If you have a set of key bindings that you like to use all the time, you can specify them in your initialization file by writing Lisp code. See The Emacs Initialization File, for a description of the initialization file.
There are several ways to write a key binding using Lisp. The
simplest is to use the kbd function, which converts a textual
representation of a key sequence—similar to how we have written key
sequences in this manual—into a form that can be passed as an
argument to global-set-key. For example, here’s how to bind
C-z to the shell command (see Interactive Subshell):
(global-set-key (kbd "C-z") 'shell)
The single-quote before the command name, shell, marks it as a
constant symbol rather than a variable. If you omit the quote, Emacs
would try to evaluate shell as a variable. This probably
causes an error; it certainly isn’t what you want.
Here are some additional examples, including binding function keys and mouse events:
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c y") 'clipboard-yank) (global-set-key (kbd "C-M-q") 'query-replace) (global-set-key (kbd "<f5>") 'flyspell-mode) (global-set-key (kbd "C-<f5>") 'linum-mode) (global-set-key (kbd "C-<right>") 'forward-sentence) (global-set-key (kbd "<mouse-2>") 'mouse-save-then-kill)
Instead of using kbd, you can use a Lisp string or vector to
specify the key sequence. Using a string is simpler, but only works
for ASCII characters and Meta-modified ASCII
characters. For example, here’s how to bind C-x M-l to
make-symbolic-link (see Miscellaneous File Operations):
(global-set-key "\C-x\M-l" 'make-symbolic-link)
To put TAB, RET, ESC, or DEL in the string,
use the Emacs Lisp escape sequences ‘\t’, ‘\r’, ‘\e’,
and ‘\d’ respectively. Here is an example which binds C-x
TAB to indent-rigidly (see Indentation):
(global-set-key "\C-x\t" 'indent-rigidly)
When the key sequence includes function keys or mouse button events,
or non-ASCII characters such as C-= or H-a,
you can use a vector to specify the key sequence. Each element in the
vector stands for an input event; the elements are separated by spaces
and surrounded by a pair of square brackets. If a vector element is a
character, write it as a Lisp character constant: ‘?’ followed by
the character as it would appear in a string. Function keys are
represented by symbols (see Rebinding Function Keys); simply write the
symbol’s name, with no other delimiters or punctuation. Here are some
examples:
(global-set-key [?\C-=] 'make-symbolic-link) (global-set-key [?\M-\C-=] 'make-symbolic-link) (global-set-key [?\H-a] 'make-symbolic-link) (global-set-key [f7] 'make-symbolic-link) (global-set-key [C-mouse-1] 'make-symbolic-link)
You can use a vector for the simple cases too:
(global-set-key [?\C-z ?\M-l] 'make-symbolic-link)
Language and coding systems may cause problems with key bindings for non-ASCII characters. See Non-ASCII Characters in Init Files.
As described in Local Keymaps, major modes and minor modes can define local keymaps. These keymaps are constructed when the mode is used for the first time in a session. If you wish to change one of these keymaps, you must use the mode hook (see Hooks).
For example, Texinfo mode runs the hook texinfo-mode-hook.
Here’s how you can use the hook to add local bindings for C-c n
and C-c p in Texinfo mode:
(add-hook 'texinfo-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(define-key texinfo-mode-map "\C-cp"
'backward-paragraph)
(define-key texinfo-mode-map "\C-cn"
'forward-paragraph)))