tecla(5) Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)NAME
tecla, teclarc - User interface provided by the tecla library.
DESCRIPTION
This man page describes the command-line editing features that are
available to users of programs that read keyboard input via the tecla
library. Users of the tcsh shell will find the default key bindings
very familiar. Users of the bash shell will also find it quite famil‐
iar, but with a few minor differences, most notably in how forward and
backward searches through the list of historical commands are per‐
formed. There are two major editing modes, one with emacs-like key
bindings and another with vi-like key bindings. By default emacs mode
is enabled, but vi(1) mode can alternatively be selected via the user's
configuration file. This file can also be used to change the bindings
of individual keys to suit the user's preferences. By default, tab com‐
pletion is provided. If the application hasn't reconfigured this to
complete other types of symbols, then tab completion completes file
names.
Key Sequence Notation
In the rest of this man page, and also in all tecla configuration
files, key sequences are expressed as follows.
^A or C-a This is a 'CONTROL-A', entered by pressing the CONTROL
key at the same time as the 'A' key.
\fR or M- In key sequences, both of these notations can be
entered either by pressing the ESCAPE key, then the
following key, or by pressing the META key at the same
time as the following key. Thus the key sequence M-p
can be typed in two ways, by pressing the ESCAPE key,
followed by pressing 'P', or by pressing the META key
at the same time as 'P'.
up This refers to the up-arrow key.
down This refers to the down-arrow key.
left This refers to the left-arrow key.
right This refers to the right-arrow key.
a This is just a normal 'A' key.
The Tecla Configuration File
By default, tecla looks for a file called .teclarc in your home direc‐
tory (ie. ~/.teclarc). If it finds this file, it reads it, interpreting
each line as defining a new key binding or an editing configuration
option. Since the emacs keybindings are installed by default, if you
want to use the non-default vi editing mode, the most important item to
go in this file is the following line:
edit-mode vi
This will re-configure the default bindings for vi-mode. The complete
set of arguments that this command accepts are:
vi Install key bindings like those of the vi editor.
emacs Install key bindings like those of the emacs editor.
This is the default.
none Use just the native line editing facilities provided by
the terminal driver.
To prevent the terminal bell from being rung, such as when an unrecog‐
nized control-sequence is typed, place the following line in the con‐
figuration file:
nobeep
An example of a key binding line in the configuration file is the fol‐
lowing.
bind M-[2~ insert-mode
On many keyboards, the above key sequence is generated when one presses
the insert key, so with this key binding, one can toggle between the
emacs-mode insert and overwrite modes by hitting one key. One could
also do it by typing out the above sequence of characters one by one.
As explained above, the M- part of this sequence can be typed either by
pressing the ESCAPE key before the following key, or by pressing the
META key at the same time as the following key. Thus if you had set the
above key binding, and the insert key on your keyboard didn't generate
the above key sequence, you could still type it in either of the fol‐
lowing 2 ways.
1. Hit the ESCAPE key momentarily, then press '[', then '2', then
finally '~'.
2. Press the META key at the same time as pressing the '[' key, then
press '2', then '~'.
If you set a key binding for a key sequence that is already bound to a
function, the new binding overrides the old one. If in the new binding
you omit the name of the new function to bind to the key sequence, the
original binding becomes undefined.
Starting with versions of libtecla later than 1.3.3 it is now possible
to bind key sequences that begin with a printable character. Previ‐
ously key sequences were required to start with a CONTROL or META char‐
acter.
Note that the special keywords "up", "down", "left", and "right" refer
to the arrow keys, and are thus not treated as key sequences. So, for
example, to rebind the up and down arrow keys to use the history search
mechanism instead of the simple history recall method, you could place
the following in your configuration file:
bind up history-search-backwards
bind down history-search-backwards
To unbind an existing binding, you can do this with the bind command by
omitting to name any action to rebind the key sequence to. For example,
by not specifying an action function, the following command unbinds the
default beginning-of-line action from the ^A key sequence:
bind ^A
If you create a ~/.teclarc configuration file, but it appears to have
no effect on the program, check the documentation of the program to see
if the author chose a different name for this file.
