efaq: Binding keys to commands
9.1 How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
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Keys can be bound to commands either interactively or in your ‘.emacs’
file. To interactively bind keys for all modes, type ‘M-x
global-set-key <RET> KEY CMD <RET>’.
To bind a key just in the current major mode, type ‘M-x local-set-key
<RET> KEY CMD <RET>’.
(emacs)Key Bindings.
To make the process of binding keys interactively easier, use the
following “trick”: First bind the key interactively, then immediately
type ‘C-x <ESC> <ESC> C-a C-k C-g’. Now, the command needed to bind the
key is in the kill ring, and can be yanked into your ‘.emacs’ file. If
the key binding is global, no changes to the command are required. For
example,
(global-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))
can be placed directly into the ‘.emacs’ file. If the key binding is
local, the command is used in conjunction with the ‘add-hook’ function.
For example, in TeX mode, a local binding might be
(add-hook 'tex-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(local-set-key (quote [f1]) (quote help-for-help))))
• Control characters in key sequences, in the form yanked from the
kill ring are given in their graphic form—i.e., <CTRL> is shown as
‘^’, <TAB> as a set of spaces (usually 8), etc. You may want to
convert these into their vector or string forms.
• If a prefix key of the character sequence to be bound is already
bound as a complete key, then you must unbind it before the new
binding. For example, if ‘ESC {’ is previously bound:
(global-unset-key [?\e ?{]) ;; or
(local-unset-key [?\e ?{])
• Aside from commands and “lambda lists,” a vector or string also can
be bound to a key and thus treated as a macro. For example:
(global-set-key [f10] [?\C-x?\e?\e?\C-a?\C-k?\C-g]) ;; or
(global-set-key [f10] "\C-x\e\e\C-a\C-k\C-g")
Info Catalog
efaq: Key bindings
efaq: Invalid prefix characters