A Curious Look at Emacs One Thousand Keybindings

There are about 1353 keybinding in emacs by default. In this page, let's look at what they are. This is a curiosity take. Alone the way, you'll learn quite a bit about emacs history, and computing history. If you are looking for a practical list of emacs keys, see Emacs Keys Basics

List All Emacs Keys

(Alt+x describe-bindings to see the list on your machine)

• gnu_emacs_29_keybinding.txt

Emacs began in 1976, so there's a lot history and keyboard history. While looking at emacs keys, it's helpful to look at lisp keyboards, which influenced emacs keys.

[see Lisp Machine Keyboards]

C-h C-a		about-emacs
<f1> C-a	about-emacs
<help> C-a	about-emacs

<help> C-a   about-emacs
<help> C-c   describe-copying
<help> C-d   view-emacs-debugging
<help> C-e   view-external-packages
<help> C-f   view-emacs-FAQ
…
<help> i     info
<help> k     describe-key
<help> l     view-lossage
<help> m     describe-mode

C-x C-@   pop-global-mark
C-x C-b   list-buffers
C-x C-c   save-buffers-kill-terminal
C-x C-d   list-directory
C-x C-e   eval-last-sexp
C-x C-f   find-file
C-x TAB   indent-rigidly
…
C-x $   set-selective-display
C-x '   expand-abbrev
C-x (   kmacro-start-macro
C-x )   kmacro-end-macro
C-x *   calc-dispatch
C-x +   balance-windows
C-x -   shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
C-x .   set-fill-prefix
C-x 0   delete-window
C-x 1   delete-other-windows
C-x 2   split-window-vertically
…
C-x a   Prefix Command
C-x b   switch-to-buffer
C-x d   dired
C-x e   kmacro-end-and-call-macro
C-x f   set-fill-column
C-x h   mark-whole-buffer
…
C-x <C-left>  previous-buffer
C-x <C-right> next-buffer
C-x <left>    previous-buffer
C-x <right>   next-buffer
C-x C-k C-a   kmacro-add-counter
C-x C-k C-c   kmacro-set-counter
C-x C-k C-d   kmacro-delete-ring-head
C-x C-k C-e   kmacro-edit-macro-repeat
C-x C-k C-f   kmacro-set-format
…

C-x 8 <   «
C-x 8 =   ¯
C-x 8 >   »
C-x 8 ?   ¿
C-x 8 C   ©
C-x 8 L   £
C-x 8 P   ¶
C-x 8 R   ®
C-x 8 S   §
C-x 8 Y   ¥
C-x 8 ^   Prefix Command

<C-M-down>   down-list
<C-M-end>    end-of-defun
<C-M-home>   beginning-of-defun
<C-M-left>   backward-sexp
<C-M-right>  forward-sexp
<C-M-up>     backward-up-list
C-M-@     mark-sexp
C-M-a     beginning-of-defun
C-M-b     backward-sexp
C-M-c     exit-recursive-edit
C-M-d     down-list
C-M-j     indent-new-comment-line
C-M-k     kill-sexp

Ctrl, Meta, Esc keys

• 105 of them are Ctrl keys starting with the notation C- (not counting C-h, C-x). (gnu_emacs_keybinding_C-.txt)
• 98 of them are Meta keys starting with the notation M-. (gnu_emacs_keybinding_M-.txt)
• 20 of them are Escape keys with the notation ESC. (gnu_emacs_keybinding_esc.txt)

Some of the Ctrl definitions is Ctrl with mouse button.

Alt Key

There are 231 bindings starting with the notation A-.

A-<             «
A-=             ¯
A->             »
A-?             ¿
A-C             ©
A-L             £
A-P             ¶
A-R             ®
A-S             §
A-Y             ¥

These are keybindings for the Alt key. This keybinding set is identical to Ctrl+x 8.

Note that GNU Emacs set Alt to type Meta by default, so these A- bindings have no effect. However, you can still type Alt by Ctrl+x @ a. ( Modifier Keys (Emacs Manual) ) Or, on Windows, set (setq w32-alt-is-meta nil). ( Windows Keyboard (Emacs Manual) )

Alt Mode is the SAIL (Stanford AI Lab) printing character that looks like a tall thin concave hollow diamond. On ASCII keyboards the Escape key maps to Alt Mode.

[from Devon Sean McCullough http://people.csail.mit.edu/devon/ ]

[see SAIL Keyboard]

[see Keyboard: What's the Difference Between Alt Graph Key, Compose Key, Dead Key?]

Dead Keys

There are 226 bindings with the notation of dead- in it. (gnu_emacs_keybinding_dead.txt) Example:

<S-dead-acute>        Prefix Command
<dead-acute>          Prefix Command
<S-dead-tilde>        A Ã
<S-dead-asciitilde>   A Ã
<dead-tilde>          A Ã
<S-dead-grave>        A À
<dead-grave>          A À
<S-dead-circumflex>   1 ¹
<S-dead-circum>       1 ¹
<S-dead-asciicircum>  1 ¹
<dead-circumflex>     1 ¹
<dead-circum>         1 ¹
<dead-asciicircum>    1 ¹
<S-dead-acute>        A Á
<dead-acute>          A Á
<S-dead-diaeresis>    A Ä
<dead-diaeresis>      A Ä

These are binding for Dead key for entering chars with Diacritic marks.

[see Keyboard: What's the Difference Between Alt Graph Key, Compose Key, Dead Key?]

[see Accent Marks: Trema, Umlaut, Macron, Circumflex]

Note that the S- is the notation for the Shift key. So, <S-dead-tilde> A would be Shift+dead ~+A.

(Thanks to Frédéric Perrin, Jason Rummey, Nei (http://anti.teamidiot.de/), for help.)

