11

Is there any way to bind C-[ to something and not have all M- (Meta) bindings messed up?

Not the first time this question comes up. Unfortunately, the only solution offered in the previous thread is a) Linux specific, b) requires an external tool (again Linux specific) that has nothing to do with Emacs. In the same vein I could have used something like Karabiner on a OS X to steal the C-[ sequence before Emacs ever gets it but this is clunky and expensive.

Given that it is Emacs that insists on translating C-[ to ESC, C-i to TAB and probably others I would very much like to break these relationships and get precious key sequences back. Recently I ran full speed into this problem and blamed quiet innocent smartparens mode.

A possible solution that involved function-key-map and key-translation-map was discussed here but alas it either no longer works or did not work in the first place (or I'm doing something wrong). I think it was going in the right direction though.

Community
  • 1
zeRusski
  • 335
  • 1
  • 8
  • 3
    Emacs does not insist "on translating `C-[` to `ESC`". The two are [**the same thing**](https://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/chars/c0.html). Likewise, `C-i` and `TAB` are different names for the **same** ASCII control code. – Drew Mar 24 '15 at 16:08
  • 2
    @Drew It is not the least bit obvious that key combinations with control _must_ map to ASCII control codes (of which there are only 32) in a GUI application. (Or, heck, even in xterm, which has a modifyOtherKeys mode to send unique escape sequences in many cases, though I'm not sure about these in particular) – Random832 Mar 24 '15 at 19:28
  • 3
    @Random832: You are right to distinguish *keys* from *characters*. It is somewhat logical and straightforward for an editor to map the **key sequence** `C-[` (press `Ctrl` and hit `[`) to the `C-[` control **character** (aka the `ESC` character), but no, that is not obligatory for someone designing an editor. And yes, Emacs does that. `C-[` and `ESC` are the same character, but the keys `Ctrl` + `[` and `Esc` need not be mapped to any particular characters. – Drew Mar 24 '15 at 22:46

1 Answers1

9

Adapted from my own config:

(define-key input-decode-map [?\C-\[] (kbd "<C-[>"))
(global-set-key (kbd "<C-[>") 'butterfly)

This will obviously only work in the GUI.

edit: Note that input-decode-map is terminal-local which means modifying it won't work if you're using emacsclient, but will do if you're using emacs. I've fixed the issue in my config by wrapping it in a command operating on a frame and adding it to the after-make-frame-functions hook.

wasamasa
  • 21,803
  • 1
  • 65
  • 97
  • thank you this appears legit! I wonder if there's a way to prevent Emacs from treating Meta and ESC as the same thing? Also am wondering if I'm simply messing up some Emacs terminology and not thinking straight here – zeRusski Mar 24 '15 at 16:57
  • 1
    That's a different question, please open a new one for that. – wasamasa Mar 24 '15 at 17:02
  • interestingly having `` and `` bound back to `TAB` and `ESC` in the global-map like you suggest in your config flat out crashes my Emacs every time I hit em: – zeRusski Mar 24 '15 at 18:21
  • 1
    Well, considering that you happen to be the guy who has handed in [a bug for helm crashing upon input of the letter "j"](https://github.com/emacs-helm/helm/issues/779), I blame your Emacs build for being crashy and would suggest you to try a different one for OS X. – wasamasa Mar 24 '15 at 18:58
  • believe me I did try many a build. Will be another mystery I'll have to live with. I'll manage -) thank you for the solution – zeRusski Mar 25 '15 at 07:55
  • btw, @wasamasa thank u for linking to your config. It is very educational – zeRusski Mar 25 '15 at 08:09