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Let the next key come to you

Pause after a prefix key to see what you can press next.

built-in / discovery / keybindings / which-key

Which-key shows the available continuations when you pause after a prefix such as C-x or C-c. It makes unfamiliar bindings easier to discover without memorizing a wall of keys.

This example uses the version built into Emacs 30 and later. On an earlier Emacs, install which-key from a trusted package archive and change :ensure nil to :ensure t.

Try C-x and wait for the suggestions. C-g cancels the prefix; nothing is executed just by reading the list.

;; Built into Emacs 30 and later.
(use-package which-key
  :ensure nil
  :config (which-key-mode 1))

Read the documentation