ZSHZLE(1)ZSHZLE(1)NAMEzshzle - zsh command line editor
DESCRIPTION
If the ZLE option is set (which it is by default in interactive shells)
and the shell input is attached to the terminal, the user is able to
edit command lines.
There are two display modes. The first, multiline mode, is the
default. It only works if the TERM parameter is set to a valid termi‐
nal type that can move the cursor up. The second, single line mode, is
used if TERM is invalid or incapable of moving the cursor up, or if the
SINGLE_LINE_ZLE option is set. This mode is similar to ksh, and uses
no termcap sequences. If TERM is "emacs", the ZLE option will be unset
by default.
The parameters BAUD, COLUMNS, and LINES are also used by the line edi‐
tor. See Parameters Used By The Shell in zshparam(1).
KEYMAPS
A keymap in ZLE contains a set of bindings between key sequences and
ZLE commands. The empty key sequence cannot be bound.
There can be any number of keymaps at any time, and each keymap has one
or more names. If all of a keymap's names are deleted, it disappears.
bindkey can be used to manipulate keymap names.
Initially, there are four keymaps:
emacs EMACS emulation
viins vi emulation - insert mode
vicmd vi emulation - command mode
.safe fallback keymap
The `.safe' keymap is special. It can never be altered, and the name
can never be removed. However, it can be linked to other names, which
can be removed. In the future other special keymaps may be added;
users should avoid using names beginning with `.' for their own
keymaps.
In addition to these four names, either `emacs' or `viins' is also
linked to the name `main'. If one of the VISUAL or EDITOR environment
variables contain the string `vi' when the shell starts up then it will
be `viins', otherwise it will be `emacs'. bindkey's -e and -v options
provide a convenient way to override this default choice.
When the editor starts up, it will select the `main' keymap. If that
keymap doesn't exist, it will use `.safe' instead.
In the `.safe' keymap, each single key is bound to self-insert, except
for ^J (line feed) and ^M (return) which are bound to accept-line.
This is deliberately not pleasant to use; if you are using it, it means
you deleted the main keymap, and you should put it back.
Reading Commands
When ZLE is reading a command from the terminal, it may read a sequence
that is bound to some command and is also a prefix of a longer bound
string. In this case ZLE will wait a certain time to see if more char‐
acters are typed, and if not (or they don't match any longer string) it
will execute the binding. This timeout is defined by the KEYTIMEOUT
parameter; its default is 0.4 sec. There is no timeout if the prefix
string is not itself bound to a command.
The key timeout is also applied when ZLE is reading the bytes from a
multibyte character string when it is in the appropriate mode. (This
requires that the shell was compiled with multibyte mode enabled; typi‐
cally also the locale has characters with the UTF-8 encoding, although
any multibyte encoding known to the operating system is supported.) If
the second or a subsequent byte is not read within the timeout period,
the shell acts as if ? were typed and resets the input state.
As well as ZLE commands, key sequences can be bound to other strings,
by using `bindkey -s'. When such a sequence is read, the replacement
string is pushed back as input, and the command reading process starts
again using these fake keystrokes. This input can itself invoke fur‐
ther replacement strings, but in order to detect loops the process will
be stopped if there are twenty such replacements without a real command
being read.
A key sequence typed by the user can be turned into a command name for
use in user-defined widgets with the read-command widget, described
below.
ZLE BUILTINS
The ZLE module contains three related builtin commands. The bindkey
command manipulates keymaps and key bindings; the vared command invokes
ZLE on the value of a shell parameter; and the zle command manipulates
editing widgets and allows command line access to ZLE commands from
within shell functions.
bindkey [ options ] -l
bindkey [ options ] -d
bindkey [ options ] -D keymap ...
bindkey [ options ] -A old-keymap new-keymap
bindkey [ options ] -N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
bindkey [ options ] -m
bindkey [ options ] -r in-string ...
bindkey [ options ] -s in-string out-string ...
bindkey [ options ] in-string command ...
bindkey [ options ] [ in-string ]
bindkey's options can be divided into three categories: keymap
selection, operation selection, and others. The keymap selec‐
tion options are:
-e Selects keymap `emacs', and also links it to `main'.
-v Selects keymap `viins', and also links it to `main'.
-a Selects keymap `vicmd'.
-M keymap
The keymap specifies a keymap name.
If a keymap selection is required and none of the options above
are used, the `main' keymap is used. Some operations do not
permit a keymap to be selected, namely:
-l List all existing keymap names. If the -L option is also
used, list in the form of bindkey commands to create the
keymaps.
-d Delete all existing keymaps and reset to the default
state.
-D keymap ...
Delete the named keymaps.
-A old-keymap new-keymap
Make the new-keymap name an alias for old-keymap, so that
both names refer to the same keymap. The names have
equal standing; if either is deleted, the other remains.
If there is already a keymap with the new-keymap name, it
is deleted.
-N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
Create a new keymap, named new-keymap. If a keymap
already has that name, it is deleted. If an old-keymap
name is given, the new keymap is initialized to be a
duplicate of it, otherwise the new keymap will be empty.
To use a newly created keymap, it should be linked to main.
Hence the sequence of commands to create and use a new keymap
`mymap' initialized from the emacs keymap (which remains
unchanged) is:
bindkey -N mymap emacs
bindkey -A mymap main
Note that while `bindkey -A newmap main' will work when newmap
is emacs or viins, it will not work for vicmd, as switching from
vi insert to command mode becomes impossible.
The following operations act on the `main' keymap if no keymap
selection option was given:
-m Add the built-in set of meta-key bindings to the selected
keymap. Only keys that are unbound or bound to
self-insert are affected.
-r in-string ...
Unbind the specified in-strings in the selected keymap.
This is exactly equivalent to binding the strings to
undefined-key.
When -R is also used, interpret the in-strings as ranges.
When -p is also used, the in-strings specify prefixes.
Any binding that has the given in-string as a prefix, not
including the binding for the in-string itself, if any,
will be removed. For example,
bindkey -rpM viins '^['
will remove all bindings in the vi-insert keymap begin‐
ning with an escape character (probably cursor keys), but
leave the binding for the escape character itself (proba‐
bly vi-cmd-mode). This is incompatible with the option
-R.
-s in-string out-string ...
Bind each in-string to each out-string. When in-string
is typed, out-string will be pushed back and treated as
input to the line editor. When -R is also used, inter‐
pret the in-strings as ranges.
in-string command ...
Bind each in-string to each command. When -R is used,
interpret the in-strings as ranges.
