Emacs Key Layout Diagram

By Xah Lee. Date: 2006. Last updated: 2023-02-22.

Emacs Keybinding Layout (QWERTY)

emacs keybinding qwerty 2016-07-26

Key Symbols

↑	`previous-line`	↓	`next-line`
←	`backward-char`	→	`forward-char`
←w	`backward-word`	→w	`forward-word`
←s	`backward-sentence`	→s	`forward-sentence`
←¶	`backward-paragraph`	→¶	`forward-paragraph`
⇤	`move-beginning-of-line`	⇥	`move-end-of-line`
↤▮	`back-to-indentation`
⇞	`scroll-down` (`PageUp`)	⇟	`scroll-up` (`PageDown`)
⤒	`beginning-of-buffer`	⤓	`end-of-buffer`
search←	`isearch-backward`	search→	`isearch-forward`

⌫	`delete-backward-char`	⌦	`delete-char`
⌫w	`backward-kill-word`	⌦w	`kill-word`
\|⌫	`kill-line-backward`	⌦\|	`kill-line`
⌦tochar	`zap-to-char`	⌦s	`kill-sentence`
⌦␣⌫	`delete-horizontal-space`

↩	`newline`
↩↑	`open-line`
↩↦cmt	`indent-new-comment-line`
⇥	`tab-to-tab-stop` (insert tab or spaces)
↦	`indent-for-tab-command`
#n	`digit-argument`
#-n	`negative-argument`
#arg	`universal-argument`
center▮↕	`move-to-window-line`
center↕	`recenter`
⇋	`transpose-chars`
⇋w	`transpose-words`
undo	undo
copy	`kill-ring-save`
cut	`kill-region`
cancel	`keyboard-quit`
iconify	`iconify-or-deiconify-frame`
mark¶	`mark-paragraph`
paste	`yank`
paste↖	`yank-pop`
M-x	`execute-extended-command`

Older version of this page in images: layout and legend.

Top Row Symbols

~ nil not-modified	` nil tmm-menubar
! nil shell-command	@ set-mark-command mark-word	# nil nil	$ nil ispell-word	% nil query-replace

^

nil

delete-indentation

&

nil

nil

*

nil

pop-tag-mark

(

nil

insert-parentheses

)

nil

move-past-close-and-reindent

_

nil

nil

+

nil

nil

Ctrl Alt

Function Keys

F1 is help prefix. Same as C-h.
F2 is 2C-two-columns
F3 is kmacro-start-macro-or-insert-counter
F4 is kmacro-end-or-call-macro
F10 is menu-bar-open
F11 is toggle-frame-fullscreen

No Ctrl nor Meta are defined with function keys by default.

Home/End Key Cluster

Ins overwrite-mode	Home ⇤	PgUp ⇞
Del ⌦	End ⇥	PgDn ⇟

no modifier

Ins kill-ring-save nil	Home \|◀ \|◀-other-window	PgUp scroll-right scroll-other-window-down
Del ⌦w ⌫w	End ▶\| ▶\|-other-window	PgDn scroll-left scroll-other-window

Ctrl Alt

<insert> → overwrite-mode
<delete> → delete-forward-char
<home> → move-beginning-of-line
<end> → move-end-of-line
<prior> → scroll-down-command
<next> → scroll-up-command

C-<insert> → kill-ring-save
C-<home> → beginning-of-buffer
C-<end> → end-of-buffer
C-<prior> → xah-previous-user-buffer
C-<next> → xah-next-user-buffer

C-M-<home> → beginning-of-defun
C-M-<end> → end-of-defun
C-S-<prior> → xah-previous-emacs-buffer
C-S-<next> → xah-next-emacs-buffer

M-<prior> → scroll-other-window-down
M-<next> → scroll-other-window

S-<insert> → yank

Arrow Keys

<up> → previous-line
<down> → next-line
<left> → left-char
<right> → right-char

C-<up> → backward-paragraph
C-<down> → forward-paragraph
C-<left> → left-word
C-<right> → right-word

M-<left> → left-word
M-<right> → right-word

C-M-<up> → backward-up-list
C-M-<down> → down-list
C-M-<left> → backward-sexp
C-M-<right> → forward-sexp

Emacs Keybinding