A cheatsheet inspired by the book "Clojure for the Brave and True".
C = Control Key
M = Meta Key (Alt on PCs, Option on Macs)
Examples:
C-a = Hold control, press 'a'.
C-x o = Hold control, press 'x', release both, press 'o' (oh, not zero).
Keys
Description
C-x C-c
Quit Emacs.
C-g
Cancel any in progress keybinding/shortcut command.
C-x C-s
Save current buffer.
C-x b
Switch to a different buffer.
C-x k
Kill/close current buffer.
C-x C-f
Open a file.
C-/
Undo the last action.
In addition to the arrow keys, these keybindings allow for cursor movements.
Keys
Description
M-<
Move to beginning of buffer/file.
M->
Move to end of buffer/file.
C-v
Move one screen forward.
M-v
Move one screen backward.
C-l
Center screen on position at cursor.
Keys
Description
C-a
Move to beginning of line.
C-e
Move to end of line.
C-n
Move to the next line.
C-p
Move to the previous line.
M-g g
Go to line.
Keys
Description
M-f
Move forward one word.
M-b
Move backward one word.
Keys
Description
C-f
Move forward one character.
C-b
Move backward one character.
Keys
Description
C-s
Regex search for text in current buffer and move to it. Press C-s again to move to next match.
C-r
Same as C-s, but search in reverse.
M-%
Search and replace.
Kill Ring (Copy/Cut/Paste)
Keys
Description
C-spacebar
Create a region (select). Use movement keys to expand the region selected. Then use copy/cut commands below.
M-w
Copy region to kill ring (copy).
C-w
Kill region (cut).
C-y
Yank (paste).
M-y
Cycle through kill ring after yanking/pasting. This is like a copy/paste clipboard.
M-d
Kill/delete word starting at cursor (cut).
C-k
Kill/delete line starting at cursor (cut).
Keys
Description
Tab
Indent line.
C-j
New line and indent, equivalent to enter followed by tab.
M-\
Delete all spaces and tabs around point.
C-d
Delete the next character.
M-backspace
Delete previous word.
C-x space (use movement keys to select up/down).
Rectangle mode
Keys
Description
C-t
Swap two characters at the point/cursor.
M-u
Change the word at the point/cursor to uppercase.
M-l
Change the word at the point/cursor to lowercase.
C-u n char
Insert 'n' (a number) copies of 'char' (a character).
Keys
Description
C-h k key-binding
Describe the function bound to the key binding. To get this to work, you actually perform the key sequence after typing C-h k.
C-h f
Describe function.
Keys
Description
C-x o
Switch cursor to another window.
C-x 1
Delete all other windows, leaving only the current window in the frame. This doesn’t close your buffers, and it won’t cause you to lose any work.
C-x 2
Split frame above and below.
C-x 3
Split frame side by side.
C-x 0
Delete current window.
Keys
Description
C-c M-n M-n
Switch to namespace of current buffer.
C-x C-e
Evaluate expression immediately preceding point.
C-c C-k
Compile current buffer/file.
C-c C-d C-d
Display documentation for symbol under point.
M-. and M-,
Navigate to source code for symbol under point and return to your original buffer.
C-c C-d C-a
Apropros search; find arbitrary text across function names and documentation.
Keys
Description
M-x cider-jack-in
Start a REPL.
C-c C-x C-j C-j
Alternative to start a REPL.
C-↑, C-↓
Cycle through REPL history.
C-enter
Close parentheses and evaluate.
Keys
Description
M-x paredit-mode
Toggle paredit mode.
M-(
Surround expression after point in parentheses (paredit-wrap-round).
C-→
Slurp; move closing parenthesis to the right to include next expression.
C-←
Barf; move closing parenthesis to the left to exclude last expression.
C-M-f, C-M-b
Move to the opening/closing parenthesis.
