Learn Spacemacs

All commands refer to normal mode.

Basic vi keybindings

Change to insert mode

• insert before position: i
• insert at beginning of line (before first non-whitespace character): I
• append after position: a
• append after line: A
• append new line after current line: o
• append new line before current line: O
• change rest of line: C
• delete under current character and change to insert mode: s

Change to normal / command mode

• rapid f d
• alternatively: ESC

Undo / redo:

• Undo/Redo: u, C-r

Basic navigation

• move left, down, up, right: h, j, k, l
• move a word (~ alphanumeric stuff between whitespace) left / right: b, w
• move a WORD (any stuff between whitespace) left / right: B, W
• move to beginning of file / end of file: g g / G
• move to beginning/end of line: 0, $
• move to first/last non-whitespace character in line: ^ / g_
• move to previous/next block/function: [[ / ]]
• move to previous/next paragraph: { / }
• move backwards/forwards by one sentence: ( / )
• move to matching parenthesis/TeX environment...: %
• go to line 42: l:77 RET
• aided line selection: SPC j l (works nicely with d or g c as well)
• jump to/right before next ): f ) / t ) (; jumps to next occurrence)
• jump to/right before previous ): F ) / T )
• jump back to position before last jump: C-o

Copy & Paste

• copy a word: y w
• copy a line: y y
• yank text: y
• paste text before/after cursor: p / P
• show killring in helm: SPC r y
• select using expansion/contraction of selection: SPC v v / SPC v V
• paste in minibuffer: C-y

Delete text

• delete a line: d d
• deleting (and other operators!) works with all shortcuts for navigation, e.g. delete two words: d 2 w or delete up to next ): d f )
• delete trailing whitespace: SPC x d w

Neat stuff

• join current line with next line: J
• get a preview in helm (e.g. files, themes...): TAB on current selection
• show more actions on helm selection: C-z
• even more stuff on helm selection: C-c
• surround selection with ": s "
• surround word under cursor ("at point") by ": ysiw"
• delete surrsounding ": ds"
• quit something that may hang: C-g
• repeat previous action: .

Macros

• start recording a macro in register a: q a
• finish recording: q
• apply macro in register a: @ a
• apply macro in register a 7 times: 7 @ a
• apply macro in register a to visual selection: select and :normal @a

Marks

• set mark labelled a: m a
• jump to beginning of line containing mark a: ' a
• jump to mark a: ` a

Spacemacs/Files/Buffers

• open/create buffer: SPC f f
• save buffer: SPC f s
• save buffer as: SPC f c
• helm locate: SPC f L
• go up one level: SPC-h
• leave/quit spacemacs, also kill daemon: SPC q q
• kill 'frame' (Emacs window), leave daemon running: SPC q f
• use helm to find a file, insert path at position: C-c i (in helm)
• resume last helm: SPC r l
• copy file path/directory: SPC f y y / SPC f y d

Buffer control

• change buffer with helm: SPC b b
• kill active buffer SPC b d
• kill all buffers but current one: SPC b K
• open recent files with helm: SPC f r
• kill buffer and window: SPC b x

Windows

• Window control: SPC w ...
• switch to other window: SPC w w
• change to window using relative direction: SPC w CURSOR
• jump to given window number: SPC 1, SPC 2...
• split windows: SPC w / for left/right split, SPC w - for lower upper, SPC w 3 for three column layout (alternative: SPC w 2)
• window sizing: SPC t g toggles golden-ratio, which enlarges the current window
• delete window: SPC w d
• toggle window layout (horizontal/vertical): SPC w +
• focus minibuffer: SPC w b

Searching

• search: / SEARCHTERM RET searches, n and N move forth and back between hits
• turn off highlighting for previous search: :nohl, or SPC s c
• ag is available: SPC s a
  • use ag with pattern to search in current file: SPC s a a
  • use ag in helm to search all buffers: SPC s a b
  • use ag to search in directory: SPC s a d
• search using helm swoop: SPC s s
• edit all hits from search: C-c C-e in helm window
• smart search (search project): SPC / or SPC s p
• search all buffers using helm swoop: SPC s C-s
• jump to function definition, heading (i.e. as parsed by semantic) etc: SPC s j
• edit all occurrences of a search term: SPC s e
• highlight word under cursor: SPC s h
• clear highlighting: SPC s c
• go to next/previous occurrence of word at point * / #

