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READLINE(3)							   READLINE(3)

NAME
       readline - get a line from a user with editing

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <readline/readline.h>
       #include <readline/history.h>

       char *
       readline (const char *prompt);

COPYRIGHT
       Readline is Copyright (C) 1989-2009 Free Software Foundation,  Inc.

DESCRIPTION
       readline will read a line from the terminal and return it, using prompt
       as a prompt.  If prompt is NULL or  the	empty  string,	no  prompt  is
       issued.	The line returned is allocated with malloc(3); the caller must
       free it when  finished.	 The  line  returned  has  the	final  newline
       removed, so only the text of the line remains.

       readline	 offers	 editing  capabilities	while the user is entering the
       line.  By default, the line editing commands are similar	 to  those  of
       emacs.  A vi-style line editing interface is also available.

       This  manual  page describes only the most basic use of readline.  Much
       more functionality is available; see The GNU Readline Library  and  The
       GNU History Library for additional information.

RETURN VALUE
       readline	 returns  the text of the line read.  A blank line returns the
       empty string.  If EOF is encountered while reading a line, and the line
       is  empty,  NULL is returned.  If an EOF is read with a non-empty line,
       it is treated as a newline.

NOTATION
       An emacs-style notation is used to denote keystrokes.  Control keys are
       denoted	by C-key, e.g., C-n means Control-N.  Similarly, meta keys are
       denoted by M-key, so M-x means Meta-X.  (On keyboards  without  a  meta
       key,  M-x means ESC x, i.e., press the Escape key then the x key.  This
       makes ESC the meta prefix.  The combination M-C-x means	ESC-Control-x,
       or  press the Escape key then hold the Control key while pressing the x
       key.)

       Readline commands may be given numeric arguments, which normally act as
       a  repeat  count.   Sometimes,  however, it is the sign of the argument
       that is significant.  Passing a negative argument  to  a	 command  that
       acts  in the forward direction (e.g., kill-line) causes that command to
       act in a backward direction.  Commands whose  behavior  with  arguments
       deviates from this are noted.

       When  a command is described as killing text, the text deleted is saved
       for possible future retrieval (yanking).	 The killed text is saved in a
       kill ring.  Consecutive kills cause the text to be accumulated into one
       unit, which can be yanked all at once.  Commands which do not kill text
       separate the chunks of text on the kill ring.

INITIALIZATION FILE
       Readline	 is  customized	 by putting commands in an initialization file
       (the inputrc file).  The name of this file is taken from the  value  of
       the  INPUTRC  environment  variable.   If  that	variable is unset, the
       default is ~/.inputrc.  If that file  does not exist or cannot be read,
       the  ultimate  default  is /etc/inputrc.	 When a program which uses the
       readline library starts up, the init file is read, and the key bindings
       and  variables  are set.	 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.  Other lines denote key  bindings  and  variable  settings.
       Each program using this library may add its own commands and bindings.

       For example, placing

	      M-Control-u: universal-argument
       or
	      C-Meta-u: universal-argument

       into  the inputrc would make M-C-u execute the readline command univer‐
       sal-argument.

       The following symbolic character names are recognized while  processing
       key  bindings:  DEL,  ESC,  ESCAPE,  LFD, NEWLINE, RET, RETURN, RUBOUT,
       SPACE, SPC, and TAB.

       In addition to command names, readline allows keys to  be  bound	 to  a
       string that is inserted when the key is pressed (a macro).

   Key Bindings
       The  syntax for controlling key bindings in the inputrc file is simple.
       All that is required is the name of the command or the text of a	 macro
       and  a key sequence to which it should be bound. The name may be speci‐
       fied in one of two ways: as a symbolic key name, possibly with Meta- or
       Control- prefixes, or as a key sequence.	 The name and key sequence are
       separated by a colon.  There can be no whitespace between the name  and
       the colon.

       When using the form 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 above example, 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).

       In  the	second	form,  "keyseq":function-name or macro, keyseq differs
       from keyname above in that strings denoting an entire key sequence  may
       be  specified  by  placing the sequence within double quotes.  Some GNU
       Emacs style key escapes can be used, as in the following	 example,  but
       the symbolic character names are not recognized.

