Emacs Reference

Emacs Commands List

 

 

C = Control

M = Meta = Alt|Esc

 

Basics

C-x C-f

"find" file i.e. open/create a file in buffer

C-x C-s

save the file

C-x C-w

write the text to an alternate name

C-x C-v

find alternate file

C-x i

insert file at cursor position

C-x b

create/switch buffers

C-x C-b

show buffer list

C-x k

kill buffer

C-z

suspend emacs

C-X C-c

close down emacs

 

Basic movement

C-f

forward char

C-b

backward char

C-p

previous line

C-n

next line

M-f

forward one word

M-b

backward one word

C-a

beginning of line

C-e

end of line

C-v

one page up

M-v

scroll down one page

M-<

beginning of text

M->

end of text

 

Editing

M-n

repeat the following command n times

C-u

repeat the following command 4 times

C-u n

repeat n times

C-d

delete a char

M-d

delete word

M-Del

delete word backwards

C-k

kill line

 

C-Space

Set beginning mark (for region marking for example)

C-W

"kill" (delete) the marked region region

M-W

copy the marked region

C-y

"yank" (paste) the copied/killed region/line

M-y

yank earlier text (cycle through kill buffer)

C-x C-x

exchange cursor and mark

 

C-t

transpose two chars

M-t

transpose two words

C-x C-t

transpose lines

M-u

make letters uppercase in word from cursor position to end

M-c

simply make first letter in word uppercase

M-l

opposite to M-u

 

Important

C-g

quit the running/entered command

C-x u

undo previous action

M-x revert-buffer RETURN

(insert like this) undo all changes since last save

M-x recover-file RETURN

Recover text from an autosave-file

M-x recover-session RETURN

if you edited several files

 

Online-Help

C-h c

which command does this keystroke invoke

C-h k

which command does this keystroke invoke and what does it do?

C-h l

what were my last 100 typed keys

C-h w

what key-combo does this command have?

C-h f

what does this function do

C-h v

what's this variable and what is it's value

C-h b

show all keycommands for this buffer

C-h t

start the emacs tutorial

C-h i

start the info reader

C-h C-k

start up info reader and go to a certain key-combo point

C-h F

show the emacs FAQ

C-h p

show infos about the Elisp package on this machine

 

Search/Replace

C-s

Search forward

C-r

search backward

C-g

return to where search started (if you are still in search mode)

M-%

query replace

Space or y replace this occurence
Del or n don't replace
. only replace this and exit (replace)
, replace and pause (resume with Space or y)
! replace all following occurences
^ back to previous match
RETURN or q quit replace

 

Search/Replace with regular expressions

Characters to use in regular expressions:

^

beginning of line

$

end of line

.

single char

.*

group or null of chars

\<

beginning of a word

\>

end of a word

[]

every char inside the backets (for example [a-z] means every small letter)

 

M C-s RETURN

search for regular expression forward

M C-r RETURN

search for regular expression backward

M C-s

incremental search

C-s

repeat incremental search

M C-r

incremental search backwards

C-r

repeat backwards

M-x query-replace-regexp

search and replace

 

Window-Commands

C-x 2

split window vertically

C-x o

change to other window

C-x 0

delete window

C-x 1

close all windows except the one the cursors in

C-x ^

enlarge window

M-x shrink-window

command says it ;-)

M C-v

scroll other window

C-x 4 f

find file in other window

C-x 4 o

change to other window

C-x 4 0

kill buffer and window

C-x 5 2

make new frame

C-x 5 f

find file in other frame

C-x 5 o

change to other frame

C-x 5 0

close this frame

 

Bookmark commands

C-x r m

set a bookmark at current cursor pos

C-x r b

jump to bookmark

M-x bookmark-rename

says it

M-x bookmark-delete

"

M-x bookmark-save

"

C-x r l

list bookmarks

d mark bookmark for deletion
r rename bookmark
s save all listed bookmarks
f show bookmark the cursor is over
m mark bookmarks to be shown in multiple window
v show marked bookmarks (or the one the cursor is over)
t toggle listing of the corresponding paths
w " path to this file
x delete marked bookmarks
Del ?
q quit bookmark list

