Jed: Function keys in xterms

My preferred text editor is the jed editor package. I have set up custom key bindings for the function keys F1-F9 to functions I use a lot, in a file ~/pigeon.sl which is called by an entry in ~/.jedrc :

() = evalfile("/home/pigeon/pigeon.sl");

For long it has been a source of annoyance to me that while my keybindings worked fine in text consoles, most of them didn't work in xterms. Finally it dawned on me that this is because some of the function keys produce wildly different codes in xterms from what they produce in text consoles (fuck knows why), and a solution became possible.

The first step was to find out what codes the keys were actually producing, by compiling and running the following C snippet, then pressing the function keys and noting what codes where produced:

#include <stdio.h>

void main(void) {
 int x;

 while ((x=getchar())!=EOF) printf((x==0x0a ? "(return)\n" : "%02X "),x);
 }

Having done that I could then modify pigeon.sl to set up the keybindings differently according to whether it was in a text console or an xterm:

$1 = getenv ("TERM");
if ($1 == NULL) $1 = "";
if (is_list_element ("linux,console,con80x25,con80x28", $1, ','))
{
   USE_ANSI_COLORS = 1;   % uncomment if your console is a color one!
   OUTPUT_RATE = 0;
   TERM_CANNOT_SCROLL = -1;   % Truth is, linux console does not scroll well.
   setkey("bol",       "^[[1~"); % home
   setkey("toggle_overwrite", "^[[2~");       % insert
   setkey("delete_char_cmd", "^[[3~");       % delete
   setkey("eol", "^[[4~");       % end
   setkey("page_up", "^[[5~");
   setkey("page_down", "^[[6~");

   setkey("self_insert_cmd","\x22");
   setkey("self_insert_cmd","\x27");
   setkey("exit_jed","^Q");                         % Ctrl-Q
   setkey("kill_line","^Y");                        % Ctrl-Y
   setkey("bob", "\x1b\x5b\x35\x43\x7e");           % Ctrl-Pgup
   setkey("eob", "\x1b\x5b\x36\x43\x7e");           % Ctrl-Pgdn
   setkey("help_prefix","\x1b\x5b\x5b\x41");        % F1
   setkey("save_buffer","\x1b\x5b\x5b\x42");        % F2
   setkey("exit_jed","\x1b\x5b\x5b\x43");           % F3
   setkey("smart_set_mark_cmd","\x1b\x5b\x5b\x44"); % F4
   setkey("pigeoncopy","\x1b\x5b\x5b\x45");         % F5
   setkey("pigeonpaste","\x1b\x5b\x31\x37\x7e");    % F6
   setkey("pigeonzap","\x1b\x5b\x31\x38\x7e");      % F7
   setkey("insert_file","\x1b\x5b\x31\x39\x7e");    % F8
   setkey("search_forward","\x1b\x5b\x32\x30\x7e"); % F9

} else { % should be executed for xterms 

   setkey("bol",       "\x1b\x4f\x48"); % home
   setkey("toggle_overwrite", "^[[2~");       % insert
   setkey("delete_char_cmd", "^[[3~");       % delete
   setkey("eol", "\x1b\x4f\x46");       % end
   setkey("page_up", "^[[5~");
   setkey("page_down", "^[[6~");
   setkey("self_insert_cmd","\x22");
   setkey("self_insert_cmd","\x27");
   setkey("exit_jed","^Q");                         % Ctrl-Q
   setkey("kill_line","^Y");                        % Ctrl-Y
   setkey("bob", "\x1b\x5b\x35\x3b\x35\x7e");       % Ctrl-Pgup
   setkey("eob", "\x1b\x5b\x36\x3b\x35\x7e");       % Ctrl-Pgdn
   setkey("help_prefix","\x1b\x4f\x50");            % F1
   setkey("save_buffer","\x1b\x4f\x51");            % F2
   setkey("exit_jed","\x1b\x4f\x52");               % F3
   setkey("smart_set_mark_cmd","\x1b\x4f\x53");     % F4
   setkey("pigeoncopy","\x1b\x5b\x31\x35\x7e");     % F5
   setkey("pigeonpaste","\x1b\x5b\x31\x37\x7e");    % F6
   setkey("pigeonzap","\x1b\x5b\x31\x38\x7e");      % F7
   setkey("insert_file","\x1b\x5b\x31\x39\x7e");    % F8
   setkey("search_forward","\x1b\x5b\x32\x30\x7e"); % F9
}

Naturally, you'd replace the actions of the keybindings with your own preferences. :-)

The correct functioning of this lot seems to depend on the presence of the linux.sl file, see here.

NOTE: In ubuntu maverick this goes all weird and I have no idea why. The above C snippet reports the codes produced by the Home and End keys in an xterm as 1b 5b 48 and 1b 5b 46 respectively... but this is not what is passed to jed. What jed sees is 1b 4f 48 and 1b 4f 46, so these are the values to be entered in the custom file. I haven't got a fucking clue why the received codes change when you load jed, and I only found it out by trial and error. To make it even more puzzling, the 1b 5b xx codes produced by other keys such as Page Up/Down, Insert, and Delete do not change to 1b 4f xx.

One thing I have not yet figured out is how to make Alt-key work in xterms to activate the DOS EDIT style popup menus as it does in text consoles. However, Esc key does activate the pop-up menus, and is an acceptable workaround.

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