- Core Pillars
- Highlighted features
- Screenshots
- Who can benefit from this?
- Update and Rollback
- Configuration layers
- Dotfile Configuration
- Concepts
- Differences between Vim, Evil and Spacemacs
- Evil plugins
- Environment variables and PATH
- Binding keys
- GUI Elements
- Layouts and workspaces
- Commands
- Vim key bindings
- Reserved prefix command for user
- Completion
- Discovering
- Navigating
- Auto-saving
- Searching
- Editing
- Paste text
- Text manipulation commands
- Text insertion commands
- Smartparens Strict mode
- Zooming
- Increase/Decrease numbers
- Spell checking
- Region selection
- Region narrowing
- Replacing text with iedit
- Replacing text in several files
- Renaming files in a directory
- Commenting
- Regular expressions
- Deleting files
- Editing Lisp code
- Keyboard macros
- Scratch buffer
- Mouse usage
- Comparing (diff)
- Managing projects
- Registers
- Errors handling
- Compiling
- Quickrun
- EditorConfig
- Emacs Server
- Troubleshoot
- Achievements
- Thank you
Four core pillars: Mnemonic, Discoverable, Consistent and “Crowd-Configured”.
If any of these core pillars are violated, open an issue and we’ll try our best to fix it.
Key bindings are organized using mnemonic prefixes like b for buffer, p for
project, s for search, h for help, etc…
Innovative real-time display of available key bindings. Simple query system to quickly find available layers, packages, and more.
Similar functionalities have the same key binding everywhere, thanks to a clearly defined set of conventions. Documentation is mandatory for any layer that ships with Spacemacs.
Community-driven configuration provides curated packages tuned by power users and bugs are fixed quickly.
- Bring the efficiency of modal editing to the powerful Emacs lisp platform. Modal UX is optional and Spacemacs can be used with only Emacs key bindings.
- Integrate nicely with
Evilstates (Vimmodes). - Keep your fingers on the home row for quicker editing with support for QWERTY and BEPO layouts.
- Minimalistic and nice graphical UI keeps your available screen space for what matters: your text files.
- Fast boot time: packages and configuration are lazy-loaded as much as possible. For even faster boot time, Spacemacs now provides full support for the new portable dumper available in Emacs 27 and later.
- Lower the risk of RSI by heavily using the space bar instead of modifiers. If you have issues with your thumbs you can still use Spacemacs using modifiers.
- Contribute easily with your improvements and new configuration layers.
- Very active and helpful community on
GitterandIRC(via Gitter IRC bridge)
Python
Note: Even though screenshots are updated frequently, Spacemacs is evolving quickly and the screenshots may not reflect exactly the current state of the project.
- Spacemacs was initially intended to be used by Vim users who want to go to
the next level by using Emacs (see guide for Vimmers). But it is now
perfectly usable by non Vim users by choosing the
emacsediting style. - It is also a good fit for people wanting to lower the risk of RSI induced by
the default Emacs key bindings. (This is an assumption, there are no official
studies to prove this!) If you have issues using your thumbs you can still
use the
emacsediting style which puts the leader key on a modifier combination. - Emacs users wanting to learn a different way to edit files or wanting to
learn Vim key bindings or even wanting to mix both editing styles by setting
their style to
hybrid. - Emacs users wanting a simple but deep configuration system that greatly lowers the risk of .emacs bankruptcy.
- Pair-programming users thanks to out of the box support for dynamic switching of editing style. A Vim user and an Emacs user can use the same Spacemacs comfortably.
There are several methods of updating the core files and layer information for Spacemacs. However afterwards you should always update all your packages; see the next section.
Spacemacs supports two different update schemes, the default is a rolling update scheme based
on the latest version of packages available. This version can be found on the develop branch
and is updated by a simple git pull.
The second depreciated one is a fixed version scheme which is based on a stable set
of packages. This version can be found on the master branch and will show a notification when
a new version is available. Be warned this has not been updated in a long time now so packages
will be very old.
To update manually close Emacs and update the git repository:
$ git pull --rebaseSpacemacs will automatically check for a new version periodically. When it
detects that a new version is available an arrow will appear in the modeline.
Click it to update Spacemacs. You must restart Emacs after updating.
Update Button
Use the button labeled “Update Spacemacs” in the Spacemacs buffer. You will be prompted for the version you would like to use.
Note: The master branch is considered to be immutable in the sense that you must not modify it by adding your own commit. If you do so you will break the automatic update of Spacemacs on the master branch. To fork Spacemacs code you have to use a custom branch that you manage manually.
To update the Emacs packages used by Spacemacs press RET (enter) or click on the
link [Update Packages] in the startup page under the banner then restart
Emacs. If you prefer, you can use the command
configuration-layer/update-packages instead of the button.
If anything goes wrong you should be able to rollback the update by pressing
RET or clicking on the [Rollback Package Update] link in the startup page
and choosing a rollback slot (sorted by date). This button uses the command
configuration-layer/rollback.
This section is an overview of layers. A more extensive introduction to writing configuration layers can be found here (recommended reading!).
Layers help collect related packages together to provide features. For example,
the python layer provides auto-completion, syntax checking, and REPL support
for python files. This approach helps keep configuration organized and reduces
overhead for the user by keeping them from having to think about what packages
to install. To install all the python features the user has just to add the
python layer to their dotfile.
Configuration is organized in layers. Each layer has the following structure:
[layer_name] |__ [local] | |__ [package 1] | | ... | |__ [package n] |-- layers.el |__ packages.el |__ funcs.el |__ config.el |__ keybindings.el [] = directory
Where:
| File | Usage |
|---|---|
| layers.el | The place to declare additional layers |
| packages.el | The list of packages and their configuration functions (init, post-init, etc…) |
| funcs.el | All functions defined in the layer (used in package configuration for instance) |
| config.el | Layer configuration (defines the layer variables default values and setup some config variables) |
| keybindings.el | General key bindings not tied to a specific package configuration |
Packages can be:
ELPApackages installed from anELPAcompliant repository- local packages in a layer’s
localfolder - installed from an online source using quelpa.
Packages are declared in a variable called <layer>-packages where <layer>
is the name of the layer.
Example:
(setq <layer>-packages '(package1 package2 ...)All packages from all layers are processed in alphabetical order so sometimes
you’ll have to use some with-eval-after-load black magic to configure them
properly. For instance, if package A depends on B then you can configure
A with:
(with-eval-after-load 'B ...)For details on installing packages using quelpa or local packages see LAYERS.
To initialize a package xxx, define a function with this format in
packages.el:
(defun <layer>/init-xxx () ...body )It is common to define the body with the use-package macro.
It is possible to exclude some packages from Spacemacs on a per-layer basis. This is useful when a configuration layer aims to replace a stock package declared in the Spacemacs layer.
To do so add the package names to exclude to the variable
<layer>-excluded-packages.
Example:
(setq <layer>-excluded-packages '(package1 package2 ...)Sometimes a layer can be an unnecessary overhead, this is the case if you just want to install a package with very few configurations associated to it. A good example is some niche language where you are only interested in syntax highlighting.
You can install such packages by adding them to the variable
dotspacemacs-additional-packages under the dotspacemacs/layers function in your dotfile.
For example, to install llvm-mode and dts-mode:
(defun dotspacemacs/layers ()
"Configuration Layers declaration..."
(setq-default
;; ...
dotspacemacs-additional-packages '(llvm-mode dts-mode)
;; ...
))If you want to add some configuration for them, do so in the
dotspacemacs/user-config function, or consider creating a layer.
Spacemacs will only install the packages that are explicitly used by the user.
A package is considered to be used if its layer is used (i.e. listed in
dotspacemacs-configuration-layers).
Any package that is not used will be considered an orphan and will be deleted at
the next startup of Emacs.
There are two types of configuration layers:
- distributed layers (in the
layersdirectory, those layers are contributions shared by the community and merged upstream) - private (in the
privatedirectory, they are ignored by Git)
If you decide to provide a configuration layer, please check the contribution guidelines first in CONTRIBUTING.
This is a simple configuration layer listing a bunch of themes which you can find here.
To install it, just add themes-megapack to your ~/.spacemacs like so:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layers '(themes-megapack))Adding this layer will install around 100 themes; to uninstall them remove the
layer from the dotspacemacs-configuration-layers and press SPC f e R.
Spacemacs’s configuration system is flexible enough to let you manage your private layers in different ways.
Everything in the private directory is ignored by Git so it is a good place to store private layers. There is a huge drawback to this approach though: your layers are not source controlled.
This is the recommended way to manage your private layers.
The best approach is to store all your private layers in an external Git
repository. For example, if you have a dotfiles repository it is a good
practice to store these layers in there, along with your ~/.spacemacs file.
Then you are free to symlink your layers into ~/emacs.d/private or leave them
anywhere you want, and reference the parent directory in the variable
dotspacemacs-configuration-layer-path of your ~/.spacemacs.
Note: You could also have a dedicated repository for all your private layers
and then directly clone this repository in ~/.emacs.d/private.
The final main way to manage your private layers is to push them in a personal
branch that you keep up to date with upstream master or develop.
Please refer to this introduction for some tips on writing layers, and how to best make them fit with the Spacemacs philosophy and loading strategy.
User configuration can be stored in your ~/.spacemacs file.
The very first time Spacemacs starts up, it will ask you several questions
and then install the .spacemacs file in your HOME directory.
A dotdirectory ~/.spacemacs.d/ can be used instead of a dotfile.
If you want to use this option, move ~/.spacemacs to ~/.spacemacs.d/init.el.
It is also possible to override the location of ~/.spacemacs.d/ using the
environment variable SPACEMACSDIR. Of course, you can also use symlinks to
change the location of this directory.
Note: ~/.spacemacs will always take priority over ~/.spacemacs.d/init.el,
so ~/.spacemacs must not exist for ~/.spacemacs.d/init.el to be used by
Spacemacs.
To apply the modifications made in ~/.spacemacs press SPC f e R. It will
re-execute the Spacemacs initialization process.
Note: A synchronization re-executes the functions dotspacemacs/init,
dotspacemacs/user-init and dotspacemacs/user-config.
Depending on the contents of these functions, you may encounter some unwanted side
effects. For instance, if you use a toggle in dotspacemac/user-config to enable
some behavior, this behavior will be turned off whenever the dotfile is
re-synchronized. To avoid these side-effects, it is recommended to either use
setq expressions instead of toggle functions, or to use the on or off
versions instead (i.e. instead of spacemacs/toggle-<thing>, use
spacemacs/toggle-<thing>-on or spacemacs/toggle-<thing>-off).
It is possible to skip the execution of dotspacemacs/user-config with the
universal argument (SPC u SPC f e R).
You can use the command SPC SPC dotspacemacs/test-dotfile to check if your
~/.spacemacs looks correct. This will check, among other things, whether the
declared layers can be found and that the variables have sensible values. These
tests are also run automatically when you synchronize with SPC f e R.
Five special functions in the ~/.spacemacs file can be used to perform
configuration at the beginning and end of Spacemacs loading process:
dotspacemacs/initis called at the very startup of Spacemacs initialization before layers configuration. You should not put any user code in there besides modifying the Spacemacs variable values prefixed withdotspacemacs-.dotspacemacs/user-initis called immediately afterdotspacemacs/init, before layer configuration. This function is mostly useful for variables that need to be set before packages are loaded.dotspacemacs/user-envis called before the layers and packages configuration and it is responsible to setup environment variables.dotspacemacs/layersis called at the startup of Spacemacs initialization, this is where you set the Spacemacs distribution and declare layers to be used in your configuration. You can also add or exclude packages of your choice and tweak some behaviors of Spacemacs loading.dotspacemacs/user-configis called at the very end of Spacemacs initialization after layers configuration. This is the place where most of your configurations should be done. Unless it is explicitly specified that a variable should be set before a package is loaded, you should place your code here.dotspacemacs/emacs-custom-settingsis a generated function where all Emacs custom settings are written. You should not edit this function. SeeCustom variablessection for more information.
By default custom variables from M-x customize-group are automatically saved
at the end of your ~/.spacemacs file in the function
dotspacemacs/emacs-custom-settings unless you declare a custom custom-file
in the dotspacemacs/user-init function, in this case custom variables will be
written to the user defined custom-file and the function
dotspacemacs/emacs-custom-settings will remain empty.
Note: If you set a custom custom-file value then it is your responsibility
to load this file at the appropriate time. Often the best time to load it is
just after setting the value for custom-file in the dotspacemacs/user-init
function.
To use a configuration layer, declare it in your dotfile by adding it to the
dotspacemacs-configuration-layers variable of your ~/.spacemacs.
Note: In this documentation a used layer is equivalent to a declared
layer.
For instance, RMS can add his private configuration layer like this:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layers
'(
;; other layers
;; rms layer added at the end of the list
rms
))Official layers shipped with Spacemacs are stored in ~/.emacs.d/layers. The
directory ~/.emacs.d/private is a drop-in location for your private layers.
It is possible to put layers at the location of your choice provided you tell
Spacemacs where to look for them. This is done by setting the list
dotspacemacs-configuration-layer-path in your ~/.spacemacs. For instance
to add some layers in ~/.myconfig, set the variable like this:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layer-path '("~/.myconfig/"))Some configuration layers have configuration variables to enable specific
features. For instance the git layer has several configuration variables, they
can be set directly in the dotspacemacs-configuration-layers like this:
(defun dotspacemacs/layers ()
;; List of configuration layers to load.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layers
'(auto-completion
(git :variables
git-magit-status-fullscreen t
git-variable-example nil)
smex)))The :variables keyword is a convenience to keep layer configuration close to
their declaration. Setting layer variables in the dotspacemacs/user-init
function of your dotfile is also a perfectly valid way to configure a layer.
Often layers enable services that other layers can use. For instance if you use
the layer auto-completion then all other layers supporting auto-completion
will have this feature enabled.
Sometimes you may want to disable a service added by a layer in some specific
layers. Say you want to disable auto-completion in org and git layers,
you can do it with the following layer declaration.
(defun dotspacemacs/layers ()
;; List of configuration layers to load.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layers
'(org git
(auto-completion :disabled-for org git))))You can also use the :enabled-for construct to disable it for all layers
except those explicitly identified.
(defun dotspacemacs/layers ()
;; List of configuration layers to load.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layers
'(java python c-c++
(auto-completion :enabled-for java python))))Note that :enabled-for may be an empty list.
(defun dotspacemacs/layers ()
;; List of configuration layers to load.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layers
'(java python c-c++
(auto-completion :enabled-for)))):enabled-for takes precedence over :disabled-for if both are present.
By default a declared layer installs/configures all its associated packages. You
may want to select only some of them or ignoring some of them. This is possible
with the :packages keyword.