[ in-string ]
List key bindings. If an in-string is specified, the
binding of that string in the selected keymap is dis‐
played. Otherwise, all key bindings in the selected
keymap are displayed. (As a special case, if the -e or
-v option is used alone, the keymap is not displayed -
the implicit linking of keymaps is the only thing that
happens.)
When the option -p is used, the in-string must be
present. The listing shows all bindings which have the
given key sequence as a prefix, not including any bind‐
ings for the key sequence itself.
When the -L option is used, the list is in the form of
bindkey commands to create the key bindings.
When the -R option is used as noted above, a valid range consists of
two characters, with an optional `-' between them. All characters
between the two specified, inclusive, are bound as specified.
For either in-string or out-string, the following escape sequences are
recognised:
\a bell character
\b backspace
\e, \E escape
\f form feed
\n linefeed (newline)
\r carriage return
\t horizontal tab
\v vertical tab
\NNN character code in octal
\xNN character code in hexadecimal
\M[-]X character with meta bit set
\C[-]X control character
^X control character
In all other cases, `\' escapes the following character. Delete is
written as `^?'. Note that `\M^?' and `^\M?' are not the same, and
that (unlike emacs), the bindings `\M-X' and `\eX' are entirely dis‐
tinct, although they are initialized to the same bindings by `bindkey
-m'.
vared [ -Aache ] [ -p prompt ] [ -r rprompt ]
[ -M main-keymap ] [ -m vicmd-keymap ] name
The value of the parameter name is loaded into the edit buffer,
and the line editor is invoked. When the editor exits, name is
set to the string value returned by the editor. When the -c
flag is given, the parameter is created if it doesn't already
exist. The -a flag may be given with -c to create an array
parameter, or the -A flag to create an associative array. If
the type of an existing parameter does not match the type to be
created, the parameter is unset and recreated.
If an array or array slice is being edited, separator characters
as defined in $IFS will be shown quoted with a backslash, as
will backslashes themselves. Conversely, when the edited text
is split into an array, a backslash quotes an immediately fol‐
lowing separator character or backslash; no other special han‐
dling of backslashes, or any handling of quotes, is performed.
Individual elements of existing array or associative array
parameters may be edited by using subscript syntax on name. New
elements are created automatically, even without -c.
If the -p flag is given, the following string will be taken as
the prompt to display at the left. If the -r flag is given, the
following string gives the prompt to display at the right. If
the -h flag is specified, the history can be accessed from ZLE.
If the -e flag is given, typing ^D (Control-D) on an empty line
causes vared to exit immediately with a non-zero return value.
The -M option gives a keymap to link to the main keymap during
editing, and the -m option gives a keymap to link to the vicmd
keymap during editing. For vi-style editing, this allows a pair
of keymaps to override viins and vicmd. For emacs-style edit‐
ing, only -M is normally needed but the -m option may still be
used. On exit, the previous keymaps will be restored.
zle
zle -l [ -L | -a ] [ string ... ]
zle -D widget ...
zle -A old-widget new-widget
zle -N widget [ function ]
zle -C widget completion-widget function
zle -R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
zle -M string
zle -U string
zle -K keymap
zle -F [ -L ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
zle -I
zle widget [ -n num ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
The zle builtin performs a number of different actions concern‐
ing ZLE.
With no options and no arguments, only the return status will be
set. It is zero if ZLE is currently active and widgets could be
invoked using this builtin command and non-zero otherwise. Note
that even if non-zero status is returned, zle may still be
active as part of the completion system; this does not allow
direct calls to ZLE widgets.
Otherwise, which operation it performs depends on its options:
-l [ -L | -a ]
List all existing user-defined widgets. If the -L option
is used, list in the form of zle commands to create the
widgets.
When combined with the -a option, all widget names are
listed, including the builtin ones. In this case the -L
option is ignored.
If at least one string is given, nothing will be printed
but the return status will be zero if all strings are
names of existing widgets (or of user-defined widgets if
the -a flag is not given) and non-zero if at least one
string is not a name of an defined widget.
-D widget ...
Delete the named widgets.
-A old-widget new-widget
Make the new-widget name an alias for old-widget, so that
both names refer to the same widget. The names have
equal standing; if either is deleted, the other remains.
If there is already a widget with the new-widget name, it
is deleted.
-N widget [ function ]
Create a user-defined widget. If there is already a wid‐
get with the specified name, it is overwritten. When the
new widget is invoked from within the editor, the speci‐
fied shell function is called. If no function name is
specified, it defaults to the same name as the widget.
For further information, see the section Widgets in zsh‐
zle(1).
-C widget completion-widget function
Create a user-defined completion widget named widget. The
completion widget will behave like the built-in comple‐
tion-widget whose name is given as completion-widget. To
generate the completions, the shell function function
will be called. For further information, see zshcomp‐
wid(1).
-R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
Redisplay the command line; this is to be called from
within a user-defined widget to allow changes to become
visible. If a display-string is given and not empty,
this is shown in the status line (immediately below the
line being edited).
If the optional strings are given they are listed below
the prompt in the same way as completion lists are
printed. If no strings are given but the -c option is
used such a list is cleared.
Note that this option is only useful for widgets that do
not exit immediately after using it because the strings
displayed will be erased immediately after return from
the widget.
This command can safely be called outside user defined
widgets; if zle is active, the display will be refreshed,
while if zle is not active, the command has no effect.
In this case there will usually be no other arguments.
The status is zero if zle was active, else one.
-M string
As with the -R option, the string will be displayed below
the command line; unlike the -R option, the string will
not be put into the status line but will instead be
printed normally below the prompt. This means that the
string will still be displayed after the widget returns
(until it is overwritten by subsequent commands).
-U string
This pushes the characters in the string onto the input
stack of ZLE. After the widget currently executed fin‐
ishes ZLE will behave as if the characters in the string
were typed by the user.
As ZLE uses a stack, if this option is used repeatedly
the last string pushed onto the stack will be processed
first. However, the characters in each string will be
processed in the order in which they appear in the
string.
-K keymap
Selects the keymap named keymap. An error message will
be displayed if there is no such keymap.
This keymap selection affects the interpretation of fol‐
lowing keystrokes within this invocation of ZLE. Any
following invocation (e.g., the next command line) will
start as usual with the `main' keymap selected.
-F [ -L ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
Only available if your system supports one of the `poll'
or `select' system calls; most modern systems do.
