Emacs Quick Referenceλ︎
Todo::Consider moving this to just a reference section. Vim style is the default approach for this book and whist the Emacs bindings are still available in Spacemacs, they are not as focused on great user experience as Vim.λ︎
As Spacemacs is built on Emacs, its worth spending a little time getting uses to working with Emacs.
Here is a short summary of what you need to know. For more details use the built in docs with M-x helm-spacemacs or M-m h SPC.
Starting emacsλ︎
Either emacs as a command line or a desktop icon.
Basic termsλ︎
The 'meta' key is usually the 'Alt' or 'Start Menu' key on your keyboard.
C-<char> : control + <char>
M-<char> : meta + <char>
SPC : space
RET : return / enter
DEL : delete or backspace
ESC : escape; ESC <char> is the same as M-<char>
buffer : Everything you use, edit or read in emacs. This can be an
open file, the results of a compilation, your mail and
several other things, like e.g. a shell window.
mark : It is a position in a buffer, that is pushed in a special
stack, when jumping in the buffer etc. It can be pushed
manually.
mode : Every buffer has a mode. A mode can have special
functions, colouring, indentions etc.
minibuffer : The line at the bottom, where you can enter commands after
typing M-x. Most of these commands can be invoked by
pressing *lot of* keys, but don't worry... from now on,
I'm going to introduce some of these functions, with the
actual command name in round brackets.
point : the actual cursor position
Managing files, buffers and windowsλ︎
C-x C-f (find-file) : opens a file
C-x 4 C-f (find-file-other-window) : opens a file in the next window
C-x k (kill-buffer) : closes the current buffer
C-x C-c (save-buffers-kill-emacs) : asks whether it should save your
files and exits
C-x C-s (save-buffer) : saves the current buffer
C-x C-w (write-file) : saves in a file of your choice
C-x C-b (list-buffers) : lists and manages all open
buffers, press ? for help
C-x b (switch-to-buffer) : changes the current buffer
C-x 4 b (switch-to-buffer-other-window) : changes the next window's buffer
C-x 2 (split-window-vertically) : splits the current window
vertically in half
C-x 3 (split-window-horizontally): splits the current window
horizontally in half
C-x 1 (delete-other-windows) : closes every but the current window
C-x 0 (delete-window) : closes the current window
C-x o (other-window) : switches to the next window
Simple editingλ︎
C-SPC (set-mark-command) : sets the mark where the cursor is
C-w (kill-region) : cuts the region from the mark
till point to the clipboard
M-w (kill-ring-save) : copies the region from the mark
till point to the clipboard
C-y (yank) : pastes from the clipboard
C-a (beginning-of-line) : positions the cursor to the
beginning of the line
C-e (end-of-line) : positions the cursor to the
end of the line
C-t (transpose-chars) : swaps the last two characters
M-t (transpose-words) : swaps the last two words
C-x C-t (transpose-lines) : swaps the last two lines
Search and replaceλ︎
If the search string contains uppercase letters, it will be case sensitive. Case sensitivity can be toggled with M-c during search in newer versions.
