22 Keymaps

The command bindings of input events are recorded in data structures called keymaps. Each entry in a keymap associates (or binds) an individual event type, either to another keymap or to a command. When an event type is bound to a keymap, that keymap is used to look up the next input event; this continues until a command is found. The whole process is called key lookup.

• Key Sequences: Key sequences as Lisp objects.
• Keymap Basics: Basic concepts of keymaps.
• Format of Keymaps: What a keymap looks like as a Lisp object.
• Creating Keymaps: Functions to create and copy keymaps.
• Inheritance and Keymaps: How one keymap can inherit the bindings of another keymap.
• Prefix Keys: Defining a key with a keymap as its definition.
• Active Keymaps: How Emacs searches the active keymaps for a key binding.
• Searching Keymaps: A pseudo-Lisp summary of searching active maps.
• Controlling Active Maps: Each buffer has a local keymap to override the standard (global) bindings. A minor mode can also override them.
• Key Lookup: Finding a key's binding in one keymap.
• Functions for Key Lookup: How to request key lookup.
• Changing Key Bindings: Redefining a key in a keymap.
• Remapping Commands: A keymap can translate one command to another.
• Translation Keymaps: Keymaps for translating sequences of events.
• Key Binding Commands: Interactive interfaces for redefining keys.
• Scanning Keymaps: Looking through all keymaps, for printing help.
• Menu Keymaps: Defining a menu as a keymap.