Filename and Tilde Completion
With the default key bindings, pressing the TAB key (aka. ^I) results
in tecla attempting to complete the incomplete file name that precedes
the cursor. Tecla searches backwards from the cursor, looking for the
start of the file name, stopping when it hits either a space or the
start of the line. If more than one file has the specified prefix, then
tecla completes the file name up to the point at which the ambiguous
matches start to differ, then lists the possible matches.
In addition to literally written file names, tecla can complete files
that start with ~/ and ~user/ expressions and that contain $envvar
expressions. In particular, if you hit TAB within an incomplete ~user,
expression, tecla will attempt to complete the username, listing any
ambiguous matches.
The completion binding is implemented using the cpl_complete_word()
function, which is also available separately to users of this library.
See the cpl_complete_word(3TECLA) man page for more details.
Filename Expansion
With the default key bindings, pressing ^X* causes tecla to expand the
file name that precedes the cursor, replacing ~/ and ~user/ expressions
with the corresponding home directories, and replacing $envvar expres‐
sions with the value of the specified environment variable, then if
there are any wildcards, replacing the so far expanded file name with a
space-separated list of the files which match the wild cards.
The expansion binding is implemented using the ef_expand_file() func‐
tion. See the ef_expand_file(3TECLA) man page for more details.
Recalling Previously Typed Lines
Every time that a new line is entered by the user, it is appended to a
list of historical input lines maintained within the GetLine resource
object. You can traverse up and down this list using the up and down
arrow keys. Alternatively, you can do the same with the ^P, and ^N
keys, and in vi command mode you can alternatively use the k and j
characters. Thus pressing up-arrow once, replaces the current input
line with the previously entered line. Pressing up-arrow again,
replaces this with the line that was entered before it, etc.. Having
gone back one or more lines into the history list, one can return to
newer lines by pressing down-arrow one or more times. If you do this
sufficient times, you will return to the original line that you were
entering when you first hit up-arrow.
Note that in vi mode, all of the history recall functions switch the
library into command mode.
In emacs mode the M-p and M-n keys work just like the ^P and ^N keys,
except that they skip all but those historical lines which share the
prefix that precedes the cursor. In vi command mode the upper case 'K'
and 'J' characters do the same thing, except that the string that they
search for includes the character under the cursor as well as what pre‐
cedes it.
Thus for example, suppose that you were in emacs mode, and you had just
entered the following list of commands in the order shown:
ls ~/tecla/
cd ~/tecla
ls -l getline.c
emacs ~/tecla/getline.c
If you next typed:
ls
and then hit M-p, then rather than returning the previously typed emacs
line, which doesn't start with "ls", tecla would recall the "ls -l get‐
line.c" line. Pressing M-p again would recall the "ls ~/tecla/" line.
Note that if the string that you are searching for, contains any of the
special characters, *, ?, or '[', then it is interpretted as a pattern
to be matched. Thus, cotinuing with the above example, after typing in
the list of commands shown, if you then typed:
*tecla*
and hit M-p, then the "emacs ~/tecla/getline.c" line would be recalled
first, since it contains the word tecla somewhere in the line, Simi‐
larly, hitting M-p again, would recall the "ls ~/tecla/" line, and hit‐
ting it once more would recall the "ls ~/tecla/" line. The pattern syn‐
tax is the same as that described for file name expansion, in the
ef_expand_file(3TECLA).
History Files
Authors of programs that use the tecla library have the option of sav‐
ing historical command-lines in a file before exiting, and subsequently
reading them back in from this file when the program is next started.
There is no standard name for this file, since it makes sense for each
application to use its own history file, so that commands from differ‐
ent applications don't get mixed up.
International Character Sets
Since libtecla version 1.4.0, tecla has been 8-bit clean. This means
that all 8-bit characters that are printable in the user's current
locale are now displayed verbatim and included in the returned input
line. Assuming that the calling program correctly contains a call like
the following,
setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "");
then the current locale is determined by the first of the environment
variables LC_CTYPE, LC_ALL, and LANG, that is found to contain a valid
locale name. If none of these variables are defined, or the program
neglects to call setlocale, then the default C locale is used, which is
US 7-bit ASCII. On most unix-like platforms, you can get a list of
valid locales by typing the command:
locale -a
at the shell prompt.
