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<div class="top-level-extent" id="Top">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Command-Line-Editing" accesskey="n" rel="next">Command Line Editing</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h1 class="top" id="GNU-Readline-Library"><span>GNU Readline Library<a class="copiable-link" href="#GNU-Readline-Library"> ¶</a></span></h1>
<p>This document describes the end user interface of the GNU Readline Library,
a utility which aids in the consistency of user interface across discrete
programs which provide a command line interface.
The Readline home page is <a class="url" href="http://www.gnu.org/software/readline/">http://www.gnu.org/software/readline/</a>.
</p>
<div class="element-contents" id="SEC_Contents">
<h2 class="contents-heading">Table of Contents</h2>
<div class="contents">
<ul class="toc-numbered-mark">
<li><a id="toc-Command-Line-Editing-1" href="#Command-Line-Editing">1 Command Line Editing</a>
<ul class="toc-numbered-mark">
<li><a id="toc-Introduction-to-Line-Editing" href="#Introduction-and-Notation">1.1 Introduction to Line Editing</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Readline-Interaction-1" href="#Readline-Interaction">1.2 Readline Interaction</a>
<ul class="toc-numbered-mark">
<li><a id="toc-Readline-Bare-Essentials-1" href="#Readline-Bare-Essentials">1.2.1 Readline Bare Essentials</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Readline-Movement-Commands-1" href="#Readline-Movement-Commands">1.2.2 Readline Movement Commands</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Readline-Killing-Commands-1" href="#Readline-Killing-Commands">1.2.3 Readline Killing Commands</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Readline-Arguments-1" href="#Readline-Arguments">1.2.4 Readline Arguments</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Searching-for-Commands-in-the-History" href="#Searching">1.2.5 Searching for Commands in the History</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a id="toc-Readline-Init-File-1" href="#Readline-Init-File">1.3 Readline Init File</a>
<ul class="toc-numbered-mark">
<li><a id="toc-Readline-Init-File-Syntax-1" href="#Readline-Init-File-Syntax">1.3.1 Readline Init File Syntax</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Conditional-Init-Constructs-1" href="#Conditional-Init-Constructs">1.3.2 Conditional Init Constructs</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Sample-Init-File-1" href="#Sample-Init-File">1.3.3 Sample Init File</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a id="toc-Bindable-Readline-Commands-1" href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands">1.4 Bindable Readline Commands</a>
<ul class="toc-numbered-mark">
<li><a id="toc-Commands-For-Moving-1" href="#Commands-For-Moving">1.4.1 Commands For Moving</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Commands-For-Manipulating-The-History" href="#Commands-For-History">1.4.2 Commands For Manipulating The History</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Commands-For-Changing-Text" href="#Commands-For-Text">1.4.3 Commands For Changing Text</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Killing-And-Yanking" href="#Commands-For-Killing">1.4.4 Killing And Yanking</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Specifying-Numeric-Arguments" href="#Numeric-Arguments">1.4.5 Specifying Numeric Arguments</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Letting-Readline-Type-For-You" href="#Commands-For-Completion">1.4.6 Letting Readline Type For You</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Keyboard-Macros-1" href="#Keyboard-Macros">1.4.7 Keyboard Macros</a></li>
<li><a id="toc-Some-Miscellaneous-Commands" href="#Miscellaneous-Commands">1.4.8 Some Miscellaneous Commands</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a id="toc-Readline-vi-Mode-1" href="#Readline-vi-Mode">1.5 Readline vi Mode</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a id="toc-GNU-Free-Documentation-License-1" href="#GNU-Free-Documentation-License">Appendix A GNU Free Documentation License</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="chapter-level-extent" id="Command-Line-Editing">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#GNU-Free-Documentation-License" accesskey="n" rel="next">GNU Free Documentation License</a>, Previous: <a href="#Top" accesskey="p" rel="prev">GNU Readline Library</a>, Up: <a href="#Top" accesskey="u" rel="up">GNU Readline Library</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h2 class="chapter" id="Command-Line-Editing-1"><span>1 Command Line Editing<a class="copiable-link" href="#Command-Line-Editing-1"> ¶</a></span></h2>
<p>This chapter describes the basic features of the <small class="sc">GNU</small>
command line editing interface.
</p>
<ul class="mini-toc">
<li><a href="#Introduction-and-Notation" accesskey="1">Introduction to Line Editing</a></li>
<li><a href="#Readline-Interaction" accesskey="2">Readline Interaction</a></li>
<li><a href="#Readline-Init-File" accesskey="3">Readline Init File</a></li>
<li><a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="4">Bindable Readline Commands</a></li>
<li><a href="#Readline-vi-Mode" accesskey="5">Readline vi Mode</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<div class="section-level-extent" id="Introduction-and-Notation">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Readline-Interaction" accesskey="n" rel="next">Readline Interaction</a>, Up: <a href="#Command-Line-Editing" accesskey="u" rel="up">Command Line Editing</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h3 class="section" id="Introduction-to-Line-Editing"><span>1.1 Introduction to Line Editing<a class="copiable-link" href="#Introduction-to-Line-Editing"> ¶</a></span></h3>
<p>The following paragraphs use Emacs style to
describe the notation used to represent keystrokes.
</p>
<p>The text <kbd class="kbd">C-k</kbd> is read as ‘Control-K’ and describes the character
produced when the <kbd class="key">k</kbd> key is pressed while the Control key
is depressed.
</p>
<p>The text <kbd class="kbd">M-k</kbd> is read as ‘Meta-K’ and describes the character
produced when the Meta key (if you have one) is depressed, and the <kbd class="key">k</kbd>
key is pressed (a <em class="dfn">meta character</em>), then both are released.
The Meta key is labeled <kbd class="key">ALT</kbd> or <kbd class="key">Option</kbd> on many keyboards.
On keyboards with two keys labeled <kbd class="key">ALT</kbd> (usually to either side of
the space bar), the <kbd class="key">ALT</kbd> on the left side is generally set to
work as a Meta key.
One of the <kbd class="key">ALT</kbd> keys may also be configured
as some other modifier, such as a
Compose key for typing accented characters.
</p>
<p>On some keyboards, the Meta key modifier produces characters with
the eighth bit (0200) set.
You can use the <code class="code">enable-meta-key</code> variable
to control whether or not it does this, if the keyboard allows it.
On many others, the terminal or terminal emulator converts the metafied
key to a key sequence beginning with <kbd class="key">ESC</kbd> as described in the
next paragraph.
</p>
<p>If you do not have a Meta or <kbd class="key">ALT</kbd> key, or another key working as
a Meta key, you can generally achieve the latter effect by typing <kbd class="key">ESC</kbd>
<em class="emph">first</em>, and then typing <kbd class="key">k</kbd>.
The <kbd class="key">ESC</kbd> character is known as the <em class="dfn">meta prefix</em>).
</p>
<p>Either process is known as <em class="dfn">metafying</em> the <kbd class="key">k</kbd> key.
</p>
<p>If your Meta key produces a key sequence with the <kbd class="key">ESC</kbd> meta prefix,
you can make <kbd class="kbd">M-key</kbd> key bindings you specify
(see <code class="code">Key Bindings</code> in <a class="ref" href="#Readline-Init-File-Syntax">Readline Init File Syntax</a>)
do the same thing by setting the <code class="code">force-meta-prefix</code> variable.
</p>
<p>The text <kbd class="kbd">M-C-k</kbd> is read as ‘Meta-Control-k’ and describes the
character produced by metafying <kbd class="kbd">C-k</kbd>.
</p>
<p>In addition, several keys have their own names.
Specifically,
<kbd class="key">DEL</kbd>, <kbd class="key">ESC</kbd>, <kbd class="key">LFD</kbd>, <kbd class="key">SPC</kbd>, <kbd class="key">RET</kbd>, and <kbd class="key">TAB</kbd> all
stand for themselves when seen in this text, or in an init file
(see <a class="pxref" href="#Readline-Init-File">Readline Init File</a>).
If your keyboard lacks a <kbd class="key">LFD</kbd> key, typing <kbd class="key">C-j</kbd> will
output the appropriate character.
The <kbd class="key">RET</kbd> key may be labeled <kbd class="key">Return</kbd> or <kbd class="key">Enter</kbd> on
some keyboards.
</p>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="section-level-extent" id="Readline-Interaction">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Readline-Init-File" accesskey="n" rel="next">Readline Init File</a>, Previous: <a href="#Introduction-and-Notation" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Introduction to Line Editing</a>, Up: <a href="#Command-Line-Editing" accesskey="u" rel="up">Command Line Editing</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h3 class="section" id="Readline-Interaction-1"><span>1.2 Readline Interaction<a class="copiable-link" href="#Readline-Interaction-1"> ¶</a></span></h3>
<a class="index-entry-id" id="index-interaction_002c-readline"></a>
<p>Often during an interactive session you type in a long line of text,
only to notice that the first word on the line is misspelled.
The Readline library gives you a set of commands for manipulating the text
as you type it in, allowing you to just fix your typo, and not forcing
you to retype the majority of the line.
Using these editing commands,
you move the cursor to the place that needs correction, and delete or
insert the text of the corrections.
Then, when you are satisfied with the line, you simply press <kbd class="key">RET</kbd>.
You do not have to be at the
end of the line to press <kbd class="key">RET</kbd>; the entire line is accepted
regardless of the location of the cursor within the line.
</p>
<ul class="mini-toc">
<li><a href="#Readline-Bare-Essentials" accesskey="1">Readline Bare Essentials</a></li>
<li><a href="#Readline-Movement-Commands" accesskey="2">Readline Movement Commands</a></li>
<li><a href="#Readline-Killing-Commands" accesskey="3">Readline Killing Commands</a></li>
<li><a href="#Readline-Arguments" accesskey="4">Readline Arguments</a></li>
<li><a href="#Searching" accesskey="5">Searching for Commands in the History</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Readline-Bare-Essentials">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Readline-Movement-Commands" accesskey="n" rel="next">Readline Movement Commands</a>, Up: <a href="#Readline-Interaction" accesskey="u" rel="up">Readline Interaction</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Readline-Bare-Essentials-1"><span>1.2.1 Readline Bare Essentials<a class="copiable-link" href="#Readline-Bare-Essentials-1"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<a class="index-entry-id" id="index-notation_002c-readline"></a>
<a class="index-entry-id" id="index-command-editing"></a>
<a class="index-entry-id" id="index-editing-command-lines"></a>
<p>In order to enter characters into the line, simply type them.
The typed
character appears where the cursor was, and then the cursor moves one
space to the right.
If you mistype a character, you can use your
erase character to back up and delete the mistyped character.
</p>
<p>Sometimes you may mistype a character, and
not notice the error until you have typed several other characters.
In that case, you can type <kbd class="kbd">C-b</kbd> to move the cursor to the left,
and then correct your mistake.
Afterwards, you can move the cursor to the right with <kbd class="kbd">C-f</kbd>.
</p>
<p>When you add text in the middle of a line, you will notice that characters
to the right of the cursor are ‘pushed over’ to make room for the text
that you have inserted.
Likewise, when you delete text behind the cursor,
characters to the right of the cursor are ‘pulled back’ to fill in the
blank space created by the removal of the text.
These are the bare
essentials for editing the text of an input line:
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-b</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Move back one character.
</p></dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-f</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Move forward one character.
</p></dd>
<dt><kbd class="key">DEL</kbd> or <kbd class="key">Backspace</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Delete the character to the left of the cursor.
</p></dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-d</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Delete the character underneath the cursor.
</p></dd>
<dt>Printing characters<!-- /@w --></dt>
<dd><p>Insert the character into the line at the cursor.
</p></dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-_</kbd> or <kbd class="kbd">C-x C-u</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Undo the last editing command.
You can undo all the way back to an empty line.
</p></dd>
</dl>
<p>Depending on your configuration, the <kbd class="key">Backspace</kbd> key might be set to
delete the character to the left of the cursor and the <kbd class="key">DEL</kbd> key set
to delete the character underneath the cursor, like <kbd class="kbd">C-d</kbd>, rather
than the character to the left of the cursor.
</p>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Readline-Movement-Commands">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Readline-Killing-Commands" accesskey="n" rel="next">Readline Killing Commands</a>, Previous: <a href="#Readline-Bare-Essentials" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Readline Bare Essentials</a>, Up: <a href="#Readline-Interaction" accesskey="u" rel="up">Readline Interaction</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Readline-Movement-Commands-1"><span>1.2.2 Readline Movement Commands<a class="copiable-link" href="#Readline-Movement-Commands-1"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<p>The above table describes the most basic keystrokes that you need
in order to do editing of the input line.
