emacs key bindings: normal .emacs entries don't work

emacs key bindings: normal .emacs entries don't work

[John Bullock]

Hello,

        I use GNU Emacs 22.1 -- via a tty terminal, not through X.
I am trying to change the default key bindings so that (for example)
Control-right moves the cursor forward by one word.  Newsgroups are full of
solutions to this problem, but to date, none of them have helped me.

        I've tried each of these lines in .emacs:

                (global-set-key (quote [C-right]) (quote forward-word))
                (global-set-key [C-right] 'forward-word)
                (global-set-key [(control right)] 'forward-word)

None have worked.  In addition, I tried

                (global-set-key [?\C-right] 'forward-word)

but this, apparently, isn't valid.

Incidentally, I don't have this problem when I run emacs under X -- only when
I try to run it from a terminal.  Is it likely that the problem lies not with
my .emacs file but with some setting of my terminal?

Thanks,
--John

Re: emacs key bindings: normal .emacs entries don't work

[Stefan Monnier]

> None have worked.


How should we guess the problem if you don't tell us in what way it didn't
work (i.e. what did it do)?


        Stefan


PS: Given your description, the problem is not in global-set-key but in
the description of how your twerminal encodes the C-right operation.
I.e. any fix will be specific to your terminal, so you have to tell us
which it is.
Also try to hit C-right and then C-h l and tell us what was the result,
this will tell us what escape sequence was generated by your terminal.
Do that as well with just `right C-h l' so we can compare, to make sure
that the terminal distinguishes between the two.  Most likely it doesn't and
there's nothing that Emacs can do until you fix your terminal.

Re: emacs key bindings: normal .emacs entries don't work

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "John Bullock" <john.bullock@stanford.edu>
> Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 18:09:46 -0700
> 
>         I use GNU Emacs 22.1 -- via a tty terminal, not through X.
> I am trying to change the default key bindings so that (for example)
> Control-right moves the cursor forward by one word.  Newsgroups are full of
> solutions to this problem, but to date, none of them have helped me.
> 
>         I've tried each of these lines in .emacs:
> 
>                 (global-set-key (quote [C-right]) (quote forward-word))
>                 (global-set-key [C-right] 'forward-word)
>                 (global-set-key [(control right)] 'forward-word)
> 
> None have worked.

Does Emacs at all see the C-right key?  What happens if you press
C-right and then type C-l (that's a letter ell, not a digit one)?  Do
you see <C-right> or some such in the *Help* buffer that Emacs pops?

Re: emacs key bindings: normal .emacs entries don't work

[John Bullock]

Thanks for this advice.

right C-h l produces "ESC O C C-h l"
C-right C-h l produces "C-x 1 ESC O C C-h l"

C-right C-l doesn't seem to cause a *Help* buffer to appear -- the screen 
flickers for a moment, but that's all.

I should have noted: when I say that the various global-set-key lines I've 
tried haven't worked, I mean that when I use them, C-right is just like using 
the right arrow on its own.  There is no functional difference at all.

--John


"Eli Zaretskii" <eliz@gnu.org> wrote in message 
news:01c4ab85$Blat.v2.2.2$9ab3ef20@zahav.net.il...


>> From: "John Bullock" <john.bullock@stanford.edu>
>> Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 18:09:46 -0700
>>
>>         I use GNU Emacs 22.1 -- via a tty terminal, not through X.
>> I am trying to change the default key bindings so that (for example)
>> Control-right moves the cursor forward by one word.  Newsgroups are full of
>> solutions to this problem, but to date, none of them have helped me.
>>
>>         I've tried each of these lines in .emacs:
>>
>>                 (global-set-key (quote [C-right]) (quote forward-word))
>>                 (global-set-key [C-right] 'forward-word)
>>                 (global-set-key [(control right)] 'forward-word)
>>
>> None have worked.
>
> Does Emacs at all see the C-right key?  What happens if you press
> C-right and then type C-l (that's a letter ell, not a digit one)?  Do
> you see <C-right> or some such in the *Help* buffer that Emacs pops? 

Re: emacs key bindings: normal .emacs entries don't work

[John Bullock]

Thanks for this advice.

right C-h l produces "ESC O C C-h l"
C-right C-h l produces "C-x 1 ESC O C C-h l"

C-right C-l doesn't seem to cause a *Help* buffer to appear -- the screen
flickers for a moment, but that's all.

I should have noted: when I say that the various global-set-key lines I've
tried haven't worked, I mean that when I use them, C-right is just like using
the right arrow on its own.  There is no functional difference at all.

--John


"Eli Zaretskii" <eliz@gnu.org> wrote in message
news:01c4ab85$Blat.v2.2.2$9ab3ef20@zahav.net.il...


>> From: "John Bullock" <john.bullock@stanford.edu>
>> Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 18:09:46 -0700
>>
>>         I use GNU Emacs 22.1 -- via a tty terminal, not through X.
>> I am trying to change the default key bindings so that (for example)
>> Control-right moves the cursor forward by one word.  Newsgroups are full of
>> solutions to this problem, but to date, none of them have helped me.
>>
>>         I've tried each of these lines in .emacs:
>>
>>                 (global-set-key (quote [C-right]) (quote forward-word))
>>                 (global-set-key [C-right] 'forward-word)
>>                 (global-set-key [(control right)] 'forward-word)
>>
>> None have worked.
>
> Does Emacs at all see the C-right key?  What happens if you press
> C-right and then type C-l (that's a letter ell, not a digit one)?  Do
> you see <C-right> or some such in the *Help* buffer that Emacs pops?

Re: emacs key bindings: normal .emacs entries don't work

[Stefan Monnier]

> right C-h l produces "ESC O C C-h l"
> C-right C-h l produces "C-x 1 ESC O C C-h l"

So right and C-right generate the same sequence "ESC O C" (the C-x 1 is not
from C-right but because you hit C-x 1 before, presumably in order to get
rid of the *Help* buffer).
There's nothing Emacs (or any other application for that matter) can do here.


        Stefan