2 .\" MAN PAGE COMMENTS to
5 .\" Information Network Services
6 .\" Case Western Reserve University
7 .\" chet.ramey@case.edu
9 .\" Last Change: Wed Nov 19 18:32:58 EST 2014
11 .TH READLINE 3 "2014 November 19" "GNU Readline 6.3"
13 .\" File Name macro. This used to be `.PN', for Path Name,
14 .\" but Sun doesn't seem to like that very much.
20 readline \- get a line from a user with editing
26 #include <readline/readline.h>
27 #include <readline/history.h>
34 \fBreadline\fP (\fIconst char *prompt\fP);
37 .if n Readline is Copyright (C) 1989\-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
38 .if t Readline is Copyright \(co 1989\-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
42 will read a line from the terminal
47 is \fBNULL\fP or the empty string, no prompt is issued.
48 The line returned is allocated with
50 the caller must free it when finished. The line returned
51 has the final newline removed, so only the text of the line
55 offers editing capabilities while the user is entering the
57 By default, the line editing commands
58 are similar to those of emacs.
59 A vi\-style line editing interface is also available.
61 This manual page describes only the most basic use of \fBreadline\fP.
62 Much more functionality is available; see
63 \fIThe GNU Readline Library\fP and \fIThe GNU History Library\fP
64 for additional information.
68 returns the text of the line read. A blank line
69 returns the empty string. If
71 is encountered while reading a line, and the line is empty,
75 is read with a non\-empty line, it is
79 An Emacs-style notation is used to denote
80 keystrokes. Control keys are denoted by C\-\fIkey\fR, e.g., C\-n
81 means Control\-N. Similarly,
83 keys are denoted by M\-\fIkey\fR, so M\-x means Meta\-X. (On keyboards
86 key, M\-\fIx\fP means ESC \fIx\fP, i.e., press the Escape key
89 key. This makes ESC the \fImeta prefix\fP.
90 The combination M\-C\-\fIx\fP means ESC\-Control\-\fIx\fP,
91 or press the Escape key
92 then hold the Control key while pressing the
96 Readline commands may be given numeric
98 which normally act as a repeat count. Sometimes, however, it is the
99 sign of the argument that is significant. Passing a negative argument
100 to a command that acts in the forward direction (e.g., \fBkill\-line\fP)
101 causes that command to act in a backward direction.
102 Commands whose behavior with arguments deviates from this are noted
105 When a command is described as \fIkilling\fP text, the text
106 deleted is saved for possible future retrieval
107 (\fIyanking\fP). The killed text is saved in a
108 \fIkill ring\fP. Consecutive kills cause the text to be
109 accumulated into one unit, which can be yanked all at once.
110 Commands which do not kill text separate the chunks of text
112 .SH INITIALIZATION FILE
114 Readline is customized by putting commands in an initialization
115 file (the \fIinputrc\fP file).
116 The name of this file is taken from the value of the
118 environment variable. If that variable is unset, the default is
120 If that file does not exist or cannot be read, the ultimate default is
122 When a program which uses the readline library starts up, the
123 init file is read, and the key bindings and variables are set.
124 There are only a few basic constructs allowed in the
125 readline init file. Blank lines are ignored.
126 Lines beginning with a \fB#\fP are comments.
127 Lines beginning with a \fB$\fP indicate conditional constructs.
128 Other lines denote key bindings and variable settings.
129 Each program using this library may add its own commands
135 M\-Control\-u: universal\-argument
139 C\-Meta\-u: universal\-argument
144 would make M\-C\-u execute the readline command
145 .IR universal\-argument .
147 The following symbolic character names are recognized while
148 processing key bindings:
162 In addition to command names, readline allows keys to be bound
163 to a string that is inserted when the key is pressed (a \fImacro\fP).
167 The syntax for controlling key bindings in the
169 file is simple. All that is required is the name of the
170 command or the text of a macro and a key sequence to which
171 it should be bound. The name may be specified in one of two ways:
172 as a symbolic key name, possibly with \fIMeta\-\fP or \fIControl\-\fP
173 prefixes, or as a key sequence.
174 The name and key sequence are separated by a colon. There can be no
175 whitespace between the name and the colon.
177 When using the form \fBkeyname\fP:\^\fIfunction-name\fP or \fImacro\fP,
179 is the name of a key spelled out in English. For example:
182 Control\-u: universal\-argument
184 Meta\-Rubout: backward\-kill\-word
186 Control\-o: "> output"
189 In the above example,
191 is bound to the function
192 .BR universal\-argument ,
194 is bound to the function
195 .BR backward\-kill\-word ,
198 is bound to run the macro
199 expressed on the right hand side (that is, to insert the text
200 .if t \f(CW> output\fP
204 In the second form, \fB"keyseq"\fP:\^\fIfunction\-name\fP or \fImacro\fP,
208 above in that strings denoting
209 an entire key sequence may be specified by placing the sequence
210 within double quotes. Some GNU Emacs style key escapes can be
211 used, as in the following example, but the symbolic character names
215 "\eC\-u": universal\-argument
217 "\eC\-x\eC\-r": re\-read\-init\-file
219 "\ee[11~": "Function Key 1"
224 is again bound to the function
225 .BR universal\-argument .
