NACSE - Emacs Command Summary

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Emacs Command Summary

UNDO, HELP - how to get out of a bind
BUFFERS - file control when working with multiple files
MOVEMENT - cursor control
MARKS and REGION - for use with cut and copy
DELETION AND KILLING
WORD PROCESSING - convenient tricks and time savers
Modes - set Emacs for the programming or mark-up language you need

^ x (c-x): Press control key while typing x.
m-x (~ x): A meta-x,
: press Meta, Alt, or Option while typing x.

^ x u (^ -): UNDO last command (repeatable).
^ g: ABORT command in process.
^ h: HELP.
^ h t: Tutorial.
^ h a subject: Help APROPOS subject.
[tab]: Emacs finish command, or give possibilities.
^ x^ c: EXIT Emacs with queries.
^ y: YANK back deleted text.
~ y: YANK back earlier deleted text.




  emacs ENTERING FILES, EXITING  
 emacs filename 
START Emacs from Unix with file filename. 
 emacs +n filename 
START Emacs from Unix at line n of filename. 
 ^ x ^ f filename 
FIND (open) file filename. 
 ^ x ^ f dirname 
FIND and list directory dirname. 
 ^ x 4 ^ f filename 
FIND (open) file filename in new window. 
 ^ x^ r filename 
READ file filename to active buffer. 
 ^ x i [ret] filename 
INSERT file filename into buffer. 
 ^ x ^ s 
SAVE file from active window (buffer). 
 ^ x s 
SAVE some file from inactive window (buffer). 
 ^ x^ w filename 
WRITE active buffer into file filename. 
 ^ x^ c 
EXIT Emacs with queries. 



  emacs BUFFERS  
  
 ^ x ^ b 
List BUFFERS, 
   
   then 1 selects highlighted buffer. 
 ^ x b buffername 
Switch to buffername. 
 ^ x 4 b buffername 
Switch to buffername in separate window. 
 ^ x k 
KILL active buffer. 
 ^ x ^ v 
KILL active buffer, find alternative. 
 ^ x ^ c 
QUIT Emacs. 



  emacs WINDOWS  
 ^ x 2 
SPLIT display into 2 horizontal windows. 
 ^ x 5 
SPLIT display into 2 vertical windows. 
 ^ x 1 
Collapse display into ONE window. 
 ^ x 0 
Kill (ZERO) inactive window. 
 ^ x o 
Make OTHER window active. 
 ^ x p 
Make PREVIOUS window active. 
 ^ x ^  (caret) 
Open active vertical window HIGHER. 
 ^ x } 
Open active horizontal window WIDER. 



 

Figure 1.3: Emacs movement commands for differing objects. 

 

  emacs MOVEMENT (Figure 1.3)  
 ^ f 
FORWARD a character. 
 ^ b 
BACKWARD a character. 
 ^ n 
NEXT line. 
 ^ p 
PREVIOUS line. 
 ~ f 
FORWARD a word. 
 ~ b 
BACKWARD a word. 
 ^ a 
Beginning (ALPHA) of line. 
 ^ e 
END of line. 
 ~ a 
Beginning (ALPHA) of sentence.
 ~ n 
Beginning of (NEW) paragraph. 
 ~ p 
End of PARAGRAPH. 
 ~ 99 ^ l 
LINE 99. 
 ~ 99 
Enter 99 as ARGUMENT. 
 ~ x goto-line [ret] 99 
LINE 99. 
 ~ x goto-char [ret] x 
CHARACTER x. 
 ~ < (meta <) 
BEGINNING of file. 
 ~ > 
END of file. 
 ^ v 
FORWARD 1 screenful. 
 ~ v 
BACKWARD 1 screenful. 
 ^  ~ v 
Forward in inactive window. 
 ^ l (el) 
RECENTER (cursor on same character). 
 ~ l (el) 
Change next word to LOWERCASE. 

  emacs POSITION IN FILE  
 ~  what-page 
PAGE & Line. 
 ~  what-line 
Show what line cursor is on. 
 ^  = 
Show cursor position. 




