This is rluser.info, produced by makeinfo version 7.1 from rluser.texi.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Command Line Editing

1 Command Line Editing
**********************

This chapter describes the basic features of the GNU command line
editing interface.

* Menu:

* Introduction and Notation::	Notation used in this text.
* Readline Interaction::	The minimum set of commands for editing a line.
* Readline Init File::		Customizing Readline from a user's view.
* Bindable Readline Commands::	A description of most of the Readline commands
				available for binding
* Readline vi Mode::		A short description of how to make Readline
				behave like the vi editor.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Introduction and Notation,  Next: Readline Interaction,  Up: Command Line Editing

1.1 Introduction to Line Editing
================================

The following paragraphs use Emacs style to describe the notation used
to represent keystrokes.

   The text ‘C-k’ is read as 'Control-K' and describes the character
produced when the <k> key is pressed while the Control key is depressed.

   The text ‘M-k’ is read as 'Meta-K' and describes the character
produced when the Meta key (if you have one) is depressed, and the <k>
key is pressed (a “meta character”), then both are released.  The Meta
key is labeled <ALT> or <Option> on many keyboards.  On keyboards with
two keys labeled <ALT> (usually to either side of the space bar), the
<ALT> on the left side is generally set to work as a Meta key.  One of
the <ALT> keys may also be configured as some other modifier, such as a
Compose key for typing accented characters.

   On some keyboards, the Meta key modifier produces characters with the
eighth bit (0200) set.  You can use the ‘enable-meta-key’ variable to
control whether or not it does this, if the keyboard allows it.  On many
others, the terminal or terminal emulator converts the metafied key to a
key sequence beginning with <ESC> as described in the next paragraph.

   If you do not have a Meta or <ALT> key, or another key working as a
Meta key, you can generally achieve the latter effect by typing <ESC>
_first_, and then typing <k>.  The <ESC> character is known as the “meta
prefix”).

   Either process is known as “metafying” the <k> key.

   If your Meta key produces a key sequence with the <ESC> meta prefix,
you can make ‘M-key’ key bindings you specify (see ‘Key Bindings’ in
*note Readline Init File Syntax::) do the same thing by setting the
‘force-meta-prefix’ variable.

   The text ‘M-C-k’ is read as 'Meta-Control-k' and describes the
character produced by metafying ‘C-k’.

   In addition, several keys have their own names.  Specifically, <DEL>,
<ESC>, <LFD>, <SPC>, <RET>, and <TAB> all stand for themselves when seen
in this text, or in an init file (*note Readline Init File::).  If your
keyboard lacks a <LFD> key, typing <C-j> will output the appropriate
character.  The <RET> key may be labeled <Return> or <Enter> on some
keyboards.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Readline Interaction,  Next: Readline Init File,  Prev: Introduction and Notation,  Up: Command Line Editing

1.2 Readline Interaction
========================

Often during an interactive session you type in a long line of text,
only to notice that the first word on the line is misspelled.  The
Readline library gives you a set of commands for manipulating the text
as you type it in, allowing you to just fix your typo, and not forcing
you to retype the majority of the line.  Using these editing commands,
you move the cursor to the place that needs correction, and delete or
insert the text of the corrections.  Then, when you are satisfied with
the line, you simply press <RET>.  You do not have to be at the end of
the line to press <RET>; the entire line is accepted regardless of the
location of the cursor within the line.

* Menu:

* Readline Bare Essentials::	The least you need to know about Readline.
* Readline Movement Commands::	Moving about the input line.
* Readline Killing Commands::	How to delete text, and how to get it back!
* Readline Arguments::		Giving numeric arguments to commands.
* Searching::			Searching through previous lines.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Readline Bare Essentials,  Next: Readline Movement Commands,  Up: Readline Interaction

1.2.1 Readline Bare Essentials
------------------------------

In order to enter characters into the line, simply type them.  The typed
character appears where the cursor was, and then the cursor moves one
space to the right.  If you mistype a character, you can use your erase
character to back up and delete the mistyped character.

   Sometimes you may mistype a character, and not notice the error until
you have typed several other characters.  In that case, you can type
‘C-b’ to move the cursor to the left, and then correct your mistake.
Afterwards, you can move the cursor to the right with ‘C-f’.

   When you add text in the middle of a line, you will notice that
characters to the right of the cursor are 'pushed over' to make room for
the text that you have inserted.  Likewise, when you delete text behind
the cursor, characters to the right of the cursor are 'pulled back' to
fill in the blank space created by the removal of the text.  These are
the bare essentials for editing the text of an input line:

‘C-b’
     Move back one character.
‘C-f’
     Move forward one character.
<DEL> or <Backspace>
     Delete the character to the left of the cursor.
‘C-d’
     Delete the character underneath the cursor.
Printing characters
     Insert the character into the line at the cursor.
‘C-_’ or ‘C-x C-u’
     Undo the last editing command.  You can undo all the way back to an
     empty line.

Depending on your configuration, the <Backspace> key might be set to
delete the character to the left of the cursor and the <DEL> key set to
delete the character underneath the cursor, like ‘C-d’, rather than the
character to the left of the cursor.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Readline Movement Commands,  Next: Readline Killing Commands,  Prev: Readline Bare Essentials,  Up: Readline Interaction

1.2.2 Readline Movement Commands
--------------------------------

The above table describes the most basic keystrokes that you need in
order to do editing of the input line.  For your convenience, many other
commands are available in addition to ‘C-b’, ‘C-f’, ‘C-d’, and <DEL>.
Here are some commands for moving more rapidly within the line.

‘C-a’
     Move to the start of the line.
‘C-e’
     Move to the end of the line.
‘M-f’
     Move forward a word, where a word is composed of letters and
     digits.
‘M-b’
     Move backward a word.
‘C-l’
     Clear the screen, reprinting the current line at the top.

   Notice how ‘C-f’ moves forward a character, while ‘M-f’ moves forward
a word.  It is a loose convention that control keystrokes operate on
characters while meta keystrokes operate on words.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Readline Killing Commands,  Next: Readline Arguments,  Prev: Readline Movement Commands,  Up: Readline Interaction

1.2.3 Readline Killing Commands
-------------------------------

“Killing” text means to delete the text from the line, but to save it
away for later use, usually by “yanking” (re-inserting) it back into the
line.  ('Cut' and 'paste' are more recent jargon for 'kill' and 'yank'.)

   If the description for a command says that it 'kills' text, then you
can be sure that you can get the text back in a different (or the same)
place later.

   When you use a kill command, the text is saved in a “kill-ring”.  Any
number of consecutive kills save all of the killed text together, so
that when you yank it back, you get it all.  The kill ring is not line
specific; the text that you killed on a previously typed line is
available to be yanked back later, when you are typing another line.

   Here is the list of commands for killing text.

‘C-k’
     Kill the text from the current cursor position to the end of the
     line.

‘M-d’
     Kill from the cursor to the end of the current word, or, if between
     words, to the end of the next word.  Word boundaries are the same
     as those used by ‘M-f’.

‘M-<DEL>’
     Kill from the cursor to the start of the current word, or, if
     between words, to the start of the previous word.  Word boundaries
     are the same as those used by ‘M-b’.

‘C-w’
     Kill from the cursor to the previous whitespace.  This is different
     than ‘M-<DEL>’ because the word boundaries differ.