227 is bound to the function
228 .BR re\-read\-init\-file ,
231 is bound to insert the text
232 .if t \f(CWFunction Key 1\fP.
233 .if n ``Function Key 1''.
235 The full set of GNU Emacs style escape sequences available when specifying
253 literal ", a double quote
256 literal ', a single quote
260 In addition to the GNU Emacs style escape sequences, a second
261 set of backslash escapes is available:
290 the eight-bit character whose value is the octal value \fInnn\fP
291 (one to three digits)
294 the eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value \fIHH\fP
295 (one or two hex digits)
299 When entering the text of a macro, single or double quotes should
300 be used to indicate a macro definition. Unquoted text
301 is assumed to be a function name.
302 In the macro body, the backslash escapes described above are expanded.
303 Backslash will quote any other character in the macro text,
307 allows the current readline key bindings to be displayed or modified
310 builtin command. The editing mode may be switched during interactive
315 builtin command. Other programs using this library provide
316 similar mechanisms. The
318 file may be edited and re-read if a program does not provide
319 any other means to incorporate new bindings.
322 Readline has variables that can be used to further customize its
323 behavior. A variable may be set in the
325 file with a statement of the form
328 \fBset\fP \fIvariable\-name\fP \fIvalue\fP
331 Except where noted, readline variables can take the values
335 (without regard to case).
336 Unrecognized variable names are ignored.
337 When a variable value is read, empty or null values, "on" (case-insensitive),
338 and "1" are equivalent to \fBOn\fP. All other values are equivalent to
340 The variables and their default values are:
344 .B bell\-style (audible)
345 Controls what happens when readline wants to ring the terminal bell.
346 If set to \fBnone\fP, readline never rings the bell. If set to
347 \fBvisible\fP, readline uses a visible bell if one is available.
348 If set to \fBaudible\fP, readline attempts to ring the terminal's bell.
350 .B bind\-tty\-special\-chars (On)
351 If set to \fBOn\fP (the default), readline attempts to bind the control
352 characters treated specially by the kernel's terminal driver to their
353 readline equivalents.
355 .B blink\-matching\-paren (Off)
356 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline attempts to briefly move the cursor to an
357 opening parenthesis when a closing parenthesis is inserted.
359 .B colored\-completion\-prefix (Off)
360 If set to \fBOn\fP, when listing completions, readline displays the
361 common prefix of the set of possible completions using a different color.
362 The color definitions are taken from the value of the \fBLS_COLORS\fP
363 environment variable.
365 .B colored\-stats (Off)
366 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline displays possible completions using different
367 colors to indicate their file type.
368 The color definitions are taken from the value of the \fBLS_COLORS\fP
369 environment variable.
371 .B comment\-begin (``#'')
372 The string that is inserted in \fBvi\fP mode when the
375 This command is bound to
381 .B completion\-display\-width (-1)
382 The number of screen columns used to display possible matches
383 when performing completion.
384 The value is ignored if it is less than 0 or greater than the terminal
386 A value of 0 will cause matches to be displayed one per line.
387 The default value is -1.
389 .B completion\-ignore\-case (Off)
390 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline performs filename matching and completion
391 in a case\-insensitive fashion.
393 .B completion\-map\-case (Off)
394 If set to \fBOn\fP, and \fBcompletion\-ignore\-case\fP is enabled, readline
395 treats hyphens (\fI\-\fP) and underscores (\fI_\fP) as equivalent when
396 performing case\-insensitive filename matching and completion.
398 .B completion\-prefix\-display\-length (0)
399 The length in characters of the common prefix of a list of possible
400 completions that is displayed without modification. When set to a
401 value greater than zero, common prefixes longer than this value are
402 replaced with an ellipsis when displaying possible completions.
404 .B completion\-query\-items (100)
405 This determines when the user is queried about viewing
406 the number of possible completions
407 generated by the \fBpossible\-completions\fP command.
408 It may be set to any integer value greater than or equal to
409 zero. If the number of possible completions is greater than
410 or equal to the value of this variable, the user is asked whether
411 or not he wishes to view them; otherwise they are simply listed
412 on the terminal. A negative value causes readline to never ask.
414 .B convert\-meta (On)
415 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline will convert characters with the
416 eighth bit set to an ASCII key sequence
417 by stripping the eighth bit and prefixing it with an
418 escape character (in effect, using escape as the \fImeta prefix\fP).
420 .B disable\-completion (Off)
421 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline will inhibit word completion. Completion
422 characters will be inserted into the line as if they had been
423 mapped to \fBself-insert\fP.
425 .B editing\-mode (emacs)
426 Controls whether readline begins with a set of key bindings similar
427 to \fIEmacs\fP or \fIvi\fP.
