READLINE(3) GNU Readline 8.3 READLINE(3)
2024 December 30
NAME
readline - get a line from a user with editing
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
#include <readline/readline.h>
#include <readline/history.h>
char *
readline (const char *prompt);
COPYRIGHT
Readline is Copyright (C) 1989-2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
DESCRIPTION
readline reads a line from the terminal and return it, using prompt as
a prompt. If prompt is NULL or the empty string, readline does not
issue a prompt. The line returned is allocated with malloc(3); the
caller must free it when finished. The line returned has the final
newline removed, so only the text of the line remains. Since it's
possible to enter characters into the line while quoting them to
disable any readline editing function they might normally have, this
line may include embedded newlines and other special characters.
readline offers editing capabilities while the user is entering the
line. By default, the line editing commands are similar to those of
emacs. A vi-style line editing interface is also available. This
manual page describes only the most basic use of readline. Much more
functionality is available; see The GNU Readline Library and The GNU
History Library for additional information.
RETURN VALUE
readline returns the text of the line read. A blank line returns the
empty string. If EOF is encountered while reading a line, and the
line is empty, readline returns NULL. If an EOF is read with a
non-empty line, it is treated as a newline.
NOTATION
This section uses Emacs-style editing concepts and uses its notation
for keystrokes. Control keys are denoted by C-key, e.g., C-n means
Control-N. Similarly, meta keys are denoted by M-key, so M-x means
Meta-X. The Meta key is often labeled "Alt" or "Option".
On keyboards without a Meta key, M-x means ESC x, i.e., press and
release the Escape key, then press and release the x key, in sequence.
This makes ESC the meta prefix. The combination M-C-x means ESC
Control-x: press and release the Escape key, then press and hold the
Control key while pressing the x key, then release both.
On some keyboards, the Meta key modifier produces characters with the
eighth bit (0200) set. You can use the enable-meta-key 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
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key to a key sequence beginning with ESC as described in the preceding
paragraph.
If your Meta key produces a key sequence with the ESC meta prefix, you
can make M-key key bindings you specify (see Readline Key Bindings
below) do the same thing by setting the force-meta-prefix variable.
Readline commands may be given numeric arguments, which normally act
as a repeat count. Sometimes, however, it is the sign of the argument
that is significant. Passing a negative argument to a command that
acts in the forward direction (e.g., kill-line) makes that command act
in a backward direction. Commands whose behavior with arguments
deviates from this are noted below.
The point is the current cursor position, and mark refers to a saved
cursor position. The text between the point and mark is referred to
as the region.
When a command is described as killing text, the text deleted is saved
for possible future retrieval (yanking). The killed text is saved in
a kill ring. Consecutive kills accumulate the deleted text into one
unit, which can be yanked all at once. Commands which do not kill
text separate the chunks of text on the kill ring.
INITIALIZATION FILE
Readline is customized by putting commands in an initialization file
(the inputrc file). The name of this file is taken from the value of
the INPUTRC environment variable. If that variable is unset, the
default is ~/.inputrc. If that file does not exist or cannot be
read, readline looks for /etc/inputrc. When a program that uses the
readline library starts up, readline reads the initialization file and
sets the key bindings and variables found there, before reading any
user input.
There are only a few basic constructs allowed in the inputrc file.
Blank lines are ignored. Lines beginning with a # are comments.
Lines beginning with a $ indicate conditional constructs. Other lines
denote key bindings and variable settings.
The default key-bindings in this document may be changed using key
binding commands in the inputrc file. Programs that use this library
may add their own commands and bindings.
For example, placing
M-Control-u: universal-argument
or
C-Meta-u: universal-argument
into the inputrc would make M-C-u execute the readline command
universal-argument.
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Key bindings may contain the following symbolic character names: DEL,
ESC, ESCAPE, LFD, NEWLINE, RET, RETURN, RUBOUT (a destructive
backspace), SPACE, SPC, and TAB.
In addition to command names, readline allows keys to be bound to a
string that is inserted when the key is pressed (a macro). The
difference between a macro and a command is that a macro is enclosed
in single or double quotes.
Key Bindings
The syntax for controlling key bindings in the inputrc file is simple.
All that is required is the name of the command or the text of a macro
and a key sequence to which it should be bound. The key sequence may
be specified in one of two ways: as a symbolic key name, possibly with
Meta- or Control- prefixes, or as a key sequence composed of one or
more characters enclosed in double quotes. The key sequence and name
are separated by a colon. There can be no whitespace between the name
and the colon.
When using the form keyname:function-name or macro, keyname is the
name of a key spelled out in English. For example:
Control-u: universal-argument
Meta-Rubout: backward-kill-word
Control-o: "> output"
In the above example, C-u is bound to the function universal-argument,
M-DEL is bound to the function backward-kill-word, and C-o is bound to
run the macro expressed on the right hand side (that is, to insert the
text "> output" into the line).
