1ZSHZLE(1) General Commands Manual ZSHZLE(1)
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6 zshzle - zsh command line editor
7
9 If the ZLE option is set (which it is by default in interactive shells)
10 and the shell input is attached to the terminal, the user is able to
11 edit command lines.
12 There are two display modes. The first, multiline mode, is the
14 default. It only works if the TERM parameter is set to a valid termi‐
15 nal type that can move the cursor up. The second, single line mode, is
16 used if TERM is invalid or incapable of moving the cursor up, or if the
17 SINGLE_LINE_ZLE option is set. This mode is similar to ksh, and uses
18 no termcap sequences. If TERM is "emacs", the ZLE option will be unset
19 by default.
20 The parameters BAUD, COLUMNS, and LINES are also used by the line edi‐
22 tor. See Parameters Used By The Shell in zshparam(1).
23 The parameter zle_highlight is also used by the line editor; see Char‐
25 acter Highlighting below. Highlighting of special characters and the
26 region between the cursor and the mark (as set with set-mark-command in
27 Emacs mode) is enabled by default; consult this reference for more
28 information. Irascible conservatives will wish to know that all high‐
29 lighting may be disabled by the following setting:
30 zle_highlight=(none)
32
34 A keymap in ZLE contains a set of bindings between key sequences and
35 ZLE commands. The empty key sequence cannot be bound.
36 There can be any number of keymaps at any time, and each keymap has one
38 or more names. If all of a keymap's names are deleted, it disappears.
39 bindkey can be used to manipulate keymap names.
40 Initially, there are six keymaps:
42 emacs EMACS emulation
44 viins vi emulation - insert mode
45 vicmd vi emulation - command mode
46 isearch
47 incremental search mode
48 command
49 read a command name
50 .safe fallback keymap
51 The `.safe' keymap is special. It can never be altered, and the name
53 can never be removed. However, it can be linked to other names, which
54 can be removed. In the future other special keymaps may be added;
55 users should avoid using names beginning with `.' for their own
56 keymaps.
57 In addition to these names, either `emacs' or `viins' is also linked to
59 the name `main'. If one of the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables
60 contain the string `vi' when the shell starts up then it will be
61 `viins', otherwise it will be `emacs'. bindkey's -e and -v options
62 provide a convenient way to override this default choice.
63 When the editor starts up, it will select the `main' keymap. If that
65 keymap doesn't exist, it will use `.safe' instead.
66 In the `.safe' keymap, each single key is bound to self-insert, except
68 for ^J (line feed) and ^M (return) which are bound to accept-line.
69 This is deliberately not pleasant to use; if you are using it, it means
70 you deleted the main keymap, and you should put it back.
71 Reading Commands
73 When ZLE is reading a command from the terminal, it may read a sequence
74 that is bound to some command and is also a prefix of a longer bound
75 string. In this case ZLE will wait a certain time to see if more char‐
76 acters are typed, and if not (or they don't match any longer string) it
77 will execute the binding. This timeout is defined by the KEYTIMEOUT
78 parameter; its default is 0.4 sec. There is no timeout if the prefix
79 string is not itself bound to a command.
80 The key timeout is also applied when ZLE is reading the bytes from a
82 multibyte character string when it is in the appropriate mode. (This
83 requires that the shell was compiled with multibyte mode enabled; typi‐
84 cally also the locale has characters with the UTF-8 encoding, although
85 any multibyte encoding known to the operating system is supported.) If
86 the second or a subsequent byte is not read within the timeout period,
87 the shell acts as if ? were typed and resets the input state.
88 As well as ZLE commands, key sequences can be bound to other strings,
90 by using `bindkey -s'. When such a sequence is read, the replacement
91 string is pushed back as input, and the command reading process starts
92 again using these fake keystrokes. This input can itself invoke fur‐
93 ther replacement strings, but in order to detect loops the process will
94 be stopped if there are twenty such replacements without a real command
95 being read.
96 A key sequence typed by the user can be turned into a command name for
98 use in user-defined widgets with the read-command widget, described
99 below.
100
102 The ZLE module contains three related builtin commands. The bindkey
103 command manipulates keymaps and key bindings; the vared command invokes
104 ZLE on the value of a shell parameter; and the zle command manipulates
105 editing widgets and allows command line access to ZLE commands from
106 within shell functions.
107 bindkey [ options ] -l [ -L ] [ keymap ... ]
109 bindkey [ options ] -d
110 bindkey [ options ] -D keymap ...
111 bindkey [ options ] -A old-keymap new-keymap
112 bindkey [ options ] -N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
113 bindkey [ options ] -m
114 bindkey [ options ] -r in-string ...
115 bindkey [ options ] -s in-string out-string ...
116 bindkey [ options ] in-string command ...
117 bindkey [ options ] [ in-string ]
118 bindkey's options can be divided into three categories: keymap
119 selection for the current command, operation selection, and oth‐
120 ers. The keymap selection options are:
121 -e Selects keymap `emacs' for any operations by the current
123 command, and also links `emacs' to `main' so that it is
124 selected by default the next time the editor starts.
125 -v Selects keymap `viins' for any operations by the current
127 command, and also links `viins' to `main' so that it is
128 selected by default the next time the editor starts.
129 -a Selects keymap `vicmd' for any operations by the current
131 command.
132 -M keymap
134 The keymap specifies a keymap name that is selected for
135 any operations by the current command.
136 If a keymap selection is required and none of the options above
138 are used, the `main' keymap is used. Some operations do not
139 permit a keymap to be selected, namely:
140 -l List all existing keymap names; if any arguments are
142 given, list just those keymaps.
143 If the -L option is also used, list in the form of bind‐
145 key commands to create or link the keymaps. `bindkey -lL
146 main' shows which keymap is linked to `main', if any, and
147 hence if the standard emacs or vi emulation is in effect.
148 This option does not show the .safe keymap because it
149 cannot be created in that fashion; however, neither is
150 `bindkey -lL .safe' reported as an error, it simply out‐
151 puts nothing.
152 -d Delete all existing keymaps and reset to the default
154 state.
155 -D keymap ...
157 Delete the named keymaps.
158 -A old-keymap new-keymap
160 Make the new-keymap name an alias for old-keymap, so that
161 both names refer to the same keymap. The names have
162 equal standing; if either is deleted, the other remains.
163 If there is already a keymap with the new-keymap name, it
164 is deleted.
165 -N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
167 Create a new keymap, named new-keymap. If a keymap
168 already has that name, it is deleted. If an old-keymap
169 name is given, the new keymap is initialized to be a
170 duplicate of it, otherwise the new keymap will be empty.
171 To use a newly created keymap, it should be linked to main.
173 Hence the sequence of commands to create and use a new keymap
174 `mymap' initialized from the emacs keymap (which remains
175 unchanged) is:
176 bindkey -N mymap emacs
178 bindkey -A mymap main
179 Note that while `bindkey -A newmap main' will work when newmap
181 is emacs or viins, it will not work for vicmd, as switching from
182 vi insert to command mode becomes impossible.
183 The following operations act on the `main' keymap if no keymap
185 selection option was given:
186 -m Add the built-in set of meta-key bindings to the selected
188 keymap. Only keys that are unbound or bound to
189 self-insert are affected.
190 -r in-string ...
192 Unbind the specified in-strings in the selected keymap.
193 This is exactly equivalent to binding the strings to
194 undefined-key.
195 When -R is also used, interpret the in-strings as ranges.
197 When -p is also used, the in-strings specify prefixes.
199 Any binding that has the given in-string as a prefix, not
200 including the binding for the in-string itself, if any,
201 will be removed. For example,
202 bindkey -rpM viins '^['
204 will remove all bindings in the vi-insert keymap begin‐
206 ning with an escape character (probably cursor keys), but
207 leave the binding for the escape character itself (proba‐
208 bly vi-cmd-mode). This is incompatible with the option
209 -R.
210 -s in-string out-string ...
212 Bind each in-string to each out-string. When in-string
213 is typed, out-string will be pushed back and treated as
214 input to the line editor. When -R is also used, inter‐
215 pret the in-strings as ranges.
216 in-string command ...
218 Bind each in-string to each command. When -R is used,
219 interpret the in-strings as ranges.
220 [ in-string ]
222 List key bindings. If an in-string is specified, the
223 binding of that string in the selected keymap is dis‐
224 played. Otherwise, all key bindings in the selected
225 keymap are displayed. (As a special case, if the -e or
226 -v option is used alone, the keymap is not displayed -
227 the implicit linking of keymaps is the only thing that
228 happens.)
229 When the option -p is used, the in-string must be
231 present. The listing shows all bindings which have the
232 given key sequence as a prefix, not including any bind‐
233 ings for the key sequence itself.
234 When the -L option is used, the list is in the form of
236 bindkey commands to create the key bindings.
237 When the -R option is used as noted above, a valid range consists of
239 two characters, with an optional `-' between them. All characters
240 between the two specified, inclusive, are bound as specified.
241 For either in-string or out-string, the following escape sequences are
243 recognised:
244 \a bell character
246 \b backspace
247 \e, \E escape
248 \f form feed
249 \n linefeed (newline)
250 \r carriage return
251 \t horizontal tab
252 \v vertical tab
253 \NNN character code in octal
254 \xNN character code in hexadecimal
255 \M[-]X character with meta bit set
256 \C[-]X control character
257 ^X control character
258 In all other cases, `\' escapes the following character. Delete is
260 written as `^?'. Note that `\M^?' and `^\M?' are not the same, and
261 that (unlike emacs), the bindings `\M-X' and `\eX' are entirely dis‐
262 tinct, although they are initialized to the same bindings by `bindkey
263 -m'.
