The Ultimate Doom Emacs Cheatsheet

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A few tips for Emacs newbies

  • Use EmacsClient and set up a daemon. Your Emacs experience will improve a lot and you will save a lot of time.
  • For better experience, use Emacs’s inner file manager.
  • Get LSP up and running. It will turn Emacs into a fully-featured modern IDE. Emacs supports LSP for almost every language.
  • Try to avoid terminal version of Emacs when possible.
  • Use Doom Emacs’s built-in helps to understand how things work under the hood and change them to suit your needs.
    • SPC h k tells you how key combinations translate to Emacs commands.
    • SPC h w helps you find keyboard shortcuts for different commands.
    • SPC h v lets you see what’s inside variables and change them.
    • SPC h f tells you about functions and where they are defined.
    • SPC h b b to see a list of all keybindings
  • Github doesn’t render org files very well. It’s best that you clone this repository and open it in Emacs.
  • See other files in this repository as well. Currently additional instructions for Go, and Python are also offered. If there’s anything missing, or you can suggest a better workflow, make sure to contribute.
  • Doom Emacs is a great emacs distro, but for a deeper understanding of Emacs, try setting up a minimal version of Emacs yourself using this guide or similar ones.

Command Abbreviations

  • C - “Control” key
  • M - “Alt” or “Option” key
  • S - “Super” or “Command” key
  • SPC - “Space” key

General

  • SPC f s for saving the current file
  • SPC : for entering a command
  • SPC q q to close Emacs
  • SPC f D to delete this file

Projects with Projectile

  • SPC p p to open a project
  • SPC SPC to open a file in a project
  • SPC o p to open the file explorer
  • SPC o E to open the shell (eshell) in fullscreen
  • SPC o e to open the shell (eshell) in a popup window
  • SPC f r recently visited files
  • SPC p r recently visited files in a project
  • M-x projectile-discover-projects-in-directory to find projects within given folder using Projectile
  • M-x projectile-discover-projects-in-search-path to find projects in the folder defined by the projectile-project-search-path variable using Projectile

Dired

  • Dired (Directory Editor) is how you interfaces with a directory
  • Press C-x d to open dired.
  • Use RET to go to a folder or open a file.
  • Use - for going one folder back
  • Use + for creating a new directory
  • Use d to mark the files for deletion, press x to delete.
  • Use M to change permissions
  • Use o to sort by modes.
  • Use O to change the owner.
  • Use m to mark and u to unmark files or directories.
  • U to unselect all
  • Use t to invert the selection.
  • t to switch between files and directories
  • Use C to copy.
  • Use R to move.
  • Move with h, j, k, l
  • Toggle ( for simple view
  • SPC . to create or find a file
    • Use either arrow keys, or hold C- with h,=j=,=k=, and l to choose between options.
  • * to select all directories.
  • C copy to another window
  • R move to another window
  • dired-do-what-i-mean-target set to true
  • i to edit file/dir name

Buffers, Windows and Basic Navigation

Buffers

  • Buffers are a special concept in emacs they can be terminals, files, directories, etc
  • SPC b b to open another buffer
    • workspace buffer
  • SPC b B you can see all the buffer
  • SPC , to switch buffers (its an alias)
  • SPC SHIFT , to switch to all buffers
  • SPC b X You can create a scratch buffer
  • SPC b s to save and name it

Windows

  • SPC w v window split vertically
  • SPC w s window split horizontally
  • SPC w w to switch windows
  • SPC w q to close window, frame, quit EMACS if last frame
  • SPC w + and SPC w - to increase and decrease window height
  • SPC w > and SPC w < to increase and decrease window width
  • You can use vim motion keys to navigate between open windows for example SPC w H moves the window to the left.
  • Windows are panes in your screen

Workspaces

  • SPC TAB n New workspace
  • SPC TAB N Newly named workspace
  • SPC TAB [ Previous workspace
  • SPC TAB ] Next workspace
  • SPC TAB d Remove workspace
  • SPC TAB R Restore last session
  • M-1 Switch to workspace 1
  • M-2 Switch to workspace 2 and so forth.

