Re: C-x C-w on mac (carbon) emacs

[Hugh Wolf]

On 2003-10-15, Tim McNamara <timmcn@bitstream.net> wrote:
>> Something is wrong with the OP's environment.  He should fix that
>> rather than messing with emacs key bindings.  OSX has no interest in
>> c-w and will not interfere with its use in emacs.
>
> I concur.  The Finder does not intercept C-w on my system, using the
> Porkrind version of Emacs for OS X 10.1.*.  Obvioulsy I can't vouch
> for any port of Emacs for 10.2.*.

No Apple software I'm aware of intercepts C-w, or any other control
character for that matter, in any version of osx.  A few control
characters can be used in aqua text widgets for emacs-like navigation,
but only if the widget is selected.  Similarly many applications will
use control in conjunction with mouse clicking, but only if that
application is selected.  

The only keys I can think of that are grabbed are the command/windows
key (for cmd-tab, which is like alt-tab in Windows), some function
keys, and some special purpose keys that appear only on Apple
keyboards (volume control, cd eject).


Otoh there are 3rd-party tools that can definitely be configured to
grab certain control sequences.  For instance VirtualDesktop can be
made to grab C-leftarrow and C-rightarrow for desktop navigation.
Presumably something like this is what's happening here.