264 vared [ -Aache ] [ -p prompt ] [ -r rprompt ]
266 [ -M main-keymap ] [ -m vicmd-keymap ]
267 [ -t tty ] name
268 The value of the parameter name is loaded into the edit buffer,
269 and the line editor is invoked. When the editor exits, name is
270 set to the string value returned by the editor. When the -c
271 flag is given, the parameter is created if it doesn't already
272 exist. The -a flag may be given with -c to create an array
273 parameter, or the -A flag to create an associative array. If
274 the type of an existing parameter does not match the type to be
275 created, the parameter is unset and recreated.
276 If an array or array slice is being edited, separator characters
278 as defined in $IFS will be shown quoted with a backslash, as
279 will backslashes themselves. Conversely, when the edited text
280 is split into an array, a backslash quotes an immediately fol‐
281 lowing separator character or backslash; no other special han‐
282 dling of backslashes, or any handling of quotes, is performed.
283 Individual elements of existing array or associative array
285 parameters may be edited by using subscript syntax on name. New
286 elements are created automatically, even without -c.
287 If the -p flag is given, the following string will be taken as
289 the prompt to display at the left. If the -r flag is given, the
290 following string gives the prompt to display at the right. If
291 the -h flag is specified, the history can be accessed from ZLE.
292 If the -e flag is given, typing ^D (Control-D) on an empty line
293 causes vared to exit immediately with a non-zero return value.
294 The -M option gives a keymap to link to the main keymap during
296 editing, and the -m option gives a keymap to link to the vicmd
297 keymap during editing. For vi-style editing, this allows a pair
298 of keymaps to override viins and vicmd. For emacs-style edit‐
299 ing, only -M is normally needed but the -m option may still be
300 used. On exit, the previous keymaps will be restored.
301 If `-t tty' is given, tty is the name of a terminal device to be
303 used instead of the default /dev/tty. If tty does not refer to
304 a terminal an error is reported.
305 zle
307 zle -l [ -L | -a ] [ string ... ]
308 zle -D widget ...
309 zle -A old-widget new-widget
310 zle -N widget [ function ]
311 zle -C widget completion-widget function
312 zle -R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
313 zle -M string
314 zle -U string
315 zle -K keymap
316 zle -F [ -L ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
317 zle -I
318 zle -T [ tc function | -r tc | -L ]
319 zle widget [ -n num ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
320 The zle builtin performs a number of different actions concern‐
321 ing ZLE.
322 With no options and no arguments, only the return status will be
324 set. It is zero if ZLE is currently active and widgets could be
325 invoked using this builtin command and non-zero otherwise. Note
326 that even if non-zero status is returned, zle may still be
327 active as part of the completion system; this does not allow
328 direct calls to ZLE widgets.
329 Otherwise, which operation it performs depends on its options:
331 -l [ -L | -a ]
333 List all existing user-defined widgets. If the -L option
334 is used, list in the form of zle commands to create the
335 widgets.
336 When combined with the -a option, all widget names are
338 listed, including the builtin ones. In this case the -L
339 option is ignored.
340 If at least one string is given, and -a is present or -L
342 is not used, nothing will be printed. The return status
343 will be zero if all strings are names of existing widgets
344 and non-zero if at least one string is not a name of a
345 defined widget. If -a is also present, all widget names
346 are used for the comparison including builtin widgets,
347 else only user-defined widgets are used.
348 If at least one string is present and the -L option is
350 used, user-defined widgets matching any string are listed
351 in the form of zle commands to create the widgets.
352 -D widget ...
354 Delete the named widgets.
355 -A old-widget new-widget
357 Make the new-widget name an alias for old-widget, so that
358 both names refer to the same widget. The names have
359 equal standing; if either is deleted, the other remains.
360 If there is already a widget with the new-widget name, it
361 is deleted.
362 -N widget [ function ]
364 Create a user-defined widget. If there is already a wid‐
365 get with the specified name, it is overwritten. When the
366 new widget is invoked from within the editor, the speci‐
367 fied shell function is called. If no function name is
368 specified, it defaults to the same name as the widget.
369 For further information, see the section Widgets in zsh‐
370 zle(1).
371 -C widget completion-widget function
373 Create a user-defined completion widget named widget. The
374 completion widget will behave like the built-in comple‐
375 tion-widget whose name is given as completion-widget. To
376 generate the completions, the shell function function
377 will be called. For further information, see zshcomp‐
378 wid(1).
379 -R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
381 Redisplay the command line; this is to be called from
382 within a user-defined widget to allow changes to become
383 visible. If a display-string is given and not empty,
384 this is shown in the status line (immediately below the
385 line being edited).
386 If the optional strings are given they are listed below
388 the prompt in the same way as completion lists are
389 printed. If no strings are given but the -c option is
390 used such a list is cleared.
391 Note that this option is only useful for widgets that do
393 not exit immediately after using it because the strings
394 displayed will be erased immediately after return from
395 the widget.
396 This command can safely be called outside user defined
398 widgets; if zle is active, the display will be refreshed,
399 while if zle is not active, the command has no effect.
400 In this case there will usually be no other arguments.
401 The status is zero if zle was active, else one.
403 -M string
405 As with the -R option, the string will be displayed below
406 the command line; unlike the -R option, the string will
407 not be put into the status line but will instead be
408 printed normally below the prompt. This means that the
409 string will still be displayed after the widget returns
410 (until it is overwritten by subsequent commands).
411 -U string
413 This pushes the characters in the string onto the input
414 stack of ZLE. After the widget currently executed fin‐
415 ishes ZLE will behave as if the characters in the string
416 were typed by the user.
417 As ZLE uses a stack, if this option is used repeatedly
419 the last string pushed onto the stack will be processed
420 first. However, the characters in each string will be
421 processed in the order in which they appear in the
422 string.
423 -K keymap
425 Selects the keymap named keymap. An error message will
426 be displayed if there is no such keymap.
427 This keymap selection affects the interpretation of fol‐
429 lowing keystrokes within this invocation of ZLE. Any
430 following invocation (e.g., the next command line) will
431 start as usual with the `main' keymap selected.
432 -F [ -L ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
434 Only available if your system supports one of the `poll'
435 or `select' system calls; most modern systems do.
436 Installs handler (the name of a shell function) to handle
438 input from file descriptor fd. When zle is attempting to
439 read data, it will examine both the terminal and the list
440 of handled fd's. If data becomes available on a handled
441 fd, zle will call handler with the fd which is ready for
442 reading as the only argument. If the handler produces
443 output to the terminal, it should call `zle -I' before
444 doing so (see below). The handler should not attempt to
445 read from the terminal. Note that zle makes no attempt
446 to check whether this fd is actually readable when
447 installing the handler. The user must make their own
448 arrangements for handling the file descriptor when zle is
449 not active.
450 Any number of handlers for any number of readable file
452 descriptors may be installed. Installing a handler for
453 an fd which is already handled causes the existing han‐
454 dler to be replaced.
455 If no handler is given, but an fd is present, any handler
457 for that fd is removed. If there is none, an error mes‐
458 sage is printed and status 1 is returned.
459 If no arguments are given, or the -L option is supplied,
461 a list of handlers is printed in a form which can be
462 stored for later execution.
463 An fd (but not a handler) may optionally be given with
465 the -L option; in this case, the function will list the
466 handler if any, else silently return status 1.
467 Note that this feature should be used with care. Activ‐
469 ity on one of the fd's which is not properly handled can
470 cause the terminal to become unusable.
471 Here is a simple example of using this feature. A con‐
473 nection to a remote TCP port is created using the ztcp
474 command; see the description of the zsh/net/tcp module in
475 zshmodules(1). Then a handler is installed which simply
476 prints out any data which arrives on this connection.
477 Note that `select' will indicate that the file descriptor
478 needs handling if the remote side has closed the connec‐
479 tion; we handle that by testing for a failed read.
480 if ztcp pwspc 2811; then
481 tcpfd=$REPLY
482 handler() {
483 zle -I
484 local line
485 if ! read -r line <&$1; then
486 # select marks this fd if we reach EOF,
487 # so handle this specially.
488 print "[Read on fd $1 failed, removing.]" >&2
489 zle -F $1
490 return 1
491 fi
492 print -r - $line
493 }
494 zle -F $tcpfd handler
495 fi
496 -I Unusually, this option is most useful outside ordinary
498 widget functions, though it may be used within if normal
499 output to the terminal is required. It invalidates the
500 current zle display in preparation for output; typically
501 this will be from a trap function. It has no effect if
502 zle is not active. When a trap exits, the shell checks
503 to see if the display needs restoring, hence the follow‐
504 ing will print output in such a way as not to disturb the
505 line being edited:
506 TRAPUSR1() {
508 # Invalidate zle display
509 [[ -o zle ]] && zle -I
510 # Show output
511 print Hello
512 }
513 In general, the trap function may need to test whether
515 zle is active before using this method (as shown in the
516 example), since the zsh/zle module may not even be
517 loaded; if it is not, the command can be skipped.
518 It is possible to call `zle -I' several times before con‐
520 trol is returned to the editor; the display will only be
521 invalidated the first time to minimise disruption.
522 Note that there are normally better ways of manipulating
524 the display from within zle widgets; see, for example,
525 `zle -R' above.
526 The returned status is zero if zle was invalidated, even
528 though this may have been by a previous call to `zle -I'
529 or by a system notification. To test if a zle widget may
530 be called at this point, execute zle with no arguments
531 and examine the return status.
532 -T This is used to add, list or remove internal transforma‐
534 tions on the processing performed by the line editor. It
535 is typically used only for debugging or testing and is
536 therefore of little interest to the general user.
