SETMETAMODE(1)

💖 SETMETAMODE(1) 💖

okay so bestie, we're in the General Commands Manual section today and this little icon is called setmetamode — she's the one who decides how your keyboard's Meta key behaves. yep. that Meta key. the mysterious one. we're gonna define her whole vibe. ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

setmetamode — define the keyboard meta key handling 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

setmetamode [ options ] [ argument ]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's the tea. if you run setmetamode with no argument, she just tells you the current Meta key mode. no changes, no drama, just receipts. 🔍

but if you DO give her an argument? she sets the Meta key mode to whatever you indicated. and then — because she's a considerate queen — she reports the setting before and after the change. so you always know what you did. periodt. 👑

now, the important deets: the Meta key mode is specific for each VT, and she uses the VT that corresponds to stdin. so like, every virtual terminal has her own opinion about the Meta key. main character energy, honestly. 🎀

one might use setmetamode in /etc/rc to define the initial state of the Meta key mode, like this:

INITTY=/dev/tty[1-8]
for tty in $INITTY; do
     setmetamode escprefix < $tty
done

look at her go. setting up all eight ttys before you even wake up. obsessed. 🌈

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🍓 ARGUMENTS 🍓

• esc, prefix, escprefix — the Meta key sends an Escape prefix. classic. iconic. sending that little escape ahead of everything like a hype woman. 💫
• meta, bit, metabit — the Meta key sets the high order bit of the character. highkey just flipping that top bit. no cap. 🔥

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -C, --console=DEV — the console device to be used. tell her which console you're talking about, bestie. 🖥️
• -V, --version — print version number. she'll tell you how fresh she is. ⭐
• -h, --help — print this usage message. the "help me pls" option. 🙈

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🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

Andries Brouwer <aeb@cwi.nl> — the legend herself. thank you for your service. 👑

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

loadkeys(1), kbdinfo(1) — go read these too, they're giving the same energy. 🧚

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💀 lowkey reminder: the Meta mode is per-VT, so if you set it and it doesn't "stick" somewhere else, that's not a bug, that's just her being specific. iykyk.

and that's the whole page!! written by the kbd girlies, dated 30 Jan 1994 (yes she's vintage, vintage is iconic 💜), and honestly? she ate. bye bestie!! 🎀✨💖