 

Figure 1.4: Emacs ``region'' definition and commands. 



 
  emacs MARKS and REGION (Figure 1.4) 
 ^ [space] (^ @) 
Set MARK at cursor. 
 cursor 
REGION = mark - cursor position (new). 
 ^ x ^ x 
EXCHANGE mark and cursor (i.e. check region). 
 ^ w 
Cut (KILL) region (WORLD) to clipboard. 
 ~ w 
COPY region (WORLD) to clipboard; no delete. 
 ^ x [Tab] 
Indent region. 



  emacs SEARCH AND REPLACE  
 ^ s word 
Incremental SEARCH forward for word; 
   
end with [esc] or click, continue with ^ s. 
 ^ s 
Continue SEARCH forward. 
 ^ r 
REVERSE search. 
   [esc] 
End search (or some other commands). 
   [bs] 
Move back in search. 
 ^ r word 
REVERSE search for word. 
 ^ s 
Continue search forward. 
 ~ x occur [ret] expression 
List all OCCURRENCES  of expression, 
   
cursor on line in occur-buffer, ^ c ^ c to find. 
 ~ x search-forward  [ret] word [ret] 
Non-incremental SEARCH. 
 ~ % 
Synonym for ~ x query-replace. 
 ~ x replace-string[ret] old [ret] new  
REPLACE ALL old with new. 
 ~ x query-replace [ret] old [ret] new 
REPLACE after QUERY oldwith new, Emacs asks. 
  y, n, [esc], , 
Your replies: yes, no, quit, yes+stop (= ,). 




 

Figure 1.5: Emacs deletion commands for differing objects. 

 

  emacs DELETION AND KILLING (Figure 1.5) 
 [bs] 
DELETE character BEFORE (left of) cursor. 
 ^ d 
DELETE character AFTER cursor. 
 ~ [bs] 
DELETE word BEFORE cursor. 
 ~ d 
DELETE word AFTER cursor. 
 ^ k 
KILL & store from cursor to end of line. 
 ~ k 
KILL to end of sentence. 
 ^ w 
CUT & store region (WORLD) to clipboard. 
 ~ w 
COPY region (WORLD) to clipboard; no delete. 



  emacs CUT AND PASTE  
 ^ k 
KILL & store from cursor to end of LINE. 
 ~ k 
KILL to end of SENTENCE; stored on clipboard. 
 ^ w 
Cut (KILL) region (WORLD); stored on clipboard. 
 ~ w 
COPY region (WORLD) to clipboard. 
 ~  ^ w 
Append kill to previous kill on clipboard. 
 ^ y 
Paste (YANK) text of last kill (from clipboard). 
 ~ y 
Paste (YANK) text of PREVIOUS kill. 



  emacs WORD PROCESSING  
 ~ q 
FILL paragraph containing cursor. 
 ~ g 
FILL region (mark - cursor). 
 ~ 1 ~ q 
Fill and right JUSTIFY paragraph. 
 ^ o (oh) 
OPEN a blank line here. 
 ^ x ^ o 
DELETE multiple OPEN (blank) lines. 
 ~ u 
UPPERCASE next word. 
 ~ l 
LOWERCASE next word. 
 ~ c 
CAPITALIZE next word. 
 ^ x ^ u 
UPPERCASE region. 
 ^ x ^ l 
LOWERCASE region. 
 ^ t 
TRANSPOSE letters. 
 ~ t 
TRANSPOSE words. 
 ^ x [tab] 
INDENT region. 
 ~ $ 
SPELLcheck last word. 
 ~ x spell-buffer 
SPELLcheck buffer. 
 ~ x spell-region 
SPELLcheck region. 



 
     

 Next:  X-Mouse FunctionsEmacs
Up:  Editing with Emacs
 Previous:  Editing with Emacs

Emacs Command Summary

emacs SPECIAL CHARACTERS

emacs UNDO, HELP

emacs ENTERING FILES, EXITING

emacs BUFFERS

emacs WINDOWS

emacs MOVEMENT (Figure 1.3)

emacs POSITION IN FILE

emacs MARKS and REGION (Figure 1.4)

emacs SEARCH AND REPLACE

emacs DELETION AND KILLING (Figure 1.5)

emacs CUT AND PASTE

emacs WORD PROCESSING