Emacs Quick Reference

      This section will help refresh the memory of a user who has already had some experience with emacs. First time users should consult the emacs man page and go through the tutorial.

      emacs is set up to insert text or accept commands at all times. emacs uses the control, alt, and escape keys to distinguish text from commands. By default, it also comes up in its own windows. The fonts and colors of this window can be cha nged with command line options or with defaults set up in a $HOME/.Xdefaults file. For more information on emacs, consult the man pages with man emacs or by using <ctrl> h or ? within emacs itself.

To invoke emacs, type:

emacs filename &

To invoke emacs in an already existing xterm or aixterm:

emacs -nw filename
Cursor
positioning
 <esc> <       top of the file
<esc> >       bottom of the file
<ctrl> v        forward screen
<esc> v       backward screen
<ctrl> n        next line
<ctrl> p        previous line
<ctrl> f         forward character
<ctrl> b        backward character
<esc> f        forward word
<esc> b       backward word
<ctrl> e         end of line
<ctrl> a         beginning of line
arrow keys     replace <ctrl> n,p,f,b
Changing
and copying
text
 <backspace>       deletes character before cursor
<delete>              deletes character before cursor
<ctrl>d                deletes character under cursor
<esc><delete>     deletes word before cursor
<esc>                 deletes word after cursor
<ctrl>k                deletes from cursor to end of current line
<ctrl>y                puts back text deleted from last series of <ctrl>kcommands, also used for copying

Undoing
changes and repeating commands 		<ctrl>g                     disregard an unfinished command
<ctrl>x                     undo previous change (can be repeated)
<esc>#command     repeats a command, #number of times


Searching
 <ctrl>s     searches forward in file for a string
<ctrl>r      searches backward in file for a string

Saving
text and
exiting
emacs
 <ctrl>x<ctrl>f      find file to load into emacs
<ctrl>x<ctrl>s     save to disk and remain in emacs
<ctrl>x<ctrl>w    write to disk and change name
<ctrl>x<ctrl>c     exit emacs
Help
 <ctrl>h     enter help facility
?             lists different help facilities
t              interactive tutorial
c             describes a command character or sequence
k             complete documentation on command a list all commands containing keyword
For more information on Emacs one can look at:

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