   Here is how to “yank” the text back into the line.  Yanking means to
copy the most-recently-killed text from the kill buffer into the line at
the current cursor position.

‘C-y’
     Yank the most recently killed text back into the buffer at the
     cursor.

‘M-y’
     Rotate the kill-ring, and yank the new top.  You can only do this
     if the prior command is ‘C-y’ or ‘M-y’.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Readline Arguments,  Next: Searching,  Prev: Readline Killing Commands,  Up: Readline Interaction

1.2.4 Readline Arguments
------------------------

You can pass numeric arguments to Readline commands.  Sometimes the
argument acts as a repeat count, other times it is the sign of the
argument that is significant.  If you pass a negative argument to a
command which normally acts in a forward direction, that command will
act in a backward direction.  For example, to kill text back to the
start of the line, you might type ‘M-- C-k’.

   The general way to pass numeric arguments to a command is to type
meta digits before the command.  If the first 'digit' typed is a minus
sign (‘-’), then the sign of the argument will be negative.  Once you
have typed one meta digit to get the argument started, you can type the
remainder of the digits, and then the command.  For example, to give the
‘C-d’ command an argument of 10, you could type ‘M-1 0 C-d’, which will
delete the next ten characters on the input line.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Searching,  Prev: Readline Arguments,  Up: Readline Interaction

1.2.5 Searching for Commands in the History
-------------------------------------------

Readline provides commands for searching through the command history for
lines containing a specified string.  There are two search modes:
“incremental” and “non-incremental”.

   Incremental searches begin before the user has finished typing the
search string.  As each character of the search string is typed,
Readline displays the next entry from the history matching the string
typed so far.  An incremental search requires only as many characters as
needed to find the desired history entry.  When using emacs editing
mode, type ‘C-r’ to search backward in the history for a particular
string.  Typing ‘C-s’ searches forward through the history.  The
characters present in the value of the ‘isearch-terminators’ variable
are used to terminate an incremental search.  If that variable has not
been assigned a value, the <ESC> and ‘C-J’ characters will terminate an
incremental search.  ‘C-g’ will abort an incremental search and restore
the original line.  When the search is terminated, the history entry
containing the search string becomes the current line.

   To find other matching entries in the history list, type ‘C-r’ or
‘C-s’ as appropriate.  This will search backward or forward in the
history for the next entry matching the search string typed so far.  Any
other key sequence bound to a Readline command will terminate the search
and execute that command.  For instance, a <RET> will terminate the
search and accept the line, thereby executing the command from the
history list.  A movement command will terminate the search, make the
last line found the current line, and begin editing.

   Readline remembers the last incremental search string.  If two ‘C-r’s
are typed without any intervening characters defining a new search
string, Readline uses any remembered search string.

   Non-incremental searches read the entire search string before
starting to search for matching history entries.  The search string may
be typed by the user or be part of the contents of the current line.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Readline Init File,  Next: Bindable Readline Commands,  Prev: Readline Interaction,  Up: Command Line Editing

1.3 Readline Init File
======================

Although the Readline library comes with a set of Emacs-like keybindings
installed by default, it is possible to use a different set of
keybindings.  Any user can customize programs that use Readline by
putting commands in an “inputrc” file, conventionally in their home
directory.  The name of this file is taken from the value of the
environment variable ‘INPUTRC’.  If that variable is unset, the default
is ‘~/.inputrc’.  If that file does not exist or cannot be read,
Readline looks for ‘/etc/inputrc’.

   When a program which uses the Readline library starts up, Readline
reads the init file and sets any variables and key bindings it contains.

   In addition, the ‘C-x C-r’ command re-reads this init file, thus
incorporating any changes that you might have made to it.

* Menu:

* Readline Init File Syntax::	Syntax for the commands in the inputrc file.
* Conditional Init Constructs::	Conditional key bindings in the inputrc file.
* Sample Init File::		An example inputrc file.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Readline Init File Syntax,  Next: Conditional Init Constructs,  Up: Readline Init File

1.3.1 Readline Init File Syntax
-------------------------------

There are only a few basic constructs allowed in the Readline init file.
Blank lines are ignored.  Lines beginning with a ‘#’ are comments.
Lines beginning with a ‘$’ indicate conditional constructs (*note
Conditional Init Constructs::).  Other lines denote variable settings
and key bindings.

Variable Settings
     You can modify the run-time behavior of Readline by altering the
     values of variables in Readline using the ‘set’ command within the
     init file.  The syntax is simple:

          set VARIABLE VALUE

     Here, for example, is how to change from the default Emacs-like key
     binding to use ‘vi’ line editing commands:

          set editing-mode vi

     Variable names and values, where appropriate, are recognized
     without regard to case.  Unrecognized variable names are ignored.

     Boolean variables (those that can be set to on or off) are set to
     on if the value is null or empty, ON (case-insensitive), or 1.  Any
     other value results in the variable being set to off.

     A great deal of run-time behavior is changeable with the following
     variables.

     ‘active-region-start-color’
          A string variable that controls the text color and background
          when displaying the text in the active region (see the
          description of ‘enable-active-region’ below).  This string
          must not take up any physical character positions on the
          display, so it should consist only of terminal escape
          sequences.  It is output to the terminal before displaying the
          text in the active region.  This variable is reset to the
          default value whenever the terminal type changes.  The default
          value is the string that puts the terminal in standout mode,
          as obtained from the terminal's terminfo description.  A
          sample value might be ‘\e[01;33m’.

     ‘active-region-end-color’
          A string variable that "undoes" the effects of
          ‘active-region-start-color’ and restores "normal" terminal
          display appearance after displaying text in the active region.
          This string must not take up any physical character positions
          on the display, so it should consist only of terminal escape
          sequences.  It is output to the terminal after displaying the
          text in the active region.  This variable is reset to the
          default value whenever the terminal type changes.  The default
          value is the string that restores the terminal from standout
          mode, as obtained from the terminal's terminfo description.  A
          sample value might be ‘\e[0m’.

     ‘bell-style’
          Controls what happens when Readline wants to ring the terminal
          bell.  If set to ‘none’, Readline never rings the bell.  If
          set to ‘visible’, Readline uses a visible bell if one is
          available.  If set to ‘audible’ (the default), Readline
          attempts to ring the terminal's bell.

     ‘bind-tty-special-chars’
          If set to ‘on’ (the default), Readline attempts to bind the
          control characters that are treated specially by the kernel's
          terminal driver to their Readline equivalents.  These override
          the default Readline bindings described here.  Type ‘stty -a’
          at a Bash prompt to see your current terminal settings,
          including the special control characters (usually ‘cchars’).

     ‘blink-matching-paren’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline attempts to briefly move the cursor
          to an opening parenthesis when a closing parenthesis is
          inserted.  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘colored-completion-prefix’
          If set to ‘on’, when listing completions, Readline displays
          the common prefix of the set of possible completions using a
          different color.  The color definitions are taken from the
          value of the ‘LS_COLORS’ environment variable.  If there is a
          color definition in ‘LS_COLORS’ for the custom suffix
          ‘readline-colored-completion-prefix’, Readline uses this color
          for the common prefix instead of its default.  The default is
          ‘off’.

     ‘colored-stats’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline displays possible completions using
          different colors to indicate their file type.  The color
          definitions are taken from the value of the ‘LS_COLORS’
          environment variable.  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘comment-begin’
          The string to insert at the beginning of the line by the
          ‘insert-comment’ command.  The default value is ‘"#"’.

