FISH_KEY_READER(1)

💅 FISH_KEY_READER(1) — the fish-shell manual, bestie edition 🐟

okay so picture this: you're in the fish-shell docs, you click on fish_key_reader, and you're like "what even is this." Bestie. Sit down. This little icon is gonna change your whole keybinding life. ✨

🦋 NAME

fish_key_reader — literally just here to explore what characters your keyboard keys send 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS

fish_key_reader [OPTIONS]

💖 DESCRIPTION

fish_key_reader is the tool that explains how you would bind a certain key sequence. Like, it tells you the tea about which bytes your keyboard is actually throwing at the terminal when you mash a key. 🫶

By default, it prints the bind <> command for one key sequence, read interactively over standard input. One key sequence, one command, done. Periodt.

The following options are available:

• -c, --continuous — begins a session where multiple key sequences can be inspected. By default the program exits after capturing a single key sequence, so this is the main-character-mode version where it just keeps going. 👑
• -h, --help — displays help about using this command. Classic.
• -V, --verbose — explains what sequence was received in addition to the decoded key. So you get the receipts, not just the verdict. 🔍
• -v, --version — displays the current fish version and then exits. Quick vibe check on what you're running.

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⚠️ USAGE NOTES

okay this part is important so listen up 👀

fish_key_reader intentionally disables handling of many signals. That's not a bug, that's on purpose — it needs the raw key data, so it can't be out here responding to every signal that comes its way.

Which means: to terminate fish_key_reader when you're in --continuous mode, you do one of these:

• press Ctrl+C twice, or
• press Ctrl+D twice, or
• type exit, or
• type quit

🫠 yes, twice. once is not gonna cut it, bestie. it's giving "the key reader is not like other programs."

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⭐ EXAMPLE

> fish_key_reader
Press a key:
# press up-arrow
bind up 'do something'

see how it just... hands you the bind command?? no cap, that's the whole magic trick. press up-arrow, get bind up 'do something', copy-paste it into your config, slay. 💅

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🎀 COPYRIGHT

Copyright: fish-shell developers 🌈

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okay that's the whole page, bestie — you're now officially a fish_key_reader understander 🧚💜

this has been version 4.9, dated Sep 08, 2026 — go forth and bind responsibly 🦋✨