Info Catalog
efaq: Producing C-XXX with the keyboard
efaq: Key bindings
efaq: No Escape key
9.9 What if I don’t have a <Meta> key?
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On many keyboards, the <Alt> key acts as <Meta>, so try it.
Instead of typing ‘M-a’, you can type ‘<ESC> a’. In fact, Emacs
converts ‘M-a’ internally into ‘<ESC> a’ anyway (depending on the value
of ‘meta-prefix-char’). Note that you press <Meta> and <a> together,
but with <ESC>, you press <ESC>, release it, and then press <a>.