What does a key sequence beginning with A- mean in emacs?

Question

I'm playing with coffee-mode for editing coffee-script, but I'm a total emacs newb.

In coffee-mode there are key bindings like "A-r" for compiling a buffer and "A-M-r" (I assume the "M" is meta) to open a coffeescript repl. However I can't find which key "A" refers to (it's really hard to google for A-).

Maybe it's assumed you have a PC-compatible keyboard and A means 'Alt'. Compare with http://wttools.sourceforge.net/emacs-stuff/emacs-keybindings.html — pavium, May 18 '11 at 11:57

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 25 '13 at 03:57

1

I figured out the problem. "A-r" apparently is the command key and r on a mac!

edited Feb 25 '13 at 03:57

Rais Alam

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answered May 18 '11 at 12:16

Ben Ford

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so... what is it on a non-mac? – Inaimathi Mar 09 '12 at 19:40
No, window key is super (denoted by s) – lorefnon Jun 14 '13 at 09:48
A- is the same as alt +. On some systems it's different from meta. In X the windows keys can be set to meta with "setxkbmap -option altwin:meta_win" and then the alt keys will be A- in emacs. – Johann Oskarsson Jul 22 '13 at 11:52

What does a key sequence beginning with A- mean in emacs?

1 Answers1