434 .B echo\-control\-characters (On)
435 When set to \fBOn\fP, on operating systems that indicate they support it,
436 readline echoes a character corresponding to a signal generated from the
439 .B enable\-bracketed\-paste (Off)
440 When set to \fBOn\fP, readline will configure the terminal in a way
441 that will enable it to insert each paste into the editing buffer as a
442 single string of characters, instead of treating each character as if
443 it had been read from the keyboard. This can prevent pasted characters
444 from being interpreted as editing commands.
446 .B enable\-keypad (Off)
447 When set to \fBOn\fP, readline will try to enable the application
448 keypad when it is called. Some systems need this to enable the
451 .B enable\-meta\-key (On)
452 When set to \fBOn\fP, readline will try to enable any meta modifier
453 key the terminal claims to support when it is called. On many terminals,
454 the meta key is used to send eight-bit characters.
456 .B expand\-tilde (Off)
457 If set to \fBOn\fP, tilde expansion is performed when readline
458 attempts word completion.
460 .B history\-preserve\-point (Off)
461 If set to \fBOn\fP, the history code attempts to place point at the
462 same location on each history line retrieved with \fBprevious-history\fP
463 or \fBnext-history\fP.
465 .B history\-size (unset)
466 Set the maximum number of history entries saved in the history list.
467 If set to zero, any existing history entries are deleted and no new entries
469 If set to a value less than zero, the number of history entries is not
471 By default, the number of history entries is not limited.
473 .B horizontal\-scroll\-mode (Off)
474 When set to \fBOn\fP, makes readline use a single line for display,
475 scrolling the input horizontally on a single screen line when it
476 becomes longer than the screen width rather than wrapping to a new line.
479 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline will enable eight-bit input (that is,
480 it will not clear the eighth bit in the characters it reads),
481 regardless of what the terminal claims it can support. The name
483 is a synonym for this variable.
485 .B isearch\-terminators (``C\-[ C\-J'')
486 The string of characters that should terminate an incremental
487 search without subsequently executing the character as a command.
488 If this variable has not been given a value, the characters
489 \fIESC\fP and \fIC\-J\fP will terminate an incremental search.
492 Set the current readline keymap. The set of legal keymap names is
493 \fIemacs, emacs-standard, emacs-meta, emacs-ctlx, vi, vi-move,
496 \fIvi\fP is equivalent to \fIvi-command\fP; \fIemacs\fP is
497 equivalent to \fIemacs-standard\fP. The default value is
501 also affects the default keymap.
503 .B emacs\-mode\-string (@)
504 This string is displayed immediately before the last line of the primary
505 prompt when emacs editing mode is active. The value is expanded like a
506 key binding, so the standard set of meta- and control prefixes and
507 backslash escape sequences is available.
508 Use the \e1 and \e2 escapes to begin and end sequences of
509 non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control
510 sequence into the mode string.
512 .B keyseq\-timeout (500)
513 Specifies the duration \fIreadline\fP will wait for a character when reading an
514 ambiguous key sequence (one that can form a complete key sequence using
515 the input read so far, or can take additional input to complete a longer
517 If no input is received within the timeout, \fIreadline\fP will use the shorter
518 but complete key sequence.
519 The value is specified in milliseconds, so a value of 1000 means that
520 \fIreadline\fP will wait one second for additional input.
521 If this variable is set to a value less than or equal to zero, or to a
522 non-numeric value, \fIreadline\fP will wait until another key is pressed to
523 decide which key sequence to complete.
525 .B mark\-directories (On)
526 If set to \fBOn\fP, completed directory names have a slash
529 .B mark\-modified\-lines (Off)
530 If set to \fBOn\fP, history lines that have been modified are displayed
531 with a preceding asterisk (\fB*\fP).
533 .B mark\-symlinked\-directories (Off)
534 If set to \fBOn\fP, completed names which are symbolic links to directories
535 have a slash appended (subject to the value of
536 \fBmark\-directories\fP).
538 .B match\-hidden\-files (On)
539 This variable, when set to \fBOn\fP, causes readline to match files whose
540 names begin with a `.' (hidden files) when performing filename
542 If set to \fBOff\fP, the leading `.' must be
543 supplied by the user in the filename to be completed.
545 .B menu\-complete\-display\-prefix (Off)
546 If set to \fBOn\fP, menu completion displays the common prefix of the
547 list of possible completions (which may be empty) before cycling through
550 .B output\-meta (Off)
551 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline will display characters with the
552 eighth bit set directly rather than as a meta-prefixed escape
555 .B page\-completions (On)
556 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline uses an internal \fImore\fP-like pager
557 to display a screenful of possible completions at a time.
559 .B print\-completions\-horizontally (Off)
560 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline will display completions with matches
561 sorted horizontally in alphabetical order, rather than down the screen.
563 .B revert\-all\-at\-newline (Off)
564 If set to \fBOn\fP, readline will undo all changes to history lines
565 before returning when \fBaccept\-line\fP is executed. By default,
566 history lines may be modified and retain individual undo lists across
567 calls to \fBreadline\fP.
