Starting emacs from the Unix prompt

% emacs

to start emacs.

% emacs filename

to start emacs and load a file

% emacs -nw filename

to start emacs with no new window (load file)

Help

H T

to see the tutorial

H A topic

to see help about topic

X U

undo the last command

Cursor Positioning

F or

forward (right) one character.

B or

back (left) one character

P or

up one character

N or

down one character

B

left one word

F

right one word

A

to beginning of line

E

to end of line

<

start of document

>

end of document

V

page up

V

page down

L

cursor in middle of screen

U 20 N

advance 20 lines

X what-line

display the line number where the cursor is located

< U 999 N

go to line number 999

Search and Replace

S patterntext

search for patterntext; cursor moves as you type. Press once at the correct location

S

search for the next occurrence

S % oldstring newstring

Search for oldstring and replace it with newstring. The Y key confirms each replacement

Loading and Saving

X F filename

create new filename for editing (clears workspace)

X F filename

load in filename for editing

X W filename

write (save) as filename

X S

resave under the current filename (based on above or name given when starting emacs)

Quitting and Suspending

Z

suspend current program (This is actually a Unix directive to any program; emacs does not understand Z per se.)

X C

quit emacs (Can be used with impunity -- the system will prompt if the workspace has not yet been saved.)