For instance to ignore the treemacs and fancy-battery packages from
spacemacs-ui-visual layer:
(defun dotspacemacs/layers ()
;; List of configuration layers to load.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layers
'(auto-completion
(spacemacs-ui-visual :packages (not treemacs fancy-battery))))The opposite would be to ignore all packages except treemacs and
fancy-battery:
(defun dotspacemacs/layers ()
;; List of configuration layers to load.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layers
'(auto-completion
(spacemacs-ui-visual :packages treemacs fancy-battery)))Note: Ignoring a package from a layer is different than excluding a package. An excluded packages is completely removed from your configuration whereas an ignored package is ignored only for a given layer but it can remain on your system. It happens that if the given layer is the owner of the package then ignoring this package is the same as excluding it (because the package becomes orphan so it is considered unused by Spacemacs).
You can exclude packages you don’t want to install with the variable
dotspacemacs-excluded-packages (see Configuration layers for more info
on packages).
For instance, to disable the rainbow-delimiters package:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-excluded-packages '(rainbow-delimiters))When you exclude a package, Spacemacs will automatically delete it for you the next time you launch Emacs or at the next dotfile synchronization. All the orphan dependencies are also deleted automatically. Excluding a package effectively remove all references to it in Spacemacs without breaking the rest of the configuration, this is a powerful feature which allows you to quickly remove any feature from Spacemacs.
Note: A few packages are essential for Spacemacs to correctly operate, those
packages are protected and cannot be excluded or uninstalled even if they become
orphans or are excluded. use-package is an example of a protected package that
cannot be removed from Spacemacs.
Spacemacs comes with several editing styles which can be switched dynamically providing an easier way to do pair programming, for instance between a Vim user and an Emacs user.
Three styles are available:
- Vim,
- Emacs,
- Hybrid (a mix between Vim and Emacs).
To set the editing style set the variable dotspacemacs-editing-style to
either vim, hybrid, or emacs. It possible to pass a list of variables
as well with the keyword :variables, just like for layer variables.
Spacemacs behaves like in Vim using the Evil mode package to emulate Vim key
bindings. This is the default style of Spacemacs; it can be set explicitly by
setting the dotspacemacs-editing-style variable to vim in the dotfile.
To bind keys in Vim editing style (insert state):
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "C-]") 'forward-char)When setting the Vim style you can pass any variable supported by evil-mode
with the keyword :variables. Spacemacs also supports the following editing
style variables for Vim:
| Variables | Description |
|---|---|
vim-style-visual-feedback | If non-nil then objects are briefly highlighted |
vim-style-remap-Y-to-y$ | If non-nil Y is remapped to y$ in Evil states |
vim-style-retain-visual-state-on-shift | If non-nil, the shift mappings < and > retain visual state |
vim-style-visual-line-move-text | If non-nil, J and K move lines up and down when in visual mode |
vim-style-ex-substitute-global | If non-nil, inverse the meaning of g in :substitute Evil ex-command |
Default configuration is:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-editing-style '(vim :variables
vim-style-visual-feedback nil
vim-style-remap-Y-to-y$ nil
vim-style-retain-visual-state-on-shift t
vim-style-visual-line-move-text nil
vim-style-ex-substitute-global nil)Spacemacs behaves like in raw Emacs using the Holy mode which configures Evil to
make the emacs state the default state everywhere.
Set the dotspacemacs-editing-style variable to emacs in the dotfile.
In Emacs style the leader is available on M-m. It is possible to toggle it on
and off with SPC t E e and M-m t E e. When off the vim style is enabled.
To bind keys in Emacs editing style (emacs state):
(define-key evil-emacs-state-map (kbd "C-]") 'forward-char)The hybrid editing style is like the Vim style except that insert state is
replaced by a new state called hybrid state. In hybrid state all the Emacs
key bindings are available; this is like replacing the insert state with the
emacs state but provides an isolated key map evil-hybrid-state-map.
To bind keys in Hybrid editing style (hybrid state):
(define-key evil-hybrid-state-map (kbd "C-]") 'forward-char)This style can be tweaked to be more like Emacs or more like Vim depending on the user preferences. The following variables are available to change the style configuration:
| Variables | Description |
|---|---|
hybrid-style-visual-feedback | If non-nil then objects are briefly highlighted |
hybrid-style-default-state | The default state when opening a new buffer. Set it to emacs for a more emacsy style |
hybrid-style-enable-hjkl-bindings | If non-nil then packages will configure h j k l key bindings for navigation |
hybrid-style-enable-evilified-state | If non-nil buffer are evilified when supported, if nil then emacs state is enabled |
hybrid-style-use-evil-search-module | If non-nil then use evil own search module which is closer to Vim search behavior |
Default configuration is:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-editing-style '(hybrid :variables
hybrid-style-visual-feedback nil
hybrid-style-enable-evilified-state t
hybrid-style-enable-hjkl-bindings nil
hybrid-style-use-evil-search-module nil
hybrid-style-default-state 'normal)To toggle the hybrid style on and off use SPC t E h and M-m t E h. When
off the vim style is enabled.
Spacemacs has 10 states:
| State | Default Color | Description |
|---|---|---|
| normal | orange | like the normal mode of Vim, used to execute and combine commands |
| insert | green | like the insert mode of Vim, used to actually insert text |
| visual | gray | like the visual mode of Vim, used to make text selection |
| motion | purple | exclusive to Evil, used to navigate read only buffers |
| emacs | blue | exclusive to Evil, using this state is like using a regular Emacs without Vim |
| replace | chocolate | like replace mode of Vim, overwrites the character under point instead of inserting a new one |
| hybrid | blue | exclusive to Spacemacs, this is like the insert state except that all the emacs key bindings are available |
| evilified | light brown | exclusive to Spacemacs, this is an emacs state modified to bring Vim navigation, selection and search. |
| lisp | pink | exclusive to Spacemacs, used to navigate Lisp code and modify it (more info) |
| iedit | red | exclusive to Spacemacs, used to navigate between multiple regions of text using iedit (more info) |
| iedit-insert | red | exclusive to Spacemacs, used to replace multiple regions of text using iedit (more info) |
Note: Technically speaking there is also the operator evil state.
Special-mode is a basic major mode that sets buffers to read-only. Evil defines an evil-specific (i.e. no vim equivalent) motion-state for read-only buffers, and Spacemacs opens special-mode buffers, or buffer with major modes derived from special-mode, in motion-state by default.
Some buffers are not for editing text and provide their own key bindings for
certain operations. These often conflict with Vim bindings. To make such buffers
behave more like Vim in a consistent manner, they use a special state called
evilified state. In evilified state, a handful of keys work as in Evil, namely
/, :, h, j, k, l, n, N, v, V, gg, G, C-f, C-b,
C-d, C-e, C-o, C-i, C-u, C-y and C-z. All other keys work as
intended by the underlying mode.
Shadowed keys are moved according to the pattern: a → A → C-a → C-A
For example, if the mode binds a function to n, that is found under C-n in
evilified state, since both n and N are reserved, but C-n is not. On the
other hand, anything originally bound to k will be found on K, since k is
reserved but K is not. If there is a binding on K, that will be moved to
C-k.
In addition to this, C-g, being an important escape key in Emacs, is skipped.
So anything bound to g originally will be found on C-G, since g, G and
C-g are all reserved.
Spacemacs uses a leader key to bind almost all its key bindings.
This leader key is commonly set to , by Vim users. In Spacemacs the leader
key is set on SPC (the space bar, hence the name spacemacs). This key is the
most accessible key on a keyboard and it is pressed with the thumb which is a
good choice to lower the risk of RSI. It can be customized to any other key
using the variable dotspacemacs-leader-key and dotspacemacs-emacs-leader-key.
With Spacemacs there is no need to remap your keyboard modifiers to attempt
to reduce the risk of RSI, every command can be executed very easily while you
are in normal mode by pressing the SPC leader key, here are a few examples:
- Save a buffer:
SPC f s - Save all opened buffers:
SPC f S - Open (switch) to a buffer:
SPC b b
The universal argument C-u is an important command in Emacs but it is also a
very handy Vim key binding to scroll up.
Spacemacs binds C-u to scroll-up and changes the universal argument binding
to SPC u.
Spacemacs defines a wide variety of transient states (temporary overlay maps)
where it makes sense. This prevents one from doing repetitive and tedious
presses on the SPC key.
When a transient state is active, documentation is displayed in the
minibuffer. Additional information may also be displayed in the minibuffer.
Auto-highlight-symbol transient state:
Text scale transient state:
Spacemacs tries to unify the interface to handle toggles using a custom macro
called spacemacs|add-toggle.
There exists two type of toggles:
- globally available toggles under the key prefixes
SPC tandSPC T - major mode specific toggles under the key prefix
SPC m T
When a toggle is turned on a unicode symbol is displayed in the mode-line, this symbol is a circled letter for globally available toggles and a plain squared letter for major mode specific toggles. The letter corresponds to the key binding for this toggle.
For instance the globally available toggle for which-key is under SPC t K
and its corresponding symbol in the mode-line is Ⓚ. Also the major mode
specific toggle for nameless available only in emacs-lisp mode is under
SPC m T n and its corresponding symbol in the mode-line is 🅽.
All toggles can be browsed via the Spacemacs help system under SPC h t.
To set the toggle states to your preference you can use a set of functions
that should be called in your dotspacemacs/user-config function of your
dotfile.
Globally available toggles can be turned on and off using the functions
spacemacs/toggle-NAME-on and spacemacs/toggle-NAME-off respectively.
NAME corresponds to the name of the toggle, for instance which-key
for the toggle to turn on and off the which-key minor mode.
(spacemacs/toggle-which-key-on)Major mode specific toggles can be turned on by registering a hook on them to
call the “toggle on” function automatically whenever a buffer using this major
mode is opened. It can be done conveniently using the function
spacemacs/toggle-NAME-on-register-hooks. It also exists variants of this
function for each supported major mode like
spacemacs/toggle-NAME-on-register-hook-MODE.
(spacemacs/toggle-nameless-on-register-hooks)
;; or to enable it for emacs-lips buffers only
(spacemacs/toggle-nameless-on-register-hook-emacs-lisp-mode)- The
,key does repeat lastf,t,F, orTcommand in opposite direction inVim, but in Spacemacs it is the major mode specific leader key by default (which can be set on another key binding in the dotfile).
Send a PR to add the differences you found in this section.
There is one obvious visible difference though. It is not between Evil and
Vim but between Spacemacs and vim-surround: in visual mode the surround
command is on S in vim-surround whereas it is on s in Spacemacs.
This is something that can surprise some Vim users so here are some motivations behind this change:
sandcdo the same thing invisual state,sis only useful to delete one character and add more than one character which is a very narrow use casecaccept motions and can do everythingscan do innormal state(note that this is also true forrbutris more useful because it stays innormal state)surroundcommand is just a more powerful command thans.
If you are not convinced, then here is the snippet to revert back to the default
Vim + vim-surround setup (add it to your dotspacemacs/user-config):
(evil-define-key 'visual evil-surround-mode-map "s" 'evil-substitute)
(evil-define-key 'visual evil-surround-mode-map "S" 'evil-surround-region)Spacemacs ships with the following evil plugins:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| evil-args | motions and text objects for arguments |
| evil-exchange | port of vim-exchange |
| evil-indent-textobject | add text object based on indentation level |
| evil-matchit | port of matchit.vim |
| evil-nerd-commenter | port of nerdcommenter |
| evil-numbers | like C-a and C-x in vim |
| evil-search-highlight-persist | emulation of hlsearch behavior |
| evil-surround | port of vim-surround |
| evil-visualstar | search for current selection with * |
| Treemacs | a file explorer like NERD Tree |
Environment variables are handled by the function dotspacemacs/user-env of
your dotfile.
By default, the function dotspacemacs/user-env only calls the function
spacemacs/load-spacemacs-env which loads the environment variables from
the file ~/.spacemacs.env. This file is automatically created for you by
Spacemacs and it is initialized with the environment variables of your
system as well as the environment variables of your default shell.
To open this file use SPC f e e. You can edit it to change or add/remove
environment variables. Use SPC f e E to reload it.
Some dynamic environment variables are ignored by Spacemacs when it first
creates the ~/.spacemacs.env file. These ignored variables are listed in
the variable spacemacs-ignored-environment-variables.
It is possible to force a new import of system and shell environment variables
with SPC f e C-e. Note that this action will overwrite ~/.spacemacs.env.
For full flexibility you can bypass the default behavior simply by removing
the call to spacemacs/load-spacemacs-env from your dotspacemacs/user-env
function.
From there you can choose to use the popular package exec-path-from-shell
or just call built-in functions like setenv or (add-to-list 'exec-path ...).
If you choose to handle the environment variables by yourself then SPC f e e
will go to the function dotspacemacs/user-env instead of opening the file
~/.spacemacs.env. In all cases SPC f e E calls the function
dotspacemacs/user-env so you can update your variables in place.
It’s possible that you don’t have this function defined if you have an older
dotfile. It is recommended to update your dotfile by adding this function,
see the file ~/.emacs.d/core/template/.spacemacs.template to copy it.
If you don’t create such function then Spacemacs assumes you are using the
default behavior described above.
To be compatible with all Spacemacs bindings, please refer to Conventions.
In brief, SPC o is reserved for user custom bindings in global-map,
and SPC m o in major modes.
Key sequences are bound to commands in Emacs in various keymaps. The most basic
map is the global-map. Setting a key binding in the global-map is achieved
with the function global-set-key. Example to bind a key to the command
forward-char:
(global-set-key (kbd "C-]") 'forward-char)The kbd macro accepts a string describing a key sequence. The global-map is
often shadowed by other maps. For example, evil-mode defines keymaps that
target states (or modes in vim terminology). Here is an example that creates the
same binding as above but only in insert state (define-key is a built-in
function. Evil-mode has its own functions for defining keys).
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "C-]") 'forward-char)Perhaps most importantly for Spacemacs is the use of the bind-map package to
bind keys behind a leader key.
This is where most of the Spacemacs bindings live. Binding keys behind the
leader key is achieved with the functions spacemacs/set-leader-keys and
spacemacs/set-leader-keys-for-major-mode, example:
(spacemacs/set-leader-keys "C-]" 'forward-char)
(spacemacs/set-leader-keys-for-major-mode 'emacs-lisp-mode "C-]" 'forward-char)These functions use a macro like kbd to translate the key sequences for you.
The second function, spacemacs/set-leader-keys-for-major-mode, binds the key
only in the specified mode. The second key binding is active only when the
major mode is emacs-lisp.
Finally, one should be aware of prefix keys. Essentially, all keymaps can be
nested. Nested keymaps are used extensively in spacemacs, and in vanilla Emacs
for that matter. For example, SPC a points to key bindings for “applications”,
like SPC a c for calc-dispatch. Nesting bindings is easy.
