TECLA(5)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 fol‐
lowing 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 key-bindings 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. Previously
key sequences were required to start with a CONTROL or META character.
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 actu‐
ally 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 sec‐
tions 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 overwrite
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 cursor
and the start of the line.
forward-word
Move to the end of the word which follows
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 pre‐
cedes the cursor.
goto-column
Move the cursor to the 1-relative column
in the line specified by any preceding
digit-argument sequences (see Entering
Repeat Counts below).
find-parenthesis
If the cursor is currently over a paren‐
thesis 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 completions
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 dis‐
plays all possible completions 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 cursor.
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, tog‐
gle 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 cursor.
set-mark
Set a mark at the position of the cursor.
exchange-point-and-mark
Move the cursor to the last mark that was
set, and move the mark to where the cur‐
sor used to be.
kill-region
Delete the characters that lie between
the last mark that was set, and the cur‐
sor.
copy-region-as-kill
Copy the text between the mark and the
cursor to the cut buffer, without delet‐
ing 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 session is
currently active, the next line from a
previous recall session is recalled.
Note that in vi mode you are left in com‐
mand mode.
history-search-backward
Recall the next oldest line who's prefix
matches the string which currently pre‐
cedes 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 prefix
matches the string which currently pre‐
cedes 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 prefix
matches that established by the last
invocation of either history-search-for‐
ward or history-search-backward.
history-re-search-forward
Recall the next newest line who's prefix
matches that established by the last
invocation of either history-search-for‐
ward or history-search-backward.
complete-word
Attempt to complete the incomplete word
which precedes the cursor. Unless the
host program has customized word comple‐
tion, 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 imme‐
diately precedes the cursor. In vi comm‐
mand 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 precedes 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 contents
of the line, after appending a newline
character. The newline character is nor‐
mally '\n', but will be the first charac‐
ter of the key sequence that invoked the
newline action, if this happens to be a
printable character. If the action was
invoked by the '0 newline character or
the '\r' carriage 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 configu‐
ration option (see The Tecla Configura‐
tion File section).
forward-copy-char
Copy the next character into the cut buf‐
fer (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 buf‐
fer.
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 cur‐
sor of the next character that the user
types.
repeat-find-char
Repeat the last backward-find-char, for‐
ward-find-char, backward-to-char or for‐
ward-to-char.
invert-refind-char
Repeat the last backward-find-char, for‐
ward-find-char, backward-to-char, or for‐
ward-to-char in the opposite direction.
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 parenthe‐
sis, 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 parenthesis,
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 overwrite
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 charac‐
ter under the cursor with the next char‐
acter 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 preced‐
ing 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 preced‐
ing 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 current
line, then enter insert mode.
vi-change-to-bol
From vi command mode, delete all charac‐
ters between the cursor and the beginning
of the line, then enter insert mode.
vi-change-to-column
From vi command mode, delete the charac‐
ters 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 parenthe‐
sis, or next close parenthesis, then
enter vi insert mode.
vi-forward-change-find
From vi command mode, delete the charac‐
ters from the cursor up to and including
the following occurence of the next char‐
acter typed, then enter insert mode.
vi-backward-change-find
From vi command mode, delete the charac‐
ters from the cursor up to and including
the preceding occurence of the next char‐
acter typed, then enter insert mode.
vi-forward-change-to
From vi command mode, delete the charac‐
ters 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 charac‐
ters 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 opera‐
tion.
vi-repeat-change
In vi command mode, repeat the last com‐
mand 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
\n
newline
\r
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 command
mode is entered whenever the ESCAPE character is pressed, or whenever 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
\r
newline
\n
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-\n
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 │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────┤
│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)
Sep 10, 2013 TECLA(5)
