70 %
Chris Biscardi

Emacs Command Frequency 2017

I use keyfreq to record the commands I use in emacs and periodically check the log to see what I should rebind, etc. here's a list of every command I used that has more than 100 uses (which hilariously to me, is almost 100 commands).

keyfreq stores its content in a file (which sometimes I've had conflict issues with in the past so consider this output "sampled" in terms of absolute number). The output records what mode I'm in and the command used as well as a number (presumably uses?).

lisp
(((emacs-lisp-mode . mouse-set-point) . 77)
((minibuffer-inactive-mode . swiper) . 718)
((emacs-lisp-mode . eval-buffer) . 33)
((emacs-lisp-mode . paredit-backward-kill-word) . 12)
((emacs-lisp-mode . paredit-backward-delete) . 818)
((emacs-lisp-mode . org-edit-src-save) . 171)
((minibuffer-inactive-mode . org-edit-src-save) . 23)
((special-mode . mouse-drag-region) . 1)
((special-mode . mouse-set-region) . 1)
((fundamental-mode . kill-line) . 45)

The first two on my list are deletions. The first is a normal press of the delete key. The second is more interesting. It's a function from smartparens that I didn't even know I was calling. It makes sense though because I've been using it in strict mode since I redid my emacs config and that makes me keep all parens balanced all the time (or use C-q to insert one-offs).

16079    9.25%  delete-backward-char                         DEL
  11720    6.74%  sp-backward-delete-char

if I ack my keyfreq file for sp-backward I end up with a ton of matches. I didn't expect there to be so many sp-backward commands. It turns out this one mostly comes from go-mode and secondarily from web-mode. This makes sense since I mostly write go and JavaScript these days (as opposed to Haskell and JavaScript in the past).

lisp
((go-mode . sp-backward-delete-char) . 5308)
((web-mode . sp-backward-delete-char) . 6095)

There are actually a bunch more sp- commands that I use without even realizing it, such as sp-kill-hybrid-sexp. I gleaned a uniqued list using some ack. Smartparens seems to have some cool features so I should definitely look into the other commands it offers. andohwowijustdiscoveredithasslurpingandbarfing (I'm excited about wrapping/slurping/etc)

shell
➜ ack -o "\ sp-[\w-]*" ~/.emacs.keyfreq | sort | uniq
 sp-backward-delete-char
 sp-backward-kill-word
 sp-delete-char
 sp-forward-barf-sexp
 sp-kill-hybrid-sexp
 sp-kill-region
 sp-kill-word
 sp-remove-active-pair-overlay

Saving

duh; save early, save often or perish. I might be mixing my phrases here...

9206    5.30%  save-buffer                                  s-s, C-x C-s, <menu-bar> <file> <save-buffer>

Movement

I should put more effort into avoiding the arrow keys when I'm hands-on-keyboard since C-f/b do the same thing

9105    5.24%  left-char                                    <left>
   7590    4.37%  right-char                                   <right>
   6037    3.47%  move-end-of-line
   4662    2.68%  move-beginning-of-line
   5203    2.99%  newline
   4426    2.55%  backward-word                                M-b
   3451    1.99%  forward-word                                 M-f
   2231    1.28%  backward-char                                C-b

"Focus the emacs application with the mouse so I can use it"

Yeah, I don't use a mouse in emacs, but I do use a mouse to swap applications because I'm on OSX and don't have a tiling window manager or something cool like that.

8761    5.04%  mouse-drag-region                            <down-mouse-1>
   8464    4.87%  mouse-set-point

markdown

I honestly have no idea why this one is getting called so often. I write a lot of markdown (blog posts, READMEs, etc) but feel like its getting called by something connected to one of the delete functions I use so much.

7681    4.42%  markdown-outdent-or-delete

isearch

Something to do with incrementally searching printing characters. Not super sure but I do search a lot so I'd expect stuff related to searching or ivy/swiper at this point.

5167    2.97%  isearch-printing-char
   2071    1.19%  isearch-repeat-forward                       s-g

Operating on Regions

indenting, adding a character to the beginning of a set of lines, regex replacement, etc. Everything needs a region to operate on.

3760    2.16%  set-mark-command                             C-@, C-SPC

Completion

Completion, in the minibuffer. AKA <tab> completion

2754    1.58%  minibuffer-complete

And a bunch of other stuff that's less interesting.