(spacemacs/declare-prefix "o" "custom")
(spacemacs/set-leader-keys "oc" 'my-custom-command)The first line declares SPC o to be a prefix and the second binds the key
sequence SPC oc to the corresponding command. The first line is actually
unnecessary to create the prefix, but it will give your new prefix a name that
key-discovery tools can use (e.g., which-key).
Example to create binding in major mode:
(spacemacs/declare-prefix-for-mode 'org-mode "mo" "custom")
(spacemacs/set-leader-keys-for-major-mode 'org-mode "oi" 'org-id-get-create)This would add binding as , oi and SPC moi (note that the “m” in the prefix
declaration must be include).
There is much more to say about bindings keys, but these are the basics. Keys
can be bound in your ~/.spacemacs file or in individual layers.
Spacemacs has a minimalistic and distraction free graphical UI:
- custom powerline mode-line with color feedback according to current Flycheck status
- Unicode symbols for minor mode lighters which appear in the mode-line
- custom fringe bitmaps and error feedbacks for Flycheck
The official Spacemacs theme is spacemacs-dark and it is the default theme
installed when you first started Spacemacs. There are two variants of the
theme, a dark one and a light one. Some aspects of these themes can be customized
in the function dotspacemacs/user-init of your ~/.spacemacs:
- the comment background with the boolean
spacemacs-theme-comment-bg - the height of org section titles with
spacemacs-theme-org-height
It is possible to define your default themes in your ~/.spacemacs with the
variable dotspacemacs-themes. For instance, to specify spacemacs-light,
leuven and zenburn:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-themes '(spacemacs-light leuven zenburn))dotspacemacs-themes entries accept the same properties as packages listed
in layers package lists or in dotspacemacs-additional-packages. So it is
possible to fetch a package from a specific location. For example, you could
fetch zenburn theme directly from the GitHub repository with the following
declaration:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-themes
'(spacemacs-light
leuven
(zenburn :location (recipe :fetcher github
:repo "bbatsov/zenburn-emacs"))
))Important note: If you use :location local then you have to put your theme
in the directory private/local/<theme-package-name>/ with theme-package-name
being the name of your package suffixed with -theme as mentioned in the Emacs
conventions.
For instance if your theme is foo then you have to put our theme
files in the directory private/local/foo-theme.
You can cycle between the themes declared in dotspacemacs-themes with
SPC T n and select an installed theme with SPC T s.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
n or <right> | change to the next theme |
p or <left> | change to the previous theme |
t or <up> | open helm-themes to select an installed theme |
You can see samples of all themes included in the themes-megapack layer
in this theme gallery from Rob Merrell.
- You don’t need to explicitly list in a layer the theme packages you are
defining in
dotspacemacs-themes, Spacemacs is smart enough to remove those packages from the list of orphans. - Due to the inner working of themes in Emacs, switching theme during the same session may have some weird side effects. Although these side effects should be pretty rare.
- In the terminal version of Emacs, color themes will not render correctly as colors are rendered by the terminal and not by emacs. You will probably have to change your terminal color palette. More explanations can be found on emacs-color-theme-solarized webpage.
The default font used by Spacemacs is Source Code Pro by Adobe. It is recommended to install it on your system if you wish to use it.
To change the default font set the variable dotspacemacs-default-font in your
.spacemacs file. By default its value is:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-default-font '("Source Code Pro"
:size 10.0
:weight normal
:width normal))If the specified font is not found, the fallback one will be used (depends on your system). Also note that changing this value has no effect if you are running Emacs in terminal.
The properties should be pretty straightforward, it is possible to set any valid property of a font-spec:
:familyFont family or fontset (a string).:widthRelative character width. This should be one of the symbols:- ultra-condensed
- extra-condensed
- condensed
- semi-condensed
- normal
- semi-expanded
- expanded
- extra-expanded
- ultra-expanded
:heightThe height of the font. In the simplest case, this is an integer in units of 1/10 point.:weightFont weight- one of the symbols (from densest to faintest):- ultra-bold
- extra-bold
- bold
- semi-bold
- normal
- semi-light
- light
- extra-light
- ultra-light
:slantFont slant- one of the symbols:- italic
- oblique
- normal
- reverse-italic
- reverse-oblique
:sizeThe font size- either a non-negative integer that specifies the pixel size, or a floating-point number that specifies the point size.:adstyleAdditional typographic style information for the font, such as ‘sans’. The value should be a string or a symbol.:registryThe charset registry and encoding of the font, such as ‘iso8859-1’. The value should be a string or a symbol.:scriptThe script that the font must support (a symbol).
Some graphical UI indicators can be toggled on and off (toggles start with t
and T):
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC t 8 | highlight any character past the 80th column |
SPC t f | display the fill column (by default the fill column is set to 80) |
SPC t h h | toggle highlight of the current line |
SPC t h i | toggle highlight indentation levels |
SPC t h c | toggle highlight indentation current column |
SPC t h s | toggle syntax highlighting |
SPC t i | toggle indentation guide at point |
SPC t l | toggle truncate lines |
SPC t L | toggle visual lines |
SPC t n | toggle line numbers |
SPC t n n | toggle line numbers as configured in .spacemacs |
SPC t n a | toggle absolute line numbers |
SPC t n r | toggle relative line numbers |
SPC t n v | toggle smooth scrolling |
SPC t V | toggle visual line numbers |
SPC t z | toggle 0/1 based column indexing |
| Key binding | Description |
SPC T ~ | display ~ in the fringe on empty lines |
SPC T F | toggle frame fullscreen |
SPC T f | toggle display of the fringe |
SPC T m | toggle menu bar |
SPC T M | toggle frame maximize |
SPC T t | toggle tool bar |
SPC T T | toggle frame transparency and enter transparency transient state |
Note: These toggles are all available via the spacemacs-help interfaces
(press SPC h SPC to display the spacemacs-help buffer).
Line numbers can be toggled on in all prog-mode and text-mode buffers by
setting the dotspacemacs-line-numbers variable in your ~/.spacemacs to t.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-line-numbers t)If it is set to relative, line numbers are show in a relative way:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-line-numbers 'relative)If it is set to visual, line numbers are shown in a relative way, but wrapped
lines will be treated as multiple lines:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-line-numbers 'visual)dotspacemacs-line-numbers can also be set to a property list for finer control
over line numbers activation.
Available properties:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
:disabled-for-modes | list of major modes where line numbering is inhibited |
:enabled-for-modes | disable for all major modes except those listed. Takes precedence over :disabled-for-modes |
:relative | if non-nil, line numbers are relative to the position of the cursor |
:visual | if non-nil, line numbers are relative to the position of the cursor, but lines are separated by visual state - a wrapped line, for example, will be treated as more than one line. When set to t, this option takes precedence over :relative |
:size-limit-kb | size limit in kilobytes after which line numbers are not activated |
Note that if :enabled-for-modes is nil or not specified, then the default is
to enable line numbers in any prog-mode and text-mode that wasn’t explicitly
disabled via :disabled-for-modes. To enable line numbers in a major mode that
doesn’t derive from prog-mode or text-mode, you must specify it directly in
:enabled-for-modes. To enable line numbers even in non-prog-mode and
non-text-mode buffers, set :enabled-for-modes to all.
Examples:
Disable line numbers in dired-mode, doc-view-mode, markdown-mode, org-mode, pdf-view-mode, text-mode as well as buffers over 1Mb:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-line-numbers '(:relative nil
:disabled-for-modes dired-mode
doc-view-mode
markdown-mode
org-mode
pdf-view-mode
text-mode
:size-limit-kb 1000))Enable relative line numbers only in c-mode and c++ mode with a size limit of dotspacemacs-large-file-size:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-line-numbers '(:relative t
:enabled-for-modes c-mode
c++-mode
:size-limit-kb (* dotspacemacs-large-file-size 1000))Enable line numbers everywhere, except for buffers over 1Mb:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-line-numbers '(:relative nil
:size-limit-kb 1000))Enable line numbers only in programming modes, except for c-mode and c++ mode:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-line-numbers '(:relative nil
:enabled-for-modes prog-mode
:disabled-for-modes c-mode c++-mode
:size-limit-kb (* dotspacemacs-large-file-size 1000))Enable line numbers everywhere, even in non-prog-mode and non-text-mode buffers:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-line-numbers '(:enabled-for-modes 'all))Spacemacs supports different mode-line themes. The mode-line theme is set in the
dotfile with the variable dotspacemacs-mode-line-theme.
Currently supported themes are:
- spaceline themes:
spacemacs,all-the-icons,custom - a powerline theme:
vim-powerline - no theme at all:
vanilla
The default theme is spacemacs and this theme is described in more detailed in
the next section.
all-the-icons is the theme defined in the package spaceline-all-the-icons.
custom is a user custom spaceline theme, see the guide in the following section.
vim-powerline is for the Vim users who are nostalgic of the good old Vim
powerline.
vanilla is the stock mode-line that comes with Emacs.
For spacemacs, all-the-icons and custom themes you can specify the type
of separator you want with the property :separator.
(setq dotspacemacs-mode-line-theme '(all-the-icons :separator slant))Supported separators and preview:
| Separator | Spacemacs | All-the-icons | Screenshot |
|---|---|---|---|
alternate | X |  | |
arrow | X | X |  |
arrow-fade | X |  | |
bar | X |  | |
box | X |  | |
brace | X |  | |
butt | X |  | |
chamfer | X |  | |
contour | X |  | |
cup | X | ||
curve | X |  | |
rounded | X |  | |
roundstub | X |  | |
slant | X | X |  |
wave | X | X |  |
zigzag | X |  | |
nil | X |  | |
none | X |
A last special separator is supported, it is utf-8 which uses actual font
glyphs so it can be rendered in a terminal. You’ll need a font patched for the
Vim powerline to be able to use it. The default font used by Spacemacs Source
Code Pro already contains the glyphs.
For spacemacs, all-the-icons and custom themes you can specify the size of
the separator with the property :separator-scale. It allows to avoid crappy
rendering of the separators like on the following screenshot.
Ugly separators
Example:
(setq dotspacemacs-mode-line-theme '(all-the-icons :separator-scale 1.5))Note that this setting won’t work correctly when the separator is utf-8, if
you use this separator then it is recommended to set :separator-scale to 1.0.
This theme is a heavily customized powerline using spaceline. It has the following capabilities among others:
- show the window number
- color code for current state
- show the number of search occurrences via anzu
- toggle flycheck info
- toggle battery info
- toggle minor mode lighters
Reminder of the color codes for the states:
| Evil State | Color |
|---|---|
| Normal | Orange |
| Insert | Green |
| Visual | Grey |
| Emacs | Blue |
| Motion | Purple |
| Replace | Chocolate |
| Lisp | Pink |
| Iedit/Iedit-Insert | Red |
Some elements can be dynamically toggled:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC t m b | toggle the battery status |
SPC t m c | toggle the org task clock (available in org layer) |
SPC t m m | toggle the minor mode lighters |
SPC t m M | toggle the major mode |
SPC t m n | toggle the cat! (if colors layer is declared in your dotfile) |
SPC t m p | toggle the point character position |
SPC t m r | toggle responsivness of the mode-line |
SPC t m s | toggle system monitor (displayed in the minibuffer) |
SPC t m t | toggle the time |
SPC t m T | toggle the mode line itself |
SPC t m v | toggle the version control info |
SPC t m V | toggle the new version lighter |
When Flycheck minor mode is enabled, a new element appears showing the number of errors, warnings and info.
Flycheck integration in mode-line
Anzu shows the number of occurrences when performing a search. Spacemacs
integrates the Anzu status nicely by displaying it temporarily when n or N
are being pressed. See the 5/6 segment on the screenshot below.
Anzu integration in mode-line
fancy-battery displays the percentage of total charge of the battery as well as the time remaining to charge or discharge completely the battery.
A color code is used for the battery status:
| Battery State | Color |
|---|---|
| Charging | Green |
| Discharging | Orange |
| Critical | Red |
Note: These colors may vary depending on your theme.
If you want to use this theme you need to make sure to install the required fonts from the package repository, see all-the-icons fonts directory.
You can create your own Spaceline theme by setting the variable
dotspacemacs-mode-line-theme to custom and define a function called
spaceline-custom-theme in your dotspacemacs/user-init function of your
dotfile. This function must accept a variadic number of arguments which are
additional segments added by Spacemacs (like a segment to notify about available
updates etc…).
Example:
(defun spaceline-custom-theme (&rest additional-segments)
"My custom spaceline theme."
(spaceline-compile
`(major-mode (minor-modes :when active) buffer-id)
`((line-column :separator " | " :priority 3)
,@additional-segments))
(setq-default mode-line-format '("%e" (:eval (spaceline-ml-main)))))Restart Emacs and enjoy your very own mode-line!
Spacemacs uses diminish mode to reduce the size of minor mode indicators:
The minor mode area can be toggled on and off with SPC t m m
Unicode symbols are displayed by default. Setting the variable
dotspacemacs-mode-line-unicode-symbols to nil in your ~/.spacemacs will
display ASCII characters instead (may be useful in terminal if you cannot set an
appropriate font).
The letters displayed in the mode-line correspond to the key bindings used to toggle them.
Some toggles have two flavors: local and global. The global version of the toggle
can be reached using the control key.
Additionally all globally available toggles have a circled unicode symbols like
ⓟ. Toggles specific to a major mode under the SPC m T prefix have plain
squared symbols like 🅿.
| Key binding | Unicode | ASCII | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
SPC t - | ⊝ | - | centered-cursor mode |
SPC t 8 | ⑧ | 8 | toggle highlight of characters for long lines |
SPC t C-8 | ⑧ | 8 | global toggle highlight of characters for long lines |
SPC t C-- | ⊝ | - | global centered cursor |
SPC t a | ⓐ | a | auto-completion |
SPC t c | ⓒ | c | camel case motion with subword mode |
none | ⓔ | e | evil-org mode |
SPC t E e | Ⓔe | Ee | emacs editing style (holy mode) |
SPC t E h | Ⓔh | Eh | hybrid editing style (hybrid mode) |
SPC t f | ⓕ | f | fill-column-indicator mode |
SPC t F | Ⓕ | F | auto-fill mode |
SPC t G | Ⓖ | G | ggtags mode |
SPC t g | ⓖ | g | golden-ratio mode |
SPC t h i | ⓗi | hi | toggle highlight indentation levels |
SPC t h c | ⓗc | hc | toggle highlight indentation current column |
SPC t i | ⓘ | i | indentation guide |
SPC t C-i | ⓘ | i | global indentation guide |
SPC t I | Ⓘ | I | aggressive indent mode |
SPC t K | Ⓚ | K | which-key mode |
SPC t L | Ⓛ | L | visual line navigation |
SPC t C-S-l | Ⓛ | L | visual line navigation globally |
SPC t p | ⓟ | p | smartparens mode |
SPC t C-p | ⓟ | p | global smartparens |
SPC t s | ⓢ | s | syntax checking (flycheck) |
SPC t S | Ⓢ | S | enabled in spell checking layer (flyspell) |
SPC t w | ⓦ | w | whitespace mode |
SPC t C-w | ⓦ | w | global whitespace |
SPC t W | Ⓦ | W | automatic whitespace cleanup (see dotspacemacs-whitespace-cleanup) |
SPC t C-W | Ⓦ | W | automatic whitespace cleanup globally |
SPC t y | ⓨ | y | yasnippet mode |
Default frame title displays name of current process and hostname of system. You
can include more information (like name of current file, name of current project
etc) by setting dotspacemacs-frame-title-format variable.
