How do I find out how to do something in Emacs? ​

There are several methods for finding out how to do things in Emacs.

  • The complete text of the Emacs manual is available via the Info hypertext reader. Type C-h r to display the manual in Info mode. Typing h immediately after entering Info will provide a short tutorial on how to use it.
  • To quickly locate the section of the manual which discusses a certain issue, or describes a command or a variable, type C-h i m emacs RET i topic RET, where topic is the name of the topic, the command, or the variable which you are looking for. If this does not land you on the right place in the manual, press , (comma) repeatedly until you find what you need. (The i and , keys invoke the index-searching functions, which look for the topic you type in all the indices of the Emacs manual.)
  • You can list all of the commands whose names contain a certain word (actually which match a regular expression) using C-h a (M-x command-apropos).
  • The command C-h F (Info-goto-emacs-command-node) prompts for the name of a command, and then attempts to find the section in the Emacs manual where that command is described.
  • You can list all of the functions and variables whose names contain a certain word using M-x apropos.
  • You can list all of the functions and variables whose documentation matches a regular expression or a string, using M-x apropos-documentation.
  • You can order a hardcopy of the manual from the FSF. See How do I get a printed copy of the Emacs manual?.
  • You can get a printed reference card listing commands and keys to invoke them. You can order one from the FSF, or you can print your own from the etc/refcards/refcard.tex or etc/refcards/refcard.pdf files in the Emacs distribution. The Emacs distribution comes with translations of the reference card into several languages; look for files named etc/refcards/lang-refcard.*, where lang is a two-letter code of the language. For example, the German version of the reference card is in the files etc/refcards/de-refcard.tex and etc/refcards/de-refcard.pdf.
  • There are many other commands in Emacs for getting help and information. To get a list of these commands, type ‘?’ after C-h.