537 `zle -T transformation func' specifies that the given
539 transformation (see below) is effected by shell function
540 func.
541 `zle -Tr transformation' removes the given transformation
543 if it was present (it is not an error if none was).
544 `zle -TL' can be used to list all transformations cur‐
546 rently in operation.
547 Currently the only transformation is tc. This is used
549 instead of outputting termcap codes to the terminal.
550 When the transformation is in operation the shell func‐
551 tion is passed the termcap code that would be output as
552 its first argument; if the operation required a numeric
553 argument, that is passed as a second argument. The func‐
554 tion should set the shell variable REPLY to the trans‐
555 formed termcap code. Typically this is used to produce
556 some simply formatted version of the code and optional
557 argument for debugging or testing. Note that this trans‐
558 formation is not applied to other non-printing characters
559 such as carriage returns and newlines.
560 widget [ -n num ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
562 Invoke the specified widget. This can only be done when
563 ZLE is active; normally this will be within a
564 user-defined widget.
565 With the options -n and -N, the current numerical argu‐
567 ment will be saved and then restored after the call to
568 widget; `-n num' sets the numerical argument temporarily
569 to num, while `-N' sets it to the default, i.e. as if
570 there were none.
571 With the option -K, keymap will be used as the current
573 keymap during the execution of the widget. The previous
574 keymap will be restored when the widget exits.
575 Normally, calling a widget in this way does not set the
577 special parameter WIDGET and related parameters, so that
578 the environment appears as if the top-level widget called
579 by the user were still active. With the option -w, WID‐
580 GET and related parameters are set to reflect the widget
581 being executed by the zle call.
582 Any further arguments will be passed to the widget; note
584 that as standard argument handling is performed, any gen‐
585 eral argument list should be preceded by --. If it is a
586 shell function, these are passed down as positional
587 parameters; for builtin widgets it is up to the widget in
588 question what it does with them. Currently arguments are
589 only handled by the incremental-search commands, the his‐
590 tory-search-forward and -backward and the corresponding
591 functions prefixed by vi-, and by universal-argument. No
592 error is flagged if the command does not use the argu‐
593 ments, or only uses some of them.
594 The return status reflects the success or failure of the
596 operation carried out by the widget, or if it is a
597 user-defined widget the return status of the shell func‐
598 tion.
599 A non-zero return status causes the shell to beep when
601 the widget exits, unless the BEEP options was unset or
602 the widget was called via the zle command. Thus if a
603 user defined widget requires an immediate beep, it should
604 call the beep widget directly.
605
607 All actions in the editor are performed by `widgets'. A widget's job
608 is simply to perform some small action. The ZLE commands that key
609 sequences in keymaps are bound to are in fact widgets. Widgets can be
610 user-defined or built in.
611 The standard widgets built into ZLE are listed in Standard Widgets
613 below. Other built-in widgets can be defined by other modules (see
614 zshmodules(1)). Each built-in widget has two names: its normal canoni‐
615 cal name, and the same name preceded by a `.'. The `.' name is spe‐
616 cial: it can't be rebound to a different widget. This makes the widget
617 available even when its usual name has been redefined.
618 User-defined widgets are defined using `zle -N', and implemented as
620 shell functions. When the widget is executed, the corresponding shell
621 function is executed, and can perform editing (or other) actions. It
622 is recommended that user-defined widgets should not have names starting
623 with `.'.
624
626 User-defined widgets, being implemented as shell functions, can execute
627 any normal shell command. They can also run other widgets (whether
628 built-in or user-defined) using the zle builtin command. The standard
629 input of the function is closed to prevent external commands from unin‐
630 tentionally blocking ZLE by reading from the terminal, but read -k or
631 read -q can be used to read characters. Finally, they can examine and
632 edit the ZLE buffer being edited by reading and setting the special
633 parameters described below.
634 These special parameters are always available in widget functions, but
636 are not in any way special outside ZLE. If they have some normal value
637 outside ZLE, that value is temporarily inaccessible, but will return
638 when the widget function exits. These special parameters in fact have
639 local scope, like parameters created in a function using local.
640 Inside completion widgets and traps called while ZLE is active, these
642 parameters are available read-only.
643 BUFFER (scalar)
645 The entire contents of the edit buffer. If it is written to,
646 the cursor remains at the same offset, unless that would put it
647 outside the buffer.
648 BUFFERLINES (integer)
650 The number of screen lines needed for the edit buffer currently
651 displayed on screen (i.e. without any changes to the preceding
652 parameters done after the last redisplay); read-only.
653 CONTEXT (scalar)
655 The context in which zle was called to read a line; read-only.
656 One of the values:
657 start The start of a command line (at prompt PS1).
658 cont A continuation to a command line (at prompt PS2).
660 select In a select loop.
662 vared Editing a variable in vared.
664 CURSOR (integer)
666 The offset of the cursor, within the edit buffer. This is in
667 the range 0 to $#BUFFER, and is by definition equal to
668 $#LBUFFER. Attempts to move the cursor outside the buffer will
669 result in the cursor being moved to the appropriate end of the
670 buffer.
671 CUTBUFFER (scalar)
673 The last item cut using one of the `kill-' commands; the string
674 which the next yank would insert in the line. Later entries in
675 the kill ring are in the array killring. Note that the command
676 `zle copy-region-as-kill string' can be used to set the text of
677 the cut buffer from a shell function and cycle the kill ring in
678 the same way as interactively killing text.
679 HISTNO (integer)
681 The current history number. Setting this has the same effect as
682 moving up or down in the history to the corresponding history
683 line. An attempt to set it is ignored if the line is not stored
684 in the history. Note this is not the same as the parameter
685 HISTCMD, which always gives the number of the history line being
686 added to the main shell's history. HISTNO refers to the line
687 being retrieved within zle.
688 KEYMAP (scalar)
690 The name of the currently selected keymap; read-only.
691 KEYS (scalar)
693 The keys typed to invoke this widget, as a literal string;
694 read-only.
695 killring (array)
697 The array of previously killed items, with the most recently
698 killed first. This gives the items that would be retrieved by a
699 yank-pop in the same order. Note, however, that the most
700 recently killed item is in $CUTBUFFER; $killring shows the array
701 of previous entries.
702 The default size for the kill ring is eight, however the length
704 may be changed by normal array operations. Any empty string in
705 the kill ring is ignored by the yank-pop command, hence the size
706 of the array effectively sets the maximum length of the kill
707 ring, while the number of non-zero strings gives the current
708 length, both as seen by the user at the command line.
709 LASTABORTEDSEARCH (scalar)
711 The last search string used by an interactive search that was
712 aborted by the user (status 3 returned by the search widget).
713 LASTSEARCH (scalar)
715 The last search string used by an interactive search; read-only.
716 This is set even if the search failed (status 0, 1 or 2 returned
717 by the search widget), but not if it was aborted by the user.
718 LASTWIDGET (scalar)
720 The name of the last widget that was executed; read-only.
721 LBUFFER (scalar)
723 The part of the buffer that lies to the left of the cursor posi‐
724 tion. If it is assigned to, only that part of the buffer is
725 replaced, and the cursor remains between the new $LBUFFER and
726 the old $RBUFFER.
727 MARK (integer)
729 Like CURSOR, but for the mark.
730 NUMERIC (integer)
732 The numeric argument. If no numeric argument was given, this
733 parameter is unset. When this is set inside a widget function,
734 builtin widgets called with the zle builtin command will use the
735 value assigned. If it is unset inside a widget function, builtin
736 widgets called behave as if no numeric argument was given.
737 PENDING (integer)
739 The number of bytes pending for input, i.e. the number of bytes
740 which have already been typed and can immediately be read. On
741 systems where the shell is not able to get this information,
742 this parameter will always have a value of zero. Read-only.
743 PREBUFFER (scalar)
745 In a multi-line input at the secondary prompt, this read-only
746 parameter contains the contents of the lines before the one the
747 cursor is currently in.
748 PREDISPLAY (scalar)
750 Text to be displayed before the start of the editable text buf‐
751 fer. This does not have to be a complete line; to display a
752 complete line, a newline must be appended explicitly. The text
753 is reset on each new invocation (but not recursive invocation)
754 of zle.
755 POSTDISPLAY (scalar)
757 Text to be displayed after the end of the editable text buffer.
758 This does not have to be a complete line; to display a complete
759 line, a newline must be prepended explicitly. The text is reset
760 on each new invocation (but not recursive invocation) of zle.
761 RBUFFER (scalar)
763 The part of the buffer that lies to the right of the cursor
764 position. If it is assigned to, only that part of the buffer is
765 replaced, and the cursor remains between the old $LBUFFER and
766 the new $RBUFFER.
767 REGION_ACTIVE (integer)
769 Indicates if the region is currently active. It can be assigned
770 0 or 1 to deactivate and activate the region respectively; see
771 Character Highlighting below.
772 region_highlight (array)
774 Each element of this array may be set to a string that describes
775 highlighting for an arbitrary region of the command line that
776 will take effect the next time the command line is redisplayed.
777 Highlighting of the non-editable parts of the command line in
778 PREDISPLAY and POSTDISPLAY are possible, but note that the P
779 flag is needed for character indexing to include PREDISPLAY.
780 Each string consists of the following parts:
782 Optionally, a `P' to signify that the start and end offset that
784 follow include any string set by the PREDISPLAY special
785 parameter; this is needed if the predisplay string itself
786 is to be highlighted. Whitespace may follow the `P'.
787 A start offset in the same units as CURSOR, terminated by
788 whitespace.
