Sams Teach Yourself Emacs in 24 Hours |  | ContentsIndex
Introduction |  | Previous HourNext Hour
Sections in this Hour: |  |

## Keybindings

By default Emacs uses three different modifiers: Shift, Control (Ctrl), and Meta (or Alt). Whenever you must press a key you are instructed in the following way:

> Press C-a (beginning-of-line) to go to the beginning of the line.

First you are instructed which keys to press, and then you are told which function this is associated with. This enables you to bind the function to one of the function keys, and thus use that function key in the future instead.

The following conventions are used for keybindings:

- C-F1--In this example, you press the Control key, hold it down while you press the F1 key, and then release both.

- M-F1--Press the Meta key (which might be labeled Alt on your keyboard). Hold it down and press F1, and release both.

- S-F1--Press and hold the Shift key, press F1, and then release.

- S-C-M-F1 or C-M-S-F1, and so on--Sometimes it is necessary to press more than one modifier; the order in which you press them is not important. Thus in the above, press and hold Shift, Ctrl, and Meta while pressing F1, and release all of the keys.

If your keyboard does not have the Meta or the Alt key, then press the Escape (Esc) key instead. Thus to press M-F1, press the Esc key, release it, and press the F1 key. Likewise to press C-M-F1, press the escape key, release it, and press and hold Ctrl while pressing F1.

Sams Teach Yourself Emacs in 24 Hours |  | ContentsIndex
Introduction |  | Previous HourNext Hour
Sections in this Hour: |  |

© Copyright Macmillan USA. All rights reserved.