Mute Keys

There's also 70 keys with the notation of mute-, similar to the “dead” above. (gnu_emacs_keybinding_mute.txt) Not sure what they are.

Number Pad Keys

There are 56 bindings for the keys on the number pad. They have notation kp-. (gnu_emacs_keybinding_kp-.txt) Example:

<C-S-kp-1>  <C-S-end>
<C-S-kp-2>  <C-S-down>
<C-S-kp-3>  <C-S-next>
…
<M-kp-next> <M-next>
<S-kp-down> <S-down>
<S-kp-end>  <S-end>
<S-kp-home> <S-home>
<S-kp-left> <S-left>
<S-kp-next> <S-next>
…
<kp-0>    0
<kp-1>    1
<kp-2>    2
…
<kp-add>      +
<kp-decimal>  .
<kp-delete>   C-d
<kp-divide>   /
<kp-down>     <down>
<kp-end>      <end>

All these are key translations. They do not do anything special. For example, keypad 0 is the same as the 0 key on the main typing area. So, the code <kp-0> translates to 0. When NumLock is off, the 4 key on numpad is the ← key. So, the code <S-kp-left> (which means holding down Shift then pressing the ← on the numpad) simply translates to <S-left>.

Function keys, Home/End, Page Up/Down, Tab, etc Keys

Here's some special keys, such as {F1, Home, End, Tab, Enter, ❖ Window, ▤ Menu, PageUp, PageDown, etc}. (gnu_emacs_keybinding_function_keys.txt) Example:

<escape>	ESC

TAB		forward-button
<backtab>	backward-button
<backspace>	DEL
<return>	RET
<tab>		TAB

<home>		move-beginning-of-line
<end>		move-end-of-line
<insert>	overwrite-mode
<delete>	C-d

<prior>		scroll-down
<next>		scroll-up

<lwindow>	ignore
<rwindow>	ignore
<menu>		execute-extended-command

<right>		forward-char
<left>		backward-char
<up>		previous-line
<down>		next-line

<f3>		kmacro-start-macro-or-insert-counter
<f4>		kmacro-end-or-call-macro
<f10>		menu-bar-open
<f16>		clipboard-kill-ring-save
<f18>		clipboard-yank
<f20>		clipboard-kill-region

Note: Syntax such as {RET, TAB, DEL, ESC, etc}, are actual ASCII characters. While {<return>, <tab>, <delete>, <escape>, etc} are special keys.

Note the {<F16>, <F18>, <F20>}. Some keyboards have function keys up to 24 of them.

Mouse and Others

Here's the rest of the keys: gnu_emacs_keybinding_rest.txt

Mouse

<mouse-1>       mouse-set-point
<mouse-2>       help-follow-mouse
<mouse-3>       mouse-save-then-kill
<wheel-down>                    mwheel-scroll
<wheel-up>      mwheel-scroll
<mouse-movement>                ignore
<S-down-mouse-1>                mouse-appearance-menu
<S-mouse-3>     kmacro-end-call-mouse
<S-wheel-down>  mwheel-scroll
<S-wheel-up>    mwheel-scroll
<double-mouse-1>                mouse-set-point
<triple-mouse-1>                mouse-set-point
<down-mouse-1>  mouse-drag-region
<drag-mouse-1>  mouse-set-region
<drag-n-drop>   w32-drag-n-drop

Copy, Cut, Paste, etc Keys

<again>         repeat-complex-command
<redo>          repeat-complex-command
<undo>          undo
<copy>          clipboard-kill-ring-save
<cut>           clipboard-kill-region
<paste>         clipboard-yank
<execute>       execute-extended-command
<open>          find-file
<find>          search-forward

<begin>         beginning-of-buffer
<compose-last-chars>            compose-last-chars
<language-change>               ignore

<backtab>       backward-button
<S-insertchar>  yank
<delete-frame>  handle-delete-frame
<deletechar>    delete-char
<deleteline>    kill-line

Some of these keys can be seen on Sun Microsystem's keyboard. (alas, Sun just died a year ago (in 2010).)

Other

<header-line>   Prefix Command
<iconify-frame>                 ignore-event
<insertchar>    overwrite-mode
<insertline>    open-line
<left-fringe>   Prefix Command
<make-frame-visible>            ignore-event
<mode-line>     Prefix Command
<right-fringe>  Prefix Command
<select-window>                 handle-select-window
<switch-frame>                  handle-switch-frame
<vertical-line>                 Prefix Command
<vertical-scroll-bar>           Prefix Command

<vertical-line> <down-mouse-1>  mouse-drag-vertical-line
<vertical-line> <mouse-1>       mouse-select-window

                                mouse-split-window-vertically
<vertical-scroll-bar> <mouse-1>
                                scroll-bar-toolkit-scroll

<header-line> <down-mouse-1>    mouse-drag-header-line
<header-line> <mouse-1>         mouse-select-window

<mode-line> <down-mouse-1>      mouse-drag-mode-line
<mode-line> <drag-mouse-1>      mouse-select-window
<mode-line> <mouse-1>           mouse-select-window
<mode-line> <mouse-2>           mouse-delete-other-windows
<mode-line> <mouse-3>           mouse-delete-window

These may not be actual keys. When emacs define actions for mouse or menu, it defines a pseudo-key with keyboard syntax. So <mode-line> <mouse-1> means clicking on the mode line. <vertical-scroll-bar> <mouse-1> means clicking on the scroll bar.

No Super and Hyper?

Curiously, there is no definition for Super s- and Hyper H- keys. These are the other prominent keys on lisp keyboard other than Meta M-. [see Emacs: How to define Super/Hyper Keys]