EDITLINE(7edit)

💖 editline(7edit) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the editline(7edit) manual, part 1! This is literally the line editing user interface. We're gonna go through it together, no cap. ✨

NAME 🌸

editline — line editing user interface

DESCRIPTION 🦋

When a program using the editline(3) library prompts for an input string using the function el_wgets(3), it reads characters from the terminal. Invalid input bytes that do not form characters are silently discarded. For each character read, one editor command is executed. The mapping of input characters to editor commands depends on the editing mode. There are three editing modes: vi insert mode, vi command mode, and emacs mode. The default is vi insert mode. The program can switch the default to emacs mode by using the el_set(3) or el_parse(3) functions, and the user can switch to emacs mode either in the editrc(5edit) configuration file or interactively with the ed-command editor command, in all three cases executing the bind -e builtin command.

If trying to read from the terminal results in end of file or an error, the library signals end of file to the program and does not return a string. 😭

Input character bindings ✨

All default bindings described below can be overridden by individual programs and can be changed with the editrc(5edit) bind builtin command.

In the following tables, 'Ctrl-' indicates a character with the bit 0x40 flipped, and 'Meta-' indicates a character with the bit 0x80 set. In vi insert mode and in emacs mode, all Meta-characters considered printable by the current locale(1) are bound to ed-insert instead of to the editor command listed below. Consequently, in UTF-8 mode, most of the Meta-characters are not directly accessible because their code points are occupied by printable Unicode characters, and Meta-characters are usually input using the em-meta-next editor command. For example, to enter 'Meta-B' in order to call the ed-prev-word editor command in emacs mode, call em-meta-next by pressing and releasing the escape key (or equivalently, Ctrl-[), then press and release the 'B' key. If you have configured a Meta-key on your keyboard, for example with setxkbmap -option altwin:left_meta_win, the Ctrl-Meta-characters are directly accessible. For example, to enter 'Ctrl-Meta-H' in order to call the ed-delete-prev-word editor command in emacs mode, hold down the keys 'Ctrl', 'Meta', and 'H' at the same time. Alternatively, press and release the escape key, then press and release Ctrl-H.

vi insert mode 💅

In vi input mode, input characters are bound to the following editor commands by default:

• Ctrl-D, EOF → vi-list-or-eof
• Ctrl-H, BS → vi-delete-prev-char
• Ctrl-J, LF → ed-newline
• Ctrl-M, CR → ed-newline
• Ctrl-Q → ed-tty-start-output
• Ctrl-S → ed-tty-stop-output
• Ctrl-U → vi-kill-line-prev
• Ctrl-V → ed-quoted-insert
• Ctrl-W → ed-delete-prev-word
• Ctrl-[, ESC → vi-command-mode
• Ctrl-\, QUIT → ed-tty-sigquit
• Ctrl-?, DEL → vi-delete-prev-char

All other input characters except the NUL character (Ctrl-@) are bound to ed-insert.

vi command mode 👑

In vi command mode, input characters are bound to the following editor commands by default:

• Ctrl-A → ed-move-to-beg
• Ctrl-C, INT → ed-tty-sigint
• Ctrl-E → ed-move-to-end
• Ctrl-H, BS → ed-delete-prev-char
• Ctrl-J, LF → ed-newline
• Ctrl-K → ed-kill-line
• Ctrl-L, FF → ed-clear-screen
• Ctrl-M, CR → ed-newline
• Ctrl-N → ed-next-history
• Ctrl-O → ed-tty-flush-output
• Ctrl-P → ed-prev-history
• Ctrl-Q → ed-tty-start-output
• Ctrl-R → ed-redisplay
• Ctrl-S → ed-tty-stop-output
• Ctrl-U → vi-kill-line-prev
• Ctrl-W → ed-delete-prev-word
• Ctrl-[, ESC → em-meta-next
• Ctrl-\, QUIT → ed-tty-sigquit
• Space → ed-next-char
• # → vi-comment-out
• $ → ed-move-to-end
• % → vi-match
• + → ed-next-history
• , → vi-repeat-prev-char
• - → ed-prev-history
• . → vi-redo
• / → vi-search-prev
• 0 → vi-zero
• 1 to 9 → ed-argument-digit
• : → ed-command
• ; → vi-repeat-next-char
• ? → vi-search-next
• @ → vi-alias
• A → vi-add-at-eol
• B → vi-prev-big-word
• C → vi-change-to-eol
• D → ed-kill-line
• E → vi-end-big-word
• F → vi-prev-char
• G → vi-to-history-line
• I → vi-insert-at-bol
• J → ed-search-next-history
• K → ed-search-prev-history
• N → vi-repeat-search-prev
• O → ed-sequence-lead-in
• P → vi-paste-prev
• R → vi-replace-mode
• S → vi-substitute-line
• T → vi-to-prev-char
• U → vi-undo-line
• W → vi-next-big-word
• X → ed-delete-prev-char
• Y → vi-yank-end
• [ → ed-sequence-lead-in
• ^ → ed-move-to-beg
• _ → vi-history-word
• a → vi-add
• b → vi-prev-word
• c → vi-change-meta
• d → vi-delete-meta
• e → vi-end-word
• f → vi-next-char
• h → ed-prev-char
• i → vi-insert
• j → ed-next-history
• k → ed-prev-history
• l → ed-next-char
• n → vi-repeat-search-next
• p → vi-paste-next
• r → vi-replace-char
• s → vi-substitute-char
• t → vi-to-next-char
• u → vi-undo
• v → vi-histedit
• w → vi-next-word
• x → ed-delete-next-char
• y → vi-yank
• | → vi-to-column
• ~ → vi-change-case
• Ctrl-?, DEL → ed-delete-prev-char
• Meta-O → ed-sequence-lead-in
• Meta-[ → ed-sequence-lead-in

