Elisp: Move Cursor

Move Cursor to a Position

goto-char

(goto-char POSITION)

Move cursor to a given position.

;; move cursor to position 392
(goto-char 392)

Move by Char Count, by Word

forward-char

(forward-char &optional N)

Move cursor forward by N characters.

see also backward-char

;; move cursor by 9 chars
(forward-char 9)

• forward-word
• backward-word

Move by Line

• forward-line
• beginning-of-line
• end-of-line

• Elisp: Functions on Line

Move Cursor by Skip Chars

skip-chars-forward

(skip-chars-forward STRING &optional maxPos)

• Move cursor forward by skipping chars in STRING.
• but do not go beyond maxPos
• Returns the distance traveled, either zero or positive.

STRING is like the inside of a [chars] in a Regular Expression Syntax

;; move cursor, by skipping whitespace
(skip-chars-forward " \n\t")

;; mover cursor, by skipping alphanumeric and hyphen lowline
(skip-chars-forward "-_a-zA-Z0-9")

• Elisp: skip-chars-forward vs re-search-forward

skip-chars-backward

(skip-chars-backward STRING &optional LIM)

similar to skip-chars-forward but backward.

;; move cursor backward, skip space tab newline


(skip-chars-backward " \t\n")

;; skip a to z and hyphen
(skip-chars-backward "-a-z")

Move Cursor by Search Text

These search functions are used for searchinng text and find replace, but they also move cursor and return cursor position.

• plain string
• search-forward
• search-backward

• regex
• re-search-forward
• re-search-backward

• Elisp: Search Text Functions

Reference

• Motion (ELISP Manual)