For your convenience, many other commands are available in
addition to <kbd class="kbd">C-b</kbd>, <kbd class="kbd">C-f</kbd>, <kbd class="kbd">C-d</kbd>, and <kbd class="key">DEL</kbd>.
Here are some commands for moving more rapidly within the line.
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-a</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Move to the start of the line.
</p></dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-e</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Move to the end of the line.
</p></dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">M-f</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Move forward a word, where a word is composed of letters and digits.
</p></dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">M-b</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Move backward a word.
</p></dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-l</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Clear the screen, reprinting the current line at the top.
</p></dd>
</dl>
<p>Notice how <kbd class="kbd">C-f</kbd> moves forward a character, while <kbd class="kbd">M-f</kbd> moves
forward a word.
It is a loose convention that control keystrokes
operate on characters while meta keystrokes operate on words.
</p>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Readline-Killing-Commands">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Readline-Arguments" accesskey="n" rel="next">Readline Arguments</a>, Previous: <a href="#Readline-Movement-Commands" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Readline Movement Commands</a>, Up: <a href="#Readline-Interaction" accesskey="u" rel="up">Readline Interaction</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Readline-Killing-Commands-1"><span>1.2.3 Readline Killing Commands<a class="copiable-link" href="#Readline-Killing-Commands-1"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<a class="index-entry-id" id="index-killing-text"></a>
<a class="index-entry-id" id="index-yanking-text"></a>
<p><em class="dfn">Killing</em> text means to delete the text from the line, but to save
it away for later use, usually by <em class="dfn">yanking</em> (re-inserting)
it back into the line.
(‘Cut’ and ‘paste’ are more recent jargon for ‘kill’ and ‘yank’.)
</p>
<p>If the description for a command says that it ‘kills’ text, then you can
be sure that you can get the text back in a different (or the same)
place later.
</p>
<p>When you use a kill command, the text is saved in a <em class="dfn">kill-ring</em>.
Any number of consecutive kills save all of the killed text together, so
that when you yank it back, you get it all.
The kill ring is not line specific; the text that you killed on a previously
typed line is available to be yanked back later, when you are typing
another line.
<a class="index-entry-id" id="index-kill-ring"></a>
</p>
<p>Here is the list of commands for killing text.
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-k</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Kill the text from the current cursor position to the end of the line.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">M-d</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Kill from the cursor to the end of the current word, or, if between
words, to the end of the next word.
Word boundaries are the same as those used by <kbd class="kbd">M-f</kbd>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">M-<kbd class="key">DEL</kbd></kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Kill from the cursor to the start of the current word, or, if between
words, to the start of the previous word.
Word boundaries are the same as those used by <kbd class="kbd">M-b</kbd>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-w</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Kill from the cursor to the previous whitespace.
This is different than
<kbd class="kbd">M-<kbd class="key">DEL</kbd></kbd> because the word boundaries differ.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>Here is how to <em class="dfn">yank</em> the text back into the line. Yanking
means to copy the most-recently-killed text from the kill buffer
into the line at the current cursor position.
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><kbd class="kbd">C-y</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Yank the most recently killed text back into the buffer at the cursor.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><kbd class="kbd">M-y</kbd></dt>
<dd><p>Rotate the kill-ring, and yank the new top.
You can only do this if the prior command is <kbd class="kbd">C-y</kbd> or <kbd class="kbd">M-y</kbd>.
</p></dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Readline-Arguments">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Searching" accesskey="n" rel="next">Searching for Commands in the History</a>, Previous: <a href="#Readline-Killing-Commands" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Readline Killing Commands</a>, Up: <a href="#Readline-Interaction" accesskey="u" rel="up">Readline Interaction</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Readline-Arguments-1"><span>1.2.4 Readline Arguments<a class="copiable-link" href="#Readline-Arguments-1"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<p>You can pass numeric arguments to Readline commands.
Sometimes the
argument acts as a repeat count, other times it is the <i class="i">sign</i> of the
argument that is significant.
If you pass a negative argument to a
command which normally acts in a forward direction, that command will
act in a backward direction.
For example, to kill text back to the
start of the line, you might type ‘<samp class="samp">M-- C-k</samp>’.
</p>
<p>The general way to pass numeric arguments to a command is to type meta
digits before the command.
If the first ‘digit’ typed is a minus
sign (‘<samp class="samp">-</samp>’), then the sign of the argument will be negative.
Once you have typed one meta digit to get the argument started, you can
type the remainder of the digits, and then the command.
For example, to give
the <kbd class="kbd">C-d</kbd> command an argument of 10, you could type ‘<samp class="samp">M-1 0 C-d</samp>’,
which will delete the next ten characters on the input line.
</p>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Searching">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Previous: <a href="#Readline-Arguments" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Readline Arguments</a>, Up: <a href="#Readline-Interaction" accesskey="u" rel="up">Readline Interaction</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Searching-for-Commands-in-the-History"><span>1.2.5 Searching for Commands in the History<a class="copiable-link" href="#Searching-for-Commands-in-the-History"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<p>Readline provides commands for searching through the command history
for lines containing a specified string.
There are two search modes: <em class="dfn">incremental</em> and <em class="dfn">non-incremental</em>.
</p>
<p>Incremental searches begin before the user has finished typing the
search string.
As each character of the search string is typed, Readline displays
the next entry from the history matching the string typed so far.
An incremental search requires only as many characters as needed to
find the desired history entry.
When using emacs editing mode, type <kbd class="kbd">C-r</kbd>
to search backward in the history for a particular string.
Typing <kbd class="kbd">C-s</kbd> searches forward through the history.
The characters present in the value of the <code class="code">isearch-terminators</code> variable
are used to terminate an incremental search.
If that variable has not been assigned a value, the <kbd class="key">ESC</kbd> and
<kbd class="kbd">C-j</kbd> characters terminate an incremental search.
<kbd class="kbd">C-g</kbd> aborts an incremental search and restores the original line.
When the search is terminated, the history entry containing the
search string becomes the current line.
</p>
<p>To find other matching entries in the history list, type <kbd class="kbd">C-r</kbd> or
<kbd class="kbd">C-s</kbd> as appropriate.
This searches backward or forward in the history for the next
entry matching the search string typed so far.
Any other key sequence bound to a Readline command terminates
the search and executes that command.
For instance, a <kbd class="key">RET</kbd> terminates the search and accepts
the line, thereby executing the command from the history list.
A movement command will terminate the search, make the last line found
the current line, and begin editing.
</p>
<p>Readline remembers the last incremental search string.
If two <kbd class="kbd">C-r</kbd>s are typed without any intervening characters defining
a new search string, Readline uses any remembered search string.
</p>
<p>Non-incremental searches read the entire search string before starting
to search for matching history entries.
The search string may be typed by the user or be part of the contents of
the current line.
</p>
<hr>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section-level-extent" id="Readline-Init-File">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="n" rel="next">Bindable Readline Commands</a>, Previous: <a href="#Readline-Interaction" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Readline Interaction</a>, Up: <a href="#Command-Line-Editing" accesskey="u" rel="up">Command Line Editing</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h3 class="section" id="Readline-Init-File-1"><span>1.3 Readline Init File<a class="copiable-link" href="#Readline-Init-File-1"> ¶</a></span></h3>
<a class="index-entry-id" id="index-initialization-file_002c-readline"></a>
<p>Although the Readline library comes with a set of Emacs-like
keybindings installed by default, it is possible to use a different set
of keybindings.
Any user can customize programs that use Readline by putting
commands in an <em class="dfn">inputrc</em> file, conventionally in their home directory.
The name of this file is taken from the value of the
environment variable <code class="env">INPUTRC</code>.
If that variable is unset, the default is <samp class="file">~/.inputrc</samp>.
If that file does not exist or cannot be read, Readline looks for
<samp class="file">/etc/inputrc</samp>.
</p>
<p>When a program that uses the Readline library starts up, Readline reads
the init file and sets any variables and key bindings it contains.
</p>
<p>In addition, the <code class="code">C-x C-r</code> command re-reads this init file, thus
incorporating any changes that you might have made to it.
</p>
<ul class="mini-toc">
<li><a href="#Readline-Init-File-Syntax" accesskey="1">Readline Init File Syntax</a></li>
<li><a href="#Conditional-Init-Constructs" accesskey="2">Conditional Init Constructs</a></li>
<li><a href="#Sample-Init-File" accesskey="3">Sample Init File</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Readline-Init-File-Syntax">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Conditional-Init-Constructs" accesskey="n" rel="next">Conditional Init Constructs</a>, Up: <a href="#Readline-Init-File" accesskey="u" rel="up">Readline Init File</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Readline-Init-File-Syntax-1"><span>1.3.1 Readline Init File Syntax<a class="copiable-link" href="#Readline-Init-File-Syntax-1"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<p>There are only a few basic constructs allowed in the
Readline init file.
Blank lines are ignored.
Lines beginning with a ‘<samp class="samp">#</samp>’ are comments.
Lines beginning with a ‘<samp class="samp">$</samp>’ indicate conditional
constructs (see <a class="pxref" href="#Conditional-Init-Constructs">Conditional Init Constructs</a>).
Other lines denote variable settings and key bindings.
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt>Variable Settings</dt>
<dd><p>You can modify the run-time behavior of Readline by
altering the values of variables in Readline
using the <code class="code">set</code> command within the init file.
The syntax is simple:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted">set <var class="var">variable</var> <var class="var">value</var>
</pre></div>
<p>Here, for example, is how to
change from the default Emacs-like key binding to use
<code class="code">vi</code> line editing commands:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted">set editing-mode vi
</pre></div>
<p>Variable names and values, where appropriate, are recognized without
regard to case.
Unrecognized variable names are ignored.
</p>
<p>Boolean variables (those that can be set to on or off) are set to on if
the value is null or empty, <var class="var">on</var> (case-insensitive), or 1.
Any other value results in the variable being set to off.
</p>
<p>A great deal of run-time behavior is changeable with the following
variables.
</p>
<a class="index-entry-id" id="index-variables_002c-readline"></a>
<dl class="table">
<dt><a id="index-active_002dregion_002dstart_002dcolor"></a><span><code class="code">active-region-start-color</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-active_002dregion_002dstart_002dcolor"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>A string variable that controls the text color and background when displaying
the text in the active region (see the description of
<code class="code">enable-active-region</code> below).
This string must not take up any physical character positions on the display,
so it should consist only of terminal escape sequences.
It is output to the terminal before displaying the text in the active region.
This variable is reset to the default value whenever the terminal type changes.
The default value is the string that puts the terminal in standout mode,
as obtained from the terminal’s terminfo description.
A sample value might be ‘<samp class="samp">\e[01;33m</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-active_002dregion_002dend_002dcolor"></a><span><code class="code">active-region-end-color</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-active_002dregion_002dend_002dcolor"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>A string variable that “undoes”
the effects of <code class="code">active-region-start-color</code>
and restores “normal”
terminal display appearance after displaying text in the active region.
This string must not take up any physical character positions on the display,
so it should consist only of terminal escape sequences.
It is output to the terminal after displaying the text in the active region.
This variable is reset to the default value whenever the terminal type changes.
The default value is the string that restores the terminal from standout mode,
as obtained from the terminal’s terminfo description.
A sample value might be ‘<samp class="samp">\e[0m</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-bell_002dstyle"></a><span><code class="code">bell-style</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-bell_002dstyle"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Controls what happens when Readline wants to ring the terminal bell.
If set to ‘<samp class="samp">none</samp>’, Readline never rings the bell.
If set to ‘<samp class="samp">visible</samp>’, Readline uses a visible bell if one is available.
If set to ‘<samp class="samp">audible</samp>’ (the default), Readline attempts to ring
the terminal’s bell.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-bind_002dtty_002dspecial_002dchars"></a><span><code class="code">bind-tty-special-chars</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-bind_002dtty_002dspecial_002dchars"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’ (the default), Readline attempts to bind the control
characters that are
treated specially by the kernel’s terminal driver to their
Readline equivalents.
These override the default Readline bindings described here.
Type ‘<samp class="samp">stty -a</samp>’ at a Bash prompt to see your current terminal settings,
including the special control characters (usually <code class="code">cchars</code>).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-blink_002dmatching_002dparen"></a><span><code class="code">blink-matching-paren</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-blink_002dmatching_002dparen"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline attempts to briefly move the cursor to an
opening parenthesis when a closing parenthesis is inserted.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-colored_002dcompletion_002dprefix"></a><span><code class="code">colored-completion-prefix</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-colored_002dcompletion_002dprefix"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, when listing completions, Readline displays the
common prefix of the set of possible completions using a different color.
The color definitions are taken from the value of the <code class="env">LS_COLORS</code>
environment variable.
