From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Drew Adams" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Why all the Alt bindings by default? Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:50:34 -0700 Message-ID: <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 1319647856 22339 80.91.229.12 (26 Oct 2011 16:50:56 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:50:56 +0000 (UTC) To: Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Oct 26 18:50:52 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 1RJ6gh-0002PE-Kp for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:50:47 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:54686 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RJ6gh-0007AX-8s for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:50:47 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:60407) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RJ6gd-0007AR-KL for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:50:44 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RJ6gc-0005yE-KS for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:50:43 -0400 Original-Received: from rcsinet15.oracle.com ([148.87.113.117]:56829) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RJ6gc-0005y9-Ba for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:50:42 -0400 Original-Received: from acsinet22.oracle.com (acsinet22.oracle.com [141.146.126.238]) by rcsinet15.oracle.com (Switch-3.4.4/Switch-3.4.4) with ESMTP id p9QGoemx016390 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK) for ; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:50:41 GMT Original-Received: from acsmt356.oracle.com (acsmt356.oracle.com [141.146.40.156]) by acsinet22.oracle.com (8.14.4+Sun/8.14.4) with ESMTP id p9QGod24013016 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:50:40 GMT Original-Received: from abhmt119.oracle.com (abhmt119.oracle.com [141.146.116.71]) by acsmt356.oracle.com (8.12.11.20060308/8.12.11) with ESMTP id p9QGoYM4024296 for ; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:50:34 -0500 Original-Received: from dradamslap1 (/130.35.178.194) by default (Oracle Beehive Gateway v4.0) with ESMTP ; Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:50:34 -0700 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11 Thread-Index: AcyT/2FeGrU/wbh5S6G9jwRnqeLY2A== X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.6109 X-Source-IP: acsinet22.oracle.com [141.146.126.238] X-Auth-Type: Internal IP X-CT-RefId: str=0001.0A090204.4EA83A61.0083:SCFMA922111,ss=1,re=-4.000,fgs=0 X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 1) X-Received-From: 148.87.113.117 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:145586 Archived-At: emacs -Q in Emacs 24, visit an Emacs-Lisp buffer, `C-h b'. Do the same in Emacs 23.3. In Emacs 24 (but not in 23.3) I see lots of Alt bindings that presumably = (?) insert characters: 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 ... Actually, I don't know what these keys do. The fancy characters are = shown in the `binding' column. What does it mean for a key to be bound to a = character (as opposed to command `self-insert-command')? I don't even know how to hit such keys to see what `C-h k' says. By = default, Alt is Meta, at least on most platforms. I tried `(describe-key (kbd = "A-/"))' etc., but that just says "A-/ is undefined". What's this all about? =20 Searching for `Alt', or `A-', or even `Unicode' turns up nothing in = NEWS. Also, (emacs) Modifier Keys says this explicitly: "Emacs supports three other modifier keys. These are called , and . Few terminals provide ways to use these modifiers; the key labeled on most keyboards usually issues the modifier, not . The standard key bindings in Emacs do not include any characters with these modifiers. However, you can customize Emacs to assign meanings to them. The modifier bits are labelled as `s-', `H-' and `A-' respectively." Apparently it is no longer true that "The standard key bindings...do not = include any characters with these modifiers." (?)