emacs Default Key Bindings

Table of Contents

Introduction

This page shows the default emacs key bindings.

I have tried to put the tables in this page in roughly the order in which you are likely to need them.

Try to get in the habit of using the keyboard commands for cursor movement and deletion of characters, words and lines as this means you can work faster by not groping for cursor-movement keys. The less you have to move your hands from the main keys to perform tasks the faster you will work.

Where ‘M-x’ is shown in the left-hand column, after ‘M-x’ type the command shown in the centre column into the mini buffer.

Cursor Movement Commands

Key sequence M-x Command Function
C-f forward-char Move cursor forward one character
C-b backward-char Move cursor backward one character
C-p previous-line Move up one line
C-n next-line Move down one line
M-f forward-word Move to next word
M-b backward-word Move to previous word
C-a beginning-of-line Move to beginning of line
C-e end-of-line Move to end of line
M-a backward-sentence Move back one sentence
C-v scroll-up Scroll up one screen
M-v scroll-down Scroll down one screen
C-x [ backward-page Go back one page
C-x ] forward-page Go forward one page
M-> end-of-buffer Move to end of buffer
M-< beginning-of-buffer Move to beginning of buffer
C-l recenter Redraw the screen with the current line in the vertical centre of the screen
M-(a number)   Do next command (a number) of times
M-x goto-line Go to line number entered after the goto-line number has been entered in the mini buffer

Text Deletion Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function  
Del backward-delete-char Delete the previous character.  
C-d delete-char Delete the character under the cursor.  
M-d   kill-word Delete the next word.
M-Del backward-kill-word Delete the previous word.  
M dash C-k None Kill from the cursor to the beginning of the line.  
C-k kill-line Delete from the cursor to the end of line.  
M-k kill-sentence Delete the sentence the cursor is in.  
C-x Del backward-kill-sentence Delete the previous sentence.  
C-y yank Insert from kill-ring  
C-w kill-region Delete a marked region.  
M-x backward-kill-paragraph Delete the previous paragraph.  
M-x kill-paragraph Delete from the cursor to the end of the paragraph.  

Stop/Undo Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
C-g keyboard-quit Stop current command Now!
C-x u advertised-undo Undo the last edit (do it often)
Key sequence M-x Command Function
C-x C-f find-file Read a file
C-x C-v find-alternate-file Read a different file
C-x i insert-file Insert a file at the cursors position
C-x C-s save-buffer Save the current buffer
C-x C-w write-file Write the contents of the buffer to a file
C-x C-c save-buffers-kill-emacs Save all open buffers and get out of emacs
C-z suspend-emacs Suspend emacs
M-x revert-buffer Revert buffer to saved state
Key sequence M-x command Function
C-x b switch-to-buffer Move to the specified buffer.
C-x C-b list-buffers Display the list of currently active buffers.
C-x k kill-buffer Kill the current buffer
M-x kill-some-buffers Ask about deleting each buffer currently active.
M-x rename-buffer Rename the current buffer to something else.
C-x s save-some-buffers Ask whether to save each modified buffer

Incremental Search Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
C-s isearch-forward Start an incremental search forward.
C-r isearch-backward Starts an incremental search in the reverse direction.
Meta   Stop a successful search
C-g keyboard-quit Stop searching and return to the starting point.
Del   Delete an incorrect character while searching
Key sequence M-x command Function
M-x shell Start a shell.
C-c C-c interrupt-shell-subjob Terminate the current job in a shell.
C-c C-d send-shell-eof Send the EOF character (Ctrl-d)
C-c C-u kill-shell-input Erase the current line.
C-c C-w backward-kill-word Erase the previous word.
C-c C-z stop-shell-subjob Suspend the current shell job.
Key sequence M-x command Function
C-@ set-mark Mark the beginning (or end) of a region.
C-Space set-mark Mark the beginning (or end) of a region.
C-x C-p mark-page Mark the current page.
C-x C-x exchange-point-and-make Exchange the location of the cursor and the mark.
C-x h mark-whole-buffer Mark the current buffer.
M-q fill-paragraph Reset the paragraph.
M-g fill-region Reformat individual paragraphs with region.
M-h mark-paragraph Mark select paragraph.