789 An end offset in the same units as CURSOR, terminated by
790 whitespace.
791 A highlight specification in the same format as
792 used for contexts in the parameter zle_highlight, see
793 Character Highlighting below; for example, standout or
794 fg=red,bold.
795 For example,
797 region_highlight=("P0 20 bold")
799 specifies that the first twenty characters of the text including
801 any predisplay string should be highlighted in bold.
802 Note that the effect of region_highlight is not saved and disap‐
804 pears as soon as the line is accepted.
805 UNDO_CHANGE_NO (integer)
807 A number representing the state of the undo history. The only
808 use of this is passing as an argument to the undo widget in
809 order to undo back to the recorded point. Read-only.
810 WIDGET (scalar)
812 The name of the widget currently being executed; read-only.
813 WIDGETFUNC (scalar)
815 The name of the shell function that implements a widget defined
816 with either zle -N or zle -C. In the former case, this is the
817 second argument to the zle -N command that defined the widget,
818 or the first argument if there was no second argument. In the
819 latter case this is the third argument to the zle -C command
820 that defined the widget. Read-only.
821 WIDGETSTYLE (scalar)
823 Describes the implementation behind the completion widget cur‐
824 rently being executed; the second argument that followed zle -C
825 when the widget was defined. This is the name of a builtin com‐
826 pletion widget. For widgets defined with zle -N this is set to
827 the empty string. Read-only.
828 ZLE_STATE (scalar)
830 Contains a set of space-separated words that describe the cur‐
831 rent zle state.
832 Currently, the states shown are the insert mode as set by the
834 overwrite-mode or vi-replace widgets and whether history com‐
835 mands will visit imported entries as controlled by the
836 set-local-history widget. The string contains `insert' if char‐
837 acters to be inserted on the command line move existing charac‐
838 ters to the right or `overwrite' if characters to be inserted
839 overwrite existing characters. It contains `localhistory' if
840 only local history commands will be visited or `globalhistory'
841 if imported history commands will also be visited.
842 The substrings are sorted in alphabetical order so that if you
844 want to test for two specific substrings in a future-proof way,
845 you can do match by doing:
846 if [[ $ZLE_STATE == *insert*globalhistory* ]]; then ...; fi
848 Special Widgets
850 There are a few user-defined widgets which are special to the shell.
851 If they do not exist, no special action is taken. The environment pro‐
852 vided is identical to that for any other editing widget.
853 zle-isearch-exit
855 Executed at the end of incremental search at the point where the
856 isearch prompt is removed from the display. See
857 zle-isearch-update for an example.
858 zle-isearch-update
860 Executed within incremental search when the display is about to
861 be redrawn. Additional output below the incremental search
862 prompt can be generated by using `zle -M' within the widget.
863 For example,
864 zle-isearch-update() { zle -M "Line $HISTNO"; }
866 zle -N zle-isearch-update
867 Note the line output by `zle -M' is not deleted on exit from
869 incremental search. This can be done from a zle-isearch-exit
870 widget:
871 zle-isearch-exit() { zle -M ""; }
873 zle -N zle-isearch-exit
874 zle-line-init
876 Executed every time the line editor is started to read a new
877 line of input. The following example puts the line editor into
878 vi command mode when it starts up.
879 zle-line-init() { zle -K vicmd; }
881 zle -N zle-line-init
882 (The command inside the function sets the keymap directly; it is
884 equivalent to zle vi-cmd-mode.)
885 zle-line-finish
887 This is similar to zle-line-init but is executed every time the
888 line editor has finished reading a line of input.
889 zle-history-line-set
891 Executed when the history line changes.
892 zle-keymap-select
894 Executed every time the keymap changes, i.e. the special parame‐
895 ter KEYMAP is set to a different value, while the line editor is
896 active. Initialising the keymap when the line editor starts
897 does not cause the widget to be called.
898 The value $KEYMAP within the function reflects the new keymap.
900 The old keymap is passed as the sole argument.
901 This can be used for detecting switches between the vi command
903 (vicmd) and insert (usually main) keymaps.
904
906 The following is a list of all the standard widgets, and their default
907 bindings in emacs mode, vi command mode and vi insert mode (the
908 `emacs', `vicmd' and `viins' keymaps, respectively).
909 Note that cursor keys are bound to movement keys in all three keymaps;
911 the shell assumes that the cursor keys send the key sequences reported
912 by the terminal-handling library (termcap or terminfo). The key
913 sequences shown in the list are those based on the VT100, common on
914 many modern terminals, but in fact these are not necessarily bound. In
915 the case of the viins keymap, the initial escape character of the
916 sequences serves also to return to the vicmd keymap: whether this hap‐
917 pens is determined by the KEYTIMEOUT parameter, see zshparam(1).
918 Movement
920 vi-backward-blank-word (unbound) (B) (unbound)
921 Move backward one word, where a word is defined as a series of
922 non-blank characters.
923 backward-char (^B ESC-[D) (unbound) (unbound)
925 Move backward one character.
926 vi-backward-char (unbound) (^H h ^?) (ESC-[D)
928 Move backward one character, without changing lines.
929 backward-word (ESC-B ESC-b) (unbound) (unbound)
931 Move to the beginning of the previous word.
932 emacs-backward-word
934 Move to the beginning of the previous word.
935 vi-backward-word (unbound) (b) (unbound)
937 Move to the beginning of the previous word, vi-style.
938 beginning-of-line (^A) (unbound) (unbound)
940 Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the beginning
941 of the line, move to the beginning of the previous line, if any.
942 vi-beginning-of-line
944 Move to the beginning of the line, without changing lines.
945 end-of-line (^E) (unbound) (unbound)
947 Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of the line,
948 move to the end of the next line, if any.
949 vi-end-of-line (unbound) ($) (unbound)
951 Move to the end of the line. If an argument is given to this
952 command, the cursor will be moved to the end of the line (argu‐
953 ment - 1) lines down.
954 vi-forward-blank-word (unbound) (W) (unbound)
956 Move forward one word, where a word is defined as a series of
957 non-blank characters.
958 vi-forward-blank-word-end (unbound) (E) (unbound)
960 Move to the end of the current word, or, if at the end of the
961 current word, to the end of the next word, where a word is
962 defined as a series of non-blank characters.
963 forward-char (^F ESC-[C) (unbound) (unbound)
965 Move forward one character.
966 vi-forward-char (unbound) (space l) (ESC-[C)
968 Move forward one character.
969 vi-find-next-char (^X^F) (f) (unbound)
971 Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the next occur‐
972 rence of it in the line.
973 vi-find-next-char-skip (unbound) (t) (unbound)
975 Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the position
976 just before the next occurrence of it in the line.
977 vi-find-prev-char (unbound) (F) (unbound)
979 Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the previous
980 occurrence of it in the line.
981 vi-find-prev-char-skip (unbound) (T) (unbound)
983 Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the position
984 just after the previous occurrence of it in the line.
985 vi-first-non-blank (unbound) (^) (unbound)
987 Move to the first non-blank character in the line.
988 vi-forward-word (unbound) (w) (unbound)
990 Move forward one word, vi-style.
991 forward-word (ESC-F ESC-f) (unbound) (unbound)
993 Move to the beginning of the next word. The editor's idea of a
994 word is specified with the WORDCHARS parameter.
995 emacs-forward-word
997 Move to the end of the next word.
998 vi-forward-word-end (unbound) (e) (unbound)
1000 Move to the end of the next word.
1001 vi-goto-column (ESC-|) (|) (unbound)
1003 Move to the column specified by the numeric argument.
1004 vi-goto-mark (unbound) (`) (unbound)
1006 Move to the specified mark.
1007 vi-goto-mark-line (unbound) (') (unbound)
1009 Move to beginning of the line containing the specified mark.
1010 vi-repeat-find (unbound) (;) (unbound)
1012 Repeat the last vi-find command.
1013 vi-rev-repeat-find (unbound) (,) (unbound)
1015 Repeat the last vi-find command in the opposite direction.
1016 History Control
1018 beginning-of-buffer-or-history (ESC-<) (unbound) (unbound)
1019 Move to the beginning of the buffer, or if already there, move
1020 to the first event in the history list.
1021 beginning-of-line-hist
1023 Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the beginning
1024 of the buffer, move to the previous history line.
1025 beginning-of-history
1027 Move to the first event in the history list.
1028 down-line-or-history (^N ESC-[B) (j) (ESC-[B)
1030 Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom
1031 line, move to the next event in the history list.
1032 vi-down-line-or-history (unbound) (+) (unbound)
1034 Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom
1035 line, move to the next event in the history list. Then move to
1036 the first non-blank character on the line.
1037 down-line-or-search
1039 Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom
1040 line, search forward in the history for a line beginning with
1041 the first word in the buffer.
1042 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
1044 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
1045 rather than the first word in the buffer.
1046 down-history (unbound) (^N) (unbound)
1048 Move to the next event in the history list.
1049 history-beginning-search-backward
1051 Search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
1052 current line up to the cursor. This leaves the cursor in its
1053 original position.
1054 end-of-buffer-or-history (ESC->) (unbound) (unbound)
1056 Move to the end of the buffer, or if already there, move to the
1057 last event in the history list.
1058 end-of-line-hist
1060 Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of the buf‐
1061 fer, move to the next history line.
1062 end-of-history
1064 Move to the last event in the history list.
1065 vi-fetch-history (unbound) (G) (unbound)
1067 Fetch the history line specified by the numeric argument. This
1068 defaults to the current history line (i.e. the one that isn't
1069 history yet).
