From my customizations, these are the most I use: Pressing Return starts a new line at column 0, pressing Control j starts a new indented line. I prefer them t

From my customizations, these are the most I use: Pressing Return starts a new line at column 0, pressing Control j starts a new indented line. I prefer them the other way round, so I rebind: (global-set-key "\r" 'newline-and-indent) (global-set-key "\C-j" 'newline) Also, very often I need to start a new line above or below the current line. So instead of Control e, Return to start a new indented line below the current line I use Control Return. (defun next-newline-and-indent () (interactive) (end-of-line) (newline-and-indent)) (global-set-key [C-return] 'next-newline-and-indent) And to start a new indented line above the current line, instead of Control a, Control o, Control i, I use Control Shift Return. (defun prev-newline-and-indent () (interactive) (beginning-of-line) (open-line 1) (indent-according-to-mode)) (global-set-key [C-S-return] 'prev-newline-and-indent)