     ‘completion-display-width’
          The number of screen columns used to display possible matches
          when performing completion.  The value is ignored if it is
          less than 0 or greater than the terminal screen width.  A
          value of 0 will cause matches to be displayed one per line.
          The default value is -1.

     ‘completion-ignore-case’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline performs filename matching and
          completion in a case-insensitive fashion.  The default value
          is ‘off’.

     ‘completion-map-case’
          If set to ‘on’, and COMPLETION-IGNORE-CASE is enabled,
          Readline treats hyphens (‘-’) and underscores (‘_’) as
          equivalent when performing case-insensitive filename matching
          and completion.  The default value is ‘off’.

     ‘completion-prefix-display-length’
          The maximum length in characters of the common prefix of a
          list of possible completions that is displayed without
          modification.  When set to a value greater than zero, Readline
          replaces common prefixes longer than this value with an
          ellipsis when displaying possible completions.

     ‘completion-query-items’
          The number of possible completions that determines when the
          user is asked whether the list of possibilities should be
          displayed.  If the number of possible completions is greater
          than or equal to this value, Readline will ask whether or not
          the user wishes to view them; otherwise, Readline simply lists
          the completions.  This variable must be set to an integer
          value greater than or equal to zero.  A zero value means
          Readline should never ask; negative values are treated as
          zero.  The default limit is ‘100’.

     ‘convert-meta’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline will convert characters it reads that
          have the eighth bit set to an ASCII key sequence by clearing
          the eighth bit and prefixing an <ESC> character, converting
          them to a meta-prefixed key sequence.  The default value is
          ‘on’, but Readline will set it to ‘off’ if the locale contains
          characters whose encodings may include bytes with the eighth
          bit set.  This variable is dependent on the ‘LC_CTYPE’ locale
          category, and may change if the locale changes.  This variable
          also affects key bindings; see the description of
          ‘force-meta-prefix’ below.

     ‘disable-completion’
          If set to ‘On’, Readline will inhibit word completion.
          Completion characters will be inserted into the line as if
          they had been mapped to ‘self-insert’.  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘echo-control-characters’
          When set to ‘on’, on operating systems that indicate they
          support it, Readline echoes a character corresponding to a
          signal generated from the keyboard.  The default is ‘on’.

     ‘editing-mode’
          The ‘editing-mode’ variable controls the default set of key
          bindings.  By default, Readline starts up in emacs editing
          mode, where the keystrokes are most similar to Emacs.  This
          variable can be set to either ‘emacs’ or ‘vi’.

     ‘emacs-mode-string’
          If the SHOW-MODE-IN-PROMPT variable is enabled, this string is
          displayed immediately before the last line of the primary
          prompt when emacs editing mode is active.  The value is
          expanded like a key binding, so the standard set of meta- and
          control- prefixes and backslash escape sequences is available.
          The ‘\1’ and ‘\2’ escapes begin and end sequences of
          non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal
          control sequence into the mode string.  The default is ‘@’.

     ‘enable-active-region’
          “point” is the current cursor position, and “mark” refers to a
          saved cursor position (*note Commands For Moving::).  The text
          between the point and mark is referred to as the “region”.
          When this variable is set to ‘On’, Readline allows certain
          commands to designate the region as “active”.  When the region
          is active, Readline highlights the text in the region using
          the value of the ‘active-region-start-color’, which defaults
          to the string that enables the terminal's standout mode.  The
          active region shows the text inserted by bracketed-paste and
          any matching text found by incremental and non-incremental
          history searches.  The default is ‘On’.

     ‘enable-bracketed-paste’
          When set to ‘On’, Readline configures the terminal to insert
          each paste into the editing buffer as a single string of
          characters, instead of treating each character as if it had
          been read from the keyboard.  This is called putting the
          terminal into “bracketed paste mode”; it prevents Readline
          from executing any editing commands bound to key sequences
          appearing in the pasted text.  The default is ‘On’.

     ‘enable-keypad’
          When set to ‘on’, Readline will try to enable the application
          keypad when it is called.  Some systems need this to enable
          the arrow keys.  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘enable-meta-key’
          When set to ‘on’, Readline will try to enable any meta
          modifier key the terminal claims to support when it is called.
          On many terminals, the Meta key is used to send eight-bit
          characters; this variable checks for the terminal capability
          that indicates the terminal can enable and disable a mode that
          sets the eighth bit of a character (0200) if the Meta key is
          held down when the character is typed (a meta character).  The
          default is ‘on’.

     ‘expand-tilde’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline attempts tilde expansion when it
          attempts word completion.  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘force-meta-prefix’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline modifies its behavior when binding
          key sequences containing ‘\M-’ or ‘Meta-’ (see ‘Key Bindings’
          in *note Readline Init File Syntax::) by converting a key
          sequence of the form ‘\M-’C or ‘Meta-’C to the two-character
          sequence ‘ESC’ C (adding the meta prefix).  If
          ‘force-meta-prefix’ is set to ‘off’ (the default), Readline
          uses the value of the ‘convert-meta’ variable to determine
          whether to perform this conversion: if ‘convert-meta’ is ‘on’,
          Readline performs the conversion described above; if it is
          ‘off’, Readline converts C to a meta character by setting the
          eighth bit (0200).  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘history-preserve-point’
          If set to ‘on’, the history code attempts to place the point
          (the current cursor position) at the same location on each
          history line retrieved with ‘previous-history’ or
          ‘next-history’.  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘history-size’
          Set the maximum number of history entries saved in the history
          list.  If set to zero, any existing history entries are
          deleted and no new entries are saved.  If set to a value less
          than zero, the number of history entries is not limited.  By
          default, the number of history entries is not limited.  If you
          try to set HISTORY-SIZE to a non-numeric value, the maximum
          number of history entries will be set to 500.

     ‘horizontal-scroll-mode’
          Setting this variable to ‘on’ means that the text of the lines
          being edited will scroll horizontally on a single screen line
          when the lines are longer than the width of the screen,
          instead of wrapping onto a new screen line.  This variable is
          automatically set to ‘on’ for terminals of height 1.  By
          default, this variable is set to ‘off’.

     ‘input-meta’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline will enable eight-bit input (that is,
          it will not clear the eighth bit in the characters it reads),
          regardless of what the terminal claims it can support.  The
          default value is ‘off’, but Readline will set it to ‘on’ if
          the locale contains characters whose encodings may include
          bytes with the eighth bit set.  This variable is dependent on
          the ‘LC_CTYPE’ locale category, and its value may change if
          the locale changes.  The name ‘meta-flag’ is a synonym for
          ‘input-meta’.

     ‘isearch-terminators’
          The string of characters that should terminate an incremental
          search without subsequently executing the character as a
          command (*note Searching::).  If this variable has not been
          given a value, the characters <ESC> and ‘C-J’ will terminate
          an incremental search.

     ‘keymap’
          Sets Readline's idea of the current keymap for key binding
          commands.  Built-in ‘keymap’ names are ‘emacs’,
          ‘emacs-standard’, ‘emacs-meta’, ‘emacs-ctlx’, ‘vi’, ‘vi-move’,
          ‘vi-command’, and ‘vi-insert’.  ‘vi’ is equivalent to
          ‘vi-command’ (‘vi-move’ is also a synonym); ‘emacs’ is
          equivalent to ‘emacs-standard’.  Applications may add
          additional names.  The default value is ‘emacs’; the value of
          the ‘editing-mode’ variable also affects the default keymap.