In the second form, "keyseq":function-name or macro, keyseq differs
from keyname above in that strings denoting an entire key sequence may
be specified by placing the sequence within double quotes. Some GNU
Emacs style key escapes can be used, as in the following example, but
none of the symbolic character names are recognized.
"\C-u": universal-argument
"\C-x\C-r": re-read-init-file
"\e[11~": "Function Key 1"
In this example, C-u is again bound to the function
universal-argument. C-x C-r is bound to the function
re-read-init-file, and ESC [ 1 1 ~ is bound to insert the text
"Function Key 1".
The full set of GNU Emacs style escape sequences available when
specifying key sequences is
\C- A control prefix.
\M- Adding the meta prefix or converting the following character
to a meta character, as described below under force-meta-
prefix.
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\e An escape character.
\\ Backslash.
\" Literal ", a double quote.
\' Literal ', a single quote.
In addition to the GNU Emacs style escape sequences, a second set of
backslash escapes is available:
\a alert (bell)
\b backspace
\d delete
\f form feed
\n newline
\r carriage return
\t horizontal tab
\v vertical tab
\nnn The eight-bit character whose value is the octal value nnn
(one to three digits).
\xHH The eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value
HH (one or two hex digits).
When entering the text of a macro, single or double quotes 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 quotes any other character in the macro
text, including " and '.
Bash will display or modify the current readline key bindings with the
bind builtin command. The -o emacs or -o vi options to the set
builtin change the editing mode during interactive use. Other
programs using this library provide similar mechanisms. A user may
always edit the inputrc file and have readline re-read it if a program
does not provide any other means to incorporate new bindings.
Variables
Readline has variables that can be used to further customize its
behavior. A variable may be set in the inputrc file with a statement
of the form
set variable-name value
Except where noted, readline variables can take the values On or Off
(without regard to case). Unrecognized variable names are ignored.
When readline reads a variable value, empty or null values, "on"
(case-insensitive), and "1" are equivalent to On. All other values
are equivalent to Off.
The variables and their default values are:
active-region-start-color
A string variable that controls the text color and background
when displaying the text in the active region (see the
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description of enable-active-region 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 "\e[01;33m".
active-region-end-color
A string variable that "undoes" the effects of
active-region-start-color 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 "\e[0m".
bell-style (audible)
Controls what happens when readline wants to ring the terminal
bell. If set to none, readline never rings the bell. If set to
visible, readline uses a visible bell if one is available. If
set to audible, readline attempts to ring the terminal's bell.
bind-tty-special-chars (On)
If set to On, 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 "stty -a" at a bash prompt to see
your current terminal settings, including the special control
characters (usually cchars).
blink-matching-paren (Off)
If set to On, readline attempts to briefly move the cursor to an
opening parenthesis when a closing parenthesis is inserted.
colored-completion-prefix (Off)
If set to On, when listing completions, readline displays the
common prefix of the set of possible completions using a
different color. The color definitions are taken from the value
of the LS_COLORS environment variable. If there is a color
definition in $LS_COLORS for the custom suffix "readline-
colored-completion-prefix", readline uses this color for the
common prefix instead of its default.
colored-stats (Off)
If set to On, readline displays possible completions using
different colors to indicate their file type. The color
definitions are taken from the value of the LS_COLORS environment
variable.
comment-begin (
"#") The string that the readline insert-comment command inserts.
This command is bound to M-# in emacs mode and to # in vi command
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mode.
completion-display-width (-1)
The number of screen columns used to display possible matches
when performing completion. The value is ignored if it is less
than 0 or greater than the terminal screen width. A value of 0
causes matches to be displayed one per line. The default value
is -1.
completion-ignore-case (Off)
If set to On, readline performs filename matching and completion
in a case-insensitive fashion.
completion-map-case (Off)
If set to On, and completion-ignore-case is enabled, readline
treats hyphens (-) and underscores (_) as equivalent when
performing case-insensitive filename matching and completion.
completion-prefix-display-length (0)
The 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
eadline is completing filenames, it uses three underscores
instead of an ellipsis.
completion-query-items (100)
This determines when the user is queried about viewing the number
of possible completions generated by the possible-completions
command. It may be set to any integer value greater than or
equal to zero. If the number of possible completions is greater
than or equal to the value of this variable, readline asks
whether or not the user wishes to view them; otherwise readline
simply lists them on the terminal. A zero value means readline
should never ask; negative values are treated as zero.
convert-meta (On)
If set to On, readline converts characters it reads that have the
eighth bit set to an ASCII key sequence by clearing the eighth
bit and prefixing it with an escape character (converting the
character to have the meta prefix). The default is On, but
readline sets it to Off if the locale contains characters whose
encodings may include bytes with the eighth bit set. This
variable is dependent on the LC_CTYPE locale category, and may
change if the locale changes. This variable also affects key
bindings; see the description of force-meta-prefix below.
