cmdenter Part of Base
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Practice Emacs keyboard shortcuts

Drill all 85 until you don't have to think about them.

the editor you play like an instrument

Vanilla GNU Emacs defaults only (no evil-mode or Doom); Meta is Alt on Windows and Option in GUI Emacs on Mac (terminal Mac setups may differ, and Esc-then-key always works); kill means cut, yank means paste.

85 verified moves 7 levels macOS & Windows verified 2026-07-26
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The progression

Every deck is graded 1 to 7: level 1 is the reflex core, the top level is where the specialists live. One move from each, so you can see how far it goes.

  1. Level 19 moves

    A prompt you never meant to open is blinking in the minibuffer — bail out of it

    Ctrl+G

    half of learning Emacs is escaping what you just started; this is the eject handle

    …and 8 more at this level

  2. Level 211 moves

    Jump to the very beginning of the current line

    Ctrl+A

    A is where the alphabet starts and where the line does; the mnemonic does the memorizing

    …and 10 more at this level

  3. Level 313 moves

    Drop the mark here to start selecting a region

    Ctrl+Space

    Emacs selections start with a dropped pin, not a held Shift; every region begins at the mark

    …and 12 more at this level

  4. Level 413 moves

    Flip to another open buffer by name

    Ctrl+X thenB

    buffers are cheap; type a few letters and completion does the rest

    …and 12 more at this level

  5. Level 517 moves

    Jump to the start of the sentence you are in

    Alt+A

    Alt+A treats sentences the way Ctrl+A treats lines; prose gets edge keys too

    …and 16 more at this level

  6. Level 610 moves

    Start recording every keystroke as a macro

    F3

    Ctrl+X then ( is the classic spelling; either way, the editor starts watching your hands

    …and 9 more at this level

  7. Level 712 moves

    Park your exact position in register A before wandering off

    Ctrl+X thenR thenSpace

    a lettered pin for your place; set it before any long detour

    …and 11 more at this level

How graduation works. Drill until every move in the deck holds at ≥95% first-try, under 800ms median, across two separate days. Then the deck is done — and you get a certificate stating exactly that, plus a LinkedIn credential in one click.

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