Following format short codes are available:
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
%a | the abbreviated-file-name, or buffer-name |
%t | projectile-project-name |
%I | invocation-name |
%S | system-name |
%U | contents of $USER |
%b | buffer name |
%f | visited file name |
%F | frame name |
%s | process status |
%p | percent of buffer above top of window, or Top, Bot or All |
%P | percent of buffer above bottom of window, perhaps plus Top, or Bottom or All |
%m | mode name |
%n | Narrow if appropriate |
%z | mnemonics of buffer, terminal, and keyboard coding systems |
%Z | like %z, but including the end-of-line format” |
If you are using tiling window manager with tab support you may want to display
different title for inactive tabs with dotspacemacs-icon-title-format
variable. Short codes are same as for frame title.
If this variable is set to nil (default) its value will be same as
dotspacemacs-frame-title-format.
The Frame transparency can be toggled with: SPC T T
This also opens the Frame Transparency Transient State.
In the transient state:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
+, =, k | increase transparency |
-, _, j | decrease transparency |
T | toggle transparency on and off |
q | quit transient state |
Layouts are window configurations with buffer isolation. Each layout can define several workspaces (think of them as sub-layouts), sharing the same list of buffers as their parent layout.
A layout is a window configuration associated with a list of buffers. The list of buffers can be an arbitrarily chosen set of buffers. Spacemacs provides some facilities to create meaningful sets of buffers, for instance the buffers related to a projectile project.
The name of the current layout appears in the mode-line at the far left (first element of the mode-line).
To create a new layout, type a layout number that does not exist yet.
For instance if you have two layouts currently then type SPC l 3 to create a
third layout.
The default layout (the layout created at the startup of Emacs) is not
displayed in the mode-line but it is possible to display it by setting the
variable dotspacemacs-display-default-layout to t.
Its name is “default” by default but it can be changed by setting the variable
dotspacemacs-default-layout-name.
The default layout is special because it has a global scope which means that
all the opened buffers belong to it. So using only the default layout feels
like not using layouts at all.
A project layout is bound to a projectile project. To create a project layout
use SPC p l.
The name of the layout is the name of the project root directory.
Custom layouts can be defined using the macro spacemacs|define-custom-layout,
they are accessible via SPC l o.
By convention the name of a custom layout should start with @.
Example of custom layout definition for ERC buffers:
(spacemacs|define-custom-layout "@ERC"
:binding "E"
:body
(progn
;; hook to add all ERC buffers to the layout
(defun spacemacs-layouts/add-erc-buffer-to-persp ()
(persp-add-buffer (current-buffer)
(persp-get-by-name
erc-spacemacs-layout-name)))
(add-hook 'erc-mode-hook #'spacemacs-layouts/add-erc-buffer-to-persp)
;; Start ERC
(call-interactively 'erc)))Then use SPC l o E to start ERC inside its own layout. Any new ERC buffer
will be part of the custom layout.
Some custom layouts that ship with Spacemacs:
| Name | Key binding | Description |
|---|---|---|
| @Spacemacs | e | Custom perspective containing all buffers of ~/.emacs.d |
| @Mu4e | m | Custom perspective containing all mu4e buffers (needs the mu4e layer enabled) |
| @ERC | E | Custom perspective containing all ERC buffers (needs the erc layer enabled) |
| @RCIRC | i | Custom perspective containing all RCIRC buffers (needs the rcirc layer enabled) |
| @Slack | s | Custom perspective containing all Slack buffers (needs the slack layer enabled) |
| @Org | o | Custom perspective containing all the org-agenda buffers |
With SPC l s and SPC l L you can save and load layouts to/from a file.
Note: By default, Spacemacs will automatically save the layouts under the name
persp-auto-save.
Setting the variable dotspacemacs-auto-resume-layouts to t will
automatically resume the last saved layouts.
The key bindings are registered in a transient state. The docstring of the
transient state displays the existing layouts and the currently active
layout has square brackets. Pressing a layout number will activate it (or
create a new one) and exit the transient state. It is possible to just preview a
layout with Ctrl-<number>. Pressing TAB will activate the previously
selected layout.
Press ? to toggle the full help.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC l | initiate transient state |
? | toggle the documentation |
[0..9] | switch to nth layout |
[C-0..C-9] | switch to nth layout and keep the transient state active |
<tab> | switch to the latest layout |
a | add a buffer to the current layout |
A | add all the buffers from another layout in the current one |
b | select a buffer in the current layout |
d | delete the current layout and keep its buffers |
D | delete the other layouts and keep their buffers |
h | go to default layout |
l | select/create a layout |
L | load layouts from file |
n or C-l | next layout in list |
N or p or C-h | previous layout in list |
o | open a custom layout |
r | remove current buffer from layout |
R | rename current layout |
s | save layouts |
t | display a buffer without adding it to the current layout |
w | workspaces transient state (needs eyebrowse layer enabled) |
x | kill current layout with its buffers |
X | kill other layouts with their buffers |
By default SPC TAB which switches to last opened buffer is restricted to the
current layout. If there is only one opened buffer for a given layout then
SPC TAB won’t do anything and the following message is displayed in the
minibuffer:
Last buffer not found.
To allow SPC TAB to switch to the last opened buffer from another layout set
this variable spacemacs-layouts-restrict-spc-tab to nil. For instance in
your used layer list with layer variables:
(spacemacs-layouts :variables spacemacs-layouts-restrict-spc-tab t)
You can make any function “layout aware” by adding it to the list
spacemacs-layouts-restricted-functions. It is not possible to change this
variable when Emacs is running. You have to define it using layer variables.
If you change this variable then Emacs must be restarted for the change to
take effect.
Default value for this variable is:
'(spacemacs/window-split-double-columns spacemacs/window-split-triple-columns spacemacs/window-split-grid)
If you want to add the function my-func to this list you need to redefine
the complete list using layer variables:
(spacemacs-layouts :variables
spacemacs-layouts-restricted-functions
'(spacemacs/window-split-double-columns
spacemacs/window-split-triple-columns
spacemacs/window-split-grid
my-func))
Workspaces are sub-layouts, they allow to define multiple layouts into a given layout, those layouts share the same buffers as the parent layout.
The currently active workspace number is displayed before the window number, for instance “➊|➍” or “1|4” means the fourth window of the first workspace.
Any new layout comes with a default workspace which is the workspace 1.
Switching to a workspace that does not exist in the current layout will create a
new one. For instance at startup you can press SPC l w 2 to create the
workspace 2 in the default layout.
When created a workspace is anonymous, you can give them a name with
SPC l w R.
The key bindings are registered in a transient state. The docstring of the
transient state displays the existing workspaces and the currently active
workspace has square brackets. Pressing a workspace number will activate it (or
create a new one) and exit the transient state. It is possible to just preview a
workspace with Ctrl-<number>. Pressing TAB will activate the previously
selected workspace.
Press ? to toggle the full help.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC l w | initiate transient state |
? | toggle the documentation |
[0..9] | switch to nth workspace |
[C-0..C-9] | switch to nth workspace and keep the transient state active |
TAB | switch to last active workspace |
d | close current workspace |
n or l | switch to next workspace |
N or p or h | switch to previous workspace |
R | set a tag to the current workspace |
w | switched to tagged workspace |
There are also some handy globally available key bindings related to workspaces:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
gt | go to next workspace |
gT | go to previous workspace |
SPC b W | go to workspace and window by buffer |
Spacemacs is based on the Vim modal user interface to navigate and edit text.
If you are not familiar with the Vim way of editing text, then you can try the
evil-tutor lessons by pressing SPC h T v at any time.
Spacemacs uses evil-escape to
easily switch between insert state and normal state by quickly pressing the
fd keys.
The choice of fd was made to be able to use the same sequence to escape from
“everything” in Emacs:
- escape from all stock evil states to normal state
- escape from evil-lisp-state to normal state
- escape from evil-iedit-state to normal state
- abort evil ex command
- quit minibuffer
- abort isearch
- quit magit buffers
- quit help buffers
- quit apropos buffers
- quit ert buffers
- quit undo-tree buffer
- quit paradox
- quit gist-list menu
- quit helm-ag-edit
- hide neotree buffer
If you find yourself in a buffer where the Spacemacs (SPC) or Vim keybindings
don’t work you can use this to get back to normal state (for example in SPC
SPC customize press fd to make SPC b b work again).
This sequence can be customized in your ~/.spacemacs.
Example to set it to jj:
(defun dotspacemacs/user-config ()
(setq-default evil-escape-key-sequence "jj"))Note: Although jj or jk are popular choices of vim users, these key
sequences are not optimal for Spacemacs. Indeed it is very easy in visual
state to press quickly jj and inadvertently escape to normal state.
| Command | Key binding |
|---|---|
| Vim (ex-command) | : |
| Emacs (M-x) | SPC SPC |
The emacs command key SPC (executed after the leader key) can be changed
with the variable dotspacemacs-emacs-command-key of your ~/.spacemacs.
On top of Vim modes (modes are called states in Spacemacs) there is a
special key called the leader key which once pressed gives a whole new keyboard
layer. The leader key is by default SPC (space). It is possible to change this
key with the variable dotspacemacs-leader-key.
Key bindings specific to the current major mode start with SPC m. For
convenience a shortcut key called the major mode leader key is set by default on
, which saves one precious keystroke.
It is possible to change the major mode leader key by defining the variable
dotspacemacs-major-mode-leader-key in your ~/.spacemacs. For example to
setup the key on tabulation:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-major-mode-leader-key "<tab>")Additional text objects are defined in Spacemacs:
| Object | Description |
|---|---|
a | an argument |
g | the entire buffer |
l | a line |
$ | text between $ |
* | text between * |
8 | text between /* and */ |
% | text between % |
\vert | text between \vert |
SPC o and SPC m o are reserved for the user. Setting key bindings behind
these is guaranteed to never conflict with Spacemacs default key bindings.
Example: Put (spacemacs/set-leader-keys "oc" 'org-capture) inside
dotspacemacs/user-config in your ~/.spacemacs file, to be able to use
SPC o c to run org mode capture.
Spacemacs is powered by one of two incremental completion and selection
narrowing frameworks: Helm (default) or Ivy. To use Ivy, add the ivy layer to
your list of enabled layers. If the ivy layer is not enabled, Helm will be
enabled automatically. (Please note that, as Helm is the more mature of the two,
some functions may be unavailable if you choose Ivy.)
These completion systems are the central control towers of Spacemacs, they are used to manage buffers, projects, search results, configuration layers, toggles and more…
Mastering your choice of completion system will make you a Spacemacs power user.
For more information go to the layers documentation for Helm and Ivy.
Note: To open the Spacemacs documentation for Helm of Ivy in Emacs, open the
spacemacs-help menu with SPC h SPC and type helm or ivy then return.
A help buffer is displayed each time the SPC key is pressed in normal mode.
It lists the available key bindings and their associated commands.
By default the which-key buffer will be displayed quickly after the key has been
pressed. You can change the delay by setting the variable
dotspacemacs-which-key-delay to your liking (the value is in seconds).
Sometimes it can be handy to show some keymap persistently with which-key,
especially in buffers with merely evilified key bindings or using Emacs state,
e.g. Info buffers, gnus, eww etc. The persistent which-key state can be
toggled with SPC t k k. For some specific keymaps, dedicated key bindings are
also available behind the SPC t k prefix:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC t k k | toggle which-key persistent state |
SPC t k m | show persistent major-mode keymap. Toggle off with SPC t k k |
SPC t k M | show persistent full-major-mode keymap. Toggle off with SPC t k k |
SPC t k t | show persistent top-level keymap. Toggle off with SPC t k k |
The key bindings just set the which-key-persistent-popup to t, hence the
which-key buffer will keep updating. Therefore the latter 3 key bindings (SPC t
k m/M/t) can be used to return focus to their respective keymaps, while only
the first key binding SPC t k k can be used for toggling off the persistent
state.
It is possible to search for specific key bindings by pressing SPC ?.
To narrow the list to some key bindings, use the leader key to type a pattern like
this regular expression: SPC\ b which would list all buffer related
bindings.
Describe functions are powerful Emacs introspection commands to get
information about functions, variables, modes etc. These commands are bound
thusly:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC h d a | describe current expression under point |
SPC h d b | describe bindings |
SPC h d c | describe current character under point |
SPC h d f | describe a function |
SPC h d F | describe a face |
SPC h d k | describe a key |
SPC h d K | describe a keymap |
SPC h d l | copy last pressed keys that you can paste in gitter chat |
SPC h d m | describe current modes |
SPC h d p | describe a package (Emacs built-in function) |
SPC h d P | describe a package (Spacemacs layer information) |
SPC h d s | copy system information that you can paste in gitter chat |
SPC h d t | describe text properties |
SPC h d T | describe a theme |
SPC h d v | describe a variable |
SPC h d x | describe an evil ex-command |
Other help key bindings:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC h SPC | discover Spacemacs documentation, layers and packages |
SPC h . | search dotfile variables |
SPC h f | discover the FAQ |
SPC h i | search in info pages with the symbol at point |
SPC h k | show top-level bindings with which-key |
SPC h l | search layers |
SPC h m | search available man pages |
SPC h n | browse emacs news |
SPC h p | search packages |
SPC h r | search documentation files |
SPC h t | search toggles |
The Profiler is a tool that helps you identify why your editor is running
slowly or consumes a lot of memory. Here are key bindings relate to it:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC h P k | stop the profiler |
SPC h P r | display the profiler report |
SPC h P s | start the profiler |
SPC h P w | write the report to file |
Navigation key bindings in help-mode:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
J | scroll up (or next node) |
K | scroll down (or next node) |
g b or [ | go back (same as clicking on [back] button) |
g f or ] | go forward (same as clicking on [forward] button) |
g h | go to help for symbol under point |
Reporting an issue:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC h I | Open Spacemacs GitHub issue page with pre-filled information |
SPC u SPC h I | Open Spacemacs GitHub issue page with pre-filled information - include last pressed keys |
Note: To be able to report an issue you need to be logged into GitHub
Note: If these two bindings are used with the *Backtrace* buffer open, the
backtrace is automatically included
All layers can be easily discovered via spacemacs-help accessible with
SPC h SPC.
