Search code examples
escapingdot-emacs

What does "\e" mean?

I came across the following line in a .emacs config file:

(define-key scheme-mode-map "\e\t" 'scheme-smart-complete)

It's binding key sequence \e\t to the function scheme-smart-complete, but I don't know what \e is, and it turns out it's impossible to Google (even putting quotes around \e didn't help with the search).

What's \e?

Solution

  • It's the escape key.

    See the emacs basic character syntax guide.

    So \e\t is escape-tab.

    ian.