Emacs Keybinding

#202206121637 has a complicated set of keybindings that user could take advantage of to manipulate lines, buffers, files etc. We can customise the keybindings in respect to our own preference by defining them in Emacs #lisp. Additionally, it can be recorded using 202208061214# to execute complicated keystrokes combination for several times.

Take note to the following shorthand:

C refers to the Ctrl key
M refers to the Meta key, usually means the Alt key

Note: If the alphabet is in capital (A, B, C …), Shift key is involved.

Editor Itself

We can minimise the editor with C-z and exit by the keybind C-x C-c.

Command Cancellation

We can cancel an undesired command or keybind by using the keybind C-g.

Repeat

C-u {number} {keybind/command/character} or M-{number} can be used execute the keybind or command or write character for number times. For example, when used with C-f, we can move to the next number character forward. If used with character such as *, Emacs will type in number of *.

Horizontal Movement

Keybind	Function
`C-f`	Move to the next character
`C-b`	Move to the previous one character
`M-f`	Move to the next word
`M-b`	Move to the previous word
`C-a`	Move to the beginning of the current line
`C-e`	Move to the end of the current line
`M-a`	Move to/backward to the beginning of the sentence
`M-e`	Move to/forward to the end of the sentence

Vertical Movement

Keybind	Function
`C-n`	Move to the next line
`C-p`	Move to the previous line
`C-v`	Scroll to the next page
`M-v`	Scroll to the previous page
`C-l`	Change view
`M-<`	Move to the beginning of the file
`M->`	Move to the end of the file

Note: C-l will first recenter the view of the file. If C-l is executed for a second time, the view will changed to top. Third time, it will changed to bottom.

Line Manipulation

Emacs distinguishes between kill and delete. Kill means putting character or line into an iteratable 202112031154 (the kill ring). Deleted character or line in the other hand can’t be pasted (yank) from the kill ring since the ring doesn’t record deleted objects.

Keybind	Function
`C-d`	Kill the next character
`M-d`	Kill the next word
`C-k`	Kill until the end of the current line
`M-k`	Kill until the end of the current/next sentence
`C-y`	Yank recently killed line or from clipboard
`M-y`	Iterate over previous killed lines
`M-q`	Re-fill or realign the paragraph

Note: C-y needs to be executed first before M-y.

Note: If there is no content for the current line, that is there is only whitespaces and/or next line character, C-k will kill the line instead.

Note: If C-k is executed several time in row (without interruption), killed texts will concatenated together.

Select

C-<SPC> will start highlighting minor mode. From there on, we can include more characters, lines or sentences by using either #Horizontal Movement and #Vertical Movement. Several keybindings can be used to manipulate the selected or highlighted section.

Keybind	Function
`C-w`	Kill highlighted region
`M-w`	Copy highlighted region

Search and Replace

In Emacs, searches are done incrementally. This means that Emacs will always try to find the first occurrence based on the character(s) that you have already typed in. To replace it, we can use the command replace-string#

Keybind	Function
`C-s`	Do a forward search
`C-r`	Do a reverse search

Note: If searching is already happen, both C-s and C-r will simply move to the next occurrence in order or in reverse respectively.

Undo Redo

Keybind	Function
`C-/`	Undo

Keybind	Function
`C-x` `C-f`	Finds files, if not found, then create it
`C-x` `C-s`	Saves file

Buffers

Keybind	Function
`C-x` `C-b`	List buffers
`C-x` `b`	Switch buffer
`C-x` `s`	Prompt to save files in unsaved buffers
`C-x` `k`	Kill buffer

Windows

Keybind	Function
`C-x` `1`	Delete all windows except current one
`C-x` `2`	Split the current window horizontally
`C-x` `3`	Split the current window vertically
`C-x` `4` `C-f`	Find files and open it in a horizontal split
`C-M-v`	Scroll to the next page in other window, similar to `C-v`
`C-M-V`	Scroll to the previous page in other window, similar to `M-v`
`C-x` `o`	Switch to other window

Help

One could call help from Emacs. This can be done by executing C-h with a consequent character which will bring up a help #Windows.

Consequent Character after `C-h`	Function
`?`	Help menu to access other help windows
`k`	Help for a keybinding
`c`	Brief for a keybinding
`x`	Describe a command
`v`	Help for a variable
`m`	Help for current major mode
`a`	Search for commands based on given keyword
`i`	Open manuals
`r`	Open Emacs manual

Links to this page

Emacs Keyboard Macro

We can record #keystrokes combination into a single macro and to be called later in #202206121637. Emacs store macros recorded into a single ring, much like the kill ring. However, the macro ring will only be available for its corresponding buffer, meaning it can’t be called in other windows or buffers.
Emacs

Emacs is a free and open source editor which is part of the GNU project. We can customise almost every aspect of the editor in its Lisp variant (Emacs Lisp, with the extension .el) such as 202206121523#, 202206131443# and 202206151006#. It consists of buffer, mode line and echo area by default.