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

       In this example, C-u is again bound to the function universal-argument.
       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  full set of GNU Emacs style escape sequences available when speci‐
       fying key sequences is
	      \C-    control prefix
	      \M-    meta prefix
	      \e     an escape character
	      \\     backslash
	      \"     literal ", a double quote
	      \'     literal ', a single quote

       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 should be
       used to indicate a macro definition.  Unquoted text is assumed to be  a
       function	 name.	 In  the  macro	 body, the backslash escapes described
       above are expanded.  Backslash will quote any other  character  in  the
       macro text, including " and '.

       Bash  allows the current readline key bindings to be displayed or modi‐
       fied with the bind builtin command.  The editing mode may  be  switched
       during  interactive  use by using the -o option to the set builtin com‐
       mand.  Other programs using this library	 provide  similar  mechanisms.
       The  inputrc  file may be edited and re-read if a program does not pro‐
       vide any other means to incorporate new bindings.

   Variables
       Readline has variables that can be used to further customize its behav‐
       ior.  A variable may be set in the inputrc file with a statement of the
       form

	      set variable-name value

       Except where noted, readline variables can take the values  On  or  Off
       (without	 regard	 to  case).   Unrecognized variable names are ignored.
       When a variable value is read, empty or null values, "on"  (case-insen‐
       sitive), and "1" are equivalent to On.  All other values are equivalent
       to Off.	The variables and their default values are:

       bell-style (audible)
	      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, readline attempts to ring the terminal's bell.
       bind-tty-special-chars (On)
	      If  set  to On, readline attempts to bind the control characters
	      treated specially by the kernel's terminal driver to their read‐
	      line equivalents.
       comment-begin (``#'')
	      The  string  that is inserted in vi mode when the insert-comment
	      command is executed.  This command is bound to M-# in emacs mode
	      and to # in vi command mode.
       completion-ignore-case (Off)
	      If set to On, readline performs filename matching and completion
	      in a case-insensitive fashion.
       completion-prefix-display-length (0)
	      The length in characters of the common prefix of a list of  pos‐
	      sible  completions that is displayed without modification.  When
	      set to a value greater than zero, common	prefixes  longer  than
	      this  value are replaced with an ellipsis when displaying possi‐
	      ble completions.
       completion-query-items (100)
	      This determines when the user is queried about viewing the  num‐
	      ber  of  possible	 completions generated by the possible-comple‐
	      tions command.  It may be set to any integer value greater  than
	      or  equal	 to  zero.   If	 the number of possible completions is
	      greater than or equal to the value of this variable, the user is
	      asked  whether or not he wishes to view them; otherwise they are
	      simply listed on the terminal.  A negative value causes readline
	      to never ask.
       convert-meta (On)
	      If  set  to On, readline will convert characters with the eighth
	      bit set to an ASCII key sequence by stripping the eighth bit and
	      prefixing	 it  with an escape character (in effect, using escape
	      as the meta prefix).
       disable-completion (Off)
	      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.
       editing-mode (emacs)
	      Controls whether readline begins with a set of key bindings sim‐
	      ilar to emacs or vi.  editing-mode can be set to either emacs or
	      vi.
       enable-keypad (Off)
	      When set to On, readline will try to enable the application key‐
	      pad  when	 it  is	 called.  Some systems need this to enable the
	      arrow keys.
       expand-tilde (Off)
	      If set  to  on,  tilde  expansion	 is  performed	when  readline
	      attempts word completion.
       history-preserve-point (Off)
	      If  set  to  on, the history code attempts to place point at the
	      same location on each history line retrieved with	 previous-his‐
	      tory or next-history.
       history-size (0)
	      Set  the	maximum number of history entries saved in the history
	      list.  If set to zero, the number of entries in the history list
	      is not limited.
       horizontal-scroll-mode (Off)
	      When  set	 to  On, makes readline use a single line for display,
	      scrolling the input horizontally on a single screen line when it
	      becomes  longer  than the screen width rather than wrapping to a
	      new line.
       input-meta (Off)
	      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 name
	      meta-flag is a synonym for this variable.
       isearch-terminators (``C-[ C-J'')
	      The  string  of  characters that should terminate an incremental
	      search without subsequently executing the character  as  a  com‐
	      mand.   If this variable has not been given a value, the charac‐
	      ters ESC and C-J will terminate an incremental search.
       keymap (emacs)
	      Set the current readline keymap.	The set of legal keymap	 names
	      is  emacs,  emacs-standard, emacs-meta, emacs-ctlx, vi, vi-move,
	      vi-command, and vi-insert.   vi  is  equivalent  to  vi-command;
	      emacs  is	 equivalent  to	 emacs-standard.  The default value is
	      emacs.  The value	 of  editing-mode  also	 affects  the  default
	      keymap.
       mark-directories (On)
	      If set to On, completed directory names have a slash appended.
       mark-modified-lines (Off)
	      If  set  to  On,	history lines that have been modified are dis‐
	      played with a preceding asterisk (*).
       mark-symlinked-directories (Off)
	      If set to On, completed names which are symbolic links to direc‐
	      tories   have   a	 slash	appended  (subject  to	the  value  of
	      mark-directories).
       match-hidden-files (On)
	      This variable, when set to On, causes readline  to  match	 files
	      whose  names  begin  with	 a  `.' (hidden files) when performing
	      filename completion, unless the leading `.' is supplied  by  the
	      user in the filename to be completed.
       output-meta (Off)
	      If  set  to On, readline will display characters with the eighth
	      bit set directly rather than as a meta-prefixed escape sequence.
       page-completions (On)
	      If set to On, readline uses an internal more-like pager to  dis‐
	      play a screenful of possible completions at a time.
       print-completions-horizontally (Off)
	      If  set  to  On,	readline will display completions with matches
	      sorted horizontally in alphabetical order, rather than down  the
	      screen.
       revert-all-at-newline (Off)
	      If  set  to  on, readline will undo all changes to history lines
	      before returning when accept-line is executed.  By default, his‐
	      tory  lines  may	be  modified  and retain individual undo lists
	      across calls to readline.
       show-all-if-ambiguous (Off)
	      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.
       show-all-if-unmodified (Off)
	      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 possi‐
	      ble partial completion (the possible completions don't  share  a
	      common  prefix)  cause  the  matches  to	be  listed immediately
	      instead of ringing the bell.
       visible-stats (Off)
	      If set to On, a character denoting a file's type as reported  by
	      stat(2)  is  appended to the filename when listing possible com‐
	      pletions.