Meta Keys and Locales
Beware that in most locales other than the default C locale, META char‐
acters become printable, and they are then no longer considered to
match M-c style key bindings. This allows international characters to
be entered with the compose key without unexpectedly triggering META
key bindings. You can still invoke META bindings, since there are
actually two ways to do this. For example the binding M-c can also be
invoked by pressing the ESCAPE key momentarily, then pressing the c
key, and this will work regardless of locale. Moreover, many modern
terminal emulators, such as gnome's gnome-terminal's and KDE's konsole
terminals, already generate escape pairs like this when you use the
META key, rather than a real meta character, and other emulators usu‐
ally have a way to request this behavior, so you can continue to use
the META key on most systems.
For example, although xterm terminal emulators generate real 8-bit meta
characters by default when you use the META key, they can be configured
to output the equivalent escape pair by setting their EightBitInput X
resource to False. You can either do this by placing a line like the
following in your ~/.Xdefaults file,
XTerm*EightBitInput: False
or by starting an xterm with an -xrm '*EightBitInput: False' command-
line argument. In recent versions of xterm you can toggle this feature
on and off with the 'Meta Sends Escape' option in the menu that is dis‐
played when you press the left mouse button and the CONTROL key within
an xterm window. In CDE, dtterms can be similarly coerced to generate
escape pairs in place of meta characters, by setting the Dtterm*KshMode
resource to True.
Entering International Characters
If you don't have a keyboard that generates all of the international
characters that you need, there is usually a compose key that will
allow you to enter special characters, or a way to create one. For
example, under X windows on unix-like systems, if your keyboard doesn't
have a compose key, you can designate a redundant key to serve this
purpose with the xmodmap command. For example, on many PC keyboards
there is a microsoft-windows key, which is otherwise useless under
Linux. On a laptop, for example, the xev program might report that
pressing this key generates keycode 115. To turn this key into a COM‐
POSE key, do the following:
xmodmap -e 'keycode 115 = Multi_key'
Type this key followed by a " character to enter an 'I' with a umlaut
over it.
The Available Key Binding Functions
The following is a list of the editing functions provided by the tecla
library. The names in the leftmost column of the list can be used in
configuration files to specify which function a given key or combina‐
tion of keys should invoke. They are also used in the next two sections
to list the default key bindings in emacs and vi modes.
user-interrupt Send a SIGINT signal to the parent
process.
suspend Suspend the parent process.
stop-output Pause terminal output.
start-output Resume paused terminal output.
literal-next Arrange for the next character to be
treated as a normal character. This
allows control characters to be
entered.
cursor-right Move the cursor one character right.
cursor-left Move the cursor one character left.
insert-mode Toggle between insert mode and over‐
write mode.
beginning-of-line Move the cursor to the beginning of the
line.
end-of-line Move the cursor to the end of the line.
delete-line Delete the contents of the current
line.
kill-line Delete everything that follows the cur‐
sor.
backward-kill-line Delete all characters between the cur‐
sor and the start of the line.
forward-word Move to the end of the word which fol‐
lows the cursor.
forward-to-word Move the cursor to the start of the
word that follows the cursor.
backward-word Move to the start of the word which
precedes the cursor.
goto-column Move the cursor to the 1-relative col‐
umn in the line specified by any pre‐
ceding digit-argument sequences (see
Entering Repeat Counts below).
find-parenthesis If the cursor is currently over a
parenthesis character, move it to the
matching parenthesis character. If not
over a parenthesis character move right
to the next close parenthesis.
forward-delete-char Delete the character under the cursor.
backward-delete-char Delete the character which precedes the
cursor.
list-or-eof This is intended for binding to ^D.
When invoked when the cursor is within
the line it displays all possible com‐
pletions then redisplays the line
unchanged. When invoked on an empty
line, it signals end-of-input (EOF) to
the caller of gl_get_line().
del-char-or-list-or-eof This is intended for binding to ^D.
