1ZSHZLE(1) General Commands Manual ZSHZLE(1)
2
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
25 A keymap in ZLE contains a set of bindings between key sequences and
26 ZLE commands. The empty key sequence cannot be bound.
27 There can be any number of keymaps at any time, and each keymap has one
29 or more names. If all of a keymap's names are deleted, it disappears.
30 bindkey can be used to manipulate keymap names.
31 Initially, there are four keymaps:
33 emacs EMACS emulation
35 viins vi emulation - insert mode
36 vicmd vi emulation - command mode
37 .safe fallback keymap
38 The `.safe' keymap is special. It can never be altered, and the name
40 can never be removed. However, it can be linked to other names, which
41 can be removed. In the future other special keymaps may be added;
42 users should avoid using names beginning with `.' for their own
43 keymaps.
44 In addition to these four names, either `emacs' or `viins' is also
46 linked to the name `main'. If one of the VISUAL or EDITOR environment
47 variables contain the string `vi' when the shell starts up then it will
48 be `viins', otherwise it will be `emacs'. bindkey's -e and -v options
49 provide a convenient way to override this default choice.
50 When the editor starts up, it will select the `main' keymap. If that
52 keymap doesn't exist, it will use `.safe' instead.
53 In the `.safe' keymap, each single key is bound to self-insert, except
55 for ^J (line feed) and ^M (return) which are bound to accept-line.
56 This is deliberately not pleasant to use; if you are using it, it means
57 you deleted the main keymap, and you should put it back.
58 Reading Commands
60 When ZLE is reading a command from the terminal, it may read a sequence
61 that is bound to some command and is also a prefix of a longer bound
62 string. In this case ZLE will wait a certain time to see if more char‐
63 acters are typed, and if not (or they don't match any longer string) it
64 will execute the binding. This timeout is defined by the KEYTIMEOUT
65 parameter; its default is 0.4 sec. There is no timeout if the prefix
66 string is not itself bound to a command.
67 As well as ZLE commands, key sequences can be bound to other strings,
69 by using `bindkey -s'. When such a sequence is read, the replacement
70 string is pushed back as input, and the command reading process starts
71 again using these fake keystrokes. This input can itself invoke fur‐
72 ther replacement strings, but in order to detect loops the process will
73 be stopped if there are twenty such replacements without a real command
74 being read.
75
77 The ZLE module contains three related builtin commands. The bindkey
78 command manipulates keymaps and key bindings; the vared command invokes
79 ZLE on the value of a shell parameter; and the zle command manipulates
80 editing widgets and allows command line access to ZLE commands from
81 within shell functions.
82 bindkey [ options ] -l
84 bindkey [ options ] -d
85 bindkey [ options ] -D keymap ...
86 bindkey [ options ] -A old-keymap new-keymap
87 bindkey [ options ] -N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
88 bindkey [ options ] -m
89 bindkey [ options ] -r in-string ...
90 bindkey [ options ] -s in-string out-string ...
91 bindkey [ options ] in-string command ...
92 bindkey [ options ] [ in-string ]
93 bindkey's options can be divided into three categories: keymap
94 selection, operation selection, and others. The keymap selec‐
95 tion options are:
96 -e Selects keymap `emacs', and also links it to `main'.
98 -v Selects keymap `viins', and also links it to `main'.
100 -a Selects keymap `vicmd'.
102 -M keymap
104 The keymap specifies a keymap name.
105 If a keymap selection is required and none of the options above
107 are used, the `main' keymap is used. Some operations do not
108 permit a keymap to be selected, namely:
109 -l List all existing keymap names. If the -L option is also
111 used, list in the form of bindkey commands to create the
112 keymaps.
113 -d Delete all existing keymaps and reset to the default
115 state.
116 -D keymap ...
118 Delete the named keymaps.
119 -A old-keymap new-keymap
121 Make the new-keymap name an alias for old-keymap, so that
122 both names refer to the same keymap. The names have
123 equal standing; if either is deleted, the other remains.
124 If there is already a keymap with the new-keymap name, it
125 is deleted.
126 -N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
128 Create a new keymap, named new-keymap. If a keymap
129 already has that name, it is deleted. If an old-keymap
130 name is given, the new keymap is initialized to be a
131 duplicate of it, otherwise the new keymap will be empty.
132 To use a newly created keymap, it should be linked to main.
134 Hence the sequence of commands to create and use a new keymap
135 `mymap' initialized from the emacs keymap (which remains
136 unchanged) is:
137 bindkey -N mymap emacs
139 bindkey -A mymap main
140 Note that while `bindkey -A newmap main' will work when newmap
142 is emacs or viins, it will not work for vicmd, as switching from
143 vi insert to command mode becomes impossible.
144 The following operations act on the `main' keymap if no keymap
146 selection option was given:
147 -m Add the built-in set of meta-key bindings to the selected
149 keymap. Only keys that are unbound or bound to
150 self-insert are affected.
151 -r in-string ...
153 Unbind the specified in-strings in the selected keymap.
154 This is exactly equivalent to binding the strings to
155 undefined-key.
156 When -R is also used, interpret the in-strings as ranges.
158 When -p is also used, the in-strings specify prefixes.
160 Any binding that has the given in-string as a prefix, not
161 including the binding for the in-string itself, if any,
162 will be removed. For example,
163 bindkey -rpM viins '^['
165 will remove all bindings in the vi-insert keymap begin‐
167 ning with an escape character (probably cursor keys), but
168 leave the binding for the escape character itself (proba‐
169 bly vi-cmd-mode). This is incompatible with the option
170 -R.
171 -s in-string out-string ...
173 Bind each in-string to each out-string. When in-string
174 is typed, out-string will be pushed back and treated as
175 input to the line editor. When -R is also used, inter‐
176 pret the in-strings as ranges.
177 in-string command ...
179 Bind each in-string to each command. When -R is used,
180 interpret the in-strings as ranges.
181 [ in-string ]
183 List key bindings. If an in-string is specified, the
184 binding of that string in the selected keymap is dis‐
185 played. Otherwise, all key bindings in the selected
186 keymap are displayed. (As a special case, if the -e or
187 -v option is used alone, the keymap is not displayed -
188 the implicit linking of keymaps is the only thing that
189 happens.)
190 When the option -p is used, the in-string must be
192 present. The listing shows all bindings which have the
193 given key sequence as a prefix, not including any bind‐
194 ings for the key sequence itself.
195 When the -L option is used, the list is in the form of
197 bindkey commands to create the key bindings.
198 When the -R option is used as noted above, a valid range consists of
200 two characters, with an optional `-' between them. All characters
201 between the two specified, inclusive, are bound as specified.
202 For either in-string or out-string, the following escape sequences are
204 recognised:
205 \a bell character
207 \b backspace
208 \e, \E escape
209 \f form feed
210 \n linefeed (newline)
211 \r carriage return
212 \t horizontal tab
213 \v vertical tab
214 \NNN character code in octal
215 \xNN character code in hexadecimal
216 \M[-]X character with meta bit set
217 \C[-]X control character
218 ^X control character
219 In all other cases, `\' escapes the following character. Delete is
221 written as `^?'. Note that `\M^?' and `^\M?' are not the same, and
222 that (unlike emacs), the bindings `\M-X' and `\eX' are entirely dis‐
223 tinct, although they are initialized to the same bindings by `bindkey
224 -m'.