disable-completion (Off)
If set to On, readline inhibits word completion. Completion
characters are inserted into the line as if they had been mapped
to self-insert.
echo-control-characters (On)
When set to On, on operating systems that indicate they support
it, readline echoes a character corresponding to a signal
generated from the keyboard.
editing-mode (emacs)
Controls whether readline uses a set of key bindings similar to
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Emacs or vi. editing-mode can be set to either emacs or vi.
emacs-mode-string (@)
If the show-mode-in-prompt 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 \1 and \2
escapes begin and end sequences of non-printing characters, which
can be used to embed a terminal control sequence into the mode
string.
enable-active-region (On)
When this variable is set to On, readline allows certain commands
to designate the region as active. When the region is active,
readline highlights the text in the region using the value of the
active-region-start-color variable, 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.
enable-bracketed-paste (On)
When set to On, 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 bracketed-paste mode; it prevents
readline from executing any editing commands bound to key
sequences appearing in the pasted text.
enable-keypad (Off)
When set to On, readline tries to enable the application keypad
when it is called. Some systems need this to enable the arrow
keys.
enable-meta-key (On)
When set to On, readline tries to enable any meta modifier key
the terminal claims to support. 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).
expand-tilde (Off)
If set to On, readline performs tilde expansion when it attempts
word completion.
force-meta-prefix (Off)
If set to On, readline modifies its behavior when binding key
sequences containing \M- or Meta- (see Key Bindings above) by
converting a key sequence of the form \M-C or Meta-C to the two-
character sequence ESC C (adding the meta prefix). If
force-meta-prefix is set to Off (the default), readline uses the
value of the convert-meta variable to determine whether to
perform this conversion: if convert-meta is On, readline performs
the conversion described above; if it is Off, readline converts C
to a meta character by setting the eighth bit (0200).
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history-preserve-point (Off)
If set to On, the history code attempts to place point at the
same location on each history line retrieved with previous-
history or next-history.
history-size (unset)
Set the maximum number of history entries saved in the history
list. If set to zero, any existing history entries are deleted
and no new entries are saved. If set to a value less than zero,
the number of history entries is not limited. By default, the
number of history entries is not limited. Setting history-size
to a non-numeric value will set the maximum number of history
entries to 500.
horizontal-scroll-mode (Off)
Setting this variable to On makes readline use a single line for
display, scrolling the input horizontally on a single screen line
when it becomes longer than the screen width rather than wrapping
to a new line. This setting is automatically enabled for
terminals of height 1.
input-meta (Off)
If set to On, 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 is Off,
but readline sets it to On if the locale contains characters
whose encodings may include bytes with the eighth bit set. This
variable is dependent on the LC_CTYPE locale category, and its
value may change if the locale changes. The name meta-flag is a
synonym for input-meta.
isearch-terminators (
"C-[C-j") The string of characters that should terminate an
incremental search without subsequently executing the character
as a command. If this variable has not been given a value, the
characters ESC and C-j terminate an incremental search.
keymap (emacs)
Set the current readline keymap. The set of valid keymap names
is emacs, emacs-standard, emacs-meta, emacs-ctlx, vi, vi-command,
and vi-insert. vi is equivalent to vi-command; emacs is
equivalent to emacs-standard. The default value is emacs; the
value of editing-mode also affects the default keymap.
keyseq-timeout (500)
Specifies the duration readline will wait for a character when
reading an ambiguous key sequence (one that can form a complete
key sequence using the input read so far, or can take additional
input to complete a longer key sequence). If readline does not
receive any input within the timeout, it uses the shorter but
complete key sequence. The value is specified in milliseconds,
so a value of 1000 means that readline will wait one second for
additional input. If this variable is set to a value less than
or equal to zero, or to a non-numeric value, readline waits until
another key is pressed to decide which key sequence to complete.
mark-directories (On)
If set to On, completed directory names have a slash appended.
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mark-modified-lines (Off)
If set to On, readline displays history lines that have been
modified with a preceding asterisk (*).
mark-symlinked-directories (Off)
If set to On, completed names which are symbolic links to
directories have a slash appended, subject to the value of
mark-directories.
match-hidden-files (On)
This variable, when set to On, forces readline to match files
whose names begin with a "." (hidden files) when performing
filename completion. If set to Off, the user must include the
leading "." in the filename to be completed.
menu-complete-display-prefix (Off)
If set to On, menu completion displays the common prefix of the
list of possible completions (which may be empty) before cycling
through the list.
output-meta (Off)
If set to On, readline displays characters with the eighth bit
set directly rather than as a meta-prefixed escape sequence. The
default is Off, but readline sets it to On if the locale contains
characters whose encodings may include bytes with the eighth bit
set. This variable is dependent on the LC_CTYPE locale category,
and its value may change if the locale changes.
page-completions (On)
If set to On, readline uses an internal pager resembling more(1)
to display a screenful of possible completions at a time.