The following actions on the selected candidate are available:
- default: open the layer
README.org - 2nd: open the layer
packages.el
spacemacs-help also lists all the packages available in Spacemacs. The
entry format is (layer) packages. If you type flycheck you’ll be able to see
all the layers where flycheck is used.
The following actions are available on selected package:
- default: go the package init function
package-list-packages is where you can browse for all available packages in the
different Elpa repositories. It is possible to upgrade packages from there but
it is not recommended, use the [Update Packages] link on the Spacemacs startup
page instead.
Spacemacs uses Paradox instead of package-list-packages to list available
ELPA packages. Paradox enhances the package list buffer with better feedbacks,
new filters and GitHub information like the number of stars. Optionally you can
also star packages directly in the buffer.
Important Note 1: Installing a new package from Paradox won’t make it
persistent. To install a package persistently you have to add it explicitly to a
configuration layer.
Important Note 2: Don’t update your packages from Paradox or
package-list-packages because they don’t support the rollback feature of
Spacemacs.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC a k | launch paradox |
/ | evil-search |
f k | filter by keywords |
f r | filter by regexp |
f u | display only installed package with updates available |
h | go left |
H | show help (not accurate) |
j | go down |
k | go up |
l | go right |
L | show last commits |
n | next search occurrence |
N | previous search occurrence |
o | open package homepage |
r | refresh |
S P | sort by package name |
S S | sort by status (installed, available, etc…) |
S * | sort by GitHub stars |
v | visual state |
V | visual-line state |
x | execute (action flags) |
spacemacs-help is also a central place to discover the available toggles.
To display only the toggles source press C-l.
The following actions are available on selected toggle:
- default: toggle on/off
Navigation is performed using the Vi key bindings hjkl.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
h | move cursor left |
j | move cursor down |
k | move cursor up |
l | move cursor right |
H | move cursor to the top of the screen |
L | move cursor to the bottom of the screen |
SPC j 0 | go to the beginning of line (and set a mark at the previous location in the line) |
SPC j $ | go to the end of line (and set a mark at the previous location in the line) |
SPC t - | lock the cursor at the center of the screen |
smooth-scrolling prevent the point to jump when it reaches the top or bottom of the screen. It is enabled by default.
On Windows, you may want to disable it. To disable the smooth scrolling set the
dotspacemacs-smooth-scrolling variable in your ~/.spacemacs to nil:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-smooth-scrolling nil)You can also toggle smooth scrolling with SPC t v.
Spacemacs uses the evil integration of avy which enables the
invocation of avy during motions.
For instance, it is useful for deleting a set of visual lines from the current line.
Try the following sequence in a buffer containing some text: d SPC j l, followed by
selecting an avy candidate.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC j b | go back to the previous location (before the jump) |
SPC j j | initiate avy jump char |
SPC j w | initiate avy jump word |
SPC j l | initiate avy jump line |
Similar to avy, ace-link allows one to jump to any link in
help-mode, woman-mode and info-mode.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
o | initiate ace link mode in help, info and woman-mode |
Spacemacs comes with a built-in port of tpope’s vim-unimpaired.
This plugin provides several pairs of bracket maps using [ to denote
previous, and ] as next.
| Key bindings | Description |
|---|---|
[ SPC | Insert space above |
] SPC | Insert space below |
[ b | Go to previous buffer |
] b | Go to next buffer |
[ f | Go to previous file in directory |
] f | Go to next file in directory |
[ l | Go to the previous error |
] l | Go to the next error |
[ h | Go to the previous vcs hunk |
] h | Go to the next vcs hunk |
[ q | Go to the previous error |
] q | Go to the next error |
[ t | Go to the previous frame |
] t | Go to the next frame |
[ w | Go to the previous window |
] w | Go to the next window |
[ e | Move line up |
] e | Move line down |
[ p | Paste above current line |
] p | Paste below current line |
g p | Select pasted text |
The SPC j prefix is for jumping, joining and splitting.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC j 0 | go to the beginning of line (and set a mark at the previous location in the line) |
SPC j ( | jump to first unbalanced parentheses |
SPC j $ | go to the end of line (and set a mark at the previous location in the line) |
SPC j b | undo a jump (go back to previous location) |
SPC j c | go to last change |
SPC j d | jump to a listing of the current directory |
SPC j D | jump to a listing of the current directory (other window) |
SPC j f | jump to the definition of an Emacs Lisp function |
SPC j i | jump to a definition in buffer (imenu) |
SPC j I | jump to a definition in any buffer (imenu) |
SPC j j | jump to one or more characters in the buffer (works as an evil motion) |
SPC j k | jump to next line and indent it using auto-indent rules |
SPC j l | jump to a line with avy (works as an evil motion) |
SPC j u | jump to a URL in the current buffer |
SPC j U | select a URL in the current buffer and follow it |
SPC j v | jump to the definition/declaration of an Emacs Lisp variable |
SPC j w | jump to a word in the current buffer (works as an evil motion) |
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
J | join the current line with the next line |
SPC j k | go to next line and indent it using auto-indent rules |
SPC j n | split the current line at point, insert a new line and auto-indent |
SPC j o | split the current line at point but let point on current line |
SPC j s | split a quoted string or s-expression in place |
SPC j S | split a quoted string or s-expression, insert a new line and auto-indent |
SPC j = | format the marked region or entire buffer |
SPC j + | format the marked region or entire buffer also cleanup whitespace |
Every window has a number displayed at the start of the mode-line and
can be quickly accessed using SPC number.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC 1 | go to window number 1 |
SPC 2 | go to window number 2 |
SPC 3 | go to window number 3 |
SPC 4 | go to window number 4 |
SPC 5 | go to window number 5 |
SPC 6 | go to window number 6 |
SPC 7 | go to window number 7 |
SPC 8 | go to window number 8 |
SPC 9 | go to window number 9 |
Window number 0 is a special case and selects sidebar windows, like treemacs. If there is no window
number 0, SPC 0 attempts to select window number 10.
Windows manipulation commands (start with w):
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC w TAB | switch to alternate window in the current frame (switch back and forth) |
SPC w = | balance split windows |
SPC w _ | maximize window horizontally |
SPC w \vert | maximize window vertically |
SPC w b | force the focus back to the minibuffer |
SPC w c c | toggle visual centering of the current buffer |
SPC w c C | toggle visual distraction free mode |
SPC w c . | center buffer and enable centering transient state |
SPC w d | delete a window |
SPC u SPC w d | delete a window and its current buffer (does not delete the file) |
SPC w D | delete another window using ace-window |
SPC u SPC w D | delete another window and its current buffer using ace-window |
SPC w t | toggle window dedication (dedicated window cannot be reused by a mode) |
SPC w f | toggle follow mode |
SPC w F | create new frame |
SPC w h | move to window on the left |
SPC w H | move window to the left |
SPC w j | move to window below |
SPC w J | move window to the bottom |
SPC w k | move to window above |
SPC w K | move window to the top |
SPC w l | move to window on the right |
SPC w L | move window to the right |
SPC w m | maximize/minimize a window (maximize is equivalent to delete other windows) |
SPC w M | swap windows using ace-window |
SPC w o | cycle and focus between frames |
SPC w p m | open messages buffer in a popup window |
SPC w p p | close the current sticky popup window |
SPC w r | rotate windows forward |
SPC w R | rotate windows backward |
SPC w s or SPC w - | horizontal split |
SPC w S | horizontal split and focus new window |
SPC w u | undo window layout (used to effectively undo a closed window) |
SPC w U | redo window layout |
SPC w v or SPC w / | vertical split |
SPC w V | vertical split and focus new window |
SPC w w | cycle and focus between windows |
SPC w W | select window using ace-window |
SPC w x | delete a window and its current buffer (does not delete the file) |
SPC w [ | shrink window horizontally (enter transient state) |
SPC w ] | enlarge window horizontally (enter transient state) |
SPC w { | shrink window vertically (enter transient state) |
SPC w } | enlarge window vertically (enter transient state) |
Split the current window into multiple ones, deleting all others using the following commands:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC w 1 | make 1 window layout |
SPC w 2 | make 2 windows layout (split vertically) |
SPC w 3 | make 3 windows layout (split vertically) |
SPC w 4 | make 4 windows layout (split in 2x2 grid) |
By default, the commands above ignore some windows, like the filetrees (treemacs and neotree) but you can use a prefix argument to force delete them.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC u SPC w 1 | make 1 window layout with force delete |
SPC u SPC w 2 | make 2 windows layout (split vertically) with force delete |
SPC u SPC w 3 | make 3 windows layout (split vertically) with force delete |
SPC u SPC w 4 | make 4 windows layout (split in 2x2 grid) with force delete |
You can also configure which windows get ignored when executing the above
commands by adding a prefix to the spacemacs-window-split-ignore-prefixes
list:
(add-to-list 'spacemacs-window-split-ignore-prefixes "My Favourite Window")Or if you want a certain ignored window to always be deleted you can remote it from the list:
(setq spacemacs-window-split-ignore-prefixes
(remove treemacs--buffer-name-prefix spacemacs-window-split-ignore-prefixes))And if you want even more control over the way windows are removed you can define your own deletion function:
(defun my-delete-other-windows () (delete-other-windows))
(setq spacemacs-window-split-delete-function 'my-delete-other-windows)A convenient window transient state allows for performing most of the actions listed above. For example window resizing.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC w . | initiate transient state |
? | display the full documentation in minibuffer |
0 | go to window number 0 |
1 | go to window number 1 |
2 | go to window number 2 |
3 | go to window number 3 |
4 | go to window number 4 |
5 | go to window number 5 |
6 | go to window number 6 |
7 | go to window number 7 |
8 | go to window number 8 |
9 | go to window number 9 |
/ | vertical split |
- | horizontal split |
\vert | maximize window vertically |
_ | maximize window horizontally |
[ | shrink window horizontally |
] | enlarge window horizontally |
{ | shrink window vertically |
} | enlarge window vertically |
d | delete window |
D | delete other windows |
g | toggle golden-ratio on and off |
h <left> | go to window on the left |
j <down> | go to window below |
k <up> | go to window above |
l <right> | go to window on the right |
H <S-left> | move window to the left |
J <S-down> | move window to the bottom |
K <S-up> | move bottom to the top |
L <S-right> | move window to the right |
m | toggle maximization of current window |
o | focus other frame |
a | call ace window mode |
r | rotate windows forward |
R | rotate windows backward |
s | horizontal split |
S | horizontal split and focus new window |
u | undo window layout (used to effectively undo a closed window) |
U | redo window layout |
v | vertical split |
V | vertical split and focus new window |
w | focus other window |
If you resize windows like crazy you may want to give a try to golden-ratio.
golden-ratio resizes windows dynamically depending on whether they are
selected or not. By default golden-ratio is off.
The mode can be toggled on and off with SPC t g.
With few exceptions, buffer manipulation commands (start with b):
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC TAB | switch to alternate buffer in the current window (switch back and forth) |
C-TAB/C-S tab | cycle backward/forward through previous visited buffers (i.e. scroll helm buffer list) |
SPC b b | switch to a buffer |
SPC b d | kill the current buffer (does not delete the visited file) |
SPC u SPC b d | kill the current buffer and window (does not delete the visited file) |
SPC b D | kill a visible buffer using ace-window |
SPC u SPC b D | kill a visible buffer and its window using ace-window |
SPC b C-d | kill other buffers |
SPC b C-D | kill buffers using a regular expression |
SPC b e | erase the content of the buffer (ask for confirmation) |
SPC b h | open *spacemacs* home buffer |
SPC b H | open or select the *Help* buffer |
SPC b n | switch to next buffer avoiding buffers matching spacemacs-useless-buffers-regexp |
SPC b m | open *Messages* buffer |
SPC u SPC b m | kill all buffers and windows except the current one |
SPC b M | kill all buffers matching the regexp |
SPC b p | switch to previous buffer avoiding buffers matching spacemacs-useless-buffers-regexp |
SPC b P | copy clipboard and replace buffer (useful when pasting from a browser) |
SPC b R | revert the current buffer (reload from disk) |
SPC b s | switch to the *scratch* buffer (create it if needed) |
SPC b u | reopen the most recently killed file buffer |
SPC b w | toggle read-only (writable state) |
SPC b x | kill the current buffer and window (does not delete the visited file) |
SPC b Y | copy whole buffer to clipboard (useful when copying to a browser) |
z f | Make current function or comments visible in buffer as much as possible |
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC b N h | create new empty buffer in a new window on the left |
SPC b N C-i | create an indirect buffer from an existing opened buffer |
SPC b N i | create an indirect buffer that is clone of currently opened buffer |
SPC b N I | create an indirect buffer that is clone of currently opened buffer, and open it in other window |
SPC b N j | create new empty buffer in a new window at the bottom |
SPC b N k | create new empty buffer in a new window above |
SPC b N l | create new empty buffer in a new window below |
SPC b N n | create new empty buffer in current window |
A convenient buffer transient state allows for quickly cycling through the open buffers and closing them.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC b . | initiate transient state |
[1..9] | move current buffer to nth window |
[C-1..C-9] | switch focus to nth window |
[M-1..M-9] | swap current buffer with nth window |
b | list all buffers with helm/ivy (avoid buffers matching spacemacs-useless-buffers-regexp) |
d | kill current buffer |
C-d | bury current buffer |
n or <right> | go to next buffer (avoid buffers matching spacemacs-useless-buffers-regexp) |
N or p or <left> | go to previous buffer (avoid buffers matching spacemacs-useless-buffers-regexp) |
o | switch focus to other window |
z | recenter buffer in window |
q | quit transient state |
Unlike vim, emacs creates many buffers that most people do not need to see. Some
examples are the *Messages* and *Compile-Log* buffers. Spacemacs tries to
automatically ignore buffers that are not useful. However, you may want to
change the way Spacemacs marks buffers as useful. For instructions, see the
special buffer howto.