If there is a color definition in <code class="env">LS_COLORS</code> for the custom suffix
‘<samp class="samp">readline-colored-completion-prefix</samp>’, Readline uses this color for
the common prefix instead of its default.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-colored_002dstats"></a><span><code class="code">colored-stats</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-colored_002dstats"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline displays possible completions using different
colors to indicate their file type.
The color definitions are taken from the value of the <code class="env">LS_COLORS</code>
environment variable.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-comment_002dbegin"></a><span><code class="code">comment-begin</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-comment_002dbegin"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>The string to insert at the beginning of the line by the
<code class="code">insert-comment</code> command.
The default value is <code class="code">"#"</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-completion_002ddisplay_002dwidth"></a><span><code class="code">completion-display-width</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-completion_002ddisplay_002dwidth"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>The number of screen columns used to display possible matches
when performing completion.
The value is ignored if it is less than 0 or greater than the terminal
screen width.
A value of 0 causes matches to be displayed one per line.
The default value is -1.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-completion_002dignore_002dcase"></a><span><code class="code">completion-ignore-case</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-completion_002dignore_002dcase"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline performs filename matching and completion
in a case-insensitive fashion.
The default value is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-completion_002dmap_002dcase"></a><span><code class="code">completion-map-case</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-completion_002dmap_002dcase"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, and <var class="var">completion-ignore-case</var> is enabled, Readline
treats hyphens (‘<samp class="samp">-</samp>’) and underscores (‘<samp class="samp">_</samp>’) as equivalent when
performing case-insensitive filename matching and completion.
The default value is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-completion_002dprefix_002ddisplay_002dlength"></a><span><code class="code">completion-prefix-display-length</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-completion_002dprefix_002ddisplay_002dlength"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>The maximum
length in characters of the common prefix of a list of possible
completions that is displayed without modification.
When set to a value greater than zero, Readline
replaces common prefixes longer than this value
with an ellipsis when displaying possible completions.
If a completion begins with a period,
and Readline is completing filenames,
it uses three underscores instead of an ellipsis.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-completion_002dquery_002ditems"></a><span><code class="code">completion-query-items</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-completion_002dquery_002ditems"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>The number of possible completions that determines when the user is asked
whether the list of possibilities should be displayed.
If the number of possible completions is greater than
or equal to this value,
Readline asks whether or not the user wishes to view them;
otherwise, Readline simply lists the completions.
This variable must be set to an integer value greater than or equal to zero.
A zero value means Readline should never ask; negative
values are treated as zero.
The default limit is <code class="code">100</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-convert_002dmeta"></a><span><code class="code">convert-meta</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-convert_002dmeta"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline converts characters it reads
that have the eighth bit set to an <small class="sc">ASCII</small> key sequence by
clearing the eighth bit and prefixing an <kbd class="key">ESC</kbd> character,
converting them to a meta-prefixed key sequence.
The default value is ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, but Readline sets it to ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’
if the locale contains
characters whose encodings may include bytes with the eighth bit set.
This variable is dependent on the <code class="code">LC_CTYPE</code> locale category, and
may change if the locale changes.
This variable also affects key bindings;
see the description of <code class="code">force-meta-prefix</code> below.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-disable_002dcompletion"></a><span><code class="code">disable-completion</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-disable_002dcompletion"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">On</samp>’, Readline inhibits word completion.
Completion characters are inserted into the line as if they
had been mapped to <code class="code">self-insert</code>.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-echo_002dcontrol_002dcharacters"></a><span><code class="code">echo-control-characters</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-echo_002dcontrol_002dcharacters"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>When set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, on operating systems that indicate they support it,
Readline echoes a character corresponding to a signal generated from the
keyboard.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-editing_002dmode"></a><span><code class="code">editing-mode</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-editing_002dmode"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>The <code class="code">editing-mode</code> variable controls the default set of
key bindings.
By default, Readline starts up in emacs editing mode, where
the keystrokes are most similar to Emacs.
This variable can be set to either ‘<samp class="samp">emacs</samp>’ or ‘<samp class="samp">vi</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-emacs_002dmode_002dstring"></a><span><code class="code">emacs-mode-string</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-emacs_002dmode_002dstring"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If the <var class="var">show-mode-in-prompt</var> variable is enabled,
this string is displayed immediately before the last line of the primary
prompt when emacs editing mode is active.
The value is expanded like a
key binding, so the standard set of meta- and control- prefixes and
backslash escape sequences is available.
The ‘<samp class="samp">\1</samp>’ and ‘<samp class="samp">\2</samp>’ escapes begin and end sequences of
non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control
sequence into the mode string.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">@</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-enable_002dactive_002dregion-The"></a><span><code class="code">enable-active-region</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-enable_002dactive_002dregion-The"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p><em class="dfn">point</em> is the current cursor position, and <em class="dfn">mark</em> refers to a
saved cursor position (see <a class="pxref" href="#Commands-For-Moving">Commands For Moving</a>).
The text between the point and mark is referred to as the <em class="dfn">region</em>.
When this variable is set to ‘<samp class="samp">On</samp>’, Readline allows certain commands
to designate the region as <em class="dfn">active</em>.
When the region is active, Readline highlights the text in the region using
the value of the <code class="code">active-region-start-color</code>, which defaults to the
string that enables the terminal’s standout mode.
The active region shows the text inserted by bracketed-paste and any
matching text found by incremental and non-incremental history searches.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">On</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-enable_002dbracketed_002dpaste"></a><span><code class="code">enable-bracketed-paste</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-enable_002dbracketed_002dpaste"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>When set to ‘<samp class="samp">On</samp>’, Readline configures the terminal to insert each
paste into the editing buffer as a single string of characters, instead
of treating each character as if it had been read from the keyboard.
This is called putting the terminal into <em class="dfn">bracketed paste mode</em>;
it prevents Readline from executing any editing commands bound
to key sequences appearing in the pasted text.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">On</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-enable_002dkeypad"></a><span><code class="code">enable-keypad</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-enable_002dkeypad"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>When set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline tries to enable the application
keypad when it is called.
Some systems need this to enable the arrow keys.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-enable_002dmeta_002dkey"></a><span><code class="code">enable-meta-key</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-enable_002dmeta_002dkey"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>When set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline tries to enable any meta
modifier key the terminal claims to support when it is called.
On many terminals, the Meta key is used to send eight-bit characters;
this variable checks for the terminal capability that indicates the
terminal can enable and disable a mode that sets the eighth bit of a
character (0200) if the Meta key is held down when the character is
typed (a meta character).
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-expand_002dtilde"></a><span><code class="code">expand-tilde</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-expand_002dtilde"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline attempts tilde expansion when it
attempts word completion.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-force_002dmeta_002dprefix"></a><span><code class="code">force-meta-prefix</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-force_002dmeta_002dprefix"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline modifies its behavior when binding key
sequences containing <kbd class="kbd">\M-</kbd> or <code class="code">Meta-</code>
(see <code class="code">Key Bindings</code> in <a class="ref" href="#Readline-Init-File-Syntax">Readline Init File Syntax</a>)
by converting a key sequence of the form
<kbd class="kbd">\M-</kbd><var class="var">C</var> or <code class="code">Meta-</code><var class="var">C</var> to the two-character sequence
<kbd class="kbd">ESC</kbd> <var class="var">C</var> (adding the meta prefix).
If <code class="code">force-meta-prefix</code> is set to ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’ (the default),
Readline uses the value of the <code class="code">convert-meta</code> variable to determine
whether to perform this conversion:
if <code class="code">convert-meta</code> is ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’,
Readline performs the conversion described above;
if it is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’, Readline converts <var class="var">C</var> to a meta character by
setting the eighth bit (0200).
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-history_002dpreserve_002dpoint"></a><span><code class="code">history-preserve-point</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-history_002dpreserve_002dpoint"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, the history code attempts to place the point (the
current cursor position) at the
same location on each history line retrieved with <code class="code">previous-history</code>
or <code class="code">next-history</code>.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-history_002dsize"></a><span><code class="code">history-size</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-history_002dsize"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Set the maximum number of history entries saved in the history list.
If set to zero, any existing history entries are deleted and no new entries
are saved.
If set to a value less than zero, the number of history entries is not
limited.
By default, the number of history entries is not limited.
If you try to set <var class="var">history-size</var> to a non-numeric value,
the maximum number of history entries will be set to 500.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-horizontal_002dscroll_002dmode"></a><span><code class="code">horizontal-scroll-mode</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-horizontal_002dscroll_002dmode"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Setting this variable to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’ means that the text of the lines
being edited will scroll horizontally on a single screen line when
the lines are longer than the width of the screen, instead of wrapping
onto a new screen line.
This variable is automatically set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’ for terminals of height 1.
By default, this variable is set to ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a class="index-entry-id" id="index-meta_002dflag"></a>
<a id="index-input_002dmeta"></a><span><code class="code">input-meta</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-input_002dmeta"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline enables eight-bit input (that is, it
does not clear the eighth bit in the characters it reads),
regardless of what the terminal claims it can support.
The default value is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’, but Readline sets it to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’
if the locale contains characters whose encodings may include bytes
with the eighth bit set.
This variable is dependent on the <code class="code">LC_CTYPE</code> locale category, and
its value may change if the locale changes.
The name <code class="code">meta-flag</code> is a synonym for <code class="code">input-meta</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-isearch_002dterminators"></a><span><code class="code">isearch-terminators</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-isearch_002dterminators"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>The string of characters that should terminate an incremental search without
subsequently executing the character as a command (see <a class="pxref" href="#Searching">Searching for Commands in the History</a>).
If this variable has not been given a value, the characters <kbd class="key">ESC</kbd> and
<kbd class="kbd">C-j</kbd> terminate an incremental search.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-keymap"></a><span><code class="code">keymap</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-keymap"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Sets Readline’s idea of the current keymap for key binding commands.
Built-in <code class="code">keymap</code> names are
<code class="code">emacs</code>,
<code class="code">emacs-standard</code>,
<code class="code">emacs-meta</code>,
<code class="code">emacs-ctlx</code>,
<code class="code">vi</code>,
<code class="code">vi-move</code>,
<code class="code">vi-command</code>, and
<code class="code">vi-insert</code>.
<code class="code">vi</code> is equivalent to <code class="code">vi-command</code> (<code class="code">vi-move</code> is also a
synonym); <code class="code">emacs</code> is equivalent to <code class="code">emacs-standard</code>.
Applications may add additional names.
The default value is <code class="code">emacs</code>;
the value of the <code class="code">editing-mode</code> variable also affects the
default keymap.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">keyseq-timeout</code></dt>
<dd><p>Specifies the duration Readline will wait for a character when
reading an ambiguous key sequence
(one that can form a complete key sequence using the input read so far,
or can take additional input to complete a longer key sequence).
If Readline doesn’t receive any input within the timeout, it uses the
shorter but complete key sequence.
Readline uses this value to determine whether or not input is
available on the current input source (<code class="code">rl_instream</code> by default).
The value is specified in milliseconds, so a value of 1000 means that
Readline will wait one second for additional input.
If this variable is set to a value less than or equal to zero, or to a
non-numeric value, Readline waits until another key is pressed to
decide which key sequence to complete.
The default value is <code class="code">500</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">mark-directories</code></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, completed directory names have a slash appended.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-mark_002dmodified_002dlines"></a><span><code class="code">mark-modified-lines</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-mark_002dmodified_002dlines"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>When this variable is set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline displays an
asterisk (‘<samp class="samp">*</samp>’) at the start of history lines which have been modified.
This variable is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’ by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-mark_002dsymlinked_002ddirectories"></a><span><code class="code">mark-symlinked-directories</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-mark_002dsymlinked_002ddirectories"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, completed names which are symbolic links to directories
have a slash appended, subject to the value of <code class="code">mark-directories</code>.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-match_002dhidden_002dfiles"></a><span><code class="code">match-hidden-files</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-match_002dhidden_002dfiles"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>This variable, when set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, forces Readline to match files whose
names begin with a ‘<samp class="samp">.</samp>’ (hidden files) when performing filename
completion.
If set to ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’, the user must include the leading ‘<samp class="samp">.</samp>’
in the filename to be completed.
This variable is ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’ by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-menu_002dcomplete_002ddisplay_002dprefix"></a><span><code class="code">menu-complete-display-prefix</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-menu_002dcomplete_002ddisplay_002dprefix"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, menu completion displays the common prefix of the
list of possible completions (which may be empty) before cycling through
the list.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-output_002dmeta"></a><span><code class="code">output-meta</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-output_002dmeta"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline displays characters with the
eighth bit set directly rather than as a meta-prefixed escape
sequence.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’, but Readline sets it to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’
if the locale contains characters whose encodings may include
bytes with the eighth bit set.