569 .B show\-all\-if\-ambiguous (Off)
570 This alters the default behavior of the completion functions. If
573 words which have more than one possible completion cause the
574 matches to be listed immediately instead of ringing the bell.
576 .B show\-all\-if\-unmodified (Off)
577 This alters the default behavior of the completion functions in
578 a fashion similar to \fBshow\-all\-if\-ambiguous\fP.
581 words which have more than one possible completion without any
582 possible partial completion (the possible completions don't share
583 a common prefix) cause the matches to be listed immediately instead
586 .B show\-mode\-in\-prompt (Off)
587 If set to \fBOn\fP, add a character to the beginning of the prompt
588 indicating the editing mode: emacs, vi command, or vi insertion.
589 The mode strings are user-settable.
591 .B skip\-completed\-text (Off)
592 If set to \fBOn\fP, this alters the default completion behavior when
593 inserting a single match into the line. It's only active when
594 performing completion in the middle of a word. If enabled, readline
595 does not insert characters from the completion that match characters
596 after point in the word being completed, so portions of the word
597 following the cursor are not duplicated.
599 .B vi\-cmd\-mode\-string ((cmd))
600 This string is displayed immediately before the last line of the primary
601 prompt when vi editing mode is active and in command mode.
602 The value is expanded like a
603 key binding, so the standard set of meta- and control prefixes and
604 backslash escape sequences is available.
605 Use the \e1 and \e2 escapes to begin and end sequences of
606 non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control
607 sequence into the mode string.
609 .B vi\-ins\-mode\-string ((ins))
610 This string is displayed immediately before the last line of the primary
611 prompt when vi editing mode is active and in insertion mode.
612 The value is expanded like a
613 key binding, so the standard set of meta- and control prefixes and
614 backslash escape sequences is available.
615 Use the \e1 and \e2 escapes to begin and end sequences of
616 non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control
617 sequence into the mode string.
619 .B visible\-stats (Off)
620 If set to \fBOn\fP, a character denoting a file's type as reported
621 by \fIstat\fP(2) is appended to the filename when listing possible
624 .SS Conditional Constructs
626 Readline implements a facility similar in spirit to the conditional
627 compilation features of the C preprocessor which allows key
628 bindings and variable settings to be performed as the result
629 of tests. There are four parser directives used.
633 construct allows bindings to be made based on the
634 editing mode, the terminal being used, or the application using
635 readline. The text of the test extends to the end of the line;
636 no characters are required to isolate it.
639 The \fBmode=\fP form of the \fB$if\fP directive is used to test
640 whether readline is in emacs or vi mode.
641 This may be used in conjunction
642 with the \fBset keymap\fP command, for instance, to set bindings in
643 the \fIemacs-standard\fP and \fIemacs-ctlx\fP keymaps only if
644 readline is starting out in emacs mode.
646 The \fBterm=\fP form may be used to include terminal-specific
647 key bindings, perhaps to bind the key sequences output by the
648 terminal's function keys. The word on the right side of the
650 is tested against the full name of the terminal and the portion
651 of the terminal name before the first \fB\-\fP. This allows
658 .IP \fBapplication\fP
659 The \fBapplication\fP construct is used to include
660 application-specific settings. Each program using the readline
661 library sets the \fIapplication name\fP, and an initialization
662 file can test for a particular value.
663 This could be used to bind key sequences to functions useful for
664 a specific program. For instance, the following command adds a
665 key sequence that quotes the current or previous word in \fBbash\fP:
670 # Quote the current or previous word
671 "\eC-xq": "\eeb\e"\eef\e""
677 This command, as seen in the previous example, terminates an
680 Commands in this branch of the \fB$if\fP directive are executed if
683 This directive takes a single filename as an argument and reads commands
684 and bindings from that file. For example, the following directive
685 would read \fI/etc/inputrc\fP:
689 \fB$include\fP \^ \fI/etc/inputrc\fP
694 Readline provides commands for searching through the command history
695 for lines containing a specified string.
696 There are two search modes:
699 .IR non-incremental .
701 Incremental searches begin before the user has finished typing the
703 As each character of the search string is typed, readline displays
704 the next entry from the history matching the string typed so far.
705 An incremental search requires only as many characters as needed to
706 find the desired history entry.
707 To search backward in the history for a particular string, type
708 \fBC\-r\fP. Typing \fBC\-s\fP searches forward through the history.
709 The characters present in the value of the \fBisearch-terminators\fP
710 variable are used to terminate an incremental search.
711 If that variable has not been assigned a value the \fIEscape\fP and
712 \fBC\-J\fP characters will terminate an incremental search.
713 \fBC\-G\fP will abort an incremental search and restore the original
715 When the search is terminated, the history entry containing the
716 search string becomes the current line.
718 To find other matching entries in the history list, type \fBC\-s\fP or
719 \fBC\-r\fP as appropriate.
720 This will search backward or forward in the history for the next
721 line matching the search string typed so far.
