Emacs basics
Fixme work in progress
As Spacemacs is built on Emacs, its worth spending a little time getitng 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 emacs
Either emacs as a command line or a desktop icon.
Basic terms
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 windows
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 editing
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 replace
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 everytime
(replace-string) : replaces a string wherever it
occurs with another
Other useful things
(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 case
| 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 file
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 functions
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 programs
(shell) : starts a terminal in the window
(ediff) : compares two files and makes changes
(gdb) : runs the GNU Debugger
Simple editing (2)
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
M-/ (dabbrev-expand) : tries to complete the word
you're writing with a word
occuring in one of the
buffers; it tries another
completion when repeated
(iso-accents-mode) : turns on/off flying accents (',~,^)
Search and replace (2)
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 everytime
(replace-regexp) : replaces a regexp wherever it
occurs with a string
(occur) : lists all occurences 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 do
(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
Describe a Function
Display the full documentation of an elisp function.
| Spacemacs | Major mode | Emacs | Evil | Command |
|---|---|---|---|---|
SPC h d f |
M-m h d f |
C-h f |
describe-function |
Use one of the above keybindings and then type the name of the function you wish to describe.
Did you know?
- 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.