prefer-visible-bell
See bell-style.
print-completions-horizontally (Off)
If set to On, readline displays completions with matches sorted
horizontally in alphabetical order, rather than down the screen.
revert-all-at-newline (Off)
If set to On, readline will undo all changes to history lines
before returning when executing accept-line. By default, history
lines may be modified and retain individual undo lists across
calls to readline().
search-ignore-case (Off)
If set to On, readline performs incremental and non-incremental
history list searches in a case-insensitive fashion.
show-all-if-ambiguous (Off)
This alters the default behavior of the completion functions. If
set to On, words which have more than one possible completion
cause the matches to be listed immediately instead of ringing the
bell.
show-all-if-unmodified (Off)
This alters the default behavior of the completion functions in a
fashion similar to show-all-if-ambiguous. If set to On, words
which have more than one possible completion without any possible
partial completion (the possible completions don't share a common
prefix) cause the matches to be listed immediately instead of
ringing the bell.
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show-mode-in-prompt (Off)
If set to On, 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., emacs-mode-string).
skip-completed-text (Off)
If set to On, this alters the default completion behavior when
inserting a single match into the line. It's only active when
performing completion in the middle of a word. If enabled,
readline does not insert characters from the completion that
match characters after point in the word being completed, so
portions of the word following the cursor are not duplicated.
vi-cmd-mode-string ((cmd))
If the show-mode-in-prompt 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 \1 and \2 escapes begin and end sequences of non-printing
characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control
sequence into the mode string.
vi-ins-mode-string ((ins))
If the show-mode-in-prompt 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 \1 and \2 escapes begin and end sequences of non-printing
characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control
sequence into the mode string.
visible-stats (Off)
If set to On, a character denoting a file's type as reported by
stat(2) is appended to the filename when listing possible
completions.
Conditional Constructs
Readline implements a facility similar in spirit to the conditional
compilation features of the C preprocessor which allows key bindings
and variable settings to be performed as the result of tests. There
are four parser directives available.
$if The $if construct allows bindings to be made based on the editing
mode, the terminal being used, or the application using readline.
The text of the test, after any comparison operator, extends to
the end of the line; unless otherwise noted, no characters are
required to isolate it.
mode The mode= form of the $if directive is used to test whether
readline is in emacs or vi mode. This may be used in
conjunction with the set keymap command, for instance, to
set bindings in the emacs-standard and emacs-ctlx keymaps
only if readline is starting out in emacs mode.
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term The term= form may be used to include terminal-specific key
bindings, perhaps to bind the key sequences output by the
terminal's function keys. The word on the right side of the
= is tested against both the full name of the terminal and
the portion of the terminal name before the first -. This
allows xterm to match both xterm and xterm-256color, for
instance.
version
The version test may be used to perform comparisons against
specific readline versions. The version expands to the
current readline version. The set of comparison operators
includes =, (and ==), !=, <=, >=, <, and >. 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., 7.1). If the minor version is
omitted, it defaults to 0. The operator may be separated
from the string version and from the version number argument
by whitespace.
application
The application construct is used to include application-
specific settings. Each program using the readline library
sets the application name, and an initialization file can
test for a particular value. This could be used to bind key
sequences to functions useful for a specific program. For
instance, the following command adds a key sequence that
quotes the current or previous word in bash:
$if Bash
# Quote the current or previous word
"\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
$endif
variable
The variable construct provides simple equality tests for
readline variables and values. The permitted comparison
operators are =, ==, and !=. 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
on and off.
$else
Commands in this branch of the $if directive are executed if the
test fails.
$endif
This command, as seen in the previous example, terminates an $if
command.
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$include
This directive takes a single filename as an argument and reads
commands and key bindings from that file. For example, the
following directive would read /etc/inputrc:
$include /etc/inputrc
SEARCHING
Readline provides commands for searching through the command history
for lines containing a specified string. There are two search modes:
incremental and non-incremental.
Incremental searches begin before the user has finished typing the
search string. As each character of the search string is typed,
readline displays the next entry from the history matching the string
typed so far. An incremental search requires only as many characters
as needed to find the desired history entry. When using emacs editing
mode, type C-r to search backward in the history for a particular
string. Typing C-s searches forward through the history. The
characters present in the value of the isearch-terminators variable
are used to terminate an incremental search. If that variable has not
been assigned a value, ESC and C-j terminate an incremental search.
C-g 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.
To find other matching entries in the history list, type C-r or C-s 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 newline 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.
Readline remembers the last incremental search string. If two C-rs
are typed without any intervening characters defining a new search
string, readline uses any remembered search string.
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.
EDITING COMMANDS
The following is a list of the names of the commands and the default
key sequences to which they are bound. Command names without an
accompanying key sequence are unbound by default.