1908    1.10%  markdown-enter-key
   1726    0.99%  find-file                                    <open>, <menu-bar> <file> <new-file>
   1604    0.92%  undo                                         <menu-bar> <edit> <undo>, C-_, s-z, <undo>, C-/, C-x u
   1572    0.90%  simpleclip-paste                             <S-insertchar>, <S-insert>, s-v, <menu-bar> <edit> <paste>
   1468    0.84%  handle-switch-frame                          <switch-frame>
   1450    0.83%  undo-tree-undo
   1441    0.83%  yank
   1378    0.79%  kill-line                                    <deleteline>
   1346    0.77%  beginning-of-buffer                          <menu-bar> <edit> <goto> <beg-of-buf>, <kp-home>, <begin>, <C-home>, <home>, M-<
   1288    0.74%  ivy-backward-delete-char
   1270    0.73%  org-self-insert-command                      SPC..~, €..�
   1257    0.72%  dabbrev-expand                               M-/
   1211    0.70%  yaml-electric-backspace
   1198    0.69%  mwheel-scroll                                <C-wheel-down>, <S-wheel-down>, <wheel-down>, <C-wheel-up>, <S-wheel-up>, <wheel-up>
   1177    0.68%  company-ignore                               <company-dummy-event>
   1044    0.60%  delete-forward-char                          <deletechar>
   1024    0.59%  sp-kill-region
    991    0.57%  ivy-done
    970    0.56%  open-line                                    C-o, <insertline>
    903    0.52%  isearch-forward                              <menu-bar> <edit> <search> <i-search> <isearch-forward>, s-f
    889    0.51%  paredit-backward-delete
    873    0.50%  ivy-next-line
    838    0.48%  end-of-buffer                                <menu-bar> <edit> <goto> <end-of-buf>, <kp-end>, <C-end>, <end>, M->
    821    0.47%  delete-horizontal-space                      M-\
    785    0.45%  electric-newline-and-maybe-indent
    770    0.44%  sp-kill-hybrid-sexp
    752    0.43%  backward-kill-word                           <C-backspace>, M-DEL
    749    0.43%  ivy-next-line-or-history
    740    0.43%  kill-word                                    <C-delete>, M-d
    726    0.42%  swiper                                       C-s
    722    0.42%  backward-delete-char-untabify
    719    0.41%  ivy-previous-line
    678    0.39%  vr/replace                                   C-c r
    674    0.39%  windmove-right
    666    0.38%  scroll-up-command                            C-v, <kp-next>, <next>
    642    0.37%  keyboard-quit                                C-g
    638    0.37%  sp-backward-kill-word
    637    0.37%  exit-minibuffer
    631    0.36%  forward-char                                 C-f
    622    0.36%  sp-delete-char
    602    0.35%  ivy-partial-or-done
    558    0.32%  kill-region                                  C-w
    537    0.31%  sp-kill-word
    513    0.30%  delete-window                                C-x 0
    508    0.29%  counsel-find-file                            C-x C-f
    501    0.29%  windmove-down
    482    0.28%  dired-next-line
    465    0.27%  scroll-down-command                          <kp-prior>, <prior>, M-v
    464    0.27%  minibuffer-keyboard-quit
    456    0.26%  org-cycle                                    <mouse-1>, <tab>, TAB, <menu-bar> <Tbl> <Next Field>, <menu-bar> <Org> <Show/Hide> <Cycle Visibility>
    421    0.24%  smex
    359    0.21%  split-window-right                           C-x 3, <menu-bar> <file> <new-window-on-right>
    352    0.20%  windmove-left
    347    0.20%  simpleclip-copy                              <C-insertchar>, <C-insert>, s-c, <menu-bar> <edit> <copy>
    343    0.20%  org-delete-backward-char                     DEL
    301    0.17%  split-window-below                           C-x 2, <menu-bar> <file> <new-window-below>
    292    0.17%  server-edit                                  C-x #
    272    0.16%  mouse-set-region                             <drag-mouse-1>
    252    0.15%  windmove-up
    248    0.14%  previous-buffer                              <XF86Back>, C-x <C-left>, C-x <left>, <menu-bar> <buffer> <previous-buffer>
    238    0.14%  quoted-insert                                C-q
    225    0.13%  yaml-electric-dash-and-dot
    220    0.13%  Buffer-menu-delete
    202    0.12%  balance-windows                              C-x +
    194    0.11%  org-edit-src-save
    192    0.11%  other-frame                                  s-`, C-x 5 o
    182    0.10%  simpleclip-cut                               <S-delete>, s-x, <menu-bar> <edit> <cut>
    178    0.10%  next-buffer                                  <XF86Forward>, C-x <C-right>, C-x <right>, <menu-bar> <buffer> <next-buffer>
    166    0.10%  dired-previous-line
    156    0.09%  org-beginning-of-line                        C-a
    142    0.08%  isearch-delete-char
    138    0.08%  maximize-window
    135    0.08%  markdown-electric-backquote
    129    0.07%  avy-goto-line                                M-g g
    125    0.07%  dired-find-file
    124    0.07%  indent-for-tab-command
    121    0.07%  org-edit-special                             C-c ', <menu-bar> <Org> <Editing> <Edit Source Example>, <menu-bar> <Tbl> <Calculate> <Edit Formulas>
    105    0.06%  org-end-of-line                              C-e
    101    0.06%  capitalize-word                              M-c
    100    0.06%  org-edit-src-exit

fin

I see a bunch of commands that I've replaced or recently switched to so I think I'll delete the file and see how Q1 2018 goes.