Glenn Stovall

Emacs Protip: permanently save a keyboard macro

Keyboard macros can be crazy helpful in emacs, and allow you to automate repetitive processes you come across when coding. if you have a sequence of keystrokes you use day-to-day, here is how to convert them to a function and bind it to a key:

• C-x ( to start your macro
• type the keyboard strokes you want to save
• C-x ) to end the macro
• C-x C-k n to call kmacro-name-last-macro and assign a name to your macro
• open your .emacs file
• M-x insert-kbd-macro to output the lisp code of your new macro
• then add (global-set-key <key> '<macro_name>) to bind it to a key. C-x C-k 0-9/a-z are reserved for personal key bindings. you can also use the f1 - f12 keys

and your done! now you have compressed several keystrokes into just one, and it’ll also be there when you need it.