GNU Emacs, version 19
| This reference card lists some of the most common commands for the Emacs text editor under Unix. Emacs is available on most central UCS Unix systems. |
Note:
M - means press and release the ESC key (or press and hold the META key, if your keyboard has one).
To enter GNU Emacs 19, just type its name: emacs
To read in a file to edit, see "Files", below.
suspend Emacs (or iconify it under X) C-z exit this Emacs session C-x C-c
press and hold the CTRL key C-
press and release ESC
(or press and hold META) M-
give an argument to command C-u command
give a numerical argument # to command C-u # command
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 fill C-x C-w
begin tutorial for first-time users C-h t enter Help system C-h remove Help window C-x 1 scroll Help window ESC C-v 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
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
search forward (can be repeated) C-s search backward (can be repeated) C-r regular expression search M-C-s reverse regular expression search M-C-r
These commands are available during searching:
select previous search string M-p select next later search string M-n undo effect of last character DEL exit incremental search RET abort current search C-g
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 M-C-b M-C-f
function M-C-a M-C-e
go to buffer beginning (or end) M-< M->
scroll to next screen/prev
screen M-v C-v
scroll right/left C-x > C-x <
scroll current line to center
of screen C-l
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--M-C-k M-C-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
set mark here C-SPC or C-2 or C-@ 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 M-C-SPC or M-C-@ mark function M-C-h mark entire buffer C-x h
interactively replace a text string M-% using regular expressions M-x query-replace-regexp
Valid responses in query-replace mode are:
replace this one, go on to next SPC or y replace this one, don't move , skip to next without replacing DEL or n replace all remaining matches ! back up to the previous match ^ exit query-replace ESC or RET enter recursive edit (M-C-c to exit) C-r
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 M-C-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 .
indent current line (mode-dependent) TAB
indent region (mode-dependent) M-C-\
indent sexp (mode-dependent) M-C-q
indent region rigidly arg columns C-x TAB
insert newline after point C-o
move rest of line vertically down M-C-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 .
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
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
select another buffer C-x b
list all buffers C-x C-b
kill a buffer C-x k
transpose characters C-t transpose words M-t transpose lines C-x C-t transpose sexps M-C-t
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
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
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-,
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 C-x r c prefix each line with a string C-x r t
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-/
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
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
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 (15) n follow cross reference (return with l) f return to last node you saw 1 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
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
eval sexp before point C-x C-e eval region M-x eval-region eval entire buffer M-x eval-current-buffer read and eval minibuffer M-ESC read and eval Emacs Lisp file M-x load-file load from standard system directory M-x load-library
The intended audience here is the person who wants to make simple customizations and knows Lisp syntax.
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)
(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 © 1987, 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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.
University Computing Services Publications has made slight modifications to this reference card.
Last updated: January 1997
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~ucspubs/b131/
Comments: pubster@indiana.edu
Copyright 1997, The Trustees of Indiana University