225 vared [ -Aache ] [ -p prompt ] [ -r rprompt ]
227 [ -M main-keymap ] [ -m vicmd-keymap ] name
228 The value of the parameter name is loaded into the edit buffer,
229 and the line editor is invoked. When the editor exits, name is
230 set to the string value returned by the editor. When the -c
231 flag is given, the parameter is created if it doesn't already
232 exist. The -a flag may be given with -c to create an array
233 parameter, or the -A flag to create an associative array. If
234 the type of an existing parameter does not match the type to be
235 created, the parameter is unset and recreated.
236 If an array or array slice is being edited, separator characters
238 as defined in $IFS will be shown quoted with a backslash, as
239 will backslashes themselves. Conversely, when the edited text
240 is split into an array, a backslash quotes an immediately fol‐
241 lowing separator character or backslash; no other special han‐
242 dling of backslashes, or any handling of quotes, is performed.
243 Individual elements of existing array or associative array
245 parameters may be edited by using subscript syntax on name. New
246 elements are created automatically, even without -c.
247 If the -p flag is given, the following string will be taken as
249 the prompt to display at the left. If the -r flag is given, the
250 following string gives the prompt to display at the right. If
251 the -h flag is specified, the history can be accessed from ZLE.
252 If the -e flag is given, typing ^D (Control-D) on an empty line
253 causes vared to exit immediately with a non-zero return value.
254 The -M option gives a keymap to link to the main keymap during
256 editing, and the -m option gives a keymap to link to the vicmd
257 keymap during editing. For vi-style editing, this allows a pair
258 of keymaps to override viins and vicmd. For emacs-style edit‐
259 ing, only -M is normally needed but the -m option may still be
260 used. On exit, the previous keymaps will be restored.
261 zle
263 zle -l [ -L | -a ] [ string ... ]
264 zle -D widget ...
265 zle -A old-widget new-widget
266 zle -N widget [ function ]
267 zle -C widget completion-widget function
268 zle -R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
269 zle -M string
270 zle -U string
271 zle -K keymap
272 zle -F [ -L ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
273 zle -I
274 zle widget [ -n num ] [ -N ] args ...
275 The zle builtin performs a number of different actions concern‐
276 ing ZLE.
277 With no options and no arguments, only the return status will be
279 set. It is zero if ZLE is currently active and widgets could be
280 invoked using this builtin command and non-zero otherwise. Note
281 that even if non-zero status is returned, zle may still be
282 active as part of the completion system; this does not allow
283 direct calls to ZLE widgets.
284 Otherwise, which operation it performs depends on its options:
286 -l [ -L | -a ]
288 List all existing user-defined widgets. If the -L option
289 is used, list in the form of zle commands to create the
290 widgets.
291 When combined with the -a option, all widget names are
293 listed, including the builtin ones. In this case the -L
294 option is ignored.
295 If at least one string is given, nothing will be printed
297 but the return status will be zero if all strings are
298 names of existing widgets (or of user-defined widgets if
299 the -a flag is not given) and non-zero if at least one
300 string is not a name of an defined widget.
301 -D widget ...
303 Delete the named widgets.
304 -A old-widget new-widget
306 Make the new-widget name an alias for old-widget, so that
307 both names refer to the same widget. The names have
308 equal standing; if either is deleted, the other remains.
309 If there is already a widget with the new-widget name, it
310 is deleted.
311 -N widget [ function ]
313 Create a user-defined widget. If there is already a wid‐
314 get with the specified name, it is overwritten. When the
315 new widget is invoked from within the editor, the speci‐
316 fied shell function is called. If no function name is
317 specified, it defaults to the same name as the widget.
318 For further information, see the section Widgets in zsh‐
319 zle(1).
320 -C widget completion-widget function
322 Create a user-defined completion widget named widget. The
323 completion widget will behave like the built-in comple‐
324 tion-widget whose name is given as completion-widget. To
325 generate the completions, the shell function function
326 will be called. For further information, see zshcomp‐
327 wid(1).
328 -R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
330 Redisplay the command line; this is to be called from
331 within a user-defined widget to allow changes to become
332 visible. If a display-string is given and not empty,
333 this is shown in the status line (immediately below the
334 line being edited).
335 If the optional strings are given they are listed below
337 the prompt in the same way as completion lists are
338 printed. If no strings are given but the -c option is
339 used such a list is cleared.
340 Note that this option is only useful for widgets that do
342 not exit immediately after using it because the strings
343 displayed will be erased immediately after return from
344 the widget.
345 This command can safely be called outside user defined
347 widgets; if zle is active, the display will be refreshed,
348 while if zle is not active, the command has no effect.
349 In this case there will usually be no other arguments.
350 The status is zero if zle was active, else one.
352 -M string
354 As with the -R option, the string will be displayed below
355 the command line; unlike the -R option, the string will
356 not be put into the status line but will instead be
357 printed normally below the prompt. This means that the
358 string will still be displayed after the widget returns
359 (until it is overwritten by subsequent commands).
360 -U string
362 This pushes the characters in the string onto the input
363 stack of ZLE. After the widget currently executed fin‐
364 ishes ZLE will behave as if the characters in the string
365 were typed by the user.
366 As ZLE uses a stack, if this option is used repeatedly
368 the last string pushed onto the stack will be processed
369 first. However, the characters in each string will be
370 processed in the order in which they appear in the
371 string.
372 -K keymap
374 Selects the keymap named keymap. An error message will
375 be displayed if there is no such keymap.
376 This keymap selection affects the interpretation of fol‐
378 lowing keystrokes within this invocation of ZLE. Any
379 following invocation (e.g., the next command line) will
380 start as usual with the `main' keymap selected.
381 -F [ -L ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
383 Only available if your system supports one of the `poll'
384 or `select' system calls; most modern systems do.
385 Installs handler (the name of a shell function) to handle
387 input from file descriptor fd. When zle is attempting to
388 read data, it will examine both the terminal and the list
389 of handled fd's. If data becomes available on a handled
390 fd, zle will call handler with the fd which is ready for
391 reading as the only argument. If the handler produces
392 output to the terminal, it should call `zle -I' before
393 doing so (see below). The handler should not attempt to
394 read from the terminal. Note that zle makes no attempt
395 to check whether this fd is actually readable when
396 installing the handler. The user must make their own
397 arrangements for handling the file descriptor when zle is
398 not active.
399 Any number of handlers for any number of readable file
401 descriptors may be installed. Installing a handler for
402 an fd which is already handled causes the existing han‐
403 dler to be replaced.
404 If no handler is given, but an fd is present, any handler
406 for that fd is removed. If there is none, an error mes‐
407 sage is printed and status 1 is returned.
