bug#24443: 24.5; Feature: C-n and C-p to move logically while DOWN and UP move physically

[Ed Avis <eda@waniasset.com>]

Eli Z. wrote:

>>Could I suggest that it might make sense for the more 'expert'
>>keystrokes C-n and C-p to default to logical line movement, while DOWN
>>and UP continue to move visually
>
>This could be a global minor mode, by default off.  I don't think we
>can make this the default behavior after so many years of the current
>behavior.

Yeah, you'd never change something as fundamental as moving up and down a line after decades of it working one way :-p.
My view is that while the arrow keys shouldn't change, C-n and C-p are 'expert' enough that a tweak to their behaviour can be justified,
particularly as it would be restoring an old and sometimes-missed feature.  But the Emacs maintainers will have the best idea of what their users expect.

The tutorial would need to change and say that while the arrow keys move point around physically on the screen,
the C-n and C-p keystrokes will always go to the next or previous line if one exists.  That would be something useful
for the tutorial to teach.

But apart from the question of defaults, a start would be to add functions next-line-logical and previous-line-logical.
These could then be bound to whatever keys you want without Lisp programming.

-- 
Ed Avis <eda@waniasset.com>