pdf version is in emacs directory "/usr/local/share/emacs/23.0.0/etc/refcard.ps"
Starting Emacs
To enter GNU Emacs 22 or 23, just type its name: emacs
Leaving Emacs
| suspend Emacs (or iconify it under X) | C-z |
| exit Emacs permanently | C-x C-c |
Files
| 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 another file into this buffer | C-x i |
| replace this file with another file | C-x C-v |
| write buffer to a specified file | C-x C-w |
| toggle read-only status of buffer | C-x C-q |
Getting Help
The help system is simple. Type C-h (or F1) and follow the directions. If you are a first-time user, type C-h t for a tutorial.
| remove help window | C-x 1 |
| scroll help window | C-M-v |
| apropos: show commands matching a string | C-h a |
| describe the function a key runs | C-h k |
| describe a function | C-h f |
| get mode-specific information | C-h m |
Error Recovery
| abort partially typed or executing command | C-g |
| recover files lost by a system crash | M-x recover-session |
| undo an unwanted change | C-x u, C-_ or C-/ |
| restore a buffer to its original contents | M-x revert-buffer |
| redraw garbled screen | C-l |
Incremental Search
| search forward | C-s |
| search backward | C-r |
| regular expression search | C-M-s |
| reverse regular expression search | C-M-r |
in i-search mode:
| select previous search string | M-p |
| select next later search string | M-n |
| exit incremental search | RET |
| undo effect of last character | DEL |
| abort current search | C-g |
Use C-s or C-r again to repeat the search in either direction. If Emacs is still searching, C-g cancels only the part not done.
Motion
| entity to move over | backward | forward |
| character | C-b | C-f |
| word | M-b | M-f |
| line | C-p | C-n |
| goto line beginning (or end) | C-a | C-e |
| sentence | M-a | M-e |
| paragraph | M-{ | M-} |
| page | C-x [ | C-x ] |
| sexp (balanced expression) | C-M-b | C-M-f |
| function | C-M-a | C-M-e |
| goto buffer beginning (or end) | M-< | M-> |
| scroll to next screen | C-v |
| scroll to previous screen | M-v |
| scroll left | C-x < |
| scroll right | C-x > |
| scroll current line to center of screen | C-u C-l |
Kill and Deleting
| 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 (balanced expression) | M— C-M-k | C-M-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 kill | C-y |
| replace last yank with previous kill | M-y |
Marking
| set mark here | C-@ or C-SPC |
| 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 | C-M-@ |
| mark function | C-x h |
Query Replace
| 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 |
| replace this one, don't move | , |
| skip to next without replacing | DEL |
| replace all remaining matches | ! |
| back up to previous match | ^ |
| exit query-replace | RET |
| enter recursive edit (C-M-c to exit) | C-r |
Multiple Windows
When two commands are shown, the second one is a similar command for a frame instead of a window.
| delete all other windows | C-x 1 | C-x 5 1 |
| split window, above and below | C-x 2 | C-x 5 2 |
| delete this window | C-x 0 | C-x 5 0 |
| split window, side by side | C-x 3 |
| scroll other window | C-M-v |
| switch cursor to other window | C-x o | C-x 5 o |
| select buffer in other window | C-x 4 b | C-x 5 b |
| display buffer in other window | C-x 4 C-o | C-x 5 C-o |
| find file in other window | C-x 4 f | C-x 5 f |
| find file read-only in other window | C-x 4 r | C-x 5 r |
| run Dired in other window | C-x 4 d | C-x 5 d |
| find tag in other window | C-x 4 . | C-x 5 . |
| grow window taller | C-x ^ |
| shrink window narrower | C-x { |
| grow window wider | C-x } |
Formatting
| indent current line (mode-dependent) | TAB |
| indent region (mode-dependent) | C-M-\ |
| indent sexp (mode-dependent) | C-M-q |
| indent region rigidly arg columns | C-x TAB |
| insert newline after point | C-o |
| move rest of line vertically down | C-M-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 . |
Case Change
| uppercase word | M-u |
| lowercase word | M-l |
| capitalize word | M-c |
| uppercase region | C-x C-u |
| lowercase region | C-x C-l |
The Minibuffer
The following keys are defined in the minibuffer.
| 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 minibuffer input or default | 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 or C-x M-: to edit and repeat the last command that used in the minibuffer. Type F10 to active the menu bar using the minibuffer.
Buffers
| select another buffer | C-x b |
| list all buffers | C-x C-b |
| kill a buffer | C-x k |
Transposing
| transpose characters | C-t |
| transpose words | M-t |
| transpose lines | C-x C-t |
| transpose sexps | C-M-t |
Spelling Check
| 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 |
Tags
| 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-, |
Shells
| 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 command in window \*shell\* | M-x shell |
Rectangles
| 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 |
Abbrevs
| 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-/ |
Regular Expressions
| any single character except a newline | . (dot) |
| zero or more repeats | * |
| one or more repeats | + |
| zero or one repeat | ? |
| quote regular expression special character | \c |
| alternative ("or") | \| |
| grouping | \( ... \) |
| same text as nth group | \n |
| at word break | \b |
| not at word break | \B |
| entity | match start | match end |
| line | ^ | $ |
| word | \< | \> |
| buffer | \` | \' |
| class of characters | match these | match others |
| explicit set | [ ... ] | [^ ... ] |
| word-syntax character | \w | \W |
| character with syntax c | \sc | \Sc |
International Character Sets
| specify principal language | C-x RET l |
| show all input methods | M-x list-input-methods |
| enable or disable input method | C-\ |
| set coding system for next command | C-x RET c |
| show all coding systems | M-x list-coding-systems |
| choose preferred coding system | M-x prefer-coding-system |
Info
| enter the Info documentation reader | C-h i |
| find specified function or variable in Info | C-h S |
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 (1-9) | n |
| follow cross reference (return with l) | f |
| return to last node you saw | l |
| return to directory node | d |
| go to top node of Info file | t |
| go to any node by name | g |
Other:
| run Info tutorial | h |
| quit Info | q |
| search nodes for regexp | M-s |
Registers
| save region into 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 |
Keyboard Macros
| 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 |
Commands dealing with Emacs Lisp
| eval sexp before point | C-x C-e |
| eval current defun | C-M-x |
| eval region | M-x eval-region |
| read and eval minibuffer | M-: |
| load from standard system directory | M-x load-library |
Simple Customization
| customize variables and faces | M-x customize |
Making global key bindings in Emacs Lisp (examples):
(global-set-key "\C-cg" 'goto-line)
(global-set-key "\M-#" 'query-replace-regexp)
Writing Commands
(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."
(interactive "P")
(recenter (if (null line)
0
(prefix-numeric-value line))))
The interactive spec says how to read arguments interactively. Type C-h f interactive for more details.
Copyright (c) 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc. v2.3 for GNU Emacs 22, 2005 designed by Stephen Gildea.
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 GNU Emacs manual, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
