GNU Emacs key notation

For the rest of this chapter, we'll be switching to GNU Emacs' form of representing the keystrokes you'll type. This may be confusing at first, but you'll get used to it quickly. Here are our form and GNU Emacs' form: Table 4.1: Emacs Notation Our Notation GNU Emacs' -------------------------------- [t] t [CTRL-t] C-t [RETURN] RET [DELETE] DEL [SPACE BAR] SPC In addition, GNU Emacs makes extensive use of the [META] key. This key acts much like the [SHIFT] and [CTRL] keys; you hold down the [META] key while pressing another key. [META] keystrokes will be indicated by M- ; for example, [META-t] will be printed M-t.

If you don't have a [META] key on your keyboard (or if you don't know of any special key to use for that purpose), you type a two key sequence: first press and release the [ESC] key, and then press the other key. Thus, M-t would be typed by pressing and releasing the [ESC] key followed by pressing and releasing the [t] key. For M-C-t, press and release the [ESC] key, then hold down the [CTRL] key and press [t]. Finally, release the [CTRL] and [t] keys. (It sounds a lot harder than it really is!)

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