bugGNU nano - Bugs: bug #54643, are some key rebindings impossible?

 
 

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bug #54643: are some key rebindings impossible?

Submitter:  Peter Passchier <pepa65>
Submitted:  Tue 11 Sep 2018 01:28:02 AM UTC
   
 
Severity:  3 - Normal Status:  Invalid
Assigned to:  None Open/Closed:  Closed

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Thu 13 Sep 2018 07:30:06 PM UTC, comment #8: 

I have a fair number of Ctrl-Alt shortcuts in use (mainly the ones you mention), but only a fraction of what is available. When I am in an nano, in a terminal, in a desktop environment/window manager, some Alt / Ctrl /Ctrl-Alt combinations are taken, not available for rebind within nano. But for some people (like me) a certain Alt-Ctrl combination would make sense and are more memorable, and would make nano functions more accessible.

Opened as bug #54659.

Peter Passchier <pepa65>
Thu 13 Sep 2018 06:26:33 PM UTC, comment #7: 

I think that it would be possible to make the Ctrl+Alt+letter combinations rebindable in nano.  You can open a feature request for that, if you wish.  But... for me, the Ctrl+Alt combinations are associated with "meta" operations on the desktop: Ctrl+Alt+Delete reboots the computer, Ctrl+Alt+F2 switches to a console, Ctrl+Alt+S puts the laptop to sleep, Ctrl+Alt+T opens a terminal, and so on.  It would not occur to me to use a Ctrl+Alt combination to try and do something inside a program.

Benno Schulenberg <bens>
Group administrator
Tue 11 Sep 2018 10:08:30 PM UTC, comment #6: 

Yes, sorry, the report was invalid.

But would it be possible to make the M-^lettter combinations bindable? That would be an enhancement with no real downsides. Shall I open a feature request towards that?

Peter Passchier <pepa65>
Tue 11 Sep 2018 06:46:06 PM UTC, comment #5: 

Since the non-working rebind of M-J was your own mistake, I am closing this report as invalid.

(Yes, some people have asked to have more rebindable keys.  The one request that I remember was about Ctrl+Shift+Letter, but that is impossible because ncurses sees Ctrl+Letter and Ctrl+Shift+Letter as identical.  No one asked about Ctrl+Alt+Letter -- for me most of those combos do something in the desktop environment, anyway, like opening a file browser.

But... the message "Unbound key: M-^Letter" gives the impression that the key could be bound.  But it cannot currently be bound.  So... probably the message "Unbindable key: M-^Letter" would be better, like for the M-[ keystroke?)

Benno Schulenberg <bens>
Group administrator
Tue 11 Sep 2018 06:19:28 AM UTC, comment #4: 

When pressing Ctrl-Alt-f, the message "Unbound key: M-^F" comes up, so nano is registering the key combo. There must have been other people making this feature request, and there must be a good reason why it hasn't been implemented yet..?

Peter Passchier <pepa65>
Tue 11 Sep 2018 05:09:43 AM UTC, comment #3: 

I just enabled the default nanorc syntax and both M-^F and ^M-F are red(bad), while M-F is green(good). And starting nano displays "Key name M-^F is invalid" on the console. How did you determine they are recognized?

You could open a separate feature request, it would be nice to have more bindable keys.

Brand Huntsman <brand>
Tue 11 Sep 2018 04:43:12 AM UTC, comment #2: 

This is in sakura, but I tried in xterm uxterm and MATE Terminal as well. Many other Alt combinations are working. I did try what you suggested, but same thing, also in xterm.

I had tried Ctrl-Alt sequences before, but I noticed they were now registering/recognized by nano, but indeed, can't be bound. (Separate issue, I guess. Maybe worth opening a feature request for?)

But M-J not working was my fault, I had put unbind statements at the bottom of the .nanorc out of fear of un-undoable justify actions...

The core issue of this report is resolved.

Peter Passchier <pepa65>
Tue 11 Sep 2018 03:46:09 AM UTC, comment #1: 

Where in nano are you using M-J? Because it works fine for me in 3.0. Are you using xterm? If so, add the following line to your .Xresources file.

xterm*metaSendsEscape: true

Then run (xrdb ~/.Xresources).

And nano doesn't support binding CTRL+META sequences, unless it was  added recently and I missed it.

Brand Huntsman <brand>
Tue 11 Sep 2018 01:28:02 AM UTC, original submission:  

Just trying out the latest binary nano I can find (3.0), so .nanorc needs some editing as usual.

I am able to rebind a fair number of keys to preferred bindings, but some don't work. Is it the terminal somehow??

But now I found a case that must somehow be a bug. In .nanorc I put: bind M-J findprevious all

When I use it, it reports back: Unbound key: M-J

Another issue is when I try Alt-Ctrl-f. It says: Unbound key: M-^F, but when I try to add a binding, say: bind M-^F whereis all
Then the syntax of that line turns red, and the key is still unbound (same message when using it).

Peter Passchier <pepa65>

 

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    Follow 3 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2018-09-11 bens StatusNone Invalid
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
        SummaryKey bindings unsettable? are some key rebindings impossible?

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