Emacs Reference

Below is an abbreviated emacs command reference. This is by no means an exhaustive list. A slightly more complete list is here. You can get better at emacs by doing the emacs tutorial, by pressing C-h t.

Buffers and Windows

C-x C-f	find file (open in current buffer)
C-x C-s	save contents of current buffer
C-x C-c	kill (close) Emacs
C-x s	save all buffers
C-x C-w	save current buffer with specified name
C-x k	kill (close) current buffer
C-x C-b	list existing buffers
C-x b	select buffer by name
C-x 2	split current window in two vertically
C-x 3	split current window in two horizontally
C-x 0	delete the current window
C-x 1	delete all windows but the current
C-x o	switch to other window
C-M-v	scroll other window down

Navigating

C-f	move cursor forward
C-b	move cursor backward
C-n	move cursor to next line
C-p	move cursor to previous line
M-f	move cursor forward one token
M-b	move cursor backward one token
C-l	center screen on cursor
C-a	move cursor to beginning of line
C-e	move cursor to end of line
C-v	move down one screenful
M-v	move cursor up one screenful
M-<	move cursor to beginning of buffer
M->	move cursor to end of buffer
M-x goto-line	go to line
M-a	move cursor to beginning of statement
M-e	move cursor to end of statement
M C-a	move cursor to beginning of function
M C-e	move cursor to end of function

Editing

C-<SPC>	set mark (mark is the beggining of region; cursor is end of region)
C-x C-p	set region to entire uffer
C-k	kill (cut) from cursor to end of line
C-w	kill (cut) region
M-w	save (copy) region
C-y	yank (paste) what was most recently killed
M-y	yank-pop (cycle though) earlier kills, after yanking
<Backspace>	delete character before cursor
C-d	delete character at cursor
M-<Backspace>	delete from cursor to beginning of token
M-d	delete from cursor to end of token
M-\	delete horizontal space
M-;	comment/un-comment region
<TAB>	indent line
C-c >	indent region
C-c <	exdent region
C-/	undo
M-/	auto complete
M-q	fill paragraph (useful for wrapping lines in comments)

Searching

C-s	forward incremental search
C-r	reverse incremental search
<RET> (when in search mode)	stop searching
C-g (when in search mode)	cancel search and return to where search started
M-y (when in search mode)	yank most recent kill into seach string

M-% search_string <RET> replace_string <RET>	query replace occurances of search_string with replace_string
y (when in query replace mode)	replace highlighted search_string
<SPACE> (when in query replace mode)	do not replace highlighted search_string
q (when in query replace mode)	exit query replace mode