8.3 Erasing Text

<DEL>

Delete the character before point (delete-backward-char).

C-d

Delete the character after point (delete-char).

<DELETE>

<BACKSPACE>

One of these keys, whichever is the large key above the <RET> or <ENTER> key, deletes the character before point—it is <DEL>. If <BACKSPACE> is <DEL>, and your keyboard also has <DELETE>, then <DELETE> deletes forwards, like C-d.

C-k

Kill to the end of the line (kill-line).

M-d

Kill forward to the end of the next word (kill-word).

M-<DEL>

Kill back to the beginning of the previous word (backward-kill-word).

You already know about the <DEL> key which deletes the character before point (that is, before the cursor). Another key, Control-d (C-d for short), deletes the character after point (that is, the character that the cursor is on). This shifts the rest of the text on the line to the left. If you type C-d at the end of a line, it joins that line with the following line.

To erase a larger amount of text, use the C-k key, which erases (kills) a line at a time. If you type C-k at the beginning or middle of a line, it kills all the text up to the end of the line. If you type C-k at the end of a line, it joins that line with the following line.

See section Killing and Moving Text, for more flexible ways of killing text.