   Conditional 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 used.

       $if    The  $if construct allows bindings to be made based on the edit‐
	      ing mode, the terminal being  used,  or  the  application	 using
	      readline.	  The text of the test extends to the end of the line;
	      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 the full name of the  terminal
		     and  the portion of the terminal name before the first -.
		     This allows sun  to  match	 both  sun  and	 sun-cmd,  for
		     instance.

	      application
		     The application construct is used to include application-
		     specific  settings.   Each	 program  using	 the  readline
		     library  sets the application name, and an initialization
		     file 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

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

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

       $include
	      This directive takes a single filename as an argument and	 reads
	      commands	and bindings from that file.  For example, the follow‐
	      ing directive would read /etc/inputrc:

	      $include	/etc/inputrc

SEARCHING
       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, read‐
       line 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.  To search  backward  in  the
       history for a particular string, type C-r.  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 Escape  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-s or C-r  as
       appropriate.   This  will search backward or forward in the history for
       the next line matching the search string typed so far.  Any  other  key
       sequence bound to a readline command will terminate the search and exe‐
       cute that command.  For instance, a newline 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.

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

EDITING COMMANDS
       The  following  is  a list of the names of the commands and the default
       key sequences to which they are bound.  Command names without an accom‐
       panying key sequence are unbound by default.

       In the following descriptions, point refers to the current cursor posi‐
       tion, and mark refers to a cursor position saved by the	set-mark  com‐
       mand.   The  text  between  the	point  and  mark is referred to as the
       region.

   Commands for Moving
       beginning-of-line (C-a)
	      Move to the start of the current line.
       end-of-line (C-e)
	      Move to the end of the line.
       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
	      alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).
       backward-word (M-b)
	      Move  back  to the start of the current or previous word.	 Words
	      are composed of alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).
       clear-screen (C-l)
	      Clear the screen leaving the current line	 at  the  top  of  the
	      screen.	With  an  argument,  refresh  the current line without
	      clearing the screen.
       redraw-current-line
	      Refresh the current line.

