Why doesn't my <Meta> key work in an `xterm' window?
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Note:Single-Byte Character Set Support.
If the advice in the Emacs manual fails, try all of these methods
before asking for further help:
* You may have big problems using `mwm' as your window manager.
(Does anyone know a good generic solution to allow the use of the
<Meta> key in Emacs with `mwm'?)
* For X11: Make sure it really is a <Meta> key. Use `xev' to find
out what keysym your <Meta> key generates. It should be either
`Meta_L' or `Meta_R'. If it isn't, use `xmodmap' to fix the
situation. If <Meta> does generate `Meta_L' or `Meta_R', but
`M-x' produces a non-ASCII character, put this in your
`~/.Xdefaults' file:
XTerm*eightBitInput: false
XTerm*eightBitOutput: true
* Make sure the `pty' the `xterm' is using is passing 8 bit
characters. `stty -a' (or `stty everything') should show `cs8'
somewhere. If it shows `cs7' instead, use `stty cs8 -istrip' (or
`stty pass8') to fix it.
* If there is an `rlogin' connection between `xterm' and Emacs, the
`-8' argument may need to be given to rlogin to make it pass all 8
bits of every character.
* If Emacs is running on Ultrix, it is reported that evaluating
`(set-input-mode t nil)' helps.
* If all else fails, you can make `xterm' generate `<ESC> W' when
you type `M-W', which is the same conversion Emacs would make if it
got the `M-W' anyway. In X11R4, the following resource
specification will do this:
XTerm.VT100.EightBitInput: false
(This changes the behavior of the `insert-eight-bit' action.)
With older `xterm's, you can specify this behavior with a
translation:
XTerm.VT100.Translations: #override \
Meta<KeyPress>: string(0x1b) insert()
You might have to replace `Meta' with `Alt'.