Emacs cheat sheet

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  1. Cursor motion
  2. Cut/copy/paste
  3. Searching and replacing
  4. Files
  5. Buffers
  6. Scrolling
  7. Windows
  8. Miscellaneous
  9. Getting help
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Cursor motion

Move… Delete…
Amount …forward …backward …forward …backward
Characters C-f C-b C-d DEL
Words M-f or M-RIGHT M-b or M-LEFT M-d M-DEL
Lines C-n C-p C-S-BACKSPACE
Sentences M-e M-a M-k C-x BACKSPACE
Expressions C-M-f C-M-b C-M-k C-M-DEL
Paragraphs M-} M-{
End/start of line C-e or END C-a or HOME
End/start of buffer M-> M-<

Cut/copy/paste

C-SPC Mark one end of region. Functions below will not work without marked region
C-w Cut
M-w Copy
C-y Yank (paste)

Searching and replacing

C-s Incremental search forward (searches as you type). If search string is empty, jumps to the next occurrence found previously
C-r Incremental search backward (searches as you type). If search string is empty, jumps to the previous occurrence found previously
C-M-s Regexp search forward (searches as you type)
C-M-r Regexp search backward (searches as you type)
M-x replace-string Replace string from cursor to end of buffer (prompts for string and replacement)
M-x query-replace Replace string from cursor to end of buffer (querying for each occurrence)

Files

C-x C-f Find or create new file
C-x C-s Save file
C-x C-w Write file (prompts for new name)

Buffers

C-x C-b List buffers (in other window)
C-x b Select buffer (prompts for buffer name)
C-x s Save current buffer (prompts for buffer name)
C-x k Kill buffer (prompts for buffer name)

Scrolling

C-v Scroll one screen size down
M-v Scroll one screen size up

Windows

C-x 0 Close current window
C-x 2 Split window vertically
C-x 3 Split window horizontally
M-x other-window Next window
M-x prev-window Previous window

Miscellaneous

ESC ESC ESC Get me out of where I am now
C-_ or C-x u Undo. After doing something else will undo the undo's
C-x C-c Exit Emacs (asks about unsaved buffers and running programs)

Getting help

C-h k Show command documentation (prompts for keystrokes)
C-h c Show brief command description on message line (prompts for keystrokes)
C-h a Runs apropos-command (prompts for regexp and shows all matching commands)
C-h f Runs describe-function (prompts for command or function name, shows documentation in other window)
C-h i Info browser (gives access to online documentation for Emacs and more)

Some useful links

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