prog-mode-map Keybinding

Question

I'm trying to add a keybinding to prog-mode-map, which is supposed to be valid in all programming maps, but I can't be doing it right, cause I have to add lines, like the second one, to have it working in each map

(define-key prog-mode-map (kbd "C-M-w r") 'eglot-rename)

(define-key c++-mode-map (kbd "C-M-w r") 'eglot-rename)

Any pointers as to what I'm doing wrong?;)

Answer 1

You have to make C-M-w a prefix key first (by default it it bound to append-next-kill):

(setq c-m-w-keymap (make-sparse-keymap))
(define-key prog-mode-map (kbd "C-M-w") c-m-w-keymap)

Then you can add keybindings to it:

(define-key c-m-w-keymap (kbd "r") #'eglot-rename)

Then both prog-mode and its children (e.g. c++-mode) will know about it.

EDIT: ... and since the above hijacks an existing keybinding in order to allow the key to become a prefix key, you might want to add a binding in the new keymap to replace the old binding, e.g.:

(define-key c-m-w-keymap (kbd "a") #'append-next-kill)

Alternatively, as @phils suggests in a comment, you might choose an unused key, e.g. C-M-z is not used in prog-mode-keymap.

I tend to avoid such ad-hoc bindings, primarily because if I don't use them often enough I forget about their existence; instead I tend to define function keys[1] as prefix keys for clusters of related commands. I can remember only a few of those too, but I can add stickers on the rest to remind me for which cluster a particular function key is a prefix, and I can use something like <f5> C-h to find what's hidden behind the <f5> prefix key.

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[1] You might want to only use <f5>-<f12> - Emacs defines the first four by default.