1070 history-incremental-search-backward (^R ^Xr) (unbound) (unbound)
1072 Search backward incrementally for a specified string. The
1073 search is case-insensitive if the search string does not have
1074 uppercase letters and no numeric argument was given. The string
1075 may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the
1076 line. When called from a user-defined function returns the fol‐
1077 lowing statuses: 0, if the search succeeded; 1, if the search
1078 failed; 2, if the search term was a bad pattern; 3, if the
1079 search was aborted by the send-break command.
1080 A restricted set of editing functions is available in the
1082 mini-buffer. Keys are looked up in the special isearch keymap,
1083 and if not found there in the main keymap (note that by default
1084 the isearch keymap is empty). An interrupt signal, as defined
1085 by the stty setting, will stop the search and go back to the
1086 original line. An undefined key will have the same effect.
1087 Note that the following always perform the same task within
1088 incremental searches and cannot be replaced by user defined wid‐
1089 gets, nor can the set of functions be extended. The supported
1090 functions are:
1091 accept-and-hold
1093 accept-and-infer-next-history
1094 accept-line
1095 accept-line-and-down-history
1096 Perform the usual function after exiting incremental
1097 search. The command line displayed is executed.
1098 backward-delete-char
1100 vi-backward-delete-char
1101 Back up one place in the search history. If the search
1102 has been repeated this does not immediately erase a char‐
1103 acter in the minibuffer.
1104 accept-search
1106 Exit incremental search, retaining the command line but
1107 performing no further action. Note that this function is
1108 not bound by default and has no effect outside incremen‐
1109 tal search.
1110 backward-delete-word
1112 backward-kill-word
1113 vi-backward-kill-word
1114 Back up one character in the minibuffer; if multiple
1115 searches have been performed since the character was
1116 inserted the search history is rewound to the point just
1117 before the character was entered. Hence this has the
1118 effect of repeating backward-delete-char.
1119 clear-screen
1121 Clear the screen, remaining in incremental search mode.
1122 history-incremental-search-backward
1124 Find the next occurrence of the contents of the mini-buf‐
1125 fer.
1126 history-incremental-search-forward
1128 Invert the sense of the search.
1129 magic-space
1131 Inserts a non-magical space.
1132 quoted-insert
1134 vi-quoted-insert
1135 Quote the character to insert into the minibuffer.
1136 redisplay
1138 Redisplay the command line, remaining in incremental
1139 search mode.
1140 vi-cmd-mode
1142 Toggle between the `main' and `vicmd' keymaps; the `main'
1143 keymap (insert mode) will be selected initially.
1144 vi-repeat-search
1146 vi-rev-repeat-search
1147 Repeat the search. The direction of the search is indi‐
1148 cated in the mini-buffer.
1149 Any character that is not bound to one of the above functions,
1151 or self-insert or self-insert-unmeta, will cause the mode to be
1152 exited. The character is then looked up and executed in the
1153 keymap in effect at that point.
1154 When called from a widget function by the zle command, the
1156 incremental search commands can take a string argument. This
1157 will be treated as a string of keys, as for arguments to the
1158 bindkey command, and used as initial input for the command. Any
1159 characters in the string which are unused by the incremental
1160 search will be silently ignored. For example,
1161 zle history-incremental-search-backward forceps
1163 will search backwards for forceps, leaving the minibuffer con‐
1165 taining the string `forceps'.
1166 history-incremental-search-forward (^S ^Xs) (unbound) (unbound)
1168 Search forward incrementally for a specified string. The search
1169 is case-insensitive if the search string does not have uppercase
1170 letters and no numeric argument was given. The string may begin
1171 with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the line. The
1172 functions available in the mini-buffer are the same as for his‐
1173 tory-incremental-search-backward.
1174 history-incremental-pattern-search-backward
1176 history-incremental-pattern-search-forward
1177 These widgets behave similarly to the corresponding widgets with
1178 no -pattern, but the search string typed by the user is treated
1179 as a pattern, respecting the current settings of the various
1180 options affecting pattern matching. See FILENAME GENERATION in
1181 zshexpn(1) for a description of patterns. If no numeric argu‐
1182 ment was given lowercase letters in the search string may match
1183 uppercase letters in the history. The string may begin with `^'
1184 to anchor the search to the beginning of the line.
1185 The prompt changes to indicate an invalid pattern; this may sim‐
1187 ply indicate the pattern is not yet complete.
1188 Note that only non-overlapping matches are reported, so an
1190 expression with wildcards may return fewer matches on a line
1191 than are visible by inspection.
1192 history-search-backward (ESC-P ESC-p) (unbound) (unbound)
1194 Search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
1195 first word in the buffer.
1196 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
1198 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
1199 rather than the first word in the buffer.
1200 vi-history-search-backward (unbound) (/) (unbound)
1202 Search backward in the history for a specified string. The
1203 string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning
1204 of the line.
1205 A restricted set of editing functions is available in the
1207 mini-buffer. An interrupt signal, as defined by the stty set‐
1208 ting, will stop the search. The functions available in the
1209 mini-buffer are: accept-line, backward-delete-char, vi-back‐
1210 ward-delete-char, backward-kill-word, vi-backward-kill-word,
1211 clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert and vi-quoted-insert.
1212 vi-cmd-mode is treated the same as accept-line, and magic-space
1214 is treated as a space. Any other character that is not bound to
1215 self-insert or self-insert-unmeta will beep and be ignored. If
1216 the function is called from vi command mode, the bindings of the
1217 current insert mode will be used.
1218 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
1220 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
1221 rather than the first word in the buffer.
1222 history-search-forward (ESC-N ESC-n) (unbound) (unbound)
1224 Search forward in the history for a line beginning with the
1225 first word in the buffer.
1226 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
1228 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
1229 rather than the first word in the buffer.
1230 vi-history-search-forward (unbound) (?) (unbound)
1232 Search forward in the history for a specified string. The
1233 string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning
1234 of the line. The functions available in the mini-buffer are the
1235 same as for vi-history-search-backward. Argument handling is
1236 also the same as for that command.
1237 infer-next-history (^X^N) (unbound) (unbound)
1239 Search in the history list for a line matching the current one
1240 and fetch the event following it.
1241 insert-last-word (ESC-_ ESC-.) (unbound) (unbound)
1243 Insert the last word from the previous history event at the cur‐
1244 sor position. If a positive numeric argument is given, insert
1245 that word from the end of the previous history event. If the
1246 argument is zero or negative insert that word from the left
1247 (zero inserts the previous command word). Repeating this com‐
1248 mand replaces the word just inserted with the last word from the
1249 history event prior to the one just used; numeric arguments can
1250 be used in the same way to pick a word from that event.
1251 When called from a shell function invoked from a user-defined
1253 widget, the command can take one to three arguments. The first
1254 argument specifies a history offset which applies to successive
1255 calls to this widget: if it is -1, the default behaviour is
1256 used, while if it is 1, successive calls will move forwards
1257 through the history. The value 0 can be used to indicate that
1258 the history line examined by the previous execution of the com‐
1259 mand will be reexamined. Note that negative numbers should be
1260 preceded by a `--' argument to avoid confusing them with
1261 options.
1262 If two arguments are given, the second specifies the word on the
1264 command line in normal array index notation (as a more natural
1265 alternative to the prefix argument). Hence 1 is the first word,
1266 and -1 (the default) is the last word.
1267 If a third argument is given, its value is ignored, but it is
1269 used to signify that the history offset is relative to the cur‐
1270 rent history line, rather than the one remembered after the pre‐
1271 vious invocations of insert-last-word.
1272 For example, the default behaviour of the command corresponds to
1274 zle insert-last-word -- -1 -1
1276 while the command
1278 zle insert-last-word -- -1 1 -
1280 always copies the first word of the line in the history immedi‐
1282 ately before the line being edited. This has the side effect
1283 that later invocations of the widget will be relative to that
1284 line.
1285 vi-repeat-search (unbound) (n) (unbound)
1287 Repeat the last vi history search.
1288 vi-rev-repeat-search (unbound) (N) (unbound)
1290 Repeat the last vi history search, but in reverse.
1291 up-line-or-history (^P ESC-[A) (k) (ESC-[A)
1293 Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
1294 move to the previous event in the history list.
1295 vi-up-line-or-history (unbound) (-) (unbound)
1297 Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
1298 move to the previous event in the history list. Then move to
1299 the first non-blank character on the line.
1300 up-line-or-search
1302 Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
1303 search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
1304 first word in the buffer.
1305 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
1307 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
1308 rather than the first word in the buffer.
1309 up-history (unbound) (^P) (unbound)
1311 Move to the previous event in the history list.
1312 history-beginning-search-forward
1314 Search forward in the history for a line beginning with the cur‐
1315 rent line up to the cursor. This leaves the cursor in its orig‐
1316 inal position.
1317 set-local-history
1319 By default, history movement commands visit the imported lines
1320 as well as the local lines. This widget lets you toggle this on
1321 and off, or set it with the numeric argument. Zero for both
1322 local and imported lines and nonzero for only local lines.
1323 Modifying Text
1325 vi-add-eol (unbound) (A) (unbound)
1326 Move to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
1327 vi-add-next (unbound) (a) (unbound)
1329 Enter insert mode after the current cursor position, without
1330 changing lines.
1331 backward-delete-char (^H ^?) (unbound) (unbound)
1333 Delete the character behind the cursor.
1334 vi-backward-delete-char (unbound) (X) (^H)
1336 Delete the character behind the cursor, without changing lines.
1337 If in insert mode, this won't delete past the point where insert
1338 mode was last entered.
