Emacs command cheatsheet

M means the Esc or Alt Key
in Ctrl-x means press Ctrl and then x

1. Emacs File Control

    emacs Hello.java Open or create the file “Hello.java” with emacs on command line.
    Ctrl-x Ctrl-s Save changes.
    Ctrl-x Ctrl-f Open a new file.
    Ctrl-x b Switch back to previous file or type a file you want to switch to.
    Ctrl-x Ctrl-b gives a list of opened files.
    Ctrl-x d Enter the dried mode. Type the Capital R to rename the file. Ctrl-x b Go back to the file.
    Ctrl-g Quit the current operation.
    Ctrl+z Quit emacs.

2. Emacs Line Control

    Ctrl-a Move the cursor to the beginning of the current line.
    Ctrl-e Move the cursor to the end of the current line.
    M-a Move back to the beginning of sentence.
    M-e Move forward to the end of sentence.
    M-g g or M-g M-g To go to a specific line.
    Ctrl-k Delete the line from current point, or in emacs language it kill the line.
    Ctrl-a Ctrl-kDelete the whole line.

3. Emacs Cursor Control

    Ctrl-f Move forward one character.
    Ctrl-b Move backward one character.
    Ctrl-n Move the cursor to the next line.
    Ctrl-p Move the cursor to the previous line.

4. Emacs Screen Control

    Ctrl-v Scroll the file forward by one screen.
    M-v Scroll the file backward by one screen.
    M-< Go to the beginnig of the file. Remember > needs to have the Shift key.
    M-> Go to the end of the file.
    Ctrl-x 1 Delete other windows
    Ctrl-x 2 Split windows vertically

5. Emacs Search and Replace

    Ctrl-s Search forward. Type the below command and then the string to search. To search for the next occurance of the same string, type the below command again.
    Ctrl-r Search backward.
    M-%Search replace, press Alt Shift and %, then type the search string and enter, then type the replacement string and enter, then press y to do the replacement, n to skip, ! to do all remaining replacements without asking, q to exit.

6. Emacs Copy and Paste

    Ctrl-Space or Ctrl-@ To select a region of text.
    Ctrl-w To cut the text. Cutting is called killing in emacs.
    M-w To copy the text.
    Ctrl-y to paste the text. Pasting is called yanking in emacs.

7. Emacs Undo and Redo

    Ctrl-_ or Ctrl-/ or Ctrl-x u Undo, when there is no more left to undo. To redo, Ctrl-x and then the same command as the undo.

8. Emacs Help

    Ctrl-h Help command.
    Ctrl-h t Help with tutorial.

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