     ‘keyseq-timeout’
          Specifies the duration Readline will wait for a character when
          reading an ambiguous key sequence (one that can form a
          complete key sequence using the input read so far, or can take
          additional input to complete a longer key sequence).  If
          Readline doesn't receive any input within the timeout, it will
          use the shorter but complete key sequence.  Readline uses this
          value to determine whether or not input is available on the
          current input source (‘rl_instream’ by default).  The value is
          specified in milliseconds, so a value of 1000 means that
          Readline will wait one second for additional input.  If this
          variable is set to a value less than or equal to zero, or to a
          non-numeric value, Readline will wait until another key is
          pressed to decide which key sequence to complete.  The default
          value is ‘500’.

     ‘mark-directories’
          If set to ‘on’, completed directory names have a slash
          appended.  The default is ‘on’.

     ‘mark-modified-lines’
          When this variable is set to ‘on’, Readline will to display an
          asterisk (‘*’) at the start of history lines which have been
          modified.  This variable is ‘off’ by default.

     ‘mark-symlinked-directories’
          If set to ‘on’, completed names which are symbolic links to
          directories have a slash appended, subject to the value of
          ‘mark-directories’.  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘match-hidden-files’
          This variable, when set to ‘on’, forces Readline to match
          files whose names begin with a ‘.’ (hidden files) when
          performing filename completion.  If set to ‘off’, the user
          must include the leading ‘.’ in the filename to be completed.
          This variable is ‘on’ by default.

     ‘menu-complete-display-prefix’
          If set to ‘on’, menu completion displays the common prefix of
          the list of possible completions (which may be empty) before
          cycling through the list.  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘output-meta’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline will display characters with the
          eighth bit set directly rather than as a meta-prefixed escape
          sequence.  The default is ‘off’, but Readline will set it to
          ‘on’ if the locale contains characters whose encodings may
          include bytes with the eighth bit set.  This variable is
          dependent on the ‘LC_CTYPE’ locale category, and its value may
          change if the locale changes.

     ‘page-completions’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline uses an internal ‘more’-like pager to
          display a screenful of possible completions at a time.  This
          variable is ‘on’ by default.

     ‘prefer-visible-bell’
          See ‘bell-style’.

     ‘print-completions-horizontally’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline will display completions with matches
          sorted horizontally in alphabetical order, rather than down
          the screen.  The default is ‘off’.

     ‘revert-all-at-newline’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline will undo all changes to history
          lines before returning when executing ‘accept-line’.  By
          default, history lines may be modified and retain individual
          undo lists across calls to ‘readline()’.  The default is
          ‘off’.

     ‘search-ignore-case’
          If set to ‘on’, Readline performs incremental and
          non-incremental history list searches in a case-insensitive
          fashion.  The default value is ‘off’.

     ‘show-all-if-ambiguous’
          This alters the default behavior of the completion functions.
          If set to ‘on’, words which have more than one possible
          completion cause the matches to be listed immediately instead
          of ringing the bell.  The default value is ‘off’.

     ‘show-all-if-unmodified’
          This alters the default behavior of the completion functions
          in a fashion similar to SHOW-ALL-IF-AMBIGUOUS.  If set to
          ‘on’, words which have more than one possible completion
          without any possible partial completion (the possible
          completions don't share a common prefix) cause the matches to
          be listed immediately instead of ringing the bell.  The
          default value is ‘off’.

     ‘show-mode-in-prompt’
          If set to ‘on’, add a string to the beginning of the prompt
          indicating the editing mode: emacs, vi command, or vi
          insertion.  The mode strings are user-settable (e.g.,
          EMACS-MODE-STRING).  The default value is ‘off’.

     ‘skip-completed-text’
          If set to ‘on’, this alters the default completion behavior
          when inserting a single match into the line.  It's only active
          when performing completion in the middle of a word.  If
          enabled, Readline does not insert characters from the
          completion that match characters after point in the word being
          completed, so portions of the word following the cursor are
          not duplicated.  For instance, if this is enabled, attempting
          completion when the cursor is after the first ‘e’ in
          ‘Makefile’ will result in ‘Makefile’ rather than
          ‘Makefilefile’, assuming there is a single possible
          completion.  The default value is ‘off’.

     ‘vi-cmd-mode-string’
          If the SHOW-MODE-IN-PROMPT variable is enabled, this string is
          displayed immediately before the last line of the primary
          prompt when vi editing mode is active and in command mode.
          The value is expanded like a key binding, so the standard set
          of meta- and control- prefixes and backslash escape sequences
          is available.  The ‘\1’ and ‘\2’ escapes begin and end
          sequences of non-printing characters, which can be used to
          embed a terminal control sequence into the mode string.  The
          default is ‘(cmd)’.

     ‘vi-ins-mode-string’
          If the SHOW-MODE-IN-PROMPT variable is enabled, this string is
          displayed immediately before the last line of the primary
          prompt when vi editing mode is active and in insertion mode.
          The value is expanded like a key binding, so the standard set
          of meta- and control- prefixes and backslash escape sequences
          is available.  The ‘\1’ and ‘\2’ escapes begin and end
          sequences of non-printing characters, which can be used to
          embed a terminal control sequence into the mode string.  The
          default is ‘(ins)’.

     ‘visible-stats’
          If set to ‘on’, a character denoting a file's type is appended
          to the filename when listing possible completions.  The
          default is ‘off’.

Key Bindings
     The syntax for controlling key bindings in the init file is simple.
     First you need to find the name of the command that you want to
     change.  The following sections contain tables of the command name,
     the default keybinding, if any, and a short description of what the
     command does.

     Once you know the name of the command, simply place on a line in
     the init file the name of the key you wish to bind the command to,
     a colon, and then the name of the command.  There can be no space
     between the key name and the colon - that will be interpreted as
     part of the key name.  The name of the key can be expressed in
     different ways, depending on what you find most comfortable.

     In addition to command names, Readline allows keys to be bound to a
     string that is inserted when the key is pressed (a MACRO).  The
     difference between a macro and a command is that a macro is
     enclosed in single or double quotes.

     KEYNAME: FUNCTION-NAME or MACRO
          KEYNAME is the name of a key spelled out in English.  For
          example:
               Control-u: universal-argument
               Meta-Rubout: backward-kill-word
               Control-o: "> output"

          In the example above, ‘C-u’ is bound to the function
          ‘universal-argument’, ‘M-DEL’ is bound to the function
          ‘backward-kill-word’, and ‘C-o’ is bound to run the macro
          expressed on the right hand side (that is, to insert the text
          ‘> output’ into the line).

          This key binding syntax recognizes a number of symbolic
          character names: DEL, ESC, ESCAPE, LFD, NEWLINE, RET, RETURN,
          RUBOUT (a destructive backspace), SPACE, SPC, and TAB.

     "KEYSEQ": FUNCTION-NAME or MACRO
          KEYSEQ differs from KEYNAME above in that strings denoting an
          entire key sequence can be specified, by placing the key
          sequence in double quotes.  Some GNU Emacs style key escapes
          can be used, as in the following example, but none of the
          special character names are recognized.