Installs handler (the name of a shell function) to handle
input from file descriptor fd. When zle is attempting to
read data, it will examine both the terminal and the list
of handled fd's. If data becomes available on a handled
fd, zle will call handler with the fd which is ready for
reading as the only argument. If the handler produces
output to the terminal, it should call `zle -I' before
doing so (see below). The handler should not attempt to
read from the terminal. Note that zle makes no attempt
to check whether this fd is actually readable when
installing the handler. The user must make their own
arrangements for handling the file descriptor when zle is
not active.
Any number of handlers for any number of readable file
descriptors may be installed. Installing a handler for
an fd which is already handled causes the existing han‐
dler to be replaced.
If no handler is given, but an fd is present, any handler
for that fd is removed. If there is none, an error mes‐
sage is printed and status 1 is returned.
If no arguments are given, or the -L option is supplied,
a list of handlers is printed in a form which can be
stored for later execution.
An fd (but not a handler) may optionally be given with
the -L option; in this case, the function will list the
handler if any, else silently return status 1.
Note that this feature should be used with care. Activ‐
ity on one of the fd's which is not properly handled can
cause the terminal to become unusable.
Here is a simple example of using this feature. A con‐
nection to a remote TCP port is created using the ztcp
command; see the description of the zsh/net/tcp module in
zshmodules(1). Then a handler is installed which simply
prints out any data which arrives on this connection.
Note that `select' will indicate that the file descriptor
needs handling if the remote side has closed the connec‐
tion; we handle that by testing for a failed read.
if ztcp pwspc 2811; then
tcpfd=$REPLY
handler() {
zle -I
local line
if ! read -r line <&$1; then
# select marks this fd if we reach EOF,
# so handle this specially.
print "[Read on fd $1 failed, removing.]" >&2
zle -F $1
return 1
fi
print -r - $line
}
zle -F $tcpfd handler
fi
-I Unusually, this option is most useful outside ordinary
widget functions, though it may be used within if normal
output to the terminal is required. It invalidates the
current zle display in preparation for output; typically
this will be from a trap function. It has no effect if
zle is not active. When a trap exits, the shell checks
to see if the display needs restoring, hence the follow‐
ing will print output in such a way as not to disturb the
line being edited:
TRAPUSR1() {
# Invalidate zle display
[[ -o zle ]] && zle -I
# Show output
print Hello
}
In general, the trap function may need to test whether
zle is active before using this method (as shown in the
example), since the zsh/zle module may not even be
loaded; if it is not, the command can be skipped.
It is possible to call `zle -I' several times before con‐
trol is returned to the editor; the display will only be
invalidated the first time to minimise disruption.
Note that there are normally better ways of manipulating
the display from within zle widgets; see, for example,
`zle -R' above.
The returned status is zero if zle was invalidated, even
though this may have been by a previous call to `zle -I'
or by a system notification. To test if a zle widget may
be called at this point, execute zle with no arguments
and examine the return status.
widget [ -n num ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
Invoke the specified widget. This can only be done when
ZLE is active; normally this will be within a
user-defined widget.
With the options -n and -N, the current numerical argu‐
ment will be saved and then restored after the call to
widget; `-n num' sets the numerical argument temporarily
to num, while `-N' sets it to the default, i.e. as if
there were none.
With the option -K, keymap will be used as the current
keymap during the execution of the widget. The previous
keymap will be restored when the widget exits.
Normally, calling a widget in this way does not set the
special parameter WIDGET and related parameters, so that
the environment appears as if the top-level widget called
by the user were still active. With the option -w, WID‐
GET and related parameters are set to reflect the widget
being executed by the zle call.
Any further arguments will be passed to the widget; note
that as standard argument handling is performed, any gen‐
eral argument list should be preceded by --. If it is a
shell function, these are passed down as positional
parameters; for builtin widgets it is up to the widget in
question what it does with them. Currently arguments are
only handled by the incremental-search commands, the his‐
tory-search-forward and -backward and the corresponding
functions prefixed by vi-, and by universal-argument. No
error is flagged if the command does not use the argu‐
ments, or only uses some of them.
The return status reflects the success or failure of the
operation carried out by the widget, or if it is a
user-defined widget the return status of the shell func‐
tion.
A non-zero return status causes the shell to beep when
the widget exits, unless the BEEP options was unset or
the widget was called via the zle command. Thus if a
user defined widget requires an immediate beep, it should
call the beep widget directly.
WIDGETS
All actions in the editor are performed by `widgets'. A widget's job
is simply to perform some small action. The ZLE commands that key
sequences in keymaps are bound to are in fact widgets. Widgets can be
user-defined or built in.
The standard widgets built in to ZLE are listed in Standard Widgets
below. Other built-in widgets can be defined by other modules (see
zshmodules(1)). Each built-in widget has two names: its normal canoni‐
cal name, and the same name preceded by a `.'. The `.' name is spe‐
cial: it can't be rebound to a different widget. This makes the widget
available even when its usual name has been redefined.
User-defined widgets are defined using `zle -N', and implemented as
shell functions. When the widget is executed, the corresponding shell
function is executed, and can perform editing (or other) actions. It
is recommended that user-defined widgets should not have names starting
with `.'.
USER-DEFINED WIDGETS
User-defined widgets, being implemented as shell functions, can execute
any normal shell command. They can also run other widgets (whether
built-in or user-defined) using the zle builtin command. The standard
input of the function is closed to prevent external commands from unin‐
tentionally blocking ZLE by reading from the terminal, but read -k or
read -q can be used to read characters. Finally, they can examine and
edit the ZLE buffer being edited by reading and setting the special
parameters described below.
These special parameters are always available in widget functions, but
are not in any way special outside ZLE. If they have some normal value
outside ZLE, that value is temporarily inaccessible, but will return
when the widget function exits. These special parameters in fact have
local scope, like parameters created in a function using local.
Inside completion widgets and traps called while ZLE is active, these
parameters are available read-only.
BUFFER (scalar)
The entire contents of the edit buffer. If it is written to,
the cursor remains at the same offset, unless that would put it
outside the buffer.
BUFFERLINES (integer)
The number of screen lines needed for the edit buffer currently
displayed on screen (i.e. without any changes to the preceding
parameters done after the last redisplay); read-only.
CONTEXT (scalar)
The context in which zle was called to read a line; read-only.
One of the values:
start The start of a command line (at prompt PS1).
cont A continuation to a command line (at prompt PS2).
select In a select loop.
vared Editing a variable in vared.
CURSOR (integer)
The offset of the cursor, within the edit buffer. This is in
the range 0 to $#BUFFER, and is by definition equal to
$#LBUFFER. Attempts to move the cursor outside the buffer will
result in the cursor being moved to the appropriate end of the
buffer.
