Emacs: Move Cursor to Bracket 🚀

Move Cursor to Bracket

Here are commands to move cursor to any open/close brackets. They are extremely useful when working with computer language source code such as Python, JavaScript, PowerShell, Golang, etc.

put this in your Emacs Init File:

(defvar xah-brackets '("“”" "()" "[]" "{}" "<>" "＜＞" "（）" "［］" "｛｝" "⦅⦆" "〚〛" "⦃⦄" "‹›" "«»" "「」" "〈〉" "《》" "【】" "〔〕" "⦗⦘" "『』" "〖〗" "〘〙" "｢｣" "⟦⟧" "⟨⟩" "⟪⟫" "⟮⟯" "⟬⟭" "⌈⌉" "⌊⌋" "⦇⦈" "⦉⦊" "❛❜" "❝❞" "❨❩" "❪❫" "❴❵" "❬❭" "❮❯" "❰❱" "❲❳" "〈〉" "⦑⦒" "⧼⧽" "﹙﹚" "﹛﹜" "﹝﹞" "⁽⁾" "₍₎" "⦋⦌" "⦍⦎" "⦏⦐" "⁅⁆" "⸢⸣" "⸤⸥" "⟅⟆" "⦓⦔" "⦕⦖" "⸦⸧" "⸨⸩" "｟｠")
 "A list of strings, each element is a string of 2 chars, the left bracket and a matching right bracket.
Used by `xah-select-text-in-quote' and others.")

(defconst xah-left-brackets
  (mapcar (lambda (x) (substring x 0 1)) xah-brackets)
  "List of left bracket chars. Each element is a string.")

(defconst xah-right-brackets
  (mapcar (lambda (x) (substring x 1 2)) xah-brackets)
  "List of right bracket chars. Each element is a string.")

(defun xah-backward-left-bracket ()
  "Move cursor to the previous occurrence of left bracket.
The list of brackets to jump to is defined by `xah-left-brackets'.

URL `http://xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/emacs_navigating_keys_for_brackets.html'
Version: 2015-10-01"
  (interactive)
  (re-search-backward (regexp-opt xah-left-brackets) nil t))

(defun xah-forward-right-bracket ()
  "Move cursor to the next occurrence of right bracket.
The list of brackets to jump to is defined by `xah-right-brackets'.

URL `http://xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/emacs_navigating_keys_for_brackets.html'
Version: 2015-10-01"
  (interactive)
  (re-search-forward (regexp-opt xah-right-brackets) nil t))

You should assign them keys. I suggest one of the following key pairs:

• Alt+m, Alt+.
• Alt+7, Alt+8
• Ctrl+7, Ctrl+8
• Alt+←, Alt+→
• F11, F12

[see Emacs: Define Keybinding (Keyboard Shortcuts)]

Move Cursor to Quote

The following commands move cursor to the next quoted string. Very convenient for programing.

(defun xah-forward-quote-twice ()
  "Call `xah-forward-quote' twice.
Returns `t' if found, else `nil'.

URL `http://xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/emacs_navigating_keys_for_brackets.html'
Version: 2016-07-23"
  (interactive)
  (when (xah-forward-quote)
    (xah-forward-quote)))

(defun xah-forward-quote-smart ()
  "Move cursor to the current or next string quote.
Place cursor at the position after the left quote.
Repeated call will find the next string.

URL `http://xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/emacs_navigating_keys_for_brackets.html'
Version: 2016-11-22"
  (interactive)
  (let ((xpos (point)))
    (if (nth 3 (syntax-ppss))
        (progn
          (backward-up-list 1 'ESCAPE-STRINGS 'NO-SYNTAX-CROSSING)
          (forward-sexp)
          (re-search-forward "\\\"" nil t))
      (progn (re-search-forward "\\\"" nil t)))
    (when (<= (point) xpos)
      (progn (re-search-forward "\\\"" nil t)))))

You should give them a pair of keys for the commands to be useful, such as F11 F12.

[see Emacs: Define Keybinding (Keyboard Shortcuts)]