408 If no arguments are given, or the -L option is supplied,
410 a list of handlers is printed in a form which can be
411 stored for later execution.
412 An fd (but not a handler) may optionally be given with
414 the -L option; in this case, the function will list the
415 handler if any, else silently return status 1.
416 Note that this feature should be used with care. Activ‐
418 ity on one of the fd's which is not properly handled can
419 cause the terminal to become unusable.
420 Here is a simple example of using this feature. A con‐
422 nection to a remote TCP port is created using the ztcp
423 command; see the description of the zsh/net/tcp module in
424 zshmodules(1). Then a handler is installed which simply
425 prints out any data which arrives on this connection.
426 Note that `select' will indicate that the file descriptor
427 needs handling if the remote side has closed the connec‐
428 tion; we handle that by testing for a failed read.
429 if ztcp pwspc 2811; then
430 tcpfd=$REPLY
431 handler() {
432 zle -I
433 local line
434 if ! read -r line <&$1; then
435 # select marks this fd if we reach EOF,
436 # so handle this specially.
437 print "[Read on fd $1 failed, removing.]" >&2
438 zle -F $1
439 return 1
440 fi
441 print -r - $line
442 }
443 zle -F $tcpfd handler
444 fi
445 -I Unusually, this option is most useful outside ordinary
447 widget functions, though it may be used within if normal
448 output to the terminal is required. It invalidates the
449 current zle display in preparation for output; typically
450 this will be from a trap function. It has no effect if
451 zle is not active. When a trap exits, the shell checks
452 to see if the display needs restoring, hence the follow‐
453 ing will print output in such a way as not to disturb the
454 line being edited:
455 TRAPUSR1() {
457 # Invalidate zle display
458 [[ -o zle ]] && zle -I
459 # Show output
460 print Hello
461 }
462 In general, the trap function may need to test whether
464 zle is active before using this method (as shown in the
465 example), since the zsh/zle module may not even be
466 loaded; if it is not, the command can be skipped.
467 It is possible to call `zle -I' several times before con‐
469 trol is returned to the editor; the display will only be
470 invalidated the first time to minimise disruption.
471 Note that there are normally better ways of manipulating
473 the display from within zle widgets; see, for example,
474 `zle -R' above.
475 The returned status is zero if zle was invalidated, even
477 though this may have been by a previous call to `zle -I'
478 or by a system notification. To test if a zle widget may
479 be called at this point, execute zle with no arguments
480 and examine the return status.
481 widget [ -n num ] [ -N ] args ...
483 Invoke the specified widget. This can only be done when
484 ZLE is active; normally this will be within a
485 user-defined widget.
486 With the options -n and -N, the current numerical argu‐
488 ment will be saved and then restored after the call to
489 widget; `-n num' sets the numerical argument temporarily
490 to num, while `-N' sets it to the default, i.e. as if
491 there were none.
492 Any further arguments will be passed to the widget. If
494 it is a shell function, these are passed down as posi‐
495 tional parameters; for builtin widgets it is up to the
496 widget in question what it does with them. Currently
497 arguments are only handled by the incremental-search com‐
498 mands, the history-search-forward and -backward and the
499 corresponding functions prefixed by vi-, and by univer‐
500 sal-argument. No error is flagged if the command does
501 not use the arguments, or only uses some of them.
502 The return status reflects the success or failure of the
504 operation carried out by the widget, or if it is a
505 user-defined widget the return status of the shell func‐
506 tion.
507 A non-zero return status causes the shell to beep when
509 the widget exits, unless the BEEP options was unset or
510 the widget was called via the zle command. Thus if a
511 user defined widget requires an immediate beep, it should
512 call the beep widget directly.
513
515 All actions in the editor are performed by `widgets'. A widget's job
516 is simply to perform some small action. The ZLE commands that key
517 sequences in keymaps are bound to are in fact widgets. Widgets can be
518 user-defined or built in.
519 The standard widgets built in to ZLE are listed in Standard Widgets
521 below. Other built-in widgets can be defined by other modules (see
522 zshmodules(1)). Each built-in widget has two names: its normal canoni‐
523 cal name, and the same name preceded by a `.'. The `.' name is spe‐
524 cial: it can't be rebound to a different widget. This makes the widget
525 available even when its usual name has been redefined.
526 User-defined widgets are defined using `zle -N', and implemented as
528 shell functions. When the widget is executed, the corresponding shell
529 function is executed, and can perform editing (or other) actions. It
530 is recommended that user-defined widgets should not have names starting
531 with `.'.
532
534 User-defined widgets, being implemented as shell functions, can execute
535 any normal shell command. They can also run other widgets (whether
536 built-in or user-defined) using the zle builtin command. The standard
537 input of the function is closed to prevent external commands from unin‐
538 tentionally blocking ZLE by reading from the terminal, but read -k or
539 read -q can be used to read characters. Finally, they can examine and
540 edit the ZLE buffer being edited by reading and setting the special
541 parameters described below.
542 These special parameters are always available in widget functions, but
544 are not in any way special outside ZLE. If they have some normal value
545 outside ZLE, that value is temporarily inaccessible, but will return
546 when the widget function exits. These special parameters in fact have
547 local scope, like parameters created in a function using local.
548 Inside completion widgets and traps called while ZLE is active, these
550 parameters are available read-only.
551 BUFFER (scalar)
553 The entire contents of the edit buffer. If it is written to,
554 the cursor remains at the same offset, unless that would put it
555 outside the buffer.
556 BUFFERLINES (integer)
558 The number of screen lines needed for the edit buffer currently
559 displayed on screen (i.e. without any changes to the preceding
560 parameters done after the last redisplay); read-only.
561 CONTEXT (scalar)
563 The context in which zle was called to read a line; read-only.
564 One of the values:
565 start The start of a command line (at prompt PS1).
566 cont A continuation to a command line (at prompt PS2).
568 select In a select loop.
570 vared Editing a variable in vared.
572 CURSOR (integer)
574 The offset of the cursor, within the edit buffer. This is in
575 the range 0 to $#BUFFER, and is by definition equal to
576 $#LBUFFER. Attempts to move the cursor outside the buffer will
577 result in the cursor being moved to the appropriate end of the
578 buffer.
579 CUTBUFFER (scalar)
581 The last item to be cut using one of the `kill-' commands; the
582 string which the next yank would insert in the line.
583 HISTNO (integer)
585 The current history number. Setting this has the same effect as
586 moving up or down in the history to the corresponding history
587 line. An attempt to set it is ignored if the line is not stored
588 in the history. Note this is not the same as the parameter
589 HISTCMD, which always gives the number of the history line being
590 added to the main shell's history. HISTNO refers to the line
591 being retrieved within zle.
592 KEYMAP (scalar)
594 The name of the currently selected keymap; read-only.
595 KEYS (scalar)
597 The keys typed to invoke this widget, as a literal string;
598 read-only.
599 killring (array)
601 The array of previously killed items, with the most recently
602 killed first. This gives the items that would be retrieved by a
603 yank-pop in the same order.
