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I mistyped some command sequence and ESC stopped working as a meta prefix in Aquamacs (it still functions as usual in the command-line emacs, including both Apple's system version and the command-line version that comes with Aquamacs). Afterwards, hitting ESC generates the <escape> function key. Unfortunately, I didn't notice in time for view-lossage to tell me what I did. I restarted Aquamacs in the hope of restoring functionality, but the issue persisted.

I've hunted around in the startup files I know of that have been modified recently (~/.emacs, ~/.emacs.d/{.emacs.desktop,SessionDesktop.el}, ~/Library/Preferences/Aquamacs Emacs/{.emacs.desktop,customizations.el}), but all of the relevant settings I can find seem to be correct. ESC is still listed as a prefix command in the bindings for major mode; globally, its binding is listed as ESC-prefix. meta-prefix-char is listed as 27. When started without init files, ESC works as meta prefix.

key-translation-map doesn't appear to have an entry for ESC (I didn't see anything with emaps-describe-keymap, and (lookup-key key-translation-map [27]) returns nil).

What else might I examine to determine which setting to change? Is there any other steps I should take to restore ESC as the meta prefix?

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    Have you checked the modification dates of the persistent user-configuration files and peeked inside anything that had activity on or about the date/time you experienced the change that affects new launches of the application? It has been a few years since I played with Aquamacs, but there are some user-configuration files that you should be checking to troubleshoot this issue. And, if you played with things like Karabiner, or SystemPeferences keyboard stuff, then check that too.
    – lawlist
    Dec 14, 2018 at 6:07
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    Does it work if you run /Applications/Aquamacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Aquamacs -q in the terminal to launch Aquamacs with no init files? I have had something like this happen on occasion with Aquamacs, although it has always been fine after a restart.
    – Win
    Dec 15, 2018 at 2:07
  • @Win: Thanks, good tip. ESC does work with -q. Time to try taking out init files.
    – outis
    Dec 15, 2018 at 22:35
  • @lawlist: there aren't many with more recent mod dates. See updated question.
    – outis
    Dec 15, 2018 at 22:36
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    Maybe related: emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/14755/…. You could take a look at (lookup-key key-translation-map [27]).
    – Tobias
    Dec 15, 2018 at 23:41

1 Answer 1

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The culprit turned out to be a key binding. The mistyped command isn't relevant.

Disabling the init files in groups, I narrowed it down to .emacs. Searching through it for keybindings related to meta and ESC, I came across a binding for [escape C-tab]. Removing the binding and restarting Aquamacs restored functionality. I had found my culprit.

As for why the keybinding was there, I had tried to bind [M-C-tab] to #'simple-unindent; when that didn't work, I bound [escape C-tab]. That bounding held, but also caused the described behavior.

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