               "\C-u": universal-argument
               "\C-x\C-r": re-read-init-file
               "\e[11~": "Function Key 1"

          In the above example, ‘C-u’ is again bound to the function
          ‘universal-argument’ (just as it was in the first example),
          ‘‘C-x’ ‘C-r’’ is bound to the function ‘re-read-init-file’,
          and ‘<ESC> <[> <1> <1> <~>’ is bound to insert the text
          ‘Function Key 1’.

     The following GNU Emacs style escape sequences are available when
     specifying key sequences:

     ‘\C-’
          A control prefix.
     ‘\M-’
          Adding the meta prefix or converting the following character
          to a meta character, as described above under
          ‘force-meta-prefix’ (see ‘Variable Settings’ in *note Readline
          Init File Syntax::).
     ‘\e’
          An escape character.
     ‘\\’
          Backslash.
     ‘\"’
          <">, a double quotation mark.
     ‘\'’
          <'>, a single quote or apostrophe.

     In addition to the GNU Emacs style escape sequences, a second set
     of backslash escapes is available:

     ‘\a’
          alert (bell)
     ‘\b’
          backspace
     ‘\d’
          delete
     ‘\f’
          form feed
     ‘\n’
          newline
     ‘\r’
          carriage return
     ‘\t’
          horizontal tab
     ‘\v’
          vertical tab
     ‘\NNN’
          The eight-bit character whose value is the octal value NNN
          (one to three digits).
     ‘\xHH’
          The eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value
          HH (one or two hex digits).

     When entering the text of a macro, single or double quotes must be
     used to indicate a macro definition.  Unquoted text is assumed to
     be a function name.  Tthe backslash escapes described above are
     expanded in the macro body.  Backslash will quote any other
     character in the macro text, including ‘"’ and ‘'’.  For example,
     the following binding will make ‘‘C-x’ \’ insert a single ‘\’ into
     the line:
          "\C-x\\": "\\"


File: rluser.info,  Node: Conditional Init Constructs,  Next: Sample Init File,  Prev: Readline Init File Syntax,  Up: Readline Init File

1.3.2 Conditional Init Constructs
---------------------------------

Readline implements a facility similar in spirit to the conditional
compilation features of the C preprocessor which allows key bindings and
variable settings to be performed as the result of tests.  There are
four parser directives available.

‘$if’
     The ‘$if’ construct allows bindings to be made based on the editing
     mode, the terminal being used, or the application using Readline.
     The text of the test, after any comparison operator, extends to the
     end of the line; unless otherwise noted, no characters are required
     to isolate it.

     ‘mode’
          The ‘mode=’ form of the ‘$if’ directive is used to test
          whether Readline is in ‘emacs’ or ‘vi’ mode.  This may be used
          in conjunction with the ‘set keymap’ command, for instance, to
          set bindings in the ‘emacs-standard’ and ‘emacs-ctlx’ keymaps
          only if Readline is starting out in ‘emacs’ mode.

     ‘term’
          The ‘term=’ form may be used to include terminal-specific key
          bindings, perhaps to bind the key sequences output by the
          terminal's function keys.  The word on the right side of the
          ‘=’ is tested against both the full name of the terminal and
          the portion of the terminal name before the first ‘-’.  This
          allows ‘xterm’ to match both ‘xterm’ and ‘xterm-256color’, for
          instance.

     ‘version’
          The ‘version’ test may be used to perform comparisons against
          specific Readline versions.  The ‘version’ expands to the
          current Readline version.  The set of comparison operators
          includes ‘=’ (and ‘==’), ‘!=’, ‘<=’, ‘>=’, ‘<’, and ‘>’.  The
          version number supplied on the right side of the operator
          consists of a major version number, an optional decimal point,
          and an optional minor version (e.g., ‘7.1’).  If the minor
          version is omitted, it defaults to ‘0’.  The operator may be
          separated from the string ‘version’ and from the version
          number argument by whitespace.  The following example sets a
          variable if the Readline version being used is 7.0 or newer:
               $if version >= 7.0
               set show-mode-in-prompt on
               $endif

     ‘application’
          The APPLICATION construct is used to include
          application-specific settings.  Each program using the
          Readline library sets the APPLICATION NAME, and you can test
          for a particular value.  This could be used to bind key
          sequences to functions useful for a specific program.  For
          instance, the following command adds a key sequence that
          quotes the current or previous word in Bash:
               $if Bash
               # Quote the current or previous word
               "\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
               $endif

     ‘variable’
          The VARIABLE construct provides simple equality tests for
          Readline variables and values.  The permitted comparison
          operators are ‘=’, ‘==’, and ‘!=’.  The variable name must be
          separated from the comparison operator by whitespace; the
          operator may be separated from the value on the right hand
          side by whitespace.  String and boolean variables may be
          tested.  Boolean variables must be tested against the values
          ON and OFF.  The following example is equivalent to the
          ‘mode=emacs’ test described above:
               $if editing-mode == emacs
               set show-mode-in-prompt on
               $endif

‘$else’
     Commands in this branch of the ‘$if’ directive are executed if the
     test fails.

‘$endif’
     This command, as seen in the previous example, terminates an ‘$if’
     command.

‘$include’
     This directive takes a single filename as an argument and reads
     commands and key bindings from that file.  For example, the
     following directive reads from ‘/etc/inputrc’:
          $include /etc/inputrc


File: rluser.info,  Node: Sample Init File,  Prev: Conditional Init Constructs,  Up: Readline Init File

1.3.3 Sample Init File
----------------------

Here is an example of an INPUTRC file.  This illustrates key binding,
variable assignment, and conditional syntax.

     # This file controls the behaviour of line input editing for
     # programs that use the GNU Readline library.  Existing
     # programs include FTP, Bash, and GDB.
     #
     # You can re-read the inputrc file with C-x C-r.
     # Lines beginning with '#' are comments.
     #
     # First, include any system-wide bindings and variable
     # assignments from /etc/Inputrc
     $include /etc/Inputrc

     #
     # Set various bindings for emacs mode.

     set editing-mode emacs

     $if mode=emacs

     Meta-Control-h:	backward-kill-word	Text after the function name is ignored

     #
     # Arrow keys in keypad mode
     #
     #"\M-OD":        backward-char
     #"\M-OC":        forward-char
     #"\M-OA":        previous-history
     #"\M-OB":        next-history
     #
     # Arrow keys in ANSI mode
     #
     "\M-[D":        backward-char
     "\M-[C":        forward-char
     "\M-[A":        previous-history
     "\M-[B":        next-history
     #
     # Arrow keys in 8 bit keypad mode
     #
     #"\M-\C-OD":       backward-char
     #"\M-\C-OC":       forward-char
     #"\M-\C-OA":       previous-history
     #"\M-\C-OB":       next-history
     #
     # Arrow keys in 8 bit ANSI mode
     #
     #"\M-\C-[D":       backward-char
     #"\M-\C-[C":       forward-char
     #"\M-\C-[A":       previous-history
     #"\M-\C-[B":       next-history