604 The default size for the kill ring is eight, however the length
606 may be changed by normal array operations. Any empty string in
607 the kill ring is ignored by the yank-pop command, hence the size
608 of the array effectively sets the maximum length of the kill
609 ring, while the number of non-zero strings gives the current
610 length, both as seen by the user at the command line.
611 LASTSEARCH (scalar)
613 The last search string used by an interactive search ;
614 read-only.
615 LASTWIDGET (scalar)
617 The name of the last widget that was executed; read-only.
618 LBUFFER (scalar)
620 The part of the buffer that lies to the left of the cursor posi‐
621 tion. If it is assigned to, only that part of the buffer is
622 replaced, and the cursor remains between the new $LBUFFER and
623 the old $RBUFFER.
624 MARK (integer)
626 Like CURSOR, but for the mark.
627 NUMERIC (integer)
629 The numeric argument. If no numeric argument was given, this
630 parameter is unset. When this is set inside a widget function,
631 builtin widgets called with the zle builtin command will use the
632 value assigned. If it is unset inside a widget function, builtin
633 widgets called behave as if no numeric argument was given.
634 PENDING (integer)
636 The number of bytes pending for input, i.e. the number of bytes
637 which have already been typed and can immediately be read. On
638 systems where the shell is not able to get this information,
639 this parameter will always have a value of zero. Read-only.
640 PREBUFFER (scalar)
642 In a multi-line input at the secondary prompt, this read-only
643 parameter contains the contents of the lines before the one the
644 cursor is currently in.
645 PREDISPLAY (scalar)
647 Text to be displayed before the start of the editable text buf‐
648 fer. This does not have to be a complete line; to display a
649 complete line, a newline must be appended explicitly. The
650 text is reset on each new invocation (but not recursive invoca‐
651 tion) of zle.
652 POSTDISPLAY (scalar)
654 Text to be displayed after the end of the editable text buffer.
655 This does not have to be a complete line; to display a complete
656 line, a newline must be prepended explicitly. The text is reset
657 on each new invocation (but not recursive invocation) of zle.
658 RBUFFER (scalar)
660 The part of the buffer that lies to the right of the cursor
661 position. If it is assigned to, only that part of the buffer is
662 replaced, and the cursor remains between the old $LBUFFER and
663 the new $RBUFFER.
664 WIDGET (scalar)
666 The name of the widget currently being executed; read-only.
667 WIDGETFUNC (scalar)
669 The name of the shell function that implements a widget defined
670 with either zle -N or zle -C. In the former case, this is the
671 second argument to the zle -N command that defined the widget,
672 or the first argument if there was no second argument. In the
673 latter case this is the the third argument to the zle -C command
674 that defined the widget. Read-only.
675 WIDGETSTYLE (scalar)
677 Describes the implementation behind the completion widget cur‐
678 rently being executed; the second argument that followed zle -C
679 when the widget was defined. This is the name of a builtin com‐
680 pletion widget. For widgets defined with zle -N this is set to
681 the empty string. Read-only.
682 Special Widget
684 There is one user-defined widget which is special to the shell. If it
685 does not exist, no special action is taken. The environment provided
686 is identical to that for any other editing widget.
687 zle-line-init
689 Executed every time the line editor is started to read a new
690 line of input. The following example puts the line editor into
691 vi command mode when it starts up.
692 zle-line-init() { zle -K vicmd; }
694 zle -N zle-line-init
695 (The command inside the function sets the keymap directly; it is
697 equivalent to zle vi-cmd-mode.)
698
700 The following is a list of all the standard widgets, and their default
701 bindings in emacs mode, vi command mode and vi insert mode (the
702 `emacs', `vicmd' and `viins' keymaps, respectively).
703 Note that cursor keys are bound to movement keys in all three keymaps;
705 the shell assumes that the cursor keys send the key sequences reported
706 by the terminal-handling library (termcap or terminfo). The key
707 sequences shown in the list are those based on the VT100, common on
708 many modern terminals, but in fact these are not necessarily bound. In
709 the case of the viins keymap, the initial escape character of the
710 sequences serves also to return to the vicmd keymap: whether this hap‐
711 pens is determined by the KEYTIMEOUT parameter, see zshparam(1).
712 Movement
714 vi-backward-blank-word (unbound) (B) (unbound)
715 Move backward one word, where a word is defined as a series of
716 non-blank characters.
717 backward-char (^B ESC-[D) (unbound) (unbound)
719 Move backward one character.
720 vi-backward-char (unbound) (^H h ^?) (ESC-[D)
722 Move backward one character, without changing lines.
723 backward-word (ESC-B ESC-b) (unbound) (unbound)
725 Move to the beginning of the previous word.
726 emacs-backward-word
728 Move to the beginning of the previous word.
729 vi-backward-word (unbound) (b) (unbound)
731 Move to the beginning of the previous word, vi-style.
732 beginning-of-line (^A) (unbound) (unbound)
734 Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the beginning
735 of the line, move to the beginning of the previous line, if any.
736 vi-beginning-of-line
738 Move to the beginning of the line, without changing lines.
739 end-of-line (^E) (unbound) (unbound)
741 Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of the line,
742 move to the end of the next line, if any.
743 vi-end-of-line (unbound) ($) (unbound)
745 Move to the end of the line. If an argument is given to this
746 command, the cursor will be moved to the end of the line (argu‐
747 ment - 1) lines down.
748 vi-forward-blank-word (unbound) (W) (unbound)
750 Move forward one word, where a word is defined as a series of
751 non-blank characters.
752 vi-forward-blank-word-end (unbound) (E) (unbound)
754 Move to the end of the current word, or, if at the end of the
755 current word, to the end of the next word, where a word is
756 defined as a series of non-blank characters.
757 forward-char (^F ESC-[C) (unbound) (unbound)
759 Move forward one character.
760 vi-forward-char (unbound) (space l) (ESC-[C)
762 Move forward one character.
763 vi-find-next-char (^X^F) (f) (unbound)
765 Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the next occur‐
766 rence of it in the line.
767 vi-find-next-char-skip (unbound) (t) (unbound)
769 Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the position
770 just before the next occurrence of it in the line.
771 vi-find-prev-char (unbound) (F) (unbound)
773 Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the previous
774 occurrence of it in the line.
775 vi-find-prev-char-skip (unbound) (T) (unbound)
777 Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the position
778 just after the previous occurrence of it in the line.
779 vi-first-non-blank (unbound) (^) (unbound)
781 Move to the first non-blank character in the line.
782 vi-forward-word (unbound) (w) (unbound)
784 Move forward one word, vi-style.
785 forward-word (ESC-F ESC-f) (unbound) (unbound)
787 Move to the beginning of the next word. The editor's idea of a
788 word is specified with the WORDCHARS parameter.
