Use these in ordinary text, after leaving any prompt or special reader. Check the buffer and the affected text first. Selection and editing terms defines Emacs’s names for copying, cutting and pasting.
Set the mark, then move point to its other end. Extend it by moving rather than repeatedly setting the mark. See Selection boundaries and newline checks.
Exchange point and mark. The selected text is unchanged until you move an endpoint. See Adjusting a checked selection.
Copy the checked region to the kill ring without removing the source text. See Copying into another buffer.
Remove the checked region and retain it in the kill ring. This edits the buffer, not the saved file. See Moving text and verifying both locations.
Insert the current kill-ring entry at point; clipboard integration can supply a more recent external copy instead. Point ends after the inserted text. See Checking the destination and pasted text.
Immediately after a yank, replace that insertion with an earlier entry. After a separate command, including a reading command, choose an entry for another insertion instead. See Earlier copies and yank sequencing.
Undo a change in the selected buffer, inspect it, and repeat only as needed. Deactivate an unrelated selection first. Unlike ordinary C-/, this avoids undoing an earlier undo after an intervening reading command. See Undo, inspection and recovery limits.
Search forwards or backwards. Finish with RET before typing an edit; text entered during search changes the query. See Search direction and failure recovery.
Query-replace in the checked active region, or ordinarily from point onwards when no region is active. The replacement questions have their own keys; stopping does not undo accepted changes. See Scoped replacement and match-by-match decisions.
Copying is not a permanent backup. Message repetition and filename speech can also change the kill ring; the transfer guide explains how to inspect it without accidentally replacing the next paste.