1339 backward-delete-word
1341 Delete the word behind the cursor.
1342 backward-kill-line
1344 Kill from the beginning of the line to the cursor position.
1345 backward-kill-word (^W ESC-^H ESC-^?) (unbound) (unbound)
1347 Kill the word behind the cursor.
1348 vi-backward-kill-word (unbound) (unbound) (^W)
1350 Kill the word behind the cursor, without going past the point
1351 where insert mode was last entered.
1352 capitalize-word (ESC-C ESC-c) (unbound) (unbound)
1354 Capitalize the current word and move past it.
1355 vi-change (unbound) (c) (unbound)
1357 Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill from the
1358 cursor position to the endpoint of the movement. Then enter
1359 insert mode. If the command is vi-change, change the current
1360 line.
1361 vi-change-eol (unbound) (C) (unbound)
1363 Kill to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
1364 vi-change-whole-line (unbound) (S) (unbound)
1366 Kill the current line and enter insert mode.
1367 copy-region-as-kill (ESC-W ESC-w) (unbound) (unbound)
1369 Copy the area from the cursor to the mark to the kill buffer.
1370 If called from a ZLE widget function in the form `zle
1372 copy-region-as-kill string' then string will be taken as the
1373 text to copy to the kill buffer. The cursor, the mark and the
1374 text on the command line are not used in this case.
1375 copy-prev-word (ESC-^_) (unbound) (unbound)
1377 Duplicate the word to the left of the cursor.
1378 copy-prev-shell-word
1380 Like copy-prev-word, but the word is found by using shell pars‐
1381 ing, whereas copy-prev-word looks for blanks. This makes a dif‐
1382 ference when the word is quoted and contains spaces.
1383 vi-delete (unbound) (d) (unbound)
1385 Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill from the
1386 cursor position to the endpoint of the movement. If the command
1387 is vi-delete, kill the current line.
1388 delete-char
1390 Delete the character under the cursor.
1391 vi-delete-char (unbound) (x) (unbound)
1393 Delete the character under the cursor, without going past the
1394 end of the line.
1395 delete-word
1397 Delete the current word.
1398 down-case-word (ESC-L ESC-l) (unbound) (unbound)
1400 Convert the current word to all lowercase and move past it.
1401 kill-word (ESC-D ESC-d) (unbound) (unbound)
1403 Kill the current word.
1404 gosmacs-transpose-chars
1406 Exchange the two characters behind the cursor.
1407 vi-indent (unbound) (>) (unbound)
1409 Indent a number of lines.
1410 vi-insert (unbound) (i) (unbound)
1412 Enter insert mode.
1413 vi-insert-bol (unbound) (I) (unbound)
1415 Move to the first non-blank character on the line and enter
1416 insert mode.
1417 vi-join (^X^J) (J) (unbound)
1419 Join the current line with the next one.
1420 kill-line (^K) (unbound) (unbound)
1422 Kill from the cursor to the end of the line. If already on the
1423 end of the line, kill the newline character.
1424 vi-kill-line (unbound) (unbound) (^U)
1426 Kill from the cursor back to wherever insert mode was last
1427 entered.
1428 vi-kill-eol (unbound) (D) (unbound)
1430 Kill from the cursor to the end of the line.
1431 kill-region
1433 Kill from the cursor to the mark.
1434 kill-buffer (^X^K) (unbound) (unbound)
1436 Kill the entire buffer.
1437 kill-whole-line (^U) (unbound) (unbound)
1439 Kill the current line.
1440 vi-match-bracket (^X^B) (%) (unbound)
1442 Move to the bracket character (one of {}, () or []) that matches
1443 the one under the cursor. If the cursor is not on a bracket
1444 character, move forward without going past the end of the line
1445 to find one, and then go to the matching bracket.
1446 vi-open-line-above (unbound) (O) (unbound)
1448 Open a line above the cursor and enter insert mode.
1449 vi-open-line-below (unbound) (o) (unbound)
1451 Open a line below the cursor and enter insert mode.
1452 vi-oper-swap-case
1454 Read a movement command from the keyboard, and swap the case of
1455 all characters from the cursor position to the endpoint of the
1456 movement. If the movement command is vi-oper-swap-case, swap
1457 the case of all characters on the current line.
1458 overwrite-mode (^X^O) (unbound) (unbound)
1460 Toggle between overwrite mode and insert mode.
1461 vi-put-before (unbound) (P) (unbound)
1463 Insert the contents of the kill buffer before the cursor. If
1464 the kill buffer contains a sequence of lines (as opposed to
1465 characters), paste it above the current line.
1466 vi-put-after (unbound) (p) (unbound)
1468 Insert the contents of the kill buffer after the cursor. If the
1469 kill buffer contains a sequence of lines (as opposed to charac‐
1470 ters), paste it below the current line.
1471 quoted-insert (^V) (unbound) (unbound)
1473 Insert the next character typed into the buffer literally. An
1474 interrupt character will not be inserted.
1475 vi-quoted-insert (unbound) (unbound) (^Q ^V)
1477 Display a `^' at the cursor position, and insert the next char‐
1478 acter typed into the buffer literally. An interrupt character
1479 will not be inserted.
1480 quote-line (ESC-') (unbound) (unbound)
1482 Quote the current line; that is, put a `'' character at the
1483 beginning and the end, and convert all `'' characters to `'\'''.
1484 quote-region (ESC-") (unbound) (unbound)
1486 Quote the region from the cursor to the mark.
1487 vi-replace (unbound) (R) (unbound)
1489 Enter overwrite mode.
1490 vi-repeat-change (unbound) (.) (unbound)
1492 Repeat the last vi mode text modification. If a count was used
1493 with the modification, it is remembered. If a count is given to
1494 this command, it overrides the remembered count, and is remem‐
1495 bered for future uses of this command. The cut buffer specifi‐
1496 cation is similarly remembered.
1497 vi-replace-chars (unbound) (r) (unbound)
1499 Replace the character under the cursor with a character read
1500 from the keyboard.
1501 self-insert (printable characters) (unbound) (printable characters and
1503 some control characters)
1504 Insert a character into the buffer at the cursor position.
1505 self-insert-unmeta (ESC-^I ESC-^J ESC-^M) (unbound) (unbound)
1507 Insert a character into the buffer after stripping the meta bit
1508 and converting ^M to ^J.
1509 vi-substitute (unbound) (s) (unbound)
1511 Substitute the next character(s).
1512 vi-swap-case (unbound) (~) (unbound)
1514 Swap the case of the character under the cursor and move past
1515 it.
1516 transpose-chars (^T) (unbound) (unbound)
1518 Exchange the two characters to the left of the cursor if at end
1519 of line, else exchange the character under the cursor with the
1520 character to the left.
1521 transpose-words (ESC-T ESC-t) (unbound) (unbound)
1523 Exchange the current word with the one before it.
1524 vi-unindent (unbound) (<) (unbound)
1526 Unindent a number of lines.
1527 up-case-word (ESC-U ESC-u) (unbound) (unbound)
1529 Convert the current word to all caps and move past it.
1530 yank (^Y) (unbound) (unbound)
1532 Insert the contents of the kill buffer at the cursor position.
1533 yank-pop (ESC-y) (unbound) (unbound)
1535 Remove the text just yanked, rotate the kill-ring (the history
1536 of previously killed text) and yank the new top. Only works
1537 following yank or yank-pop.
1538 vi-yank (unbound) (y) (unbound)
1540 Read a movement command from the keyboard, and copy the region
1541 from the cursor position to the endpoint of the movement into
1542 the kill buffer. If the command is vi-yank, copy the current
1543 line.
1544 vi-yank-whole-line (unbound) (Y) (unbound)
1546 Copy the current line into the kill buffer.
1547 vi-yank-eol
1549 Copy the region from the cursor position to the end of the line
1550 into the kill buffer. Arguably, this is what Y should do in vi,
1551 but it isn't what it actually does.
1552 Arguments
1554 digit-argument (ESC-0..ESC-9) (1-9) (unbound)
1555 Start a new numeric argument, or add to the current one. See
1556 also vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line. This only works if bound to
1557 a key sequence ending in a decimal digit.
1558 Inside a widget function, a call to this function treats the
1560 last key of the key sequence which called the widget as the
1561 digit.
1562 neg-argument (ESC--) (unbound) (unbound)
1564 Changes the sign of the following argument.
1565 universal-argument
1567 Multiply the argument of the next command by 4. Alternatively,
1568 if this command is followed by an integer (positive or nega‐
1569 tive), use that as the argument for the next command. Thus dig‐
1570 its cannot be repeated using this command. For example, if this
1571 command occurs twice, followed immediately by forward-char, move
1572 forward sixteen spaces; if instead it is followed by -2, then
1573 forward-char, move backward two spaces.
1574 Inside a widget function, if passed an argument, i.e. `zle uni‐
1576 versal-argument num', the numerical argument will be set to num;
1577 this is equivalent to `NUMERIC=num'.
1578 argument-base
1580 Use the existing numeric argument as a numeric base, which must
1581 be in the range 2 to 36 inclusive. Subsequent use of
1582 digit-argument and universal-argument will input a new prefix in
1583 the given base. The usual hexadecimal convention is used: the
1584 letter a or A corresponds to 10, and so on. Arguments in bases
1585 requiring digits from 10 upwards are more conveniently input
1586 with universal-argument, since ESC-a etc. are not usually bound
1587 to digit-argument.
1588 The function can be used with a command argument inside a
1590 user-defined widget. The following code sets the base to 16 and
1591 lets the user input a hexadecimal argument until a key out of
1592 the digit range is typed:
1593 zle argument-base 16
1595 zle universal-argument
1596 Completion
1598 accept-and-menu-complete
1599 In a menu completion, insert the current completion into the
1600 buffer, and advance to the next possible completion.