This variable is dependent on the <code class="code">LC_CTYPE</code> locale category, and
its value may change if the locale changes.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-page_002dcompletions"></a><span><code class="code">page-completions</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-page_002dcompletions"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline uses an internal pager resembling
<i class="i">more</i>(1)
to display a screenful of possible completions at a time.
This variable is ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’ by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">prefer-visible-bell</code></dt>
<dd><p>See <code class="code">bell-style</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">print-completions-horizontally</code></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline displays completions with matches
sorted horizontally in alphabetical order, rather than down the screen.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-revert_002dall_002dat_002dnewline"></a><span><code class="code">revert-all-at-newline</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-revert_002dall_002dat_002dnewline"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline will undo all changes to history lines
before returning when executing <code class="code">accept-line</code>.
By default,
history lines may be modified and retain individual undo lists across
calls to <code class="code">readline()</code>.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-search_002dignore_002dcase"></a><span><code class="code">search-ignore-case</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-search_002dignore_002dcase"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, Readline performs incremental and non-incremental
history list searches in a case-insensitive fashion.
The default value is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-show_002dall_002dif_002dambiguous"></a><span><code class="code">show-all-if-ambiguous</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-show_002dall_002dif_002dambiguous"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>This alters the default behavior of the completion functions.
If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’,
words which have more than one possible completion cause the
matches to be listed immediately instead of ringing the bell.
The default value is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-show_002dall_002dif_002dunmodified"></a><span><code class="code">show-all-if-unmodified</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-show_002dall_002dif_002dunmodified"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>This alters the default behavior of the completion functions in
a fashion similar to <var class="var">show-all-if-ambiguous</var>.
If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’,
words which have more than one possible completion without any
possible partial completion (the possible completions don’t share
a common prefix) cause the matches to be listed immediately instead
of ringing the bell.
The default value is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-show_002dmode_002din_002dprompt"></a><span><code class="code">show-mode-in-prompt</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-show_002dmode_002din_002dprompt"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, add a string to the beginning of the prompt
indicating the editing mode: emacs, vi command, or vi insertion.
The mode strings are user-settable (e.g., <var class="var">emacs-mode-string</var>).
The default value is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-skip_002dcompleted_002dtext"></a><span><code class="code">skip-completed-text</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-skip_002dcompleted_002dtext"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, this alters the default completion behavior when
inserting a single match into the line.
It’s only active when performing completion in the middle of a word.
If enabled, Readline does not insert characters from the completion
that match characters after point in the word being completed,
so portions of the word following the cursor are not duplicated.
For instance, if this is enabled, attempting completion when the cursor
is after the first ‘<samp class="samp">e</samp>’ in ‘<samp class="samp">Makefile</samp>’ will result in
‘<samp class="samp">Makefile</samp>’ rather than ‘<samp class="samp">Makefilefile</samp>’,
assuming there is a single possible completion.
The default value is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-vi_002dcmd_002dmode_002dstring"></a><span><code class="code">vi-cmd-mode-string</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-vi_002dcmd_002dmode_002dstring"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If the <var class="var">show-mode-in-prompt</var> variable is enabled,
this string is displayed immediately before the last line of the primary
prompt when vi editing mode is active and in command mode.
The value is expanded like a key binding, so the standard set of
meta- and control- prefixes and backslash escape sequences is available.
The ‘<samp class="samp">\1</samp>’ and ‘<samp class="samp">\2</samp>’ escapes begin and end sequences of
non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control
sequence into the mode string.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">(cmd)</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-vi_002dins_002dmode_002dstring"></a><span><code class="code">vi-ins-mode-string</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-vi_002dins_002dmode_002dstring"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If the <var class="var">show-mode-in-prompt</var> variable is enabled,
this string is displayed immediately before the last line of the primary
prompt when vi editing mode is active and in insertion mode.
The value is expanded like a key binding, so the standard set of
meta- and control- prefixes and backslash escape sequences is available.
The ‘<samp class="samp">\1</samp>’ and ‘<samp class="samp">\2</samp>’ escapes begin and end sequences of
non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control
sequence into the mode string.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">(ins)</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-visible_002dstats"></a><span><code class="code">visible-stats</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-visible_002dstats"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If set to ‘<samp class="samp">on</samp>’, a character denoting a file’s type
is appended to the filename when listing possible
completions.
The default is ‘<samp class="samp">off</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>Key Bindings</dt>
<dd><p>The syntax for controlling key bindings in the init file is simple.
First you need to find the name of the command that you
want to change.
The following sections contain tables of the command
name, the default keybinding, if any, and a short description of what
the command does.
</p>
<p>Once you know the name of the command, simply place on a line
in the init file the name of the key
you wish to bind the command to, a colon, and then the name of the
command.
There can be no space between the key name and the colon – that will be
interpreted as part of the key name.
The name of the key can be expressed in different ways, depending on
what you find most comfortable.
</p>
<p>In addition to command names, Readline allows keys to be bound
to a string that is inserted when the key is pressed (a <var class="var">macro</var>).
The difference between a macro and a command is that a macro is
enclosed in single or double quotes.
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><var class="var">keyname</var>: <var class="var">function-name</var> or <var class="var">macro</var><!-- /@w --></dt>
<dd><p><var class="var">keyname</var> is the name of a key spelled out in English.
For example:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted">Control-u: universal-argument
Meta-Rubout: backward-kill-word
Control-o: "> output"
</pre></div>
<p>In the example above, <kbd class="kbd">C-u</kbd> is bound to the function
<code class="code">universal-argument</code>,
<kbd class="kbd">M-DEL</kbd> is bound to the function <code class="code">backward-kill-word</code>, and
<kbd class="kbd">C-o</kbd> is bound to run the macro
expressed on the right hand side (that is, to insert the text
‘<samp class="samp">> output</samp>’ into the line).
</p>
<p>This key binding syntax recognizes a number of symbolic character names:
<var class="var">DEL</var>,
<var class="var">ESC</var>,
<var class="var">ESCAPE</var>,
<var class="var">LFD</var>,
<var class="var">NEWLINE</var>,
<var class="var">RET</var>,
<var class="var">RETURN</var>,
<var class="var">RUBOUT</var>
(a destructive backspace),
<var class="var">SPACE</var>,
<var class="var">SPC</var>,
and
<var class="var">TAB</var>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>"<var class="var">keyseq</var>": <var class="var">function-name</var> or <var class="var">macro</var><!-- /@w --></dt>
<dd><p><var class="var">keyseq</var> differs from <var class="var">keyname</var> above in that strings
denoting an entire key sequence can be specified, by placing
the key sequence in double quotes.
Some <small class="sc">GNU</small> Emacs style key escapes can be used,
as in the following example, but none of the
special character names are recognized.
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted">"\C-u": universal-argument
"\C-x\C-r": re-read-init-file
"\e[11~": "Function Key 1"
</pre></div>
<p>In the above example, <kbd class="kbd">C-u</kbd> is again bound to the function
<code class="code">universal-argument</code> (just as it was in the first example),
‘<samp class="samp"><kbd class="kbd">C-x</kbd> <kbd class="kbd">C-r</kbd></samp>’ is bound to the function <code class="code">re-read-init-file</code>,
and ‘<samp class="samp"><kbd class="key">ESC</kbd> <kbd class="key">[</kbd> <kbd class="key">1</kbd> <kbd class="key">1</kbd> <kbd class="key">~</kbd></samp>’ is bound to insert
the text ‘<samp class="samp">Function Key 1</samp>’.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>The following <small class="sc">GNU</small> Emacs style escape sequences are available when
specifying key sequences:
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><code class="code"><kbd class="kbd">\C-</kbd></code></dt>
<dd><p>A control prefix.
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code"><kbd class="kbd">\M-</kbd></code></dt>
<dd><p>Adding the meta prefix or converting the following character to a meta
character, as described above under <code class="code">force-meta-prefix</code>
(see <code class="code">Variable Settings</code> in <a class="ref" href="#Readline-Init-File-Syntax">Readline Init File Syntax</a>).
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code"><kbd class="kbd">\e</kbd></code></dt>
<dd><p>An escape character.
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code"><kbd class="kbd">\\</kbd></code></dt>
<dd><p>Backslash.
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code"><kbd class="kbd">\"</kbd></code></dt>
<dd><p><kbd class="key">"</kbd>, a double quotation mark.
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code"><kbd class="kbd">\'</kbd></code></dt>
<dd><p><kbd class="key">'</kbd>, a single quote or apostrophe.
</p></dd>
</dl>
<p>In addition to the <small class="sc">GNU</small> Emacs style escape sequences, a second
set of backslash escapes is available:
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><code class="code">\a</code></dt>
<dd><p>alert (bell)
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code">\b</code></dt>
<dd><p>backspace
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code">\d</code></dt>
<dd><p>delete
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code">\f</code></dt>
<dd><p>form feed
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code">\n</code></dt>
<dd><p>newline
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code">\r</code></dt>
<dd><p>carriage return
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code">\t</code></dt>
<dd><p>horizontal tab
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code">\v</code></dt>
<dd><p>vertical tab
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code">\<var class="var">nnn</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>The eight-bit character whose value is the octal value <var class="var">nnn</var>
(one to three digits).
</p></dd>
<dt><code class="code">\x<var class="var">HH</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>The eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value <var class="var">HH</var>
(one or two hex digits).
</p></dd>
</dl>
<p>When entering the text of a macro, single or double quotes must
be used to indicate a macro definition.
Unquoted text is assumed to be a function name.
The backslash escapes described above are expanded
in the macro body.
Backslash will quote any other character in the macro text,
including ‘<samp class="samp">"</samp>’ and ‘<samp class="samp">'</samp>’.
For example, the following binding will make ‘<samp class="samp"><kbd class="kbd">C-x</kbd> \</samp>’
insert a single ‘<samp class="samp">\</samp>’ into the line:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted">"\C-x\\": "\\"
</pre></div>
</dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Conditional-Init-Constructs">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Sample-Init-File" accesskey="n" rel="next">Sample Init File</a>, Previous: <a href="#Readline-Init-File-Syntax" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Readline Init File Syntax</a>, Up: <a href="#Readline-Init-File" accesskey="u" rel="up">Readline Init File</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Conditional-Init-Constructs-1"><span>1.3.2 Conditional Init Constructs<a class="copiable-link" href="#Conditional-Init-Constructs-1"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<p>Readline implements a facility similar in spirit to the conditional
compilation features of the C preprocessor which allows key
bindings and variable settings to be performed as the result
of tests.
There are four parser directives available.
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><code class="code">$if</code></dt>
<dd><p>The <code class="code">$if</code> construct allows bindings to be made based on the
editing mode, the terminal being used, or the application using
Readline.
The text of the test, after any comparison operator,
extends to the end of the line;
unless otherwise noted, no characters are required to isolate it.
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><code class="code">mode</code></dt>
<dd><p>The <code class="code">mode=</code> form of the <code class="code">$if</code> directive is used to test
whether Readline is in <code class="code">emacs</code> or <code class="code">vi</code> mode.
This may be used in conjunction
with the ‘<samp class="samp">set keymap</samp>’ command, for instance, to set bindings in
the <code class="code">emacs-standard</code> and <code class="code">emacs-ctlx</code> keymaps only if
Readline is starting out in <code class="code">emacs</code> mode.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">term</code></dt>
<dd><p>The <code class="code">term=</code> form may be used to include terminal-specific
key bindings, perhaps to bind the key sequences output by the
terminal’s function keys.
The word on the right side of the
‘<samp class="samp">=</samp>’
is tested against both the full name of the terminal and the portion
of the terminal name before the first ‘<samp class="samp">-</samp>’.
This allows <code class="code">xterm</code> to match both <code class="code">xterm</code> and
<code class="code">xterm-256color</code>, for instance.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">version</code></dt>
<dd><p>The <code class="code">version</code> test may be used to perform comparisons against
specific Readline versions.
The <code class="code">version</code> expands to the current Readline version.
The set of comparison operators includes
‘<samp class="samp">=</samp>’ (and ‘<samp class="samp">==</samp>’), ‘<samp class="samp">!=</samp>’, ‘<samp class="samp"><=</samp>’, ‘<samp class="samp">>=</samp>’, ‘<samp class="samp"><</samp>’,
and ‘<samp class="samp">></samp>’.
The version number supplied on the right side of the operator consists
of a major version number, an optional decimal point, and an optional
minor version (e.g., ‘<samp class="samp">7.1</samp>’).
If the minor version is omitted, it
defaults to ‘<samp class="samp">0</samp>’.
The operator may be separated from the string <code class="code">version</code> and
from the version number argument by whitespace.
