add a goto-line command to emacs

January 31st, 2006 by Lawrence David

it boggles the mind that emacs - famous for having a bazillion keyboard shortcuts - doesn’t have one for quickly finding a line.

so, here’s how to make one.

go to your home directory in the terminal:

>> cd

and open up the .emacs file that lives there.

add the following line of code to it:

(global-set-key “\C-l” ‘goto-line)

restart emacs and you’ll find that whenever you hit “ctrl-l” (lowercase L), you’ll be presented with a prompt asking which line of the text you’d like to be moved to.

Posted in Emacs |

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6 Responses to “add a goto-line command to emacs”

on 01 Feb 2006 at 4:12 am self

That’s what you get for running Emacs! XEmacs has had M-g for ‘goto-line’ for years.
on 03 Jul 2006 at 12:58 pm Anonymous

heh, 7 months later…

in vi or vim, simply type [line number]G when not in insert mode.

hey, it’s a slow day at work today
-Andrew
on 03 Jul 2006 at 1:27 pm Lawrence David

you vim lovers make me sick
insert mode? it’s a freakin’ text editor - why do you need extra commands just to edit text?!
on 05 Oct 2006 at 1:22 am johngalt

what about M-x goto-line?

just hit enter and then type the line number.
on 05 Oct 2006 at 1:28 am Lawrence David

yea, but M-x goto-line gets really tired really fast.
on 30 Jan 2007 at 12:58 am mike

Try M-G G type the line number and hit enter. The cursor instantly moves to the line. Emacs is so eady…

Did I get this wrong? Let me know!

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