Re: German characters

[Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org>]

drain <aeuster@gmail.com> writes:

> Well, it only took a few substitutions to turn spanish.el into a
> german.el.
>
> But I'd still be interested to know other methods.

I guess, the standard way of writing letters of other languages is to
use input methods.

,----[ C-h k C-x RET C-\ ]
| C-x RET C-\ runs the command set-input-method, which is an interactive compiled
| Lisp function in `mule-cmds.el'.
| 
| It is bound to C-x RET C-\, <menu-bar> <options> <mule> <set-input-method>.
| 
| (set-input-method INPUT-METHOD &optional INTERACTIVE)
| 
| Select and activate input method INPUT-METHOD for the current buffer.
| This also sets the default input method to the one you specify.
| If INPUT-METHOD is nil, this function turns off the input method, and
| also causes you to be prompted for a name of an input method the next
| time you invoke C-\.
| When called interactively, the optional arg INTERACTIVE is non-nil,
| which marks the variable `default-input-method' as set for Custom buffers.
| 
| To deactivate the input method interactively, use C-\.
| To deactivate it programmatically, use `deactivate-input-method'.
`----

And for German, you'd use one of those three:

,----[ C-h I german-prefix RET ]
| Input method: german-prefix (mode line indicator:DE>)
| 
| German (Deutsch) input method with prefix modifiers
| Key translation rules are:
|  "A -> Ä ->   "O -> Ö   "U -> Ü   "s -> ß
| 
| 
| KEY SEQUENCE
| ------------
| You can input characters by the following key sequences:
| key char  [type a key sequence to insert the corresponding character]
| --- ---- --- ---- --- ---- --- ---- --- ---- --- ---- --- ----
| "A  Ä	 "O  Ö	  "U  Ü	   "a  ä    "o	ö    "s	 ß    "u  ü
`----

,----[ C-h I german-postfix RET ]
| Input method: german-postfix (mode line indicator:DE<)
| 
| German (Deutsch) input method
| 
| ae  -> ä
| aee -> ae
| oe  -> ö
| oee -> oe
| ue  -> ü (not after a/e/q)
| uee -> ue
| sz  -> ß
| szz -> sz
| 
| 
| KEY SEQUENCE
| ------------
| You can input characters by the following key sequences:
| key char  [type a key sequence to insert the corresponding character]
| --- ---- --- ---- --- ---- --- ---- --- ---- --- ---- --- ----
| AE  Ä	 OE  Ö	  UE  Ü	   ae  ä    oe	ö    sz	 ß    ue  ü
`----

,----[ C-h I german RET ]
| Input method: german (mode line indicator:DE@)
| 
| German (Deutsch) input method simulating SUN German keyboard
| 
| 
| KEYBOARD LAYOUT
| ---------------
| This input method works by translating individual input characters.
| Assuming that your actual keyboard has the `standard' layout,
| translation results in the following "virtual" keyboard layout:
| 
|      +----------------------------------------------------------------+
|       | 1 ! | 2 " | 3 § | 4 $ | 5 % | 6 & | 7 / | 8 ( | 9 ) | 0 = | ß ? | [ { | ] } |
|      +----------------------------------------------------------------+
|         | q Q | w W | e E | r R | t T | z Z | u U | i I | o O | p P | ü Ü | + * |
|        +------------------------------------------------------------+
|          | a A | s S | d D | f F | g G | h H | j J | k K | l L | ö Ö | ä Ä | # ^ |
|         +-----------------------------------------------------------+
|            | y Y | x X | c C | v V | b B | n N | m M | , ; | . : | - _ |
|           +-------------------------------------------------+
| 		    +-----------------------------+
| 		    |          space bar          |
| 		    +-----------------------------+
| 
| If your keyboard has a different layout, rearranged from
| `standard', the "virtual" keyboard you get with this input method
| will be rearranged in the same way.
| 
| You can set the variable `quail-keyboard-layout-type' to specify
| the physical layout of your keyboard; the tables shown in
| documentation of input methods including this one are based on the
| physical keyboard layout as specified with that variable.
`----

HTH,
Tassilo