how can a command be bound to Ctrl-' or Ctrl- in the terminal

Question

I want to bind a command to C-', C-` and C-0 through C-9 keys. It's not working in the terminal

Is there a way to do so?

If you're running emacs in text mode inside a terminal, that is not likely to be possible, I think. In general, try typing `C-h c` followed by the key you wish to bind to. If the key works at all, you'll see its name and whatever it is bound to in the echo area. — Harald Hanche-Olsen, Sep 23 '18 at 10:54
A valid answer to your question is "yes", so you might want to rephrase it to clarify what you're after. — Stefan, Sep 23 '18 at 20:34

Fran Burstall · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-23T11:10:30.693

0

The following works for me:

(define-key text-mode-map (kbd "C-9") #'next-line)

Or, with bind-key:

(bind-key (kbd "C-9") #'next-line)

edited Sep 23 '18 at 11:10

answered Sep 23 '18 at 10:10

Fran Burstall

I'm hoping to use it with `bind-key` – zcaudate Sep 23 '18 at 10:53
@zcaudate Then you should have said so initially. (Sorry I can't help; I am unfamiliar with that command.) – Harald Hanche-Olsen Sep 23 '18 at 10:58
@HaraldHanche-Olsen I think it has to do with the fact that it's running inside the terminal. `M-1` works but not `C-1`. Is there a reason for this? – zcaudate Sep 23 '18 at 11:47
1

@zcaudate This is the correct answer to the question you asked, but it sounds like your actual question is https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/1020/problems-with-keybindings-when-using-terminal – npostavs Sep 23 '18 at 12:08
1

@zcaudate Yes, there is a reason, but it's kind of technical: Briefly, terminal emulators will transmit M-1 as an ESCape character followed by 1 (and similarly for other M-something combinations). But characters like C-f are transmitted like the letter f with the high order bits zeroed, which works fine for control-letter combinations. There isn't a similar convention for other characters combined with the control key, though, so they generally flat out don't work in a terminal. – Harald Hanche-Olsen Sep 23 '18 at 13:53

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