward
  • C-b = Move 1 character backward
  • M-f = Go to next word
  • M-b = Go to previous word
  • C-M-f = Go to next s-expression (usually this means parentheses, quotes, colon, periods etc.)
  • C-M-b = Go to the previous s-expression
  • C-n = Go to next line
  • C-p = Go to previous line
  • C-a = Go to the beginning of current line
  • C-e = Go to the end of current line
  • M-a = Go to the beginning of phrase
  • M-e = Go to the end of phrase
  • M-< = Go back to the beginning of current file
  • M-> = Move forward till the end of current file
  • M-g g = Go to a specific line number (to be inserted)
  • C-x r j a = Go to the position saved in register “a”
  • M-r = Alternatively jump between the top, the bottom and the middle of the current screen
  • C-M-a = Go at the beginning of current or previous function
  • C-M-e = Go at the end of current or previous function

Basic commands

  • C-g = Cancel the currently active command
  • C-x u = Undo last command
  • C-x C-c = Exit from Emacs
  • C-h = Open the help for a command
  • C-s = Find text forward
  • C-r = Find text backward
  • C-s C-w = Find forward the word where the cursor is
  • C-r C-w = Find backward the word where the cursor is
  • C-x r a = Save current position in a register “a”
  • C-x z = Repeat last executed command. Pressing z repeats it again
  • C-h m = Show info about current buffer’s mode
  • C-h b = Get all currently available key bindings grouped by modes
  • C-x C-e = Execute the code where the cursor is at (it needs to be ELisp)

Windows/Buffers

  • C-x 1 = Close all open windows but for the current
  • C-x o = Jump between windows
  • C-u M-x shell = Go to the buffer called shell
  • C-x C-b = Show buffer list

Editing

  • C-d = Delete character after to the cursor
  • M-<Delete> = Delete word before the cursor
  • M-d = Delete word after the cursor
  • C-k = Delete everything from the cursor till the end of line
  • M-k = Delete the phrase from the cursor onward
  • C-<Space> = Set a mark. The text between the mark and the cursor will be highlighted and can be then copied or cut
  • C-x C-x = Switch position between the cursor and the previously set mark
  • C-y = Paste from the clipboard
  • M-y = Paste last deleted text. This, unlike the above, permits to paste also previously deleted text up until 4 deletions
  • C-w = Cut text currently highlighted and copy it to the clipboard
  • M-w = Paste highlighted text, without cutting it
  • C-x h = Select the whole buffer
  • M-x auto-fill-mode = Enable automatic text formatting
  • C-u 20 C-x f = Set text margin to 20 rows
  • C-x f = Restore text margin to the default value (70 rows)
  • M-q = Format the current paragraph
  • C-x <Return> f = Select the encoding for the current buffer
  • M-x re-builder = Open the re-builder that allows to search with a regexp and see where it matches while typing
  • M-x tabify = Convert whitespaces in tabs
  • M-x untabify = Convert tabs in whitespaces
  • C-x 8 = Open the Unicode insertion mode. The hexadecimal code is needed. Press <Tab> twice to see a full list. Alternatively, it’s possible to directly insert with a combination of keys, like C-x 8 ' e for the é
  • M-x flush-lines = Open the mode permitting to delete lines that matche a regexp
  • C-t = Switch position between the character under and the one before the cursor
  • M-t = Switch position between the word under and the one before the cursor
  • C-x C-t = Switch position between the current and previous line
  • M-c = Capitalize the first character of next word or the one under the cursor (if it’s in the middle of a word)
  • M-x replace-string = Open the replace string mode, to replace a string with another
  • M-x replace-regexp = As above but allows the use of regexps

Files

  • C-x C-f = Open a file
  • C-x C-s = Save a file
  • C-x i = Insert the content of a file at the current position

Dired

  • M-x dired = Open dired, the Emacs file manager
  • C-x C-q = Enable the edit mode in dired, whereas editing file names can be made permanent with C-x C-s like it was a normal text buffer

when in dired mode these keys are available:

  • Enter = Open file or directory
  • q = Close directory
  • C, R, D = Respectively, copy, rename and delete a file
  • + = Make a new directory
  • m = Mark a file
  • u = Remove a mark on a file
  • U = Remove all marks
  • % m = Mark according to a regexp
  • ^ = Go to the parent directory

Shell

  • M-x shell = Open a shell
  • M-x term = Open a terminal
  • M-x ansi-term = Open a ANSI terminal
  • M-x eshell = Open the internal Emacs shell, in ELisp

Various

  • M-x compile = Compile (with make)
  • M-x gdb = Launch gdb
  • M-x grep = Launch grep
  • M-x man = Open a man page
  • M-x calculator = Launch a small calculator
  • M-x calendar = Open a calendar
  • M-x tetris = Play tetris (really!)
  • M-x list-packages = List available packages. Choose the one you want to install with I and execute the installation with x