emacs mode 🌈

In emacs mode, input characters are bound to the following editor commands by default:

• 0 to 9 → ed-digit
• Ctrl-@, NUL → em-set-mark
• Ctrl-A → ed-move-to-beg
• Ctrl-B → ed-prev-char
• Ctrl-C, INT → ed-tty-sigint
• Ctrl-D, EOF → em-delete-or-list
• Ctrl-E → ed-move-to-end
• Ctrl-F → ed-next-char
• Ctrl-H, BS → em-delete-prev-char
• Ctrl-J, LF → ed-newline
• Ctrl-K → ed-kill-line
• Ctrl-L, FF → ed-clear-screen
• Ctrl-M, CR → ed-newline
• Ctrl-N → ed-next-history
• Ctrl-O → ed-tty-flush-output
• Ctrl-P → ed-prev-history
• Ctrl-Q → ed-tty-start-output
• Ctrl-R → ed-redisplay
• Ctrl-S → ed-tty-stop-output
• Ctrl-T → ed-transpose-chars
• Ctrl-U → ed-kill-line
• Ctrl-V → ed-quoted-insert
• Ctrl-W → em-kill-region
• Ctrl-X → ed-sequence-lead-in
• Ctrl-Y → em-yank
• Ctrl-Z, TSTP → ed-tty-sigtstp
• Ctrl-[, ESC → em-meta-next
• Ctrl-\, QUIT → ed-tty-sigquit
• Ctrl-] → ed-tty-dsusp
• Ctrl-?, DEL → em-delete-prev-char
• Ctrl-Meta-H → ed-delete-prev-word
• Ctrl-Meta-L → ed-clear-screen
• Ctrl-Meta-_ → em-copy-prev-word
• Meta-0 to 9 → ed-argument-digit
• Meta-B → ed-prev-word
• Meta-C → em-capitol-case
• Meta-D → em-delete-next-word
• Meta-F → em-next-word
• Meta-L → em-lower-case
• Meta-N → ed-search-next-history
• Meta-O → ed-sequence-lead-in
• Meta-P → ed-search-prev-history
• Meta-U → em-upper-case
• Meta-W → em-copy-region
• Meta-X → ed-command
• Meta-[ → ed-sequence-lead-in
• Meta-b → ed-prev-word
• Meta-c → em-capitol-case
• Meta-d → em-delete-next-word
• Meta-f → em-next-word
• Meta-l → em-lower-case
• Meta-n → ed-search-next-history
• Meta-p → ed-search-prev-history
• Meta-u → em-upper-case
• Meta-w → em-copy-region
• Meta-x → ed-command
• Ctrl-Meta-? → ed-delete-prev-word

The remaining ascii(7) characters in the range 0x20 to 0x7e are bound to ed-insert.

If standard output is not connected to a terminal device or el_set(3) was used to set EL_EDITMODE to 0, all input character bindings are disabled and all characters typed are appended to the edit buffer. In that case, the edit buffer is returned to the program after a newline or carriage return character is typed, or after the first character typed if el_set(3) was used to set EL_UNBUFFERED to non-zero.

Editor commands 🎀

Most editor commands accept an optional argument. The argument is entered by prefixing the editor command with one or more of the editor commands ed-argument-digit, ed-digit, em-universal-argument, or vi-zero. When an argument is not provided, it defaults to 1. For most editor commands, the effect of an argument is to repeatedly execute the command that number of times.

