CODEWITHSUNDEEP
emacskeyboard-shortcuts
Cedric Martin
Cedric Martin

Reputation: 6014

Finding all the functions in various modes assigned to a specific shortcut

I'd like to find all the modes which do assign a function to some specific shortcut.

For example if I'm not mistaken a stock Emacs simply assigns (or defaults to) newline for S-return but while in org-mode S-return does invoke org-table-copy-down.

Is there an easy way to figure out which modes (both major and minor) do map a function to a specific shortcut? I can find all the shortcuts of one major mode using describe-mode but I'd like to find those for all the various modes. I don't mind if it were to only work for all the currently loaded modes.

Basically I'd like to find "free" or "relatively rarely re-mapped" key shortcuts, which are also easy to type (i.e. I'm not after doing "C-c a" because for a start C-c is a very convoluted key to reach and then having to then hit another key is one key too many for me. I'm more after re-mapping C-o, S-return, M-/ and other combo trivial and fast to reach).

Upvotes: 1

Views: 114

Answers (3)

aartist
aartist

Reputation: 3236

You can use

M-x describe-unbound-keys

to find out the free keys.

This is from third party library as said in comments.

Upvotes: 2

Drew
Drew

Reputation: 30708

You can find the current-mode bindings using C-h b. You can get all of the keymaps currently available, using accessible-keymaps. You can find all the features loaded via variable features. But you would have to work to find all possible bindings for all possible modes from all files that you have loaded so far.

I recommend that you do it for a particular mode, one mode at a time. It's easy to check a given mode's key bindings.

You can even check the bindings of keymaps (such as minibuffer maps or the Isearch map) that are hard to see otherwise, if you use command C-h M-k (describe-keymap) from library `help-fns+.el. I use that when I want to see what keys are still available in a given keymap etc.

Upvotes: 3

Tyler
Tyler

Reputation: 10032

I don't know the answer to your specific question, but I can give you my solution to getting easy-to-type keybindings that don't conflict with other modes.

In my set up, I've remappped CAPS-LOCK to Alt. Most people map it to CTRL, but I can hit CTRL relatively easily, while ALT is difficult. With this set-up, one of the easiest key combos to hit is M-space. So I use this as my own private keymap:

(define-prefix-command 'ty-keymap)
(global-set-key "\M- " ty-keymap)
(define-key ty-keymap " " 'just-one-space) 
(define-key ty-keymap "j" 'join-next-line)
(define-key ty-keymap "s" 'mark-sexp)
(define-key ty-keymap "c" 'org-capture)
...

Note: by default, M-space is bound to just-one-space, which is useful. I've moved that to M-space-space. Bouncing my thumb twice on the spacebar is only a fraction slower than hitting it once, so it's not a big loss.

Since M-space isn't a keymap by default, this setup allows me to use all the keys on the keyboard, without further modification. That's a lot of real-estate, guaranteed to be free of any conflict with other packages - since well-behaved packages won't clobber a basic Emacs keybinding.

You might prefer another key combo, but the idea is the same. You could even use a function key as your prefix-command, so you could do <f5> followed by a letter for your commands.

Upvotes: 1

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