789 emacs-forward-word
791 Move to the end of the next word.
792 vi-forward-word-end (unbound) (e) (unbound)
794 Move to the end of the next word.
795 vi-goto-column (ESC-|) (|) (unbound)
797 Move to the column specified by the numeric argument.
798 vi-goto-mark (unbound) (`) (unbound)
800 Move to the specified mark.
801 vi-goto-mark-line (unbound) (') (unbound)
803 Move to beginning of the line containing the specified mark.
804 vi-repeat-find (unbound) (;) (unbound)
806 Repeat the last vi-find command.
807 vi-rev-repeat-find (unbound) (,) (unbound)
809 Repeat the last vi-find command in the opposite direction.
810 History Control
812 beginning-of-buffer-or-history (ESC-<) (unbound) (unbound)
813 Move to the beginning of the buffer, or if already there, move
814 to the first event in the history list.
815 beginning-of-line-hist
817 Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the beginning
818 of the buffer, move to the previous history line.
819 beginning-of-history
821 Move to the first event in the history list.
822 down-line-or-history (^N ESC-[B) (j) (ESC-[B)
824 Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom
825 line, move to the next event in the history list.
826 vi-down-line-or-history (unbound) (+) (unbound)
828 Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom
829 line, move to the next event in the history list. Then move to
830 the first non-blank character on the line.
831 down-line-or-search
833 Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom
834 line, search forward in the history for a line beginning with
835 the first word in the buffer.
836 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
838 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
839 rather than the first word in the buffer.
840 down-history (unbound) (^N) (unbound)
842 Move to the next event in the history list.
843 history-beginning-search-backward
845 Search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
846 current line up to the cursor. This leaves the cursor in its
847 original position.
848 end-of-buffer-or-history (ESC->) (unbound) (unbound)
850 Move to the end of the buffer, or if already there, move to the
851 last event in the history list.
852 end-of-line-hist
854 Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of the buf‐
855 fer, move to the next history line.
856 end-of-history
858 Move to the last event in the history list.
859 vi-fetch-history (unbound) (G) (unbound)
861 Fetch the history line specified by the numeric argument. This
862 defaults to the current history line (i.e. the one that isn't
863 history yet).
864 history-incremental-search-backward (^R ^Xr) (unbound) (unbound)
866 Search backward incrementally for a specified string. The
867 search is case-insensitive if the search string does not have
868 uppercase letters and no numeric argument was given. The string
869 may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the
870 line.
871 A restricted set of editing functions is available in the
873 mini-buffer. An interrupt signal, as defined by the stty set‐
874 ting, will stop the search and go back to the original line. An
875 undefined key will have the same effect. The supported functions
876 are: backward-delete-char, vi-backward-delete-char,
877 clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert, vi-quoted-insert,
878 accept-and-hold, accept-and-infer-next-history, accept-line and
879 accept-line-and-down-history.
880 magic-space just inserts a space. vi-cmd-mode toggles between
882 the `main' and `vicmd' keymaps; the `main' keymap (insert mode)
883 will be selected initially. history-incremental-search-backward
884 will get the next occurrence of the contents of the mini-buffer.
885 history-incremental-search-forward inverts the sense of the
886 search. vi-repeat-search and vi-rev-repeat-search are similarly
887 supported. The direction of the search is indicated in the
888 mini-buffer.
889 Any multi-character string that is not bound to one of the above
891 functions will beep and interrupt the search, leaving the last
892 found line in the buffer. Any single character that is not bound
893 to one of the above functions, or self-insert or
894 self-insert-unmeta, will have the same effect but the function
895 will be executed.
896 When called from a widget function by the zle command, the
898 incremental search commands can take a string argument. This
899 will be treated as a string of keys, as for arguments to the
900 bindkey command, and used as initial input for the command. Any
901 characters in the string which are unused by the incremental
902 search will be silently ignored. For example,
903 zle history-incremental-search-backward forceps
905 will search backwards for forceps, leaving the minibuffer con‐
907 taining the string `forceps'.
908 history-incremental-search-forward (^S ^Xs) (unbound) (unbound)
910 Search forward incrementally for a specified string. The search
911 is case-insensitive if the search string does not have uppercase
912 letters and no numeric argument was given. The string may begin
913 with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the line. The
914 functions available in the mini-buffer are the same as for his‐
915 tory-incremental-search-backward.
916 history-search-backward (ESC-P ESC-p) (unbound) (unbound)
918 Search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
919 first word in the buffer.
920 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
922 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
923 rather than the first word in the buffer.
924 vi-history-search-backward (unbound) (/) (unbound)
926 Search backward in the history for a specified string. The
927 string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning
928 of the line.
929 A restricted set of editing functions is available in the
931 mini-buffer. An interrupt signal, as defined by the stty set‐
932 ting, will stop the search. The functions available in the
933 mini-buffer are: accept-line, backward-delete-char, vi-back‐
934 ward-delete-char, backward-kill-word, vi-backward-kill-word,
935 clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert and vi-quoted-insert.
936 vi-cmd-mode is treated the same as accept-line, and magic-space
938 is treated as a space. Any other character that is not bound to
939 self-insert or self-insert-unmeta will beep and be ignored. If
940 the function is called from vi command mode, the bindings of the
941 current insert mode will be used.
942 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
944 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
945 rather than the first word in the buffer.
946 history-search-forward (ESC-N ESC-n) (unbound) (unbound)
948 Search forward in the history for a line beginning with the
949 first word in the buffer.
950 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
952 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
953 rather than the first word in the buffer.
954 vi-history-search-forward (unbound) (?) (unbound)
956 Search forward in the history for a specified string. The
957 string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning
958 of the line. The functions available in the mini-buffer are the
959 same as for vi-history-search-backward. Argument handling is
960 also the same as for that command.
961 infer-next-history (^X^N) (unbound) (unbound)
963 Search in the history list for a line matching the current one
964 and fetch the event following it.
965 insert-last-word (ESC-_ ESC-.) (unbound) (unbound)
967 Insert the last word from the previous history event at the cur‐
968 sor position. If a positive numeric argument is given, insert
969 that word from the end of the previous history event. If the
970 argument is zero or negative insert that word from the left
971 (zero inserts the previous command word). Repeating this com‐
972 mand replaces the word just inserted with the last word from the
973 history event prior to the one just used; numeric arguments can
974 be used in the same way to pick a word from that event.
975 When called from a shell function invoked from a user-defined
977 widget, the command can take one to three arguments. The first
978 argument specifies a history offset which applies to successive
979 calls to this widget: if is -1, the default behaviour is used,
980 while if it is 1, successive calls will move forwards through
981 the history. The value 0 can be used to indicate that the his‐
982 tory line examined by the previous execution of the command will
983 be reexamined. Note that negative numbers should be preceded
984 with a `--' argument to avoid confusing them with options.
985 If two arguments are given, the second specifies the word on the
987 command line in normal array index notation (as a more natural
988 alternative to the prefix argument). Hence 1 is the first word,
989 and -1 (the default) is the last word.
990 If a third argument is given, its value is ignored, but it is
992 used to signify that the history offset is relative to the cur‐
993 rent history line, rather than the one remembered after the pre‐
994 vious invocations of insert-last-word.