In the following descriptions, point refers to the current cursor
position, and mark refers to a cursor position saved by the set-mark
command. The text between the point and mark is referred to as the
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region. Readline has the concept of an active region: when the region
is active, readline redisplay highlights the region using the value of
the active-region-start-color variable. The enable-active-region
variable turns this on and off. Several commands set the region to
active; those are noted below.
Commands for Moving
beginning-of-line (C-a)
Move to the start of the current line. This may also be bound to
the Home key on some keyboards.
end-of-line (C-e)
Move to the end of the line. This may also be bound to the End
key on some keyboards.
forward-char (C-f)
Move forward a character. This may also be bound to the right
arrow key on some keyboards.
backward-char (C-b)
Move back a character.
forward-word (M-f)
Move forward to the end of the next word. Words are composed of
alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).
backward-word (M-b)
Move back to the start of the current or previous word. Words
are composed of alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).
previous-screen-line
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.
next-screen-line
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.
clear-display (M-C-l)
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.
clear-screen (C-l)
Clear the screen, then redraw the current line, leaving the
current line at the top of the screen. With a numeric argument,
refresh the current line without clearing the screen.
redraw-current-line
Refresh the current line.
Commands for Manipulating the History
accept-line (Newline, Return)
Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is. If this line
is non-empty, it may be added to the history list for future
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recall with add_history(). If the line is a modified history
line, restore the history line to its original state.
previous-history (C-p)
Fetch the previous command from the history list, moving back in
the list. This may also be bound to the up arrow key on some
keyboards.
next-history (C-n)
Fetch the next command from the history list, moving forward in
the list. This may also be bound to the down arrow key on some
keyboards.
beginning-of-history (M-<)
Move to the first line in the history.
end-of-history (M->)
Move to the end of the input history, i.e., the line currently
being entered.
operate-and-get-next (C-o)
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.
fetch-history
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.
reverse-search-history (C-r)
Search backward starting at the current line and moving "up"
through the history as necessary. This is an incremental search.
This command sets the region to the matched text and activates
the region.
forward-search-history (C-s)
Search forward starting at the current line and moving "down"
through the history as necessary. This is an incremental search.
This command sets the region to the matched text and activates
the region.
non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)
Search backward through the history starting at the current line
using a non-incremental search for a string supplied by the user.
The search string may match anywhere in a history line.
non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)
Search forward through the history using a non-incremental search
for a string supplied by the user. The search string may match
anywhere in a history line.
history-search-backward
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. This may be bound to the Page Up key on
some keyboards.
history-search-forward
Search forward through the history for the string of characters
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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. This may be bound to the Page Down key
on some keyboards.
history-substring-search-backward
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.
history-substring-search-forward
Search forward through the history for the string of characters
between the start of the current line and the point. The search
string may match anywhere in a history line. This is a non-
incremental search.
yank-nth-arg (M-C-y)
Insert the first argument to the previous command (usually the
second word on the previous line) at point. With an argument n,
insert the nth word from the previous command (the words in the
previous command begin with word 0). A negative argument inserts
the nth word from the end of the previous command. Once the
argument n is computed, this uses the history expansion
facilities to extract the nth word, as if the "!n" history
expansion had been specified.
yank-last-arg (M-., M-_)
Insert the last argument to the previous command (the last word
of the previous history entry). With a numeric argument, behave
exactly like yank-nth-arg. Successive calls to yank-last-arg
move back through the history list, inserting the last word (or
the word specified by the argument to the first call) of each
line in turn. Any numeric argument supplied to these successive
calls determines the direction to move through the history. A
negative argument switches the direction through the history
(back or forward). This uses the history expansion facilities to
extract the last word, as if the "!$" history expansion had been
specified.
Commands for Changing Text
end-of-file (usually C-d)
The character indicating end-of-file as set, for example, by
stty(1). If this character is read when there are no characters
on the line, and point is at the beginning of the line, readline
interprets it as the end of input and returns EOF.
delete-char (C-d)
Delete the character at point. If this function is bound to the
same character as the tty EOF character, as C-d commonly is, see
above for the effects. This may also be bound to the Delete key
on some keyboards.
backward-delete-char (Rubout)
Delete the character behind the cursor. When given a numeric
argument, save the deleted text on the kill ring.
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forward-backward-delete-char
Delete the character under the cursor, unless the cursor is at
the end of the line, in which case the character behind the
cursor is deleted.
quoted-insert (C-q, C-v)
Add the next character typed to the line verbatim. This is how
to insert characters like C-q, for example.
tab-insert (M-TAB)
Insert a tab character.
self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, ...)
Insert the character typed.
bracketed-paste-begin
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 pasted characters are
inserted as if each one was bound to self-insert instead of
executing any editing commands.
Bracketed paste sets the region to the inserted text and
activates the region.
transpose-chars (C-t)
Drag the character before point forward over the character at
point, moving point forward as well. If point is at the end of
the line, then this transposes the two characters before point.