   Commands for Manipulating the History
       accept-line (Newline, Return)
	      Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is.  If this line
	      is  non-empty,  it  may  be added to the history list for future
	      recall with add_history().  If the line is  a  modified  history
	      line, the history line is restored to its original state.
       previous-history (C-p)
	      Fetch the previous command from the history list, moving back in
	      the list.
       next-history (C-n)
	      Fetch the next command from the history list, moving forward  in
	      the list.
       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.
       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.
       non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)
	      Search backward through the history starting at the current line
	      using  a	non-incremental	 search	 for  a string supplied by the
	      user.
       non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)
	      Search forward  through  the  history  using  a  non-incremental
	      search for a string supplied by the user.
       history-search-forward
	      Search  forward through the history for the string of characters
	      between the start of the current line  and  the  current	cursor
	      position (the point).  This is a non-incremental search.
       history-search-backward
	      Search backward through the history for the string of characters
	      between the start of the current line and the point.  This is  a
	      non-incremental search.
       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, the argument is extracted as if  the
	      "!n" history expansion had been specified.
       yank-last-arg (M-., M-_)
	      Insert  the last argument to the previous command (the last word
	      of the  previous	history	 entry).   With	 an  argument,	behave
	      exactly  like  yank-nth-arg.   Successive calls to yank-last-arg
	      move back through the history list, inserting the last  argument
	      of each line in turn.  The history expansion facilities are used
	      to extract the last argument, as if the "!$"  history  expansion
	      had been specified.

   Commands for Changing Text
       delete-char (C-d)
	      Delete  the character at point.  If point is at the beginning of
	      the line, there are no characters in  the	 line,	and  the  last
	      character typed was not bound to delete-char, then return EOF.
       backward-delete-char (Rubout)
	      Delete  the  character  behind the cursor.  When given a numeric
	      argument, save the deleted text on the kill ring.
       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 cur‐
	      sor is deleted.
       quoted-insert (C-q, C-v)
	      Add the next character that you type to the line verbatim.  This
	      is how to insert characters like C-q, for example.
       tab-insert (M-TAB)
	      Insert a tab character.
       self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, ...)
	      Insert the character typed.
       transpose-chars (C-t)
	      Drag  the	 character  before point forward over the character at
	      point, moving point forward as well.  If point is at the end  of
	      the  line, then this transposes the two characters before point.
	      Negative arguments have no effect.
       transpose-words (M-t)
	      Drag the word before point past the  word	 after	point,	moving
	      point  over  that	 word  as well.	 If 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 point.
       downcase-word (M-l)
	      Lowercase	 the  current  (or  following)	word.  With a negative
	      argument, lowercase the previous word, but do not move point.
       capitalize-word (M-c)
	      Capitalize the current (or following)  word.   With  a  negative
	      argument, capitalize the previous word, but do not move point.
       overwrite-mode
	      Toggle  overwrite mode.  With an explicit positive numeric argu‐
	      ment, 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, charac‐
	      ters bound to self-insert replace the text at point rather  than
	      pushing  the  text  to  the  right.   Characters	bound to back‐
	      ward-delete-char replace	the  character	before	point  with  a
	      space.  By default, this command is unbound.

   Killing and Yanking
       kill-line (C-k)
	      Kill the text from point to the end of the line.
       backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout)
	      Kill backward to the beginning of the line.
       unix-line-discard (C-u)
	      Kill  backward  from  point  to  the beginning of the line.  The
	      killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
       kill-whole-line
	      Kill all characters on the current line, no matter  where	 point
	      is.
       kill-word (M-d)
	      Kill  from  point	 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 forward-word.
       backward-kill-word (M-Rubout)
	      Kill  the	 word  behind  point.  Word boundaries are the same as
	      those used by backward-word.
       unix-word-rubout (C-w)
	      Kill the word behind point, using white space as a  word	bound‐
	      ary.  The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
       unix-filename-rubout
	      Kill  the	 word  behind  point,  using white space and the slash
	      character as the word boundaries.	 The killed text is  saved  on
	      the kill-ring.
       delete-horizontal-space (M-\)
	      Delete all spaces and tabs around point.
       kill-region
	      Kill  the	 text  between	the point and mark (saved cursor posi‐
	      tion).  This text is referred to as the region.
       copy-region-as-kill
	      Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer.
       copy-backward-word
	      Copy the word before point to the kill buffer.  The word	bound‐
	      aries are the same as backward-word.
       copy-forward-word
	      Copy  the	 word  following  point	 to the kill buffer.  The word
	      boundaries are the same as forward-word.
       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.  Only works  follow‐
	      ing yank or yank-pop.