Abbreviation Mode Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
M-x abbrev-mode Enter abbreviation mode.
C-x a g add-global-abbrev Add global abbreviation
C-x a l add-mode-abbrev Add abbreviation specific to current major-mode
C-x a i g inverse-add-global-abbrev Type in a global abbreviation, then its expansion
C-x a i l inverse-add-mode-abbrev Type in an abbreviation specific to the current major-mode, then its expansion
M-x unexpand-abbrev Undo the last word abbreviation.
M-x write-abbrev-file Write out the word abbreviation file.
M-x edit-abbrevs Edit the current word abbreviations.
M-x list-abbrevs View the current word abbreviations.
M-x kill-all-abbrevs Kill any abbreviations for this session.
M-x define-global-abbrev Define global abbreviation. Enter abbreviation, RETURN, enter expansion, RETURN
M-x define-mode-abbrev Define abbreviation specific to current major-mode. Enter abbreviation, ENTER, enter expansion, ENTER

Capitalization Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
M-c capitalize-word Capitalize the first letter of the current word.
M-u upcase-word Make the word all uppercase.
M-l downcase-word Make the word all lowercase.
C-x C-l downcase-region Make the region all lowercase.
C-x C-u uppercase-region Make the region all uppercase.

Centering Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
M-s center-line Center the current line
M-x center-paragraph Center the paragraph that the cursor is on.
M-x center-region Center the currently defined region.

Detail Information Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
C-h a command-apropos What commands work like this…?
M-x apropos What functions and variables work like this…?
C-h c describe-key-briefly What command does this key sequence do?
C-h b describe-bindings What are the key bindings for this buffer?
C-h k describe-key What command does this sequence do, and tell me about it.
C-h l view-lossage What are the last 100 characters typed?
C-h w where-is What is the key binding for this?
C-h f describe-function What does this function do?
C-h v describe-variable What is this variable?
C-h m describe-mode Tell me about this mode.
C-h s describe-syntax What is the syntax table for this buffer?

Indentation Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
C-x set-fill-prefix Prepend each line in paragraph with characters from beginning of the line up to the current cursor column. cancel by doing this in column 1.
M-C-\ indent-region Indent a region to match the first line in region.
M-m back-to-indentation Move the cursor to first character in line.
M-C-o split-line Split line at cursor into two lines… weird.

Macro Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
C-x ( start-kbd-macro Start a new macro definition.
C-x ) end-kbd-macro End the current macro definition.
C-x e call-last-kbd-macro Execute the last defined macro.
M-(number) C-x e Do that last macro (number times).  
C-u C-x (   Execute last macro and add to it.
M-x name-last-kbd-macro Name the last macro before saving it.
M-x insert-last-keyboard-macro Insert the macro you made into a file.
M-x load-file Load a file with macros in it.
C-x q kbd-macro-query Insert a query into a keyboard macro.
M-C-c exit-recursive-edit Get the hell out of a recursive edit.

Text Transposition Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
C-t transpose-chars Transpose two letters
M-t transpose-words Transpose two words
C-x C-t transpose-lines Transpose two lines
none transpose-sentences Transpose two sentences
none transpose-paragraphs Transpose two paragraphs

Window Commands

Key sequence M-x command Function
C-x 2 split-window-horizontally Divide the current window horizontally in two.
C-x 5 Split-windows-vertically Divide the current window vertically in two.
C-x > scroll-right Scroll the window right.
C-x < scroll-left Scroll the window left.
C-x 0 delete-window Delete the current window.
C-x 1 delete-other-windows Delete all the windows except this one.