CUTBUFFER (scalar)
The last item to be cut using one of the `kill-' commands; the
string which the next yank would insert in the line. Later
entries in the kill ring are in the array killring. Note that
the command `zle copy-region-as-kill string' can be used to set
the text of the cut buffer from a shell function and cycle the
kill ring in the same way as interactively killing text.
HISTNO (integer)
The current history number. Setting this has the same effect as
moving up or down in the history to the corresponding history
line. An attempt to set it is ignored if the line is not stored
in the history. Note this is not the same as the parameter
HISTCMD, which always gives the number of the history line being
added to the main shell's history. HISTNO refers to the line
being retrieved within zle.
KEYMAP (scalar)
The name of the currently selected keymap; read-only.
KEYS (scalar)
The keys typed to invoke this widget, as a literal string;
read-only.
killring (array)
The array of previously killed items, with the most recently
killed first. This gives the items that would be retrieved by a
yank-pop in the same order. Note, however, that the most
recently killed item is in $CUTBUFFER; $killring shows the array
of previous entries.
The default size for the kill ring is eight, however the length
may be changed by normal array operations. Any empty string in
the kill ring is ignored by the yank-pop command, hence the size
of the array effectively sets the maximum length of the kill
ring, while the number of non-zero strings gives the current
length, both as seen by the user at the command line.
LASTSEARCH (scalar)
The last search string used by an interactive search ;
read-only.
LASTWIDGET (scalar)
The name of the last widget that was executed; read-only.
LBUFFER (scalar)
The part of the buffer that lies to the left of the cursor posi‐
tion. If it is assigned to, only that part of the buffer is
replaced, and the cursor remains between the new $LBUFFER and
the old $RBUFFER.
MARK (integer)
Like CURSOR, but for the mark.
NUMERIC (integer)
The numeric argument. If no numeric argument was given, this
parameter is unset. When this is set inside a widget function,
builtin widgets called with the zle builtin command will use the
value assigned. If it is unset inside a widget function, builtin
widgets called behave as if no numeric argument was given.
PENDING (integer)
The number of bytes pending for input, i.e. the number of bytes
which have already been typed and can immediately be read. On
systems where the shell is not able to get this information,
this parameter will always have a value of zero. Read-only.
PREBUFFER (scalar)
In a multi-line input at the secondary prompt, this read-only
parameter contains the contents of the lines before the one the
cursor is currently in.
PREDISPLAY (scalar)
Text to be displayed before the start of the editable text buf‐
fer. This does not have to be a complete line; to display a
complete line, a newline must be appended explicitly. The
text is reset on each new invocation (but not recursive invoca‐
tion) of zle.
POSTDISPLAY (scalar)
Text to be displayed after the end of the editable text buffer.
This does not have to be a complete line; to display a complete
line, a newline must be prepended explicitly. The text is reset
on each new invocation (but not recursive invocation) of zle.
RBUFFER (scalar)
The part of the buffer that lies to the right of the cursor
position. If it is assigned to, only that part of the buffer is
replaced, and the cursor remains between the old $LBUFFER and
the new $RBUFFER.
WIDGET (scalar)
The name of the widget currently being executed; read-only.
WIDGETFUNC (scalar)
The name of the shell function that implements a widget defined
with either zle -N or zle -C. In the former case, this is the
second argument to the zle -N command that defined the widget,
or the first argument if there was no second argument. In the
latter case this is the the third argument to the zle -C command
that defined the widget. Read-only.
WIDGETSTYLE (scalar)
Describes the implementation behind the completion widget cur‐
rently being executed; the second argument that followed zle -C
when the widget was defined. This is the name of a builtin com‐
pletion widget. For widgets defined with zle -N this is set to
the empty string. Read-only.
Special Widgets
There are a few user-defined widgets which are special to the shell.
If they do not exist, no special action is taken. The environment pro‐
vided is identical to that for any other editing widget.
zle-line-init
Executed every time the line editor is started to read a new
line of input. The following example puts the line editor into
vi command mode when it starts up.
zle-line-init() { zle -K vicmd; }
zle -N zle-line-init
(The command inside the function sets the keymap directly; it is
equivalent to zle vi-cmd-mode.)
zle-keymap-select
Executed every time the keymap changes, i.e. the special parame‐
ter KEYMAP is set to a different value, while the line editor is
active. Initialising the keymap when the line editor starts
does not cause the widget to be called.
The value $KEYMAP within the function reflects the new keymap.
The old keymap is passed as the sole argument.
This can been used for detecting switches between the vi command
(vicmd) and insert (usually main) keymaps.
STANDARD WIDGETS
The following is a list of all the standard widgets, and their default
bindings in emacs mode, vi command mode and vi insert mode (the
`emacs', `vicmd' and `viins' keymaps, respectively).
Note that cursor keys are bound to movement keys in all three keymaps;
the shell assumes that the cursor keys send the key sequences reported
by the terminal-handling library (termcap or terminfo). The key
sequences shown in the list are those based on the VT100, common on
many modern terminals, but in fact these are not necessarily bound. In
the case of the viins keymap, the initial escape character of the
sequences serves also to return to the vicmd keymap: whether this hap‐
pens is determined by the KEYTIMEOUT parameter, see zshparam(1).
Movement
vi-backward-blank-word (unbound) (B) (unbound)
Move backward one word, where a word is defined as a series of
non-blank characters.
backward-char (^B ESC-[D) (unbound) (unbound)
Move backward one character.
vi-backward-char (unbound) (^H h ^?) (ESC-[D)
Move backward one character, without changing lines.
backward-word (ESC-B ESC-b) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the previous word.
emacs-backward-word
Move to the beginning of the previous word.
vi-backward-word (unbound) (b) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the previous word, vi-style.
beginning-of-line (^A) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the beginning
of the line, move to the beginning of the previous line, if any.
vi-beginning-of-line
Move to the beginning of the line, without changing lines.
end-of-line (^E) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of the line,
move to the end of the next line, if any.
vi-end-of-line (unbound) ($) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line. If an argument is given to this
command, the cursor will be moved to the end of the line (argu‐
ment - 1) lines down.
vi-forward-blank-word (unbound) (W) (unbound)
Move forward one word, where a word is defined as a series of
non-blank characters.
vi-forward-blank-word-end (unbound) (E) (unbound)
Move to the end of the current word, or, if at the end of the
current word, to the end of the next word, where a word is
defined as a series of non-blank characters.
forward-char (^F ESC-[C) (unbound) (unbound)
Move forward one character.
