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Are there any mnemonics or patterns that make memorizing emacs key combos easier?

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    Using commands is the only way to learn Emacs. Memorizing anything won't get you anywhere as there are just too many commands. – pmr Apr 20 '10 at 17:59
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    That there are too many commands is exactly the reason why patterns could be useful. –  Apr 20 '10 at 18:24
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    `M-/` - The most useful Emacs command you never heard of – Nemo Jul 07 '11 at 02:24

6 Answers6

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Well, the main important ones are: `

  • C-k to "Kill" a line and C-y to "Yank" it back from the kill buffer (aka: clipboard).
  • C-s to "Search "
  • C-h for "Help"
  • C-t "Transpose" two characters.
  • C-p "Previous" line
  • C-n "Next" line
  • C-f "Forward" char
  • C-b "Backward" char
  • C-e "End" of line
  • C-a .... a is the beginning of the alphabet, so "A beginning" of line

Other than that I mostly use the arrow keys, the mouse, the menus, or a select group of actual commands. The few exceptions to this (eg: macro creation and use) I learned pretty much by muscle-memory.

Trey Jackson
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T.E.D.
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    Another very useful one: a "block" in many languages is denoted by {}, M-} and M-{ move forward and backward by blocks. – Justin Smith Apr 21 '10 at 18:31
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    Thanks to Trey for adding the "" tags, thus indirectly showing the trick to me. – T.E.D. Apr 22 '10 at 13:33
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    You could also use the german word "`A`nfang" (which is "beginning") in order to remember `C-a`. ;) – einjohn Jul 11 '16 at 22:50
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    @einjohn - Or the Turkish word "**A**ta" (ancestor), or the Latin "**A**nte" (before), or any of its Romance language descendents that start with "A". However, my language is *English*, so front of the alphabet is how I remember it. – T.E.D. Jul 12 '16 at 13:20
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    I tend to speak to myself when pressing shortcuts that aren't yet in my muscle memory. "Front of the alphabet" feels kind of clumsy when doing so. That's why I like to have simple words. However, I like the tip with the Latin word. So, thanks. :) – einjohn Jul 12 '16 at 16:31
  • It's easy to remember the "comment this" key binding -- "`;`" is the comment character in emacs' _native_ lisp, therefore `M-;` will toggle comments in any language. – Captain Midday Oct 01 '21 at 14:35
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Regarding patterns, yes, there are very obvious patterns that occur all over.

C-f forward-char
M-f forward-word
C-M-f forward-sentence/expression

C-b backward-char
M-b backward-word
C-M-b backward-sentence/expression

The pattern being C- applies to the smallest unit (char), M- applies to the next larger unit (word), and C-M- applies to the largest. For programs the units are chars, words, sexps.

Trey Jackson
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3

There is also Spacemacs, an Emacs distribution that introduces completely restructured key sequences, in order to be more mnemonic.

Almost every shortcut is started using SPC, initiating the sequence, followed by more single keys, selecting the context and then the actual command; e.g. SPC  f  s in oder to save a file, or SPC  f  S in oder to save all files.

Other context examples are

  • b for buffer,
  • w for window,
  • s for search, or
  • x for text manipulation and many more.

It seems to be very well structured.

Unfortunately I haven't used it, and I don't know whether you have to use Spacemacs or how easily it can be transplanted from its configuration into your own Emacs configuration.

One more remark: It advertises to be the best of both worlds (Emacs and Vim), but you do not need to use the vim editing-style.

einjohn
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Don't memorize it, just USE it.

Yin Zhu
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If I need to remember something like C-c M-j = cider-jack-in, I think of it as Craig Charles and Michael Jackson at a bar, with Craig Charles ordering the first round "cider and jack".

mikeyreilly
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The most common ones are elaborated in the emacs tutorial -- C-h t. Read it from the beginning, carefully. Even if you don't read it all the way to the end, it should help you remember the rationale behind the most common keys better.

user117529
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