When invoked when the cursor is within
the line it invokes forward-delete-
char. When invoked at the end of the
line it displays all possible comple‐
tions then redisplays the line
unchanged. When invoked on an empty
line, it signals end-of-input (EOF) to
the caller of gl_get_line().
forward-delete-word Delete the word which follows the cur‐
sor.
backward-delete-word Delete the word which precedes the cur‐
sor.
upcase-word Convert all of the characters of the
word which follows the cursor, to upper
case.
downcase-word Convert all of the characters of the
word which follows the cursor, to lower
case.
capitalize-word Capitalize the word which follows the
cursor.
change-case If the next character is upper case,
toggle it to lower case and vice versa.
redisplay Redisplay the line.
clear-screen Clear the terminal, then redisplay the
current line.
transpose-chars Swap the character under the cursor
with the character just before the cur‐
sor.
set-mark Set a mark at the position of the cur‐
sor.
exchange-point-and-mark Move the cursor to the last mark that
was set, and move the mark to where the
cursor used to be.
kill-region Delete the characters that lie between
the last mark that was set, and the
cursor.
copy-region-as-kill Copy the text between the mark and the
cursor to the cut buffer, without
deleting the original text.
yank Insert the text that was last deleted,
just before the current position of the
cursor.
append-yank Paste the current contents of the cut
buffer, after the cursor.
up-history Recall the next oldest line that was
entered. Note that in vi mode you are
left in command mode.
down-history Recall the next most recent line that
was entered. If no history recall ses‐
sion is currently active, the next line
from a previous recall session is
recalled. Note that in vi mode you are
left in command mode.
history-search-backward Recall the next oldest line who's pre‐
fix matches the string which currently
precedes the cursor (in vi command-mode
the character under the cursor is also
included in the search string). Note
that in vi mode you are left in command
mode.
history-search-forward Recall the next newest line who's pre‐
fix matches the string which currently
precedes the cursor (in vi command-mode
the character under the cursor is also
included in the search string). Note
that in vi mode you are left in command
mode.
history-re-search-backward Recall the next oldest line who's pre‐
fix matches that established by the
last invocation of either history-
search-forward or history-search-back‐
ward.
history-re-search-forward Recall the next newest line who's pre‐
fix matches that established by the
last invocation of either history-
search-forward or history-search-back‐
ward.
complete-word Attempt to complete the incomplete word
which precedes the cursor. Unless the
host program has customized word com‐
pletion, file name completion is
attempted. In vi commmand mode the
character under the cursor is also
included in the word being completed,
and you are left in vi insert mode.
expand-filename Within the command line, expand wild
cards, tilde expressions and dollar
expressions in the file name which
immediately precedes the cursor. In vi
commmand mode the character under the
cursor is also included in the file
name being expanded, and you are left
in vi insert mode.
list-glob List any file names which match the
wild-card, tilde and dollar expressions
in the file name which immediately pre‐
cedes the cursor, then redraw the input
line unchanged.
list-history Display the contents of the history
list for the current history group. If
a repeat count of > 1 is specified,
only that many of the most recent lines
are displayed. See the Entering Repeat
Counts section.
read-from-file Temporarily switch to reading input
from the file who's name precedes the
cursor.
read-init-files Re-read teclarc configuration files.
beginning-of-history Move to the oldest line in the history
list. Note that in vi mode you are left
in command mode.
end-of-history Move to the newest line in the history
list (ie. the current line). Note that
in vi mode this leaves you in command
mode.
digit-argument Enter a repeat count for the next key
binding function. For details, see the
Entering Repeat Counts section.
newline Terminate and return the current con‐
tents of the line, after appending a
newline character. The newline charac‐
ter is normally '', but will be the
first character of the key sequence
that invoked the newline action, if
this happens to be a printable charac‐
ter. If the action was invok'dcarriage
'' newline character or the '
return character, the line is appended
to the history buffer.
repeat-history Return the line that is being edited,
then arrange for the next most recent
entry in the history buffer to be
recalled when tecla is next called.
