Certain keybindings don't work when using emacs in a terminal

Question

I load GNU emacs in it's own window by typing emacs in the terminal. I like to use the keybindings from pc-selection-mode, which allows you to highlight characters using shift-right or shift-left, or entire lines by pressing shift-up or shift-down.

The problem is that when I run emacs in the terminal by typing emacs -nw, the latter 2 keybindings don't work. I can highlight characters using shift-left and shift-right, but pressing shift-up and shift-down doesn't do anything. The cursor stays where it is.

How do I fix this problem? Why is it even occurring? I'm using GNU Emacs 23.1.1, and I've confirmed that the same version is being used both when emacs is in it's own window and when emacs is running inside the terminal.

Thanks for any help

Answer 1

A lot of times the bindings just aren't listed, or are mapped wrong. You can try M-x show-lossage (or C-h l) to see if the escape sequences reach emacs or not. If they do, you might want to try xterm-extras -- it's always worked even as I migrate between different versions of linux and solaris, and as I ssh between them (which is often a source of problems).