Meta key for 'emacs -nw'

Meta key for 'emacs -nw'

[Bob Bernstein]

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.)


-- 
Bob Bernstein

Re: Meta key for 'emacs -nw'

[Yuri Khan]

On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 10:06 AM, Bob Bernstein <rosebud@sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:

> Launched in […] xterm, with '-nw,' emacs uses Esc for
> its Meta key, which I find um disenchanting, for lack of a
> better term.
>
> […] is this a matter of setting my xterm correctly?

This. With a typical PC keyboard (which has Alt keys but no dedicated
hardware Meta keys), you’ll need to set the
XTerm.vt100.metaSendsEscape resource to true.

Re: Meta key for 'emacs -nw'

[Magnus Therning]

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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

-- 
Magnus Therning              OpenPGP: 0x927912051716CE39
email: magnus@therning.org   jabber: magnus@therning.org
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Re: Meta key for 'emacs -nw'

[Magnus Therning]

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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.)

Another thing to try: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xterm#Fix_the_.27Alt.27_key

/M

-- 
Magnus Therning              OpenPGP: 0x927912051716CE39
email: magnus@therning.org   jabber: magnus@therning.org
twitter: magthe               http://therning.org/magnus

Finagle's Sixth Law:
Don't believe in miracles -- rely on them.

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Re: Meta key for 'emacs -nw'

[HASM]

>> Launched in […] xterm, with '-nw,' emacs uses Esc for
>> its Meta key, which I find um disenchanting, for lack of a
>> better term.

> This. With a typical PC keyboard (which has Alt keys but no dedicated
> hardware Meta keys), you’ll need to set the
> XTerm.vt100.metaSendsEscape resource to true.

Alternatively you could set
  XTerm*eightBitInput: false
(though this may have other side effects.)

-- HASM

Re: Meta key for 'emacs -nw'

[Bob Bernstein]

Magnus Therning <magnus@therning.org> wrote:

> Another thing to try: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xterm#Fix_the_.27Alt.27_key

The link above contains the method I eventually used. This, 
in my ~/.Xdefaults, works:

XTerm*metaSendsEscape: true

Thanks all who chimed in!

-- 
Bob Bernstein

Re: Meta key for 'emacs -nw'

[Emanuel Berg]

Bob Bernstein <rosebud@sdf.lonestar.org> 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'.

If you are on a Debian system or derivative, or some
other Linux distro with style, you can install the
emacs-nox package ("no X") to get -nw by default
(well, you don't have a choice!).

> 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.

Esc for Meta works in the GUI, X version of Emacs as
well! This was once not as bad as today because the
Escape key had another position. Here is a picture of
a HP keyboard, as late as 1985:

    http://www.hpmuseum.net/images/HP-HILKeyboard-42.jpg

> Or is this a matter of setting my xterm correctly?

Put this is ~/.Xresources

    xterm*metaSendsEscape: true

then put this in ~/.xinitrc

    xrdb ~/.Xresources

> (A thousand pardons if this is a F A Q.)

This is a good FAQ question actually. Or "RQ" perhaps
(recurring questions).

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573