debian man page for setmetamode

SETMETAMODE(1)						      General Commands Manual						    SETMETAMODE(1)

NAME
       setmetamode - define the keyboard meta key handling

SYNOPSIS
       setmetamode [ {meta|bit|metabit | esc|prefix|escprefix} ]

DESCRIPTION
       Without argument, setmetamode prints the current Meta key mode.	With argument, it sets the Meta key mode as indicated.	The setting before
       and after the change are reported.

       The Meta key mode is specific for each VT (and the VT corresponding to stdin is used).  One might use setmetamode in /etc/rc to define  the
       initial state of the Meta key mode, e.g. by
	    INITTY=/dev/tty[1-8]
	    for tty in $INITTY; do
		 setmetamode escprefix < $tty
	    done

OPTIONS
       esc prefix escprefix
	      The Meta key sends an Escape prefix.

       meta bit metabit
	      The Meta key sets the high order bit of the character.

SEE ALSO
       loadkeys(1)

								    30 Jan 1994 						    SETMETAMODE(1)