Questions tagged [readline]
GNU Readline is a library that provides command-line editing and history searching capabilities for Bash and other interactive command-line programs. Use this tag for questions relating to the use of Readline functionality in Bash and other software.
267
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How can I make autocompletion in bash follow `dircolors`?
Does coloring in autocompletion by readline of bash follow the same dircolors configurations as the output of ls? It does not in my case. See dircolor doesn't work
What can I do to make it ...
- 89.7k
1
vote
1
answer
37
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Why can't I get bash to use forward incremental search?
Recently I ran across a few articles with tips on how to more efficiently use bash that mentioned a combination I'd never tried: Ctrl-S (in the prompt, with no command running) to search the other way ...
- 123
0
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0
answers
88
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Ubuntu's bash does not honor INPUTRC
I'm using INPUTRC to move the .inputrc file away from my home folder. It used to work (like with my GNU bash, version 5.1.4), but in bash version 5.1.16, I found that the INPUTRC is no longer honored.
...
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11
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4
answers
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Is it possible in Bash to run the output of a command as the actual command-line to run
Let me explain with an example:
I have a line where I declare an alias in my ~/.bashrc:
> grep lsdir ~/.bashrc
alias lsdir='ls -d */'
I have just added this line to my bashrc, and the alias is ...
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2
votes
0
answers
48
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Send accept-line to readline when binding the Enter key using bash bind -x
I have successfully bind the Enter key using:
function foo() {
echo 'Im a foo'
}
bind -m vi-insert -x '"\C-M": foo'
the problem is I have no way of accepting the READLINE_LINE.
How can ...
- 406
10
votes
1
answer
728
views
What shells use readline?
I recently posted a question about a strange behavior I had observed in the bash, fish and zsh shells that was not exhibited by the tcsh, csh, ksh, or dash shells. It turns out the behavior was caused ...
- 215k
7
votes
1
answer
291
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Make a trailing newline execute a command when pasted into the shell
A couple of months ago, a system update caused my shell to no longer interpret trailing newlines as an enter when pasting a command into the terminal. For example, if I write ls at my prompt and then ...
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0
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0
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72
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How to disable libreadline's bracketed paste mode programmatically
Starting with libreadline version 8.1, the default is to give special treatment to "bracketed paste" operations. This breaks parsing for my program, so I want to disable it.
I know that it ...
- 156
0
votes
1
answer
54
views
Proper way to wrap dash using rlwrap
On Ubuntu, I have set alias sh='rlwrap --complete-filenames sh' to get readline keybindings and filename completion when using the dash shell (on my computer, sh is /usr/bin/sh, which is a symbolic ...
- 1,832
1
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0
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60
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How to use readline bindings everywhere?
Using OSX I am able to use readline-specific bindings, such as going to the beginning of the line with CTRL+A, everywhere. I recently switched to Linux (specifically NixOS) and I've been missing this ...
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1
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1
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96
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How do you set the colour of the bash tab completion when `colored-completion-prefix` is turned on?
I have colored-completion-prefix set on in my ~/.inputrc file, but when I tab complete, the prefix part which has already been typed is a colour that I do not like.
In the bash manual it says:
"...
- 924
1
vote
1
answer
150
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Why can't install specified mariadb version with readline library?
My os info:
uname -a
Linux debian 5.10.0-9-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.70-1 (2021-09-30) x86_64 GNU/Linux
Locale setting:
locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US:en
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
...
- 35
0
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4
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57
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How to expand a variable on console/shell prompt
How do we expand a variable, ie. a '$' preceded name, to its value content on bash readline ?
1
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0
answers
48
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bash/readline: How to enable *-expansion on <TAB>?
After switching from Ubuntu 20.04 to Debian 11 I noticed that typing, for example
$ rm *.db<TAB>
no longer attempts to expand *.db. What used to happen (on Ubuntu 20.04 and earlier versions) ...
- 123
1
vote
0
answers
32
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Using debugger by perl -d -e "1;" with readkey or readline
When using perl -d -e "1;" inspect few importances so asking:
What is the difference in term::readkey and term::readline
Just found readkey one not behave correctly like Bash shell readline ...
user480483
0
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0
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34
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Need bash glob to be expanded and keep it ready in the readline
how can bash glob is expanded and keep the cursor ready on the readline so that keep current command from being executed
user480483
0
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0
answers
50
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Readline does not apply user config specified in INPUTRC variable
I am trying to change the location of my inputrc. The docs say that it reads the config location from the INPUTRC environment variable
Readline is customized by putting commands in an initialization ...