The following example sets a variable if the Readline version being used
is 7.0 or newer:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted">$if version >= 7.0
set show-mode-in-prompt on
$endif
</pre></div>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">application</code></dt>
<dd><p>The <var class="var">application</var> construct is used to include
application-specific settings.
Each program using the Readline
library sets the <var class="var">application name</var>, and you can test for
a particular value.
This could be used to bind key sequences to functions useful for
a specific program.
For instance, the following command adds a
key sequence that quotes the current or previous word in Bash:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted">$if Bash
# Quote the current or previous word
"\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
$endif
</pre></div>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">variable</code></dt>
<dd><p>The <var class="var">variable</var> construct provides simple equality tests for Readline
variables and values.
The permitted comparison operators are ‘<samp class="samp">=</samp>’, ‘<samp class="samp">==</samp>’, and ‘<samp class="samp">!=</samp>’.
The variable name must be separated from the comparison operator by
whitespace; the operator may be separated from the value on the right hand
side by whitespace.
String and boolean variables may be tested.
Boolean variables must be
tested against the values <var class="var">on</var> and <var class="var">off</var>.
The following example is equivalent to the <code class="code">mode=emacs</code> test described
above:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted">$if editing-mode == emacs
set show-mode-in-prompt on
$endif
</pre></div>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">$else</code></dt>
<dd><p>Commands in this branch of the <code class="code">$if</code> directive are executed if
the test fails.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">$endif</code></dt>
<dd><p>This command, as seen in the previous example, terminates an
<code class="code">$if</code> command.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">$include</code></dt>
<dd><p>This directive takes a single filename as an argument and reads commands
and key bindings from that file.
For example, the following directive reads from <samp class="file">/etc/inputrc</samp>:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted">$include /etc/inputrc
</pre></div>
</dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Sample-Init-File">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Previous: <a href="#Conditional-Init-Constructs" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Conditional Init Constructs</a>, Up: <a href="#Readline-Init-File" accesskey="u" rel="up">Readline Init File</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Sample-Init-File-1"><span>1.3.3 Sample Init File<a class="copiable-link" href="#Sample-Init-File-1"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<p>Here is an example of an <var class="var">inputrc</var> file. This illustrates key
binding, variable assignment, and conditional syntax.
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example-preformatted"># This file controls the behavior of line input editing for
# programs that use the GNU Readline library. Existing
# programs include FTP, Bash, and GDB.
#
# You can re-read the inputrc file with C-x C-r.
# Lines beginning with '#' are comments.
#
# First, include any system-wide bindings and variable
# assignments from /etc/Inputrc
$include /etc/Inputrc
#
# Set various bindings for emacs mode.
set editing-mode emacs
$if mode=emacs
Meta-Control-h: backward-kill-word Text after the function name is ignored
#
# Arrow keys in keypad mode
#
#"\M-OD": backward-char
#"\M-OC": forward-char
#"\M-OA": previous-history
#"\M-OB": next-history
#
# Arrow keys in ANSI mode
#
"\M-[D": backward-char
"\M-[C": forward-char
"\M-[A": previous-history
"\M-[B": next-history
#
# Arrow keys in 8 bit keypad mode
#
#"\M-\C-OD": backward-char
#"\M-\C-OC": forward-char
#"\M-\C-OA": previous-history
#"\M-\C-OB": next-history
#
# Arrow keys in 8 bit ANSI mode
#
#"\M-\C-[D": backward-char
#"\M-\C-[C": forward-char
#"\M-\C-[A": previous-history
#"\M-\C-[B": next-history
C-q: quoted-insert
$endif
# An old-style binding. This happens to be the default.
TAB: complete
# Macros that are convenient for shell interaction
$if Bash
# edit the path
"\C-xp": "PATH=${PATH}\e\C-e\C-a\ef\C-f"
# prepare to type a quoted word --
# insert open and close double quotes
# and move to just after the open quote
"\C-x\"": "\"\"\C-b"
# insert a backslash (testing backslash escapes
# in sequences and macros)
"\C-x\\": "\\"
# Quote the current or previous word
"\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
# Add a binding to refresh the line, which is unbound
"\C-xr": redraw-current-line
# Edit variable on current line.
"\M-\C-v": "\C-a\C-k$\C-y\M-\C-e\C-a\C-y="
$endif
# use a visible bell if one is available
set bell-style visible
# don't strip characters to 7 bits when reading
set input-meta on
# allow iso-latin1 characters to be inserted rather
# than converted to prefix-meta sequences
set convert-meta off
# display characters with the eighth bit set directly
# rather than as meta-prefixed characters
set output-meta on
# if there are 150 or more possible completions for a word,
# ask whether or not the user wants to see all of them
set completion-query-items 150
# For FTP
$if Ftp
"\C-xg": "get \M-?"
"\C-xt": "put \M-?"
"\M-.": yank-last-arg
$endif
</pre></div>
<hr>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section-level-extent" id="Bindable-Readline-Commands">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Readline-vi-Mode" accesskey="n" rel="next">Readline vi Mode</a>, Previous: <a href="#Readline-Init-File" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Readline Init File</a>, Up: <a href="#Command-Line-Editing" accesskey="u" rel="up">Command Line Editing</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h3 class="section" id="Bindable-Readline-Commands-1"><span>1.4 Bindable Readline Commands<a class="copiable-link" href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands-1"> ¶</a></span></h3>
<p>This section describes Readline commands that may be bound to key
sequences.
Command names without an accompanying key sequence are unbound by default.
</p>
<p>In the following descriptions, <em class="dfn">point</em> refers to the current cursor
position, and <em class="dfn">mark</em> refers to a cursor position saved by the
<code class="code">set-mark</code> command.
The text between the point and mark is referred to as the <em class="dfn">region</em>.
Readline
has the concept of an <em class="emph">active region</em>:
when the region is active,
Readline redisplay highlights the region using the
value of the
<code class="code">active-region-start-color</code>
variable.
The <code class="code">enable-active-region</code> variable turns this on and off.
Several commands set the region to active; those are noted below.
</p>
<ul class="mini-toc">
<li><a href="#Commands-For-Moving" accesskey="1">Commands For Moving</a></li>
<li><a href="#Commands-For-History" accesskey="2">Commands For Manipulating The History</a></li>
<li><a href="#Commands-For-Text" accesskey="3">Commands For Changing Text</a></li>
<li><a href="#Commands-For-Killing" accesskey="4">Killing And Yanking</a></li>
<li><a href="#Numeric-Arguments" accesskey="5">Specifying Numeric Arguments</a></li>
<li><a href="#Commands-For-Completion" accesskey="6">Letting Readline Type For You</a></li>
<li><a href="#Keyboard-Macros" accesskey="7">Keyboard Macros</a></li>
<li><a href="#Miscellaneous-Commands" accesskey="8">Some Miscellaneous Commands</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Commands-For-Moving">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Commands-For-History" accesskey="n" rel="next">Commands For Manipulating The History</a>, Up: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Bindable Readline Commands</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Commands-For-Moving-1"><span>1.4.1 Commands For Moving<a class="copiable-link" href="#Commands-For-Moving-1"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<dl class="ftable">
<dt><a id="index-beginning_002dof_002dline-_0028C_002da_0029"></a><span><code class="code">beginning-of-line (C-a)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-beginning_002dof_002dline-_0028C_002da_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move to the start of the current line.
This may also be bound to the Home key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-end_002dof_002dline-_0028C_002de_0029"></a><span><code class="code">end-of-line (C-e)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-end_002dof_002dline-_0028C_002de_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move to the end of the line.
This may also be bound to the End key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-forward_002dchar-_0028C_002df_0029"></a><span><code class="code">forward-char (C-f)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-forward_002dchar-_0028C_002df_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move forward a character.
This may also be bound to the right arrow key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-backward_002dchar-_0028C_002db_0029"></a><span><code class="code">backward-char (C-b)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-backward_002dchar-_0028C_002db_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move back a character.
This may also be bound to the left arrow key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-forward_002dword-_0028M_002df_0029"></a><span><code class="code">forward-word (M-f)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-forward_002dword-_0028M_002df_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move forward to the end of the next word.
Words are composed of letters and digits.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-backward_002dword-_0028M_002db_0029"></a><span><code class="code">backward-word (M-b)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-backward_002dword-_0028M_002db_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move back to the start of the current or previous word.
Words are composed of letters and digits.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-previous_002dscreen_002dline-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">previous-screen-line ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-previous_002dscreen_002dline-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Attempt to move point to the same physical screen column on the previous
physical screen line.
This will not have the desired effect if the current
Readline line does not take up more than one physical line or if point is not
greater than the length of the prompt plus the screen width.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-next_002dscreen_002dline-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">next-screen-line ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-next_002dscreen_002dline-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Attempt to move point to the same physical screen column on the next
physical screen line.
This will not have the desired effect if the current
Readline line does not take up more than one physical line or if the length
of the current Readline line is not greater than the length of the prompt
plus the screen width.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-clear_002ddisplay-_0028M_002dC_002dl_0029"></a><span><code class="code">clear-display (M-C-l)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-clear_002ddisplay-_0028M_002dC_002dl_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Clear the screen and, if possible, the terminal’s scrollback buffer,
then redraw the current line,
leaving the current line at the top of the screen.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-clear_002dscreen-_0028C_002dl_0029"></a><span><code class="code">clear-screen (C-l)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-clear_002dscreen-_0028C_002dl_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Clear the screen,
then redraw the current line,
leaving the current line at the top of the screen.
If given a numeric argument, this refreshes the current line
without clearing the screen.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-redraw_002dcurrent_002dline-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">redraw-current-line ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-redraw_002dcurrent_002dline-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Refresh the current line. By default, this is unbound.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Commands-For-History">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Commands-For-Text" accesskey="n" rel="next">Commands For Changing Text</a>, Previous: <a href="#Commands-For-Moving" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Commands For Moving</a>, Up: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Bindable Readline Commands</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Commands-For-Manipulating-The-History"><span>1.4.2 Commands For Manipulating The History<a class="copiable-link" href="#Commands-For-Manipulating-The-History"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<dl class="ftable">
<dt><a id="index-accept_002dline-_0028Newline-or-Return_0029"></a><span><code class="code">accept-line (Newline or Return)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-accept_002dline-_0028Newline-or-Return_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is.
If this line is non-empty, you can add it to the history list using
<code class="code">add_history()</code>.
If this line is a modified history line, then restore the history line
to its original state.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-previous_002dhistory-_0028C_002dp_0029"></a><span><code class="code">previous-history (C-p)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-previous_002dhistory-_0028C_002dp_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move ‘back’ through the history list, fetching the previous command.
This may also be bound to the up arrow key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-next_002dhistory-_0028C_002dn_0029"></a><span><code class="code">next-history (C-n)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-next_002dhistory-_0028C_002dn_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move ‘forward’ through the history list, fetching the next command.
This may also be bound to the down arrow key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-beginning_002dof_002dhistory-_0028M_002d_003c_0029"></a><span><code class="code">beginning-of-history (M-<)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-beginning_002dof_002dhistory-_0028M_002d_003c_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move to the first line in the history.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-end_002dof_002dhistory-_0028M_002d_003e_0029"></a><span><code class="code">end-of-history (M->)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-end_002dof_002dhistory-_0028M_002d_003e_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Move to the end of the input history, i.e., the line currently
being entered.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-reverse_002dsearch_002dhistory-_0028C_002dr_0029"></a><span><code class="code">reverse-search-history (C-r)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-reverse_002dsearch_002dhistory-_0028C_002dr_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search backward starting at the current line and moving ‘up’ through
the history as necessary.
This is an incremental search.
This command sets the region to the matched text and activates the region.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-forward_002dsearch_002dhistory-_0028C_002ds_0029"></a><span><code class="code">forward-search-history (C-s)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-forward_002dsearch_002dhistory-_0028C_002ds_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search forward starting at the current line and moving ‘down’ through
the history as necessary.
This is an incremental search.
This command sets the region to the matched text and activates the region.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-non_002dincremental_002dreverse_002dsearch_002dhistory-_0028M_002dp_0029"></a><span><code class="code">non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-non_002dincremental_002dreverse_002dsearch_002dhistory-_0028M_002dp_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search backward starting at the current line and moving ‘up’
through the history as necessary using a non-incremental search
for a string supplied by the user.
The search string may match anywhere in a history line.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-non_002dincremental_002dforward_002dsearch_002dhistory-_0028M_002dn_0029"></a><span><code class="code">non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-non_002dincremental_002dforward_002dsearch_002dhistory-_0028M_002dn_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search forward starting at the current line and moving ‘down’
through the history as necessary using a non-incremental search
for a string supplied by the user.