 

M-x bookmark-write

write all bookmarks in given file

M-x bookmark-load

load bookmark from given file

 

Shell

M-x shell

starts shell modus

C-c C-c

same as C-c under unix (stop running job)

C-d

delete char forward

C-c C-d

Send EOF

C-c C-z

suspend job (C-z under unix)

M-p

show previous commands

 

DIRectory EDitor (dired)

C-x d

start up dired

C

(large C) copy

d

mark for erase

D

delete right away

e or f

open file or directory

g

reread directory structure from file

G

change group permissions (chgrp)

k

delete line from listing on screen (don't actually delete)

m

mark with *

n

move to next line

o

open file in other window and go there

C-o

open file in other window but don't change there

P

print file

q

quit dired

Q

do query-replace in marked files

R

rename file

u

remove mark

v

view file content

x

delete files marked with D

z

compress file

M-Del

remove all marks (whatever kind)

~

mark backup files (name~ files) for deletion

#

mark auto-save files (#name#) for deletion

*/

mark directory with * (C-u * removes that mark again)

=

compare this file with marked file

M-=

compare this file with it's backup file

!

apply shell command to this file

M-}

change to the next file marked with * od D

M-{

" previous "

% d

mark files described through regular expression for deletion

% m

" (with *)

+

create directory

>

changed to next dir

<

change to previous dir

s

toggle between sorting by name or date

 

Maybe into this category also fits this command:

M-x speedbar

starts up a separate window with a directory view

 

Telnet

M-x telnet

starts up telnet-modus

C-d

either delete char or send EOF

C-c C-c

stop running job (similar to C-c under unix)

C-c C-d

send EOF

C-c C-o

clear output of last command

C-c C-z

suspend execution of command

C-c C-u

kill line backwards

M-p

recall previous command

 

Text

Works only in text mode

M-s

center line

M-S

center paragraph

M-x center-region

name says

 

Macro-commands

C-x (

start macro definition

C-x )

end of macro definition

C-x e

execute last definied macro

M-n C-x e

execute last defined macro n times

M-x name-last-kbd-macro

give name to macro (for saving)

M-x insert-keyboard-macro

save named macro into file

M-x load-file

load macro

M-x macroname

execute macroname

 

Programming

M C-\

indent region between cursor and mark

M-m

move to first (non-space) char in this line

M-^

attach this line to previous

M-;

formatize and indent comment

C, C++ and Java Modes

M-a

beginning of statement

M-e

end of statement

M C-a

beginning of function

M C-e

end of function

C-c RETURN

Set cursor to beginning of function and mark at the end

C-c C-q

indent the whole function according to indention style

C-c C-a

toggle modus in which after electric signs (like {}:';./*) emacs does the indention

C-c C-d

toggle auto hungry mode in which emacs deletes groups of spaces with one del-press

C-c C-u

go to beginning of this preprocessor statement

C-c C-c

comment out marked area

More general (I guess)

M-x outline-minor-mode

collapses function definitions in a file to a mere {...}

M-x show-subtree

If you are in one of the collapsed functions, this un-collapses it

In order to achive some of the feats coming up now you have to run etags *.c *.h *.cpp (or what ever ending you source files have) in the source directory

M-.

(Thats Meta dot) If you are in a function call, this will take you to it's definition

M-x tags-search ENTER

Searches through all you etaged

M-,

(Meta comma) jumps to the next occurence for tags-search

M-x tags-query-replace

yum. This lets you replace some text in all the tagged files

 

 

GDB (Debugger)

M-x gdb

starts up gdm in an extra window

 

Version Control

C-x v d

show all registered files in this dir

C-x v =

show diff between versions

C-x v u

remove all changes since last checkin

C-x v ~

show certain version in different window

C-x v l

print log

C-x v i

mark file for version control add

C-x v h

insert version control header into file

C-x v r

check out named snapshot

C-x v s

create named snapshot

C-x v a create changelog file in gnu-style