Smex

Smex is a M-x enhancement for Emacs. Built on top of Ido, it provides a convenient interface to your recently and most frequently used commands. And to all the other commands, too.

Get started

• Download Smex.

• Add Smex to your load path. (Find out more.)

• To auto-start Smex every time you open Emacs add these lines to your .emacs file:

    (require 'smex)
  

  Put this line at the very end of your .emacs file: (It should be run after all your other Emacs packages have been loaded.)

    (smex-initialize)
  

  Starter Kit users should add the following instead:

    (eval-after-load "init.el" '(smex-initialize))
  

  Bind some keys:

    (global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'smex)
    (global-set-key (kbd "M-X") 'smex-major-mode-commands)
    (global-set-key (kbd "C-c M-x") 'smex-update-and-run)
    ;; This is your old M-x.
    (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-c M-x") 'execute-extended-command)
  

• Run Smex. (Type M-x, if that's your key binding).

The commands are displayed in an Ido completion buffer, ordered by relevance. The 7 most recently executed commands come first, the rest are sorted by frequency of use and in alphabetical order.

Ido completion in 10 seconds: Typing selects matching commands: e.g. 'lnmd' matches 'line-number-mode'. C-s/C-r switches to the next/previous match. Enter executes the selected command.

Learn more

Show only major mode commands

smex-major-mode-commands runs Smex, limited only to commands that are relevant to the active major mode. Try it with Dired or Magit.

Command help

C-h f, while Smex is active, runs describe-function on the currently selected command.

Show unbound commands

smex-show-unbound-commands shows frequently used commands that have no key bindings.

Persistence

Smex keeps a file to save its state betweens Emacs sessions. The default path is '~/smex.save'; you can change it by setting the variable smex-save-file.

Cache maintenance

To guarantee snappiness, Smex maintains command caches - which, unfortunately, can not be automatically refreshed when new commands are defined (or unloaded).

Run smex-update-and-run to update and invoke Smex, e.g. to access commands of a library you have just loaded.

Additionally, you can teach Smex to update its caches after Emacs has been idle for 60 seconds: (smex-auto-update). (Provide an integer argument for a custom time period in seconds.)

History

Set smex-history-length to change the number of recent commands that Smex keeps track of.

Prompt

Set smex-prompt-string for a custom prompt.

Appendix

Smex is my first venture into Elisp. I'd be glad to receive patches, comments and your considered criticism.

Have fun with Smex!