Repeatedly invoking this action causes
successive historical input lines to be
re-executed. Note that this action is
equivalent to the 'Operate' action in
ksh.
ring-bell Ring the terminal bell, unless the bell
has been silenced via the nobeep con‐
figuration option (see The Tecla Con‐
figuration File section).
forward-copy-char Copy the next character into the cut
buffer (NB. use repeat counts to copy
more than one).
backward-copy-char Copy the previous character into the
cut buffer.
forward-copy-word Copy the next word into the cut buffer.
backward-copy-word Copy the previous word into the cut
buffer.
forward-find-char Move the cursor to the next occurrence
of the next character that you type.
backward-find-char Move the cursor to the last occurrence
of the next character that you type.
forward-to-char Move the cursor to the character just
before the next occurrence of the next
character that the user types.
backward-to-char Move the cursor to the character just
after the last occurrence before the
cursor of the next character that the
user types.
repeat-find-char Repeat the last backward-find-char,
forward-find-char, backward-to-char or
forward-to-char.
invert-refind-char Repeat the last backward-find-char,
forward-find-char, backward-to-char, or
forward-to-char in the opposite direc‐
tion.
delete-to-column Delete the characters from the cursor
up to the column that is specified by
the repeat count.
delete-to-parenthesis Delete the characters from the cursor
up to and including the matching paren‐
thesis, or next close parenthesis.
forward-delete-find Delete the characters from the cursor
up to and including the following
occurence of the next character typed.
backward-delete-find Delete the characters from the cursor
up to and including the preceding
occurence of the next character typed.
forward-delete-to Delete the characters from the cursor
up to, but not including, the following
occurence of the next character typed.
backward-delete-to Delete the characters from the cursor
up to, but not including, the preceding
occurence of the next character typed.
delete-refind Repeat the last *-delete-find or
*-delete-to action.
delete-invert-refind Repeat the last *-delete-find or
*-delete-to action, in the opposite
direction.
copy-to-column Copy the characters from the cursor up
to the column that is specified by the
repeat count, into the cut buffer.
copy-to-parenthesis Copy the characters from the cursor up
to and including the matching parenthe‐
sis, or next close parenthesis, into
the cut buffer.
forward-copy-find Copy the characters from the cursor up
to and including the following
occurence of the next character typed,
into the cut buffer.
backward-copy-find Copy the characters from the cursor up
to and including the preceding
occurence of the next character typed,
into the cut buffer.
forward-copy-to Copy the characters from the cursor up
to, but not including, the following
occurence of the next character typed,
into the cut buffer.
backward-copy-to Copy the characters from the cursor up
to, but not including, the preceding
occurence of the next character typed,
into the cut buffer.
copy-refind Repeat the last *-copy-find or *-copy-
to action.
copy-invert-refind Repeat the last *-copy-find or *-copy-
to action, in the opposite direction.
vi-mode Switch to vi mode from emacs mode.
emacs-mode Switch to emacs mode from vi mode.
vi-insert From vi command mode, switch to insert
mode.
vi-overwrite From vi command mode, switch to over‐
write mode.
vi-insert-at-bol From vi command mode, move the cursor
to the start of the line and switch to
insert mode.
vi-append-at-eol From vi command mode, move the cursor
to the end of the line and switch to
append mode.
vi-append From vi command mode, move the cursor
one position right, and switch to
insert mode.
vi-replace-char From vi command mode, replace the char‐
acter under the cursor with the next
character entered.
vi-forward-change-char From vi command mode, delete the next
character then enter insert mode.
vi-backward-change-char From vi command mode, delete the pre‐
ceding character then enter insert
mode.
vi-forward-change-word From vi command mode, delete the next
word then enter insert mode.
vi-backward-change-word From vi command mode, delete the pre‐
ceding word then enter insert mode.
vi-change-rest-of-line From vi command mode, delete from the
cursor to the end of the line, then
enter insert mode.
vi-change-line From vi command mode, delete the cur‐
rent line, then enter insert mode.
