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READLINE(3) Library Functions Manual READLINE(3)
readline - get a line from a user with editing
#include <stdio.h>
#include <readline/readline.h>
#include <readline/history.h>
char *
readline (const char *prompt);
Readline is Copyright (C) 1989-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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.
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.
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 below.
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.
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
universal-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 specified 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
specifying 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
modified with the bind builtin command. The editing mode may be
switched during interactive use by using the -o option to the set
builtin command. Other programs using this library provide similar
mechanisms. The inputrc file may be edited and re-read if a program
does not provide any other means to incorporate new bindings.
Variables
Readline has variables that can be used to further customize its
behavior. 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-
insensitive), 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 (the default), readline attempts to bind the
control characters treated specially by the kernel's
terminal driver to their readline equivalents.
blink-matching-paren (Off)
If set to On, readline attempts to briefly move the cursor to
an opening parenthesis when a closing parenthesis is inserted.
colored-completion-prefix (Off)
If set to On, when listing completions, readline displays the
common prefix of the set of possible completions using a
different color. The color definitions are taken from the
value of the LS_COLORS environment variable.
colored-stats (Off)
If set to On, readline displays possible completions using
different colors to indicate their file type. The color
definitions are taken from the value of the LS_COLORS
environment variable.
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-display-width (-1)
The number of screen columns used to display possible matches
when performing completion. The value is ignored if it is
less than 0 or greater than the terminal screen width. A
value of 0 will cause matches to be displayed one per line.
The default value is -1.
completion-ignore-case (Off)
If set to On, readline performs filename matching and
completion in a case-insensitive fashion.
completion-map-case (Off)
If set to On, and completion-ignore-case is enabled, readline
treats hyphens (-) and underscores (_) as equivalent when
performing case-insensitive filename matching and completion.
completion-prefix-display-length(0)
The length in characters of the common prefix of a list of
possible 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
possible completions.
completion-query-items (100)
This determines when the user is queried about viewing the
number of possible completions generated by the
possible-completions 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). The default is On, but readline
will set it to Off if the locale contains eight-bit
characters.
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.
echo-control-characters (On)
When set to On, on operating systems that indicate they
support it, readline echoes a character corresponding to a
signal generated from the keyboard.
editing-mode (emacs)
Controls whether readline begins with a set of key bindings
similar to Emacs or vi. editing-mode can be set to either
emacs or vi.
enable-bracketed-paste (Off)
When set to On, readline will configure the terminal in a way
that will enable it to insert each paste into the editing
buffer as a single string of characters, instead of treating
each character as if it had been read from the keyboard. This
can prevent pasted characters from being interpreted as
editing commands.
enable-keypad (Off)
When set to On, readline will try to enable the application
keypad when it is called. Some systems need this to enable
the arrow keys.
enable-meta-key (On)
When set to On, readline will try to enable any meta modifier
key the terminal claims to support when it is called. On many
terminals, the meta key is used to send eight-bit characters.
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-
history or next-history.
history-size (unset)
Set the maximum number of history entries saved in the history
list. If set to zero, any existing history entries are
deleted and no new entries are saved. If set to a value less
than zero, the number of history entries is not limited. By
default, the number of history entries is not limited. If an
attempt is made to set history-size to a non-numeric value,
the maximum number of history entries will be set to 500.
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. The default is
Off, but readline will set it to On if the locale contains
eight-bit characters.
isearch-terminators (``C-[ C-J'')
The string of characters that should terminate an incremental
search without subsequently executing the character as a
command. If this variable has not been given a value, the
characters 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.
emacs-mode-string (@)
This string is displayed immediately before the last line of
the primary prompt when emacs editing mode is active. The
value is expanded like a key binding, so the standard set of
meta- and control prefixes and backslash escape sequences is
available. Use the \1 and \2 escapes to begin and end
sequences of non-printing characters, which can be used to
embed a terminal control sequence into the mode string.
keyseq-timeout (500)
Specifies the duration readline will wait for a character when
reading an ambiguous key sequence (one that can form a
complete key sequence using the input read so far, or can take
additional input to complete a longer key sequence). If no
input is received within the timeout, readline will use the
shorter but complete key sequence. The value is specified in
milliseconds, so a value of 1000 means that readline will wait
one second for additional input. If this variable is set to a
value less than or equal to zero, or to a non-numeric value,
readline will wait until another key is pressed to decide
which key sequence to complete.
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
displayed with a preceding asterisk (*).
mark-symlinked-directories (Off)
If set to On, completed names which are symbolic links to
directories 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. If set to Off, the leading `.' must be
supplied by the user in the filename to be completed.
menu-complete-display-prefix (Off)
If set to On, menu completion displays the common prefix of
the list of possible completions (which may be empty) before
cycling through the list.
