Emacs Quick Reference

Emacs Quick Reference

NOTES:  This file is not inclusive.

    C followed by a - and a letter means hold down the
    <CONTROL> key while pressing the appropriate letter.

    M followed by a - and a letter means to depress and
    release the <ESC> key followed by the appropriate letter.

C-\ t 			Tutorial suggested for new emacs users.
C-x C-c			exit emacs

--Files--
C-x C-f			read a file into emacs
C-x C-s			save a file back to disk
C-x i			insert contents of another file into 
                        this buffer
C-x C-v			replace this file with the contents of 
                        file you want
C-x C-w			write buffer to specified file


--Error Recovery--
C-g			abort partially typed or executing
                        command
M-x recover-file	recover a file lost by a system crash
C-x C-_			undo an unwanted change
M-x revert-buffer	restore a buffer to its original 
                        contents
C-l			redraw garbled screen

--Getting Help--
C-\ t			Tutorial recommended for new emacs users
C-x 1			get rid of help window
M C-v			scroll help window

--Incremental Search--
M-x goto-line		go to line number
C-s			search forward (can repeat for next, 
                        use M to exit)
C-r			search backward (can repeat for next,
                        use M to exit)
C-r			search backward 
C-M-s			regular expression search
M			escape incremental search

--Cursor Movement--
C-f			move forward one character
C-b			move backward one character
C-n			move to next line
C-p			move to previous line
C-a			move to beginning of line
C-e			move to end of line
M-f			move forward one word
M-b			move backword one word
C-v			move forward one screen
M-v 			move backward one screen
M-<			go to beginning of file
M->			go to end of file

--Killing and Deleting--
<DEL>			delete backward one character
C-d			delete forward one character
M-<DEL>			delete backward one word
M-d			delete forward one word
M-z {char}		kill to next occurrenc of character
C-k			kill to end of line
C-y			yank back last thing killed

--Marking--
C-@ or C-<SPC>		set mark here
C-x C-x			exchange point and mark
M-h			mark paragraph
C-x h			mark entire buffer (alternately M-< M->)

--Replacing--
M-%			interactively replace a test string
M-x replace-string	replace string with string 
                        mark to end of file

--Multiple Windows--
C-x 1			delete all other windows
C-x 0			delete this window
C-x 2			split this window in half vertically
C-x 5			split this window in half horizontally
C-M-v			scroll other window
C-x o			switch cursor to another window

--Buffers--
C-x b			select another buffer
C-x C-b			list all buffers
C-x k			kill a buffer

--Spelling Check--
M-$			check spelling of current word
M-x spell-region	check spelling of marked region
M-x spell-buffer	check spelling of entire buffer

--Shells--
M-!			execute a shell command
M-|			run a shell command on region
C-u M-|			filter a region through a shell command
Additional help is available in man emacs.