vi-forward-char (unbound) (space l) (ESC-[C)
Move forward one character.
vi-find-next-char (^X^F) (f) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the next occur‐
rence of it in the line.
vi-find-next-char-skip (unbound) (t) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the position
just before the next occurrence of it in the line.
vi-find-prev-char (unbound) (F) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the previous
occurrence of it in the line.
vi-find-prev-char-skip (unbound) (T) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the position
just after the previous occurrence of it in the line.
vi-first-non-blank (unbound) (^) (unbound)
Move to the first non-blank character in the line.
vi-forward-word (unbound) (w) (unbound)
Move forward one word, vi-style.
forward-word (ESC-F ESC-f) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the next word. The editor's idea of a
word is specified with the WORDCHARS parameter.
emacs-forward-word
Move to the end of the next word.
vi-forward-word-end (unbound) (e) (unbound)
Move to the end of the next word.
vi-goto-column (ESC-|) (|) (unbound)
Move to the column specified by the numeric argument.
vi-goto-mark (unbound) (`) (unbound)
Move to the specified mark.
vi-goto-mark-line (unbound) (') (unbound)
Move to beginning of the line containing the specified mark.
vi-repeat-find (unbound) (;) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi-find command.
vi-rev-repeat-find (unbound) (,) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi-find command in the opposite direction.
History Control
beginning-of-buffer-or-history (ESC-<) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the buffer, or if already there, move
to the first event in the history list.
beginning-of-line-hist
Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the beginning
of the buffer, move to the previous history line.
beginning-of-history
Move to the first event in the history list.
down-line-or-history (^N ESC-[B) (j) (ESC-[B)
Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom
line, move to the next event in the history list.
vi-down-line-or-history (unbound) (+) (unbound)
Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom
line, move to the next event in the history list. Then move to
the first non-blank character on the line.
down-line-or-search
Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom
line, search forward in the history for a line beginning with
the first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
rather than the first word in the buffer.
down-history (unbound) (^N) (unbound)
Move to the next event in the history list.
history-beginning-search-backward
Search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
current line up to the cursor. This leaves the cursor in its
original position.
end-of-buffer-or-history (ESC->) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the end of the buffer, or if already there, move to the
last event in the history list.
end-of-line-hist
Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of the buf‐
fer, move to the next history line.
end-of-history
Move to the last event in the history list.
vi-fetch-history (unbound) (G) (unbound)
Fetch the history line specified by the numeric argument. This
defaults to the current history line (i.e. the one that isn't
history yet).
history-incremental-search-backward (^R ^Xr) (unbound) (unbound)
Search backward incrementally for a specified string. The
search is case-insensitive if the search string does not have
uppercase letters and no numeric argument was given. The string
may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the
line.
A restricted set of editing functions is available in the
mini-buffer. An interrupt signal, as defined by the stty set‐
ting, will stop the search and go back to the original line. An
undefined key will have the same effect. The supported functions
are: backward-delete-char, vi-backward-delete-char,
clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert, vi-quoted-insert,
accept-and-hold, accept-and-infer-next-history, accept-line and
accept-line-and-down-history.
magic-space just inserts a space. vi-cmd-mode toggles between
the `main' and `vicmd' keymaps; the `main' keymap (insert mode)
will be selected initially. history-incremental-search-backward
will get the next occurrence of the contents of the mini-buffer.
history-incremental-search-forward inverts the sense of the
search. vi-repeat-search and vi-rev-repeat-search are similarly
supported. The direction of the search is indicated in the
mini-buffer.
Any multi-character string that is not bound to one of the above
functions will beep and interrupt the search, leaving the last
found line in the buffer. Any single character that is not bound
to one of the above functions, or self-insert or
self-insert-unmeta, will have the same effect but the function
will be executed.
When called from a widget function by the zle command, the
incremental search commands can take a string argument. This
will be treated as a string of keys, as for arguments to the
bindkey command, and used as initial input for the command. Any
characters in the string which are unused by the incremental
search will be silently ignored. For example,
zle history-incremental-search-backward forceps
will search backwards for forceps, leaving the minibuffer con‐
taining the string `forceps'.
history-incremental-search-forward (^S ^Xs) (unbound) (unbound)
Search forward incrementally for a specified string. The search
is case-insensitive if the search string does not have uppercase
letters and no numeric argument was given. The string may begin
with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the line. The
functions available in the mini-buffer are the same as for his‐
tory-incremental-search-backward.
history-search-backward (ESC-P ESC-p) (unbound) (unbound)
Search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
rather than the first word in the buffer.
vi-history-search-backward (unbound) (/) (unbound)
Search backward in the history for a specified string. The
string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning
of the line.
A restricted set of editing functions is available in the
mini-buffer. An interrupt signal, as defined by the stty set‐
ting, will stop the search. The functions available in the
mini-buffer are: accept-line, backward-delete-char, vi-back‐
ward-delete-char, backward-kill-word, vi-backward-kill-word,
clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert and vi-quoted-insert.
vi-cmd-mode is treated the same as accept-line, and magic-space
is treated as a space. Any other character that is not bound to
self-insert or self-insert-unmeta will beep and be ignored. If
the function is called from vi command mode, the bindings of the
current insert mode will be used.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
rather than the first word in the buffer.
history-search-forward (ESC-N ESC-n) (unbound) (unbound)
Search forward in the history for a line beginning with the
first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
rather than the first word in the buffer.
vi-history-search-forward (unbound) (?) (unbound)
Search forward in the history for a specified string. The
string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning
of the line. The functions available in the mini-buffer are the
same as for vi-history-search-backward. Argument handling is
also the same as for that command.
infer-next-history (^X^N) (unbound) (unbound)
Search in the history list for a line matching the current one
and fetch the event following it.
insert-last-word (ESC-_ ESC-.) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert the last word from the previous history event at the cur‐
sor position. If a positive numeric argument is given, insert
that word from the end of the previous history event. If the
argument is zero or negative insert that word from the left
(zero inserts the previous command word). Repeating this com‐
mand replaces the word just inserted with the last word from the
history event prior to the one just used; numeric arguments can
be used in the same way to pick a word from that event.
When called from a shell function invoked from a user-defined
widget, the command can take one to three arguments. The first
argument specifies a history offset which applies to successive
calls to this widget: if is -1, the default behaviour is used,
while if it is 1, successive calls will move forwards through
the history. The value 0 can be used to indicate that the his‐
tory line examined by the previous execution of the command will
be reexamined. Note that negative numbers should be preceded
with a `--' argument to avoid confusing them with options.