   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  fol‐
	      lowed  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 or 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	 argu‐
	      ment count four, a second time makes the argument count sixteen,
	      and so on.

   Completing
       complete (TAB)
	      Attempt to perform completion on the  text  before  point.   The
	      actual  completion performed is application-specific.  Bash, for
	      instance, attempts completion treating the text  as  a  variable
	      (if  the	text begins with $), username (if the text begins with
	      ~), hostname (if the text begins with @), or command  (including
	      aliases  and  functions)	in  turn.  If none of these produces a
	      match, filename completion is  attempted.	  Gdb,	on  the	 other
	      hand,  allows completion of program functions and variables, and
	      only attempts filename completion under certain circumstances.
       possible-completions (M-?)
	      List the possible completions of the text before point.
       insert-completions (M-*)
	      Insert all completions of the text before point that would  have
	      been generated by possible-completions.
       menu-complete
	      Similar  to complete, but replaces the word to be completed with
	      a single match from the list of possible completions.   Repeated
	      execution	 of  menu-complete  steps through the list of possible
	      completions, inserting each match in turn.  At the  end  of  the
	      list of completions, the bell is rung (subject to the setting of
	      bell-style) and the original text is restored.  An argument of n
	      moves  n	positions  forward  in the list of matches; a negative
	      argument may be used to move backward through  the  list.	  This
	      command  is  intended  to	 be  bound  to	TAB, but 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).  If at the end of the
	      line, behaves identically to possible-completions.

   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 store the definition.
       call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e)
	      Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the	 char‐
	      acters in the macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.

   Miscellaneous
       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-uppercase-version (M-a, M-b, M-x, ...)
	      If  the  metafied character x is lowercase, run the command that
	      is bound to the corresponding uppercase character.
       prefix-meta (ESC)
	      Metafy the next character typed.	ESC f is equivalent to Meta-f.
       undo (C-_, 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	return the line to its initial
	      state.
       tilde-expand (M-&)
	      Perform tilde expansion on the current word.
       set-mark (C-@, M-<space>)
	      Set the mark to the point.  If a numeric argument	 is  supplied,
	      the mark is set to that position.
       exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x)
	      Swap  the	 point	with the mark.	The current cursor position is
	      set to the saved position, and the old cursor position is	 saved
	      as the mark.
       character-search (C-])
	      A character is read and point is moved to the next occurrence of
	      that character.  A negative count searches for  previous	occur‐
	      rences.
       character-search-backward (M-C-])
	      A	 character  is	read and point is moved to the previous occur‐
	      rence of that character.	A negative count searches  for	subse‐
	      quent occurrences.
       insert-comment (M-#)
	      Without  a  numeric  argument,  the  value  of the readline com‐
	      ment-begin variable is inserted 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, the value is inserted, other‐
	      wise the characters in comment-begin are deleted from the begin‐
	      ning  of the line.  In either case, the line is accepted as if a
	      newline had been typed.	The  default  value  of	 comment-begin
	      makes  the  current line a shell comment.	 If a numeric argument
	      causes the comment character to be removed,  the	line  will  be
	      executed by the shell.
       dump-functions
	      Print  all  of the functions and their key bindings to the read‐
	      line output stream.  If a numeric argument is supplied, the out‐
	      put  is  formatted  in such a way that it can be made part of an
	      inputrc file.
       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.
       dump-macros
	      Print  all of the readline key sequences bound to macros and the
	      strings they output.  If a numeric  argument  is	supplied,  the
	      output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
	      inputrc file.
       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.

