Show Keys In Emacs Keymap Value

Question

When I query the current value of the keymap, eg with M-: (current-local-map), it shows me something along these lines:

Value: 
(keymap
 (S-mouse-2 . muse-follow-name-at-mouse-other-window)
 (mouse-2 . muse-follow-name-at-mouse)
 (33554445 . muse-follow-name-at-point-other-window)
 (S-return . muse-follow-name-at-point-other-window)
 (13 . muse-follow-name-at-point)
 (return . muse-follow-name-at-point)
 keymap
 (67108924 . muse-decrease-list-item-indentation)
 (67108926 . muse-increase-list-item-indentation)
 (M-return . muse-insert-list-item)
 (33554441 . muse-previous-reference)
 (S-iso-lefttab . muse-previous-reference)
 (S-tab . muse-previous-reference)
 (S-mouse-2 . muse-follow-name-at-mouse-other-window)
 (mouse-2 . muse-follow-name-at-mouse)
 (33554445 . muse-follow-name-at-point-other-window)
 (9 . muse-next-reference)
 (tab . muse-next-reference)
 (3 keymap
    (19 . muse-search)
    (2 . muse-find-backlinks)
    (tab . muse-insert-thing)
    (9 . muse-insert-thing)
    (16 . muse-project-publish)
    (6 . muse-project-find-file)
    (61 . muse-what-changed)
    (22 . muse-browse-result)
    (27 keymap
        (20 . muse-publish-this-file))
    (33554452 . muse-publish-this-file)
    (20 . muse-project-publish-this-file)
    (12 . font-lock-mode)
    (5 . muse-edit-link-at-point)
    (1 . muse-index))
 keymap
 (27 keymap
     (9 . ispell-complete-word)))

I want instead of numbers see something more meaningful like (control ?c) return for example. How do I do that ?

Answer 1

• Did you know the command C-h m (describe-mode), which usually shows a description of the current major and minor modes, usually with their keymaps?

• (substitute-command-keys "\\{foo-map}") is what describe-mode uses internally to generate the user-friendly description of the keymap foo-map.

• If you'd like to have something closer to the keymap structure, the API is documented in "Classifying Events" in the Emacs Lisp manual. For example,
      (event-modifiers 33554445) ==> (shift control)
    (format "%c" (event-basic-type 33554445)) ==> "m"

Answer 2

This is what you need: library help-fns+.el.

• http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/HelpPlus
• http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/download/help-fns%2b.el

That gives you, as C-h M-k, command describe-keymap, which gives you a human-readable description of any keymap bound to a variable. E.g.:

C-h M-k dired-mode-map

    dired-mode-map
    --------------



    For more information check the manuals.

    Local keymap for `dired-mode' buffers.

    key             binding
    ---             -------

    e .. f      dired-find-file

    RET     dired-find-file
    C-o     dired-display-file
    C-t     Prefix Command
    ESC     Prefix Command
    SPC     dired-next-line
    !       dired-do-shell-command
    #       dired-flag-auto-save-files
    $       dired-hide-subdir
    %       Prefix Command
    &       dired-do-async-shell-command
    *       Prefix Command
    +       dired-create-directory
    -       negative-argument
    .       dired-clean-directory
    0 .. 9      digit-argument
    :       Prefix Command
           dired-next-dirline
    ?       dired-summary
    A       dired-do-search
    B       dired-do-byte-compile
    C       dired-do-copy
    D       dired-do-delete
    G       dired-do-chgrp
    H       dired-do-hardlink
    L       dired-do-load
    M       dired-do-chmod
    O       dired-do-chown
    P       dired-do-print
    Q       dired-do-query-replace-regexp
    R       dired-do-rename
    S       dired-do-symlink
    T       dired-do-touch
    U       dired-unmark-all-marks
    X       dired-do-shell-command
    Z       dired-do-compress
    ^       dired-up-directory
    a       dired-find-alternate-file
    d       dired-flag-file-deletion
    g       revert-buffer
    h       describe-mode
    i       dired-maybe-insert-subdir
    j       dired-goto-file
    k       dired-do-kill-lines
    l       dired-do-redisplay
    m       dired-mark
    n       dired-next-line
    o       dired-find-file-other-window
    p       dired-previous-line
    q       quit-window
    s       dired-sort-toggle-or-edit
    t       dired-toggle-marks
    u       dired-unmark
    v       dired-view-file
    w       dired-copy-filename-as-kill
    x       dired-do-flagged-delete
    y       dired-show-file-type
    z       kill-this-buffer
    ~       dired-flag-backup-files
    DEL     dired-unmark-backward
       mouse-face
       dired-mouse-find-file-other-window
         ??

    C-t C-t     image-dired-dired-toggle-marked-thumbs
    C-t .       image-dired-display-thumb
    C-t a       image-dired-display-thumbs-append
    C-t c       image-dired-dired-comment-files
    C-t d       image-dired-display-thumbs
    C-t e       image-dired-dired-edit-comment-and-tags
    C-t f       image-dired-mark-tagged-files
    C-t i       image-dired-dired-display-image
    C-t j       image-dired-jump-thumbnail-buffer
    C-t r       image-dired-delete-tag
    C-t t       image-dired-tag-files
    C-t x       image-dired-dired-display-external

    C-M-d       dired-tree-down
    C-M-n       dired-next-subdir
    C-M-p       dired-prev-subdir
    C-M-u       dired-tree-up
    M-$     dired-hide-all
    M-=     dired-backup-diff
    M-s     Prefix Command
    M-{     dired-prev-marked-file
    M-}     dired-next-marked-file
    M-DEL       dired-unmark-all-files

    M-s a       Prefix Command
    M-s f       Prefix Command

    % &     dired-flag-garbage-files
    % C     dired-do-copy-regexp
    % H     dired-do-hardlink-regexp
    % R     dired-do-rename-regexp
    % S     dired-do-symlink-regexp
    % d     dired-flag-files-regexp
    % g     dired-mark-files-containing-regexp
    % l     dired-downcase
    % m     dired-mark-files-regexp
    % r     dired-do-rename-regexp
    % u     dired-upcase

    * C-n       dired-next-marked-file
    * C-p       dired-prev-marked-file
    * !     dired-unmark-all-marks
    * %     dired-mark-files-regexp
    * *     dired-mark-executables
    * /     dired-mark-directories
    * ?     dired-unmark-all-files
    * @     dired-mark-symlinks
    * c     dired-change-marks
    * m     dired-mark
    * s     dired-mark-subdir-files
    * t     dired-toggle-marks
    * u     dired-unmark
    * DEL       dired-unmark-backward

    : d     epa-dired-do-decrypt
    : e     epa-dired-do-encrypt
    : s     epa-dired-do-sign
    : v     epa-dired-do-verify

        dired-undo
          dired-next-line
          dired-previous-line
       dired-toggle-read-only
               dired-undo

    M-s f C-s   dired-isearch-filenames
    M-s f ESC   Prefix Command

    M-s a C-s   dired-do-isearch
    M-s a ESC   Prefix Command

    M-s f C-M-s dired-isearch-filenames-regexp

    M-s a C-M-s dired-do-isearch-regexp