722 Any other key sequence bound to a readline command will terminate
723 the search and execute that command.
724 For instance, a newline will terminate the search and accept
725 the line, thereby executing the command from the history list.
726 A movement command will terminate the search, make the last line found
727 the current line, and begin editing.
729 Non-incremental searches read the entire search string before starting
730 to search for matching history lines. The search string may be
731 typed by the user or be part of the contents of the current line.
734 The following is a list of the names of the commands and the default
735 key sequences to which they are bound.
736 Command names without an accompanying key sequence are unbound by default.
738 In the following descriptions, \fIpoint\fP refers to the current cursor
739 position, and \fImark\fP refers to a cursor position saved by the
740 \fBset\-mark\fP command.
741 The text between the point and mark is referred to as the \fIregion\fP.
742 .SS Commands for Moving
746 .B beginning\-of\-line (C\-a)
747 Move to the start of the current line.
749 .B end\-of\-line (C\-e)
750 Move to the end of the line.
752 .B forward\-char (C\-f)
753 Move forward a character.
755 .B backward\-char (C\-b)
756 Move back a character.
758 .B forward\-word (M\-f)
759 Move forward to the end of the next word. Words are composed of
760 alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).
762 .B backward\-word (M\-b)
763 Move back to the start of the current or previous word. Words are
764 composed of alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).
766 .B clear\-screen (C\-l)
767 Clear the screen leaving the current line at the top of the screen.
768 With an argument, refresh the current line without clearing the
771 .B redraw\-current\-line
772 Refresh the current line.
774 .SS Commands for Manipulating the History
778 .B accept\-line (Newline, Return)
779 Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is.
781 non-empty, it may be added to the history list for future recall with
783 If the line is a modified history line, the history line is restored to its original state.
785 .B previous\-history (C\-p)
786 Fetch the previous command from the history list, moving back in
789 .B next\-history (C\-n)
790 Fetch the next command from the history list, moving forward in the
793 .B beginning\-of\-history (M\-<)
794 Move to the first line in the history.
796 .B end\-of\-history (M\->)
797 Move to the end of the input history, i.e., the line currently being
800 .B reverse\-search\-history (C\-r)
801 Search backward starting at the current line and moving `up' through
802 the history as necessary. This is an incremental search.
804 .B forward\-search\-history (C\-s)
805 Search forward starting at the current line and moving `down' through
806 the history as necessary. This is an incremental search.
808 .B non\-incremental\-reverse\-search\-history (M\-p)
809 Search backward through the history starting at the current line
810 using a non-incremental search for a string supplied by the user.
812 .B non\-incremental\-forward\-search\-history (M\-n)
813 Search forward through the history using a non-incremental search
814 for a string supplied by the user.
816 .B history\-search\-backward
817 Search backward through the history for the string of characters
818 between the start of the current line and the current cursor
819 position (the \fIpoint\fP).
820 The search string must match at the beginning of a history line.
821 This is a non-incremental search.
823 .B history\-search\-forward
824 Search forward through the history for the string of characters
825 between the start of the current line and the point.
826 The search string must match at the beginning of a history line.
827 This is a non-incremental search.
829 .B history\-substring\-search\-backward
830 Search backward through the history for the string of characters
831 between the start of the current line and the current cursor
832 position (the \fIpoint\fP).
833 The search string may match anywhere in a history line.
834 This is a non-incremental search.
836 .B history\-substring\-search\-forward
837 Search forward through the history for the string of characters
838 between the start of the current line and the point.
839 The search string may match anywhere in a history line.
840 This is a non-incremental search.
842 .B yank\-nth\-arg (M\-C\-y)
843 Insert the first argument to the previous command (usually
844 the second word on the previous line) at point.
847 insert the \fIn\fPth word from the previous command (the words
848 in the previous command begin with word 0). A negative argument
849 inserts the \fIn\fPth word from the end of the previous command.
850 Once the argument \fIn\fP is computed, the argument is extracted
851 as if the "!\fIn\fP" history expansion had been specified.
854 yank\-last\-arg (M\-.\^, M\-_\^)
855 Insert the last argument to the previous command (the last word of
856 the previous history entry).
857 With a numeric argument, behave exactly like \fByank\-nth\-arg\fP.
858 Successive calls to \fByank\-last\-arg\fP move back through the history
859 list, inserting the last word (or the word specified by the argument to
860 the first call) of each line in turn.
861 Any numeric argument supplied to these successive calls determines
862 the direction to move through the history. A negative argument switches
863 the direction through the history (back or forward).
864 The history expansion facilities are used to extract the last argument,
865 as if the "!$" history expansion had been specified.
867 .SS Commands for Changing Text
871 .B \fIend\-of\-file\fP (usually C\-d)
872 The character indicating end-of-file as set, for example, by
875 If this character is read when there are no characters
876 on the line, and point is at the beginning of the line, Readline
877 interprets it as the end of input and returns
881 .B delete\-char (C\-d)
882 Delete the character at point.
883 If this function is bound to the
884 same character as the tty \fBEOF\fP character, as \fBC\-d\fP
885 commonly is, see above for the effects.