995 For example, the default behaviour of the command corresponds to
997 zle insert-last-word -- -1 -1
999 while the command
1001 zle insert-last-word -- -1 1 -
1003 always copies the first word of the line in the history immedi‐
1005 ately before the line being edited. This has the side effect
1006 that later invocations of the widget will be relative to that
1007 line.
1008 vi-repeat-search (unbound) (n) (unbound)
1010 Repeat the last vi history search.
1011 vi-rev-repeat-search (unbound) (N) (unbound)
1013 Repeat the last vi history search, but in reverse.
1014 up-line-or-history (^P ESC-[A) (k) (ESC-[A)
1016 Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
1017 move to the previous event in the history list.
1018 vi-up-line-or-history (unbound) (-) (unbound)
1020 Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
1021 move to the previous event in the history list. Then move to
1022 the first non-blank character on the line.
1023 up-line-or-search
1025 Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
1026 search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
1027 first word in the buffer.
1028 If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
1030 first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
1031 rather than the first word in the buffer.
1032 up-history (unbound) (^P) (unbound)
1034 Move to the previous event in the history list.
1035 history-beginning-search-forward
1037 Search forward in the history for a line beginning with the cur‐
1038 rent line up to the cursor. This leaves the cursor in its orig‐
1039 inal position.
1040 Modifying Text
1042 vi-add-eol (unbound) (A) (unbound)
1043 Move to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
1044 vi-add-next (unbound) (a) (unbound)
1046 Enter insert mode after the current cursor position, without
1047 changing lines.
1048 backward-delete-char (^H ^?) (unbound) (unbound)
1050 Delete the character behind the cursor.
1051 vi-backward-delete-char (unbound) (X) (^H)
1053 Delete the character behind the cursor, without changing lines.
1054 If in insert mode, this won't delete past the point where insert
1055 mode was last entered.
1056 backward-delete-word
1058 Delete the word behind the cursor.
1059 backward-kill-line
1061 Kill from the beginning of the line to the cursor position.
1062 backward-kill-word (^W ESC-^H ESC-^?) (unbound) (unbound)
1064 Kill the word behind the cursor.
1065 vi-backward-kill-word (unbound) (unbound) (^W)
1067 Kill the word behind the cursor, without going past the point
1068 where insert mode was last entered.
1069 capitalize-word (ESC-C ESC-c) (unbound) (unbound)
1071 Capitalize the current word and move past it.
1072 vi-change (unbound) (c) (unbound)
1074 Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill from the
1075 cursor position to the endpoint of the movement. Then enter
1076 insert mode. If the command is vi-change, change the current
1077 line.
1078 vi-change-eol (unbound) (C) (unbound)
1080 Kill to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
1081 vi-change-whole-line (unbound) (S) (unbound)
1083 Kill the current line and enter insert mode.
1084 copy-region-as-kill (ESC-W ESC-w) (unbound) (unbound)
1086 Copy the area from the cursor to the mark to the kill buffer.
1087 copy-prev-word (ESC-^_) (unbound) (unbound)
1089 Duplicate the word to the left of the cursor.
1090 copy-prev-shell-word
1092 Like copy-prev-word, but the word is found by using shell pars‐
1093 ing, whereas copy-prev-word looks for blanks. This makes a dif‐
1094 ference when the word is quoted and contains spaces.
1095 vi-delete (unbound) (d) (unbound)
1097 Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill from the
1098 cursor position to the endpoint of the movement. If the command
1099 is vi-delete, kill the current line.
1100 delete-char
1102 Delete the character under the cursor.
1103 vi-delete-char (unbound) (x) (unbound)
1105 Delete the character under the cursor, without going past the
1106 end of the line.
1107 delete-word
1109 Delete the current word.
1110 down-case-word (ESC-L ESC-l) (unbound) (unbound)
1112 Convert the current word to all lowercase and move past it.
1113 kill-word (ESC-D ESC-d) (unbound) (unbound)
1115 Kill the current word.
1116 gosmacs-transpose-chars
1118 Exchange the two characters behind the cursor.
1119 vi-indent (unbound) (>) (unbound)
1121 Indent a number of lines.
1122 vi-insert (unbound) (i) (unbound)
1124 Enter insert mode.
1125 vi-insert-bol (unbound) (I) (unbound)
1127 Move to the first non-blank character on the line and enter
1128 insert mode.
1129 vi-join (^X^J) (J) (unbound)
1131 Join the current line with the next one.
1132 kill-line (^K) (unbound) (unbound)
1134 Kill from the cursor to the end of the line. If already on the
1135 end of the line, kill the newline character.
1136 vi-kill-line (unbound) (unbound) (^U)
1138 Kill from the cursor back to wherever insert mode was last
1139 entered.
1140 vi-kill-eol (unbound) (D) (unbound)
1142 Kill from the cursor to the end of the line.
1143 kill-region
1145 Kill from the cursor to the mark.
1146 kill-buffer (^X^K) (unbound) (unbound)
1148 Kill the entire buffer.
1149 kill-whole-line (^U) (unbound) (unbound)
1151 Kill the current line.
1152 vi-match-bracket (^X^B) (%) (unbound)
1154 Move to the bracket character (one of {}, () or []) that matches
1155 the one under the cursor. If the cursor is not on a bracket
1156 character, move forward without going past the end of the line
1157 to find one, and then go to the matching bracket.
1158 vi-open-line-above (unbound) (O) (unbound)
1160 Open a line above the cursor and enter insert mode.
1161 vi-open-line-below (unbound) (o) (unbound)
1163 Open a line below the cursor and enter insert mode.
1164 vi-oper-swap-case
1166 Read a movement command from the keyboard, and swap the case of
1167 all characters from the cursor position to the endpoint of the
1168 movement. If the movement command is vi-oper-swap-case, swap
1169 the case of all characters on the current line.
1170 overwrite-mode (^X^O) (unbound) (unbound)
1172 Toggle between overwrite mode and insert mode.
1173 vi-put-before (unbound) (P) (unbound)
1175 Insert the contents of the kill buffer before the cursor. If
1176 the kill buffer contains a sequence of lines (as opposed to
1177 characters), paste it above the current line.
1178 vi-put-after (unbound) (p) (unbound)
1180 Insert the contents of the kill buffer after the cursor. If the
1181 kill buffer contains a sequence of lines (as opposed to charac‐
1182 ters), paste it below the current line.
1183 quoted-insert (^V) (unbound) (unbound)
1185 Insert the next character typed into the buffer literally. An
1186 interrupt character will not be inserted.
1187 vi-quoted-insert (unbound) (unbound) (^Q ^V)
1189 Display a `^' at the cursor position, and insert the next char‐
1190 acter typed into the buffer literally. An interrupt character
1191 will not be inserted.
1192 quote-line (ESC-') (unbound) (unbound)
1194 Quote the current line; that is, put a `'' character at the
1195 beginning and the end, and convert all `'' characters to `'\'''.