1601 complete-word
1603 Attempt completion on the current word.
1604 delete-char-or-list (^D) (unbound) (unbound)
1606 Delete the character under the cursor. If the cursor is at the
1607 end of the line, list possible completions for the current word.
1608 expand-cmd-path
1610 Expand the current command to its full pathname.
1611 expand-or-complete (TAB) (unbound) (TAB)
1613 Attempt shell expansion on the current word. If that fails,
1614 attempt completion.
1615 expand-or-complete-prefix
1617 Attempt shell expansion on the current word up to cursor.
1618 expand-history (ESC-space ESC-!) (unbound) (unbound)
1620 Perform history expansion on the edit buffer.
1621 expand-word (^X*) (unbound) (unbound)
1623 Attempt shell expansion on the current word.
1624 list-choices (ESC-^D) (^D =) (^D)
1626 List possible completions for the current word.
1627 list-expand (^Xg ^XG) (^G) (^G)
1629 List the expansion of the current word.
1630 magic-space
1632 Perform history expansion and insert a space into the buffer.
1633 This is intended to be bound to space.
1634 menu-complete
1636 Like complete-word, except that menu completion is used. See
1637 the MENU_COMPLETE option.
1638 menu-expand-or-complete
1640 Like expand-or-complete, except that menu completion is used.
1641 reverse-menu-complete
1643 Perform menu completion, like menu-complete, except that if a
1644 menu completion is already in progress, move to the previous
1645 completion rather than the next.
1646 end-of-list
1648 When a previous completion displayed a list below the prompt,
1649 this widget can be used to move the prompt below the list.
1650 Miscellaneous
1652 accept-and-hold (ESC-A ESC-a) (unbound) (unbound)
1653 Push the contents of the buffer on the buffer stack and execute
1654 it.
1655 accept-and-infer-next-history
1657 Execute the contents of the buffer. Then search the history
1658 list for a line matching the current one and push the event fol‐
1659 lowing onto the buffer stack.
1660 accept-line (^J ^M) (^J ^M) (^J ^M)
1662 Finish editing the buffer. Normally this causes the buffer to
1663 be executed as a shell command.
1664 accept-line-and-down-history (^O) (unbound) (unbound)
1666 Execute the current line, and push the next history event on the
1667 buffer stack.
1668 auto-suffix-remove
1670 If the previous action added a suffix (space, slash, etc.) to
1671 the word on the command line, remove it. Otherwise do nothing.
1672 Removing the suffix ends any active menu completion or menu
1673 selection.
1674 This widget is intended to be called from user-defined widgets
1676 to enforce a desired suffix-removal behavior.
1677 auto-suffix-retain
1679 If the previous action added a suffix (space, slash, etc.) to
1680 the word on the command line, force it to be preserved. Other‐
1681 wise do nothing. Retaining the suffix ends any active menu com‐
1682 pletion or menu selection.
1683 This widget is intended to be called from user-defined widgets
1685 to enforce a desired suffix-preservation behavior.
1686 beep Beep, unless the BEEP option is unset.
1688 vi-cmd-mode (^X^V) (unbound) (^[)
1690 Enter command mode; that is, select the `vicmd' keymap. Yes,
1691 this is bound by default in emacs mode.
1692 vi-caps-lock-panic
1694 Hang until any lowercase key is pressed. This is for vi users
1695 without the mental capacity to keep track of their caps lock key
1696 (like the author).
1697 clear-screen (^L ESC-^L) (^L) (^L)
1699 Clear the screen and redraw the prompt.
1700 describe-key-briefly
1702 Reads a key sequence, then prints the function bound to that
1703 sequence.
1704 exchange-point-and-mark (^X^X) (unbound) (unbound)
1706 Exchange the cursor position (point) with the position of the
1707 mark. Unless a negative prefix argument is given, the region
1708 between point and mark is activated so that it can be high‐
1709 lighted. If a zero prefix argument is given, the region is
1710 activated but point and mark are not swapped.
1711 execute-named-cmd (ESC-x) (:) (unbound)
1713 Read the name of an editor command and execute it. A restricted
1714 set of editing functions is available in the mini-buffer. Keys
1715 are looked up in the special command keymap, and if not found
1716 there in the main keymap. An interrupt signal, as defined by
1717 the stty setting, will abort the function. Note that the fol‐
1718 lowing always perform the same task within the exe‐
1719 cuted-named-cmd environment and cannot be replaced by user
1720 defined widgets, nor can the set of functions be extended. The
1721 allowed functions are: backward-delete-char, vi-back‐
1722 ward-delete-char, clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert,
1723 vi-quoted-insert, backward-kill-word, vi-backward-kill-word,
1724 kill-whole-line, vi-kill-line, backward-kill-line, list-choices,
1725 delete-char-or-list, complete-word, accept-line, expand-or-com‐
1726 plete and expand-or-complete-prefix.
1727 kill-region kills the last word, and vi-cmd-mode is treated the
1729 same as accept-line. The space and tab characters, if not bound
1730 to one of these functions, will complete the name and then list
1731 the possibilities if the AUTO_LIST option is set. Any other
1732 character that is not bound to self-insert or self-insert-unmeta
1733 will beep and be ignored. The bindings of the current insert
1734 mode will be used.
1735 Currently this command may not be redefined or called by name.
1737 execute-last-named-cmd (ESC-z) (unbound) (unbound)
1739 Redo the last function executed with execute-named-cmd.
1740 Currently this command may not be redefined or called by name.
1742 get-line (ESC-G ESC-g) (unbound) (unbound)
1744 Pop the top line off the buffer stack and insert it at the cur‐
1745 sor position.
1746 pound-insert (unbound) (#) (unbound)
1748 If there is no # character at the beginning of the buffer, add
1749 one to the beginning of each line. If there is one, remove a #
1750 from each line that has one. In either case, accept the current
1751 line. The INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS option must be set for this to
1752 have any usefulness.
1753 vi-pound-insert
1755 If there is no # character at the beginning of the current line,
1756 add one. If there is one, remove it. The INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
1757 option must be set for this to have any usefulness.
1758 push-input
1760 Push the entire current multiline construct onto the buffer
1761 stack and return to the top-level (PS1) prompt. If the current
1762 parser construct is only a single line, this is exactly like
1763 push-line. Next time the editor starts up or is popped with
1764 get-line, the construct will be popped off the top of the buffer
1765 stack and loaded into the editing buffer.
1766 push-line (^Q ESC-Q ESC-q) (unbound) (unbound)
1768 Push the current buffer onto the buffer stack and clear the buf‐
1769 fer. Next time the editor starts up, the buffer will be popped
1770 off the top of the buffer stack and loaded into the editing buf‐
1771 fer.
1772 push-line-or-edit
1774 At the top-level (PS1) prompt, equivalent to push-line. At a
1775 secondary (PS2) prompt, move the entire current multiline con‐
1776 struct into the editor buffer. The latter is equivalent to
1777 push-input followed by get-line.
1778 read-command
1780 Only useful from a user-defined widget. A keystroke is read
1781 just as in normal operation, but instead of the command being
1782 executed the name of the command that would be executed is
1783 stored in the shell parameter REPLY. This can be used as the
1784 argument of a future zle command. If the key sequence is not
1785 bound, status 1 is returned; typically, however, REPLY is set to
1786 undefined-key to indicate a useless key sequence.
1787 recursive-edit
1789 Only useful from a user-defined widget. At this point in the
1790 function, the editor regains control until one of the standard
1791 widgets which would normally cause zle to exit (typically an
1792 accept-line caused by hitting the return key) is executed.
1793 Instead, control returns to the user-defined widget. The status
1794 returned is non-zero if the return was caused by an error, but
1795 the function still continues executing and hence may tidy up.
1796 This makes it safe for the user-defined widget to alter the com‐
1797 mand line or key bindings temporarily.
1798 The following widget, caps-lock, serves as an example.
1800 self-insert-ucase() {
1801 LBUFFER+=${(U)KEYS[-1]}
1802 }
1803 integer stat
1805 zle -N self-insert self-insert-ucase
1807 zle -A caps-lock save-caps-lock
1808 zle -A accept-line caps-lock
1809 zle recursive-edit
1811 stat=$?
1812 zle -A .self-insert self-insert
1814 zle -A save-caps-lock caps-lock
1815 zle -D save-caps-lock
1816 (( stat )) && zle send-break
1818 return $stat
1820 This causes typed letters to be inserted capitalised until
1821 either accept-line (i.e. typically the return key) is typed or
1822 the caps-lock widget is invoked again; the later is handled by
1823 saving the old definition of caps-lock as save-caps-lock and
1824 then rebinding it to invoke accept-line. Note that an error
1825 from the recursive edit is detected as a non-zero return status
1826 and propagated by using the send-break widget.
1827 redisplay (unbound) (^R) (^R)
1829 Redisplays the edit buffer.
1830 reset-prompt (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
1832 Force the prompts on both the left and right of the screen to be
1833 re-expanded, then redisplay the edit buffer. This reflects
1834 changes both to the prompt variables themselves and changes in
1835 the expansion of the values (for example, changes in time or
1836 directory, or changes to the value of variables referred to by
1837 the prompt).
1838 Otherwise, the prompt is only expanded each time zle starts, and
1840 when the display as been interrupted by output from another part
1841 of the shell (such as a job notification) which causes the com‐
1842 mand line to be reprinted.
1843 send-break (^G ESC-^G) (unbound) (unbound)
1845 Abort the current editor function, e.g. execute-named-command,
1846 or the editor itself, e.g. if you are in vared. Otherwise abort
1847 the parsing of the current line; in this case the aborted line
1848 is available in the shell variable ZLE_LINE_ABORTED.
