Why use Emacs instead of other text editors?

1. Extensibility

Almost every part of Emacs can be customized or extended with Emacs Lisp. You can turn it into a code editor, note-taking system, email client, or even a window manager.

2. Stability

Emacs has been around since the 1970s, is actively maintained, and runs on almost any system. Many users stay with it for decades.

3. Keyboard-driven workflow

Once learned, the keybindings allow very fast, efficient editing without leaving the keyboard.

4. Org-mode

A unique and powerful system for notes, tasks, and literate programming unmatched in most other editors.

Installation

Emacs supports many systems, even if its not listed here there's probably a way to install it

sudo apt install emacs

brew install emacs

You can follow this link.

Basic workflow

Remember that "C" means control key and "M" means alt key.

C-x C-f

C-x C-s

C-x k

Vertical split:

C-x 2

Horizontal split:

C-x 3

Switch windows:

C-x o

Incremental search:

C-s

Replace:

M-%

Undo:

C-/

Redo:

C-g C-/

Miscellaneous

Vim doesn't have this feature!

M-x tetris # play tetris
M-x snake # play snake
M-x doctor # talk to a psychotherapist
M-x hanoi # play tower of hanoi

Personally I use this every now and then.

M-x eww

You can enter a link or you can use the default DuckDuckGo browser to search like you would normally.

This comes in handy especially while studying.

M-x calc

Might be useful to some people.

M-x calendar

Simple configuration

Your configuration file will take place at ~/.emacs.d/init.el, if you're on Windows it should be at C:/Users/yourname/AppData/Roaming/.emacs.d/init.el Another way you can find your config file is by executing this line:

M-: (find-file user-init-file)

To show line numbers you can add this line to your configuration file:

(global-display-line-numbers-mode 1)

You can add this line to highlight matching parentheses:

(show-paren-mode 1)

You can add this line to shorten yes/no prompts to y/n:

(fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)

If you want to set a keybinding to execute something you can do this:

(global-set-key (kbd "C-.") 'eww)

That is a line from my personal configuration, it binds the C-; command to execute the eww browser.

To make the changes go into effect you can execute the

C-x C-c

Org-mode basics

Open a file ending with .org.

* My Project
** TODO Write tutorial
** DONE Install Emacs

Type TODO before a task.

Toggle between TODO/DONE with:

C-c C-t

Use - or 1. for lists:

- item one
- item two

* Shopping
  - [ ] Apples
  - [X] Bread

Insert a timestamp with:

C-c .

Export to PDF, HTML, etc.:

C-c C-e

Links

For more detailed information and you can use these links:

• Official GNU Emacs website
• GNU Emacs manual
• Emacs wiki