21.1 Killing Your Mistakes
- <DEL>
- Delete last character (
delete-backward-char).
- M-<DEL>
- Kill last word (
backward-kill-word).
- C-x <DEL>
- Kill to beginning of sentence (
backward-kill-sentence).
The <DEL> character (delete-backward-char) is the most
important correction command. It deletes the character before point.
When <DEL> follows a self-inserting character command, you can think
of it as canceling that command. However, avoid the mistake of thinking
of <DEL> as a general way to cancel a command!
When your mistake is longer than a couple of characters, it might be
more convenient to use M-<DEL> or C-x <DEL>.
M-<DEL> kills back to the start of the last word, and C-x
<DEL> kills back to the start of the last sentence. C-x
<DEL> is particularly useful when you change your mind about the
phrasing of the text you are writing. M-<DEL> and C-x
<DEL> save the killed text for C-y and M-y to
retrieve. See Yanking.
M-<DEL> is often useful even when you have typed only a few
characters wrong, if you know you are confused in your typing and aren't
sure exactly what you typed. At such a time, you cannot correct with
<DEL> except by looking at the screen to see what you did. Often it
requires less thought to kill the whole word and start again.
