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When in terminal I can use Ctrl+w to delete a whole word or IP (. is separator for each octet) when going leftward of prompt. However, if I try Alt+d to go rightward of prompt, terminal recognizes "." in IP for a separator and deletes only one chunk, until the . out of the whole IP.

How can I adjust that so terminal recognizes only blank spaces for separator of word or even better to have another shortcut for different separators: ., =, ,, etc?

It is very similar with maneuvering in terminal with Ctrl+Arrows (left and right) and behavior is similar based on what is set for word separator.

I read that Emacs editor sits behind what terminal uses to have those shortcuts but I could not get to twink it.

I'm trying to accomplish this in Ubuntu 10.

Here:https://askubuntu.com/questions/577433/deleting-input-forward-to-the-next-space is what I was suggested in the other forum for Ubuntu 14.

I tried this:

"So, now, if you want to combine those two keystrokes (Alt+w followed by Ctrl+w) in a new one, you will need to bind a new keystroke (in my example Alt+q) to execute the previous keystrokes as follow:

bind '"\eq": "\ew \C-w"'

Finally, to make these changes permanently, all you have to do is to add the following lines to your ~/.inputrc file (if you don't have it, then create it):

"\ew": vi-forward-bigword
"\eq": "\ew \C-w"

but I get this as result:

When added that, Alt+w still does not work, and Ctrl + ← and → error does not work any more. Terminal outputs ;5D and ;5C when those are used to move from word to word...

What is the difference between the two versions?

Rui F Ribeiro
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Lacho
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  • This is the behaviour of `readline` library that is used by `bash` to handle user input, history and so on. Read this: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/78990/what-are-the-readline-word-separators – orion Feb 04 '15 at 10:42
  • Instead of tuning inputrc, you may love the following approach: make sure EDITOR variable is defined in your shell then you can use `Ctrl-X Ctrl-E` to bring your current command line into editor where you can use all its power to modify the line. In case of vim, deleting till the end of WORD, that is tlll the the first space on the right can be done with `dW`. Modified line will be executed in your shell right after you close the editor. – Tagwint Feb 04 '15 at 10:43
  • Just put your `bind` command in your `.bashrc` and it will be set every time you open an interactive shell. That should help in case `.inputrc` has some problems. – orion Feb 04 '15 at 10:46
  • [This](http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/150578/confusing-behavior-of-emacs-style-keybindings-in-bash/150591#150591) may help you. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Feb 04 '15 at 22:09
  • @Gilles, I will try your function... Any idea why what I have tried does not work? – Lacho Feb 04 '15 at 22:55
  • @Gilles, I tried your suggestion and I could not used a bunch of keys on my keyboard :) There should be something else. – Lacho Feb 05 '15 at 05:07
  • @Lacho It works for me (in a slightly more recent version of bash). I have no idea what you tried and what doesn't work (what exact code did you use? what keys did you tried and what happened when you pressed them?) so I can't help you. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Feb 05 '15 at 05:25

3 Answers3

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If you're an Emacs user, my answer probably isn't something you'll want to use, but it should still be noted on this page so here it is:

You can use vi keybindings in a bash shell very easily. Type set -o vi. Add it to your .bashrc if you like the results.

The answer to your specific question, delete forward to the next space, is accomplished with dt<Space> (delete till space) or just dE (delete to end of space-delimited Word).

Standard vi keybindings are used—the main thing to get used to (if you're a vi user already) is that you'll be in insert mode by default. So to use a Normal-mode command such as the above, type <Esc> first. Alternatively, you can hold down the Alt key while typing the first letter of your command. For instance, k is the vi command to go up one line, so <Alt>k can be used just like the up arrow—to go back one command in your history.

Wildcard
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2

This can also be accomplished using find space, move forward, delete word.

"\eq": "\C-]\ \C-f\C-w"

cdosborn
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  • When cursor is on the last word of the line, there is no space behind that word. Is there a change to fix it like "find space, but if there is no space then go to end of line"? – KamilCuk Feb 18 '21 at 11:35
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If .inputrc exists, /etc/inputrc is not read anymore so you lose all the settings that you currently use (.inputrc overrides the global one). Copy the global one and just add your modification to it. Then it should work like it did before, with the addition of your new binding. Either that, or just put the bind command in your .bashrc and it'll be run every time you open an interactive shell -- basically the same effect as you have now.

If anyone knows how to "source/include" another configuration file in .inputrc, I'd very much like to hear it.

orion
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  • That would be `$include`, see [readline](http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/readline.3.html)'s "Conditional Constructs" – mr.spuratic Feb 04 '15 at 11:44
  • @orion I deleted '.inputrc' and I don't get those weird characters any more but the command does not work. Do you know how to make bind '"\eq": "\ew \C-w"' in this version of Ubuntu and why is it different then v. 14 where it works? – Lacho Feb 04 '15 at 12:26
  • I don't know what's different in what ubuntu versions, but if you copy `/etc/inputrc` to `.inputrc` and edit it to add your binding, it should work. The problem was that by overriding `/etc/inputrc`, the settings that you need to make the arrows work were no longer loaded. Open `/etc/inputrc` to see what I mean. – orion Feb 04 '15 at 12:45
  • Hi, I have this text in .inputrc: `# mappings for Ctrl-left-arrow and Ctrl-right-arrow for word moving "\e[1;5C": forward-word "\e[1;5D": backward-word "\e[5C": forward-word "\e[5D": backward-word "\e\e[C": forward-word "\e\e[D": backward-word **"\ew": vi-forward-bigword "\eq": "\ew \C-w"** $if term=rxvt "\e[8~": end-of-line "\eOc": forward-word "\eOd": backward-word $endif` I added those in bold. it seems different syntactic.. – Lacho Feb 04 '15 at 12:59
  • Does this work now? It should. The formatting in a comment is a bit strange, but it looks ok. – orion Feb 04 '15 at 13:11
  • It does not work... – Lacho Feb 04 '15 at 14:20
  • Did you try logging in again? – orion Feb 04 '15 at 14:25
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/20838/discussion-between-lacho-and-orion). – Lacho Feb 04 '15 at 14:26
  • I am not on my computer right now, but It would not work the way it is set up in the .inputrc file... – Lacho Feb 04 '15 at 15:42