(for version 19)
Starting
Emacs
To enter GNU Emacs 19, just type its name: emacs
To read in a file to edit, see Files,
below.
Leaving
Emacs
suspend Emacs (or iconify it under X) |
C-z |
exit Emacs permanently |
C-x C-c |
read a file into Emacs |
C-x C-f |
save a file back to disk |
C-x C-s |
save all files |
C-x s |
insert contents of another file into this buffer |
C-x i |
replace this file with the file you really want |
C-x C-v |
write buffer to a specified file |
C-x C-w |
Getting
Help
The Help system is simple. Type C-h and follow
the directions. If
you are a first-time user, type C-h t for a
tutorial.
apropos: show commands matching a string |
C-h a |
show the function a key runs |
C-h c |
describe a function |
C-h f |
get mode-specific information |
C-h m |
Error
Recovery
abort partially typed or executing command |
C-g |
recover a file lost by a system crash |
M-x recover-file |
undo an unwanted change |
C-x u or C-` |
restore a buffer to its original contents |
M-x revert-buffer |
redraw garbaged screen |
C-l |
Incremental Search
search forward |
C-s |
search backward |
C-r |
regular expression search |
C-M-s |
reverse regular expression search |
C-M-r |
select previous search string |
M-p |
select next later search string |
M-n |
exit incremental search |
RET |
undo effect of last character |
DEL |
abort current search |
C-g |
Use C-s or C-r again to
repeat the search in either
direction. If Emacs is still searching, C-g
cancels only the
part not done.
Motion
entity to move over |
backward |
forward |
character |
C-b |
C-f |
word |
M-b |
M-f |
line |
C-p |
C-n |
go to line beginning (or end) |
C-a |
C-e |
sentence |
M-a |
M-e |
paragraph |
M-{ |
M-} |
page |
C-x [ |
C-x ] |
sexp |
C-M-b |
C-M-f |
function |
C-M-a |
C-M-e |
go to buffer beginning (or end) |
M-< |
M-> |
scroll to next screen |
C-v |
scroll to previous screen |
M-v |
scroll left |
C-x < |
scroll right |
C-x > |
scroll current line to center of screen |
C-u C-l |
Killing and Deleting
entity to kill |
backward |
forward |
character (delete, not kill) |
DEL |
C-d |
word |
M-DEL |
M-d |
line (to end of) |
M-0 C-k |
C-k |
sentence |
C-x DEL |
M-k |
sexp |
M--C-M-k |
C-M-k |
kill region |
C-w |
copy region to kill ring |
M-w |
kill through next occurrence of char |
M-z char |
yank back last thing killed |
C-y |
replace last yank with previous kill |
M-y |
Marking
set mark here |
C-@ or C-SPC |
exchange point and mark |
C-x C-x |
set mark arg words away |
M-@ |
mark paragraph |
M-h |
mark page |
C-x C-p |
mark sexp |
C-M-@ |
mark function |
C-M-h |
mark entire buffer |
C-x h |
Query
Replace
Valid responses in query-replace mode are:
replace this one, go on to next |
SPC |
replace this one, don't move |
, |
skip to next without replacing |
DEL |
replace all remaining matches |
! |
back up to the previous match |
^ |
exit query-replace |
ESC |
enter recursive edit (C-M-c to exit) |
C-r |
Multiple
Windows
delete all other windows |
C-x 1 |
delete this window |
C-x 0 |
split window in two vertically |
C-x 2 |
split window in two horizontally |
C-x 3 |
scroll other window |
C-M-v |
switch cursor to another window |
C-x o |
shrink window shorter |
M-x shrink-window |
grow window taller |
C-x ^ |
shrink window narrower |
C-x - |
grow window wider |
C-x " |
select buffer in other window |
C-x 4 b |
display buffer in other window |
C-x 4 C-o |
find file in other window |
C-x 4 f |
find file read-only in other window |
C-x 4 r |
run Dired in other window |
C-x 4 d |
find tag in other window |
C-x 4 . |
Formatting
indent current line (mode-dependent) |
TAB |
indent region (mode-dependent) |
C-M-" |
indent sexp (mode-dependent) |
C-M-q |
indent region rigidly arg columns |
C-x TAB |
insert newline after point |
C-o |
move rest of line vertically down |
C-M-o |
delete blank lines around point |
C-x C-o |
join line with previous (with arg, next) |
M-^ |
delete all white space around point |
M-" |
put exactly one space at point |
M-SPC |
fill paragraph |
M-q |
set fill column |
C-x f |
set prefix each line starts with |
C-x . |
Case
Change
uppercase word |
M-u |
lowercase word |
M-l |
capitalize word |
M-c |
uppercase region |
C-x C-u |
lowercase region |
C-x C-l |
capitalize region |
M-x capitalize-region |
The
Minibuffer
The following keys are defined in the minibuffer:
complete as much as possible |
TAB |
complete up to one word |
SPC |
complete and execute |
RET |
show possible completions |
? |
fetch previous minibuffer input |
M-p |
fetch next later minibuffer input |
M-n |
regexp search backward through history |
M-r |
regexp search forward through history |
M-s |
abort command |
C-g |
Type C-x ESC ESC to edit and repeat the last
command that used
the minibuffer. The following keys are then defined:
previous minibuffer command |
M-p |
next minibuffer command |
M-n |
Buffers
select another buffer |
C-x b |
list all buffers |
C-x C-b |
kill a buffer |
C-x k |
Transposing
transpose characters |
C-t |
transpose words |
M-t |
transpose lines |
C-x C-t |
transpose sexps |
C-M-t |
Spelling
Check
check spelling of current word |
M-$ |
check spelling of all words in region |
M-x ispell-region |
check spelling of entire buffer |
M-x ispell-buffer |
Tags
find a tag (a definition) |
M-. |
find next occurrence of tag |
C-u M-. |
specify a new tags file |
M-x visit-tags-table |
regexp search on all files in tags table |
M-x tags-search |
run query-replace on all the files |
M-x tags-query-replace |
continue last tags search or query-replace |
M-, |
Shells
execute a shell command |
M-! |
run a shell command on the region |
M-_ |
filter region through a shell command |
C-u M-_ |
start a shell in window shell |
M-x shell |
Rectangles
copy rectangle to register |
C-x r r |
kill rectangle |
C-x r k |
yank rectangle |
C-x r y |
open rectangle, shifting text right |
C-x r o |
blank out rectangle |
M-x clear-rectangle |
prefix each line with a string |
M-x string-rectangle |
Abbrevs
add global abbrev |
C-x a g |
add mode-local abbrev |
C-x a l |
add global expansion for this abbrev |
C-x a i g |
add mode-local expansion for this abbrev |
C-x a i l |
explicitly expand abbrev |
C-x a e |
expand previous word dynamically |
M-/ |
Regular Expressions
any single character except a newline |
. (dot) |
zero or more repeats |
* |
one or more repeats |
+ |
zero or one repeat |
? |
any character in the set |
[ : : :] |
any character not in the set |
[^ : : :] |
beginning of line |
^ |
end of line |
$ |
quote a special character c |
"c |
alternative |
("or") "_ |
grouping |
"( : : :") |
nth group |
"n |
beginning of buffer |
"` |
end of buffer |
"' |
word break |
"b |
not beginning or end of word |
"B |
beginning of word |
"< |
end of word |
"> |
any word-syntax character |
"w |
any non-word-syntax character |
"W |
character with syntax c |
"sc |
character with syntax not c |
"Sc |
Registers
save region in register |
C-x r s |
insert register contents into buffer |
C-x r i |
save value of point in register |
C-x r SPC |
jump to point saved in register |
C-x r j |
Info
enter the Info documentation reader |
C-h i |
Moving within a node:
scroll forward |
SPC |
scroll reverse |
DEL |
beginning of node |
. (dot) |
Moving between nodes:
next node |
n |
previous node |
p |
move up |
u |
select menu item by name |
m |
select nth menu item by number (1-5) |
n |
follow cross reference (return with l) |
f |
return to last node you saw |
l |
return to directory node |
d |
go to any node by name |
g |
Other:
run Info tutorial |
h |
list Info commands |
? |
quit Info |
q |
search nodes for regexp |
s |
Keyboard
Macros
start defining a keyboard macro |
C-x ( |
end keyboard macro definition |
C-x ) |
execute last-defined keyboard macro |
C-x e |
append to last keyboard macro |
C-u C-x ( |
name last keyboard macro |
M-x name-last-kbd-macro |
insert Lisp definition in buffer |
M-x insert-kbd-macro |
Commands
Dealing with Emacs Lisp
eval sexp before point |
C-x C-e |
eval current defun |
C-M-x |
eval region |
M-x eval-region |
eval entire buffer |
M-x eval-current-buffer |
read and eval minibuffer |
M-ESC |
re-execute last minibuffer command |
C-x ESC ESC |
read and eval Emacs Lisp file |
M-x load-file |
load from standard system directory |
M-x load-library |
Simple Customization
Here are some examples of binding global keys in Emacs Lisp. Note
that you cannot say ""M-#"; you must say ""e#".
(global-set-key ""C-cg" 'goto-line)
(global-set-key ""C-x"C-k" 'kill-region)
(global-set-key ""e#" 'query-replace-regexp)
An example of setting a variable in Emacs Lisp:
(setq backup-by-copying-when-linked t)
Writing
Commands
(defun command-name (args)
"documentation"
(interactive "template")
body)
An example:
(defun this-line-to-top-of-window (line)
"Reposition line point is on to top of window.
With ARG, put point on line ARG.
Negative counts from bottom."
(interactive "P")
(recenter (if (null line)
0
(prefix-numeric-value line))))
The argument to interactive is a string specifying how to get the
arguments when the function is called interactively. Type C-h
f
interactive for more information.
Copyright c 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
designed by Stephen Gildea, May 1993 v2.0
for GNU Emacs version 19 on Unix systems
Permission is granted to make and distribute copies of this card
provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved
on all copies.
For copies of the GNU Emacs manual, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA 02139.