The search string may match anywhere in a history line.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-history_002dsearch_002dbackward-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">history-search-backward ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-history_002dsearch_002dbackward-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search backward through the history for the string of characters
between the start of the current line and the point.
The search string must match at the beginning of a history line.
This is a non-incremental search.
By default, this command is unbound, but may be bound to the Page Down
key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-history_002dsearch_002dforward-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">history-search-forward ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-history_002dsearch_002dforward-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search forward through the history for the string of characters
between the start of the current line and the point.
The search string must match at the beginning of a history line.
This is a non-incremental search.
By default, this command is unbound, but may be bound to the Page Up
key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-history_002dsubstring_002dsearch_002dbackward-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">history-substring-search-backward ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-history_002dsubstring_002dsearch_002dbackward-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search backward through the history for the string of characters
between the start of the current line and the point.
The search string may match anywhere in a history line.
This is a non-incremental search.
By default, this command is unbound.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-history_002dsubstring_002dsearch_002dforward-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">history-substring-search-forward ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-history_002dsubstring_002dsearch_002dforward-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Search forward through the history for the string of characters
between the start of the current line and the point.
The search string may match anywhere in a history line.
This is a non-incremental search.
By default, this command is unbound.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-yank_002dnth_002darg-_0028M_002dC_002dy_0029"></a><span><code class="code">yank-nth-arg (M-C-y)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-yank_002dnth_002darg-_0028M_002dC_002dy_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Insert the first argument to the previous command (usually
the second word on the previous line) at point.
With an argument <var class="var">n</var>,
insert the <var class="var">n</var>th word from the previous command (the words
in the previous command begin with word 0).
A negative argument inserts the <var class="var">n</var>th word from the end of
the previous command.
Once the argument <var class="var">n</var> is computed,
this uses the history expansion facilities to extract the
<var class="var">n</var>th word, as if the
‘<samp class="samp">!<var class="var">n</var></samp>’ history expansion had been specified.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-yank_002dlast_002darg-_0028M_002d_002e-or-M_002d_005f_0029"></a><span><code class="code">yank-last-arg (M-. or M-_)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-yank_002dlast_002darg-_0028M_002d_002e-or-M_002d_005f_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Insert last argument to the previous command (the last word of the
previous history entry).
With a numeric argument, behave exactly like <code class="code">yank-nth-arg</code>.
Successive calls to <code class="code">yank-last-arg</code> move back through the history
list, inserting the last word (or the word specified by the argument to
the first call) of each line in turn.
Any numeric argument supplied to these successive calls determines
the direction to move through the history.
A negative argument switches the direction through the history
(back or forward).
This uses the history expansion facilities to extract the
last word, as if the
‘<samp class="samp">!$</samp>’ history expansion had been specified.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-operate_002dand_002dget_002dnext-_0028C_002do_0029"></a><span><code class="code">operate-and-get-next (C-o)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-operate_002dand_002dget_002dnext-_0028C_002do_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Accept the current line for return to the calling application as if a
newline had been entered,
and fetch the next line relative to the current line from the history
for editing.
A numeric argument, if supplied, specifies the history entry
to use instead of the current line.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-fetch_002dhistory-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">fetch-history ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-fetch_002dhistory-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>With a numeric argument, fetch that entry from the history list
and make it the current line.
Without an argument, move back to the first entry in the history list.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Commands-For-Text">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Commands-For-Killing" accesskey="n" rel="next">Killing And Yanking</a>, Previous: <a href="#Commands-For-History" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Commands For Manipulating The History</a>, Up: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Bindable Readline Commands</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Commands-For-Changing-Text"><span>1.4.3 Commands For Changing Text<a class="copiable-link" href="#Commands-For-Changing-Text"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<dl class="ftable">
<dt><a id="index-end_002dof_002dfile-_0028usually-C_002dd_0029"></a><span><code class="code"><i class="i">end-of-file</i> (usually C-d)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-end_002dof_002dfile-_0028usually-C_002dd_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>The character indicating end-of-file as set, for example, by
<code class="code">stty</code>.
If this character is read when there are no characters
on the line, and point is at the beginning of the line, Readline
interprets it as the end of input and returns <small class="sc">EOF</small>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-delete_002dchar-_0028C_002dd_0029"></a><span><code class="code">delete-char (C-d)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-delete_002dchar-_0028C_002dd_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Delete the character at point.
If this function is bound to the
same character as the tty <small class="sc">EOF</small> character, as <kbd class="kbd">C-d</kbd>
commonly is, see above for the effects.
This may also be bound to the Delete key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-backward_002ddelete_002dchar-_0028Rubout_0029"></a><span><code class="code">backward-delete-char (Rubout)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-backward_002ddelete_002dchar-_0028Rubout_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Delete the character behind the cursor.
A numeric argument means
to kill the characters, saving them on the kill ring,
instead of deleting them.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-forward_002dbackward_002ddelete_002dchar-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">forward-backward-delete-char ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-forward_002dbackward_002ddelete_002dchar-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Delete the character under the cursor, unless the cursor is at the
end of the line, in which case the character behind the cursor is
deleted.
By default, this is not bound to a key.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-quoted_002dinsert-_0028C_002dq-or-C_002dv_0029"></a><span><code class="code">quoted-insert (C-q or C-v)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-quoted_002dinsert-_0028C_002dq-or-C_002dv_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Add the next character typed to the line verbatim.
This is how to insert key sequences like <kbd class="kbd">C-q</kbd>, for example.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-tab_002dinsert-_0028M_002dTAB_0029"></a><span><code class="code">tab-insert (M-<kbd class="key">TAB</kbd>)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-tab_002dinsert-_0028M_002dTAB_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Insert a tab character.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-self_002dinsert-_0028a_002c-b_002c-A_002c-1_002c-_0021_002c-_2026_0029"></a><span><code class="code">self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, …)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-self_002dinsert-_0028a_002c-b_002c-A_002c-1_002c-_0021_002c-_2026_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Insert the character typed.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-bracketed_002dpaste_002dbegin-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">bracketed-paste-begin ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-bracketed_002dpaste_002dbegin-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>This function is intended to be bound to the "bracketed paste" escape
sequence sent by some terminals, and such a binding is assigned by default.
It allows Readline to insert the pasted text as a single unit without treating
each character as if it had been read from the keyboard.
The characters
are inserted as if each one was bound to <code class="code">self-insert</code> instead of
executing any editing commands.
</p>
<p>Bracketed paste sets the region (the characters between point and the mark)
to the inserted text.
It sets the <em class="emph">active region</em>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-transpose_002dchars-_0028C_002dt_0029"></a><span><code class="code">transpose-chars (C-t)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-transpose_002dchars-_0028C_002dt_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Drag the character before the cursor forward over
the character at the cursor, moving the
cursor forward as well.
If the insertion point
is at the end of the line, then this
transposes the last two characters of the line.
Negative arguments have no effect.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-transpose_002dwords-_0028M_002dt_0029"></a><span><code class="code">transpose-words (M-t)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-transpose_002dwords-_0028M_002dt_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Drag the word before point past the word after point,
moving point past that word as well.
If the insertion point is at the end of the line, this transposes
the last two words on the line.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-upcase_002dword-_0028M_002du_0029"></a><span><code class="code">upcase-word (M-u)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-upcase_002dword-_0028M_002du_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Uppercase the current (or following) word.
With a negative argument,
uppercase the previous word, but do not move the cursor.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-downcase_002dword-_0028M_002dl_0029"></a><span><code class="code">downcase-word (M-l)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-downcase_002dword-_0028M_002dl_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Lowercase the current (or following) word.
With a negative argument,
lowercase the previous word, but do not move the cursor.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-capitalize_002dword-_0028M_002dc_0029"></a><span><code class="code">capitalize-word (M-c)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-capitalize_002dword-_0028M_002dc_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Capitalize the current (or following) word.
With a negative argument,
capitalize the previous word, but do not move the cursor.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-overwrite_002dmode-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">overwrite-mode ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-overwrite_002dmode-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Toggle overwrite mode.
With an explicit positive numeric argument, switches to overwrite mode.
With an explicit non-positive numeric argument, switches to insert mode.
This command affects only <code class="code">emacs</code> mode;
<code class="code">vi</code> mode does overwrite differently.
Each call to <code class="code">readline()</code> starts in insert mode.
</p>
<p>In overwrite mode, characters bound to <code class="code">self-insert</code> replace
the text at point rather than pushing the text to the right.
Characters bound to <code class="code">backward-delete-char</code> replace the character
before point with a space.
</p>
<p>By default, this command is unbound, but may be bound to the Insert
key on some keyboards.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Commands-For-Killing">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Numeric-Arguments" accesskey="n" rel="next">Specifying Numeric Arguments</a>, Previous: <a href="#Commands-For-Text" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Commands For Changing Text</a>, Up: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Bindable Readline Commands</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Killing-And-Yanking"><span>1.4.4 Killing And Yanking<a class="copiable-link" href="#Killing-And-Yanking"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<dl class="ftable">
<dt><a id="index-kill_002dline-_0028C_002dk_0029"></a><span><code class="code">kill-line (C-k)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-kill_002dline-_0028C_002dk_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Kill the text from point to the end of the current line.
With a negative numeric argument, kill backward from the cursor to the
beginning of the line.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-backward_002dkill_002dline-_0028C_002dx-Rubout_0029"></a><span><code class="code">backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-backward_002dkill_002dline-_0028C_002dx-Rubout_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line.
With a negative numeric argument, kill forward from the cursor to the
end of the line.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-unix_002dline_002ddiscard-_0028C_002du_0029"></a><span><code class="code">unix-line-discard (C-u)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-unix_002dline_002ddiscard-_0028C_002du_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-kill_002dwhole_002dline-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">kill-whole-line ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-kill_002dwhole_002dline-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Kill all characters on the current line, no matter where point is.
By default, this is unbound.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-kill_002dword-_0028M_002dd_0029"></a><span><code class="code">kill-word (M-d)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-kill_002dword-_0028M_002dd_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Kill from point to the end of the current word, or if between
words, to the end of the next word.
Word boundaries are the same as <code class="code">forward-word</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-backward_002dkill_002dword-_0028M_002dDEL_0029"></a><span><code class="code">backward-kill-word (M-<kbd class="key">DEL</kbd>)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-backward_002dkill_002dword-_0028M_002dDEL_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Kill the word behind point.
Word boundaries are the same as <code class="code">backward-word</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-unix_002dword_002drubout-_0028C_002dw_0029"></a><span><code class="code">unix-word-rubout (C-w)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-unix_002dword_002drubout-_0028C_002dw_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Kill the word behind point, using white space as a word boundary,
saving the killed text on the kill-ring.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-unix_002dfilename_002drubout-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">unix-filename-rubout ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-unix_002dfilename_002drubout-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Kill the word behind point, using white space and the slash character
as the word boundaries,
saving the killed text on the kill-ring.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-delete_002dhorizontal_002dspace-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">delete-horizontal-space ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-delete_002dhorizontal_002dspace-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Delete all spaces and tabs around point.
By default, this is unbound.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-kill_002dregion-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">kill-region ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-kill_002dregion-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Kill the text in the current region.
By default, this command is unbound.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-copy_002dregion_002das_002dkill-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">copy-region-as-kill ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-copy_002dregion_002das_002dkill-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer, so it can be yanked
right away.
By default, this command is unbound.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-copy_002dbackward_002dword-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">copy-backward-word ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-copy_002dbackward_002dword-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Copy the word before point to the kill buffer.
The word boundaries are the same as <code class="code">backward-word</code>.
By default, this command is unbound.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-copy_002dforward_002dword-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">copy-forward-word ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-copy_002dforward_002dword-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Copy the word following point to the kill buffer.
The word boundaries are the same as <code class="code">forward-word</code>.
By default, this command is unbound.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-yank-_0028C_002dy_0029"></a><span><code class="code">yank (C-y)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-yank-_0028C_002dy_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-yank_002dpop-_0028M_002dy_0029"></a><span><code class="code">yank-pop (M-y)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-yank_002dpop-_0028M_002dy_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Rotate the kill-ring, and yank the new top.
You can only do this if
the prior command is <code class="code">yank</code> or <code class="code">yank-pop</code>.
</p></dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Numeric-Arguments">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Commands-For-Completion" accesskey="n" rel="next">Letting Readline Type For You</a>, Previous: <a href="#Commands-For-Killing" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Killing And Yanking</a>, Up: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Bindable Readline Commands</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Specifying-Numeric-Arguments"><span>1.4.5 Specifying Numeric Arguments<a class="copiable-link" href="#Specifying-Numeric-Arguments"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<dl class="ftable">
<dt><a id="index-digit_002dargument-_0028M_002d0_002c-M_002d1_002c-_2026-M_002d_002d_0029"></a><span><code class="code">digit-argument (<kbd class="kbd">M-0</kbd>, <kbd class="kbd">M-1</kbd>, … <kbd class="kbd">M--</kbd>)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-digit_002dargument-_0028M_002d0_002c-M_002d1_002c-_2026-M_002d_002d_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Add this digit to the argument already accumulating, or start a new
argument.