If two arguments are given, the second specifies the word on the
command line in normal array index notation (as a more natural
alternative to the prefix argument). Hence 1 is the first word,
and -1 (the default) is the last word.
If a third argument is given, its value is ignored, but it is
used to signify that the history offset is relative to the cur‐
rent history line, rather than the one remembered after the pre‐
vious invocations of insert-last-word.
For example, the default behaviour of the command corresponds to
zle insert-last-word -- -1 -1
while the command
zle insert-last-word -- -1 1 -
always copies the first word of the line in the history immedi‐
ately before the line being edited. This has the side effect
that later invocations of the widget will be relative to that
line.
vi-repeat-search (unbound) (n) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi history search.
vi-rev-repeat-search (unbound) (N) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi history search, but in reverse.
up-line-or-history (^P ESC-[A) (k) (ESC-[A)
Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
move to the previous event in the history list.
vi-up-line-or-history (unbound) (-) (unbound)
Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
move to the previous event in the history list. Then move to
the first non-blank character on the line.
up-line-or-search
Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search,
rather than the first word in the buffer.
up-history (unbound) (^P) (unbound)
Move to the previous event in the history list.
history-beginning-search-forward
Search forward in the history for a line beginning with the cur‐
rent line up to the cursor. This leaves the cursor in its orig‐
inal position.
Modifying Text
vi-add-eol (unbound) (A) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
vi-add-next (unbound) (a) (unbound)
Enter insert mode after the current cursor position, without
changing lines.
backward-delete-char (^H ^?) (unbound) (unbound)
Delete the character behind the cursor.
vi-backward-delete-char (unbound) (X) (^H)
Delete the character behind the cursor, without changing lines.
If in insert mode, this won't delete past the point where insert
mode was last entered.
backward-delete-word
Delete the word behind the cursor.
backward-kill-line
Kill from the beginning of the line to the cursor position.
backward-kill-word (^W ESC-^H ESC-^?) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the word behind the cursor.
vi-backward-kill-word (unbound) (unbound) (^W)
Kill the word behind the cursor, without going past the point
where insert mode was last entered.
capitalize-word (ESC-C ESC-c) (unbound) (unbound)
Capitalize the current word and move past it.
vi-change (unbound) (c) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill from the
cursor position to the endpoint of the movement. Then enter
insert mode. If the command is vi-change, change the current
line.
vi-change-eol (unbound) (C) (unbound)
Kill to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
vi-change-whole-line (unbound) (S) (unbound)
Kill the current line and enter insert mode.
copy-region-as-kill (ESC-W ESC-w) (unbound) (unbound)
Copy the area from the cursor to the mark to the kill buffer.
If called from a ZLE widget function in the form `zle
copy-region-as-kill string' then string will be taken as the
text to copy to the kill buffer. The cursor, the mark and the
text on the command line are not used in this case.
copy-prev-word (ESC-^_) (unbound) (unbound)
Duplicate the word to the left of the cursor.
copy-prev-shell-word
Like copy-prev-word, but the word is found by using shell pars‐
ing, whereas copy-prev-word looks for blanks. This makes a dif‐
ference when the word is quoted and contains spaces.
vi-delete (unbound) (d) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill from the
cursor position to the endpoint of the movement. If the command
is vi-delete, kill the current line.
delete-char
Delete the character under the cursor.
vi-delete-char (unbound) (x) (unbound)
Delete the character under the cursor, without going past the
end of the line.
delete-word
Delete the current word.
down-case-word (ESC-L ESC-l) (unbound) (unbound)
Convert the current word to all lowercase and move past it.
kill-word (ESC-D ESC-d) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the current word.
gosmacs-transpose-chars
Exchange the two characters behind the cursor.
vi-indent (unbound) (>) (unbound)
Indent a number of lines.
vi-insert (unbound) (i) (unbound)
Enter insert mode.
vi-insert-bol (unbound) (I) (unbound)
Move to the first non-blank character on the line and enter
insert mode.
vi-join (^X^J) (J) (unbound)
Join the current line with the next one.
kill-line (^K) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill from the cursor to the end of the line. If already on the
end of the line, kill the newline character.
vi-kill-line (unbound) (unbound) (^U)
Kill from the cursor back to wherever insert mode was last
entered.
vi-kill-eol (unbound) (D) (unbound)
Kill from the cursor to the end of the line.
kill-region
Kill from the cursor to the mark.
kill-buffer (^X^K) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the entire buffer.
kill-whole-line (^U) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the current line.
vi-match-bracket (^X^B) (%) (unbound)
Move to the bracket character (one of {}, () or []) that matches
the one under the cursor. If the cursor is not on a bracket
character, move forward without going past the end of the line
to find one, and then go to the matching bracket.
vi-open-line-above (unbound) (O) (unbound)
Open a line above the cursor and enter insert mode.
vi-open-line-below (unbound) (o) (unbound)
Open a line below the cursor and enter insert mode.
vi-oper-swap-case
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and swap the case of
all characters from the cursor position to the endpoint of the
movement. If the movement command is vi-oper-swap-case, swap
the case of all characters on the current line.
overwrite-mode (^X^O) (unbound) (unbound)
Toggle between overwrite mode and insert mode.
vi-put-before (unbound) (P) (unbound)
Insert the contents of the kill buffer before the cursor. If
the kill buffer contains a sequence of lines (as opposed to
characters), paste it above the current line.
vi-put-after (unbound) (p) (unbound)
Insert the contents of the kill buffer after the cursor. If the
kill buffer contains a sequence of lines (as opposed to charac‐
ters), paste it below the current line.
quoted-insert (^V) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert the next character typed into the buffer literally. An
interrupt character will not be inserted.
vi-quoted-insert (unbound) (unbound) (^Q ^V)
Display a `^' at the cursor position, and insert the next char‐
acter typed into the buffer literally. An interrupt character
will not be inserted.
quote-line (ESC-') (unbound) (unbound)
Quote the current line; that is, put a `'' character at the
beginning and the end, and convert all `'' characters to `'\'''.
quote-region (ESC-") (unbound) (unbound)
Quote the region from the cursor to the mark.
vi-replace (unbound) (R) (unbound)
Enter overwrite mode.
vi-repeat-change (unbound) (.) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi mode text modification. If a count was used
with the modification, it is remembered. If a count is given to
this command, it overrides the remembered count, and is remem‐
bered for future uses of this command. The cut buffer specifi‐
cation is similarly remembered.