     C-q: quoted-insert

     $endif

     # An old-style binding.  This happens to be the default.
     TAB: complete

     # Macros that are convenient for shell interaction
     $if Bash
     # edit the path
     "\C-xp": "PATH=${PATH}\e\C-e\C-a\ef\C-f"
     # prepare to type a quoted word --
     # insert open and close double quotes
     # and move to just after the open quote
     "\C-x\"": "\"\"\C-b"
     # insert a backslash (testing backslash escapes
     # in sequences and macros)
     "\C-x\\": "\\"
     # Quote the current or previous word
     "\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
     # Add a binding to refresh the line, which is unbound
     "\C-xr": redraw-current-line
     # Edit variable on current line.
     "\M-\C-v": "\C-a\C-k$\C-y\M-\C-e\C-a\C-y="
     $endif

     # use a visible bell if one is available
     set bell-style visible

     # don't strip characters to 7 bits when reading
     set input-meta on

     # allow iso-latin1 characters to be inserted rather
     # than converted to prefix-meta sequences
     set convert-meta off

     # display characters with the eighth bit set directly
     # rather than as meta-prefixed characters
     set output-meta on

     # if there are 150 or more possible completions for a word,
     # ask whether or not the user wants to see all of them
     set completion-query-items 150

     # For FTP
     $if Ftp
     "\C-xg": "get \M-?"
     "\C-xt": "put \M-?"
     "\M-.": yank-last-arg
     $endif


File: rluser.info,  Node: Bindable Readline Commands,  Next: Readline vi Mode,  Prev: Readline Init File,  Up: Command Line Editing

1.4 Bindable Readline Commands
==============================

* Menu:

* Commands For Moving::		Moving about the line.
* Commands For History::	Getting at previous lines.
* Commands For Text::		Commands for changing text.
* Commands For Killing::	Commands for killing and yanking.
* Numeric Arguments::		Specifying numeric arguments, repeat counts.
* Commands For Completion::	Getting Readline to do the typing for you.
* Keyboard Macros::		Saving and re-executing typed characters
* Miscellaneous Commands::	Other miscellaneous commands.

This section describes Readline commands that may be bound to key
sequences.  Command names without an accompanying key sequence are
unbound by default.

   In the following descriptions, “point” refers to the current cursor
position, and “mark” refers to a cursor position saved by the ‘set-mark’
command.  The text between the point and mark is referred to as the
“region”.  Readline has the concept of an _active region_: when the
region is active, Readline redisplay highlights the region using the
value of the ‘active-region-start-color’ variable.  The
‘enable-active-region’ variable turns this on and off.  Several commands
set the region to active; those are noted below.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Commands For Moving,  Next: Commands For History,  Up: Bindable Readline Commands

1.4.1 Commands For Moving
-------------------------

‘beginning-of-line (C-a)’
     Move to the start of the current line.  This may also be bound to
     the Home key on some keyboards.

‘end-of-line (C-e)’
     Move to the end of the line.  This may also be bound to the End key
     on some keyboards.

‘forward-char (C-f)’
     Move forward a character.

‘backward-char (C-b)’
     Move back a character.

‘forward-word (M-f)’
     Move forward to the end of the next word.  Words are composed of
     letters and digits.

‘backward-word (M-b)’
     Move back to the start of the current or previous word.  Words are
     composed of letters and digits.

‘previous-screen-line ()’
     Attempt to move point to the same physical screen column on the
     previous physical screen line.  This will not have the desired
     effect if the current Readline line does not take up more than one
     physical line or if point is not greater than the length of the
     prompt plus the screen width.

‘next-screen-line ()’
     Attempt to move point to the same physical screen column on the
     next physical screen line.  This will not have the desired effect
     if the current Readline line does not take up more than one
     physical line or if the length of the current Readline line is not
     greater than the length of the prompt plus the screen width.

‘clear-display (M-C-l)’
     Clear the screen and, if possible, the terminal's scrollback
     buffer, then redraw the current line, leaving the current line at
     the top of the screen.

‘clear-screen (C-l)’
     Clear the screen, then redraw the current line, leaving the current
     line at the top of the screen.

‘redraw-current-line ()’
     Refresh the current line.  By default, this is unbound.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Commands For History,  Next: Commands For Text,  Prev: Commands For Moving,  Up: Bindable Readline Commands

1.4.2 Commands For Manipulating The History
-------------------------------------------

‘accept-line (Newline or Return)’
     Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is.  If this line is
     non-empty, you can add it to the history list using
     ‘add_history()’.  If this line is a modified history line, then
     restore the history line to its original state.

‘previous-history (C-p)’
     Move 'back' through the history list, fetching the previous
     command.

‘next-history (C-n)’
     Move 'forward' through the history list, fetching the next command.

‘beginning-of-history (M-<)’
     Move to the first line in the history.

‘end-of-history (M->)’
     Move to the end of the input history, i.e., the line currently
     being entered.

‘reverse-search-history (C-r)’
     Search backward starting at the current line and moving 'up'
     through the history as necessary.  This is an incremental search.
     This command sets the region to the matched text and activates the
     region.

‘forward-search-history (C-s)’
     Search forward starting at the current line and moving 'down'
     through the history as necessary.  This is an incremental search.
     This command sets the region to the matched text and activates the
     region.

‘non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)’
     Search backward starting at the current line and moving 'up'
     through the history as necessary using a non-incremental search for
     a string supplied by the user.  The search string may match
     anywhere in a history line.

‘non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)’
     Search forward starting at the current line and moving 'down'
     through the history as necessary using a non-incremental search for
     a string supplied by the user.  The search string may match
     anywhere in a history line.

‘history-search-backward ()’
     Search backward through the history for the string of characters
     between the start of the current line and the point.  The search
     string must match at the beginning of a history line.  This is a
     non-incremental search.  By default, this command is unbound, but
     may be bound to the Page Down key on some keyboards.

‘history-search-forward ()’
     Search forward through the history for the string of characters
     between the start of the current line and the point.  The search
     string must match at the beginning of a history line.  This is a
     non-incremental search.  By default, this command is unbound, but
     may be bound to the Page Up key on some keyboards.

‘history-substring-search-backward ()’
     Search backward through the history for the string of characters
     between the start of the current line and the point.  The search
     string may match anywhere in a history line.  This is a
     non-incremental search.  By default, this command is unbound.

‘history-substring-search-forward ()’
     Search forward through the history for the string of characters
     between the start of the current line and the point.  The search
     string may match anywhere in a history line.  This is a
     non-incremental search.  By default, this command is unbound.

‘yank-nth-arg (M-C-y)’
     Insert the first argument to the previous command (usually the
     second word on the previous line) at point.  With an argument N,
     insert the Nth word from the previous command (the words in the
     previous command begin with word 0).  A negative argument inserts
     the Nth word from the end of the previous command.  Once the
     argument N is computed, this uses the history expansion facilities
     to extract the Nth word, as if the ‘!N’ history expansion had been
     specified.

‘yank-last-arg (M-. or M-_)’
     Insert last argument to the previous command (the last word of the
     previous history entry).  With a numeric argument, behave exactly
     like ‘yank-nth-arg’.  Successive calls to ‘yank-last-arg’ move back
     through the history list, inserting the last word (or the word
     specified by the argument to the first call) of each line in turn.
     Any numeric argument supplied to these successive calls determines
     the direction to move through the history.  A negative argument
     switches the direction through the history (back or forward).  This
     uses the history expansion facilities to extract the last word, as
     if the ‘!$’ history expansion had been specified.