1196 quote-region (ESC-") (unbound) (unbound)
1198 Quote the region from the cursor to the mark.
1199 vi-replace (unbound) (R) (unbound)
1201 Enter overwrite mode.
1202 vi-repeat-change (unbound) (.) (unbound)
1204 Repeat the last vi mode text modification. If a count was used
1205 with the modification, it is remembered. If a count is given to
1206 this command, it overrides the remembered count, and is remem‐
1207 bered for future uses of this command. The cut buffer specifi‐
1208 cation is similarly remembered.
1209 vi-replace-chars (unbound) (r) (unbound)
1211 Replace the character under the cursor with a character read
1212 from the keyboard.
1213 self-insert (printable characters) (unbound) (printable characters and
1215 some control characters)
1216 Insert a character into the buffer at the cursor position.
1217 self-insert-unmeta (ESC-^I ESC-^J ESC-^M) (unbound) (unbound)
1219 Insert a character into the buffer after stripping the meta bit
1220 and converting ^M to ^J.
1221 vi-substitute (unbound) (s) (unbound)
1223 Substitute the next character(s).
1224 vi-swap-case (unbound) (~) (unbound)
1226 Swap the case of the character under the cursor and move past
1227 it.
1228 transpose-chars (^T) (unbound) (unbound)
1230 Exchange the two characters to the left of the cursor if at end
1231 of line, else exchange the character under the cursor with the
1232 character to the left.
1233 transpose-words (ESC-T ESC-t) (unbound) (unbound)
1235 Exchange the current word with the one before it.
1236 vi-unindent (unbound) (<) (unbound)
1238 Unindent a number of lines.
1239 up-case-word (ESC-U ESC-u) (unbound) (unbound)
1241 Convert the current word to all caps and move past it.
1242 yank (^Y) (unbound) (unbound)
1244 Insert the contents of the kill buffer at the cursor position.
1245 yank-pop (ESC-y) (unbound) (unbound)
1247 Remove the text just yanked, rotate the kill-ring, and yank the
1248 new top. Only works following yank or yank-pop.
1249 vi-yank (unbound) (y) (unbound)
1251 Read a movement command from the keyboard, and copy the region
1252 from the cursor position to the endpoint of the movement into
1253 the kill buffer. If the command is vi-yank, copy the current
1254 line.
1255 vi-yank-whole-line (unbound) (Y) (unbound)
1257 Copy the current line into the kill buffer.
1258 vi-yank-eol
1260 Copy the region from the cursor position to the end of the line
1261 into the kill buffer. Arguably, this is what Y should do in vi,
1262 but it isn't what it actually does.
1263 Arguments
1265 digit-argument (ESC-0..ESC-9) (1-9) (unbound)
1266 Start a new numeric argument, or add to the current one. See
1267 also vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line. This only works if bound to
1268 a key sequence ending in a decimal digit.
1269 Inside a widget function, a call to this function treats the
1271 last key of the key sequence which called the widget as the
1272 digit.
1273 neg-argument (ESC--) (unbound) (unbound)
1275 Changes the sign of the following argument.
1276 universal-argument
1278 Multiply the argument of the next command by 4. Alternatively,
1279 if this command is followed by an integer (positive or nega‐
1280 tive), use that as the argument for the next command. Thus dig‐
1281 its cannot be repeated using this command. For example, if this
1282 command occurs twice, followed immediately by forward-char, move
1283 forward sixteen spaces; if instead it is followed by -2, then
1284 forward-char, move backward two spaces.
1285 Inside a widget function, if passed an argument, i.e. `zle uni‐
1287 versal-argument num', the numerical argument will be set to num;
1288 this is equivalent to `NUMERIC=num'.
1289 Completion
1291 accept-and-menu-complete
1292 In a menu completion, insert the current completion into the
1293 buffer, and advance to the next possible completion.
1294 complete-word
1296 Attempt completion on the current word.
1297 delete-char-or-list (^D) (unbound) (unbound)
1299 Delete the character under the cursor. If the cursor is at the
1300 end of the line, list possible completions for the current word.
1301 expand-cmd-path
1303 Expand the current command to its full pathname.
1304 expand-or-complete (TAB) (unbound) (TAB)
1306 Attempt shell expansion on the current word. If that fails,
1307 attempt completion.
1308 expand-or-complete-prefix
1310 Attempt shell expansion on the current word up to cursor.
1311 expand-history (ESC-space ESC-!) (unbound) (unbound)
1313 Perform history expansion on the edit buffer.
1314 expand-word (^X*) (unbound) (unbound)
1316 Attempt shell expansion on the current word.
1317 list-choices (ESC-^D) (^D =) (^D)
1319 List possible completions for the current word.
1320 list-expand (^Xg ^XG) (^G) (^G)
1322 List the expansion of the current word.
1323 magic-space
1325 Perform history expansion and insert a space into the buffer.
1326 This is intended to be bound to space.
1327 menu-complete
1329 Like complete-word, except that menu completion is used. See
1330 the MENU_COMPLETE option.
1331 menu-expand-or-complete
1333 Like expand-or-complete, except that menu completion is used.
1334 reverse-menu-complete
1336 Perform menu completion, like menu-complete, except that if a
1337 menu completion is already in progress, move to the previous
1338 completion rather than the next.
1339 end-of-list
1341 When a previous completion displayed a list below the prompt,
1342 this widget can be used to move the prompt below the list.
1343 Miscellaneous
1345 accept-and-hold (ESC-A ESC-a) (unbound) (unbound)
1346 Push the contents of the buffer on the buffer stack and execute
1347 it.
1348 accept-and-infer-next-history
1350 Execute the contents of the buffer. Then search the history
1351 list for a line matching the current one and push the event fol‐
1352 lowing onto the buffer stack.
1353 accept-line (^J ^M) (^J ^M) (^J ^M)
1355 Finish editing the buffer. Normally this causes the buffer to
1356 be executed as a shell command.
1357 accept-line-and-down-history (^O) (unbound) (unbound)
1359 Execute the current line, and push the next history event on the
1360 the buffer stack.
1361 beep Beep, unless the BEEP option is unset.
1363 vi-cmd-mode (^X^V) (unbound) (^[)
1365 Enter command mode; that is, select the `vicmd' keymap. Yes,
1366 this is bound by default in emacs mode.
1367 vi-caps-lock-panic
1369 Hang until any lowercase key is pressed. This is for vi users
1370 without the mental capacity to keep track of their caps lock key
1371 (like the author).
1372 clear-screen (^L ESC-^L) (^L) (^L)
1374 Clear the screen and redraw the prompt.
1375 describe-key-briefly
1377 Reads a key sequence, then prints the function bound to that
1378 sequence.
1379 exchange-point-and-mark (^X^X) (unbound) (unbound)
1381 Exchange the cursor position with the position of the mark.
1382 execute-named-cmd (ESC-x) (unbound) (unbound)
1384 Read the name of an editor command and execute it. A restricted
1385 set of editing functions is available in the mini-buffer. An
1386 interrupt signal, as defined by the stty setting, will abort the
1387 function. The allowed functions are: backward-delete-char,
1388 vi-backward-delete-char, clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert,
1389 vi-quoted-insert, backward-kill-word, vi-backward-kill-word,
1390 kill-whole-line, vi-kill-line, backward-kill-line, list-choices,
1391 delete-char-or-list, complete-word, accept-line, expand-or-com‐
1392 plete and expand-or-complete-prefix.
