Alt-% inserts literal %

[feklee]

I tried pressing:

• <Alt>, <Shift>, <%>

• <Alt>, <long-press 5 = %>

In both cases, a literal % is inserted. This is unexpected.

I experience the issue with Emacs in Termux with Hacker’s Keyboard v1.39.3 2016-12-15. With a Bluetooth keyboard, I can enter Alt-% just fine. The key combination is bound to search&replace in Emacs.

[klausw]

As a workaround, try using the Esc key as a prefix instead of Alt. The key sequence "ESC Shift-%" should work for search&replace. (No need to hold down the Esc key, just press and let go.)

This would need some digging to see if it's fixable, there are some rather nasty compatibility issues related to modifier handling.

[feklee]

Indeed, this works, thanks! (Although it is quite cumbersome because one needs to switch input mode twice by pressing Fn. I think I prefer Alt-x query-replace.)

[SamB]

@klausw

As a workaround, try using the Esc key as a prefix instead of Alt. The key sequence "ESC Shift-%" should work for search&replace. (No need to hold down the Esc key, just press and let go.)

Thanks for the reminder, I knew about this, but I guess I got stuck on the "clearly wrong" behavior of Alt+< and forgot to think about workarounds, because I've been typing ESC TAB instead of M-TAB on my desktop for ages to avoid triggering Windows' Alt+Tab command — the key difference being that Alt+Tab is clearly supposed to do that, so didn't send my brain off into the weeds wondering why the heck it wasn't just working.

And in my Termux config, I don't even need to use Fn to get ESC - it's right there in Termux's "extra keys row" — see the termux(1) manpage for how to turn that on (actually, looking closer, it's also on my current layout in Hacker's Keyboard in the lower left ...).

This would need some digging to see if it's fixable, there are some rather nasty compatibility issues related to modifier handling.

Most vexing. Are there notes on the issues you've seen somewhere?