Binding meta and arrow

Binding meta and arrow

[Ian Crowther]

I'm trying to make emacs bind "M-arrow" to things.
I know other applications can use the key combination in the same 
environment (on the console, using putty and screen) and it seems emacs 
itself can handle it; when I go "C-h c M-left" it says "ESC <left> is 
undefined"

I can evaluate "(global-set-key [left] "left was pressed")" and get "left 
was pressed" inserted into the buffer when I press left. All I now need to 
do is try to figure out how to use the alt key on my keyboard.
I've tried the following:
	(global-set-key [M-left] "M-left was pressed")
	(global-set-key [A-left] "A-left was pressed")
	(global-set-key [alt left] "alt left was pressed")
	(global-set-key [meta left] "meta left was pressed")

And because I don't know what they do, I tried the following combinations 
also:
	(global-set-key [H-left] "H-left was pressed")
	(global-set-key [s-left] "s-left was pressed")


None of them work. I know emacs can tell I've pressed M-left though. I'd be 
grateful if somebody could tell me how I'm going wrong trying to bind it.

Re: Binding meta and arrow

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "Ian Crowther" <i_crowther@hotmail.com>
> Bcc: 
> Date: Sat, 14 May 2005 00:27:27 +0100
> 
> I can evaluate "(global-set-key [left] "left was pressed")" and get "left 
> was pressed" inserted into the buffer when I press left. All I now need to 
> do is try to figure out how to use the alt key on my keyboard.
> I've tried the following:
> 	(global-set-key [M-left] "M-left was pressed")
> 	(global-set-key [A-left] "A-left was pressed")
> 	(global-set-key [alt left] "alt left was pressed")
> 	(global-set-key [meta left] "meta left was pressed")
> 
> And because I don't know what they do, I tried the following combinations 
> also:
> 	(global-set-key [H-left] "H-left was pressed")
> 	(global-set-key [s-left] "s-left was pressed")
> 
> 
> None of them work. I know emacs can tell I've pressed M-left though. I'd be 
> grateful if somebody could tell me how I'm going wrong trying to bind it.

Just use a name of a function instead of the string.  For example:

     (global-set-key [M-left] 'beginning-of-line)

(The way you used global-set-key is meant for macros: the thing inside
quotes should be a sequence of one or more keys, it cannot be an
arbitrary string, and it certainly isn't displayed in the echo area,
it's fed back to the Emacs keyboard input.)

Re: Binding meta and arrow

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 14.05.2005 um 01:27 schrieb Ian Crowther:

> And because I don't know what they do, I tried the following 
> combinations also:
> 	(global-set-key [H-left] "H-left was pressed")
> 	(global-set-key [s-left] "s-left was pressed")
>

For these to work you need to have the Hyper and super modifiers 
defined -- and those extra keys too!

--
Greetings

   Pete

A lot of us are working harder than we want, at things we don't like to
do.  Why? ...In order to afford the sort of existence we don't care to 
live.
	-- Bradford Angier

Re: Binding meta and arrow

[Ian Crowther]

>Just use a name of a function instead of the string.  For example:
>     (global-set-key [M-left] 'beginning-of-line)
>(The way you used global-set-key is meant for macros: the thing inside
>quotes should be a sequence of one or more keys, it cannot be an
>arbitrary string, and it certainly isn't displayed in the echo area,
>it's fed back to the Emacs keyboard input.)

Well thanks, but I have exactly the same problem. If I do:

	(global-set-key [left] 'beginning-of-line)

it does exactly what I expect. I press left and it goes to the line start. 
The following still don't work:

	(global-set-key [M-left] 'beginning-of-line)
	(global-set-key [A-left] 'beginning-of-line)
	(global-set-key [alt left] 'beginning-of-line)
	(global-set-key [meta left] 'beginning-of-line)

After evaluating all of them I still get "ESC <left> is undefined" if I do 
"C-h c M-left".

Thanks for correcting my fumbled attempt at lisp, but I'm still stuck. 
Anybody got any other ideas?

Re: Binding meta and arrow

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 15.05.2005 um 01:51 schrieb Ian Crowther:

> it does exactly what I expect. I press left and it goes to the line 
> start. The following still don't work:
>
> 	(global-set-key [M-left] 'beginning-of-line)
> 	(global-set-key [A-left] 'beginning-of-line)
>

Try first 'M-x global-set-key <your keys> global-set-key' and then do 
M-x repeat-complex-command. You now see the code for binding the key, 
C-a and C-k and C-g and you insert it into your .emacs file. Could be 
that either your X server or you keyboard do not support Alt and Meta 
cursor keys. Are you working on a portable? What happens when you press 
the fn key?

(global-set-key [(alt v)] 'yank) works for me. Could be you need to 
change some of your syntax.

--
Greetings

   Pete

Mac OS X is like a wigwam: no fences, no gates, but an apache inside.

Re: Binding meta and arrow

[Ian Crowther]

>Try first 'M-x global-set-key <your keys> global-set-key' and then do M-x 
>repeat-complex-command.

Thanks! I have managed to get the key bound. That had been annoying me for 
ages.

In case anybody else has the same problem, it was:
	(global-set-key (quote [27 left]) 'beginning-of-line)

I cannot bind [(alt v)], yet I can bind [(meta v)], which makes sense since 
it says "Alt .... available only under X" at 
http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part4.html
I'd love to know why meta didn't work with arrow keys though.

Re: Binding meta and arrow

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 16.05.2005 um 03:01 schrieb Ian Crowther:

> I cannot bind [(alt v)]

I think this works when you change the cmd and option keys. Then 
alt/option does not select from the keyboard another layer of 
characters but works as the Meta key. Cmd is then the alt modifier.

(setq mac-command-key-is-meta nil)

--
Greetings

   Pete

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and 
I'm not
sure about the former" - Albert Einstein

Re: Binding meta and arrow

[Stefan Monnier]

> I'm trying to make emacs bind "M-arrow" to things.
> I know other applications can use the key combination in the same
> environment (on the console, using putty and screen) and it seems emacs
> itself can handle it; when I go "C-h c M-left" it says "ESC <left> is
> undefined"

Although "ESC a" is equivalent to "M-a", this is not true of function keys
like "left" where "M-left" is not the same as "ESC left".


        Stefan

Re: Binding meta and arrow

[Ehud Karni]

On Mon, 16 May 2005 11:49:52 -0400, Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
>
> Although "ESC a" is equivalent to "M-a", this is not true of function keys
> like "left" where "M-left" is not the same as "ESC left".

That is true only if you don't set `meta-prefix-char' to another value.
I set it to nil and then "M-<char>" is NOT "ESC <char>" (and not a
combination of any key + <char>).

Ehud.


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