1849 run-help (ESC-H ESC-h) (unbound) (unbound)
1851 Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
1852 `run-help cmd', where cmd is the current command. run-help is
1853 normally aliased to man.
1854 vi-set-buffer (unbound) (") (unbound)
1856 Specify a buffer to be used in the following command. There are
1857 35 buffers that can be specified: the 26 `named' buffers "a to
1858 "z and the nine `queued' buffers "1 to "9. The named buffers
1859 can also be specified as "A to "Z.
1860 When a buffer is specified for a cut command, the text being cut
1862 replaces the previous contents of the specified buffer. If a
1863 named buffer is specified using a capital, the newly cut text is
1864 appended to the buffer instead of overwriting it.
1865 If no buffer is specified for a cut command, "1 is used, and the
1867 contents of "1 to "8 are each shifted along one buffer; the con‐
1868 tents of "9 is lost.
1869 vi-set-mark (unbound) (m) (unbound)
1871 Set the specified mark at the cursor position.
1872 set-mark-command (^@) (unbound) (unbound)
1874 Set the mark at the cursor position. If called with a negative
1875 prefix argument, do not set the mark but deactivate the region
1876 so that it is no longer highlighted (it is still usable for
1877 other purposes). Otherwise the region is marked as active.
1878 spell-word (ESC-$ ESC-S ESC-s) (unbound) (unbound)
1880 Attempt spelling correction on the current word.
1881 undefined-key
1883 This command is executed when a key sequence that is not bound
1884 to any command is typed. By default it beeps.
1885 undo (^_ ^Xu ^X^U) (unbound) (unbound)
1887 Incrementally undo the last text modification. When called from
1888 a user-defined widget, takes an optional argument indicating a
1889 previous state of the undo history as returned by the
1890 UNDO_CHANGE_NO variable; modifications are undone until that
1891 state is reached.
1892 redo Incrementally redo undone text modifications.
1894 vi-undo-change (unbound) (u) (unbound)
1896 Undo the last text modification. If repeated, redo the modifi‐
1897 cation.
1898 what-cursor-position (^X=) (unbound) (unbound)
1900 Print the character under the cursor, its code as an octal, dec‐
1901 imal and hexadecimal number, the current cursor position within
1902 the buffer and the column of the cursor in the current line.
1903 where-is
1905 Read the name of an editor command and print the listing of key
1906 sequences that invoke the specified command. A restricted set
1907 of editing functions is available in the mini-buffer. Keys are
1908 looked up in the special command keymap, and if not found there
1909 in the main keymap.
1910 which-command (ESC-?) (unbound) (unbound)
1912 Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
1913 `which-command cmd'. where cmd is the current command.
1914 which-command is normally aliased to whence.
1915 vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line (unbound) (0) (unbound)
1917 If the last command executed was a digit as part of an argument,
1918 continue the argument. Otherwise, execute vi-beginning-of-line.
1919
1921 The line editor has the ability to highlight characters or regions of
1922 the line that have a particular significance. This is controlled by
1923 the array parameter zle_highlight, if it has been set by the user.
1924 If the parameter contains the single entry none all highlighting is
1926 turned off. Note the parameter is still expected to be an array.
1927 Otherwise each entry of the array should consist of a word indicating a
1929 context for highlighting, then a colon, then a comma-separated list of
1930 the types of highlighting to apply in that context.
1931 The contexts available for highlighting are the following:
1933 default
1935 Any text within the command line not affected by any other high‐
1936 lighting. Text outside the editable area of the command line is
1937 not affected.
1938 isearch
1940 When one of the incremental history search widgets is active,
1941 the area of the command line matched by the search string or
1942 pattern.
1943 region The region between the cursor (point) and the mark as set with
1945 set-mark-command. The region is only highlighted if it is
1946 active, which is the case if set-mark-command or
1947 exchange-point-and-mark has been called and the line has not
1948 been subsequently modified. The region can be deactivated by
1949 calling set-mark-command with a negative prefix argument, or
1950 reactivated by calling exchange-point-and-mark with a zero pre‐
1951 fix argument. Note that whether or not the region is active has
1952 no effect on its use within widgets, it simply determines
1953 whether it is highlighted.
1954 special
1956 Individual characters that have no direct printable representa‐
1957 tion but are shown in a special manner by the line editor.
1958 These characters are described below.
1959 suffix This context is used in completion for characters that are
1961 marked as suffixes that will be removed if the completion ends
1962 at that point, the most obvious example being a slash (/) after
1963 a directory name. Note that suffix removal is configurable; the
1964 circumstances under which the suffix will be removed may differ
1965 for different completions.
1966 zle_highlight may contain additional fields for controlling how termi‐
1968 nal sequences to change colours are output. Each of the following is
1969 followed by a colon and a string in the same form as for key bindings.
1970 This will not be necessary for the vast majority of terminals as the
1971 defaults shown in parentheses are widely used.
1972 fg_start_code (\e[3)
1974 The start of the escape sequence for the foreground colour.
1975 This is followed by an ASCII digit representing the colour.
1976 fg_default_code (9)
1978 The number to use instead of the colour to reset the default
1979 foreground colour.
1980 fg_end_code (m)
1982 The end of the escape sequence for the foreground colour.
1983 bg_start_code (\e[4)
1985 The start of the escape sequence for the background colour.
1986 This is followed by an ASCII digit representing the colour.
1987 bg_default_code (9)
1989 The number to use instead of the colour to reset the default
1990 background colour.
1991 bg_end_code (m)
1993 The end of the escape sequence for the background colour.
1994 The available types of highlighting are the following. Note that not
1996 all types of highlighting are available on all terminals:
1997 none No highlighting is applied to the given context. It is not use‐
1999 ful for this to appear with other types of highlighting; it is
2000 used to override a default.
2001 fg=colour
2003 The foreground colour should be set to colour, a decimal integer
2004 or the name of one of the eight most widely-supported colours.
2005 Not all terminals support this and, of those that do, not all
2007 provide facilities to test the support, hence the user should
2008 decide based on the terminal type. Most terminals support the
2009 colours black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and
2010 white, which can be set by name. In addition. default may be
2011 used to set the terminal's default foreground colour. Abbrevia‐
2012 tions are allowed; b or bl selects black. Some terminals may
2013 generate additional colours if the bold attribute is also
2014 present.
2015 On recent terminals and on systems with an up-to-date terminal
2017 database the number of colours supported may be tested by the
2018 command `echotc Co'; if this succeeds, it indicates a limit on
2019 the number of colours which will be enforced by the line editor.
2020 The number of colours is in any case limited to 256 (i.e. the
2021 range 0 to 255).
2022 Colour is also known as color.
2024 bg=colour
2026 The background colour should be set to colour. This works simi‐
2027 larly to the foreground colour, except the background is not
2028 usually affected by the bold attribute.
2029 bold The characters in the given context are shown in a bold font.
2031 Not all terminals distinguish bold fonts.
2032 standout
2034 The characters in the given context are shown in the terminal's
2035 standout mode. The actual effect is specific to the terminal;
2036 on many terminals it is inverse video. On some such terminals,
2037 where the cursor does not blink it appears with standout mode
2038 negated, making it less than clear where the cursor actually is.
2039 On such terminals one of the other effects may be preferable for
2040 highlighting the region and matched search string.
2041 underline
2043 The characters in the given context are shown underlined. Some
2044 terminals show the foreground in a different colour instead; in
2045 this case whitespace will not be highlighted.
2046 The characters described above as `special' are as follows. The for‐
2048 matting described here is used irrespective of whether the characters
2049 are highlighted:
2050 ASCII control characters
2052 Control characters in the ASCII range are shown as `^' followed
2053 by the base character.
2054 Unprintable multibyte characters
2056 This item applies to control characters not in the ASCII range,
2057 plus other characters as follows. If the MULTIBYTE option is in
2058 effect, multibyte characters not in the ASCII character set that
2059 are reported as having zero width are treated as combining char‐
2060 acters when the option COMBINING_CHARS is on. If the option is
2061 off, or if a character appears where a combining character is
2062 not valid, the character is treated as unprintable.
2063 Unprintable multibyte characters are shown as a hexadecimal num‐
2065 ber between angle brackets. The number is the code point of the
2066 character in the wide character set; this may or may not be Uni‐
2067 code, depending on the operating system.
2068 Invalid multibyte characters
2070 If the MULTIBYTE option is in effect, any sequence of one or
2071 more bytes that does not form a valid character in the current
2072 character set is treated as a series of bytes each shown as a
2073 special character. This case can be distinguished from other
2074 unprintable characters as the bytes are represented as two hexa‐
2075 decimal digits between angle brackets, as distinct from the four
2076 or eight digits that are used for unprintable characters that
2077 are nonetheless valid in the current character set.
2078 Not all systems support this: for it to work, the system's rep‐
2080 resentation of wide characters must be code values from the Uni‐
2081 versal Character Set, as defined by IS0 10646 (also known as
2082 Unicode).
2083 Wrapped double-width characters
2085 When a double-width character appears in the final column of a
2086 line, it is instead shown on the next line. The empty space left
2087 in the original position is highlighted as a special character.
2088 If zle_highlight is not set or no value applies to a particular con‐
2090 text, the defaults applied are equivalent to
2091 zle_highlight=(region:standout special:standout
2093 suffix:bold isearch:underline)
2094 i.e. both the region and special characters are shown in standout mode.
2096 Within widgets, arbitrary regions may be highlighted by setting the
2098 special array parameter region_highlight; see above.
2099zsh 5.0.2 December 21, 2012 ZSHZLE(1)