From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stefan Monnier Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Why all the Alt bindings by default? Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:52:25 -0400 Message-ID: References: <6F1ADCC148584A4A80CF9FF727BE1915@us.oracle.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1319651558 18464 80.91.229.12 (26 Oct 2011 17:52:38 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:52:38 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: "Drew Adams" Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Oct 26 19:52:35 2011 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([140.186.70.17]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1RJ7eS-0007eG-U8 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:52:34 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:48211 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RJ7eS-0006OT-CL for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:52:32 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:43004) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RJ7eP-0006OA-Oj for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:52:30 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RJ7eO-00013N-Am for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:52:29 -0400 Original-Received: from ironport2-out.teksavvy.com ([206.248.154.181]:5826 helo=ironport2-out.pppoe.ca) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RJ7eO-00013I-2S for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:52:28 -0400 X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: Av0EAO1HqE5MCrTo/2dsb2JhbABCqUuBBoFuAQEEAScvIwULCzQSFBgNJIgTtRuIagShQIRF X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.69,410,1315195200"; d="scan'208";a="144604244" Original-Received: from 76-10-180-232.dsl.teksavvy.com (HELO pastel.home) ([76.10.180.232]) by ironport2-out.pppoe.ca with ESMTP/TLS/ADH-AES256-SHA; 26 Oct 2011 13:52:26 -0400 Original-Received: by pastel.home (Postfix, from userid 20848) id E313A59011; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:52:25 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: <6F1ADCC148584A4A80CF9FF727BE1915@us.oracle.com> (Drew Adams's message of "Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:50:34 -0700") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.0.90 (gnu/linux) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-Received-From: 206.248.154.181 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:145591 Archived-At: > A-SPC =A0 > A-! =A1 > A-" Prefix Command > A-$ =A4 > A-' Prefix Command > A-* Prefix Command > A-+ =B1 > A-, Prefix Command > A-- =AD > A-. =B7 > A-/ Prefix Command > A-1 Prefix Command > A-3 Prefix Command > A-< =AB > A-=3D =AF > A-> =BB > A-? =BF > A-C =A9 > A-L =A3 > A-P =B6 > A-R =AE > A-S =A7 > A-Y =A5 > ... These are key remappings implemented in key-translation-map. They are available under C-x 8 as well as under the Alt modifier (I didn't remember this and had to track it down to re-learn it). > Actually, I don't know what these keys do. The fancy characters are show= n in > the `binding' column. What does it mean for a key to be bound to a chara= cter > (as opposed to command `self-insert-command')? These are not key bindings, but key remappings. > I don't even know how to hit such keys to see what `C-h k' says. By defa= ult, > Alt is Meta, at least on most platforms. Yes. I think that's why it doesn't get in the way. > I tried `(describe-key (kbd "A-/"))' etc., but that just says "A-/ is > undefined". Indeed, it's not bound. BTW in my tests "emacs -Q" followed by "C-h b" does not show those Alt mappings. Only after loading iso-transl (which is triggered by hitting C-x 8 but also by C-h b, so a second C-h b will show the Alt mappings oddly enough). Stefan