Emacs Keybindings: A Comprehensive Reference from Basics to Advanced

This is the keybinding reference I wish I had when I started using Emacs seriously. It covers the built-in defaults, the package bindings I actually use daily, and the muscle memory that makes Emacs feel fast once it clicks.

Notation: C- = Ctrl, M- = Alt/Option, S- = Shift, SPC = Space, RET = Enter, DEL = Backspace.

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Core Bindings

Navigation

Key	Action
C-f	Forward char
C-b	Backward char
M-f	Forward word
M-b	Backward word
C-n	Next line
C-p	Previous line
C-a	Beginning of line
C-e	End of line
M-<	Beginning of buffer
M->	End of buffer
C-v	Scroll down (page)
M-v	Scroll up (page)
C-l	Recenter screen
M-g g	Go to line number
M-g c	Go to char position

Structural Navigation

Key	Action
C-M-f	Forward sexp
C-M-b	Backward sexp
C-M-a	Beginning of defun
C-M-e	End of defun
C-M-u	Up sexp (out of parens)
C-M-d	Down sexp (into parens)
C-M-n	Next sexp (same level)
C-M-p	Previous sexp (same level)

C- moves by character, M- moves by word, C-M- moves by structure.

Editing

Key	Action
C-d	Delete char forward
DEL	Delete char backward
M-d	Kill word forward
M-DEL	Kill word backward
C-k	Kill to end of line
C-w	Kill region (cut)
M-w	Copy region
C-y	Yank (paste)
M-y	Cycle yank ring (after C-y)
C-/	Undo
C-x u	Undo (alternate)
C-t	Transpose chars
M-t	Transpose words
C-x C-t	Transpose lines
M-u	Uppercase word
M-l	Lowercase word
M-c	Capitalize word
M-SPC	Cycle spacing
M-q	Fill paragraph
C-M-k	Kill sexp
C-o	Open line
C-j	Newline and indent

Mark and Region

Key	Action
C-SPC	Set mark (start selection)
C-x h	Select all
M-h	Mark paragraph
C-M-h	Mark function
C-M-SPC	Mark sexp
C-x C-x	Exchange point and mark

Search and Replace

Key	Action
C-s	Isearch forward
C-r	Isearch backward
C-M-s	Isearch forward (regexp)
C-M-r	Isearch backward (regexp)
M-%	Query replace
C-M-%	Query replace (regexp)
M-s o	Occur (list matches)
M-s h r	Highlight regexp
M-s h u	Unhighlight regexp

Files and Buffers

Key	Action
C-x C-f	Find file
C-x C-s	Save file
C-x C-w	Save as
C-x s	Save all modified buffers
C-x b	Switch buffer
C-x C-b	List buffers (ibuffer)
C-x k	Kill buffer
C-x C-r	Find file read-only
C-x C-v	Find alternate file

Windows

Key	Action
C-x 0	Delete current window
C-x 1	Delete other windows
C-x 2	Split horizontally
C-x 3	Split vertically
C-x o	Switch to other window
C-x ^	Enlarge vertically
C-x }	Enlarge horizontally
C-x {	Shrink horizontally
S-<arrow>	Windmove (directional)

Registers and Bookmarks

Key	Action
C-x r SPC	Save point to register
C-x r j	Jump to register
C-x r s	Copy region to register
C-x r i	Insert register contents
C-x r w	Save window config
C-x r f	Save frame config
C-x r m	Set bookmark
C-x r b	Jump to bookmark
C-x r l	List bookmarks

Help

Key	Action
C-h k	Describe key
C-h f	Describe function
C-h v	Describe variable
C-h m	Describe current modes
C-h b	List all keybindings
C-h a	Apropos (search commands)
C-h i	Info manual
C-h t	Tutorial

Package Keybindings

Magit (Git)

Key	Action
C-x g	Open magit-status
s / u	Stage / unstage
c c	Commit
C-c C-c	Confirm commit message
C-c C-k	Cancel commit
P p	Push
F p	Pull
b b / b c	Switch / create branch
l l / l a	Log current / all
d d	Diff
f	Fetch
r	Rebase popup
m	Merge popup
t	Tag popup
z	Stash popup
g / q	Refresh / quit
TAB	Toggle section
$	Show process output