When talking about a character string from a left character to a right character, the left character is included in the string, while the right character is not included.

If an editor command causes an error, the input character is discarded, no action occurs, and the terminal bell is rung. In case of a non-fatal error, the terminal bell is also rung, but the editor command takes effect anyway.

In the following list, the default key bindings are listed after each editor command.

• ed-argument-digit (vi command: 1 to 9; emacs: Meta-0 to Meta-9) — If in argument input mode, append the input digit to the argument being read. Otherwise, switch to argument input mode and use the input digit as the most significant digit of the argument. It is an error if the input character is not a digit or if the existing argument is already greater than a million.
• ed-clear-screen (vi command: Ctrl-L; emacs: Ctrl-L, Ctrl-Meta-L) — Clears the whole screen and shows your edit buffer at the top. Any argument? Ignored, bestie. 💅
• ed-command (vi command: ‘:’; emacs: Meta-X, Meta-x) — Reads a line from the terminal, totally bypassing the normal line editing, and runs that line as an editrc(5edit) builtin command. If you're in vi command mode, it also switches you back to vi insert mode. Any argument? Ignored. 🎀
• ed-delete-next-char (vi command: x) — Deletes the character under the cursor. Give it an argument and it deletes that many characters. In emacs mode, it's an error if the cursor is at the end of the edit buffer. In vi mode, if you're at the end, it deletes the last character in the edit buffer, and it's an error if the buffer is empty. 💀
• ed-delete-prev-char (vi command: X, Ctrl-H, BS, Ctrl-?, DEL) — Deletes the character to the left of the cursor. With an argument, deletes that many characters. It's an error if the cursor is at the beginning of the edit buffer. 😭
• ed-delete-prev-word (vi: Ctrl-W; emacs: Ctrl-Meta-H, Ctrl-Meta-?) — Moves left to the closest beginning of a word, deletes everything from there to the cursor, and saves it to the cut buffer. With an argument, deletes that many words. It's an error if the cursor is at the beginning of the edit buffer. 🦋
• ed-digit (emacs: 0 to 9) — If you're in argument input mode, it appends the digit you typed to the argument being read. Otherwise, it calls ed-insert. It's an error if the input character isn't a digit or if the existing argument is already greater than a million. 🔥
• ed-end-of-file (not bound by default) — Discards the edit buffer and tells the program it's end of file. Any argument? Ignored. 🌈
• ed-ignore (various) — Throws away the input character and does absolutely nothing. The void. 💀
• ed-insert (vi input: almost all; emacs: printable characters) — In insert mode, inserts the input character to the left of the cursor. In replace mode, it overwrites the character at the cursor and moves the cursor right by one. Accepts an argument to do this repeatedly. It's an error if the input character is the NUL character (Ctrl-@). Also, if it fails to enlarge the edit buffer, that's an error too. 🫶
• ed-kill-line (vi command: D, Ctrl-K; emacs: Ctrl-K, Ctrl-U) — Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line and saves it to the cut buffer. Any argument? Ignored. ✨
• ed-move-to-beg (vi command: ^, Ctrl-A; emacs: Ctrl-A) — In vi mode, moves the cursor to the first non-space character in the edit buffer. In emacs mode, moves it to the very beginning of the edit buffer. Any argument? Ignored. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. 👑
• ed-move-to-end (vi command: $, Ctrl-E; emacs: Ctrl-E) — Moves the cursor to the end of the edit buffer. Any argument? Ignored. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. 🌸
• ed-newline (all modes: Ctrl-J, LF, Ctrl-M, CR) — Appends a newline character to the edit buffer and returns the edit buffer to the program. Any argument? Ignored. 💖
• ed-next-char (vi command: Space, l; emacs: Ctrl-F) — Moves the cursor one character position to the right. With an argument, moves by that many characters. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It's an error if the cursor is already at the end of the edit buffer. 🦋
• ed-next-history (vi command: j, +, Ctrl-N; emacs: Ctrl-N) — Replaces the edit buffer with the next history line. That line is older than the current one. With an argument, goes forward by that many history lines. It's a non-fatal error to advance by more lines than are available. 💅
• ed-next-line (not bound by default) — Moves the cursor down one line. With an argument, moves down by that many lines. It's an error if the edit buffer doesn't have enough newline characters to the right of the cursor position. 😭
• ed-prev-char (vi command: h; emacs: Ctrl-B) — Moves the cursor one character position to the left. With an argument, moves by that many characters. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It's an error if the cursor is already at the beginning of the edit buffer. 🎀
