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If you are on a Linux console, for example, some key combinations might simply not exist – it depends on the setup outside of Emacs.

For example there is no C-<up>, C-<right>, C-<down>, C-<left>, etc. on my Linux console by default. Therefore I created a .keymap file with the following entries (amonst others):

 # control up down left right home end
 control keycode 103 = Meta_p
 control keycode 108 = Meta_n
 control keycode 105 = Meta_Control_b
 control keycode 106 = Meta_Control_f
 control keycode 102 = Meta_less
 control keycode 107 = Meta_greater
 # C-TAB should be like M-/ (dabbrev-expand)
 control keycode 15 = Meta_slash
 # CapsKey should be like C-_ (undo)
 keycode 58 = Control_underscore

And it is used in my .profile:

 # If console, change some keymaps
 if [ $TERM = 'linux' -a -x /usr/bin/loadkeys -a -f .keymap ] ; then
     loadkeys de-latin1 2> /dev/null
     loadkeys .keymap 2> /dev/null

See LoadKeys for more information about the programs used.

How to determine the scancodes

Run ‘showkey’ and type the key you want.