Mac OS X Terminal [Use option as meta key] overrides backslash in spanish keyboard [closed]

Asked 26/1, 2011 at 23:21 Answered 5/4, 2018 at 12:56

I check "Use option as meta key" checkbox in Mac OS X Terminal, because I like to use emacs way of moving between words: M-f & M-b.

But if I do that, I can't get the backslash (Option + º; i.e.: Option + key-at-the-left-of-1-in-spanish-keyboard). If I uncheck it, then I can input the backslash, but I don't have M-f & M-b.

Is there a way to get both?

Elijaheliminate answered 26/1, 2011 at 23:21 Comment(4)

This probably belongs on SuperUser.com or better yet, Apple.StackExchange.com – Rodolphe 27/1, 2011 at 0:51

+1 for letting me understand that there was a "Use option as meta key" box. – Shriner 3/2, 2011 at 4:1

I have the same problem with my usual french (Azerty) layout. Under other OSes (Win and Linux), I can map (left)Alt as META, while (right)AltGr allows me to input alternative grahics. I can thus navigate efficiently and input all the characters available on my layout. I am still to find a way to achieve this under OS X Terminal, not finding any accepted answer here makes it look difficult. – Whitebait 4/12, 2013 at 14:57

Cross-site duplicate apple.stackexchange.com/questions/7084/… – Brigade 19/11, 2020 at 14:58

The escape key works as a meta key by default; no need to use option as the meta key (other than its more convenient location).

Cloying answered 4/7, 2012 at 12:28 Comment(3)

The Option key is also a lot easier to type fluidly, because it's a modifier key. To use ESC you have to press and release the key, then type the key you want to modify. – Wordage 4/7, 2012 at 23:3

The first part of the answer would make for an interesting comment (not an answer obviously), the part about it being "not needed" is a respectable opinion, but will not help anyone who needs this functionality (eg. Linux background). – Whitebait 4/12, 2013 at 14:54

Thank you! Despite the whiney, this is the only answer with an explanation on how to use the META key without tweaking the macos keyboard! – Elstan 1/9, 2020 at 19:6

Not a great solution, but XTerm (running in X11 on OS X) can use CMD as the Meta key.

You might also have some good results from KeyRemap4MacBook.

Just as a side benefit, XTerm should also give you proper terminal mouse interaction, e.g. in Emacs or ncurses based apps.

Rodolphe answered 27/1, 2011 at 0:50 Comment(0)

You will most likely run into a lot more problems with that setup, because Mac OS uses "Alt" as a modifier in a lot of shortcuts. But anyway, including the following line in your ~/.bash_profile will send a backslash if you enter the unicode character "∫" (which is E288AB):

bind '"\033\xE2\x88\xAB"':'"\\"'

Cameo answered 27/1, 2011 at 12:15 Comment(1)

But how would one enter that when Option is Meta? – Wordage 4/7, 2012 at 4:0

You could customize the keyboard map to use a different key for entering backslash. Look in

Preferences > Settings > [profile] > Keyboard

For example, you could map Control-F1 to backslash.

Note that the default keyboard map maps Option-Left/Right Arrow to M-b/f, so you could use those instead of using Option for Meta (you’d have to get used to using the arrow keys instead of b and f, but I’ve never been able to get used to using b and f and prefer the arrow keys).

Wordage answered 4/7, 2012 at 3:58 Comment(0)

I had the same issue. This is how I solved it.

I replaced the built in terminal with iTerm2, which also gave me a few other nice features. To get a sane Meta-key i did the following:

For the profile I wanted to use I checked "Alt sends +Esc", which gave me back a sane Meta-key that works in Emacs, Bash and others. However, I did lose the backslash key. So, to get it back and added a binding in the profile that does "Send text: \" and then I bound it to my backspace key combo (Shift-Alt-7, I'm Norwegian).

Now I have M-f, M-b in Emacs, M-. in Bash and I'm able to send backslashes. I also have a "Visor shell session" that I can have slide down by pressing another key combination.

Jairia answered 17/3, 2014 at 11:30 Comment(1)

Wow. Thank you for making me aware of M-. in bash (also works in zsh)! – Statehood 4/10, 2015 at 6:58

This is years late, but for people coming across this page whilst searching for a solution, as I did, I have decided to build one myself.

It is a simple status bar app that runs in the background and rewrites all left-Alt + $KEY key events to two key events in rapid succession, Esc, then $KEY; however, it only does this if Terminal.app is the focused application.

You can find it here at https://github.com/habibalamin/Metalt.

Panslavism answered 5/4, 2018 at 12:56 Comment(0)

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