• ed-prev-history (vi command: k, -, Ctrl-P; emacs: Ctrl-P) — Replaces the edit buffer with the previous history line. That line is newer than the current one. With an argument, goes back by that many lines. It's a non-fatal error to back up by more lines than are available. ✨
• ed-prev-line (not bound by default) — Moves the cursor up one line. With an argument, moves up by that many lines. It's an error if the edit buffer doesn't have enough newline characters to the left of the cursor position. 💀
• ed-prev-word (emacs: Meta-B, Meta-b) — Moves the cursor left to the closest beginning of a word. With an argument, repeats that many times. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It's an error if the cursor is already at the beginning of the edit buffer. 🌈
• ed-quoted-insert (vi insert, emacs: Ctrl-V) — Reads one character from the terminal, bypassing normal line editing, and calls ed-insert on it. If trying to read the character returns end of file or an error, it calls ed-end-of-file instead. 🔥
• ed-redisplay (vi command, emacs: Ctrl-R) — Redisplays everything. Any argument? Ignored. 👑
• ed-search-next-history (vi command: J; emacs: Meta-N, Meta-n) — Replaces the edit buffer with the next matching history entry. 🦋
• ed-search-prev-history (vi command: K; emacs: Meta-P, Meta-p) — Replaces the edit buffer with the previous matching history entry. 🌸
• ed-sequence-lead-in (vi cmd: O, [; emacs: Ctrl-X; both: Meta-O, Meta-[) — Calls a macro. Check out the section about “Macros” below for the tea. 💅
• ed-start-over (not bound by default) — Discards the contents of the edit buffer and starts from scratch. Any argument? Ignored. ✨
• ed-transpose-chars (emacs: Ctrl-T) — Swaps the character at the cursor with the one to its left, then moves the cursor to the character to the right of the two exchanged characters. Any argument? Ignored. It's an error if the cursor is at the beginning of the edit buffer or if the edit buffer has less than two characters. 😭
• ed-unassigned (all characters not listed) — This editor command always results in an error. 💀
• em-capitol-case (emacs: Meta-C, Meta-c) — Capitalizes the string from the cursor to the end of the current word. That means: if it has at least one alphabetic character, it converts the first alphabetic character to upper case, and all characters to the right of it to lower case. Either way, it moves the cursor to the next character after the end of the current word. 🎀
• em-copy-prev-word (emacs: Ctrl-Meta-_) — Copies the string from the beginning of the current word to the cursor and inserts it to the left of the cursor. Moves the cursor to the character after the inserted string. It's an error if the cursor is at the beginning of the edit buffer. 🌈
• em-copy-region (emacs: Meta-W, Meta-w) — Copies the string from the cursor to the mark into the cut buffer. It's an error if the mark isn't set. 💖
• em-delete-next-word (emacs: Meta-D, Meta-d) — Deletes the string from the cursor to the end of the current word and saves it to the cut buffer. It's an error if the cursor is at the end of the edit buffer. 🔥
• em-delete-or-list (emacs: Ctrl-D, EOF) — If the cursor isn't at the end of the line, deletes the character at the cursor. If the edit buffer is empty, it indicates end of file to the program. It's an error if the cursor is at the end of the edit buffer and the edit buffer isn't empty. 😭
• em-delete-prev-char (emacs: Ctrl-H, BS, Ctrl-?, DEL) — Deletes the character to the left of the cursor. It's an error if the cursor is at the beginning of the edit buffer. 🦋
• em-exchange-mark (not bound by default) — Exchanges the cursor and the mark. 💅
• em-gosmacs-transpose (not bound by default) — Exchanges the two characters to the left of the cursor. It's an error if the cursor is on the first or second character of the edit buffer. ✨
• em-inc-search-next (not bound by default) — Emacs incremental next search. 👑
• em-inc-search-prev (not bound by default) — Emacs incremental reverse search. 🌸
• em-kill-line (not bound by default) — Deletes the entire contents of the edit buffer and saves it to the cut buffer. 💀
• em-kill-region (emacs: Ctrl-W) — Deletes the string from the cursor to the mark and saves it to the cut buffer. It's an error if the mark isn't set. 🌈
• em-lower-case (emacs: Meta-L, Meta-l) — Converts the characters from the cursor to the end of the current word to lower case. 💖
• em-meta-next (vi command, emacs: Ctrl-[, ESC) — Sets bit 0x80 on the next character typed. Unless the resulting code point is printable, holding down the ‘Meta-’ key while typing that character is a simpler way to get the same effect. 🔥
• em-next-word (Meta-F, Meta-f) — Moves the cursor to the end of the current word. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It's an error if the cursor is already at the end of the edit buffer. 🦋
• em-set-mark (emacs: Ctrl-Q, NUL) — Sets the mark at the current cursor position. 🎀