Installing Packages using org-super-agenda as an example

  • SPC f p to open the config.
  • To add a package, add the package to .doom.d/package.el
  • Then close and doom refresh
  • Then go to .doom.d/config.el to configure the package
  • def-package! is a macro you can use to configure packages
    • space h help you can look up method man pages
    • :init is used for setting the package up
    • :config to set configuration after the package has been initialized
    • :after lets you set which package it should load after
  • You can use :after! to configure packages that are already there

Quick, horizontal movements with evil-snipe

Inline navigation

  • f and then the letter you want to navigate to.
    • , will go backward
    • ; will go forward after that “find”
  • t to find and move cursor to the character before what you’ve searched.
  • v puts you in visual mode. You can select text by with v t some-char-you-navigate-to or v f some-char-you-navigate-to
  • ; to jump to the next find
  • , to jump to the previous one
  • s to snipe

Long distance navigation inside the file

  • Evil-snipe lets you go to all the occurrences in your document
  • g s SPC to use avy and going to a certain word in file.
  • t is the same thing except for a character you want to jump to before the one you insert
  • s to do a double character search
  • Evil-snipe will remember your last search so , and ; will navigate
  • F or T to go backwards
  • g s SPC and then select the letter that avy gives you to navigate to that spot
    • These letters are on your home row so they are easy to click
  • SPC h v for variable, to set the avy variable to search all open windows
    • avy-all-windows lets you search in all windows open.
  • You can remove a word with g s SPC select-one-letter x select-the-removal-spot
    • You can use X to stay in your original spot of search
  • You can go g s space select-one-letter i select-the-correction-spot to correct the spelling of the search
    • Install ispell on your OS first
  • You can yank a word from one place to another with g s SPC select-one-letter y select-the-correction-spot-to-paste
  • Use t to “teleport” the word from one place to another g s SPC select-one-letter t select-the-correction-spot-to-teleport

Multiple cursor in Emacs with evil-multiedit

  • Using evil-multiedit (known as multiple cursors in other IDEs) you can make selections and then edit those selections simultaneously. To do this uncomment multiple-cursors in your init.el.
  • M-d will select the current word, press this again and it will find another occurrence
  • M-D will find an occurrence upward
  • You can use a visual selection to select multiple words as well.
  • R will select all occurrences.
  • CTRL n for next selection CTRL p for previous.
  • Exclude matches with RET
  • You can make an edit and the changes will be reflected to all the selections.

Org Mode

Basics

  • Org mode gives you the ability to structure your document
  • * for a h1 ** for an h2 and so on
  • You can TAB a section to fold a subtree (hide it)
  • You can use SHIFT TAB to cycle through folded states
  • CTRL return to create a headline of the same type
  • M-arrow up lets you shift the position of the section
  • M-h promotes a headline to the next level
  • M-l demotes
  • You can create lists
    1. one
    2. 2
    3. wooo
    4. 3

Links, Hyperlinks and more

  • SPC m l to add a link to an org page
  • You can add :: to specify a heading or a line number
  • You can paste http links as well
  • You can “link” some text with specific code SPC m l elisp: (+ 2 2) when you click the link, emacs will evaluate the expression
  • Show My Agenda
  • List Files in directory

Defining custom Link Types

Linking to words & Bookmarks

  • SPC n l stores a link to a particular headline

Code Snippets & Babel

  • SPC i s for inserting code snippets

    • Example: 

        (+ 2 3 4 5)
  • C-c C-c to execute the code.
  • SPC m ' to edit inside the babel in another buffer.
  • Results will show up in a ##+RESULTS header
  • This feature is called Babel
  • One snippet can consume the output of another snippet
  • You can create your own snippets in the following directory: ~/.doom.d/snippets/

Task Management

  • Create a task by prefixing any heading with TODO
  • DONE means the task is done
  • You can create your custom key words by changing this variable: org-todo-keywords
    • remember you can get to your variables through SPC h v (M-x counsel-describe-variable)

    • These values are already set in Doom: 

                 ((sequence "TODO(t)" "PROJ(p)" "STRT(s)" "WAIT(w)" "HOLD(h)" "|" "DONE(d)" "KILL(k)")
        (sequence "[ ](T)" "[-](S)" "[?](W)" "|" "[X](D)"))
  • SPC m t to change a status of a todo
  • SHIFT left and SHIFT right can be used to change the status of a todo as well.
  • If you finish a task with a command, org mode will add a date that you “closed” the task.
  • SPC o a t to open the agenda -> todo list
  • q to quit
  • org-agenda-files is a variable you can set to filter which files agenda searches for todos in.

Priorities for Tasks

  • SHIFT up and SHIFT down will toggle the priority of tasks
  • org-fancy-priorities gives you fancy looking priorities

Marking Tasks with Tags

  • Tags can be attached to any headlines
  • SPC m q to tag a headline
  • Example:
    • TODO play more games :fun:
  • Tags are hierarchical so nested headings will be tagged with the parent header tag
  • org-tag-sparce-tree will search for headings that only have a specific tag

Setting a property for a task/headline

  • SPC m o is used for setting a property.
  • Marking Headlines with Categories
    • You can use categories to change the label in agenda view.
  • Org-Habits

Lists

  • Two types of lists, ordered and unordered lists
    • SHIFT right and SHIFT left can be used to change the type of lists.
  • You can also change an unordered list by changing the first item to 1. and then typing C-c C-c and vice versa.

