Emacs Cheat Sheet

Key Notation

C- = Ctrl
M- = Alt (or Esc)
C-x C-s = Ctrl+x Ctrl+s

🆘 SURVIVAL

Keys	Action
C-g	CANCEL ANYTHING
C-x C-s	Save
C-x C-f	Open file
C-x C-c	Quit Emacs
C-/	Undo

📁 Files & Buffers

Keys	Action
C-x C-f	Open file
C-x C-s	Save
C-x C-w	Save as
C-x b	Switch buffer
C-x k	Close buffer
C-x C-b	List buffers

🧭 Navigation

🕹️ Vim-style Navigation (Hydra)

Activate with C-c SPC, then tap keys freely. Press q or any unmapped key to exit.

Keys	Vim Equiv	Action
C-c SPC	—	Enter Hydra nav mode
j	j	Line down
k	k	Line up
l	l	Char right
;	h	Char left
w	w	Word forward
b	b	Word backward
0 or ^	0 / ^	Line start
$	$	Line end
g	gg	Buffer start
G	G	Buffer end
d	C-d	Page down
u	C-u	Page up
:	:123	Go to line number
q	Esc	Exit Hydra

✂️ Editing

Keys	Action
C-Space	Start selection
C-w	Cut
M-w	Copy
C-y	Paste/Yank
C-k	Kill to end of line
C-x h	Select all
M-d	Delete word
C-c d	Duplicate line
C-c k	Kill whole line

🔍 Search

Keys	Action
C-s	Search forward
C-r	Search backward
M-%	Search & replace
C-M-%	Regex replace

🪟 Windows

Keys	Action
C-x 2	Split horizontal
C-x 3	Split vertical
C-x 1	Close others
C-x 0	Close this
C-x o	Other window
Shift+arrows	Move between

📂 Project

Keys	Action
C-c p p	Switch project
C-c p f	Find file
C-c p s g	Grep project
C-c t	File tree
C-c m	Toggle minimap

🔀 Git (Magit)

Keys	Action
C-x g	Open Magit
s / u	Stage / Unstage
c c	Commit
P p	Push
F p	Pull
b b	Switch branch
l l	Log
q	Quit

Keys	Action
C-c g t	Time machine
C-c g b	Toggle blame

🔧 LSP (All Languages)

Keys	Action
M-.	Go to definition
M-,	Go back
M-?	Find references
C-h .	Documentation

🦀 Rust

Keys	Action
C-c r	cargo run
C-c b	cargo build
C-c c	cargo check
C-c t	cargo test
C-c f	cargo fmt
C-c l	cargo clippy

🐍 Python

Keys	Action
C-c r	Run file
C-c d	Debug file

🐚 Bash

Keys	Action
C-c r	Run script
C-c c	Shellcheck

🐳 DevOps

Keys	Action
C-c a	Ansible
C-c d	Docker
C-c k	Kubernetes

📝 Markdown

Keys	Action
C-c C-s b	Bold
C-c C-s i	Italic
C-c C-s c	Code
C-c C-l	Link
C-c C-n/p	Next/prev heading
C-c C-d	Toggle checkbox
Tab	Fold/unfold
C-c C-c l	Preview

❓ Help

Keys	Action
C-h k	Key help
C-h f	Function help
C-h m	Mode help
M-x	Run command

🛠️ Troubleshooting

# Config not loading?
mv ~/.emacs ~/.emacs.backup

# Refresh packages
M-x package-refresh-contents

# Reload config
M-x eval-buffer

# Restart LSP
M-x eglot-shutdown
M-x eglot

# Install icons
M-x all-the-icons-install-fonts
M-x nerd-icons-install-fonts

Quick Reference Box

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║  SURVIVAL     │  EDIT         │  WINDOWS     │  GIT          ║
║  C-g Cancel   │  C-w Cut      │  C-x 2 Horiz │  C-x g Magit  ║
║  C-x C-s Save │  M-w Copy     │  C-x 3 Vert  │  s Stage      ║
║  C-x C-f Open │  C-y Paste    │  C-x 1 Close │  c c Commit   ║
║  C-x C-c Quit │  C-/ Undo     │  C-x o Other │  P p Push     ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║  LSP          │  RUST         │  SEARCH      │  NAV          ║
║  M-. Def      │  C-c r Run    │  C-s Find    │  C-p Up       ║
║  M-, Back     │  C-c b Build  │  C-r Back    │  C-n Down     ║
║  M-? Refs     │  C-c t Test   │  M-% Replace │  M-g g Line   ║
║               │  C-c f Format │              │               ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

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See more cheat-sheet here