1393 kill-region kills the last word, and vi-cmd-mode is treated the
1395 same as accept-line. The space and tab characters, if not bound
1396 to one of these functions, will complete the name and then list
1397 the possibilities if the AUTO_LIST option is set. Any other
1398 character that is not bound to self-insert or self-insert-unmeta
1399 will beep and be ignored. The bindings of the current insert
1400 mode will be used.
1401 Currently this command may not be redefined or called by name.
1403 execute-last-named-cmd (ESC-z) (unbound) (unbound)
1405 Redo the last function executed with execute-named-cmd.
1406 Currently this command may not be redefined or called by name.
1408 get-line (ESC-G ESC-g) (unbound) (unbound)
1410 Pop the top line off the buffer stack and insert it at the cur‐
1411 sor position.
1412 pound-insert (unbound) (#) (unbound)
1414 If there is no # character at the beginning of the buffer, add
1415 one to the beginning of each line. If there is one, remove a #
1416 from each line that has one. In either case, accept the current
1417 line. The INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS option must be set for this to
1418 have any usefulness.
1419 vi-pound-insert
1421 If there is no # character at the beginning of the current line,
1422 add one. If there is one, remove it. The INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
1423 option must be set for this to have any usefulness.
1424 push-input
1426 Push the entire current multiline construct onto the buffer
1427 stack and return to the top-level (PS1) prompt. If the current
1428 parser construct is only a single line, this is exactly like
1429 push-line. Next time the editor starts up or is popped with
1430 get-line, the construct will be popped off the top of the buffer
1431 stack and loaded into the editing buffer.
1432 push-line (^Q ESC-Q ESC-q) (unbound) (unbound)
1434 Push the current buffer onto the buffer stack and clear the buf‐
1435 fer. Next time the editor starts up, the buffer will be popped
1436 off the top of the buffer stack and loaded into the editing buf‐
1437 fer.
1438 push-line-or-edit
1440 At the top-level (PS1) prompt, equivalent to push-line. At a
1441 secondary (PS2) prompt, move the entire current multiline con‐
1442 struct into the editor buffer. The latter is equivalent to
1443 push-input followed by get-line.
1444 recursive-edit
1446 Only useful from a user-defined widget. At this point in the
1447 function, the editor regains control until one of the standard
1448 widgets which would normally cause zle to exit (typically an
1449 accept-line caused by hitting the return key) is executed.
1450 Instead, control returns to the user-defined widget. The status
1451 returned is non-zero if the return was caused by an error, but
1452 the function still continues executing and hence may tidy up.
1453 This makes it safe for the user-defined widget to alter the com‐
1454 mand line or key bindings temporarily.
1455 The following widget, caps-lock, serves as an example.
1457 self-insert-ucase() {
1458 LBUFFER+=${(U)KEYS[-1]}
1459 }
1460 integer stat
1462 zle -N self-insert self-insert-ucase
1464 zle -A caps-lock save-caps-lock
1465 zle -A accept-line caps-lock
1466 zle recursive-edit
1468 stat=$?
1469 zle -A .self-insert self-insert
1471 zle -A save-caps-lock caps-lock
1472 zle -D save-caps-lock
1473 (( stat )) && zle send-break
1475 return $stat
1477 This causes typed letters to be inserted capitalised until
1478 either accept-line (i.e. typically the return key) is typed or
1479 the caps-lock widget is invoked again; the later is handled by
1480 saving the old definition of caps-lock as save-caps-lock and
1481 then rebinding it to invoke accept-line. Note that an error
1482 from the recursive edit is detected as a non-zero return status
1483 and propagated by using the send-break widget.
1484 redisplay (unbound) (^R) (^R)
1486 Redisplays the edit buffer.
1487 reset-prompt (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
1489 Force the prompts on both the left and right of the screen to be
1490 re-expanded, then redisplay the edit buffer. This reflects
1491 changes both to the prompt variables themselves and changes in
1492 the expansion of the values (for example, changes in time or
1493 directory, or changes to the value of variables referred to by
1494 the prompt).
1495 Otherwise, the prompt is only expanded each time zle starts, and
1497 when the display as been interrupted by output from another part
1498 of the shell (such as a job notification) which causes the com‐
1499 mand line to be reprinted.
1500 send-break (^G ESC-^G) (unbound) (unbound)
1502 Abort the current editor function, e.g. execute-named-command,
1503 or the editor itself, e.g. if you are in vared. Otherwise abort
1504 the parsing of the current line.
1505 run-help (ESC-H ESC-h) (unbound) (unbound)
1507 Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
1508 `run-help cmd', where cmd is the current command. run-help is
1509 normally aliased to man.
1510 vi-set-buffer (unbound) (") (unbound)
1512 Specify a buffer to be used in the following command. There are
1513 35 buffers that can be specified: the 26 `named' buffers "a to
1514 "z and the nine `queued' buffers "1 to "9. The named buffers
1515 can also be specified as "A to "Z.
1516 When a buffer is specified for a cut command, the text being cut
1518 replaces the previous contents of the specified buffer. If a
1519 named buffer is specified using a capital, the newly cut text is
1520 appended to the buffer instead of overwriting it.
1521 If no buffer is specified for a cut command, "1 is used, and the
1523 contents of "1 to "8 are each shifted along one buffer; the con‐
1524 tents of "9 is lost.
1525 vi-set-mark (unbound) (m) (unbound)
1527 Set the specified mark at the cursor position.
1528 set-mark-command (^@) (unbound) (unbound)
1530 Set the mark at the cursor position.
1531 spell-word (ESC-$ ESC-S ESC-s) (unbound) (unbound)
1533 Attempt spelling correction on the current word.
1534 undefined-key
1536 This command is executed when a key sequence that is not bound
1537 to any command is typed. By default it beeps.
1538 undo (^_ ^Xu ^X^U) (unbound) (unbound)
1540 Incrementally undo the last text modification.
1541 redo Incrementally redo undone text modifications.
1543 vi-undo-change (unbound) (u) (unbound)
1545 Undo the last text modification. If repeated, redo the modifi‐
1546 cation.
1547 what-cursor-position (^X=) (unbound) (unbound)
1549 Print the character under the cursor, its code as an octal, dec‐
1550 imal and hexadecimal number, the current cursor position within
1551 the buffer and the column of the cursor in the current line.
1552 where-is
1554 Read the name of an editor command and and print the listing of
1555 key sequences that invoke the specified command.
1556 which-command (ESC-?) (unbound) (unbound)
1558 Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
1559 `which-command cmd'. where cmd is the current command.
1560 which-command is normally aliased to whence.
1561 vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line (unbound) (0) (unbound)
1563 If the last command executed was a digit as part of an argument,
1564 continue the argument. Otherwise, execute vi-beginning-of-line.
1565zsh 4.2.6 November 28, 2005 ZSHZLE(1)