File manipulation commands (start with f):
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC f A | open a file and replace the current buffer with the new file |
SPC f b | go to file bookmarks |
SPC f c | copy current file to a different location |
SPC f C d | convert file from unix to dos encoding |
SPC f C u | convert file from dos to unix encoding |
SPC f D | delete a file and the associated buffer (ask for confirmation) |
SPC f E | open a file with elevated privileges (sudo edit) |
SPC f f | open file |
SPC f F | try to open the file under point |
SPC f h | open binary file with hexl (a hex editor) |
SPC f j | jump to the current buffer file in dired |
SPC f J | open a junk file, in mode determined by the file extension provided (defaulting to fundamental mode) |
SPC f l | open file literally in fundamental mode |
SPC f L | Locate a file (using locate) |
SPC f o | open a file using the default external program |
SPC f R | rename the current file |
SPC f s | save a file |
SPC f S | save all files |
SPC f r | open a recent file |
SPC f t | toggle file tree side bar using Treemacs |
SPC f v d | add a directory variable |
SPC f v f | add a local variable to the current file |
SPC f v p | add a local variable to the first line of the current file |
SPC f y c | show and copy current file absolute path with line and column number in the minibuffer |
SPC f y d | show and copy current directory absolute path in the minibuffer |
SPC f y l | show and copy current file absolute path with line number in the minibuffer |
SPC f y n | show and copy current file name with extension in the minibuffer |
SPC f y N | show and copy current file name without extension in the minibuffer |
SPC f y y | show and copy current file absolute path in the minibuffer |
Frame manipulation commands (start with F):
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC F f | open a file in another frame |
SPC F d | delete the current frame (unless it’s the only one) |
SPC F D | delete all other frames |
SPC F b | open a buffer in another frame |
SPC F B | open a buffer in another frame (but don’t switch) |
SPC F o | cycle focus between frames |
SPC F O | open a dired buffer in another frame |
SPC F n | create a new frame |
Convenient key bindings are located under the prefix SPC f e to quickly
navigate between Emacs and Spacemacs specific files.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC f e d | open the spacemacs dotfile (~/.spacemacs) |
SPC f e D | open ediff buffer of ~/.spacemacs and .spacemacs.template |
SPC f e e | open the ~/.spacemacs.env file where environment variables are set or goes to dotspacemacs/user-env |
SPC f e E | reload the environment variables by executing the function dotspacemacs/user-env |
SPC f e C-e | reinitialize the ~/.spacemacs.env file by importing system and shell environment variables |
SPC f e i | open the all mighty init.el |
SPC f e I | open the early-init.el |
SPC f e l | locate an Emacs library |
SPC f e R | resync the dotfile with spacemacs |
SPC f e U | update packages |
SPC f e v | display and copy the spacemacs version |
SPC f e c | recompile all elpa packages |
In vim style and hybrid style with the variable
hybrid-mode-enable-hjkl-bindings set to t, you can navigate with hjkl.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
C-h | go up one level (parent directory |
C-H | describe key (replace C-h) |
C-j | go to previous candidate |
C-k | go to next candidate |
C-l | enter current directory |
popwin is used to manage buffers such as *Help*, *Completions*,
*compilation*, and etc. Use C-g to close them or most of the time you can
close them with q also. Use SPC-r-w to view the last closed popup buffer.
Spacemacs displays the ido minibuffer vertically thanks to the
ido-vertical-mode.
Basic ido operations can be done with Ctrl key:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
C-RET | open a dired buffer |
M-RET | select the buffer or file named by the prompt |
C-d | delete selected file (ask for confirmation) |
C-h | go to parent directory |
C-j | select next file or directory |
C-k | select previous file or directory |
C-l | open the selected file |
C-n | select next file or directory |
C-o | open selected file in other window |
C-p | select previous file or directory |
C-s | open selected file in a vertically split window |
C-t | open selected file in a new frame |
C-v | open selected file in a horizontally split window |
C-S-h | go to previous directory |
C-S-j or C-S-n | next history element |
C-S-k or C-S-p | previous history element |
C-S-l | go to next directory |
Spacemacs defines a transient state for ido.
Initiate the transient state with M-SPC or s-M-SPC while in an ido buffer.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
M-SPC or s-M-SPC | initiate or leave the transient state |
? | display help |
e | open dired |
h | delete backward or parent directory |
j | next match |
J | sub directory |
k | previous match |
K | parent directory |
l | select match |
n | next directory in history |
o | open in other window |
p | previous directory in history |
q | quit transient state |
s | open in a new horizontal split |
t | open in other frame |
v | open in a new vertical split |
Bookmarks can be set anywhere in a file. Bookmarks are persistent. They are very useful to jump to/open a known project.
Open the bookmark completion window by pressing= SPC f b
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
C-d | delete the selected bookmark |
C-e | edit the selected bookmark |
C-f | toggle filename location |
C-o | open the selected bookmark in another window |
To save a new bookmark, just type the name of the bookmark and press RET.
doc-view-mode is a built-in major mode to view DVI, PostScript (PS), PDF,
OpenDocument, and Microsoft Office documents.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
/ | search forward |
? | search backward |
+ | enlarge |
- | shrink |
gg | go to first page |
G | go to last page |
gt | go to page number |
h | previous page |
H | adjust to height |
j | next line |
k | previous line |
K | kill proc and buffer |
l | next page |
n | go to next search occurrence |
N | go to previous search occurrence |
P | fit page to window |
r | revert |
W | adjust to width |
C-d | scroll down |
C-k | kill proc |
C-u | scroll up |
C-c C-c | toggle display text and image display |
C-c C-t | open new buffer with doc’s text contents |
By default auto-saving of files is performed every 300 characters and
every 30 seconds of idle time which can be changed by setting to a
new value the variables auto-save-interval and auto-save-timeout
respectively.
Auto-save of modified files can be performed in-place on the original file itself or in the cache directory (in this case the original file will remain unsaved). By default Spacemacs auto-save the file in the cache directory.
To modify the location set the variable dotspacemacs-auto-save-file-location
to original or cache.
Local files are auto-saved in a sub-directory called site in the cache
directory whereas remote files (i.e. files edited over TRAMP) are auto-saved
in a sub-directory called dist.
To disable auto-saving set the variable dotspacemacs-auto-save-file-location
to nil.
You can toggle auto-save in a buffer by calling the command auto-save-mode.
Spacemacs can be interfaced with different search utilities like:
The search commands in Spacemacs are organized under the SPC s prefix with the
next key is the tool to use and the last key is the scope. For instance
SPC s a b will search in all opened buffers using ag.
If the last key (determining the scope) is uppercase then the current region or
symbol under point is used as default input for the search. For instance
SPC s a B will search with symbol under point (if there is no active region).
If the tool key is omitted then a default tool will be automatically selected
for the search. This tool corresponds to the first tool found on the system of
the list dotspacemacs-search-tools, the default order is rg, ag, pt,
ack then grep. For instance SPC s b will search in the opened buffers
using pt if rg and ag have not been found on the system.
The tool keys are:
| Tool | Key |
|---|---|
| ag | a |
| grep | g |
| ack | k |
| rg | r |
| pt | t |
The available scopes and corresponding keys are:
| Scope | Key |
|---|---|
| opened buffers | b |
| files in a given directory | f |
| current project | p |
It is possible to search in the current file by double tapping the second key
of the sequence, for instance SPC s a a will search in the current
file with ag.
Notes:
rg,agandptare optimized to be used in a source control repository but they can be used in an arbitrary directory as well.- It is also possible to search in several directories at once by marking them in the Helm buffer (not available in Ivy).
Beware if you use pt, TCL parser tools also install a command line tool
called pt.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
F3 | in a completion buffer, save results to a regular buffer |
SPC r l | resume the last completion buffer |
SPC r s or SPC s l | resume search buffer (completion or converted search buffer) |
SPC s ` | go back to the previous place before jump |
| Prefix argument | will ask for file extensions |
When results have been saved in a regular buffer with F3, that buffer supports
browsing through the matches with Spacemacs’ next-error and previous-error
bindings (SPC e n and SPC e p) as well as the error transient state (SPC e .).
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC s s | search with the first found tool |
SPC s S | search with the first found tool with default input |
SPC s a a | ag |
SPC s a A | ag with default input |
SPC s g g | grep |
SPC s g G | grep with default input |
SPC s r r | rg |
SPC s r R | rg with default input |
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC s b | search with the first found tool |
SPC s B | search with the first found tool with default input |
SPC s a b | ag |
SPC s a B | ag with default text |
SPC s g b | grep |
SPC s g B | grep with default text |
SPC s k b | ack |
SPC s k B | ack with default text |
SPC s r b | rg |
SPC s r B | rg with default text |
SPC s t b | pt |
SPC s t B | pt with default text |
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC s f | search with the first found tool |
SPC s F | search with the first found tool with default input |
SPC s a f | ag |
SPC s a F | ag with default text |
SPC s g f | grep |
SPC s g F | grep with default text |
SPC s k f | ack |
SPC s k F | ack with default text |
SPC s r f | rg |
SPC s r F | rg with default text |
SPC s t f | pt |
SPC s t F | pt with default text |
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC / or SPC s d | search with the first found tool |
SPC * or SPC s D | search with the first found tool with default input |
SPC s a d | ag |
SPC s a D | ag with default text |
SPC s g d | grep with default text |
SPC s k d | ack |
SPC s k D | ack with default text |
SPC s t d | pt |
SPC s t D | pt with default text |
SPC s r d | rg |
SPC s r D | rg with default text |
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC / or SPC s p | search with the first found tool |
SPC * or SPC s P | search with the first found tool with default input |
SPC s a p | ag |
SPC s a P | ag with default text |
SPC s g p | grep with default text |
SPC s k p | ack |
SPC s k P | ack with default text |
SPC s t p | pt |
SPC s t P | pt with default text |
SPC s r p | rg |
SPC s r P | rg with default text |
Hint: It is also possible to search in a project without needing to open a
file beforehand. To do so use SPC p p and then C-s on a given project to
directly search into it like with SPC s p.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC s w g | Get Google suggestions in emacs. Opens Google results in Browser. |
Spacemacs uses evil-search-highlight-persist to keep the searched expression
highlighted until the next search. It is also possible to clear the highlighting
by pressing SPC s c or executing the ex command :noh.
Spacemacs supports highlighting of the current symbol on demand (provided by auto-highlight-symbol mode) and adds a transient state to easily navigate and rename this symbol.
It is also possible to change the range of the navigation on the fly to:
- buffer
- function
- visible area
To initiate the highlighting of the current symbol under point press SPC s h.
Navigation between the highlighted symbols can be done with the commands:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
* | initiate navigation transient state on current symbol and jump forwards |
# | initiate navigation transient state on current symbol and jump backwards |
SPC s e | edit all occurrences of the current symbol(/) |
SPC s h | highlight the current symbol and all its occurrence within the current range |
SPC s H | go to the last searched occurrence of the last highlighted symbol |
SPC t h a | toggle automatic highlight of symbol under point after ahs-idle-interval seconds |
During the symbol highlight transient state, the following bindings are active:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
e | edit occurrences (*) |
n | go to next occurrence |
N or p | go to previous occurrence |
d | go to next definition occurrence |
D | go to previous definition occurrence |
r | change range (function, display area, whole buffer) |
R | go to home occurrence (reset position to starting occurrence) |
s | search current buffer for symbol using ivy / helm |
b | search all open buffers for symbol using ivy / helm |
f | search files for symbol |
/ | search current project for symbol |
z | recenter buffer in window |
(*) using iedit or the default implementation of auto-highlight-symbol
The minibuffer displays the following information during the transient state:
Buffer [6/11]*
Where M [x/y]* indicates:
M: the current search scope, which is one of the following:Buffer: whole buffer rangeDisplay: current display rangeFunction: current function range (dependent on the programming language major mode)
x: the index of the current highlighted occurrencey: the total number of occurrences*: appears if there is at least one occurrence which is not currently visible.
With evil-visualstar you can search for the next occurrence of the current selection.
It is pretty useful combined with the expand-region bindings.
Note: If the current state is not the visual state then pressing * uses
auto-highlight-symbol and its transient state.
To list all the symbols of a buffer press SPC s j
The paste transient state can be enabled by setting the variable
dotspacemacs-enable-paste-transient-state to t. By default it is disabled.
When the transient state is enabled, after you paste something, pressing C-j
or C-k will replace the pasted text with the previous or next yanked (copied)
text on the kill ring.
For example if you copy foo and bar then press p the text bar will
be pasted, pressing C-j will replace bar with foo.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
p or P | paste the text before or after point and initiate the paste transient state |
C-j | in transient state: replace paste text with the previously copied one |
C-k | in transient state: replace paste text with the next copied one |
By default any pasted text will be auto-indented. To paste text un-indented use the universal argument.
It is possible to disable the auto-indentation for specific major-modes by
adding a major-mode to the variable spacemacs-indent-sensitive-modes in your
dotspacemacs/user-config function.
Text related commands (start with x):
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC x . | enter the drag stuff transient state |
SPC x TAB | indent or dedent a region rigidly |
SPC x a & | align region at & |
SPC x a ( | align region at ( |
SPC x a ) | align region at ) |
SPC x a [ | align region at [ |
SPC x a ] | align region at ] |
SPC x a { | align region at { |
SPC x a } | align region at } |
SPC x a , | align region at , |
SPC x a . | align region at . (for numeric tables) |
SPC x a : | align region at : |
SPC x a ; | align region at ; |
SPC x a = | align region at = |
SPC x a a | align region (or guessed section) using default rules |
SPC x a c | align current indentation region using default rules |
SPC x a l | left-align with evil-lion |
SPC x a L | right-align with evil-lion |
SPC x a r | align region using user-specified regexp |
SPC x a m | align region at arithmetic operators (+-*/) |
SPC x a ¦ | align region at ¦ |
SPC x A | Open all visible links |
SPC x c | count the number of chars/words/lines in the selection region |
SPC x d l | delete blank lines but one or the single blank line |
SPC x d w | delete trailing whitespaces |
SPC x d SPC | Delete all spaces and tabs around point, leaving one space |
SPC x e | Edit strings in place |
SPC x g l | set languages used by translate commands |
SPC x g t | translate current word using Google Translate |
SPC x g T | reverse source and target languages |
SPC x i c | change symbol style to lowerCamelCase |
SPC x i C | change symbol style to UpperCamelCase |
SPC x i i | cycle symbol naming styles (i to keep cycling) |
SPC x i - | change symbol style to kebab-case |
SPC x i k | change symbol style to kebab-case |
SPC x i _ | change symbol style to under_score |
SPC x i u | change symbol style to under_score |
SPC x i U | change symbol style to UP_CASE |
SPC x j c | set the justification to center |
SPC x j f | set the justification to full |
SPC x j l | set the justification to left |
SPC x j n | set the justification to none |
SPC x j r | set the justification to right |
SPC x J | drag down a line of text (enter drag stuff transient state) |
SPC x K | drag up a line of text (enter drag stuff transient state) |
SPC x l d | duplicate line or region |
SPC x l r | randomize lines in region |
SPC x l s | sort lines |
SPC x l u | uniquify lines |
SPC x o | use avy to select a link in the frame and open it |
SPC x O | use avy to select multiple links in the frame and open them |
SPC x t c | swap (transpose) the current character with the previous one |
SPC x t e | swap (transpose) the current sexp with the previous one |
SPC x t l | swap (transpose) the current line with the previous one |
SPC x t p | swap (transpose) the current paragraph with the previous one |
SPC x t s | swap (transpose) the current sentence with the previous one |
SPC x t w | swap (transpose) the current word with the previous one |
SPC x u | set the selected text to lower case |
SPC x U | set the selected text to upper case |
SPC x w c | count the number of occurrences per word in the select region |
SPC x w d | show dictionary entry of word from wordnik.com |
SPC x w r | randomize words in region |
SPC x y | use avy to copy a link in the frame |
SPC x Y | use avy to copy multiple links in the frame |
The drag stuff transient state is opened with SPC x .:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
k, K, Up | drag up |
j, J, Down | drag down |
h, H, Left | drag left (word or region) |
l, L, Right | drag right (word or region) |
q | quit transient state |
Text insertion commands (start with i):
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC i l l | insert lorem-ipsum list |
SPC i l p | insert lorem-ipsum paragraph |
SPC i l s | insert lorem-ipsum sentence |
SPC i p 1 | insert simple password |
SPC i p 2 | insert stronger password |
SPC i p 3 | insert password for paranoids |
SPC i p p | insert a phonetically easy password |
SPC i p n | insert a numerical password |
SPC i u | Search for Unicode characters and insert them into the active buffer. |
SPC i U 1 | insert UUIDv1 (use universal argument to insert with CID format) |
SPC i U 4 | insert UUIDv4 (use universal argument to insert with CID format) |
SPC i U U | insert UUIDv4 (use universal argument to insert with CID format) |
Hint: You can change the length of the inserted password with a numerical
prefix argument, for instance 24 SPC i p p will insert a password
with 24 characters.