‘operate-and-get-next (C-o)’
     Accept the current line for return to the calling application as if
     a newline had been entered, and fetch the next line relative to the
     current line from the history for editing.  A numeric argument, if
     supplied, specifies the history entry to use instead of the current
     line.

‘fetch-history ()’
     With a numeric argument, fetch that entry from the history list and
     make it the current line.  Without an argument, move back to the
     first entry in the history list.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Commands For Text,  Next: Commands For Killing,  Prev: Commands For History,  Up: Bindable Readline Commands

1.4.3 Commands For Changing Text
--------------------------------

‘end-of-file (usually C-d)’
     The character indicating end-of-file as set, for example, by
     ‘stty’.  If this character is read when there are no characters on
     the line, and point is at the beginning of the line, Readline
     interprets it as the end of input and returns EOF.

‘delete-char (C-d)’
     Delete the character at point.  If this function is bound to the
     same character as the tty EOF character, as ‘C-d’ commonly is, see
     above for the effects.  This may also be bound to the Delete key on
     some keyboards.

‘backward-delete-char (Rubout)’
     Delete the character behind the cursor.  A numeric argument means
     to kill the characters, saving them on the kill ring, instead of
     deleting them.

‘forward-backward-delete-char ()’
     Delete the character under the cursor, unless the cursor is at the
     end of the line, in which case the character behind the cursor is
     deleted.  By default, this is not bound to a key.

‘quoted-insert (C-q or C-v)’
     Add the next character typed to the line verbatim.  This is how to
     insert key sequences like ‘C-q’, for example.

‘tab-insert (M-<TAB>)’
     Insert a tab character.

‘self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, ...)’
     Insert the character typed.

‘bracketed-paste-begin ()’
     This function is intended to be bound to the "bracketed paste"
     escape sequence sent by some terminals, and such a binding is
     assigned by default.  It allows Readline to insert the pasted text
     as a single unit without treating each character as if it had been
     read from the keyboard.  The characters are inserted as if each one
     was bound to ‘self-insert’ instead of executing any editing
     commands.

     Bracketed paste sets the region (the characters between point and
     the mark) to the inserted text.  It sets the _active region_.

‘transpose-chars (C-t)’
     Drag the character before the cursor forward over the character at
     the cursor, moving the cursor forward as well.  If the insertion
     point is at the end of the line, then this transposes the last two
     characters of the line.  Negative arguments have no effect.

‘transpose-words (M-t)’
     Drag the word before point past the word after point, moving point
     past that word as well.  If the insertion point is at the end of
     the line, this transposes the last two words on the line.

‘upcase-word (M-u)’
     Uppercase the current (or following) word.  With a negative
     argument, uppercase the previous word, but do not move the cursor.

‘downcase-word (M-l)’
     Lowercase the current (or following) word.  With a negative
     argument, lowercase the previous word, but do not move the cursor.

‘capitalize-word (M-c)’
     Capitalize the current (or following) word.  With a negative
     argument, capitalize the previous word, but do not move the cursor.

‘overwrite-mode ()’
     Toggle overwrite mode.  With an explicit positive numeric argument,
     switches to overwrite mode.  With an explicit non-positive numeric
     argument, switches to insert mode.  This command affects only
     ‘emacs’ mode; ‘vi’ mode does overwrite differently.  Each call to
     ‘readline()’ starts in insert mode.

     In overwrite mode, characters bound to ‘self-insert’ replace the
     text at point rather than pushing the text to the right.
     Characters bound to ‘backward-delete-char’ replace the character
     before point with a space.

     By default, this command is unbound, but may be bound to the Insert
     key on some keyboards.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Commands For Killing,  Next: Numeric Arguments,  Prev: Commands For Text,  Up: Bindable Readline Commands

1.4.4 Killing And Yanking
-------------------------

‘kill-line (C-k)’
     Kill the text from point to the end of the current line.  With a
     negative numeric argument, kill backward from the cursor to the
     beginning of the line.

‘backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout)’
     Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line.
     With a negative numeric argument, kill forward from the cursor to
     the end of the line.

‘unix-line-discard (C-u)’
     Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line.

‘kill-whole-line ()’
     Kill all characters on the current line, no matter where point is.
     By default, this is unbound.

‘kill-word (M-d)’
     Kill from point to the end of the current word, or if between
     words, to the end of the next word.  Word boundaries are the same
     as ‘forward-word’.

‘backward-kill-word (M-<DEL>)’
     Kill the word behind point.  Word boundaries are the same as
     ‘backward-word’.

‘unix-word-rubout (C-w)’
     Kill the word behind point, using white space as a word boundary,
     saving the killed text on the kill-ring.

‘unix-filename-rubout ()’
     Kill the word behind point, using white space and the slash
     character as the word boundaries, saving the killed text on the
     kill-ring.

‘delete-horizontal-space ()’
     Delete all spaces and tabs around point.  By default, this is
     unbound.

‘kill-region ()’
     Kill the text in the current region.  By default, this command is
     unbound.

‘copy-region-as-kill ()’
     Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer, so it can be yanked
     right away.  By default, this command is unbound.

‘copy-backward-word ()’
     Copy the word before point to the kill buffer.  The word boundaries
     are the same as ‘backward-word’.  By default, this command is
     unbound.

‘copy-forward-word ()’
     Copy the word following point to the kill buffer.  The word
     boundaries are the same as ‘forward-word’.  By default, this
     command is unbound.

‘yank (C-y)’
     Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point.

‘yank-pop (M-y)’
     Rotate the kill-ring, and yank the new top.  You can only do this
     if the prior command is ‘yank’ or ‘yank-pop’.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Numeric Arguments,  Next: Commands For Completion,  Prev: Commands For Killing,  Up: Bindable Readline Commands

1.4.5 Specifying Numeric Arguments
----------------------------------

‘digit-argument (M-0, M-1, ... M--)’
     Add this digit to the argument already accumulating, or start a new
     argument.  ‘M--’ starts a negative argument.

‘universal-argument ()’
     This is another way to specify an argument.  If this command is
     followed by one or more digits, optionally with a leading minus
     sign, those digits define the argument.  If the command is followed
     by digits, executing ‘universal-argument’ again ends the numeric
     argument, but is otherwise ignored.  As a special case, if this
     command is immediately followed by a character that is neither a
     digit nor minus sign, the argument count for the next command is
     multiplied by four.  The argument count is initially one, so
     executing this function the first time makes the argument count
     four, a second time makes the argument count sixteen, and so on.
     By default, this is not bound to a key.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Commands For Completion,  Next: Keyboard Macros,  Prev: Numeric Arguments,  Up: Bindable Readline Commands

1.4.6 Letting Readline Type For You
-----------------------------------

‘complete (<TAB>)’
     Attempt to perform completion on the text before point.  The actual
     completion performed is application-specific.  The default is
     filename completion.

‘possible-completions (M-?)’
     List the possible completions of the text before point.  When
     displaying completions, Readline sets the number of columns used
     for display to the value of ‘completion-display-width’, the value
     of the environment variable ‘COLUMNS’, or the screen width, in that
     order.

‘insert-completions (M-*)’
     Insert all completions of the text before point that would have
     been generated by ‘possible-completions’, separated by a space.