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1
vote
0
answers
29
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Option+Left in Bash on Mac sometimes produces ;9D
I've set up my bash in iTerm2 on Mac so that Option+Left goes backward a word, and Option+Right goes forward a word. I've done this to have a similar setup as on my Linux machine.
However, sometimes ...
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1
vote
1
answer
37
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disable terminal werase setting only in interactive mode in bash
I want to bind C^w to a non-default action in bash, but it requires disabling werase in the terminal. This, unfortunately, affects other programs launched by bash, especially my ssh sessions: when I ...
- 1,781
4
votes
1
answer
378
views
How do I disable Esc-v in bash opening the previous command in an editor?
This has bothered me for years. I have tried to unbind the key sequence in .inputrc, I have set EDITOR to true and false, I have read and reread the bash and readline man pages. I have used ksh ...
0
votes
1
answer
58
views
CamelCase-aware backward-kill-word in readline
backward-kill-word is a readline action that deletes the previous alphanumeric word. For example, applying this action in the following scenario (▯ indicates the position of the cursor)
echo hello-...
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0
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47
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Keymap causes Readline Delay on `.` in Vi Mode
When I press . in Vi/command mode there is always a delay (half a second) before the last action gets repeated.
I found that this is caused by my .inputrc:
set editing-mode vi
set keymap vi-command
&...
- 4,843
0
votes
1
answer
165
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Setting cmd-mode bindings in inputrc for vi editing-mode
I am using vi key bindings in .inputrc with
set editing-mode vi
Then I would like to add new bindings for command mode, namely use K and J to perform forward and reverse search in history of what I ...
1
vote
0
answers
503
views
Symbol lookup error for libreadline
I recently started having problems with running programs like sqlite3 or awk on Ubuntu20.
These programs won't start and just show this error:
symbol lookup error: /usr/local/lib/libreadline.so.8: ...
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0
votes
1
answer
54
views
How to list readline variables with their current value
I'd like to be able to see if, for example, show-all-if-unmodified is enabled in the current session.
- 289
2
votes
0
answers
89
views
What could go wrong with sending input to /dev/tty?
My setup entails sending inputs to another terminal program running Bash in the same machine and same X session. I'm using ttyecho for that which, to put it short, sends input to /dev/tty/[id], ...
- 121
1
vote
1
answer
86
views
How to have `SPACE: magic-space` in ~/.inputrc without breaking Python 3 REPL?
If I put SPACE: magic-space in my ~/.inputrc file for configuring Readline, then I cannot enter SPACEs in python3 REPL (v3.8.7)
How can I use SPACE: magic-space in my ~/.inputrc without breaking ...
- 3,287
1
vote
1
answer
51
views
How to use "\M-\C-" as an key sequence prefix when defining key bindings using Readline in Bash?
If I put "\M-\C-k": kill-whole-line in my ~/.inputrc file the result is "\213": kill-whole-line (displayed by bind -p).
However, if I change \M- to \e ("\e\C-k": kill-...
- 3,287
1
vote
1
answer
74
views
Bash _/- completion
man bash says:
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 ...
- 4,843
0
votes
1
answer
107
views
Expand shell variable while editing command line
If I write ls bla.* at the prompt and then I press = while the cursor is still on the bla.* part of the command line, the list of files matching bla.* is printed. If I press *, that word is ...
- 1,012
0
votes
1
answer
49
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readline's rl_parse_and_bind causes crash
I am using Ubuntu 18.04.5. This very simple program segfaults on the invocation of rl_parse_and_bind. Can anyone help me?
// Build with cc read.c -o read -lreadline
#include <readline/readline.h&...
0
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0
answers
62
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Redo in readline emacs editing mode
How to redo (or undo an undo) in readline Emacs editing mode?
The ways I've found for Emacs (C-g _) do not seem to work from the command line.
- 101
0
votes
2
answers
888
views
Syntax error near unexpected token "done"-- while read line
I keep getting this error: syntax error near unexpected token 'done' but I don't understand why.
I tried adding dos2unix *.sh after #!/bin/sh, but that just gave me an error that said no such file or ...
- 105
0
votes
1
answer
19
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readline in a C program obeys history-search-backward and history-search-forward
I would like to use readline in a C program, with history-search-backward and history-search-forward triggered by the up and down arrows. I tried things like
rl_parse_and_bind("\"\e[A\"...