Smartparens comes with a strict mode which prevents deletion of parenthesis if the result is unbalanced.
This mode can be frustrating for novices, this is why it is not enabled by default.
It is possible to enable it easily for all programming modes with the variable
dotspacemacs-smartparens-strict-mode of you ~/.spacemacs.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-smartparens-strict-mode t)The font size of the current buffer can be adjusted with the commands:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC z x +, SPC z x =, SPC z x k | scale up the font and initiate the font scaling transient state |
SPC z x -, SPC z x _, SPC z x j | scale down the font and initiate the font scaling transient state |
SPC z x 0 | reset the font size (no scaling) and initiate the font scaling transient state |
In the transient state:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
+, =, k | increase the font size |
-, _, j | decrease the font size |
0 | reset the font size |
q | quit transient state |
Note that only the text of the current buffer is scaled, the other buffers,
the mode-line and the minibuffer are not affected. To zoom the whole content of
a frame use the zoom frame bindings (see next section).
You can zoom in and out the whole content of the frame with the commands:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC z f +, SPC z f =, SPC z f k | zoom in the frame content and initiate the frame scaling transient state |
SPC z f -, SPC z f _, SPC z f j | zoom out the frame content and initiate the frame scaling transient state |
SPC z f 0 | reset the frame content size and initiate the frame scaling transient state |
In the transient state:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
+, =, k | zoom frame in |
-, _, j | zoom frame out |
0 | reset frame zoom |
q | quit transient state |
Spacemacs uses evil-numbers to easily increase or decrease numbers.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC n +, SPC n = | increase the number under point by one and initiate transient state |
SPC n -, SPC n _ | decrease the number under point by one and initiate transient state |
In the transient state:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
+, =, k | increase the number under point by one |
-, _, j | decrease the number under point by one |
0..9 | add a number prefix argument |
q | quit transient state |
Tips: You can increase or decrease a number by more than one at a time, by
using a prefix argument (i.e. 10 SPC n + will add 10 to the number under
point).
Spell checking is enabled by including the spell checking layer in your dotfile.
Key bindings are listed in the layer documentation.
Vi Visual modes are all supported by evil.
Spacemacs adds another Visual mode via the expand-region mode.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC v | initiate expand-region mode then… |
v | expand the region by one semantic unit |
V | contract the region by one semantic unit |
r | reset the region to initial selection |
ESC | leave expand-region mode |
With evil-indent-plus the following text objects are available:
ii- Inner Indentation: the surrounding textblock with the same indentationiI- Above and Indentation:ii+ the line above with a different indentationiJ- Above, Below and Indentation+:iI+ the line below with a different indentation- There are also
avariants that include whitespace. Example (|indicates point):(while (not done) (messa|ge "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.")) (1+ 41)
viiwill select the line with messageviIwill select the whole while loopviJwill select the whole fragment
The displayed text of a buffer can be narrowed with the commands (start with
n):
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC n f | narrow the buffer to the current function |
SPC n p | narrow the buffer to the visible page |
SPC n r | narrow the buffer to the selected text |
SPC n w | widen, i.e. show the whole buffer again |
SPC n F | narrow to the current function in an indirect buffer |
SPC n P | narrow to the visible page in an indirect buffer |
SPC n R | narrow to the selected text in an indirect buffer |
Narrowing in an indirect buffer overcomes the problem that a buffer can only be narrowed in one place at a given time.
Spacemacs uses the powerful iedit mode through evil-iedit-state to quickly edit multiple occurrences of a symbol or selection.
evil-iedit-state defines two new evil states:
iedit stateiedit-insert state
The color code for these states is red.
evil-iedit-state has also a nice integration with expand-region for quick
editing of the currently selected text by pressing e.
| Key binding | From | To |
|---|---|---|
SPC s e | normal or visual | iedit |
e | expand-region | iedit |
ESC | iedit | normal |
C-g | iedit | normal |
fd | iedit | normal |
ESC | iedit-insert | iedit |
C-g | iedit-insert | normal |
fd | iedit-insert | normal |
To sum-up, in iedit-insert state you have to press ESC twice to go back to the
normal state. You can also at any time press C-g or fd to return to normal
state.
Note: evil commands which switch to insert state will switch in
iedit-insert state.
iedit state inherits from normal state, the following key bindings are
specific to iedit state.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
ESC | go back to normal state |
TAB | toggle current occurrence |
0 | go to the beginning of the current occurrence |
$ | go to the end of the current occurrence |
# | prefix all occurrences with an increasing number (SPC u to choose the starting number). |
A | go to the end of the current occurrence and switch to iedit-insert state |
D | delete the occurrences |
F | restrict the scope to the function |
gg | go to first occurrence |
G | go to last occurrence |
I | go to the beginning of the current occurrence and switch to iedit-insert state |
J | increase the editing scope by one line below |
K | increase the editing scope by one line above |
L | restrict the scope to the current line |
n | go to next occurrence |
N | go to previous occurrence |
p | replace occurrences with last yanked (copied) text |
S | (substitute) delete the occurrences and switch to iedit-insert state |
V | toggle visibility of lines with no occurrence |
U | Up-case the occurrences |
C-U | down-case the occurrences |
Note: 0, $, A and I have the default Vim behavior when used outside of
an occurrence.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
ESC | go back to iedit state |
C-g | go back to normal state |
- manual selection of several words then replace:
v w w SPC s e S "toto" ESC ESC - append text to a word on two lines:
v i w SPC s e J i "toto" ESC ESC - substitute symbol with expand-region:
SPC v v e S "toto" ESC ESC - replace symbol with yanked (copied) text with expand region:
SPC v e p ESC ESC
If you have rg, ag, pt or ack installed, replacing an occurrence of text
in several files can be performed via helm-ag.
Say you want to replace all foo occurrences by bar in your current
project:
- initiate a search with
SPC / - enter in edit mode with
C-c C-e - go to the occurrence and enter in
iedit statewithSPC s e - edit the occurrences then leave the
iedit state - press
C-c C-c
Note: In Spacemacs, helm-ag despite its name works with rg, pt and ack
as well (but not with grep).
It is possible to batch rename files in a directory using wdired from an
helm session:
- browse for a directory using
SPC f f - enter
wdiredwithC-c C-e - edit the file names and use
C-c C-cto confirm the changes - use
C-c C-kto abort any changes
Comments are handled by evil-nerd-commenter, it’s bound to the following keys.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC ; | comment operator |
SPC c h | hide/show comments |
SPC c l | comment lines |
SPC c L | invert comment lines |
SPC c p | comment paragraphs |
SPC c P | invert comment paragraphs |
SPC c t | comment to line |
SPC c T | invert comment to line |
SPC c y | comment and yank |
SPC c Y | invert comment and yank |
Tips: To comment efficiently a block of line use the combo SPC ; SPC j l
Spacemacs uses the packages pcre2el to manipulate regular expressions. It is
useful when working with Emacs Lisp buffers since it allows to easily converts
PCRE (Perl Compatible RegExp) to Emacs RegExp or rx. It can also be used to
“explain” a PCRE RegExp around point in rx form.
The key bindings start with SPC x r and have the following mnemonic structure:
SPC x r <source> <target>convert from source to targetSPC x rdo what I mean
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC x r / | Explain the regexp around point with rx |
SPC x r ' | Generate strings given by a regexp given this list is finite |
SPC x r t | Replace regexp around point by the rx form or vice versa |
SPC x r x | Convert regexp around point in rx form and display the result in the minibuffer |
SPC x r c | Convert regexp around point to the other form and display the result in the minibuffer |
SPC x r e / | Explain Emacs Lisp regexp |
SPC x r e ' | Generate strings from Emacs Lisp regexp |
SPC x r e p | Convert Emacs Lisp regexp to PCRE |
SPC x r e t | Replace Emacs Lisp regexp by rx form or vice versa |
SPC x r e x | Convert Emacs Lisp regexp to rx form |
SPC x r p / | Explain PCRE regexp |
SPC x r p ' | Generate strings from PCRE regexp |
SPC x r p e | Convert PCRE regexp to Emacs Lisp |
SPC x r p x | Convert PCRE to rx form |
Deletion is configured to send deleted files to system trash.
On macOS the trash program is required. It can be installed with homebrew with
the following command:
$ brew install trashTo disable the trash you can set the variable delete-by-moving-to-trash to
nil in your ~/.spacemacs.
Editing of lisp code is provided by evil-lisp-state.
Commands will set the current state to lisp state where different commands
combo can be repeated without pressing on SPC k.
When in lisp state the color of the mode-line changes to pink.
Examples:
- to slurp three times while in normal state:
SPC k 3 s - to wrap a symbol in parentheses then slurp two times:
SPC k w 2 s
Note: The lisp state commands are available in any modes! Try it out.
These commands automatically switch to lisp state.
Navigation:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
| Forward + Backward pairs | |
SPC k j | go forward to next closing parenthesis |
SPC k k | go backward to previous opening parenthesis |
SPC k l | go forward to next symbol |
SPC k h | go backward to previous symbol |
SPC k L | go forward to next sexp |
SPC k H | go backward to previous sexp |
SPC k $ | go forward to the end of current sexp |
SPC k 0 | go backward to the beginning of current sexp |
| Other | |
SPC k U | go “up”: to parent sexp backward |
SPC k % | go to other paren of the same pair |
SPC k I | go back to beginning of current expression and switch to insert state |
Manipulation:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC k s | slurp forward: a (bs) c -> a (bs c) |
SPC k S | slurp backward: a (bs) c -> (a bs) c |
SPC k b | barf forward: (a bs c) -> (a bs) c |
SPC k B | barf backward: (a bs c) -> a (bs c) |
SPC k a | absorb: (a (bs <point> ..)) -> ((bs a <point> ..)) |
SPC k c | convolute: (as (bs <point> ..)) -> (bs (as <point> ..)) |
SPC k t | transpose: (as <point> bs) -> (bs <point> as) |
SPC k J | join: (as) <point> (bs) -> (as <point> bs) |
| Hybrid (= better for non-Lisp languages) commands | |
SPC k ` s | hybrid slurp forward |
SPC k ` p | hybrid push: <point>as bs -> <point>bs as |
SPC k ` t | hybrid transpose: as <point> bs -> bs <point> as |
| Note 1: | xs is one or multiple sexp, x is a single sexp |
| Note 2: | point is at <point> when presented, or in the list otherwise |
Insertion:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC k ( | insert sexp before current one |
SPC k ) | insert sexp after current one |
SPC k w | wrap a symbol with parenthesis |
Deletion:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC k ds | delete symbol |
SPC k Ds | delete symbol backward |
SPC k dw | delete word |
SPC k Dw | delete word backward |
SPC k dx | delete sexp: (as <point> a ..) -> (as <point> ..) |
SPC k Dx | delete sexp backward: (as a <point> ..) -> (as <point> ..) |
SPC k e | splice, killing forward: (as (bs <point> cs) ds) -> (as bs ds) |
SPC k E | splice, killing backward: (as (bs <point> cs) ds) -> (as cs ds) |
SPC k r | raise: (as <point> b ..) -> <point>b |
SPC k W | unwrap sexp: (as) -> as |
| Hybrid (= better for non-Lisp languages) commands | |
SPC k ` k | hybrid delete sexp |
| Note 1: | xs is one or multiple sexp, x is a single sexp |
| Note 2: | point is at <point> when presented, or in the list otherwise |
Bindings from normal state:
For convenience, a number of normal state evil binding are available in lisp state as well:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC k : | ex command |
SPC k i | switch to insert state |
SPC k I | switch to insert state at beginning of current line |
SPC k v | switch to visual state and begin character-wise selection |
SPC k V | switch to visual state and begin line-wise selection |
SPC k C-v | switch to visual state and begin block-wise selection |
SPC k u | undo |
SPC k C-r | redo |
SPC k y | copy expression |
SPC k p | paste after |
SPC k P | paste before |
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC m e $ | go to end of line and evaluate last sexp |
SPC m e b | evaluate buffer |
SPC m e c | evaluate current form (a def or a set) |
SPC m e e | evaluate last sexp |
SPC m e f | evaluate current defun |
SPC m e l | go to end of line and evaluate last sexp |
SPC m e r | evaluate region |
SPC m g g | go to definition |
SPC m g G | go to definition in another window |
SPC m h h | describe elisp thing at point (show documentation) |
SPC m t b | execute buffer tests |
SPC m t q | ask for test function to execute |
Keyboard macros are a powerful feature of Emacs. A keyboard macro is a record of keystrokes that can be replayed at any time.
Important note: When creating a macro, do not use the evil-escape key
sequence (by default press fd quickly), instead press the ESC key
explicitly. Currently evil-escape does not support being replayed in macros.
Spacemacs supports the VIM interface for creating macros in normal state using
q to start a macro and @ to play a macro.
To record a keyboard macro:
- Press
q(there’s no visual indicator, but it’s waiting for a letter key to be pressed). - Press a letter key to start recording to that letter register. (the minibuffer shows: Defining kbd macro…)
- Perform the actions that will be recorded.
- Press
qto stop recording the macro. (the minibuffer shows: Keyboard macro defined).
