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 familiar, 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 alterna-
tively 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 comple-
tion 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 confi-
guration 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.
E 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 press-
ing '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.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
a This is just a normal 'A' key.
The Tecla Configuration File
By default, tecla looks for a file called .teclarc in your
home directory (ie. ~/.teclarc). If it finds this file, it
reads it, interpreting each line as defining a new key bind-
ing 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 edi-
tor. This is the default.
none Use just the native line editing facilities pro-
vided by the terminal driver.
To prevent the terminal bell from being rung, such as when
an unrecognized control-sequence is typed, place the follow-
ing line in the configuration file:
nobeep
An example of a key binding line in the configuration file
is the following.
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
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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 following 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 print-
able 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 fol-
lowing 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 func-
tion, 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 documen-
tation of the program to see if the author chose a different
name for this file.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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 com-
plete 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
cplcompleteword() function, which is also available
separately to users of this library. See the
cplcompleteword(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 direc-
tories, and replacing $envvar expressions 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
efexpandfile() function. See the efexpandfile(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. Alterna-
tively, you can do the same with the ^P, and ^N keys, and in
vi command mode you can alternatively use the k and j char-
acters. 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
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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 getline.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*
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
and hit M-p, then the "emacs ~/tecla/getline.c" line would
be recalled first, since it contains the word tecla some-
where in the line, Similarly, hitting M-p again, would
recall the "ls ~/tecla/" line, and hitting it once more
would recall the "ls ~/tecla/" line. The pattern syntax is
the same as that described for file name expansion, in the
efexpandfile(3TECLA).
History Files
Authors of programs that use the tecla library have the
option of saving 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 applica-
tion to use its own history file, so that commands from dif-
ferent 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 cal-
ling program correctly contains a call like the following,
setlocale(LCTYPE, "");
then the current locale is determined by the first of the
environment variables LCTYPE, LCAL, and LANG, that is
found to contain a valid locale name. If none of these vari-
ables are defined, or the program neglects to call setlo-
cale, then the default C locale is used, which is US 7-bit
ASCI. 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 characters 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 com-
pose 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 press-
ing the c key, and this will work regardless of locale.
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Moreover, many modern terminal emulators, such as gnome's
gnome-terminal's and KDE's konsole terminals, already gen-
erate 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 con-
tinue 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 displayed 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 COMPOSE key, do the following:
xmodmap -e 'keycode 115 = Multikey'
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
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
function a given key or combination 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
overwrite mode.
beginning-of-line Move the cursor to the begin-
ning 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 cursor.
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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 precedes 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 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 comple-
tions then redisplays the line
unchanged. When invoked on an
empty line, it signals end-
of-input (EOF) to the caller
of glgetline().
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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
completions then redisplays
the line unchanged. When
invoked on an empty line, it
signals end-of-input (EOF) to
the caller of glgetline().
forward-delete-word Delete the word which follows
the cursor.
backward-delete-word Delete the word which precedes
the cursor.
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 fol-
lows 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 cursor.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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 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 cur-
sor.
append-yank Paste the current contents of
the cut buffer, after the cur-
sor.
up-history Recall the next oldest line
that was entered. Note that in
vi mode you are left in com-
mand 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
command mode.
history-search-backward Recall the next oldest line
who's prefix matches the
string which currently pre-
cedes the cursor (in vi
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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 invo-
cation of either history-
search-forward or history-
search-backward.
history-re-search-forward Recall the next newest line
who's prefix matches that
established by the last invo-
cation of either history-
search-forward or history-
search-backward.
complete-word Attempt to complete the incom-
plete word which precedes the
cursor. Unless the host pro-
gram 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 expres-
sions in the file name which
immediately precedes the cur-
sor. In vi commmand mode the
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
newline Terminate and return the
current contents of the line,
after appending a newline
character. The newline charac-
ter is normally '0, but will
be the first character of the
key sequence that invoked the
newline action, if this hap-
pens to be a printable charac-
ter. If the action was invoked
by th' 'c0arriagenreturnacharac-
ter,'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 his-
torical 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 configuration
option (see The Tecla Confi-
guration 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.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
forward-find-char Move the cursor to the next
occurrence of the next charac-
ter that you type.
backward-find-char Move the cursor to the last
occurrence of the next charac-
ter that you type.
forward-to-char Move the cursor to the charac-
ter just before the next
occurrence of the next charac-
ter that the user types.
backward-to-char Move the cursor to the charac-
ter 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 parenthesis, 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.
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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 includ-
ing, the following occurence
of the next character typed.
backward-delete-to Delete the characters from the
cursor up to, but not includ-
ing, 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.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
forward-copy-to Copy the characters from the
cursor up to, but not includ-
ing, 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 includ-
ing, 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 oppo-
site 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
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
switch to insert mode.
vi-replace-char From vi command mode, replace
the character 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 preceding 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 preceding 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 characters between the
cursor and the beginning of
the line, then enter insert
mode.
vi-change-to-column From vi command mode, delete
the characters from the cursor
up to the column that is
specified by the repeat count,
then enter insert mode.
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vi-change-to-parenthesis Delete the characters from the
cursor up to and including the
matching parenthesis, or next
close parenthesis, then enter
vi insert mode.
vi-forward-change-find From vi command mode, delete
the characters from the cursor
up to and including the fol-
lowing occurence of the next
character typed, then enter
insert mode.
vi-backward-change-find From vi command mode, delete
the characters 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 characters 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 characters 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 operation.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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 certain 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 dif-
ferent key sequences when their cursor keys are pressed.
right cursor-right
left cursor-left
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
up up-history
down down-history
The remaining bindings don't depend on the terminal sett-
tings.
^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
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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
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^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
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 generated 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 char-
acter input mode, editing functions instead being provided
by the vi command mode. The vi command mode is entered when-
ever 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
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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 certain 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 com-
mand 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
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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 table. Thus, once in command mode, when you type the
letter i, for example, 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 dif-
ferent 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
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newline
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)
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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
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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
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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
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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
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
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
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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
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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
newline
M-
M- 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 interpreted as a repeat count by most bindings. A
notable exception is the goto-column binding, which inter-
prets the count as a column number.
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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 preceded 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.
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Standards, Environments, and Macros tecla(5)
FILES
/usr/lib/libtecla.so The tecla library
/usr/include/libtecla.h The tecla header file
~/.teclarc The personal tecla customization
file
ATRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
ATRIBUTE TYPE ATRIBUTE VALUE
Availability SUNWtecla
Interface Stability Evolving
SEE ALSO
vi(1), cplcompleteword(3TECLA), efexpandfile(3TECLA),
glgetline(3TECLA), gliomode(3TECLA), libtecla(3LIB),
pcalookupfile(3TECLA), attributes(5)
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