Re: M-<function-key> vs. ESC <function-key>

[Stefan Monnier]

>>>> Yes, I do, because that's what Emacs is receiving when I press
>>>> Meta-left, for example.  More specifically, when I type
>>>> Meta-left at Emacs running in xterm it receives the key sequence
>>>> [?\e ?\e ?O ?D], which gets translated to [?\e left] through
>>>> function-key-map.
>>>> 
>>>> That is a surprise to me.  Someone must have changed this in recent
>>>> years.
>> 
>>> He did not say what his input terminal is.  It may not be X.
>> 
>> He said it's an xterm.

> Which is not X.  So Emacs never gets to see Meta.

Please re-read: he presses M-left, which xterm turns into [?\e ?\e ?O ?D]
and which function-key-map transforms to [?\e left] and the lookup with
[?\e left] fails to find the M-left binding to backward-word.

In contrast, M-C-f is turned by xterm into [?\e ?\C-f] which
function-key-map leaves alone and the lookup for [?\e ?\C-f] successfully
finds the M-C-f binding to forward-sexp.


        Stefan