Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition

Appendix E. Quick Reference

This quick reference is arranged topically, in roughly the same order as the commands were treated in the text. Unfortunately, it's impossible to be both "quick" and thorough, particularly with an editor as large and comprehensive as GNU Emacs. We've tried to take a middle road between completeness and quickness; we'll confess that, if we've erred, we've erred on the side of quickness.

Table E-1. File-handling commands (Chapter 1)

Keystrokes	Command name	Action
C-x C-f File → Open File	find-file	Find file and read it in a new buffer.
C-x C-v	find-alternate-file	Read an alternate file, replacing the one read with C-x C-f.
C-x i File → Insert File	insert-file	Insert file at cursor position.
C-x C-s File → Save (current buffer)	save-buffer	Save file.
C-x C-w File → Save Buffer As	write-file	Write buffer contents to file.
C-x C-c File → Exit Emacs	save-buffers-kill-emacs	Exit Emacs.

Table E-2. Cursor movement commands (Chapter 2)

Keystrokes	Command name	Action
C-f	forward-char	Move forward one character (right).
C-b	backward-char	Move backward one character (left).
C-p	previous-line	Move to previous line (up).
C-n	next-line	Move to next line (down).
M-f	forward-word	Move one word forward.
M-b	backward-word	Move one word backward.
C-a	beginning-of-line	Move to beginning of line.
C-e	end-of-line	Move to end of line.
M-e	forward-sentence ...