DEFAULT KEY BINDINGS
       The following is a list of the default emacs and vi bindings.   Charac‐
       ters  with  the	eighth	bit  set are written as M-<character>, and are
       referred to as metafied characters.  The printable ASCII characters not
       mentioned  in  the  list	 of  emacs  standard bindings are bound to the
       self-insert function, which just inserts the given character  into  the
       input line.  In vi insertion mode, all characters not specifically men‐
       tioned are bound to self-insert.	 Characters assigned to signal genera‐
       tion by stty(1) or the terminal driver, such as C-Z or C-C, retain that
       function.  Upper and lower case metafied characters are	bound  to  the
       same  function in the emacs mode meta keymap.  The remaining characters
       are unbound, which causes readline to ring the  bell  (subject  to  the
       setting of the bell-style variable).

   Emacs Mode
	     Emacs Standard bindings

	     "C-@"  set-mark
	     "C-A"  beginning-of-line
	     "C-B"  backward-char
	     "C-D"  delete-char
	     "C-E"  end-of-line
	     "C-F"  forward-char
	     "C-G"  abort
	     "C-H"  backward-delete-char
	     "C-I"  complete
	     "C-J"  accept-line
	     "C-K"  kill-line
	     "C-L"  clear-screen
	     "C-M"  accept-line
	     "C-N"  next-history
	     "C-P"  previous-history
	     "C-Q"  quoted-insert
	     "C-R"  reverse-search-history
	     "C-S"  forward-search-history
	     "C-T"  transpose-chars
	     "C-U"  unix-line-discard
	     "C-V"  quoted-insert
	     "C-W"  unix-word-rubout
	     "C-Y"  yank
	     "C-]"  character-search
	     "C-_"  undo
	     " " to "/"	 self-insert
	     "0"  to "9"  self-insert
	     ":"  to "~"  self-insert
	     "C-?"  backward-delete-char

	     Emacs Meta bindings

	     "M-C-G"  abort
	     "M-C-H"  backward-kill-word
	     "M-C-I"  tab-insert
	     "M-C-J"  vi-editing-mode
	     "M-C-M"  vi-editing-mode
	     "M-C-R"  revert-line
	     "M-C-Y"  yank-nth-arg
	     "M-C-["  complete
	     "M-C-]"  character-search-backward
	     "M-space"	set-mark
	     "M-#"  insert-comment
	     "M-&"  tilde-expand
	     "M-*"  insert-completions
	     "M--"  digit-argument
	     "M-."  yank-last-arg
	     "M-0"  digit-argument
	     "M-1"  digit-argument
	     "M-2"  digit-argument
	     "M-3"  digit-argument
	     "M-4"  digit-argument
	     "M-5"  digit-argument
	     "M-6"  digit-argument
	     "M-7"  digit-argument
	     "M-8"  digit-argument
	     "M-9"  digit-argument
	     "M-<"  beginning-of-history
	     "M-="  possible-completions
	     "M->"  end-of-history
	     "M-?"  possible-completions
	     "M-B"  backward-word
	     "M-C"  capitalize-word
	     "M-D"  kill-word
	     "M-F"  forward-word
	     "M-L"  downcase-word
	     "M-N"  non-incremental-forward-search-history
	     "M-P"  non-incremental-reverse-search-history
	     "M-R"  revert-line
	     "M-T"  transpose-words
	     "M-U"  upcase-word
	     "M-Y"  yank-pop
	     "M-\"  delete-horizontal-space
	     "M-~"  tilde-expand
	     "M-C-?"  backward-kill-word
	     "M-_"  yank-last-arg

	     Emacs Control-X bindings

	     "C-XC-G"  abort
	     "C-XC-R"  re-read-init-file
	     "C-XC-U"  undo
	     "C-XC-X"  exchange-point-and-mark
	     "C-X("  start-kbd-macro
	     "C-X)"  end-kbd-macro
	     "C-XE"  call-last-kbd-macro
	     "C-XC-?"  backward-kill-line

