This is a move-line function (by Joe Smith) that was discussed on the gnu-help mailing list back in 2008. This function allows the current line to be transposed up and down. This is useful for re-arranging lists in Emacs.
See MoveRegion if you want to move the entire region. See also the move-lines package for moving indifferently current line or lines surrounding region.
(defun move-line (n)
"Move the current line up or down by N lines."
(interactive "p")
(setq col (current-column))
(beginning-of-line) (setq start (point))
(end-of-line) (forward-char) (setq end (point))
(let ((line-text (delete-and-extract-region start end)))
(forward-line n)
(insert line-text)
;; restore point to original column in moved line
(forward-line -1)
(forward-char col)))
(defun move-line-up (n)
"Move the current line up by N lines."
(interactive "p")
(move-line (if (null n) -1 (- n))))
(defun move-line-down (n)
"Move the current line down by N lines."
(interactive "p")
(move-line (if (null n) 1 n)))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-<up>") 'move-line-up)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-<down>") 'move-line-down)
See also standard command ‘transpose-lines’, bound to ‘C-x C-t’. – DrewAdams
DrewAdams suggestion of ‘transpose-lines’ works like a charm. It makes the implementation of M-up and M-down trivial. – ThomasKappler
(defun move-line-up () (interactive) (transpose-lines 1) (forward-line -2)) (defun move-line-down () (interactive) (forward-line 1) (transpose-lines 1) (forward-line -1))