Taken from a page by Bernhard G. Bodmann at the University of Houston, with a few additions of my own.
Note that C-x means Control-X while M-x means Meta-X where meta may mean hitting and releasing the escape key, or alt. These keys are excerpted from the Unix in a Nutshell book. The first column has their default key binding; the second their function name; last is a short description.
- File Handling Commands
| C-x C-f | find-file | Find a file and read it to screen. |
| C-x C-v | find-alternate-file | Read a different file. |
| C-x i | insert-file | Insert a file at the cursors position. |
| C-x C-s | save-buffer | Save the current buffer. |
| C-x C-w | write-file | Write the contents of the buffer to a file. |
| C-x C-c | save-buffers-kill-emacs | Save all open buffers and get out of emacs. |
| C-z | suspend-emacs | Suspend emacs. |
2.Cursor Movement Commands
| C-f | forward-char | Move cursor one character. |
| C-b | backward-char | Move backward one character. |
| C-p | previous-line | Move up one line. |
| C-n | next-line | Move down one line. |
| M-f | forward-word | Move to the next word. (words are defined by whitespace/special characters.) |
| M-b | backward-word | Move to the previous word. |
| C-a | beginning-of-line | Move to the beginning of the line. |
| C-e | end-of-line | Move to the end of the line. |
| M-a | backward-sentence | Move back one sentence. |
| Esc-v | scroll-down | Scroll up one screen. (cursor goes up, but text goes down) |
| C-v | scroll-up | Scroll down one screen (cursor goes down, but text goes up) |
| C-x [ | backward-page | Go back one page. |
| C-x ] | forward-page | Go forward one page. |
| M-> | end-of-buffer | Move to end of buffer. |
| M-< | beginning-of-buffer | Move to beginning of the current buffer. |
| C-l | recenter | Redraw the screen with the current line in the center. |
| M-(a number) | digit-argument | Do the next command (a number) of times. |
Some cheat sheets have “M-v” to scroll up. That has never worked for me. I use “Esc-v” to scroll up.
The scroll commands seem to do the opposite of what they are called. Here is an explanation from the Emacs documentation: In Emacs, scrolling up or down refers to the direction that the text moves in the window, not the direction that the window moves relative to the text. This terminology was adopted by Emacs before the modern meaning of “scrolling up” and “scrolling down” became widespread. Hence, the strange result that PageDown scrolls up in the Emacs sense.
3.Deletion Commands
| Del | backward-delete-char | Delete the previous character. |
| C-d | delete-char | Delete the character under the cursor. |
| M-Del | backward-kill-word | Delete the previous word. |
| C-k | kill-line | Delete from the cursor to the end of line. |
| M-k | kill-sentence | Delete the sentence the cursor is in. |
| C-x Del | backward-kill-sentence | Delete the previous sentence. |
| C-y | yank | Restore deleted text at cursor. |
| C-w | kill-region | Delete a marked region. |
| backward-kill-paragraph | Delete the previous paragraph. | |
| kill-paragraph | Delete from the cursor to the end of the paragraph. |
4.Paragraphs and Regions
| C-@ | set-mark | Mark the beginning (or end) of a region. |
| C-Space | set-mark | Ibid. |
| C-x C-p | mark-page | Mark the current page. |
| C-x C-x | exchange-point-and-make | Exchange the location of the cursor and the mark. |
| C-x h | mark-whole-buffer | Mark the current buffer. |
| M-q | fill-paragraph | Reset the paragraph. |
| M-g | fill-region | Reformat individual paragraphs with region. |
| M-h | mark-paragraph | Mark select paragraph. |
5.Stopping and Undoing Commands
| C-g | keyboard-quit | Stop current command Now! |
| C-x u | advertised-undo | Undo the last edit (do it often) |
| revert-buffer | Return the buffer to the state when last autosaved. |
6.Transposition Commands
| C-t | transpose-chars | Transpose the two letters. |
| M-t | transpose-words | Switch two words. |
| C-x C-t | transpose-lines | Switch two lines. |
| transpose-sentences | Switch two sentences. | |
| transpose-paragraphs | Switch two paragraphs. |
7.Capitalization Commands
| M-c | capitalize-word | Capitalize the first letter of the current word. |
| M-u | upcase-word | Make the word all uppercase. |
| M-l | downcase-word | Make the word all lowercase. |
| C-x C-l | downcase-region | Make the region all lowercase. |
| C-x C-u | uppercase-region | Make the region all uppercase. |
8.Incremental Search Commands
| C-s | isearch-forward | Start an incremental search forward. |
| C-r | isearch-backward | Starts an incremental search in the reverse direction. |
| Meta | Stop a successful search. | |
| C-g | keyboard-quit | Stop searching and return to the starting point. |