   VI Mode bindings
	     VI Insert Mode functions

	     "C-D"  vi-eof-maybe
	     "C-H"  backward-delete-char
	     "C-I"  complete
	     "C-J"  accept-line
	     "C-M"  accept-line
	     "C-R"  reverse-search-history
	     "C-S"  forward-search-history
	     "C-T"  transpose-chars
	     "C-U"  unix-line-discard
	     "C-V"  quoted-insert
	     "C-W"  unix-word-rubout
	     "C-Y"  yank
	     "C-["  vi-movement-mode
	     "C-_"  undo
	     " " to "~"	 self-insert
	     "C-?"  backward-delete-char

	     VI Command Mode functions

	     "C-D"  vi-eof-maybe
	     "C-E"  emacs-editing-mode
	     "C-G"  abort
	     "C-H"  backward-char
	     "C-J"  accept-line
	     "C-K"  kill-line
	     "C-L"  clear-screen
	     "C-M"  accept-line
	     "C-N"  next-history
	     "C-P"  previous-history
	     "C-Q"  quoted-insert
	     "C-R"  reverse-search-history
	     "C-S"  forward-search-history
	     "C-T"  transpose-chars
	     "C-U"  unix-line-discard
	     "C-V"  quoted-insert
	     "C-W"  unix-word-rubout
	     "C-Y"  yank
	     "C-_"  vi-undo
	     " "  forward-char
	     "#"  insert-comment
	     "$"  end-of-line
	     "%"  vi-match
	     "&"  vi-tilde-expand
	     "*"  vi-complete
	     "+"  next-history
	     ","  vi-char-search
	     "-"  previous-history
	     "."  vi-redo
	     "/"  vi-search
	     "0"  beginning-of-line
	     "1" to "9"	 vi-arg-digit
	     ";"  vi-char-search
	     "="  vi-complete
	     "?"  vi-search
	     "A"  vi-append-eol
	     "B"  vi-prev-word
	     "C"  vi-change-to
	     "D"  vi-delete-to
	     "E"  vi-end-word
	     "F"  vi-char-search
	     "G"  vi-fetch-history
	     "I"  vi-insert-beg
	     "N"  vi-search-again
	     "P"  vi-put
	     "R"  vi-replace
	     "S"  vi-subst
	     "T"  vi-char-search
	     "U"  revert-line
	     "W"  vi-next-word
	     "X"  backward-delete-char
	     "Y"  vi-yank-to
	     "\"  vi-complete
	     "^"  vi-first-print
	     "_"  vi-yank-arg
	     "`"  vi-goto-mark
	     "a"  vi-append-mode
	     "b"  vi-prev-word
	     "c"  vi-change-to
	     "d"  vi-delete-to
	     "e"  vi-end-word
	     "f"  vi-char-search
	     "h"  backward-char
	     "i"  vi-insertion-mode
	     "j"  next-history
	     "k"  prev-history
	     "l"  forward-char
	     "m"  vi-set-mark
	     "n"  vi-search-again
	     "p"  vi-put
	     "r"  vi-change-char
	     "s"  vi-subst
	     "t"  vi-char-search
	     "u"  vi-undo
	     "w"  vi-next-word
	     "x"  vi-delete
	     "y"  vi-yank-to
	     "|"  vi-column
	     "~"  vi-change-case

SEE ALSO
       The Gnu Readline Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
       The Gnu History Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
       bash(1)

FILES
       ~/.inputrc
	      Individual readline initialization file

AUTHORS
       Brian Fox, Free Software Foundation
       bfox@gnu.org

       Chet Ramey, Case Western Reserve University
       chet@ins.CWRU.Edu

BUG REPORTS
       If  you	find  a bug in readline, you should report it.	But first, you
       should make sure that it really is a bug, and that it  appears  in  the
       latest version of the readline library that you have.

       Once  you have determined that a bug actually exists, mail a bug report
       to bug-readline@gnu.org.	 If you have a fix, you are  welcome  to  mail
       that  as	 well!	 Suggestions  and  `philosophical'  bug reports may be
       mailed to  bug-readline@gnu.org	or  posted  to	the  Usenet  newsgroup
       gnu.bash.bug.

       Comments and bug reports concerning this manual page should be directed
       to chet@ins.CWRU.Edu.

BUGS
       It's too big and too slow.

GNU Readline 6.0		  2008 May 8			   READLINE(3)
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