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I want to make a reference sheet for Emacs. I have several questions:

  • Are there anywhere definitive cheatsheets on Emacs to base on?

  • If not, how can i make it myself and how should it look like?

    For example, should it be plain text, or PDF, or info file, or .org file, or elisp code?

  • What would you include in it?

    Frequent commands, how to use documentation, common terminology, idiomatic techniques, best practice and nifty tricks, common errors and FAQ, maybe elisp basics?

  • How to integrate it with Emacs and make it as easy to call as possible?

    As cheatsheet is a dense replacement for Emacs manual, it should be easier to consult with, than the manual.

Any ideas and thoughts are welcome.

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Mirzhan Irkegulov
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  • Why are you interested in what I would put in my Emacs cheat-sheet ? Googling churns out dozens of references such as: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/eglen/ess11/resources/emacs-refcard.pdf. Personally, when I have a cheat-sheet, I have it on the partition of my cubicle where I can see it without moving my head too much. – High Performance Mark Apr 12 '12 at 09:20

3 Answers3

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Stack overflow may be the best place to start for references to basic syntax, see this post.

Emacs is supposed to be "self-documenting". Within emacs you have:

  • C-h k to tell you what a key does,
  • C-h f for functions
  • C-h v for variables

This is a good place to start.

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Shep
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I was searching a cheat sheet for myself some time ago, but I didn't find one which satisfied me. This is probably due to the nature of the problem.

The first thing I had to accommodate to was the minibuffer (the bottom line of the emacs window).

As @Shep already mentioned, Emacs has quite a good self-documentation. The most useful is at the beginning probably C-h f (i.e. you press Crtl-h and afterwards f). This will prompt you for a function name (emacs function names are named quite well in my humble opinion). And you can use the star (*) as a wildcard.

Another good command for finding your way around is C-h a, which prompts you for a word or a regular expression.

It's moreover worth noting that M-x enables you to call (almost) any function emacs has to offer. So, if you forget a keybinding, but remember the function name, then M-x functionname <RET> will call this function.

It's also remarkable that emacs has kind of a cheat sheet function already: C-h b, wich lists all the currently assigned keybindings (of course probably not in the order you want to have it).

Then of course opening and saving files. Copying and pasting (copying and cutting). Navigation commands.

phimuemue
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Emacs manual is good, but it is not known for its terseness, which is what you (and I!) want.

Searching far and wide, this is the best and most comprehensive cheat sheet on emacs I have ever found: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~vasily/idl/emacs_commands_list.html

It is a bit long, and may include some irrelevant parts, but overall an excellent reference.

Your cheat sheet would be most welcome, as this sheet hasn't been updated at the time of writing since 2002, but I think it's a great place to start.

djhaskin987
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