Bookmarks

• manage bookmarks with helm: SPC f b
  • delete selected bookmark: C-d
  • edit selected bookmark: C-e
  • open selected bookmark in another window: C-o
  • toggle filename location: C-f

Dired

• jump to containing directory in dired: SPC f j
• activate dired: C-x d
  • open directory at point in same buffer: a
  • go one directory up: ^
  • jump to next/previous subdirectory in current listing: > / <
  • rename: R
  • copy: C
  • delete: D
  • create directory: +
  • mark/unmark file: m / u
  • unmark all: U
  • mark by pattern: % m, e.g. % m \.png marks all png files
  • initiate diff with file under cursor: =

Projectile

• find file in project: SPC p f
• browse project buffers: SPC p b
• search in project: SPC p /
• change project: SPC p p
• open project root in dired: SPC p D

Working with code

• go to definition: g d; jump back: C-o
• open definition in other window: g D
• indent region: C-M-\
• highlight symbol at current position: SPC s h
• toggle comment for line (using evil-commentary): g c c
• toggle comment for paragraph: g c a p
• insert unicode character using helm ucs: SPC i u
• toggle aggressive indent: SPC t I
  • indent/unindent: > / <
• toggle completion: S-SPC
• cycle through completions: M-S-/

Compilation

• compile through helm-make: SPC c m
• compile: SPC c C
• close compilation window: SPC c d

Debugging w/ realgud

• start with realgud:* command (e.g. realgud:ipdb)
  • Next / step over: n / F10
  • Step (into): s / F11
  • Finish / step out: f / S-F11
  • set breakpoint: b / F9
  • clear breakpoint: D
  • continue: c / F5
  • quit: q / S-F5
  • run / restart: R / r
  • goto command window: S

Terminal

• open terminal in new buffer: SPC '

Spell checking

• toggle spell checking: SPC t S
• flyspell is available through SPC S
• check current buffer: SPC S b
• jump to next spelling error: SPC S n

Python specifics

• run current file in new window: SPC m c c
• start REPL: SPC m '
• send file to running REPL and switch there: SPC m e B
• pyenv workon: SPC m V w
• run file in new window and focus new window: SPC m c C (allows quick window deleting after running)

LaTeX

• close environment: SPC m c
• insert environment: SPC m e
• build tex file: SPC m b
• view built file: SPC m v

DocView (for PDF and other documents)

• fit page to window: P
• enlarge/shrink: + / -
• go to page number: g t
• kill process and buffer: K

Org

• org capture: SPC a o c

Version control / Magit

• git status: SPC g s
• show a file's history: SPC g f h
• open Magit popup: SPC g m
• commit: SPC g m c
• in commit message window: close message and commit: , ,
• unfold stuff: TAB
• in Magit:
  • stage: s
  • commit: c
  • unstage: u
  • refresh: g
  • rebase: r
  • reword: w
  • branch spin off (e.g. move commit wrongly made on master to a feature branch): b s
  • pull request: b Y

Layouts

Layouts provide buffer isolation useful for e.g. switching context of work.

• jump to or create layout 2: SPC l 2
• add buffer to layout SPC l a
• select buffer in layout: SPC l b
• save a layout to a file: SPC l s
• restore a layout from a file: SPC l L

ediff

Start ediff by calling ediff or ediff-buffers (SPC SPC ediff)

• jump to next hunk: j
• copy A -> B or B -> A: a / b
• quit ediff: q

Buffer management with ibuffer

• start ibuffer: SPC SPC ibuffer
  • mark for deletion: d
  • commit changes: x
  • quit: q
  • get help: q

TODO: working with terminal