FZF (Fuzzy Finder)

Key	Action
C-c f f	Find git files
C-c f g	FZF in git repo
C-c f d	FZF in directory
C-c f s	Git grep
C-c f p	FZF in project

Ripgrep (rg)

Key	Action
M-x rg	Ripgrep search
M-x rg-project	Search in project
M-x rg-dwim	Search thing at point
C-c s	Ripgrep menu

In results: n/p navigate, RET visits, e enters wgrep, g reruns, q quits.

Multiple Cursors

Key	Action
C->	Mark next like this
C-<	Mark previous like this
C-c C-<	Mark all like this

Corfu (Completion)

Key	Action
(auto)	Popup after 2 chars
TAB	Select/expand
M-n / M-p	Next / previous
RET	Accept
C-g	Quit

Vertico (Minibuffer)

Key	Action
C-n / C-p	Next / previous
RET	Accept
TAB	Partial insert
C-g	Quit

Orderless matching — type words in any order.

Eglot (LSP)

Key	Action
M-.	Go to definition
M-,	Go back
M-?	Find references
C-c C-r	Rename symbol
C-c C-a	Code actions
M-x eglot-format	Format buffer
C-h .	Show docs (eldoc)

Smartparens

Key	Action
C-M-f / C-M-b	Forward / backward sexp
C-M-k	Kill sexp
C-M-SPC	Mark sexp
C-M-u / C-M-d	Up / down sexp
C-M-n / C-M-p	Next / previous sexp

Go Mode

Key	Action
C-c C-r	Remove unused imports
C-c C-g	Go to imports
C-c C-f	Run gofmt

Org Mode

Key	Action
TAB	Cycle visibility
S-TAB	Cycle global visibility
M-RET	New heading
M-S-RET	New TODO heading
C-c C-t	Toggle TODO state
C-c C-s	Schedule
C-c C-d	Deadline
C-c C-c	Toggle checkbox / execute
C-c '	Edit source block
C-c C-e	Export dispatcher
C-c C-l	Insert/edit link
C-c C-o	Open link at point
C-c a	Agenda
C-c c	Capture
M-<up/down>	Move subtree
M-<left/right>	Promote / demote

Ediff (Diff/Merge)

Key	Action
n / p	Next / previous diff
j	Jump to diff
a	Copy A to B / choose A
b	Copy B to A / choose B
r a / r b	Restore region A / B
v / V	Scroll down / up
w a / w b	Save buffer A / B
!	Recompute diffs
q	Quit

Dired (File Manager)

Key	Action
C-x d	Open dired
RET	Open file
^	Parent directory
m / u / U	Mark / unmark / unmark all
t	Toggle marks
% m	Mark by regexp
d / x	Flag / execute deletion
D	Delete immediately
C / R	Copy / rename
Z	Compress/decompress
!	Shell command on marked
C-x C-q	wdired (edit filenames)
C-c C-c	Commit wdired

Advanced Built-in Commands

Keyboard Macros

Key	Action
C-x (	Start recording
C-x )	Stop recording
C-x e	Execute (then e to repeat)
C-u 0 C-x e	Execute until error
C-u 50 C-x e	Execute 50 times
C-x C-k n	Name last macro
C-x C-k b	Bind macro to key
C-x C-k e	Edit last macro
C-x C-k r	Apply to each line in region
C-x C-k C-c	Set counter
C-x C-k C-i	Insert counter
C-x C-k C-a	Set increment

Rectangle Operations

Key	Action
C-x SPC	Rectangle mark mode
C-x r k	Kill rectangle
C-x r y	Yank rectangle
C-x r d	Delete rectangle
C-x r o	Open (insert space)
C-x r c	Clear (replace with spaces)
C-x r t	Replace with string
C-x r N	Number lines

Narrowing

Key	Action
C-x n n	Narrow to region
C-x n d	Narrow to defun
C-x n p	Narrow to page
C-x n w	Widen (restore)