vi-replace-chars (unbound) (r) (unbound)
Replace the character under the cursor with a character read
from the keyboard.
self-insert (printable characters) (unbound) (printable characters and
some control characters)
Insert a character into the buffer at the cursor position.
self-insert-unmeta (ESC-^I ESC-^J ESC-^M) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert a character into the buffer after stripping the meta bit
and converting ^M to ^J.
vi-substitute (unbound) (s) (unbound)
Substitute the next character(s).
vi-swap-case (unbound) (~) (unbound)
Swap the case of the character under the cursor and move past
it.
transpose-chars (^T) (unbound) (unbound)
Exchange the two characters to the left of the cursor if at end
of line, else exchange the character under the cursor with the
character to the left.
transpose-words (ESC-T ESC-t) (unbound) (unbound)
Exchange the current word with the one before it.
vi-unindent (unbound) (<) (unbound)
Unindent a number of lines.
up-case-word (ESC-U ESC-u) (unbound) (unbound)
Convert the current word to all caps and move past it.
yank (^Y) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert the contents of the kill buffer at the cursor position.
yank-pop (ESC-y) (unbound) (unbound)
Remove the text just yanked, rotate the kill-ring (the history
of previously killed text) and yank the new top. Only works
following yank or yank-pop.
vi-yank (unbound) (y) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and copy the region
from the cursor position to the endpoint of the movement into
the kill buffer. If the command is vi-yank, copy the current
line.
vi-yank-whole-line (unbound) (Y) (unbound)
Copy the current line into the kill buffer.
vi-yank-eol
Copy the region from the cursor position to the end of the line
into the kill buffer. Arguably, this is what Y should do in vi,
but it isn't what it actually does.
Arguments
digit-argument (ESC-0..ESC-9) (1-9) (unbound)
Start a new numeric argument, or add to the current one. See
also vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line. This only works if bound to
a key sequence ending in a decimal digit.
Inside a widget function, a call to this function treats the
last key of the key sequence which called the widget as the
digit.
neg-argument (ESC--) (unbound) (unbound)
Changes the sign of the following argument.
universal-argument
Multiply the argument of the next command by 4. Alternatively,
if this command is followed by an integer (positive or nega‐
tive), use that as the argument for the next command. Thus dig‐
its cannot be repeated using this command. For example, if this
command occurs twice, followed immediately by forward-char, move
forward sixteen spaces; if instead it is followed by -2, then
forward-char, move backward two spaces.
Inside a widget function, if passed an argument, i.e. `zle uni‐
versal-argument num', the numerical argument will be set to num;
this is equivalent to `NUMERIC=num'.
argument-base
Use the existing numeric argument as a numeric base, which must
be in the range 2 to 36 inclusive. Subsequent use of
digit-argument and universal-argument will input a new prefix in
the given base. The usual hexadecimal convention is used: the
letter a or A corresponds to 10, and so on. Arguments in bases
requiring digits from 10 upwards are more conveniently input
with universal-argument, since ESC-a etc. are not usually bound
to digit-argument.
The function can be used with a command argument inside a
user-defined widget. The following code sets the base to 16 and
lets the user input a hexadecimal argument until a key out of
the digit range is typed:
zle argument-base 16
zle universal-argument
Completion
accept-and-menu-complete
In a menu completion, insert the current completion into the
buffer, and advance to the next possible completion.
complete-word
Attempt completion on the current word.
delete-char-or-list (^D) (unbound) (unbound)
Delete the character under the cursor. If the cursor is at the
end of the line, list possible completions for the current word.
expand-cmd-path
Expand the current command to its full pathname.
expand-or-complete (TAB) (unbound) (TAB)
Attempt shell expansion on the current word. If that fails,
attempt completion.
expand-or-complete-prefix
Attempt shell expansion on the current word up to cursor.
expand-history (ESC-space ESC-!) (unbound) (unbound)
Perform history expansion on the edit buffer.
expand-word (^X*) (unbound) (unbound)
Attempt shell expansion on the current word.
list-choices (ESC-^D) (^D =) (^D)
List possible completions for the current word.
list-expand (^Xg ^XG) (^G) (^G)
List the expansion of the current word.
magic-space
Perform history expansion and insert a space into the buffer.
This is intended to be bound to space.
menu-complete
Like complete-word, except that menu completion is used. See
the MENU_COMPLETE option.
menu-expand-or-complete
Like expand-or-complete, except that menu completion is used.
reverse-menu-complete
Perform menu completion, like menu-complete, except that if a
menu completion is already in progress, move to the previous
completion rather than the next.
end-of-list
When a previous completion displayed a list below the prompt,
this widget can be used to move the prompt below the list.
Miscellaneous
accept-and-hold (ESC-A ESC-a) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the contents of the buffer on the buffer stack and execute
it.
accept-and-infer-next-history
Execute the contents of the buffer. Then search the history
list for a line matching the current one and push the event fol‐
lowing onto the buffer stack.
accept-line (^J ^M) (^J ^M) (^J ^M)
Finish editing the buffer. Normally this causes the buffer to
be executed as a shell command.
accept-line-and-down-history (^O) (unbound) (unbound)
Execute the current line, and push the next history event on the
the buffer stack.
auto-suffix-remove
If the previous action added a suffix (space, slash, etc.) to
the word on the command line, remove it. Otherwise do nothing.
Removing the suffix ends any active menu completion or menu
selection.
This widget is intended to be called from user-defined widgets
to enforce a desired suffix-removal behavior.
auto-suffix-retain
If the previous action added a suffix (space, slash, etc.) to
the word on the command line, force it to be preserved. Other‐
wise do nothing. Retaining the suffix ends any active menu com‐
pletion or menu selection.
This widget is intended to be called from user-defined widgets
to enforce a desired suffix-preservation behavior.
beep Beep, unless the BEEP option is unset.
vi-cmd-mode (^X^V) (unbound) (^[)
Enter command mode; that is, select the `vicmd' keymap. Yes,
this is bound by default in emacs mode.
vi-caps-lock-panic
Hang until any lowercase key is pressed. This is for vi users
without the mental capacity to keep track of their caps lock key
(like the author).
clear-screen (^L ESC-^L) (^L) (^L)
Clear the screen and redraw the prompt.
describe-key-briefly
Reads a key sequence, then prints the function bound to that
sequence.
exchange-point-and-mark (^X^X) (unbound) (unbound)
Exchange the cursor position with the position of the mark.
execute-named-cmd (ESC-x) (unbound) (unbound)
Read the name of an editor command and execute it. A restricted
set of editing functions is available in the mini-buffer. An
interrupt signal, as defined by the stty setting, will abort the
function. The allowed functions are: backward-delete-char,
vi-backward-delete-char, clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert,
vi-quoted-insert, backward-kill-word, vi-backward-kill-word,
kill-whole-line, vi-kill-line, backward-kill-line, list-choices,
delete-char-or-list, complete-word, accept-line, expand-or-com‐
plete and expand-or-complete-prefix.
kill-region kills the last word, and vi-cmd-mode is treated the
same as accept-line. The space and tab characters, if not bound
to one of these functions, will complete the name and then list
the possibilities if the AUTO_LIST option is set. Any other
character that is not bound to self-insert or self-insert-unmeta
will beep and be ignored. The bindings of the current insert
mode will be used.