Checkboxes

  • [ ] This is still todo
  • [-] This is in progress
  • [X] This is a done task

You can see how many are done with a “cookie” [1/2]

  • [-] Task 1
  • [X] Task 2
  • You can do this by adding [/] to the heading and pressing C-c C-c
  • You can’t assign a tag or a priority

Misc

  • C-c C-z to insert a note for a heading in org mode.
  • C-c C-c to insert a tag for a heading in org mode.

Magit

  • Magit is enabled by default in Doom Emacs’s init.el
  • SPC g g shows Magit status page
    • Most commands are done from the status page
    • Use tab to expand headlines in the status page
  • ? in Magit’s status page for a nice list of available commands and help, q to close this help page
  • Open diff view for a file with TAB
  • Press s under “Unstaged changes” to stage a change
    • u to undo a change
    • c to commit
  • b s for branch and spinoff to create another branch, rewinding the commits you made to master
  • b b to switch branches

Git Commit Flow in More Detail

  • t t to create a tag, default place is the commit you are currently selecting
  • V to select a change in a diff and x to discard that change.
  • s to stage
  • c to commit, you can q to quit the commit screen
  • P to push and then p to your remote or u to a another remote

Magit with Forge for Issuing Pull Requests - Emacs

  • Forge is installed in emacs doom
  • @ for forge
  • Set up forge with M-x forge-pull
    • the first time you will get a token from Github
  • @ c p to create a pull request with forge
    • select the base branch
    • then select the target branch
    • then provide a short description
    • CTRL c CTRL c to finish the pull request
  • Now there will be a pull requests tab

LSP-Mode

LSP related

  • lsp-update-server select a language server to update.
  • lsp-workspace-folders-add to interactively set a folder as an LSP workspace.
  • lsp-workspace-folders-remove to interactively unset a folder as an LSP workspace.
  • lsp-workspace-restart to restart your workspace. Especially useful after activating a virtual environment.

While coding

  • SPC c c to run a compile command (or a test, or any other command in the current directory)
  • SPC c C to repeat the command above
  • SPC c d jump to var/func/… definitions
    • C o (evil-jump-backward) Go back to your last position in the jump list
    • C i (evil-jump-forward) Go forward in the jump list
  • SPC c D see references to var/func/…
  • SPC c e to evaluate the current buffer or region (when nothing is selected, equivalent to running SPC c c and writing go run + the file name.)
  • SPC c f see references to var/func/…
  • SPC c k jump to documentation
  • SPC c r rename all references and definitions for the var/func at point in all project files
  • SPC c s send to REPL
  • SPC c x see all LSP diagnostics
  • lsp-ui-imenu to navigate definitions in your code
  • flycheck-list-errors to see the errors detected by LSP.

Terminal

  • Set up vterm in your init.el file.
  • SPC o T for opening vterm
  • SPC o t for opening vterm in a popup window

File Tree

  • Set up neotree or treemacs in your init.el file.
  • SPC o p for opening neotree or treemacs

Capturing

  • SPC X to capture (the new thing gets captured to a single file but that’s fine since we can easily refile it.)
  • SPC m r r to refile

Org Roam

These keybindings only work after installing org-roam. To install org-roam edit your init.el file and add (org +roam2) in its designated place. Watch this video to understand what org-roam is.

  • SPC n r f Find an existing node or create a new one.
  • SPC n r i Insert a link to another node.
  • SPC n r r Toggle backlinks pane
  • SPC m m o t Add a roam tag.
  • SPC m m o a Add a roam alias.

Code Folding

Code folding helps with code readability. First, make sure fold is not commented in your init.el file then move your cursor to the definition of a class or a function and try the following:

  • z a Toggle the fold at point.
  • z m Close all the folds.
  • z r Open all the folds.
  • z j Next folded region.
  • z k Previous folded region.

Latex

Bi-directinal texts (RTL languages)

  • First uncomment bidi under :input in init.el
  • If your cursor moves at the wrong direction, see this evil-mode bug and toggle evil-mode by pressing C-z if neccessary.
  • To enable the bidi-mode everywhere and change the font of Persian/Arabic texts, you can use the snippet below:
(+bidi-global-mode 1)
(setq +bidi-want-smart-fontify nil)
(set-fontset-font t 'arabic "Sahel") ; Works for Persian as well

Sources

What to learn [0/3]

  • [ ] LSP
  • [ ] Org Roam
  • [ ] abbrev-mode

2025

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Date: 2025-03-15 Sa 00:00

Author: madam, https://github.com/niyumard/Doom-Emacs-Cheat-Sheet/graphs/contributors