Standard Keymaps

In this section we list some of the more general keymaps. Many of these exist when Emacs is first started, but some are loaded only when the respective feature is accessed.

There are many other, more specialized, maps than these; in particular those associated with major and minor modes. The minibuffer uses several keymaps (see Completion Commands). For more details on keymaps, see Keymaps.

2C-mode-map

A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x 6. See Two-Column Editing in The GNU Emacs Manual.

abbrev-map

A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x a. See Defining Abbrevs in The GNU Emacs Manual.

button-buffer-map

A sparse keymap useful for buffers containing buffers. You may want to use this as a parent keymap. See Buttons.

button-map

A sparse keymap used by buttons.

ctl-x-4-map

A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x 4.

ctl-x-5-map

A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x 5.

ctl-x-map

A full keymap for C-x commands.

ctl-x-r-map

A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x r. See Registers in The GNU Emacs Manual.

esc-map

A full keymap for ESC (or Meta) commands.

function-key-map

The parent keymap of all local-function-key-map (q.v.) instances.

global-map

The full keymap containing default global key bindings. Modes should not modify the Global map.

goto-map

A sparse keymap used for the M-g prefix key.

help-map

A sparse keymap for the keys following the help character C-h. See Help Functions.

Helper-help-map

A full keymap used by the help utility package. It has the same keymap in its value cell and in its function cell.

input-decode-map

The keymap for translating keypad and function keys. If there are none, then it contains an empty sparse keymap. See Translation Keymaps.

key-translation-map

A keymap for translating keys. This one overrides ordinary key bindings, unlike local-function-key-map. See Translation Keymaps.

kmacro-keymap

A sparse keymap for keys that follows the C-x C-k prefix search. See Keyboard Macros in The GNU Emacs Manual.

local-function-key-map

The keymap for translating key sequences to preferred alternatives. If there are none, then it contains an empty sparse keymap. See Translation Keymaps.

menu-bar-file-menu

menu-bar-edit-menu

menu-bar-options-menu

global-buffers-menu-map

menu-bar-tools-menu

menu-bar-help-menu

These keymaps display the main, top-level menus in the menu bar. Some of them contain sub-menus. For example, the Edit menu contains menu-bar-search-menu, etc. See Menu Bar.

minibuffer-inactive-mode-map

A full keymap used in the minibuffer when it is not active. See Editing in the Minibuffer in The GNU Emacs Manual.

mode-line-coding-system-map

mode-line-input-method-map

mode-line-column-line-number-mode-map

These keymaps control various areas of the mode line. See Mode Line Format.

mode-specific-map

The keymap for characters following C-c. Note, this is in the global map. This map is not actually mode-specific: its name was chosen to be informative in C-h b (display-bindings), where it describes the main use of the C-c prefix key.

mouse-appearance-menu-map

A sparse keymap used for the S-mouse-1 key.

mule-keymap

The global keymap used for the C-x RET prefix key.

narrow-map

A sparse keymap for subcommands of the prefix C-x n.

prog-mode-map

The keymap used by Prog mode. See Basic Major Modes.

query-replace-map

multi-query-replace-map

A sparse keymap used for responses in query-replace and related commands; also for y-or-n-p and map-y-or-n-p. The functions that use this map do not support prefix keys; they look up one event at a time. multi-query-replace-map extends query-replace-map for multi-buffer replacements. See query-replace-map.

search-map

A sparse keymap that provides global bindings for search-related commands.

special-mode-map

The keymap used by Special mode. See Basic Major Modes.

tab-prefix-map

The global keymap used for the C-x t prefix key for tab-bar related commands. See Tab Bars in The GNU Emacs Manual.

tab-bar-map

The keymap defining the contents of the tab bar. See Tab Bars in The GNU Emacs Manual.

tool-bar-map

The keymap defining the contents of the tool bar. See Tool Bar.

universal-argument-map

A sparse keymap used while processing C-u. See Prefix Command Arguments.

vc-prefix-map

The global keymap used for the C-x v prefix key.

x-alternatives-map

A sparse keymap used to map certain keys under graphical frames. The function x-setup-function-keys uses this.