| Del | Delete an incorrect character whilst searching. |
9.Word Abbreviation Commands
| abbrev-mode | Enter abbreviation mode. | |
| C-x – | inverse-add-global-abbrev | Type in a global abbreviation, then its meaning. |
| C-x C-h | inverse-add-local-abbrev | Type in a local abbreviation, then its meaning. |
| unexpand-abbrev | Undo the last word abbreviation. | |
| write-abbrev-file | Write out the word abbreviation file. | |
| edit-abbrevs | Edit the current word abbreviations. | |
| list-abbrevs | View the current word abbreviations. | |
| kill-all-abbrevs | Kill any abreviations for this session. |
10.Buffer Manipulation Commands
| C-x b | switch-to-buffer | Move to the specified buffer. |
| C-x C-b | list-buffers | Display the list of currently active buffers. |
| C-x k | kill-buffer | Kill the current buffer |
| kill-some-buffers | Ask about deleting each buffer currently active. | |
| rename-buffer | Rename the current buffer to something else. | |
| C-x s | save-some-buffers | Ask whether to save each modified buffer |
11.Window Commands
| C-x 2 | split-window-horizontally | Divide the current window horizontally in two. |
| C-x 5 | split-windws-vertically | Divide the current window vertically in two. |
| C-x > | scroll-right | Scroll the window right. |
| C-x < | scroll-left | Scroll the window left. |
| C-x 0 | delete-window | Delete the current window. |
| C-x 1 | delete-other-windows | Delete all the windows except this one. |
| delete-windows-on | Delete all windows open to a particular buffer. | |
| C-x ^ | enlarge-window | Make the current window taller. |
| shrink-window | Make the current window smaller. | |
| C-x } | enlarge-window-horizontally | Make the window wider. |
| C-x { | shrink-window-horizontally | Make the window less wide. |
| M-C-v | scroll-other-window | Scroll the other window. |
| C-x 4 f | find-file-other-window | Find a file in the other window. |
| C-x 4 b | switch-to-buffer-other-window | Select a buffer in the other window. |
| compare-windows | Compare two buffers and show the first difference. | |
| C-x o | other-window | Select another window (letter “o”, not number 0) |
12.Special Shell Characters
| shell | Start a shell. | |
| C-c C-c | interrupt-shell-subjob | Terminate the current job in a shell. |
| C-c C-d | send-shell-eof | Send the EOF character (Ctrl-d) |
| C-c C-u | kill-shell-input | Erase the current line. |
| C-c C-w | backward-kill-word | Erase the previous word. |
| C-c C-z | stop-shell-subjob | Suspend the current shell job. |
13.Indentation Commands
| C-x | set-fill-prefix | Prepend each line in paragraph with characters from beginning of the line up to the current cursor column. cancel by doing this in column 1. |
| M-C-\ | indent-region | Indent a region to match the first line in region. |
| M-m | back-to-indentation | Move the cursor to first character in line. |
| M-C-o | split-line | Split line at cursor into two lines… weird. |
| fill-individual-paragraphs | Reformat indented paragraphs, keep indentation. |
14.Centering Commands
| M-s | center-line | Center the current line. |
| center-paragraph | Center the paragraph that the cursor is on. | |
| center-region | Center the currently defined region. |
15.Macro Commands
| C-x ( | start-kbd-macro | Start a new macro definition. |
| C-x ) | end-kbd-macro | End the current macro definition. |
| C-x e | call-last-kbd-macro | Execute the last defined macro. |
| M-(number) C-x e | call-last-kbd-maco | Do that last macro (number times). |
| C-u C-x ( | stat-kbd-macro | Execute last macro and add to it. |
| name-last-kbd-macro | Name the last macro before saving it. | |
| insert-last-keyboard-macro | Insert the macro you made into a file. | |
| load-file | Load a file with macros in it. | |
| C-x q | kbd-macro-query | Insert a query into a keyboard macro. |
| M-C-c | exit-recursive-edit | Get the hell out of a recursive edit. |
16.Detail Information Help Commands
| C-h r | info | Open up the built-in manual |
| C-h a | command-apropos | What commands work like this…? |
| apropos | What functions and variables work like this…? | |
| C-h c | describe-key-briefly | What command does this key sequence do? |
| C-h b | describe-bindings | What are the key bindings for this buffer? |
| C-h k | describe-key | What command does this sequence do, and tell me about it. |
| C-h l | view-lossage | What are the last 100 characters typed? |
| C-h w | where-is | What is the key binding for this? |
| C-h f | describe-function | What does this function do? |
| C-h v | describe-variable | What is this variable? |
| C-h m | describe-mode | Tell me about this mode. |
| C-h s | describe-syntax | What is the syntax table for this buffer? |
You’re welcome.