Emacs Keys

Within these castle walls be forged Mavens of Computer Science ...

— Merlin, The Coder

Overview

• A key sequence will be displayed as a series of keys, presented from left to right in the order that each key should be pressed. A space character will separate each of these keys. For example, if the key sequence is q u, this indicates that you should press and release the q key, and then press and release the u key.
• In some cases, a key sequence requires that a key be pressed with a modifier. In these cases, the modifier will appear first, followed by a hyphen, followed by the second key. A very common modifier is SHIFT. For example, SHIFT-Q would indicate that you first press (and hold) the SHIFT key, then press and release the Q key, then release the SHIFT key. However, because the need to use the shift key is apparent based on the character required, we generally won't show the need for this modifier. As an example, if the required sequence is 4, you'd simply press and release the 4 key. However, if the required sequence is $, you'd need to press and hold the SHIFT key, press and release the $ key, and then release the SHIFT key. All other modifier keys will be displayed explicitly.
• The sequence CONTROL-u indicates that you first press (and hold) the CONTROL key, then press and release the u key, then release the CONTROL key. The emacs manual will refer to this sequence as C-u.
• The sequence ALT-x indicates that you first press (and hold) the ALT key, then press and release the x key, then release the ALT key. The emacs manual will refer to this sequence as M-x.
• If there is a space rather than a dash between keys, the first key must be released before pressing the next key. For example, ESC x indicates that the ESC key should be pressed and released, and then the x key should be pressed and released.
• There are some cases which require two modifier keys. As an example, the sequence CONTROL-SHIFT-_ indicates that you should first press and hold the CONTROL key, then press and hold the SHIFT key, then press and release the _ key, and then release the other two modifier keys.

Help

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-h ?	Provide help options
CONTROL-h t	Start the tutorial
CONTROL-h k	Provide details about a key sequence
CONTROL-h a	Provide a list of commands appropriate for the specified description

Undo and Cancellation

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-SHIFT-_	Undo the changes made by a command
CONTROL-g CONTROL-SHIFT-_	Redo a previously "undo"
CONTROL-g	Cancel a partially typed command or argument prefix

Suspend and Exit

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-x CONTROL-c	Exit emacs
CONTROL-z	Suspend emacs temporarily

Navigation

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-v	Scroll down (forwards) one page
ALT-v	Scroll up (backwards) one page
CONTROL-l (second character is lowercase 'L')	Clear screen and redisplay the text, moving the cursor to the vertical center
CONTROL-f	Move the cursor forward one character
CONTROL-b	Move the cursor backward one character
CONTROL-p	Move the cursor up one line (previous line)
CONTROL-n	Move the cursor down one line (next line)
ALT-f	Move the cursor forward one word
ALT-b	Move the cursor backward one word
CONTROL-a	Move the cursor to the beginning of a line
CONTROL-e	Move the cursor to the end of a line
ALT-a	Move the cursor to the beginning of a sentence
ALT-e	Move the cursor to the end of a sentence
ALT-SHIFT-<	Move the cursor to the beginning of the file
ALT-SHIFT->	Move the cursor to the end of the file

Deleting, Killing, and Yanking Text

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-d	Delete character under the cursor
DEL	Delete character to the left of the cursor
ALT-d	Kill word after the cursor
ALT-DEL	Kill word before the cursor
CONTROL-k	Kill text from the cursor to the end of the line
ALT-k	Kill text from the cursor to the end of the sentence
CONTROL-w	Kill selected text (in region)
CONTROL-y	Yank text from the first block of the kill ring, and insert it at the current cursor position
ALT-y	Yank text from the previous block of the kill ring, and insert it at the current cursor position

Marking a Region

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-SPACE	Mark the beginning of a region

Repeating Commands

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-u <numeric sequence>	Repeat next command <numeric sequence> times

Windows

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-x 1 (second character is the digit one)	Return to one window (closes all other windows)

Buffers

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-x CONTROL-b	Display a list of all buffers
CONTROL-x b	Switch to the specified buffer
CONTROL-x $\leftarrow$	Select previous buffer
CONTROL-x $\rightarrow$	Select next buffer

Files

Key Sequence	Purpose
CONTROL-x CONTROL-f	Find the specified file
CONTROL-x CONTROL-s	Save the current file
CONTROL-x s	Save changed files (prompts for all confirmation)

Find and Replace Strings

Key Sequence	Purpose
ALT-x replace-string RET	Replace the specified string with another