Emacs Keys: Overview
By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .
Organization of Emacs Key Shortcuts
Emacs keys are often confusing to beginners. Here's a summary.
Alt+x is to call a command by name.
Ctrl+letter is for frequently used editing commands. e.g.
right-word【→】next-line【↓】- (paste)
yank【Ctrl+y】 - (cut)
kill-region【Ctrl+w】 set-mark-command【Ctrl+Space】keyboard-quit【Ctrl+g】isearch-forward【Ctrl+s】
Alt+letter is for somewhat less frequently used operations, often complement to Ctrl. e.g.
forward-word【Alt+→】- (Copy)
kill-ring-save【Alt+w】 comment-dwim【Alt+;】
Ctrl+x keys is for commands that are useful globally. e.g.
dired【Ctrl+x d】switch-to-buffer【Ctrl+x b】string-rectangle【Ctrl+x r t】list-bookmarks【Ctrl+x r l】
Ctrl+c keys is for Major Mode specific commands. e.g.
- in org-mode,
org-time-stamp【Ctrl+c .】 inserts date.
Ctrl+h keys is for help or getting info. e.g.
describe-function【Ctrl+h f】describe-key【Ctrl+h k】apropos-command【Ctrl+h a】
Ctrl+Alt+key is for lisp coding related commands. e.g.
backward-sexp【Ctrl+Alt+←】 〔see Emacs: Navigate Lisp Code as Tree〕
- Note Alt+x is technically Meta+x, ususually written as
M-x. - Meta key is a physical key on lisp machine keyboards.
- If you are in a text terminal, and no Meta remapping has been setup, you can type Meta+x by pressing Esc x.