Shell and Process Interaction

Key	Action
M-!	Shell command
M-&	Async shell command
M-x shell	Interactive shell
M-x eshell	Emacs shell
M-x term	Terminal emulator
M-x compile	Run compile
M-x recompile	Rerun compile

Advanced Isearch

While isearch is active:

Key	Action
M-e	Edit search string
C-w	Yank word at point
C-M-y	Yank char at point
M-s .	Symbol at point
M-s w	Toggle word mode
M-s r	Toggle regexp mode
M-s c	Toggle case sensitivity
M-s o	Occur with search
M-n / M-p	Search history

Numeric / Universal Arguments

Key	Action
C-u	Universal arg (4)
C-u C-u	16
C-u 8 / M-8	Numeric arg 8
C-u - / M--	Negative arg

How C-u modifies commands:

Key	Effect
C-u 10 C-n	Move down 10 lines
C-u C-k	Kill entire line
C-u C-SPC	Pop mark ring
C-u C-l	Recenter at top

Dynamic Abbreviation

Key	Action
M-/	Dabbrev expand
C-M-/	Dabbrev completion
M-x hippie-expand	Multi-method expand

Repeat

Key	Action
C-x z	Repeat last command
z	Keep repeating

Indirect Buffers

Key	Action
M-x clone-indirect-buffer	Clone buffer
C-x 4 c	Clone in other window

Align

Key	Action
M-x align	Auto-align region
M-x align-regexp	Align on regexp
M-x align-current	Align current section

Sort and Reverse

Key	Action
M-x sort-lines	Sort alphabetically
M-x sort-fields	Sort by Nth field
M-x sort-numeric-fields	Sort numerically
M-x reverse-region	Reverse lines
M-x delete-duplicate-lines	Remove duplicates

Calc

Key	Action
C-x * c	Open calc
C-x * q	Quick calc (minibuffer)
C-x * e	Embedded mode
C-x * g	Grab region to stack
C-x * y	Yank result to buffer

Whitespace

Key	Action
M-\	Delete surrounding whitespace
M-SPC	Collapse to single space
C-x C-o	Delete blank lines
M-^	Join with previous line
M-x whitespace-mode	Visualize whitespace
M-x untabify	Tabs to spaces

Tramp (Remote Editing)

Key	Action
C-x C-f /ssh:host:/path	Open remote file
C-x C-f /sudo::/etc/hosts	Open as root
C-x d /ssh:host:/dir/	Remote dired

Hideshow (Code Folding)

Key	Action
C-c @ C-h	Hide block
C-c @ C-s	Show block
C-c @ C-c	Toggle block
C-c @ C-M-h	Hide all
C-c @ C-M-s	Show all

Imenu (Buffer Index)

Key	Action
M-x imenu	Jump to definition
M-g i	Imenu (alternate)

Recursive Editing

Key	Action
C-r (in query-replace)	Enter recursive edit
C-M-c	Exit recursive edit
C-]	Abort recursive edit

Macro Query

Key	Action
C-x q (recording)	Insert query point
SPC / y (playback)	Continue
DEL / n (playback)	Skip iteration
RET / q (playback)	Stop
C-r (playback)	Recursive edit

Miscellaneous

Key	Action
C-x C-e	Eval last sexp
M-:	Eval expression
C-x =	Char info at point
C-x 8 RET	Insert Unicode by name
M-x revert-buffer	Reload from disk
C-x C-+ / C-x C--	Zoom in / out
M-x ffap	Find file at point

Patterns Worth Internalizing

• C-x prefix = global operations (files, buffers, windows, registers)
• C-c prefix = mode-specific and user bindings
• C-h prefix = help
• M-x = run any command by name (the escape hatch for everything)
• C- moves by character, M- moves by word, C-M- moves by structure
• Kill (C-k, C-w, M-d) saves to the kill ring. Delete (C-d, DEL) doesn’t.
• Prefix any command with C-u for a numeric argument: C-u 10 C-n moves down 10 lines
• C-g cancels anything — the universal “get me out of here”

The real productivity comes not from memorizing every binding, but from knowing the patterns well enough to guess what a binding might be — and using C-h to confirm.