EMACS SHORTCUTS MAC

Hitting this will display a short message in In addition to the help button/menu on the right… C-x 0 / C-x 1: “Undo” splitting, hiding (but not closing) the buffer containing the cursor ( C-x 0) or returning to show only the buffer containing the cursor ( C-x 1).C-x o: Move the cursor to the next visible buffer.C-x 3: Split the window into 2 buffers, one to the left and one to the right.C-x 2: Split the window into 2 buffers, one above the.C-x C-b: See a list of all current buffers.C-x b: Switch to another buffer by entering its name.C-k: Cut ( kill) from the cursor to the end of the line.Highlight text with the mouse or by hitting C-space to set a mark and then moving the cursor to highlight a region.C-x C-w: Write a file (probably more familiar to you as Save as…).C-x C-f: Open a file (whether or not it already exists).C-g: Cancel the current action (use when there’s part of a key sequence showing in the minibuffer and you want out).For CS 251 students: these key sequences are bound to commands (functions in Emacs Lisp) within the editor in the same sense as names are bound to values in programming languages. Do not hold them all at once.Įmacs calls each shortcut or sequence a key binding. If you or Emacs gets confused about what you are trying to type, use C-g (perhaps repeatedly) to cancel your current command and start fresh.Ī sequence of key combinations is written like C-a C-b M-x, which means do the three actions in sequence: Control and lower-case a, then Control and lower-case b, then Meta and lower-case x. The other Meta substitutes work as usual: hold while pressing the second key.)Įmacs might complain about Super if you get the wrong one. If none of these work, then for M-x, type and release Esc then type x.

EMACS SHORTCUTS MAC

Option (or maybe Command ⌘) on Mac keyboards.

Your keyboard lacks a Meta key, so Meta means: Such key combinations are denoted C-x ( Control- x) or M-x ( Meta- x). But we will not do that.Įmacs uses many key combinations involving the Control and Meta keys. This buffer runs in Lisp Interaction mode, which means that you can interactively type and evaluate expressions in the Emacs Lisp programming language.

There are many “special” buffers that do not correspond to loaded files.

There are modes for many programming languages that support special features like syntax highlighting, auto-indentation, and other extra language-specific commands. The most basic mode is Fundamental, which provides only the most basic Emacs editing features. The rest of the status flag indicates other information about file permissions, etc., that you are unlikely to encounter in this course.

The status flag shows whether the file has been changed (shows U:**-) or remains unchanged (shows U:-).

The mode line displays information about the buffer displayed in the current window.

The cursor is a rectangular block also called the point.A buffer is a logical “text thing” that you are working on, typically the contents of a file. Emacs is showing the contents of a buffer within a window (or frame).To start a GUI application, know your key-bindings well and startĮmacs directly in the terminal with emacs -nw ( no If you using a command line interface with no option (or motivation) Immediately return control of the terminal to you. & tells the command line to open Emacs in the background and If you are working with a graphical user interface, start Emacs byĬlicking its icon or by running emacs & at the command line. Buttons and menus in the graphical version help when you are lost, but learn the key bindings (keyboard shortcuts) to find the true source of power. The first differences you will notice are the key bindings and the interface. Emacs is different than other text editors in many ways.

Emacs shortcuts