5
votes
1
answer
334
views
Does zsh use canonical-mode for the terminal?
I have been exploring terminfo and stty.
If I run stty -a|grep icanon it appears that canonical mode is set, but if I try to turn it off with stty -icanon and check again, I see that it is still set.
...
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13
votes
2
answers
677
views
Is it possible to save `bc` command line history?
bash has a handy file .bash_history in which it saves the history of commands and on the next execution of bash the history is populated with saved commands.
Is it possible to save bc command history ...
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0
votes
1
answer
39
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How to assign control n to bind any readline function
Tried to assign control n to bind any readline function in bash but can't, e.g:
bind '"\C-n" : previous-history'
but still work as bind -x '"\C-n" : "echo foo"'
Why and ...
user430174
2
votes
3
answers
177
views
Run command and keep editing it in Bash
return runs command and clears the command line. Is it possible to skip the clear part? So the command is executed but command line and cursor position is preserved so you can keep editing it.
...
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1
vote
1
answer
68
views
How can I add a hot-key to readline for zsh or bash that takes fills in the 2nd parameter to copy but with .bak?
I'd like to make a hot-key for this task I sometimes need to perform:
%> cp file.txt.1 file.txt.1.bak
Where I've repeated the file name but with a .bak on the end. I'd like to instead just type:
%...
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3
votes
1
answer
30
views
How to execute ctrl+r query as-is instead of a match?
Sometimes when I reverse-search cmd in a shell I don't find a correct match and just want to execute search query as it is.
Is there a way in bash/zsh and friends to execute it without discarding ...
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7
votes
2
answers
165
views
Insert the last argument in bash in vi mode without inserting a leading space
Using bash in the default (emacs) mode I get the following behavior when I hit Esc, ..
$ echo hello
hello
$ hello # I hit `<ESC>.` to insert this
Note there is no space before the word hello ...
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2
votes
1
answer
340
views
Tmux behaves differently and C-a + C-a prints "^A" instead of jumping to beginning of line
I have the following entries in my ~/.tmux.conf
# remap prefix from 'C-b' to 'C-a'
unbind C-b
set-option -g prefix C-a
bind-key C-a send-prefix
which usually have been sufficient to use tmux with ...
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2
votes
1
answer
91
views
How can I supply a numeric argument to a Readline function e.g. `glob-expand-word`?
How can I supply an argument to a Readline function, e.g. glob-expand-word that is bound to C-x * by default?
In this case, I want to supply a numeric argument to make append an asterisk to the word ...
- 3,287
3
votes
1
answer
187
views
Bash expansion behavior
I was playing around with the readline functions shell-expand-line and alias-expand-line.
From the documentation:
shell-expand-line Expand the line as the shell does. This performs
alias and ...
- 131
0
votes
1
answer
97
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Customizing scrollback buffer navigation keys
I am using a VTE based terminal. By manually sending the following command in a bash session, I see the scrollback buffer moving up by one line, so I am pretty confident the escape sequence is right:
...
- 336
2
votes
1
answer
74
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Why does bash print the debug trap after edit-and-execute-command
I've found a behavior in bash (or is it readline?) that I cannot explain. After invoking the edit-and-execute-command Readline command, the debug trap's command is printed prior to execution. Is this ...
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0
answers
390
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How to display the current mode of `vi` command-line editing (`set editing-mode vi`) in bash < 4.3
This question is related to this other one but it is not a duplicate because I need a different solution for a different version of Bash.
I am a regular Vim user and I would like to change my command-...
- 415
2
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0
answers
110
views
On MacOS, what character does `Esc+` or `+Esc` correspond to in Bash, when using iTerm2 terminal?
I've read that mapping Left Option key to Esc+ should fix many of the issues users of Bash, on MacOS, have with GNU Readline key-bindings.
However, I've never encountered Esc+ or +Esc before, so does ...
- 3,287
0
votes
2
answers
142
views
How to insert an entire command from history into the current command in Bash?
How to insert an entire command from history into the current command in Bash?
I've done some research and identified two GNU Readline key-bindings that would insert the first and last words of the ...
- 3,287
3
votes
1
answer
540
views
bash: Is there a way to invoke bind commands (e.g. redraw-current-line) programmatically?
I've come across a number of explanations on how to map redraw-current-line to a keystroke using bind, but I would like to redraw the prompt for other reasons (e.g. timer, background job), without the ...
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