vi-change-to-bol From vi command mode, delete all char‐
acters between the cursor and the
beginning of the line, then enter
insert mode.
vi-change-to-column From vi command mode, delete the char‐
acters from the cursor up to the column
that is specified by the repeat count,
then enter insert mode.
vi-change-to-parenthesis Delete the characters from the cursor
up to and including the matching paren‐
thesis, or next close parenthesis, then
enter vi insert mode.
vi-forward-change-find From vi command mode, delete the char‐
acters from the cursor up to and
including the following occurence of
the next character typed, then enter
insert mode.
vi-backward-change-find From vi command mode, delete the char‐
acters from the cursor up to and
including the preceding occurence of
the next character typed, then enter
insert mode.
vi-forward-change-to From vi command mode, delete the char‐
acters from the cursor up to, but not
including, the following occurence of
the next character typed, then enter
insert mode.
vi-backward-change-to From vi command mode, delete the char‐
acters from the cursor up to, but not
including, the preceding occurence of
the next character typed, then enter
insert mode.
vi-change-refind Repeat the last vi-*-change-find or
vi-*-change-to action.
vi-change-invert-refind Repeat the last vi-*-change-find or
vi-*-change-to action, in the opposite
direction.
vi-undo In vi mode, undo the last editing oper‐
ation.
vi-repeat-change In vi command mode, repeat the last
command that modified the line.
Default Key Bindings In emacs Mode
The following default key bindings, which can be overriden by the tecla
configuration file, are designed to mimic most of the bindings of the
unix tcsh shell shell, when it is in emacs editing mode.
This is the default editing mode of the tecla library.
Under UNIX the terminal driver sets a number of special keys for cer‐
tain functions. The tecla library attempts to use the same key bindings
to maintain consistency. The key sequences shown for the following 6
bindings are thus just examples of what they will probably be set to.
If you have used the stty command to change these keys, then the
default bindings should match.
^C user-interrupt
^\fR abort
^Z suspend
^Q start-output
^S stop-output
^V literal-next
The cursor keys are refered to by name, as follows. This is necessary
because different types of terminals generate different key sequences
when their cursor keys are pressed.
right cursor-right
left cursor-left
up up-history
down down-history
The remaining bindings don't depend on the terminal setttings.
^F cursor-right
^B cursor-left
M-i insert-mode
^A beginning-of-line
^E end-of-line
^U delete-line
^K kill-line
M-f forward-word
M-b backward-word
^D del-char-or-list-or-eof
^H backward-delete-char
^? backward-delete-char
M-d forward-delete-word
M-^H backward-delete-word
M-^? backward-delete-word
M-u upcase-word
M-l downcase-word
M-c capitalize-word
^R redisplay
^L clear-screen
^T transpose-chars
^@ set-mark
^X^X exchange-point-and-mark
^W kill-region
M-w copy-region-as-kill
^Y yank
^P up-history
^N down-history
M-p history-search-backward
M-n history-search-forward
^I complete-word
^X* expand-filename
^X^F read-from-file
^X^R read-init-files
^Xg list-glob
^Xh list-history
M-< beginning-of-history
M-> end-of-history
0fR newline
newline
M-o repeat-history
M-^V vi-mode
M-0, M-1, ... M-9 digit-argument (see below)
Note that ^I is what the TAB key generates, and that ^@ can be gener‐
ated not only by pressing the CONTROL key and the @ key simultaneously,
but also by pressing the CONTROL key and the space bar at the same
time.
Default Key Bindings in vi Mode
The following default key bindings are designed to mimic the vi style
of editing as closely as possible. This means that very few editing
functions are provided in the initial character input mode, editing
functions instead being provided by the vi command mode. The vi com‐
mand mode is entered whenever the ESCAPE character is pressed, or when‐
ever a key sequence that starts with a meta character is entered. In
addition to mimicing vi, libtecla provides bindings for tab completion,
wild-card expansion of file names, and historical line recall.
To learn how to tell the tecla library to use vi mode instead of the
default emacs editing mode, see the earlier section entitled The Tecla
Configuration File.
