Enable OS X keys in Emacs

Question

I installed Emacs via homebrew using this Emacs bundle, https://github.com/railwaycat/homebrew-emacsmacport

This bundle has some nice OS X features but it doesn't have the OS X keyboard shortcuts enabled by default (e.g., command + c for copy and command + v for paste). How can I enable this? I would have thought a Google search would find the answer but all I found was this https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MacKeyMode but I am not sure if that's still relevant.

Any pointers would be welcomed and sorry if I missed something obvious.

Answer 1

You could add any (or all) of the following key bindings to your init.el to have most of the ⌘ key commands working as a macOS user would expect...

(setq mac-option-modifier 'meta          
      mac-command-modifier 'super 
      mac-right-option-modifier 'none)) 

  (global-set-key (kbd "s-c") 'kill-ring-save)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-v") 'yank)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-x") 'kill-region)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-a") 'mark-whole-buffer)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-z") 'undo)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-f") 'isearch-forward)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-g") 'isearch-repeat-forward)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-o") 'find-file)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-o") 'mac-open-file)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-n") 'find-file)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-s") 'save-buffer)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-S") 'mac-save-file-as) 
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-p") 'mac-preview) ; requires mac-preview
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-w") 'kill-buffer)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-m") 'iconify-frame)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-q") 'save-buffers-kill-emacs)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-.") 'keyboard-quit)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-l") 'goto-line)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-k") 'kill-buffer)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-<up>")    'beginning-of-buffer)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-<down>")  'end-of-buffer)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-<left>")  'beginning-of-line)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-<right>") 'end-of-line)
  (global-set-key [(meta down)]     'forward-paragraph)
  (global-set-key [(meta up)]       'backward-paragraph)

For a mac like open & save interface you might also need these applescript wrappers...

  (defun mac-open-file ()
    (interactive)
    (let ((file (do-applescript "POSIX path of (choose file)")))
      (if (> (length file) 3)
          (setq file
                (substring file 1 (- (length file) 1))))
      (if (and (not (equal file "")) (file-readable-p file))
          (find-file file))))

  (defun mac-save-file-as ()
    (interactive)
    (let ((file (do-applescript "POSIX path of (choose file name with prompt \"Save As...\")")))
      (if (> (length file) 3)
          (setq file
                (substring file 1 (- (length file) 1))))
      (if (not (equal file ""))
          (write-file file))))

the key map is based on the following...

    ⌘ + O — Open an existing file into an Emacs buffer
    ⌘ + W — Discard (kill) current buffer
    ⌘ + S — Save current buffer into its file
    ⌘ + ⇧ (Shift) + S — Write current buffer into another file
    ⌘ + I — Display current file/directory in a Finder window
    ⌘ + P — Print current buffer
    ⌘ + Q — Quit
    ⌘ + Z — Undo
    ⌘ + ⇧ (Shift) + Z — Redo
    ⌘ + X — Cut
    ⌘ + C — Copy
    ⌘ + V — Paste
    ⌘ + A — Select All
    ⌘ + F — Search for a string
    ⌘ + ⌥ (Option) + F — Advanced Search (M-x occur)
    ⌘ + G — Search forward for a string
    ⌘ + ⇧ (Shift) + G — Search backward for a string
    ⌘ + L — Go to Line
    ⌘ + T — Show/Hide the font panel
    ⌘ + M — Minimize the window
    ⌘ + ` — Move to a different visible window (frame)
    ⌘ + ⇧ (Shift) + N — Make a new window (frame)
    ⌘ + ⇧ (Shift) + W — Close window (frame)
    ⌘ + ? — Show help files (M-x info)
    ⌘ + / — Same as ⌘ + ?
    ⌘ + . — Interrupt operation
    ⌘ + ↑ — Move point to the beginning of the buffer
    ⌘ + ↓ — Move point to the end of the buffer
    ⌘ + ← — Move point to beginning of current line
    ⌘ + → — Move point to end of current line
    ⌘ + Click — Open URL with a browser
    ⌃ (Control) + Click — Show contextual menu
    ⇧ (Shift) + Click — Select region