Cannot bind Meta + Shift + Character

Question

I am not able to bind Meta + Shift + any character.

I do not experience these problems with other key combinations (such as Control + Shift + Key).

Below is the specific case that I cannot get to work:

(global-set-key (kbd "M-S-Z") 'zap-up-to-char-backward)
(defun zap-up-to-char-backward (char)
  (interactive "cZap up to char (backward): ")
  (zap-up-to-char -1 char))

Answer 1

M-S-Z would mean Meta + Shift + Z. But Z (uppercase) is itself what Emacs uses for Shift> + z.

There's likely no key on your keyboard corresponding to S-Z. That's why you say it doesn't work.

If you use C-h b you'll find your key binding listed OK. And if you use C-h w zap-up-to-char-backward you'll see that it says it's bound to M-S-Z.

The problem is that you have no way of typing such a key sequence with your keyboard.

C- is special, in that C-Z is interpreted as the Control character C-z, that is, ASCII Control Z.

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It's unclear what you really want to do. Do you want to bind keyboard key combination Meta + Shift> + z? If so, use (kbd "M-Z"), not (kbd "M-S-z") or (kbd "M-S-Z").