Under UNIX the terminal driver sets a number of special keys for cer‐
tain functions. The tecla library attempts to use the same key bindings
to maintain consistency, binding them both in input mode and in command
mode. The key sequences shown for the following 6 bindings are thus
just examples of what they will probably be set to. If you have used
the stty command to change these keys, then the default bindings should
match.
^C user-interrupt
^\fR abort
^Z suspend
^Q start-output
^S stop-output
^V literal-next
M-^C user-interrupt
M-^\fR abort
M-^Z suspend
M-^Q start-output
M-^S stop-output
Note that above, most of the bindings are defined twice, once as a raw
control code like ^C and then a second time as a META character like
M-^C. The former is the binding for vi input mode, whereas the latter
is the binding for vi command mode. Once in command mode all key
sequences that the user types that they don't explicitly start with an
ESCAPE or a META key, have their first key secretly converted to a META
character before the key sequence is looked up in the key binding ta‐
ble. Thus, once in command mode, when you type the letter i, for exam‐
ple, the tecla library actually looks up the binding for M-i.
The cursor keys are refered to by name, as follows. This is necessary
because different types of terminals generate different key sequences
when their cursor keys are pressed.
right cursor-right
left cursor-left
up up-history
down down-history
The cursor keys normally generate a key sequence that start with an
ESCAPE character, so beware that using the arrow keys will put you into
command mode (if you aren't already in command mode).
The following are the terminal-independent key bindings for vi input
mode.
^D list-or-eof
^G list-glob
^H backward-delete-char
^I complete-word
newline
0fR newline
^L clear-screen
^N down-history
^P up-history
^R redisplay
^U backward-kill-line
^W backward-delete-word
^X* expand-filename
^X^F read-from-file
^X^R read-init-files
^? backward-delete-char
The following are the key bindings that are defined in vi command mode,
this being specified by them all starting with a META character. As
mentioned above, once in command mode the initial meta character is
optional. For example, you might enter command mode by typing ESCAPE,
and then press 'H' twice to move the cursor two positions to the left.
Both 'H' characters get quietly converted to M-h before being compared
to the key binding table, the first one because ESCAPE followed by a
character is always converted to the equivalent META character, and the
second because command mode was already active.
M-\fR cursor-right (META-space)
M-$ end-of-line
M-* expand-filename
M-+ down-history
M-- up-history
M-< beginning-of-history
M-> end-of-history
M-^ beginning-of-line
M-; repeat-find-char
M-, invert-refind-char
M-| goto-column
M-~ change-case
M-. vi-repeat-change
M-% find-parenthesis
M-a vi-append
M-A vi-append-at-eol
M-b backward-word
M-B backward-word
M-C vi-change-rest-of-line
M-cb vi-backward-change-word
M-cB vi-backward-change-word
M-cc vi-change-line
M-ce vi-forward-change-word
M-cE vi-forward-change-word
M-cw vi-forward-change-word
M-cW vi-forward-change-word
M-cF vi-backward-change-find
M-cf vi-forward-change-find
M-cT vi-backward-change-to
M-ct vi-forward-change-to
M-c; vi-change-refind
M-c, vi-change-invert-refind
M-ch vi-backward-change-char
M-c^H vi-backward-change-char
M-c^? vi-backward-change-char
M-cl vi-forward-change-char
M-c\fR vi-forward-change-char (META-c-space)
M-c^ vi-change-to-bol
M-c0 vi-change-to-bol
M-c$ vi-change-rest-of-line
M-c| vi-change-to-column
M-c% vi-change-to-parenthesis
M-dh backward-delete-char
M-d^H backward-delete-char
M-d^? backward-delete-char
M-dl forward-delete-char
M-d forward-delete-char (META-d-space)
M-dd delete-line
M-db backward-delete-word
M-dB backward-delete-word
M-de forward-delete-word
M-dE forward-delete-word
M-dw forward-delete-word
M-dW forward-delete-word
M-dF backward-delete-find
M-df forward-delete-find