‘menu-complete ()’
     Similar to ‘complete’, but replaces the word to be completed with a
     single match from the list of possible completions.  Repeatedly
     executing ‘menu-complete’ steps through the list of possible
     completions, inserting each match in turn.  At the end of the list
     of completions, ‘menu-complete’ rings the bell (subject to the
     setting of ‘bell-style’) and restores the original text.  An
     argument of N moves N positions forward in the list of matches; a
     negative argument moves backward through the list.  This command is
     intended to be bound to <TAB>, but is unbound by default.

‘menu-complete-backward ()’
     Identical to ‘menu-complete’, but moves backward through the list
     of possible completions, as if ‘menu-complete’ had been given a
     negative argument.  This command is unbound by default.

‘export-completions ()’
     Perform completion on the word before point as described above and
     write the list of possible completions to Readline's output stream
     using the following format, writing information on separate lines:

          The number of matches;
          The word being completed;
          S:E, where S and E are the start and end offsets of the word
          in the readline line buffer; then
          Each match, one per line

     If there are no matches, the first line will be 0, and this command
     will not print any output after the S:E. If there is only a single
     match, this prints a single line containing it.  If there is more
     than one match, this prints the common prefix of the matches, which
     may be empty, on the first line after the S:E, then the matches on
     subsequent lines.  In this case, N will include the first line with
     the common prefix.

     The user or application should be able to accommodate the
     possibility of a blank line.  The intent is that the user or
     application reads N lines after the line containing S:E. This
     command is unbound by default.

‘delete-char-or-list ()’
     Deletes the character under the cursor if not at the beginning or
     end of the line (like ‘delete-char’).  At the end of the line, it
     behaves identically to ‘possible-completions’.  This command is
     unbound by default.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Keyboard Macros,  Next: Miscellaneous Commands,  Prev: Commands For Completion,  Up: Bindable Readline Commands

1.4.7 Keyboard Macros
---------------------

‘start-kbd-macro (C-x ()’
     Begin saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro.

‘end-kbd-macro (C-x ))’
     Stop saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro
     and save the definition.

‘call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e)’
     Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the
     characters in the macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.

‘print-last-kbd-macro ()’
     Print the last keyboard macro defined in a format suitable for the
     INPUTRC file.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Miscellaneous Commands,  Prev: Keyboard Macros,  Up: Bindable Readline Commands

1.4.8 Some Miscellaneous Commands
---------------------------------

‘re-read-init-file (C-x C-r)’
     Read in the contents of the INPUTRC file, and incorporate any
     bindings or variable assignments found there.

‘abort (C-g)’
     Abort the current editing command and ring the terminal's bell
     (subject to the setting of ‘bell-style’).

‘do-lowercase-version (M-A, M-B, M-X, ...)’
     If the metafied character X is upper case, run the command that is
     bound to the corresponding metafied lower case character.  The
     behavior is undefined if X is already lower case.

‘prefix-meta (<ESC>)’
     Metafy the next character typed.  Typing ‘<ESC> f’ is equivalent to
     typing ‘M-f’.

‘undo (C-_ or C-x C-u)’
     Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.

‘revert-line (M-r)’
     Undo all changes made to this line.  This is like executing the
     ‘undo’ command enough times to get back to the initial state.

‘tilde-expand (M-~)’
     Perform tilde expansion on the current word.

‘set-mark (C-@)’
     Set the mark to the point.  If a numeric argument is supplied, set
     the mark to that position.

‘exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x)’
     Swap the point with the mark.  Set the current cursor position to
     the saved position, then set the mark to the old cursor position.

‘character-search (C-])’
     Read a character and move point to the next occurrence of that
     character.  A negative argument searches for previous occurrences.

‘character-search-backward (M-C-])’
     Read a character and move point to the previous occurrence of that
     character.  A negative argument searches for subsequent
     occurrences.

‘skip-csi-sequence ()’
     Read enough characters to consume a multi-key sequence such as
     those defined for keys like Home and End.  CSI sequences begin with
     a Control Sequence Indicator (CSI), usually ESC-[.  If this
     sequence is bound to "\e[", keys producing CSI sequences will have
     no effect unless explicitly bound to a Readline command, instead of
     inserting stray characters into the editing buffer.  This is
     unbound by default, but usually bound to ESC-[.

‘insert-comment (M-#)’
     Without a numeric argument, insert the value of the ‘comment-begin’
     variable at the beginning of the current line.  If a numeric
     argument is supplied, this command acts as a toggle: if the
     characters at the beginning of the line do not match the value of
     ‘comment-begin’, insert the value; otherwise delete the characters
     in ‘comment-begin’ from the beginning of the line.  In either case,
     the line is accepted as if a newline had been typed.

‘dump-functions ()’
     Print all of the functions and their key bindings to the Readline
     output stream.  If a numeric argument is supplied, the output is
     formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an INPUTRC
     file.  This command is unbound by default.

‘dump-variables ()’
     Print all of the settable variables and their values to the
     Readline output stream.  If a numeric argument is supplied, the
     output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
     INPUTRC file.  This command is unbound by default.

‘dump-macros ()’
     Print all of the Readline key sequences bound to macros and the
     strings they output to the Readline output stream.  If a numeric
     argument is supplied, the output is formatted in such a way that it
     can be made part of an INPUTRC file.  This command is unbound by
     default.

‘execute-named-command (M-x)’
     Read a bindable Readline command name from the input and execute
     the function to which it's bound, as if the key sequence to which
     it was bound appeared in the input.  If this function is supplied
     with a numeric argument, it passes that argument to the function it
     executes.

‘emacs-editing-mode (C-e)’
     When in ‘vi’ command mode, this causes a switch to ‘emacs’ editing
     mode.

‘vi-editing-mode (M-C-j)’
     When in ‘emacs’ editing mode, this causes a switch to ‘vi’ editing
     mode.


File: rluser.info,  Node: Readline vi Mode,  Prev: Bindable Readline Commands,  Up: Command Line Editing

1.5 Readline vi Mode
====================

While the Readline library does not have a full set of ‘vi’ editing
functions, it does contain enough to allow simple editing of the line.
The Readline ‘vi’ mode behaves as specified in the ‘sh’ description in
the POSIX standard.

   In order to switch interactively between ‘emacs’ and ‘vi’ editing
modes, use the command ‘M-C-j’ (bound to emacs-editing-mode when in ‘vi’
mode and to vi-editing-mode in ‘emacs’ mode).  The Readline default is
‘emacs’ mode.

   When you enter a line in ‘vi’ mode, you are already placed in
'insertion' mode, as if you had typed an ‘i’.  Pressing <ESC> switches
you into 'command' mode, where you can edit the text of the line with
the standard ‘vi’ movement keys, move to previous history lines with ‘k’
and subsequent lines with ‘j’, and so forth.



Tag Table:
Node: Command Line Editing73
Node: Introduction and Notation663
Node: Readline Interaction3017
Node: Readline Bare Essentials4207
Node: Readline Movement Commands6017
Node: Readline Killing Commands7015
Node: Readline Arguments9040
Node: Searching10099
Node: Readline Init File12328
Node: Readline Init File Syntax13524
Node: Conditional Init Constructs39914
Node: Sample Init File44301
Node: Bindable Readline Commands47424
Node: Commands For Moving48806
Node: Commands For History50734
Node: Commands For Text55937
Node: Commands For Killing59780
Node: Numeric Arguments62234
Node: Commands For Completion63388
Node: Keyboard Macros66630
Node: Miscellaneous Commands67333
Node: Readline vi Mode71655

End Tag Table


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