Making ESC not a prefix key while keeping Alt = Meta

Making ESC not a prefix key while keeping Alt = Meta

[Yevgeniy Makarov]

Since in my Emacs Alt key functions as Meta key, I never have to use
Esc to enter Meta-something. Though this breaks with the long-lasting
Emacs tradition, I would like to make ESC key call keyboard-quit
function, similar to Ctrl-g. Of course, I'd like to keep Alt = Meta. Is
it possible to do so?

I am using Linux and GNU Emacs 21.3.1.

Thank you.

Re: Making ESC not a prefix key while keeping Alt = Meta

[Kevin Rodgers]

Yevgeniy Makarov wrote:
> Since in my Emacs Alt key functions as Meta key, I never have to use
> Esc to enter Meta-something. Though this breaks with the long-lasting
> Emacs tradition, I would like to make ESC key call keyboard-quit
> function, similar to Ctrl-g. Of course, I'd like to keep Alt = Meta. Is
> it possible to do so?

I think so:

(global-set-key "\0" (global-key-binding "\e"))
(setq meta-prefix-char ?\0)
(global-unset-key "\e")

-- 
Kevin

Re: Making ESC not a prefix key while keeping Alt = Meta

[Yevgeniy Makarov]

Kevin Rodgers wrote:

> (global-set-key "\0" (global-key-binding "\e"))
> (setq meta-prefix-char ?\0)
> (global-unset-key "\e")

This indeed disassociates ESC from Alt; however, ESC remains a prefix
key. For example, when I press ESC, Emacs waits a little and then
displays "ESC-" in the minibuffer, waiting for the second key in the
sequence. A similar thing happens when I press C-h ESC (describe key
briefly).

When I say

(global-set-key "\e" 'keyboard-quit)

this indeed puts keyboard-quit function in the global-keymap where
ESC-prefix used to be. However, ESC does not become a synonym for C-g:
for example, when I do C-x C-f (find file), I can't terminate input
using ESC.

Yevgeniy

Re: Making ESC not a prefix key while keeping Alt = Meta

[Kevin Rodgers]

Yevgeniy Makarov wrote:
> Kevin Rodgers wrote:
> 
>> (global-set-key "\0" (global-key-binding "\e"))
>> (setq meta-prefix-char ?\0)
>> (global-unset-key "\e")
> 
> This indeed disassociates ESC from Alt; however, ESC remains a prefix
> key. For example, when I press ESC, Emacs waits a little and then
> displays "ESC-" in the minibuffer, waiting for the second key in the
> sequence. A similar thing happens when I press C-h ESC (describe key
> briefly).

Apparently some modes bind ESC locally e.g. lisp-interaction-mode
(*scratch) and help-mode (*Help*).  So you'd need to put
(local-unset-key "\e") in each such mode's hook.

> When I say
> 
> (global-set-key "\e" 'keyboard-quit)
> 
> this indeed puts keyboard-quit function in the global-keymap where
> ESC-prefix used to be. However, ESC does not become a synonym for C-g:
> for example, when I do C-x C-f (find file), I can't terminate input
> using ESC.

 From the Quitting node of the Emacs Lisp manual:

,----
|  -- Command: keyboard-quit
|      This function signals the `quit' condition with `(signal 'quit
|      nil)'.  This is the same thing that quitting does.  (See `signal'
|      in *Note Errors::.)
|
|    You can specify a character other than `C-g' to use for quitting.
| See the function `set-input-mode' in *Note Terminal Input::.
`----

The first node under Terminal Input is Input Modes, which describes
the set-input-mode and current-input-mode functions.  So:

(let ((input-mode (current-input-mode)))
   (setcar (nthcdr 3 input-mode) ?\e)	; QUIT = ESC
   (set-input-mode input-mode))

-- 
Kevin

Re: Making ESC not a prefix key while keeping Alt = Meta

[Yevgeniy Makarov]

> Apparently some modes bind ESC locally e.g. lisp-interaction-mode
> (*scratch) and help-mode (*Help*).  So you'd need to put
> (local-unset-key "\e") in each such mode's hook.

You are right. The local keymap for *scratch* buffer defined ESC. After
I unset it, I ran

(key-binding "\e")

and the answer was nil.

After that, I entered

> (let ((input-mode (current-input-mode)))
>    (setcar (nthcdr 3 input-mode) ?\e)	; QUIT = ESC
>    (set-input-mode input-mode))

replacing (set-input-mode input-mode) with (apply 'set-input-mode
input-mode), but pressing ESC when the minibuffer is active (e.g.,
during entering a filename) still has no effect. After I said

(global-set-key "\e" 'keyboard-quit)

pressing ESC in the scratch buffer causes the word "Quit" to appear in
the minibuffer, but pressing ESC in the minibuffer still has no effect.

Yevgeniy