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. The default is Off, but readline will set it to On
if the locale contains eight-bit characters.
page-completions (On)
If set to On, readline uses an internal more-like pager to
display 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,
history 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
possible partial completion (the possible completions don't
share a common prefix) cause the matches to be listed
immediately instead of ringing the bell.
show-mode-in-prompt (Off)
If set to On, add a character to the beginning of the prompt
indicating the editing mode: emacs, vi command, or vi
insertion. The mode strings are user-settable.
skip-completed-text (Off)
If set to On, this alters the default completion behavior when
inserting a single match into the line. It's only active when
performing completion in the middle of a word. If enabled,
readline does not insert characters from the completion that
match characters after point in the word being completed, so
portions of the word following the cursor are not duplicated.
vi-cmd-mode-string ((cmd))
This string is displayed immediately before the last line of
the primary prompt when vi editing mode is active and in
command mode. The value is expanded like a key binding, so
the standard set of meta- and control prefixes and backslash
escape sequences is available. Use the \1 and \2 escapes to
begin and end sequences of non-printing characters, which can
be used to embed a terminal control sequence into the mode
string.
vi-ins-mode-string ((ins))
This string is displayed immediately before the last line of
the primary prompt when vi editing mode is active and in
insertion mode. The value is expanded like a key binding, so
the standard set of meta- and control prefixes and backslash
escape sequences is available. Use the \1 and \2 escapes to
begin and end sequences of non-printing characters, which can
be used to embed a terminal control sequence into the mode
string.
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
completions.
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
editing 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
following directive would read /etc/inputrc:
$include /etc/inputrc
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,
readline 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 execute 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.
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
accompanying key sequence are unbound by default.
In the following descriptions, point refers to the current cursor
position, and mark refers to a cursor position saved by the set-mark
command. 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-backward
Search backward through the history for the string of
characters between the start of the current line and the
current cursor position (the point). The search string must
match at the beginning of a history line. This is a non-
incremental search.
history-search-forward
Search forward through the history for the string of
characters between the start of the current line and the
point. The search string must match at the beginning of a
history line. This is a non-incremental search.
history-substring-search-backward
Search backward through the history for the string of
characters between the start of the current line and the
current cursor position (the point). The search string may
match anywhere in a history line. This is a non-incremental
search.
history-substring-search-forward
Search forward through the history for the string of
characters between the start of the current line and the
point. The search string may match anywhere in a history
line. 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 a numeric argument,
behave exactly like yank-nth-arg. Successive calls to
yank-last-arg move back through the history list, inserting
the last word (or the word specified by the argument to the
first call) of each line in turn. Any numeric argument
supplied to these successive calls determines the direction to
move through the history. A negative argument switches the
direction through the history (back or forward). The history
expansion facilities are used to extract the last argument, as
if the "!$" history expansion had been specified.
Commands for Changing Text
end-of-file (usually C-d)
The character indicating end-of-file as set, for example, by
``stty''. If this character is read when there are no
characters on the line, and point is at the beginning of the
line, Readline interprets it as the end of input and returns
EOF.
delete-char (C-d)
Delete the character at point. If this function is bound to
the same character as the tty EOF character, as C-d commonly
is, see above for the effects.
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
cursor 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
argument, 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, characters bound to self-insert replace the
text at point rather than pushing the text to the right.
Characters bound to backward-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
boundary. 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
position). 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
boundaries 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
following 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 followed 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 argument 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. When
displaying completions, readline sets the number of columns
used for display to the value of completion-display-width, the
value of the environment variable COLUMNS, or the screen
width, in that order.
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.
menu-complete-backward
Identical to menu-complete, but moves backward through the
list of possible completions, as if menu-complete had been
given a negative argument. This command 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
characters in the macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.
print-last-kbd-macro () Print the last keyboard macro defined
in a format suitable for the inputrc file.
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
occurrences.
character-search-backward (M-C-])
A character is read and point is moved to the previous
occurrence of that character. A negative count searches for
subsequent occurrences.
skip-csi-sequence
Read enough characters to consume a multi-key sequence such as
those defined for keys like Home and End. Such sequences
begin with a Control Sequence Indicator (CSI), usually ESC-[.
If this sequence is bound to "\[", keys producing such
sequences will have no effect unless explicitly bound to a
readline command, instead of inserting stray characters into
the editing buffer. This is unbound by default, but usually
bound to ESC-[.
insert-comment (M-#)
Without a numeric argument, the value of the readline
comment-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, otherwise the characters in comment-begin are
deleted from the beginning 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
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-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.
The following is a list of the default emacs and vi bindings.
Characters 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 mentioned are bound to self-insert. Characters
assigned to signal generation 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
The Gnu Readline Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
The Gnu History Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
bash(1)
~/.inputrc
Individual readline initialization file
Brian Fox, Free Software Foundation
bfox@gnu.org
Chet Ramey, Case Western Reserve University
chet.ramey@case.edu
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.ramey@case.edu.
It's too big and too slow.
This page is part of the readline (GNU Readline library) project.
Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/readline/⟩. If you have a bug report for
this manual page, see
⟨http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html#Bugs⟩. This
page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨git://git.savannah.gnu.org/readline.git⟩ on 2017-07-05. If you dis‐
cover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or
you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail
to man-pages@man7.org
GNU Readline 7.0 2016 February 28 READLINE(3)
Pages that refer to this page: bash(1), dbpmda(1), history(3), crash(8), lvm(8)