<kbd class="kbd">M--</kbd> starts a negative argument.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-universal_002dargument-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">universal-argument ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-universal_002dargument-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>This is another way to specify an argument.
If this command is followed by one or more digits, optionally with a
leading minus sign, those digits define the argument.
If the command is followed by digits, executing <code class="code">universal-argument</code>
again ends the numeric argument, but is otherwise ignored.
As a special case, if this command is immediately followed by a
character that is neither a digit nor minus sign, the argument count
for the next command is multiplied by four.
The argument count is initially one, so executing this function the
first time makes the argument count four, a second time makes the
argument count sixteen, and so on.
By default, this is not bound to a key.
</p></dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Commands-For-Completion">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Keyboard-Macros" accesskey="n" rel="next">Keyboard Macros</a>, Previous: <a href="#Numeric-Arguments" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Specifying Numeric Arguments</a>, Up: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Bindable Readline Commands</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Letting-Readline-Type-For-You"><span>1.4.6 Letting Readline Type For You<a class="copiable-link" href="#Letting-Readline-Type-For-You"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<dl class="ftable">
<dt><a id="index-complete-_0028TAB_0029"></a><span><code class="code">complete (<kbd class="key">TAB</kbd>)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-complete-_0028TAB_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Attempt to perform completion on the text before point.
The actual completion performed is application-specific.
The default is filename completion.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-possible_002dcompletions-_0028M_002d_003f_0029"></a><span><code class="code">possible-completions (M-?)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-possible_002dcompletions-_0028M_002d_003f_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>List the possible completions of the text before point.
When displaying completions, Readline sets the number of columns used
for display to the value of <code class="code">completion-display-width</code>, the value of
the environment variable <code class="env">COLUMNS</code>, or the screen width, in that order.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-insert_002dcompletions-_0028M_002d_002a_0029"></a><span><code class="code">insert-completions (M-*)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-insert_002dcompletions-_0028M_002d_002a_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Insert all completions of the text before point that would have
been generated by <code class="code">possible-completions</code>,
separated by a space.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-menu_002dcomplete-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">menu-complete ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-menu_002dcomplete-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Similar to <code class="code">complete</code>, but replaces the word to be completed
with a single match from the list of possible completions.
Repeatedly executing <code class="code">menu-complete</code> steps through the list
of possible completions, inserting each match in turn.
At the end of the list of completions,
<code class="code">menu-complete</code> rings the bell
(subject to the setting of <code class="code">bell-style</code>)
and restores the original text.
An argument of <var class="var">n</var> moves <var class="var">n</var> positions forward in the list
of matches; a negative argument moves backward through the list.
This command is intended to be bound to <kbd class="key">TAB</kbd>, but is unbound
by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-menu_002dcomplete_002dbackward-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">menu-complete-backward ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-menu_002dcomplete_002dbackward-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Identical to <code class="code">menu-complete</code>, but moves backward through the list
of possible completions, as if <code class="code">menu-complete</code> had been given a
negative argument.
This command is unbound by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-export_002dcompletions-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">export-completions ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-export_002dcompletions-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Perform completion on the word before point as described above
and write the list of possible completions to Readline’s output stream
using the following format, writing information on separate lines:
</p>
<ul class="itemize mark-bullet">
<li>the number of matches <var class="var">N</var>;
</li><li>the word being completed;
</li><li><var class="var">S</var>:<var class="var">E</var>,
where <var class="var">S</var> and <var class="var">E</var> are the start and end offsets of the word
in the Readline line buffer; then
</li><li>each match, one per line
</li></ul>
<p>If there are no matches, the first line will be “0”,
and this command does not print any output after the <var class="var">S</var>:<var class="var">E</var>.
If there is only a single match, this prints a single line containing it.
If there is more than one match, this prints the common prefix of the
matches, which may be empty, on the first line after the <var class="var">S</var>:<var class="var">E</var>,
then the matches on subsequent lines.
In this case, <var class="var">N</var> will include the first line with the common prefix.
</p>
<p>The user or application
should be able to accommodate the possibility of a blank line.
The intent is that the user or application reads <var class="var">N</var> lines after
the line containing <var class="var">S</var>:<var class="var">E</var> to obtain the match list.
This command is unbound by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-delete_002dchar_002dor_002dlist-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">delete-char-or-list ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-delete_002dchar_002dor_002dlist-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Deletes the character under the cursor if not at the beginning or
end of the line (like <code class="code">delete-char</code>).
At the end of the line, it behaves identically to <code class="code">possible-completions</code>.
This command is unbound by default.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Keyboard-Macros">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Next: <a href="#Miscellaneous-Commands" accesskey="n" rel="next">Some Miscellaneous Commands</a>, Previous: <a href="#Commands-For-Completion" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Letting Readline Type For You</a>, Up: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Bindable Readline Commands</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Keyboard-Macros-1"><span>1.4.7 Keyboard Macros<a class="copiable-link" href="#Keyboard-Macros-1"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<dl class="ftable">
<dt><a id="index-start_002dkbd_002dmacro-_0028C_002dx-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">start-kbd-macro (C-x ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-start_002dkbd_002dmacro-_0028C_002dx-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Begin saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-end_002dkbd_002dmacro-_0028C_002dx-_0029_0029"></a><span><code class="code">end-kbd-macro (C-x ))</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-end_002dkbd_002dmacro-_0028C_002dx-_0029_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Stop saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro
and save the definition.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-call_002dlast_002dkbd_002dmacro-_0028C_002dx-e_0029"></a><span><code class="code">call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-call_002dlast_002dkbd_002dmacro-_0028C_002dx-e_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the characters
in the macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-print_002dlast_002dkbd_002dmacro-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">print-last-kbd-macro ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-print_002dlast_002dkbd_002dmacro-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Print the last keyboard macro defined in a format suitable for the
<var class="var">inputrc</var> file.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
<div class="subsection-level-extent" id="Miscellaneous-Commands">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Previous: <a href="#Keyboard-Macros" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Keyboard Macros</a>, Up: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Bindable Readline Commands</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection" id="Some-Miscellaneous-Commands"><span>1.4.8 Some Miscellaneous Commands<a class="copiable-link" href="#Some-Miscellaneous-Commands"> ¶</a></span></h4>
<dl class="ftable">
<dt><a id="index-re_002dread_002dinit_002dfile-_0028C_002dx-C_002dr_0029"></a><span><code class="code">re-read-init-file (C-x C-r)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-re_002dread_002dinit_002dfile-_0028C_002dx-C_002dr_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Read in the contents of the <var class="var">inputrc</var> file, and incorporate
any bindings or variable assignments found there.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-abort-_0028C_002dg_0029"></a><span><code class="code">abort (C-g)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-abort-_0028C_002dg_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Abort the current editing command and
ring the terminal’s bell (subject to the setting of
<code class="code">bell-style</code>).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-do_002dlowercase_002dversion-_0028M_002dA_002c-M_002dB_002c-M_002dx_002c-_2026_0029"></a><span><code class="code">do-lowercase-version (M-A, M-B, M-<var class="var">x</var>, …)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-do_002dlowercase_002dversion-_0028M_002dA_002c-M_002dB_002c-M_002dx_002c-_2026_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>If the metafied character <var class="var">x</var> is upper case, run the command
that is bound to the corresponding metafied lower case character.
The behavior is undefined if <var class="var">x</var> is already lower case.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-prefix_002dmeta-_0028ESC_0029"></a><span><code class="code">prefix-meta (<kbd class="key">ESC</kbd>)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-prefix_002dmeta-_0028ESC_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Metafy the next character typed.
Typing ‘<samp class="samp"><kbd class="key">ESC</kbd> f</samp>’ is equivalent to typing <kbd class="kbd">M-f</kbd>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-undo-_0028C_002d_005f-or-C_002dx-C_002du_0029"></a><span><code class="code">undo (C-_ or C-x C-u)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-undo-_0028C_002d_005f-or-C_002dx-C_002du_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-revert_002dline-_0028M_002dr_0029"></a><span><code class="code">revert-line (M-r)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-revert_002dline-_0028M_002dr_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Undo all changes made to this line.
This is like executing the <code class="code">undo</code>
command enough times to get back to the initial state.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-tilde_002dexpand-_0028M_002d_007e_0029"></a><span><code class="code">tilde-expand (M-~)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-tilde_002dexpand-_0028M_002d_007e_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Perform tilde expansion on the current word.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-set_002dmark-_0028C_002d_0040_0029"></a><span><code class="code">set-mark (C-@)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-set_002dmark-_0028C_002d_0040_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Set the mark to the point.
If a numeric argument is supplied, set the mark to that position.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-exchange_002dpoint_002dand_002dmark-_0028C_002dx-C_002dx_0029"></a><span><code class="code">exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-exchange_002dpoint_002dand_002dmark-_0028C_002dx-C_002dx_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Swap the point with the mark.
Set the current cursor position to the saved position,
then set the mark to the old cursor position.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-character_002dsearch-_0028C_002d_005d_0029"></a><span><code class="code">character-search (C-])</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-character_002dsearch-_0028C_002d_005d_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Read a character and move point to the next occurrence of that character.
A negative argument searches for previous occurrences.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-character_002dsearch_002dbackward-_0028M_002dC_002d_005d_0029"></a><span><code class="code">character-search-backward (M-C-])</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-character_002dsearch_002dbackward-_0028M_002dC_002d_005d_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Read a character and move point to the previous occurrence of that character.
A negative argument searches for subsequent occurrences.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-skip_002dcsi_002dsequence-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">skip-csi-sequence ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-skip_002dcsi_002dsequence-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Read enough characters to consume a multi-key sequence such as those
defined for keys like Home and End.
CSI sequences begin with a Control Sequence Indicator (CSI), usually
<kbd class="kbd">ESC [</kbd>.
If this sequence is bound to "\e[",
keys producing CSI sequences have no effect
unless explicitly bound to a Readline command,
instead of inserting stray characters into the editing buffer.
This is unbound by default, but usually bound to
<kbd class="kbd">ESC [</kbd>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-insert_002dcomment-_0028M_002d_0023_0029"></a><span><code class="code">insert-comment (M-#)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-insert_002dcomment-_0028M_002d_0023_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Without a numeric argument, insert the value of the <code class="code">comment-begin</code>
variable at the beginning of the current line.
If a numeric argument is supplied, this command acts as a toggle: if
the characters at the beginning of the line do not match the value
of <code class="code">comment-begin</code>, insert the value; otherwise delete
the characters in <code class="code">comment-begin</code> from the beginning of the line.
In either case, the line is accepted as if a newline had been typed.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-dump_002dfunctions-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">dump-functions ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-dump_002dfunctions-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Print all of the functions and their key bindings
to the Readline output stream.
If a numeric argument is supplied,
the output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part
of an <var class="var">inputrc</var> file.
This command is unbound by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-dump_002dvariables-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">dump-variables ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-dump_002dvariables-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Print all of the settable variables and their values
to the Readline output stream.
If a numeric argument is supplied,
the output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part
of an <var class="var">inputrc</var> file.
This command is unbound by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-dump_002dmacros-_0028_0029"></a><span><code class="code">dump-macros ()</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-dump_002dmacros-_0028_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Print all of the Readline key sequences bound to macros and the
strings they output
to the Readline output stream.
If a numeric argument is supplied,
the output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part
of an <var class="var">inputrc</var> file.
This command is unbound by default.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-execute_002dnamed_002dcommand-_0028M_002dx_0029"></a><span><code class="code">execute-named-command (M-x)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-execute_002dnamed_002dcommand-_0028M_002dx_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Read a bindable Readline command name from the input and execute the
function to which it’s bound, as if the key sequence to which it was
bound appeared in the input.
