Re: Difference between GUI/terminal when using "kbd" macro

[Felix Crux]

Thanks for the suggestion; it actually led to an interesting discovery:

With the keybinding set to (kbd "C-x <escape>"), running "C-x <escape> C-h"
(in a terminal session, since in a GUI one it quits Emacs) shows the following:

  Global Bindings Starting With C-x ESC:
  key             binding
  ---             -------
  C-x ESC ESC     repeat-complex-command

This got me thinking about the fact that the help system is calling it "ESC",
not "<escape>", and wondering about whether that is significant.

I then tried changing the binding to (kbd "C-x ESC"), which actually works in
both graphical and terminal sessions!

In conclusion, it looks as though there is a difference between "ESC" and
"<escape>", at least as far as the "kbd" macro is concerned. I don't know
enough about the topic to be sure, but I would speculate that "<escape>" is
some sort of special meta-character being sent by the X window system, while
"ESC" is the lower-level key value.

Very interesting stuff; and it now lets me use the more readable form, too!
I'm still quite curious about the discrepancy, but at least the original
problem is solved. Thank you!

Felix C.

On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 2:12 PM, Jambunathan K <kjambunathan@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> May be C-x ESC C-h will tell you what is behind the curtain.  Forgive
> me, if it doesn't help, for I know not what I am talking.  Just a
> suggestion.
>
>
> Felix Crux <felixc@felixcrux.com> writes:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I recently ran across a perplexing problem that I can't find the answer
>> to in the documentation.
>>
>> The following snippet in my init file works just as one would expect in
>> both graphical (GTK+) and terminal instances of Emacs:
>>
>>   (global-set-key [?\C-x ?\e] 'save-buffers-kill-emacs)
>>
>> However, this version, which I thought to be identical (but more readable),
>> only works in graphical sessions:
>>
>>   (global-set-key (kbd "C-x <escape>") 'save-buffers-kill-emacs)
>>
>> When attempting to use it in a terminal, the status line simply displays
>> "C-x ESC-", as though waiting for more input.
>>
>> Invoking emacs-version gives me "GNU Emacs 23.4.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu,
>> GTK+ Version 2.24.10) of 2012-09-08 on trouble, modified by Debian".
>>
>> I'd be most grateful if someone would point me in the right direction to
>> understand this. Thank you,
>>
>> Felix C.
>>
>>
>
> --