C-s (isearch-forward) : searches forward
C-r (isearch-backward) : searches backward
M-% (query-replace) : replaces a string wherever it
occurs with another, and asks
for permission every time
(replace-string) : replaces a string wherever it
occurs with another
Other useful thingsλ︎
(set-variable) : sets the value of a variable
C-h v (describe-variable) : displays the current value and
the meaning of a variable
C-h m (describe-mode) : describes the current mode and lists
its functions and key combinations
C-h f (describe-function) : explains what a function does
C-g (keyboard-quit) : exits from the minibuffer
C-h ? (help-for-help) : gives a help for using help commands
C-_ (undo) : undoes the last change
(man) : invokes the manual in the next window
Managing caseλ︎
| Spacemacs | Major mode | Emacs | Evil | Command | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C-x C-l |
downcase-region |
Convert region to lower case | |||
C-x C-u |
upcase-region |
Convert region to upper case | |||
M-c |
capitalize-word |
Capitalize the following word | |||
M-u |
upcase-word |
Convert following word to upper case | |||
M-l ** |
downcase-word |
Convert following word to lower case |
** The keybinding M-l is bound to markdow-demote in spacemacs
The ~/.emacs fileλ︎
You can assign hot-keys for frequently used commands:
"(global-set-key key 'command)", e.g. I recommend the following:
(global-set-key "\C-cr" 'revert-buffer) ; C-c r reverts the file from disk (global-set-key [f12] 'compile) (global-set-key [f10] 'shell) (global-set-key [end] 'end-of-buffer) ; only for the new emacs (global-set-key [home] 'beginning-of-buffer) ; only for the new emacs
Advanced functionsλ︎
Modes
Mode-specific indention:
TAB (indent-relative) : indents the current line
C-M-\ (indent-region) : indents the selected region
Modes are automatically entered, e.g. when you open a file of a known
extension. To force a mode-change, you can type these:
(latex-mode) : enters LaTeX mode
(c++-mode) : enters C++ mode
(ada-mode) : enters Ada mode
(irchat) : enters IRC mode (IRChat 2.4+ needed)
(rmail) : enters mail mode
(gnus) : enters news-reading mode
(tcl-mode) : enters TCL mode
I advise to use IRChat in a new frame (i.e. in another window): (new-frame) : opens a new window (only in X/Windows)
External programsλ︎
(shell) : starts a terminal in the window
(ediff) : compares two files and makes changes
(gdb) : runs the GNU Debug tool
Simple editing (2)λ︎
M-PgUp (scroll-other-window-down) : scrolls up the next window
M-PgDn (scroll-other-window) : scrolls down the next window
C-x C-SPC (pop-global-mark) : pops the top mark from the stack,
and moves the cursor there
C-x C-x (exchange-point-and-mark) : exchanges the mark with cursor position
C-x r SPC (point-to-register) : stores the buffer & cursor position
to a register
C-x r j (jump-to-register) : jumps to a previously stored
buffer/position.
M-D (kill-word) : cuts from point until
the next whitespace character
M-DEL (backward-kill-word) : cuts from the last whitespace
character until point
C-k (kill-line) : cuts the line from point
C-x r k (kill-rectangle) : cuts the rectangle defined by
the mark as upper left and
point as lower right corner
to the clipboard
C-x r y (yank-rectangle) : pastes a rectangle
M-c (capitalize-word) : capitalizes the word under cursor
M-l (downcase-word) : changes the word to lowercase
M-u (upcase-word) : changes the word to uppercase
(iso-accents-mode) : turns on/off flying accents (',~,^)
Search and replace (2)λ︎
C-x n n (narrow-to-region) : temporarily crops the buffer to the
selected region
C-x n w (widen) : restores the un-cropped buffer
C-M-% (query-replace-regexp) : replaces a regexp wherever it
occurs with a string, and asks
for permission every time
(replace-regexp) : replaces a regexp wherever it
occurs with a string
(occur) : lists all occurrences of search string
(find-name-dired) : searches for a file with the
specified name
(find-grep-dired) : searches for a file that contains
the specified string
Fun things to doλ︎
(gomoku) : emacs plays gomoku with you
(blackbox) : a nice logical game
(dunnet) : a hilarious interactive fiction
(malyon) : a z-code player; you can download
tons of IF games and this library
at http://www.ifarchive.org/
(calendar) : a calendar that tells you
everything you want to know about
any day and also provides a
diary - press ? for commands
Did you know?λ︎
- You can complete minibuffer commands with TAB. If you press it twice, completions appear in the next window.
- You can hide most of the 'information' buffers (like info, man, completions, help etc.) with q.
- If you press enter on a directory when typing an address in the minibuffer, a friendly navigator appears.