Bob Bernstein writes:

> Emacs, unless specifically told not to do it -- with the 
> '-nw' option, will ordinarily launch here (in an xterm) in X 
> window fashion, and the Meta key is then 'Alt'.
>
> Launched in the same xterm, with '-nw,' emacs uses Esc for 
> its Meta key, which I find um disenchanting, for lack of a 
> better term.
>
> Do I need to place some information in my .emacs, perhaps 
> related to the minibuffer, instructing emacs to stay with Alt 
> for its Meta key? 
>
> Or is this a matter of setting my xterm correctly?
>
> (A thousand pardons if this is a  F A Q.)

For me it works beautifully out of the box in Gnome Terminal, but it
doesn't work in xterm. I'm guessing this means it's something that
should be fixed in the terminal rather than in emacs itself. No?

Maybe you can try this:
https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/efaq/Meta-key-does-not-work-in-xterm.html

/M

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