When using Emacs do you rebind caps-lock to CTRL? [closed]

Question

This question is, as indicated, for those who use Emacs.

When you do, do you rebind the caps-lock key to CTRL, or do you use the "normal" ctrl key?

I've recently learned some Emacs commands and was using the Visual Studio 2008 emacs commands for a while, and of course I used a caps-rebind tool, but I'm curious how many other people do.

On a side note, the emacs bindings for VS are severely incomplete :(

Answer 1

I have no use for Caps Lock under any circumstances, whether I'm using Emacs or any other program. In the rare case that I need to type several capital letters at once, I can easily hold down Shift with my left pinkie and type almost as fast as normal with my remaining fingers. If I ever needed to produce a large amount of all-caps text using Emacs, I'd just type it all in lower case, select it, and upcase it all at once with C-x C-u, aka upcase-region.

So yes, I do make Caps Lock an additional Control key. I don't just swap them, I eliminate Caps Lock entirely.

Answer 2

I'm not an emacs user, but I use Unix heavily with programs such as screen (and, cough, vim) which use control a lot, and I bind my caps lock to control. Caps lock is a useless key that should have never made the typewriter->computer transition.

Answer 3

Yes I do remap CAPSLOCK to control.

Answer 4

I kept one of my old Sun keyboards with control where God intended it until it would not work with the new UltraSparcs. Ever since I have always remapped them, even if it did result in some odd blinking light behavior on some machines.

Answer 5

Absolutely yes, and I'm really happy with it. Caps Lock is simply unuseful and irritating, switching it to a Ctrl will:

• Save you from awkward positions
• Save you from accidentally activating Caps Lock

Answer 6

I also have useless MSWindows on my keyboard, so now I have three Ctrl keys on the left-hand side: Caps Lock, Ctrl, and LWin.

RWin generates "menu", which runs execute-extended-command (just like M-x). I'd never even tried pressing it until last week, so I don't know how long that's been the case for, but I'm trying to get accustomed to it.

I'm also trying to get used to using the right-hand Ctrl key when the keys to be modified are on the left side of the keyboard, and not in immediate range of (one of) the left Ctrl keys.

Answer 7

I do, both on windows and linux.

Answer 8

A show of hands? I have been using Emacs on and off over the past 5 years or more. Never bothered about the caps lock key. I do not bind it to control key. C-x C-u did the work every time. I can't recall any instance of having hit the caps lock when i was reaching out to 'a' or tab or 'shift'.

My be it it time for me to change the key binding. I get pain in the hands while typing. I'm going to try and see if having caps lock as control helps.

Answer 9

I found that using 'alt' as 'ctrl' and 'win' as 'alt' is better than the well known 'capslock' method.

Google 'lisp keyboard' you'll get a better idea what I'm suggesting and why Emacs has so many 'ctrl' combinations in the first place -- at the time it's invented the keyboard layouts doesn't look like what it is today.

After failed multiple times trying to use 'capslock' as 'ctrl', now I love the 'alt' way.