GNU EMACS 19 Quick Reference Card 

Last updated: Mon Apr  5 14:47:25 1999

C-A means Control-A, etc. (also called ^A)
M-A means Meta-A, etc.  (also called Escape-A)
C-M-A means Control-Meta-A (also called C-M-A)

These mean hold down the 2 or 3 keys simultaneously.

On Sun and Dec workstations, the Meta key is usually the one to the
left of the space bar.  On ASCII terminals, M-A may be replaced by the
2-character sequence ESC-A.  For commands involving the C- or M-
prefix, case is insignificant, so C-A = C-a and C-M-A = C-M-a.
Otherwise, case is significant.

This card is for Emacs Version 19, the version available on most CCS Unix
machines as /arch/gnu/bin/emacs .  Emacs has proceeded to version 20, but most
of the keystrokes are the same.

Emacs 19 features multiple windows (called "frames") and a modern WIMP
(WIndow-Menu-Pointer) interface.  A tutorial is available from the Help menu.
Many useful commands are also found on the menu bar.

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Initialization:

	Emacs is a customizable text editor with a powerful window facility.
In order to run emacs effectively on our system, you need to put a file
called .emacs in your home directory.  See the section "Customization" below
on how to do this for now.

A minimal .emacs, with useful defaults, can be found at
/course/com3351/pub/.emacs .

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Getting started/getting out:

to start:		emacs filename
                        emacs -nw     Run emacs in terminal window
                                      (useful under telnet, etc.)
to exit:		C-x C-c (it will ask which modified files should
				 be saved, so this can be used for both
				 normal and abnormal exits)
                                Also [Files|Exit Emacs]
illegal-operation	C-g	(to abort a command)
undo			C-x u	(to undo a command)    
redisplay		C-l	(to redisplay the screen)

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The Region:

	The region is the space between the dot (just to left
of cursor) and the mark.   You can set the mark using C-@, C-spc, or the mouse
(see below).  Using (transient-mark-mode) makes the region
visible, and allows operations on the region only when it is visible.  Useful
commands: 

set-mark-command		M-1, C-@ 
exchange-dot-and-mark		C-x C-x
delete-region-to-kill-buffer	C-w
copy-region-as-kill		M-w	Like C-w but doesn't delete
yank-from-killbuffer		C-y

	The standard way to move or copy blocks of text is to
use C-w and C-y.  You can C-y the same text several times.  

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The Mouse:

Under the X window system, mouse motion is supported.  The commands
on the mouse buttons are:

left 		point to mouse pos; drag to create region.
shift-left	open font selection window
C-left		open buffer selection menu

middle	        yank at click [C-y]

right 		region to emacs kill-buffer [M-w]
		and also to X selection buffer 
double-right 	same, but also deletes the region [C-w]

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Cursor Motions:
       			Move		Delete		Undo
			L    	R	L    	R

Character		C-b   	C-f     DEL  	C-d
Word			M-b   	M-f	M-DEL 	M-d
Lines			C-p   	C-n
Beg/End of Line		C-a   	C-e	C-k		C-y
Sentence		M-a   	M-e
Next/Prev Window	C-x o  	C-x o	C-x 0
Page			M-v   	C-v
Paragraph		M-[   	M-] 
Beg/End of File		M-<   	M->
S-expression		C-M-b   C-M-f
Region			C-x C-x C-x C-x	 C-w		C-y

Also, the arrow keys are supported on almost all keyboards.

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Frames:

A frame is an area on the screen, corresponding to what is usually called a
window.

find-file-other-frame	C-x 5 f (open file in a new frame; the other standard
				 way of switching files)
switch-to-buffer-other-frame
			C-x 5 b
delete-frame		C-x 5 0 (deletes current frame)

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Buffers:

A buffer is a chunk of text.  It may or may not be associated with a file.  A
buffer is displayed by associating it with a window (an area on the screen).

find-file		C-x C-f	(the standard way of switching files)
list-buffers		C-x C-b
switch-to-buffer	C-x b
save-some-buffers	C-x s	(saves modified buffers; asks about each)

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Windows:

A window is an area in a frame, usually associated with a buffer.

delete-window		C-x 0 	(deletes current window)
delete-other-windows	C-x 1
other-window		C-x o
split-windows-vertically C-x 2	(splits screen into 2 windows)

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Getting help:

	GNU Emacs has a powerful help command.  Help commands are always
accessed by C-h.  The learn-by-doing tutorial (C-h t) is highly recommended.
Most help commands are available from the help menu.  Some of the options are:

help-with-tutorial	C-h t	(select the learn-by-doing tutorial)
apropos			C-h a	(prints list of relevant commands
                                 --very useful)
describe-command	C-h d
describe-key		C-h k
describe-bindings	C-h b	(makes list of current key bindings)
describe-mode		C-h m	(describes features of current major mode)
help-with-help		C-h C-h	(describes options for help command)

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Searches:

isearch-forward		C-s 	(these are incremental searches)
isearch-reverse		C-r 	
query-replace-string	M-%	(use C-h  for help here, too)

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Miscellaneous:

redisplay screen	C-l 
newline-and-indent	LF	(useful for pgms)
quote-character		C-q 	(Useful for putting ctl chars in files)
filter-region		M-|	(run region thru unix filter pgm)
shell			M-s	(starts inferior shell in a window)
capitalize word		M-c	(works on FOLLOWING word!)
upper-case word		M-u	(works on FOLLOWING word!)
lower-case word		M-l	(ditto)
fill-paragraph		M-q	(works on whole definitions in programs)
dabbrev-expand		M-/	(copy recent similar word; useful for pgms!)

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Extended Commands:

	There are too many commands in emacs for any reasonable
set of keys.  Hence any command can be executed by typing M-x
followed by its name. 

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Scheme Mode:

M-x run-scheme                  start inferior scheme process in a window
indent-line            TAB      indent current line correctly
newline-and-indent     LF, C-j	newline and indent it
scheme-send-defun-and-go  C-M-x   send current definition to scheme process
        
Files with extensions .scm will automatically be put in scheme mode. 

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Mail/News:

Emacs supports several mail readers (rmail, VM, mh-e) and several news readers
(most notably gnus).

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Customization:

Emacs is highly customizable, using a Lisp-like extension language.
Indeed, most of emacs itself is written in Emacs-Lisp.  When your
account is created, it includes a default .emacs file that provides
See the clue sheet on Emacs or read your .emacs for more information.