From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Alan Mackenzie Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: C-p, C-b, C-f, and C-n... why? Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 08:39:12 +0000 Organization: muc.de e.V. -- private internet access Message-ID: References: <1133329096.909577.80790@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1133358034 13248 80.91.229.2 (30 Nov 2005 13:40:34 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 13:40:34 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Nov 30 14:40:26 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EhR8U-0003KO-Nn for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 30 Nov 2005 13:32:36 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EhR8U-0000uL-1d for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:32:34 -0500 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!syros.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!news1.dtag.de!news.csl-gmbh.net!informatik.tu-muenchen.de!news.muc.de!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 38 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: acm.muc.de Original-X-Trace: marvin.muc.de 1133344454 64289 193.149.49.134 (30 Nov 2005 09:54:14 GMT) Original-X-Complaints-To: news-admin@muc.de Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: 30 Nov 2005 09:54:14 GMT User-Agent: tin/1.4.5-20010409 ("One More Nightmare") (UNIX) (Linux/2.0.35 (i686)) Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:135917 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:31521 Archived-At: casioculture@gmail.com wrote on 29 Nov 2005 21:38:16 -0800: > In the tutorial it suggests I use C-p, C-b, C-f, and C-n rather than > arrow keys, why should i? There's no "should" here, only a suggestion. Sometimes you'll just want to move by a single character or line, or just a few. For example, you might have done M-b to move back a few words, then want to move two characters into the last of these - with C-f you don't have to move your right hand to the other side of the keyboard. > What's even more annoying is this: C-p requires left hand C and right > hand p, and then C-b requries right hand C and left hand b. Same goes > for C-f and C-n. I just use the left hand control key for all these. Everybody's different. :-) It's probably rare to want to mix lots of these combinations. > Trying to get used to this is such a pain. It's ludicrous. Well, don't do it, then! You've got the special purpose arrow keys on your keyboard so if it suits you, use them. Perhaps the real question is why does the tutorial emphasise C-p, etc? Remember that Emacs dates from the mid 1980s, when you worked telephones by rotating a dial with your finger, music was bought on 12" diameter vinyl disks and lots of keyboards didn't have arrow keys. The tutorial in the upcoming Emacs 22 mentions the arrow keys, but still recommends C-f, etc. -- Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a").