From the emacs built in tutorial1)
Emacs commands generally involve the CONTROL key (sometimes labeled
CTRL or CTL) or the META key (sometimes labeled EDIT or ALT). Rather than
write that in full each time, we'll use the following abbreviations:
C-<chr> means hold the CONTROL key while typing the character <chr>
Thus, C-f would be: hold the CONTROL key and type f.
M-<chr> means hold the META or EDIT or ALT key down while typing <chr>.
If there is no META, EDIT or ALT key, instead press and release the
ESC key and then type <chr>. We write <ESC> for the ESC key.
On our system the META key is generally on both the Esc and the Left Alt.
To enable syntax highlighting in emacs an a per session basis, in emacs enter:
M-x global-font-lock-mode
To make it always so, add the line:
(global-font-lock-mode 1)
To your ~/.emacs file. If you don’t have a file in your home directory named .emacs just create one and put this line in it. The next time you start emacs you will get this feature.