Negative arguments have no effect.
transpose-words (M-t)
Drag the word before point past the word after point, moving
point past that word as well. If point is at the end of the
line, this transposes the last two words on the line.
upcase-word (M-u)
Uppercase the current (or following) word. With a negative
argument, uppercase the previous word, but do not move point.
downcase-word (M-l)
Lowercase the current (or following) word. With a negative
argument, lowercase the previous word, but do not move point.
capitalize-word (M-c)
Capitalize the current (or following) word. With a negative
argument, capitalize the previous word, but do not move point.
overwrite-mode
Toggle overwrite mode. With an explicit positive numeric
argument, switches to overwrite mode. With an explicit non-
positive numeric argument, switches to insert mode. This command
affects only emacs mode; vi mode does overwrite differently.
Each call to readline() starts in insert mode.
In overwrite mode, characters bound to self-insert replace the
text at point rather than pushing the text to the right.
Characters bound to backward-delete-char replace the character
before point with a space. By default, this command is unbound,
but may be bound to the Insert key on some keyboards.
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Killing and Yanking
kill-line (C-k)
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.
backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout)
Kill backward to the beginning of the current line. With a
negative numeric argument, kill forward from the cursor to the
end of the line.
unix-line-discard (C-u)
Kill backward from point to the beginning of the line, saving the
killed text on the kill-ring.
kill-whole-line
Kill all characters on the current line, no matter where point
is.
kill-word (M-d)
Kill from point 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 forward-word.
backward-kill-word (M-Rubout)
Kill the word behind point. Word boundaries are the same as
those used by backward-word.
unix-word-rubout (C-w)
Kill the word behind point, using white space as a word boundary,
saving the killed text on the kill-ring.
unix-filename-rubout
Kill the word behind point, using white space and the slash
character as the word boundaries, saving the killed text on the
kill-ring.
delete-horizontal-space (M-\)
Delete all spaces and tabs around point.
kill-region
Kill the text in the current region.
copy-region-as-kill
Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer, so it can be
yanked immediately.
copy-backward-word
Copy the word before point to the kill buffer. The word
boundaries are the same as backward-word.
copy-forward-word
Copy the word following point to the kill buffer. The word
boundaries are the same as forward-word.
yank (C-y)
Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point.
yank-pop (M-y)
Rotate the kill ring, and yank the new top. Only works following
yank or yank-pop.
Numeric Arguments
digit-argument (M-0, M-1, ..., M--)
Add this digit to the argument already accumulating, or start a
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new argument. M-- starts a negative argument.
universal-argument
This is another way to specify an argument. If this command is
followed by one or more digits, optionally with a leading minus
sign, those digits define the argument. If the command is
followed by digits, executing universal-argument again ends the
numeric argument, but is otherwise ignored. As a special case,
if this command is immediately followed by a character that is
neither a digit 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.
Completing
complete (TAB)
Attempt to perform completion on the text before point. The
actual completion performed is application-specific. Bash, for
instance, attempts programmable completion first, otherwise
treating the text as a variable (if the text begins with $),
username (if the text begins with ~), hostname (if the text
begins with @), or command (including aliases, functions, and
builtins) in turn. If none of these produces a match, it falls
back to filename completion. Gdb, on the other hand, allows
completion of program functions and variables, and only attempts
filename completion under certain circumstances. The default
readline completion is filename completion.
possible-completions (M-?)
List the possible completions of the text before point. When
displaying completions, readline sets the number of columns used
for display to the value of completion-display-width, the value
of the environment variable COLUMNS, or the screen width, in that
order.
insert-completions (M-*)
Insert all completions of the text before point that would have
been generated by possible-completions, separated by a space.
menu-complete
Similar to complete, but replaces the word to be completed with a
single match from the list of possible completions. Repeatedly
executing menu-complete steps through the list of possible
completions, inserting each match in turn. At the end of the
list of completions, menu-complete rings the bell (subject to the
setting of bell-style) and restores the original text. An
argument of n moves n positions forward in the list of matches; a
negative argument moves backward through the list. This command
is intended to be bound to TAB, but is unbound by default.
menu-complete-backward
Identical to menu-complete, but moves backward through the list
of possible completions, as if menu-complete had been given a
negative argument. This command is unbound by default.
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export-completions
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:
+ the number of matches N;
+ the word being completed;
+ S:E, where S and E are the start and end offsets of the word
in the readline line buffer; then
+ each match, one per line
If there are no matches, the first line will be "0", and this
command does not print any output after the S:E. 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 S:E,
then the matches on subsequent lines. In this case, N will
include the first line with the common prefix.
The user or application should be able to accommodate the
possibility of a blank line. The intent is that the user or
application reads N lines after the line containing S:E to obtain
the match list. This command is unbound by default.
delete-char-or-list
Deletes the character under the cursor if not at the beginning or
end of the line (like delete-char). At the end of the line, it
behaves identically to possible-completions. This command is
unbound by default.
