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  • You always have the option of using viper and have vi keybinding in Emacs. Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 22:51
  • @Pedro Romano, I'm curious about why these keys were chosen as default settings. I suppose many emacs users do use these bindings. It would be strange if everybody would change the basic key bindings and nobody would use the default. And if I were to use vi key bindings in emacs wouldn't it be easier to install vi in the first place? Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 22:58
  • I believe it's because they are mnemonics for the English words, f - forward, b - back, p - previous, n - next. Also you have to remember that Emacs in its default configuration is not a modal editor like vi, so i, j, k, l without a modifier key wasn't really an option for cursor movement. Also swapping the Caps Lock and Ctrl keys will be typical among power users. Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 23:08
  • @Pedro Romano, yes I understand the the letter keys would have been used with some modifier(s). My point was that the i, j, k, l key arrangement would be much more comfortable than the f, b, p, n. Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 23:27
  • I found the following article which is enlightening: Why Emacs's Keyboard Shortcuts are Painful. Basically, historical reasons. Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 23:32