Skip to main content

22.9 Controlling the Active Keymaps

variable global-map​

This variable contains the default global keymap that maps Emacs keyboard input to commands. The global keymap is normally this keymap. The default global keymap is a full keymap that binds self-insert-command to all of the printing characters.

It is normal practice to change the bindings in the global keymap, but you should not assign this variable any value other than the keymap it starts out with.

function current-global-map​

This function returns the current global keymap. This is the same as the value of global-map unless you change one or the other. The return value is a reference, not a copy; if you use define-key or other functions on it you will alter global bindings.

(current-global-map)
⇒ (keymap [set-mark-command beginning-of-line …
            delete-backward-char])

function current-local-map​

This function returns the current buffer’s local keymap, or nil if it has none. In the following example, the keymap for the *scratch* buffer (using Lisp Interaction mode) is a sparse keymap in which the entry for ESC, ASCII code 27, is another sparse keymap.

(current-local-map)
⇒ (keymap
    (10 . eval-print-last-sexp)
    (9 . lisp-indent-line)
    (127 . backward-delete-char-untabify)
    (27 keymap
        (24 . eval-defun)
        (17 . indent-sexp)))

current-local-map returns a reference to the local keymap, not a copy of it; if you use define-key or other functions on it you will alter local bindings.

function current-minor-mode-maps​

This function returns a list of the keymaps of currently enabled minor modes.

function use-global-map keymap​

This function makes keymap the new current global keymap. It returns nil.

It is very unusual to change the global keymap.

function use-local-map keymap​

This function makes keymap the new local keymap of the current buffer. If keymap is nil, then the buffer has no local keymap. use-local-map returns nil. Most major mode commands use this function.

variable minor-mode-map-alist​

This variable is an alist describing keymaps that may or may not be active according to the values of certain variables. Its elements look like this:

(variable . keymap)

The keymap keymap is active whenever variable has a non-nil value. Typically variable is the variable that enables or disables a minor mode. See Keymaps and Minor Modes.

Note that elements of minor-mode-map-alist do not have the same structure as elements of minor-mode-alist. The map must be the CDR of the element; a list with the map as the second element will not do. The CDR can be either a keymap (a list) or a symbol whose function definition is a keymap.

When more than one minor mode keymap is active, the earlier one in minor-mode-map-alist takes priority. But you should design minor modes so that they don’t interfere with each other. If you do this properly, the order will not matter.

See Keymaps and Minor Modes, for more information about minor modes. See also minor-mode-key-binding (see Functions for Key Lookup).

variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist​

This variable allows major modes to override the key bindings for particular minor modes. The elements of this alist look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (variable . keymap).

If a variable appears as an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist, the map specified by that element totally replaces any map specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.

minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically buffer-local in all buffers.

variable overriding-local-map​

If non-nil, this variable holds a keymap to use instead of the buffer’s local keymap, any text property or overlay keymaps, and any minor mode keymaps. This keymap, if specified, overrides all other maps that would have been active, except for the current global map.

variable overriding-terminal-local-map​

If non-nil, this variable holds a keymap to use instead of overriding-local-map, the buffer’s local keymap, text property or overlay keymaps, and all the minor mode keymaps.

This variable is always local to the current terminal and cannot be buffer-local. See Multiple Terminals. It is used to implement incremental search mode.

variable overriding-local-map-menu-flag​

If this variable is non-nil, the value of overriding-local-map or overriding-terminal-local-map can affect the display of the menu bar. The default value is nil, so those map variables have no effect on the menu bar.

Note that these two map variables do affect the execution of key sequences entered using the menu bar, even if they do not affect the menu bar display. So if a menu bar key sequence comes in, you should clear the variables before looking up and executing that key sequence. Modes that use the variables would typically do this anyway; normally they respond to events that they do not handle by “unreading" them and exiting.

variable special-event-map​

This variable holds a keymap for special events. If an event type has a binding in this keymap, then it is special, and the binding for the event is run directly by read-event. See Special Events.

variable emulation-mode-map-alists​

This variable holds a list of keymap alists to use for emulation modes. It is intended for modes or packages using multiple minor-mode keymaps. Each element is a keymap alist which has the same format and meaning as minor-mode-map-alist, or a symbol with a variable binding which is such an alist. The active keymaps in each alist are used before minor-mode-map-alist and minor-mode-overriding-map-alist.

function set-transient-map keymap \&optional keep-pred on-exit​

This function adds keymap as a transient keymap, which takes precedence over other keymaps for one (or more) subsequent keys.

Normally, keymap is used just once, to look up the very next key. If the optional argument keep-pred is t, the map stays active as long as the user types keys defined in keymap; when the user types a key that is not in keymap, the transient keymap is deactivated and normal key lookup continues for that key.

The keep-pred argument can also be a function. In that case, the function is called with no arguments, prior to running each command, while keymap is active; it should return non-nil if keymap should stay active.

The optional argument on-exit, if non-nil, specifies a function that is called, with no arguments, after keymap is deactivated.

This function works by adding and removing keymap from the variable overriding-terminal-local-map, which takes precedence over all other active keymaps (see Searching Keymaps).