If this function is supplied with a numeric argument, it passes that
argument to the function it executes.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-emacs_002dediting_002dmode-_0028C_002de_0029"></a><span><code class="code">emacs-editing-mode (C-e)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-emacs_002dediting_002dmode-_0028C_002de_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>When in <code class="code">vi</code> command mode, this causes a switch to <code class="code">emacs</code>
editing mode.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><a id="index-vi_002dediting_002dmode-_0028M_002dC_002dj_0029"></a><span><code class="code">vi-editing-mode (M-C-j)</code><a class="copiable-link" href="#index-vi_002dediting_002dmode-_0028M_002dC_002dj_0029"> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>When in <code class="code">emacs</code> editing mode, this causes a switch to <code class="code">vi</code>
editing mode.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<hr>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section-level-extent" id="Readline-vi-Mode">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Previous: <a href="#Bindable-Readline-Commands" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Bindable Readline Commands</a>, Up: <a href="#Command-Line-Editing" accesskey="u" rel="up">Command Line Editing</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h3 class="section" id="Readline-vi-Mode-1"><span>1.5 Readline vi Mode<a class="copiable-link" href="#Readline-vi-Mode-1"> ¶</a></span></h3>
<p>While the Readline library does not have a full set of <code class="code">vi</code>
editing functions, it does contain enough to allow simple editing
of the line.
The Readline <code class="code">vi</code> mode behaves as specified in the
<code class="code">sh</code> description in the <small class="sc">POSIX</small> standard.
</p>
<p>In order to switch interactively between <code class="code">emacs</code> and <code class="code">vi</code>
editing modes, use the command <kbd class="kbd">M-C-j</kbd> (bound to emacs-editing-mode
when in <code class="code">vi</code> mode and to vi-editing-mode in <code class="code">emacs</code> mode).
The Readline default is <code class="code">emacs</code> mode.
</p>
<p>When you enter a line in <code class="code">vi</code> mode, you are already placed in
‘insertion’ mode, as if you had typed an ‘<samp class="samp">i</samp>’. Pressing <kbd class="key">ESC</kbd>
switches you into ‘command’ mode, where you can edit the text of the
line with the standard <code class="code">vi</code> movement keys, move to previous
history lines with ‘<samp class="samp">k</samp>’ and subsequent lines with ‘<samp class="samp">j</samp>’, and
so forth.
</p>
<hr>
</div>
</div>
<div class="appendix-level-extent" id="GNU-Free-Documentation-License">
<div class="nav-panel">
<p>
Previous: <a href="#Command-Line-Editing" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Command Line Editing</a>, Up: <a href="#Top" accesskey="u" rel="up">GNU Readline Library</a> [<a href="#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>]</p>
</div>
<h2 class="appendix" id="GNU-Free-Documentation-License-1"><span>Appendix A GNU Free Documentation License<a class="copiable-link" href="#GNU-Free-Documentation-License-1"> ¶</a></span></h2>
<div class="center">Version 1.3, 3 November 2008
</div>
<div class="display">
<pre class="display-preformatted">Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
<a class="uref" href="http://fsf.org/">http://fsf.org/</a>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
</pre></div>
<ol class="enumerate" start="0">
<li> PREAMBLE
<p>The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other
functional and useful document <em class="dfn">free</em> in the sense of freedom: to
assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it,
with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially.
Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way
to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible
for modifications made by others.
</p>
<p>This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative
works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It
complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft
license designed for free software.
</p>
<p>We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free
software, because free software needs free documentation: a free
program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the
software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals;
it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or
whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License
principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.
</p>
</li><li> APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
<p>This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that
contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be
distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants a
world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that
work under the conditions stated herein. The “Document”, below,
refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a
licensee, and is addressed as “you”. You accept the license if you
copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission
under copyright law.
</p>
<p>A “Modified Version” of the Document means any work containing the
Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with
modifications and/or translated into another language.
</p>
<p>A “Secondary Section” is a named appendix or a front-matter section
of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the
publishers or authors of the Document to the Document’s overall
subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall
directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in
part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain
any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical
connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal,
commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding
them.
</p>
<p>The “Invariant Sections” are certain Secondary Sections whose titles
are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice
that says that the Document is released under this License. If a
section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is not
allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero
Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant
Sections then there are none.
</p>
<p>The “Cover Texts” are certain short passages of text that are listed,
as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that
the Document is released under this License. A Front-Cover Text may
be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may be at most 25 words.
</p>
<p>A “Transparent” copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy,
represented in a format whose specification is available to the
general public, that is suitable for revising the document
straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed of
pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available
drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or
for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for input
to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file
format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to thwart
or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent.
An image format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount
of text. A copy that is not “Transparent” is called “Opaque”.
</p>
<p>Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain
<small class="sc">ASCII</small> without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input
format, <abbr class="acronym">SGML</abbr> or <abbr class="acronym">XML</abbr> using a publicly available
<abbr class="acronym">DTD</abbr>, and standard-conforming simple <abbr class="acronym">HTML</abbr>,
PostScript or <abbr class="acronym">PDF</abbr> designed for human modification. Examples
of transparent image formats include <abbr class="acronym">PNG</abbr>, <abbr class="acronym">XCF</abbr> and
<abbr class="acronym">JPG</abbr>. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be
read and edited only by proprietary word processors, <abbr class="acronym">SGML</abbr> or
<abbr class="acronym">XML</abbr> for which the <abbr class="acronym">DTD</abbr> and/or processing tools are
not generally available, and the machine-generated <abbr class="acronym">HTML</abbr>,
PostScript or <abbr class="acronym">PDF</abbr> produced by some word processors for
output purposes only.
</p>
<p>The “Title Page” means, for a printed book, the title page itself,
plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material
this License requires to appear in the title page. For works in
formats which do not have any title page as such, “Title Page” means
the text near the most prominent appearance of the work’s title,
preceding the beginning of the body of the text.
</p>
<p>The “publisher” means any person or entity that distributes copies
of the Document to the public.
</p>
<p>A section “Entitled XYZ” means a named subunit of the Document whose
title either is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses following
text that translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ stands for a
specific section name mentioned below, such as “Acknowledgements”,
“Dedications”, “Endorsements”, or “History”.) To “Preserve the Title”
of such a section when you modify the Document means that it remains a
section “Entitled XYZ” according to this definition.
</p>
<p>The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which
states that this License applies to the Document. These Warranty
Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in this
License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other
implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has
no effect on the meaning of this License.
</p>
</li><li> VERBATIM COPYING
<p>You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either
commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the
copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies
to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other
conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use
technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further
copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept
compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough
number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.
</p>
<p>You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and
you may publicly display copies.
</p>
</li><li> COPYING IN QUANTITY
<p>If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have
printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and the
Document’s license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the
copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover
Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on
the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify
you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present
the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and
visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition.
Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve
the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated
as verbatim copying in other respects.
</p>
<p>If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit
legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit
reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent
pages.
</p>
<p>If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering
more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent
copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy
a computer-network location from which the general network-using
public has access to download using public-standard network protocols
a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material.
If you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps,
when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure
that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated
location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an
Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that
edition to the public.
</p>
<p>It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the
Document well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give
them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.
</p>
</li><li> MODIFICATIONS
<p>You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under
the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release
the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified
Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution
and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy
of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
</p>
<ol class="enumerate" type="A" start="1">
<li> Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct
from that of the Document, and from those of previous versions
(which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section
of the Document). You may use the same title as a previous version
if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
</li><li> List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities
responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified
Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the
Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five),
unless they release you from this requirement.
</li><li> State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the
Modified Version, as the publisher.
</li><li> Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
</li><li> Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications
adjacent to the other copyright notices.
</li><li> Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice
giving the public permission to use the Modified Version under the
terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.
</li><li> Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections
and required Cover Texts given in the Document’s license notice.
</li><li> Include an unaltered copy of this License.
</li><li> Preserve the section Entitled “History”, Preserve its Title, and add
to it an item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and
publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If
there is no section Entitled “History” in the Document, create one
stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as
given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified
Version as stated in the previous sentence.
</li><li> Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for
public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise
the network locations given in the Document for previous versions
it was based on. These may be placed in the “History” section.
You may omit a network location for a work that was published at
least four years before the Document itself, or if the original
publisher of the version it refers to gives permission.
</li><li> For any section Entitled “Acknowledgements” or “Dedications”, Preserve
the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the
substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or
dedications given therein.
</li><li> Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document,
unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers
or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.
</li><li> Delete any section Entitled “Endorsements”. Such a section
may not be included in the Modified Version.
</li><li> Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled “Endorsements” or
to conflict in title with any Invariant Section.
</li><li> Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
</li></ol>
<p>If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or
appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material
copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all
of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the
list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version’s license notice.
These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.
</p>
<p>You may add a section Entitled “Endorsements”, provided it contains
nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various
parties—for example, statements of peer review or that the text has
been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a
standard.
</p>
<p>You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a
passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list
of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of
Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or
through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already
includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or
by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of,
you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on explicit
permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.
</p>
<p>The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License
give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or
imply endorsement of any Modified Version.
</p>
</li><li> COMBINING DOCUMENTS
<p>You may combine the Document with other documents released under this
License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified
versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the
Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and
list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its
license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.
</p>
<p>The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and
multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single
copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but
different contents, make the title of each such section unique by
adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original
author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number.
Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of
Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.
</p>
<p>In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled “History”
in the various original documents, forming one section Entitled
“History”; likewise combine any sections Entitled “Acknowledgements”,
and any sections Entitled “Dedications”. You must delete all
sections Entitled “Endorsements.”
</p>
</li><li> COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
<p>You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents
released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this
License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in
the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for
verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.
</p>
<p>You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute
it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this
License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all
other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.
</p>
</li><li> AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
<p>A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate
and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or
distribution medium, is called an “aggregate” if the copyright
resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights
of the compilation’s users beyond what the individual works permit.
When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not
apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not themselves
derivative works of the Document.
</p>
<p>If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these
copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of
the entire aggregate, the Document’s Cover Texts may be placed on
covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the
electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form.
Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole
aggregate.
</p>
</li><li> TRANSLATION
<p>Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may
distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4.
Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special
permission from their copyright holders, but you may include
translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the
original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a
translation of this License, and all the license notices in the
Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include
the original English version of this License and the original versions
of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between
the translation and the original version of this License or a notice
or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.
</p>
<p>If a section in the Document is Entitled “Acknowledgements”,
“Dedications”, or “History”, the requirement (section 4) to Preserve
its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual
title.
</p>
</li><li> TERMINATION
<p>You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document
except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute it is void, and
will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
</p>
<p>However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license
from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally,
unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally
terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder
fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to
60 days after the cessation.
</p>
<p>Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is
reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the
violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have
received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that
copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after
your receipt of the notice.
</p>
<p>Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the
licenses of parties who have received copies or rights from you under
this License. If your rights have been terminated and not permanently
reinstated, receipt of a copy of some or all of the same material does
not give you any rights to use it.
</p>
</li><li> FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
<p>The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions
of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new
versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See
<a class="uref" href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/">http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/</a>.
</p>
<p>Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number.
If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this
License “or any later version” applies to it, you have the option of
following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or
of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the
Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version
number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not
as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document
specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of this
License can be used, that proxy’s public statement of acceptance of a
version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the
Document.
</p>
</li><li> RELICENSING
<p>“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site” (or “MMC Site”) means any
World Wide Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also
provides prominent facilities for anybody to edit those works. A
public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of such a server. A
“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration” (or “MMC”) contained in the
site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC
site.
</p>
<p>“CC-BY-SA” means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
license published by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit
corporation with a principal place of business in San Francisco,
California, as well as future copyleft versions of that license
published by that same organization.
</p>
<p>“Incorporate” means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or
in part, as part of another Document.
</p>
<p>An MMC is “eligible for relicensing” if it is licensed under this
License, and if all works that were first published under this License
somewhere other than this MMC, and subsequently incorporated in whole
or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover texts or invariant sections,
and (2) were thus incorporated prior to November 1, 2008.
</p>
<p>The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the site
under CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1, 2009,
provided the MMC is eligible for relicensing.
</p>
</li></ol>
<h3 class="heading" id="ADDENDUM_003a-How-to-use-this-License-for-your-documents"><span>ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents<a class="copiable-link" href="#ADDENDUM_003a-How-to-use-this-License-for-your-documents"> ¶</a></span></h3>
<p>To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of
the License in the document and put the following copyright and
license notices just after the title page:
</p>
<div class="example smallexample">
<div class="group"><pre class="example-preformatted"> Copyright (C) <var class="var">year</var> <var class="var">your name</var>.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
Free Documentation License''.
</pre></div></div>
<p>If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts,
replace the “with…Texts.” line with this:
</p>
<div class="example smallexample">
<div class="group"><pre class="example-preformatted"> with the Invariant Sections being <var class="var">list their titles</var>, with
the Front-Cover Texts being <var class="var">list</var>, and with the Back-Cover Texts
being <var class="var">list</var>.
</pre></div></div>
<p>If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other
combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the
situation.
</p>
<p>If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we
recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of
free software license, such as the GNU General Public License,
to permit their use in free software.
</p>
</div>
</div>
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