887 .B backward\-delete\-char (Rubout)
888 Delete the character behind the cursor. When given a numeric argument,
889 save the deleted text on the kill ring.
891 .B forward\-backward\-delete\-char
892 Delete the character under the cursor, unless the cursor is at the
893 end of the line, in which case the character behind the cursor is
896 .B quoted\-insert (C\-q, C\-v)
897 Add the next character that you type to the line verbatim. This is
898 how to insert characters like \fBC\-q\fP, for example.
900 .B tab\-insert (M-TAB)
901 Insert a tab character.
903 .B self\-insert (a,\ b,\ A,\ 1,\ !,\ ...)
904 Insert the character typed.
906 .B transpose\-chars (C\-t)
907 Drag the character before point forward over the character at point,
908 moving point forward as well.
909 If point is at the end of the line, then this transposes
910 the two characters before point.
911 Negative arguments have no effect.
913 .B transpose\-words (M\-t)
914 Drag the word before point past the word after point,
915 moving point over that word as well.
916 If point is at the end of the line, this transposes
917 the last two words on the line.
919 .B upcase\-word (M\-u)
920 Uppercase the current (or following) word. With a negative argument,
921 uppercase the previous word, but do not move point.
923 .B downcase\-word (M\-l)
924 Lowercase the current (or following) word. With a negative argument,
925 lowercase the previous word, but do not move point.
927 .B capitalize\-word (M\-c)
928 Capitalize the current (or following) word. With a negative argument,
929 capitalize the previous word, but do not move point.
932 Toggle overwrite mode. With an explicit positive numeric argument,
933 switches to overwrite mode. With an explicit non-positive numeric
934 argument, switches to insert mode. This command affects only
935 \fBemacs\fP mode; \fBvi\fP mode does overwrite differently.
936 Each call to \fIreadline()\fP starts in insert mode.
937 In overwrite mode, characters bound to \fBself\-insert\fP replace
938 the text at point rather than pushing the text to the right.
939 Characters bound to \fBbackward\-delete\-char\fP replace the character
940 before point with a space. By default, this command is unbound.
942 .SS Killing and Yanking
947 Kill the text from point to the end of the line.
949 .B backward\-kill\-line (C\-x Rubout)
950 Kill backward to the beginning of the line.
952 .B unix\-line\-discard (C\-u)
953 Kill backward from point to the beginning of the line.
954 The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
955 .\" There is no real difference between this and backward-kill-line
958 Kill all characters on the current line, no matter where point is.
961 Kill from point the end of the current word, or if between
962 words, to the end of the next word. Word boundaries are the same as
963 those used by \fBforward\-word\fP.
965 .B backward\-kill\-word (M\-Rubout)
966 Kill the word behind point.
967 Word boundaries are the same as those used by \fBbackward\-word\fP.
969 .B unix\-word\-rubout (C\-w)
970 Kill the word behind point, using white space as a word boundary.
971 The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
973 .B unix\-filename\-rubout
974 Kill the word behind point, using white space and the slash character
975 as the word boundaries.
976 The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
978 .B delete\-horizontal\-space (M\-\e)
979 Delete all spaces and tabs around point.
982 Kill the text between the point and \fImark\fP (saved cursor position).
983 This text is referred to as the \fIregion\fP.
985 .B copy\-region\-as\-kill
986 Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer.
988 .B copy\-backward\-word
989 Copy the word before point to the kill buffer.
990 The word boundaries are the same as \fBbackward\-word\fP.
992 .B copy\-forward\-word
993 Copy the word following point to the kill buffer.
994 The word boundaries are the same as \fBforward\-word\fP.
997 Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point.
1000 Rotate the kill ring, and yank the new top. Only works following
1005 .SS Numeric Arguments
1009 .B digit\-argument (M\-0, M\-1, ..., M\-\-)
1010 Add this digit to the argument already accumulating, or start a new
1011 argument. M\-\- starts a negative argument.
1013 .B universal\-argument
1014 This is another way to specify an argument.
1015 If this command is followed by one or more digits, optionally with a
1016 leading minus sign, those digits define the argument.
1017 If the command is followed by digits, executing
1018 .B universal\-argument
1019 again ends the numeric argument, but is otherwise ignored.
1020 As a special case, if this command is immediately followed by a
1021 character that is neither a digit or minus sign, the argument count
1022 for the next command is multiplied by four.
1023 The argument count is initially one, so executing this function the
1024 first time makes the argument count four, a second time makes the
1025 argument count sixteen, and so on.
1032 Attempt to perform completion on the text before point.
1033 The actual completion performed is application-specific.
1035 for instance, attempts completion treating the text as a variable
1036 (if the text begins with \fB$\fP), username (if the text begins with
1037 \fB~\fP), hostname (if the text begins with \fB@\fP), or
1038 command (including aliases and functions) in turn. If none
1039 of these produces a match, filename completion is attempted.