Keyboard Macros
start-kbd-macro (C-x ()
Begin saving the characters typed into the current keyboard
macro.
end-kbd-macro (C-x ))
Stop saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro
and store the definition.
call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e)
Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the
characters in the macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.
print-last-kbd-macro ()
Print the last keyboard macro defined in a format suitable for
the inputrc file.
Miscellaneous
re-read-init-file (C-x C-r)
Read in the contents of the inputrc file, and incorporate any
bindings or variable assignments found there.
abort (C-g)
Abort the current editing command and ring the terminal's bell
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(subject to the setting of bell-style).
do-lowercase-version (M-A, M-B, M-x, ...)
If the metafied character x is uppercase, run the command that is
bound to the corresponding metafied lowercase character. The
behavior is undefined if x is already lowercase.
prefix-meta (ESC)
Metafy the next character typed. ESC f is equivalent to Meta-f.
undo (C-_, C-x C-u)
Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.
revert-line (M-r)
Undo all changes made to this line. This is like executing the
undo command enough times to return the line to its initial
state.
tilde-expand (M-~)
Perform tilde expansion on the current word.
set-mark (C-@, M-<space>)
Set the mark to the point. If a numeric argument is supplied,
set the mark to that position.
exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x)
Swap the point with the mark. Set the current cursor position to
the saved position, then set the mark to the old cursor position.
character-search (C-])
Read a character and move point to the next occurrence of that
character. A negative argument searches for previous
occurrences.
character-search-backward (M-C-])
Read a character and move point to the previous occurrence of
that character. A negative argument searches for subsequent
occurrences.
skip-csi-sequence
Read enough characters to consume a multi-key sequence such as
those defined for keys like Home and End. CSI sequences begin
with a Control Sequence Indicator (CSI), usually ESC [. 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 ESC [.
insert-comment (M-#)
Without a numeric argument, insert the value of the readline
comment-begin 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 comment-begin, insert the value; otherwise delete the
characters in comment-begin from the beginning of the line. In
either case, the line is accepted as if a newline had been typed.
The default value of comment-begin causes this command to make
the current line a shell comment. If a numeric argument causes
the comment character to be removed, the line will be executed by
the shell.
dump-functions
Print all of the functions and their key bindings to the readline
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output stream. If a numeric argument is supplied, the output is
formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an inputrc
file.
dump-variables
Print all of the settable variables and their values to the
readline output stream. If a numeric argument is supplied, the
output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
inputrc file.
dump-macros
Print all of the readline key sequences bound to macros and the
strings they output to the readline output stream. If a numeric
argument is supplied, the output is formatted in such a way that
it can be made part of an inputrc file.
execute-named-command (M-x)
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.
emacs-editing-mode (C-e)
When in vi command mode, this switches readline to emacs editing
mode.
vi-editing-mode (M-C-j)
When in emacs editing mode, this switches to vi editing mode.
DEFAULT KEY BINDINGS
The following is a list of the default emacs and vi bindings.
Characters with the eighth bit set are written as M-<character>, and
are referred to as metafied characters. The printable ASCII
characters not mentioned in the list of emacs standard bindings are
bound to the self-insert function, which just inserts the given
character into the input line. In vi insertion mode, all characters
not specifically mentioned are bound to self-insert. Characters
assigned to signal generation by stty(1) or the terminal driver, such
as C-Z or C-C, retain that function. Upper and lower case metafied
characters are bound to the same function in the emacs mode meta
keymap. The remaining characters are unbound, which causes readline
to ring the bell (subject to the setting of the bell-style variable).