Currently this command may not be redefined or called by name.
execute-last-named-cmd (ESC-z) (unbound) (unbound)
Redo the last function executed with execute-named-cmd.
Currently this command may not be redefined or called by name.
get-line (ESC-G ESC-g) (unbound) (unbound)
Pop the top line off the buffer stack and insert it at the cur‐
sor position.
pound-insert (unbound) (#) (unbound)
If there is no # character at the beginning of the buffer, add
one to the beginning of each line. If there is one, remove a #
from each line that has one. In either case, accept the current
line. The INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS option must be set for this to
have any usefulness.
vi-pound-insert
If there is no # character at the beginning of the current line,
add one. If there is one, remove it. The INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
option must be set for this to have any usefulness.
push-input
Push the entire current multiline construct onto the buffer
stack and return to the top-level (PS1) prompt. If the current
parser construct is only a single line, this is exactly like
push-line. Next time the editor starts up or is popped with
get-line, the construct will be popped off the top of the buffer
stack and loaded into the editing buffer.
push-line (^Q ESC-Q ESC-q) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the current buffer onto the buffer stack and clear the buf‐
fer. Next time the editor starts up, the buffer will be popped
off the top of the buffer stack and loaded into the editing buf‐
fer.
push-line-or-edit
At the top-level (PS1) prompt, equivalent to push-line. At a
secondary (PS2) prompt, move the entire current multiline con‐
struct into the editor buffer. The latter is equivalent to
push-input followed by get-line.
read-command
Only useful from a user-defined widget. A keystroke is read
just as in normal operation, but instead of the command being
executed the name of the command that would be executed is
stored in the shell parameter REPLY. This can be used as the
argument of a future zle command. If the key sequence is not
bound, status 1 is returned; typically, however, REPLY is set to
undefined-key to indicate a useless key sequence.
recursive-edit
Only useful from a user-defined widget. At this point in the
function, the editor regains control until one of the standard
widgets which would normally cause zle to exit (typically an
accept-line caused by hitting the return key) is executed.
Instead, control returns to the user-defined widget. The status
returned is non-zero if the return was caused by an error, but
the function still continues executing and hence may tidy up.
This makes it safe for the user-defined widget to alter the com‐
mand line or key bindings temporarily.
The following widget, caps-lock, serves as an example.
self-insert-ucase() {
LBUFFER+=${(U)KEYS[-1]}
}
integer stat
zle -N self-insert self-insert-ucase
zle -A caps-lock save-caps-lock
zle -A accept-line caps-lock
zle recursive-edit
stat=$?
zle -A .self-insert self-insert
zle -A save-caps-lock caps-lock
zle -D save-caps-lock
(( stat )) && zle send-break
return $stat
This causes typed letters to be inserted capitalised until
either accept-line (i.e. typically the return key) is typed or
the caps-lock widget is invoked again; the later is handled by
saving the old definition of caps-lock as save-caps-lock and
then rebinding it to invoke accept-line. Note that an error
from the recursive edit is detected as a non-zero return status
and propagated by using the send-break widget.
redisplay (unbound) (^R) (^R)
Redisplays the edit buffer.
reset-prompt (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
Force the prompts on both the left and right of the screen to be
re-expanded, then redisplay the edit buffer. This reflects
changes both to the prompt variables themselves and changes in
the expansion of the values (for example, changes in time or
directory, or changes to the value of variables referred to by
the prompt).
Otherwise, the prompt is only expanded each time zle starts, and
when the display as been interrupted by output from another part
of the shell (such as a job notification) which causes the com‐
mand line to be reprinted.
send-break (^G ESC-^G) (unbound) (unbound)
Abort the current editor function, e.g. execute-named-command,
or the editor itself, e.g. if you are in vared. Otherwise abort
the parsing of the current line.
run-help (ESC-H ESC-h) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
`run-help cmd', where cmd is the current command. run-help is
normally aliased to man.
vi-set-buffer (unbound) (") (unbound)
Specify a buffer to be used in the following command. There are
35 buffers that can be specified: the 26 `named' buffers "a to
"z and the nine `queued' buffers "1 to "9. The named buffers
can also be specified as "A to "Z.
When a buffer is specified for a cut command, the text being cut
replaces the previous contents of the specified buffer. If a
named buffer is specified using a capital, the newly cut text is
appended to the buffer instead of overwriting it.
If no buffer is specified for a cut command, "1 is used, and the
contents of "1 to "8 are each shifted along one buffer; the con‐
tents of "9 is lost.
vi-set-mark (unbound) (m) (unbound)
Set the specified mark at the cursor position.
set-mark-command (^@) (unbound) (unbound)
Set the mark at the cursor position.
spell-word (ESC-$ ESC-S ESC-s) (unbound) (unbound)
Attempt spelling correction on the current word.
undefined-key
This command is executed when a key sequence that is not bound
to any command is typed. By default it beeps.
undo (^_ ^Xu ^X^U) (unbound) (unbound)
Incrementally undo the last text modification.
redo Incrementally redo undone text modifications.
vi-undo-change (unbound) (u) (unbound)
Undo the last text modification. If repeated, redo the modifi‐
cation.
what-cursor-position (^X=) (unbound) (unbound)
Print the character under the cursor, its code as an octal, dec‐
imal and hexadecimal number, the current cursor position within
the buffer and the column of the cursor in the current line.
where-is
Read the name of an editor command and and print the listing of
key sequences that invoke the specified command.
which-command (ESC-?) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
`which-command cmd'. where cmd is the current command.
which-command is normally aliased to whence.
vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line (unbound) (0) (unbound)
If the last command executed was a digit as part of an argument,
continue the argument. Otherwise, execute vi-beginning-of-line.
zsh 4.3.6 April 2, 2008 ZSHZLE(1)
