Big-Movement Keys

If you want to move through a file a screen at a time, which is more efficient than pressing <Page Down>, use commands that scroll through a file. The command <Ctrl-x><]> moves you forward one page. The scrolling keystrokes are as follows:

•  Press <Ctrl-v> to move forward one screen.

•  Press <Esc><v> to move backward one screen.

•  Press <Ctrl-x><]> to move forward one page.

•  Press <Ctrl-x><[> to move backward one page.

To move quickly to the last line of the file or buffer, press <Esc><Shift-.>. To move to the first line of the file, press <Esc><Shift-,>. In fact, to move to a specific line in the buffer, type the command goto-line n, where n is the line number you want to move to. To move to line 35 of the file (if there is a line 35), press <Esc>, enter goto-line 35, and press <Return>.

You can repeat any command you want by pressing <Esc-n>, where n is the number of times you want to repeat the command, and then entering the command you want to repeat.

Take a little time to practice positioning the cursor by using the commands described in these last few sections. Remember that you must be in command mode for the cursor-positioning commands to work.

Adding Text

To add text to the editing buffer, you must position the cursor at the position you want to start entering text. Any usual text characters you type are then added to the buffer. If you press <Return>, emacs “opens,” or adds, a line to the buffer. Before you start adding text, first position the cursor at the location you want to add text. You then simply type the text.

To add a line of text below the current line, you use the command <Ctrl-o>. This “opens” a line in the buffer and allows you to add text. In the following example, you add a line to some existing text.

Before:

All jobs complete

please call

if you have any questions.

The cursor is on the second line. Press <Ctrl-o> to add a line or lines below that line, and then type the following:

Lee Nashua

555-1837

After:

All jobs complete

please call

Lee Nashua

555-1837

if you have any questions.

Although you added only two lines, you could have added more lines by pressing <Return> at the end of each line. Naturally, you could have added only one line by not pressing <Return> at all.

Deleting Text

Making corrections or modifications to a file may involve deleting text. With emacs, you can delete a character, a word, a number of consecutive words, all the text to the end of a line, or an entire line. Because emacs is a visual editor like vi, the characters, words, or lines are removed from the screen as you delete them.

Table 28.1 lists the delete commands and describes their actions. They all take effect from the current cursor position. Move the cursor to the character, word, or line you want to change and then issue the desired delete command. Practice using them to see their effect. You’ll find they are helpful in making corrections to files.

If you use the <Ctrl-k> command, the information just doesn’t disappear into the bit bucket. The characters deleted are added to a kill buffer, which you can yank back at any time with the <Ctrl-y> command.