Taken from a page by Bernhard G. Bodmann at the University of Houston, with a few additions of my own.
Note that C-x means Control-X while M-x means Meta-X where meta may mean hitting and releasing the escape key, or alt. These keys are excerpted from the Unix in a Nutshell book. The first column has their default key binding; the second their function name; last is a short description.
- File Handling Commands
1234567C-x C-f find-file Find a file and read it to screen.C-x C-v find-alternate-file Read a different file.C-x i insert-file Insert a file at the cursors position.C-x C-s save-buffer Save the current buffer.C-x C-w write-file Write the contents of the buffer to a file.C-x C-c save-buffers-kill-emacs Save all open buffers and get out of emacs.C-z suspend-emacs Suspend emacs. - Cursor Movement Commands
1234567891011121314151617C-f forward-char Move cursor one character.C-b backward-char Move backward one character.C-p previous-line Move up one line.C-n next-line Move down one line.M-f forward-word Move to the next word. (words are defined by whitespace/special characters.)M-b backward-word Move to the previous word.C-a beginning-of-line Move to the beginning of the line.C-e end-of-line Move to the end of the line.M-a backward-sentence Move back one sentence.Esc-v scroll-up Scroll up one screen.C-v scroll-down Scroll down one screen.C-x [ backward-page Go back one page.C-x ] forward-page Go forward one page.M-> end-of-buffer Move to end of buffer.M-< beginning-of-buffer Move to beginning of the current buffer.C-l recenter Redraw the screen with the current line in the center.M-(a number) digit-argument Do the next command (a number) of times.
Some cheat sheets have “M-v” to scroll up. That has never worked for me. I use “Esc-v” to scroll up. - Deletion Commands
12345678910Del backward-delete-char Delete the previous character.C-d delete-char Delete the character under the cursor.M-Del backward-kill-word Delete the previous word.C-k kill-line Delete from the cursor to the end of line.M-k kill-sentence Delete the sentence the cursor is in.C-x Del backward-kill-sentence Delete the previous sentence.C-y yank Restore deleted text at cursor.C-w kill-region Delete a marked region.backward-kill-paragraph Delete the previous paragraph.kill-paragraph Delete from the cursor to the end of the paragraph. - Paragraphs and Regions
12345678C-@ set-mark Mark the beginning (or end) of a region.C-Space set-mark Ibid.C-x C-p mark-page Mark the current page.C-x C-x exchange-point-and-make Exchange the location of the cursor and the mark.C-x h mark-whole-buffer Mark the current buffer.M-q fill-paragraph Reset the paragraph.M-g fill-region Reformat individual paragraphs with region.M-h mark-paragraph Mark select paragraph. - Stopping and Undoing Commands
123C-g keyboard-quit Stop current command Now!C-x u advertised-undo Undo the last edit (do it often)revert-buffer Return the buffer to the state when last autosaved. - Transposition Commands
12345C-t transpose-chars Transpose the two letters.M-t transpose-words Switch two words.C-x C-t transpose-lines Switch two lines.transpose-sentences Switch two sentences.transpose-paragraphs Switch two paragraphs. - Capitalization Commands
12345M-c capitalize-word Capitalize the first letter of the current word.M-u upcase-word Make the word all uppercase.M-l downcase-word Make the word all lowercase.C-x C-l downcase-region Make the region all lowercase.C-x C-u uppercase-region Make the region all uppercase. - Incremental Search Commands
12345C-s isearch-forward Start an incremental search forward.C-r isearch-backward Starts an incremental search in the reverse direction.Meta Stop a successful search.C-g keyboard-quit Stop searching and return to the starting point.Del Delete an incorrect character whilst searching. - Word Abbreviation Commands
12345678abbrev-mode Enter abbreviation mode.C-x - inverse-add-global-abbrev Type in a global abbreviation, then its meaning.C-x C-h inverse-add-local-abbrev Type in a local abbreviation, then its meaning.unexpand-abbrev Undo the last word abbreviation.write-abbrev-file Write out the word abbreviation file.edit-abbrevs Edit the current word abbreviations.list-abbrevs View the current word abbreviations.kill-all-abbrevs Kill any abreviations for this session. - Buffer Manipulation Commands
123456C-x b switch-to-buffer Move to the specified buffer.C-x C-b list-buffers Display the list of currently active buffers.C-x k kill-buffer Kill the current bufferkill-some-buffers Ask about deleting each buffer currently active.rename-buffer Rename the current buffer to something else.C-x s save-some-buffers Ask whether to save each modified buffer - Window Commands
12345678910111213141516C-x 2 split-window-horizontally Divide the current window horizontally in two.C-x 5 split-windws-vertically Divide the current window vertically in two.C-x > scroll-right Scroll the window right.C-x < scroll-left Scroll the window left.C-x 0 delete-window Delete the current window.C-x 1 delete-other-windows Delete all the windows except this one.delete-windows-on Delete all windows open to a particular buffer.C-x ^ enlarge-window Make the current window taller.shrink-window Make the current window smaller.C-x } enlarge-window-horizontally Make the window wider.C-x { shrink-window-horizontally Make the window less wide.M-C-v scroll-other-window Scroll the other window.C-x 4 f find-file-other-window Find a file in the other window.C-x 4 b switch-to-buffer-other-window Select a buffer in the other window.compare-windows Compare two buffers and show the first difference.C-x o other-window Select another window (letter "o", not number 0) - Special Shell Characters
123456shell Start a shell.C-c C-c interrupt-shell-subjob Terminate the current job in a shell.C-c C-d send-shell-eof Send the EOF character (Ctrl-d)C-c C-u kill-shell-input Erase the current line.C-c C-w backward-kill-word Erase the previous word.C-c C-z stop-shell-subjob Suspend the current shell job. - Indentation Commands
1234567C-x set-fill-prefix Prepend each line in paragrph with charactersfrom beginning of the line up to the currentcursor column. cancel by doing this in column 1.M-C-\ indent-region Indent a region to match the first line in region.M-m back-to-indentation Move the cursor to first character in line.M-C-o split-line Split line at cursor into two lines... weird.fill-individual-paragraphs Reformat indented paragraphs, keep indentation. - Centering Commands
123M-s center-line Center the current line.center-paragraph Center the paragraph that the cursor is on.center-region Center the currently defined region. - Macro Commands
12345678910C-x ( start-kbd-macro Start a new macro definition.C-x ) end-kbd-macro End the current macro definition.C-x e call-last-kbd-macro Execute the last defined macro.M-(number) C-x e call-last-kbd-maco Do that last macro (number times).C-u C-x ( stat-kbd-macro Execute last macro and add to it.name-last-kbd-macro Name the last macro before saving it.insert-last-keyboard-macro Insert the macro you made into a file.load-file Load a file with macros in it.C-x q kbd-macro-query Insert a query into a keyboard macro.M-C-c exit-recursive-edit Get the hell out of a recursive edit. - Detail Information Help Commands
1234567891011C-h a command-apropos What commands work like this...?apropos What functions and variables work like this...?C-h c describe-key-briefly What command does this key sequence do?C-h b describe-bindings What are the key bindings for this buffer?C-h k describe-key What command does this sequence do, and tell me about it.C-h l view-lossage What are the last 100 characters typed?C-h w where-is What is the key binding for this?C-h f describe-function What does this function do?C-h v describe-variable What is this variable?C-h m describe-mode Tell me about this mode.C-h s describe-syntax What is the syntax table for this buffer?
You’re welcome.