To execute a recorded macro: (A macro can be played back multiple times, by typing a number before starting the macro)
- Press
@(the minibuffer shows:@-, and it waits for a letter register key to be pressed). - Press a letter key for a register where a previous macro has been recorded.
- The macro can be repeated by pressing the repeat last editing command key:
.(period).
The Emacs way to define macros is available behind the prefix: SPC K
To start recording a keyboard macro:
- Press
SPC K k(uppercase then lowercase) to start recording a macro. - Perform the actions that should be recorded.
- Press
SPC K K(uppercase twice) to stop recording the macro.
To execute the last recorded macro press: SPC K K
The macro can be executed again by pressing K one or more times.
The single character replay works until another key than K is pressed.
Emacs has an interesting concept: The macro counter.
When starting to record a macro, the counter starts at 0 (you can also set it to a specific value), then each time the counter is inserted, it is incremented by 1 afterwards.
When recording a macro it’s possible to insert the current value by pressing:
SPC K k
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC K c a | increment macro counter |
SPC K c c | insert the current value of the macro counter |
SPC K c C | set the macro counter |
SPC K c f | set the display format for the macro counter |
SPC K e b | assign a key binding to the last macro |
SPC K e e | edit last macro in a buffer |
SPC K e l | edit a macro from lossage information (last 300 executed commands) |
SPC K e n | give a name to the last macro |
SPC K e r | write the last macro to a register (use SPC r r to call it) |
SPC K e s | step by step edit of the last macro |
SPC K k | start recording macro, if already recording then insert the macro counter |
SPC K K | stop recording macro, if no macro is recording then run last macro |
SPC K r L | view head macro in ring |
SPC K r d | delete head macro in ring |
SPC K r l | run second macro in ring |
SPC K r n | cycle to next macro in ring |
SPC K r p | cycle to previous macro in ring |
SPC K r s | swap the first two macros in ring |
SPC K v | view last macro string in minibuffer |
Some features which could improve editing experience in *scratch* buffer.
Make your *scratch* buffer persistent. Everything you write down in *scratch* buffer will be automatically saved and restored.
You can set variable dotspacemacs-scratch-buffer-persistent with a non-nil value in your .spacemacs file to enable this feature.
Make your *scratch* buffer not killable (bury instead).
You can set variable dotspacemacs-scratch-buffer-unkillable with a non-nil value in your .spacemacs file to enable this feature.
There are some added mouse features set for the line number margin (if shown):
- single click in line number margin visually selects the entire line
- drag across line number margin visually selects the region
- double click in line number margin visually select the current code block
To compare buffers, files, directories or even windows use the prefix SPC D.
Spacemacs uses the powerful embedded ediff to do comparisons, help for ediff
can be opened using SPC D h.
All ediff commands starts with D:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC D b 3 | ask for 3 opened buffers and start an ediff session with them |
SPC D b b | ask for 2 opened buffers and start an ediff session with them |
SPC D b p | ask for a buffer or file that contains a patch to apply to a buffer and start an ediff session with the result |
SPC D B | ask for a file and run ediff with its backup file |
SPC D d 3 | ask for 3 directories and run ediff on them comparing files that have the same name in all of them |
SPC D d d | ask for 2 directories and run ediff on them comparing files that have the same name in both |
SPC D d r | run ediff on a directory comparing its files with their revisions if under version control |
SPC D f . | start an ediff session between your .spacemacs and its default template in Spacemacs core |
SPC D f 3 | ask for 3 files and start an ediff session with them |
SPC D f f | ask for 2 files and start an ediff session with them |
SPC D f p | ask for a buffer or file that contains a patch to apply to a file and start an ediff session with the result |
SPC D f v | start ediff between versions of a file |
SPC D h | open ediff documentation within Emacs |
SPC D m b 3 | start an ediff merge session between 2 buffers and their ancestor |
SPC D m b b | start an ediff merge session between 2 buffers |
SPC D m d 3 | start an ediff merge session between files with the same name in 2 directories and with a 3rd directory containing their ancestor |
SPC D m d d | start an ediff merge session between files with the same name in 2 directories |
SPC D m f 3 | start an ediff merge session between 2 files and their ancestor |
SPC D m f f | start an ediff merge session between 2 files |
SPC D m r 3 | start an ediff merge session between two revisions of a file with a common ancestor |
SPC D m r r | start an ediff merge session between two revisions of a file |
SPC D r l | start an ediff session between two regions to perform a linewise diff (use this for large regions) |
SPC D r w | start an ediff session between two regions to perform a wordwise diff (use this for small regions) |
SPC D s | display ediff registries |
SPC D w l | compare linewise the portions of visible text of 2 windows which are selected by clicking |
SPC D w w | compare wordwise the portions of visible text of 2 windows which are selected by clicking |
Projects in Spacemacs are managed with projectile. In projectile projects
are defined implicitly, for instance the root of a project is found when a
.git repository or .projectile file is encountered in the file tree.
To search in a project see project searching.
projectile commands start with p:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC p ' | open a shell in project’s root (with the shell layer) |
SPC p ! | run shell command in project’s root |
SPC p & | run async shell command in project’s root |
SPC p % | replace a regexp |
SPC p a | toggle between implementation and test |
SPC p b | switch to project buffer |
SPC p c | compile project using projectile |
SPC p d | find directory |
SPC p D | open project root in dired |
SPC p e | edit dir-locals.el |
SPC p f | find file |
SPC p F | find file based on path around point |
SPC p g | find tags |
SPC p G | regenerate the project’s etags / gtags |
SPC p h | find file |
SPC p I | invalidate the projectile cache |
SPC p k | kill all project buffers |
SPC p o | run multi-occur |
SPC p p | switch project |
SPC p r | open a recent file |
SPC p R | replace a string |
SPC p t | open Treemacs and add current projectile root to its list of projects |
SPC p T | test project |
SPC p v | open project root in vc-dir or magit |
SPC / | search in project with the best search tool available |
SPC s p | see searching in a project |
SPC s a p | run ag |
SPC s g p | run grep |
SPC s k p | run ack |
SPC s t p | run pt |
SPC s r p | run rg |
SPC f y C | show and copy current file path relative to the project root with line and column number |
SPC f y D | show and copy current directory path relative to the project root |
SPC f y L | show and copy current file path relative to the project root with line number |
SPC f y Y | show and copy current file path relative to the project root |
Note for Windows Users: To enable fast indexing the GNU find or
Cygwin find must be in your PATH.
Access commands to the various registers start with r:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC r e | show evil yank and named registers |
SPC r m | show marks register |
SPC r r | show helm register |
SPC r y | show kill ring |
Spacemacs uses Flycheck to gives error feedback on the fly. The checks are only performed at save time by default.
Errors management commands (start with e):
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC t s | toggle flycheck |
SPC e c | clear all errors |
SPC e h | describe a flycheck checker |
SPC e l | toggle the display of the flycheck list of errors/warnings |
SPC e n | go to the next error |
SPC e p | go to the previous error |
SPC e y | copy each error at cursor position into kill ring |
SPC e v | verify flycheck setup (useful to debug 3rd party tools configuration) |
SPC e . | error transient state |
The next/previous error bindings and the error transient state can be used to
browse errors from flycheck as well as errors from compilation buffers, and
indeed anything that supports Emacs’ next-error API. This includes for example
search results that have been saved to a separate buffer.
The following key bindings are active in the error transient state:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
n | jump to next error |
N or p | jump to previous error |
z | recenter buffer in window |
| Symbol | Description |
|---|---|
 | Error |
 | warning |
 | Info |
Spacemacs binds a few commands to support compiling a project.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC c c | use helm-make via projectile |
SPC c C | compile |
SPC c d | close compilation window |
SPC c k | kill compilation |
SPC c m | helm-make |
SPC c r | recompile |
Spacemacs can execute current buffer or region.
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC x x | smart quickrun or quickrun-region |
C-g | to dismiss a quickrun buffer without selecting it |
Spacemacs has support for EditorConfig, a configuration file to “define and maintain consistent coding styles between different editors and IDEs.”
To enable this feature, install the editorconfig command.
To customize your editorconfig experience, read the editorconfig-emacs package’s documentation.
Spacemacs provides the ability to start a server at launch, and to kill that
server whenever you close your Emacs windows. This can be enabled by setting the
variable dotspacemacs-enable-server to t in your ~./spacemacs.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-enable-server t)You can open a file in Emacs from the terminal using emacsclient. Use
emacsclient -c to open the file in Emacs GUI. Use emacsclient -t to open the
file in Emacs within the terminal. If you set Emacs server socket by setting dotspacemacs-server-socket-dir,
then pass its location as -s ~/.emacs.d/server/server additionally.
If you want your Linux or macOS system to use Emacs by default for any prompt,
you need to set it in your shell configuration, e.g. ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:
export EDITOR="emacsclient -c"
Note that if you’re using macOS, you may have to refer to the emacsclient that comes with your GUI Emacs, e.g.:
export EDITOR="/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient -c"
Tip: Remember to use :wq or C-x # after you are done editing the file in
Emacs.
You can set the location of the Emacs server socket by setting dotspacemacs-server-socket-dir in your ~./spacemacs:
(setq-default dotspacemacs-server-socket-dir "~/.emacs/server")See Emacs as a Server in the official Emacs manual for more details.
It is possible to keep the server alive when you close Emacs by setting the
variable dotspacemacs-persistent-server to t in your ~/.spacemacs.
(setq-default dotspacemacs-persistent-server t)When this variable is set to t, the only way to quit Emacs and kill the
server is to use the following bindings:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
SPC q q | Quit Emacs and kill the server, prompt for changed buffers to save |
SPC q Q | Quit Emacs and kill the server, lose all unsaved changes. |
SPC q r | Restart both Emacs and the server, prompting to save any changed buffers |
SPC q s | Save the buffers, quit Emacs and kill the server |
SPC q f | Kill the current frame |
SPC q t | Restart Emacs and debug with –with-timed-requires |
SPC q T | Restart Emacs and debug with –adv-timers |
If any errors happen during the loading the mode-line will turn red and the
errors should appear inline in the startup buffer. Spacemacs should still be
usable; if it is not then restart Emacs with emacs --debug-init and open a
GitHub issue with the backtrace.
To ensure that packages are correctly compiled for the new Emacs version you
installed, be sure to run the interactive command spacemacs/recompile-elpa
with SPC u SPC SPC spacemacs/recompile-elpa.
It happens from time to time that some of the layers go stale and stop working properly for some commands. If this happens stay calm and try to produce a minimal bug report on the GitHub issue page.
- Load the standard dotfile. You can get it with
SPC f e D. - Add the malfunctioning layer.
- Use
SPC t Dto enable debug on error, this will produce a backtrace when encountering a lisp error. - Reproduce the error. Note down the steps and backtrace.
- Press
SPC h Iand fill in the place holders enclosed in<<and>>signs. Don’t forget the reproduction guide and backtrace. - Press
C-c C-cor, ,to transfer your buffers content to the github issue creation page. - Enter a meaningfull title for your issue, stating in short words what the issue is.
- When everything has been filled in submit the bug report.
- When someone answers to your issue or ask questions it goes without saying that you should answer him politely and assist in testing a possible fix.
It can also happen that your issue is not related to any layer but rather to a specific package in the emacs universe. In this case you should provide a minimalistic emacs only reproduction guide for the respective package and open an issue upstream. If there is already a spacemacs issue for your problem your upstream bug report should mention its ticket number so it is clear when this issue can be retested.
- Start emacs with
emacs -q, this will load a vanilla emacs without any non-system packages loaded. - There open a scratch buffer with
C-x b *scratch* RET - Add initialization code for your package there
;; Load the package (require 'package) ;; Mention all packages you wish to have loaded (setq package-load-list '((package1 t) (package2 t) (package3 t))) ;; Do package specific configuration if required ;; (package-local-init) ;; Intialize your package list (package-initialize)
- Now press
M-x eval-bufferto evaluate the code. - Reproduce your issue. Note down step by step instructions.
- With this information open an upstream issue following their issue templates. If they have non its a good idea to start with the infos required in the spacemacs issue template and add missing information when required from the package maintainers.
| Achievements | Account |
|---|---|
| 100th watcher | adouzzy |
| 100th fork | balajisivaraman |
| 200th fork | alcol80 |
| 300th fork | mlopes |
| 2000th fork | Gameguykiler |
| 100th star | Jackneill |
| 200th star | jb55 |
| 400th star | dbohdan |
| 600th star | laat |
| 700th star | kendall |
| 800th star | urso |
| 900th star | luisgerhorst |
| 1000th star! | rashly |
| 2000th star!! | stshine |
| 3000th star!!! | TheBB |
| 4000th star!!!! | nixmaniack |
| 5000th star!!!!! | StreakyCobra |
| 6000th star!!!!!! | NJBS |
| 7000th star!!!!!!! | mukhali |
| 8000th star!!!!!!!! | shsteven |
| 9000th star!!!!!!!!! | deb0ch |
| 10000th star ⭐ | colt365 |
| 15000th star ⭐ ⭐ | missingfaktor |
| 20000th star! 🙀 | davehorner |
| Achievements | Account |
|---|---|
| First joiner on the Gitter Chat | trishume |
| 1000th joiner | gabrielpoca |
| Achievements | Account |
|---|---|
| First contribution | trishume |
| First contributed layer | trishume |
| First blog article on Spacemacs | Wolfy87 |
| First contributed banner | chrisbarrett |
| Reason | Account |
|---|---|
| Autumnal Cleanup 2015 (wiki) | StreakyCobra |
| Test and debug tools | justbur |
| Integration of Ivy | justbur |
| Transient States | justbur |
| Integration of Persp-mode | CestDiego |
| Cleanest PR (PR #5545) | JAremko |
| Documentation tools and GitHub support | JAremko |
| Code navigation improvement (jump handlers, generalized next error) | TheBB |
| Better support for GUI using an Emacs daemon (after-display macro) | travisbhartwell |
| Achievements | Account |
|---|---|
| The Gunner (18 PRs in a row) | ralesi |
| The Saint (unlocked the holy-mode) | trishume |
| The Artist (logo and theme) | nashamri |
| The Meme Master (doge banner) | chrisbarrett |
| The Helm captain (helm guide) | tuhdo |
| The Master of the Keys (which-key and bind-map) | justbur |
| The PR Patrol Officer | robbyoconnor |
| The Expert in Latin Language (PR) | vijaykiran |
| The Tiler (eyebrowse integration) | bmag |
| The Geometer (spaceline) | TheBB |
| The Librarian (doc-fmt tool and space-doc mode) | JAremko |
| The Orgonaut (fixed most of the Org READMEs) | smile13241324 |
| The Ticketmaster | StreakyCobra |
| The ASCII Scribe | JAremko |
Thank you Richard for this great piece of software.
Thank you to all the contributors and the whole Emacs community from core developers to elisp hackers!