1042 allows completion of program functions and variables, and
1043 only attempts filename completion under certain circumstances.
1045 .B possible\-completions (M\-?)
1046 List the possible completions of the text before point.
1047 When displaying completions, readline sets the number of columns used
1048 for display to the value of \fBcompletion-display-width\fP, the value of
1049 the environment variable
1052 or the screen width, in that order.
1054 .B insert\-completions (M\-*)
1055 Insert all completions of the text before point
1056 that would have been generated by
1057 \fBpossible\-completions\fP.
1060 Similar to \fBcomplete\fP, but replaces the word to be completed
1061 with a single match from the list of possible completions.
1062 Repeated execution of \fBmenu\-complete\fP steps through the list
1063 of possible completions, inserting each match in turn.
1064 At the end of the list of completions, the bell is rung
1065 (subject to the setting of \fBbell\-style\fP)
1066 and the original text is restored.
1067 An argument of \fIn\fP moves \fIn\fP positions forward in the list
1068 of matches; a negative argument may be used to move backward
1070 This command is intended to be bound to \fBTAB\fP, but is unbound
1073 .B menu\-complete\-backward
1074 Identical to \fBmenu\-complete\fP, but moves backward through the list
1075 of possible completions, as if \fBmenu\-complete\fP had been given a
1076 negative argument. This command is unbound by default.
1078 .B delete\-char\-or\-list
1079 Deletes the character under the cursor if not at the beginning or
1080 end of the line (like \fBdelete-char\fP).
1081 If at the end of the line, behaves identically to
1082 \fBpossible-completions\fP.
1088 .B start\-kbd\-macro (C\-x (\^)
1089 Begin saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro.
1091 .B end\-kbd\-macro (C\-x )\^)
1092 Stop saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro
1093 and store the definition.
1095 .B call\-last\-kbd\-macro (C\-x e)
1096 Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the characters
1097 in the macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.
1098 .B print\-last\-kbd\-macro ()
1099 Print the last keyboard macro defined in a format suitable for the
1106 .B re\-read\-init\-file (C\-x C\-r)
1107 Read in the contents of the \fIinputrc\fP file, and incorporate
1108 any bindings or variable assignments found there.
1111 Abort the current editing command and
1112 ring the terminal's bell (subject to the setting of
1115 .B do\-uppercase\-version (M\-a, M\-b, M\-\fIx\fP, ...)
1116 If the metafied character \fIx\fP is lowercase, run the command
1117 that is bound to the corresponding uppercase character.
1119 .B prefix\-meta (ESC)
1120 Metafy the next character typed.
1127 .B undo (C\-_, C\-x C\-u)
1128 Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.
1130 .B revert\-line (M\-r)
1131 Undo all changes made to this line. This is like executing the
1133 command enough times to return the line to its initial state.
1135 .B tilde\-expand (M\-&)
1136 Perform tilde expansion on the current word.
1138 .B set\-mark (C\-@, M\-<space>)
1139 Set the mark to the point. If a
1140 numeric argument is supplied, the mark is set to that position.
1142 .B exchange\-point\-and\-mark (C\-x C\-x)
1143 Swap the point with the mark. The current cursor position is set to
1144 the saved position, and the old cursor position is saved as the mark.
1146 .B character\-search (C\-])
1147 A character is read and point is moved to the next occurrence of that
1148 character. A negative count searches for previous occurrences.
1150 .B character\-search\-backward (M\-C\-])
1151 A character is read and point is moved to the previous occurrence of that
1152 character. A negative count searches for subsequent occurrences.
1154 .B skip\-csi\-sequence
1155 Read enough characters to consume a multi-key sequence such as those
1156 defined for keys like Home and End. Such sequences begin with a
1157 Control Sequence Indicator (CSI), usually ESC\-[. If this sequence is
1158 bound to "\e[", keys producing such sequences will have no effect
1159 unless explicitly bound to a readline command, instead of inserting
1160 stray characters into the editing buffer. This is unbound by default,
1161 but usually bound to ESC\-[.
1163 .B insert\-comment (M\-#)
1164 Without a numeric argument, the value of the readline
1166 variable is inserted at the beginning of the current line.
1167 If a numeric argument is supplied, this command acts as a toggle: if
1168 the characters at the beginning of the line do not match the value
1169 of \fBcomment\-begin\fP, the value is inserted, otherwise
1170 the characters in \fBcomment-begin\fP are deleted from the beginning of
1172 In either case, the line is accepted as if a newline had been typed.
1173 The default value of
1175 makes the current line a shell comment.
1176 If a numeric argument causes the comment character to be removed, the line
1177 will be executed by the shell.
1180 Print all of the functions and their key bindings to the
1181 readline output stream. If a numeric argument is supplied,
1182 the output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part
1183 of an \fIinputrc\fP file.
1186 Print all of the settable variables and their values to the
1187 readline output stream. If a numeric argument is supplied,
1188 the output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part
1189 of an \fIinputrc\fP file.
