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Emacs Refcard

The problem with info files about emacs key shortcuts is that they either show you only the most basic stuff, and you will get stuck when you want to do something, or they show you all the goods, so you don't know what you need to know, and what you can forget about.

The commands here are presented in layers. What I need most often and what is useful for simple general tasks is at the top. More complicated stuff, like automation of tasks or language specific expansions are below.

Basic Keys

General
Undo	C-x u
Abort command	C-g
Shell
Buffer `shell`	M-x shell
Excecute command	M-!
Shell-command-on-region	M-\|
Rectangles (C-x r)
Kill rectangle	C-x r k
Paste rectangle	C-x r y
Insert('open') rectangle	C-x r o
M-x UP = last M-x
M-x = ESC (release) x, ALT (hold) x^
C-x = CONTROL (hold) x
S-x = SHIFT (hold) x

^ ALT is better, as you can hold it down
and just need to push one key to reuse a
meta command repeatedly.

Files (C-x)
Open File	C-x C-f
Open File in this Buffer	C-x C-v
Safe Buffer	C-x C-s
Quit Emacs	C-x C-c
Safe Buffer As...	C-x C-w
Windows (C-x)
One window	C-x 1
Split Window Horizontal	C-x 2
Split Window Vertical	C-x 3
Switch to other Window	C-x o
Buffers (C-x)
Goto Buffer	C-x b
Buffer List	C-x C-b
Kill Buffer	C-x k

Editing, Cut and Paste
Set Mark	C-SPACE
Cut & delete	C-w
Paste	C-y
Cut & delete rest line	C-k
Search and Replace
Search forward	C-s text
Search again	C-s C-s
Search backward	C-r text
Search regexp	M-C-s regexp
Goto line	M-g
Replace	M-%
Replace regexp	M-C-% regexp
Replace discard	n
Replace accept	y
Replace all rest	!

Intermediate Stuff

Moving
Move Word	C-arrow
Move Paren	M-arrow
Recenter sceen	C-l
Editing
Uppercase word/region	M-u / C-x C-u
Lowercase word/region	M-l / C-x C-l
Capitalize word	M-c
Transpose chars/lines	C-t / C-x C-t
Paste Clipboard	S-INS
Cut to Clipboard	S-DEL
Delete region	C-DEL
Previous yank	M-y
Keyboard Macros
Begin recording	C-x (
Stop recording	C-x )
Execute macro	C-x e
Edit last macro	C-x C-k
Various
Choose mode	`---perl---` in 1st line
Count chars	M-=
Evaluate lisp	M-:
Run shell command on region	M-\|
Insert file	C-x i
Mark buffer	C-x h
Prefix command	C-u
Expand last abbrev	C-x a e

Dired mode
Use C-u for R option to list dirs recursively.
Flag for delete	d
Delete	x
Mark/Unmark	m/u
Search in marked	A
Mark by regexp	%
HTML mode
Close tag	C-c /
Entity	C-c char
Tag region	C-z letter
Fold/Unfold element	C-c C-f/u C-e
SQL mode (M-x sql-oracle)
Copy region to SQL	C-c C-r
Copy Buffer to SQL	C-c C-b
BibTex mode
Article	C-c C-b C-a
Next field	C-j
Clean entry	C-c C-c
Field Help	C-c ?
Info mode
tutorial, command list	h, i
next, previous, up a node	n, p, u
next link, follow link	<TAB>, <RET>
back	l ("el")
quit	q
Search	s regex
CVS mode
open (other window)	f(o)
cvs diff	=
update	O
commit	c, msg C-c C-c
add, remove(careful!)	a,r
mark, unmark	m,u
dir status	M-s
log	l
AucTeX/RefTeX mode
outline (directory)	C-c =
section	C-c C-s
Font face to bold/italics	C-c C-f C-b/e

Help C-h
Apropos	C-h a
Info Reader	C-h i
Key Bindings	C-h k
Describe func	C-h f
Describe var	C-h v
Hard TAB	s-TAB

Terminal
If your special keys won't work.
Beginning of line	C-a
End of line	C-e
Right (forward)	C-f
Left (backward)	C-b
Up	C-p
Down	C-n
Pagedown	C-v
Pageup	M-v
Begin	M-<
End	M->
Forward word	M-f
Delete	C-d

Customizing

Useful stuff for the .emacs file
Syntax highlighting	(font-lock-mode 1)
Delete forward	(setq delete-key-deletes-forward 1)
Expansion on	(abbrev-mode 1)
Paren highlighting	(paren-set-mode 'sexp)
Show line number	(setq-default line-number-mode 1)
Define abbreviation	(define-abbrev sql-mode-abbrev-table "pl" "dbms_output.put_line()")
Define macro	(defalias 'sql-gutschrift (read-kbd-macro "macro description"))
Set key to anonymous function	(global-set-key [f1] '(lambda() (interactive) (insert-string "Hi")))
Set key shortcuts	(global-set-key [f3] 'fill-paragraph)

Installing libraries: Simply drop the .el modules into your load path. For finding out what that path is, evaluate load-path.

Installing info files: simply drop them into your info path. For finding out what that path is, evaluate info-directory-list. Usually its some info subdirectory of your emacs installation. Then you have to edit the root info file (called dir), or wherever you want to hook your new info file in, just look how the other links look like. I guess it's (filename) that makes the info reader look for the file. You also can use (add-to-list 'Info-default-directory-list "/my/path") to add further directories where emacs looks for info files. You still must edit the root info file.

Installing LaTeX for MikTeX: use AUC TeX. make or just follow instructions, adding the auctex folder into site-lib, and edit the .emacs file to include it into your load path. (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/site-lisp/auctex/") and (load 'tex-site). You must modify the calls in tex-mik.el, wich is called from tex-site.el to fit to your program calls.

Regexp syntax
Basically the syntax ist the same as for perl, except that whitespace and tab are not represented by \s and \t, and that the or-pipe and grouping parentheses have to be escaped.
C-q C-j	newline
C-q TAB	tab
.	any char except newline
*	0-n times, greedy
+	1-n times, greedy
?	0-1 times, greedy
*?, +?, ??	as above, non-greedy
[ ... ]	character set, ^ at start negates
^	beginning of line
$	end of line
\	escape
\\|	or
$ ... $	grouping
\b, \B	word-boundary, non word-boundary
\w, \W	word-char, non word-char
<SPACE>	any whitespace
<TAB>	tab
<\1>	backref to first group

Emacs reads DOS (end-of-line: \r\n) or Unix (end-of-line: \n) text files. It does not display the \r (or ^M) from DOS files, but marks tem with a \ in the mode line under DOS/Windows, and with (DOS) under other operating systems. (Under DOS Unix files are marked with (Unix) in the mode line.) Emacs is smart enough to write the file in the same way it was read. When you create a new file mit Emacs on Windows, it's a DOS type file. Which sucks when you save it via Samba to a Unix system, since it will contain ^M's. To save a buffer with Unix EOL format, type `C-x <RET> f unix <RET> C-x C-s'. Or add (add-untranslated-filesystem "Z:\\mydir") to your .emacs, wich telles Emacs to write files for that file system (e.g. your Samba share) with Unix newlines.