Emacs Commands

The C- means to press the control key. The M- is the alt key. When there is a command issued such as, exit emacs permanently C-x C-c that indicates pressing the Control key with the other key simultaniously.

Starting Emacs

To start Emacs type:

 emacs filename

Leaving Emacs

To suspend Emacs, (the usual way of leaving it)         C-z
Exit Emacs permanently and save                         C-x C-c

Files

Read a file into Emacs                                  C-x C-f
Save a file back to disk                                C-x C-s

Getting Help

The Help system is simple. Type C-h and follow the directions. If
you are a first time user, type C-h t for a tutorial. (This 
page assumes you know the tutorial)

Get rid of help window                                  C-x 1
describe a function                                     C-h f
get mode specific information                           C-h m
scroll help window                                      Esc C-v

Motion

Cursor motion:                                  backward     forward
Word                                             M-b          M-f
Line                                             C-p          C-n
go to line 'beginning or end'                    C-a          C-e
sentence                                         M-a          M-e
go to buffer beginning 'or end'                  M-<          M->
                      
Killing and Deleting

entity to kill:                                 backward     forward
character 'delete, not kill'                     DEL          C-d
word                                             M-DEL        M-d
sentence                                         C-x DEL      M-k
yank back last thing killed                             C-y
replace last yank with previous kill                    M-y
   
Case Change

Uppercase word                                          M-u
Lowercase word                                          M-l
Capitalize word                                         M-c

Spelling Check

Check spelling of current word                         M-$
Check spelling of entire buffer                        M-x spell-buffer

Tags

Find tag                                               M-
Find occurence of next tag                             C-u M-
              
Keyboard Macros
start defining a keyboard macro                         C-x (
end defining a keyboard macro                           C-x )
execute last-defined keyboard macro                     C-x e