The Org Manual: Easy Templates

15.2 Easy Templates

Org mode supports insertion of empty structural elements (like #+BEGIN_SRC and #+END_SRC pairs) with just a few key strokes. This is achieved through a native template expansion mechanism. Note that Emacs has several other template mechanisms which could be used in a similar way, for example yasnippet.

To insert a structural element, type a ‘<’, followed by a template selector and TAB. Completion takes effect only when the above keystrokes are typed on a line by itself.

The following template selectors are currently supported.

`s`	`#+BEGIN_SRC ... #+END_SRC`
`e`	`#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE ... #+END_EXAMPLE`
`q`	`#+BEGIN_QUOTE ... #+END_QUOTE`
`v`	`#+BEGIN_VERSE ... #+END_VERSE`
`c`	`#+BEGIN_CENTER ... #+END_CENTER`
`l`	`#+BEGIN_LaTeX ... #+END_LaTeX`
`L`	`#+LaTeX:`
`h`	`#+BEGIN_HTML ... #+END_HTML`
`H`	`#+HTML:`
`a`	`#+BEGIN_ASCII ... #+END_ASCII`
`A`	`#+ASCII:`
`i`	`#+INDEX:` line
`I`	`#+INCLUDE:` line

For example, on an empty line, typing "<e" and then pressing TAB, will expand into a complete EXAMPLE template.

You can install additional templates by customizing the variable org-structure-template-alist. See the docstring of the variable for additional details.