Emacs Mode
Emacs Standard bindings
"C-@" set-mark
"C-A" beginning-of-line
"C-B" backward-char
"C-D" delete-char
"C-E" end-of-line
"C-F" forward-char
"C-G" abort
"C-H" backward-delete-char
"C-I" complete
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"C-J" accept-line
"C-K" kill-line
"C-L" clear-screen
"C-M" accept-line
"C-N" next-history
"C-P" previous-history
"C-Q" quoted-insert
"C-R" reverse-search-history
"C-S" forward-search-history
"C-T" transpose-chars
"C-U" unix-line-discard
"C-V" quoted-insert
"C-W" unix-word-rubout
"C-Y" yank
"C-]" character-search
"C-_" undo
" " to "/" self-insert
"0" to "9" self-insert
":" to "~" self-insert
"C-?" backward-delete-char
Emacs Meta bindings
"M-C-G" abort
"M-C-H" backward-kill-word
"M-C-I" tab-insert
"M-C-J" vi-editing-mode
"M-C-L" clear-display
"M-C-M" vi-editing-mode
"M-C-R" revert-line
"M-C-Y" yank-nth-arg
"M-C-[" complete
"M-C-]" character-search-backward
"M-space" set-mark
"M-#" insert-comment
"M-&" tilde-expand
"M-*" insert-completions
"M--" digit-argument
"M-." yank-last-arg
"M-0" digit-argument
"M-1" digit-argument
"M-2" digit-argument
"M-3" digit-argument
"M-4" digit-argument
"M-5" digit-argument
"M-6" digit-argument
"M-7" digit-argument
"M-8" digit-argument
"M-9" digit-argument
"M-<" beginning-of-history
"M-=" possible-completions
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"M->" end-of-history
"M-?" possible-completions
"M-B" backward-word
"M-C" capitalize-word
"M-D" kill-word
"M-F" forward-word
"M-L" downcase-word
"M-N" non-incremental-forward-search-history
"M-P" non-incremental-reverse-search-history
"M-R" revert-line
"M-T" transpose-words
"M-U" upcase-word
"M-X" execute-named-command
"M-Y" yank-pop
"M-\" delete-horizontal-space
"M-~" tilde-expand
"M-C-?" backward-kill-word
"M-_" yank-last-arg
Emacs Control-X bindings
"C-XC-G" abort
"C-XC-R" re-read-init-file
"C-XC-U" undo
"C-XC-X" exchange-point-and-mark
"C-X(" start-kbd-macro
"C-X)" end-kbd-macro
"C-XE" call-last-kbd-macro
"C-XC-?" backward-kill-line
VI Mode bindings
VI Insert Mode functions
"C-D" vi-eof-maybe
"C-H" backward-delete-char
"C-I" complete
"C-J" accept-line
"C-M" accept-line
"C-N" menu-complete
"C-P" menu-complete-backward
"C-R" reverse-search-history
"C-S" forward-search-history
"C-T" transpose-chars
"C-U" unix-line-discard
"C-V" quoted-insert
"C-W" vi-unix-word-rubout
"C-Y" yank
"C-[" vi-movement-mode
"C-_" vi-undo
" " to "~" self-insert
"C-?" backward-delete-char
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VI Command Mode functions
"C-D" vi-eof-maybe
"C-E" emacs-editing-mode
"C-G" abort
"C-H" backward-char
"C-J" accept-line
"C-K" kill-line
"C-L" clear-screen
"C-M" accept-line
"C-N" next-history
"C-P" previous-history
"C-Q" quoted-insert
"C-R" reverse-search-history
"C-S" forward-search-history
"C-T" transpose-chars
"C-U" unix-line-discard
"C-V" quoted-insert
"C-W" vi-unix-word-rubout
"C-Y" yank
"C-_" vi-undo
" " forward-char
"#" insert-comment
"$" end-of-line
"%" vi-match
"&" vi-tilde-expand
"*" vi-complete
"+" next-history
"," vi-char-search
"-" previous-history
"." vi-redo
"/" vi-search
"0" beginning-of-line
"1" to "9" vi-arg-digit
";" vi-char-search
"=" vi-complete
"?" vi-search
"A" vi-append-eol
"B" vi-prev-word
"C" vi-change-to
"D" vi-delete-to
"E" vi-end-word
"F" vi-char-search
"G" vi-fetch-history
"I" vi-insert-beg
"N" vi-search-again
"P" vi-put
"R" vi-replace
"S" vi-subst
"T" vi-char-search
"U" revert-line
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"W" vi-next-word
"X" vi-rubout
"Y" vi-yank-to
"\" vi-complete
"^" vi-first-print
"_" vi-yank-arg
"`" vi-goto-mark
"a" vi-append-mode
"b" vi-prev-word
"c" vi-change-to
"d" vi-delete-to
"e" vi-end-word
"f" vi-char-search
"h" backward-char
"i" vi-insertion-mode
"j" next-history
"k" previous-history
"l" forward-char
"m" vi-set-mark
"n" vi-search-again
"p" vi-put
"r" vi-change-char
"s" vi-subst
"t" vi-char-search
"u" vi-undo
"w" vi-next-word
"x" vi-delete
"y" vi-yank-to
"|" vi-column
"~" vi-change-case
SEE ALSO
The Gnu Readline Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
The Gnu History Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
bash(1)
FILES
~/.inputrc
Individual readline initialization file
AUTHORS
Brian Fox, Free Software Foundation
bfox@gnu.org
Chet Ramey, Case Western Reserve University
chet.ramey@case.edu
BUG REPORTS
If you find a bug in readline, you should report it. But first, you
should make sure that it really is a bug, and that it appears in the
latest version of the readline library that you have.
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Once you have determined that a bug actually exists, mail a bug report
to bug-readline@gnu.org. If you have a fix, you are welcome to mail
that as well! Suggestions and "philosophical" bug reports may be
mailed to bug-readline@gnu.org or posted to the Usenet newsgroup
gnu.bash.bug.
Comments and bug reports concerning this manual page should be
directed to chet.ramey@case.edu.
BUGS
It's too big and too slow.
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