M-dT backward-delete-to
M-dt forward-delete-to
M-d; delete-refind
M-d, delete-invert-refind
M-d^ backward-kill-line
M-d0 backward-kill-line
M-d$ kill-line
M-D kill-line
M-d| delete-to-column
M-d% delete-to-parenthesis
M-e forward-word
M-E forward-word
M-f forward-find-char
M-F backward-find-char
M-- up-history
M-h cursor-left
M-H beginning-of-history
M-i vi-insert
M-I vi-insert-at-bol
M-j down-history
M-J history-search-forward
M-k up-history
M-K history-search-backward
M-l cursor-right
M-L end-of-history
M-n history-re-search-forward
M-N history-re-search-backward
M-p append-yank
M-P yank
M-r vi-replace-char
M-R vi-overwrite
M-s vi-forward-change-char
M-S vi-change-line
M-t forward-to-char
M-T backward-to-char
M-u vi-undo
M-w forward-to-word
M-W forward-to-word
M-x forward-delete-char
M-X backward-delete-char
M-yh backward-copy-char
M-y^H backward-copy-char
M-y^? backward-copy-char
M-yl forward-copy-char
M-y\fR forward-copy-char (META-y-space)
M-ye forward-copy-word
M-yE forward-copy-word
M-yw forward-copy-word
M-yW forward-copy-word
M-yb backward-copy-word
M-yB backward-copy-word
M-yf forward-copy-find
M-yF backward-copy-find
M-yt forward-copy-to
M-yT backward-copy-to
M-y; copy-refind
M-y, copy-invert-refind
M-y^ copy-to-bol
M-y0 copy-to-bol
M-y$ copy-rest-of-line
M-yy copy-line
M-Y copy-line
M-y| copy-to-column
M-y% copy-to-parenthesis
M-^E emacs-mode
M-^H cursor-left
M-^? cursor-left
M-^L clear-screen
M-^N down-history
M-^P up-history
M-^R redisplay
M-^D list-or-eof
M-^I complete-word
M- newline
M-0fR newline
M-^X^R read-init-files
M-^Xh list-history
M-0, M-1, ... M-9 digit-argument (see below)
Note that ^I is what the TAB key generates.
Entering Repeat Counts
Many of the key binding functions described previously, take an
optional count, typed in before the target key sequence. This is inter‐
preted as a repeat count by most bindings. A notable exception is the
goto-column binding, which interprets the count as a column number.
By default you can specify this count argument by pressing the META key
while typing in the numeric count. This relies on the digit-argument
action being bound to 'META-0', 'META-1' etc. Once any one of these
bindings has been activated, you can optionally take your finger off
the META key to type in the rest of the number, since every numeric
digit thereafter is treated as part of the number, unless it is pre‐
ceded by the literal-next binding. As soon as a non-digit, or literal
digit key is pressed the repeat count is terminated and either causes
the just typed character to be added to the line that many times, or
causes the next key binding function to be given that argument.
For example, in emacs mode, typing:
M-12a
causes the letter 'a' to be added to the line 12 times, whereas
M-4M-c
Capitalizes the next 4 words.
In vi command mode the meta modifier is automatically added to all
characters typed in, so to enter a count in vi command-mode, just
involves typing in the number, just as it does in the vi editor itself.
So for example, in vi command mode, typing:
4w2x
moves the cursor four words to the right, then deletes two characters.
You can also bind digit-argument to other key sequences. If these end
in a numeric digit, that digit gets appended to the current repeat
count. If it doesn't end in a numeric digit, a new repeat count is
started with a value of zero, and can be completed by typing in the
number, after letting go of the key which triggered the digit-argument
action.
FILES
/usr/lib/libtecla.so
The tecla library
/usr/include/libtecla.h
The tecla header file
~/.teclarc
The personal tecla customization file
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │SUNWtecla │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │Evolving │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOvi(1), cpl_complete_word(3TECLA), ef_expand_file(3TECLA),
gl_get_line(3TECLA), gl_io_mode(3TECLA), libtecla(3LIB),
pca_lookup_file(3TECLA), attributes(5)SunOS 5.10 20 May 2004 tecla(5)