1192 Print all of the readline key sequences bound to macros and the
1193 strings they output. If a numeric argument is supplied,
1194 the output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part
1195 of an \fIinputrc\fP file.
1197 .B emacs\-editing\-mode (C\-e)
1200 command mode, this causes a switch to
1204 .B vi\-editing\-mode (M\-C\-j)
1207 editing mode, this causes a switch to
1211 .SH DEFAULT KEY BINDINGS
1213 The following is a list of the default emacs and vi bindings.
1214 Characters with the eighth bit set are written as M\-<character>, and
1218 The printable ASCII characters not mentioned in the list of emacs
1219 standard bindings are bound to the
1221 function, which just inserts the given character into the input line.
1222 In vi insertion mode, all characters not specifically mentioned are
1225 Characters assigned to signal generation by
1227 or the terminal driver, such as C-Z or C-C,
1228 retain that function.
1229 Upper and lower case metafied characters are bound to the same function in
1230 the emacs mode meta keymap.
1231 The remaining characters are unbound, which causes readline
1232 to ring the bell (subject to the setting of the
1240 Emacs Standard bindings
1243 "C-A" beginning-of-line
1249 "C-H" backward-delete-char
1256 "C-P" previous-history
1258 "C-R" reverse-search-history
1259 "C-S" forward-search-history
1260 "C-T" transpose-chars
1261 "C-U" unix-line-discard
1263 "C-W" unix-word-rubout
1265 "C-]" character-search
1267 "\^ " to "/" self-insert
1268 "0" to "9" self-insert
1269 ":" to "~" self-insert
1270 "C-?" backward-delete-char
1275 "M-C-H" backward-kill-word
1277 "M-C-J" vi-editing-mode
1278 "M-C-M" vi-editing-mode
1280 "M-C-Y" yank-nth-arg
1282 "M-C-]" character-search-backward
1284 "M-#" insert-comment
1286 "M-*" insert-completions
1287 "M--" digit-argument
1289 "M-0" digit-argument
1290 "M-1" digit-argument
1291 "M-2" digit-argument
1292 "M-3" digit-argument
1293 "M-4" digit-argument
1294 "M-5" digit-argument
1295 "M-6" digit-argument
1296 "M-7" digit-argument
1297 "M-8" digit-argument
1298 "M-9" digit-argument
1299 "M-<" beginning-of-history
1300 "M-=" possible-completions
1301 "M->" end-of-history
1302 "M-?" possible-completions
1304 "M-C" capitalize-word
1308 "M-N" non-incremental-forward-search-history
1309 "M-P" non-incremental-reverse-search-history
1311 "M-T" transpose-words
1314 "M-\e" delete-horizontal-space
1316 "M-C-?" backward-kill-word
1319 Emacs Control-X bindings
1322 "C-XC-R" re-read-init-file
1324 "C-XC-X" exchange-point-and-mark
1325 "C-X(" start-kbd-macro
1326 "C-X)" end-kbd-macro
1327 "C-XE" call-last-kbd-macro
1328 "C-XC-?" backward-kill-line
1331 .SS VI Mode bindings
1337 VI Insert Mode functions
1340 "C-H" backward-delete-char
1344 "C-R" reverse-search-history
1345 "C-S" forward-search-history
1346 "C-T" transpose-chars
1347 "C-U" unix-line-discard
1349 "C-W" unix-word-rubout
1351 "C-[" vi-movement-mode
1353 "\^ " to "~" self-insert
1354 "C-?" backward-delete-char
1356 VI Command Mode functions
1359 "C-E" emacs-editing-mode
1367 "C-P" previous-history
1369 "C-R" reverse-search-history
1370 "C-S" forward-search-history
1371 "C-T" transpose-chars
1372 "C-U" unix-line-discard
1374 "C-W" unix-word-rubout
1385 "-" previous-history
1388 "0" beginning-of-line
1389 "1" to "9" vi-arg-digit
1399 "G" vi-fetch-history
1408 "X" backward-delete-char
1421 "i" vi-insertion-mode
1441 \fIThe Gnu Readline Library\fP, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
1443 \fIThe Gnu History Library\fP, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
1451 Individual \fBreadline\fP initialization file
1454 Brian Fox, Free Software Foundation
1458 Chet Ramey, Case Western Reserve University
1462 If you find a bug in
1464 you should report it. But first, you should
1465 make sure that it really is a bug, and that it appears in the latest
1468 library that you have.
1470 Once you have determined that a bug actually exists, mail a
1471 bug report to \fIbug\-readline\fP@\fIgnu.org\fP.
1472 If you have a fix, you are welcome to mail that
1473 as well! Suggestions and `philosophical' bug reports may be mailed
1474 to \fPbug-readline\fP@\fIgnu.org\fP or posted to the Usenet
1478 Comments and bug reports concerning
1479 this manual page should be directed to
1480 .IR chet.ramey@case.edu .
1483 It's too big and too slow.
projects / external / binutils.git / blob