• em-toggle-overwrite (insert) — Switches from insert mode to overwrite mode or vice versa. 💅
• em-universal-argument (not bound by default) — If in argument input mode, multiplies the argument by 4. Otherwise, switches to argument input mode and sets the argument to 4. It's an error if the existing argument is already greater than a million. ✨
• em-upper-case (emacs: Meta-U, Meta-u) — Converts the characters from the cursor to the end of the current word to upper case. 👑
• em-yank (emacs: Ctrl-Y) — Pastes the cut buffer to the left of the cursor. 🌸
• vi-add (vi command: a) — Switches to vi insert mode. Unless the cursor is already at the end of the edit buffer, it moves one character position to the right. 💖
• vi-add-at-eol (vi command: A) — Switch to vi insert mode and move the cursor to the end of the edit buffer. Append at the end, periodt. 💖
• vi-alias (vi command: @) — If an alias function was defined by calling the el_set(3) or el_wset(3) function with the argument EL_ALIAS_TEXT, read one character from the terminal bypassing the normal line editing functionality, call the alias function passing the argument that was specified with EL_ALIAS_TEXT as the first argument and the character read, with an underscore prepended, as the second argument, and pass the string returned from the alias function to el_wpush(3). It is an error if no alias function is defined or if trying to read the character results in end of file or an error. This one is lowkey advanced, bestie — iykyk. 🦋
• vi-change-case (vi command: ~) — Change the case of the character at the cursor and move the cursor one character position to the right. It is an error if the cursor is already at the end of the edit buffer. Tilde got that flip energy. ✨
• vi-change-meta (vi command: c) — Delete the string from the cursor to the position specified by the following movement command and save a copy of it to the cut buffer. When given twice in a row, instead delete the whole contents of the edit buffer and save a copy of it to the cut buffer. In either case, switch to vi insert mode after that. So iconic. 💅
• vi-change-to-eol (vi command: C) — Delete the string from the cursor position to the end of the line and save it to the cut buffer, then switch to vi insert mode. Boom, line cleanup. 🧚
• vi-command-mode (vi insert: Ctrl-[, ESC) — Discard pending actions and arguments and switch to vi command mode. Unless the cursor is already at the beginning of the edit buffer, move it to the left by one character position. Escape from insert mode, iconic. 🔥
• vi-comment-out (vi command: #) — Insert a # character at the beginning of the edit buffer and return the edit buffer to the program. Comment out and yeet it back. 💀
• vi-delete-meta (vi command: d) — Delete the string from the cursor to the position specified by the following movement command and save a copy of it to the cut buffer. When given twice in a row, instead delete the whole contents of the edit buffer and save a copy of it to the cut buffer. The delete queen. 👑
• vi-delete-prev-char (vi insert: Ctrl-H, BS, Ctrl-?, DEL) — Delete the character to the left of the cursor. It is an error if the cursor is already at the beginning of the edit buffer. Backspace bestie. 🙈
• vi-end-big-word (vi command: E) — Move the cursor to the end of the current space delimited word. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It is an error if the cursor is already at the end of the edit buffer. Big word energy. 🌈
• vi-end-word (vi command: e) — Move the cursor to the end of the current word. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It is an error if the cursor is already at the end of the edit buffer. Smol word, same vibe. 🎀
• vi-history-word (vi command: _) — Insert the first word from the most recent history entry after the cursor, move the cursor after to the character after the inserted word, and switch to vi insert mode. It is an error if there is no history entry or the most recent history entry is empty. History word? Obsessed. 💜
• vi-histedit (vi command: v) — Edit the buffer with the editor and return the edit buffer to the program. The editor specified by the EDITOR environment variable will be invoked instead of the default editor vi(1). Main character editor moment. 👑
• vi-insert (vi command: i) — Enter insert mode. Simple. Iconic. Periodt. 💅
• vi-insert-at-bol (vi command: I) — Move the cursor to the beginning of the edit buffer and switch to vi insert mode. Bol = beginning of line, bestie. 🦋
• vi-kill-line-prev (vi: Ctrl-U) — Delete the string from the beginning of the edit buffer to the cursor and save it to the cut buffer. Kill line, but make it prev. 💀
• vi-list-or-eof (vi insert: Ctrl-D, EOF) — If the edit buffer is empty, indicate end of file to the program. It is an error if the edit buffer is not empty. EOF vibes. 🌸
• vi-match (vi command: %) — Consider opening and closing parentheses, braces, and brackets as delimiters. If the cursor is not at a delimiter, move it to the right until it gets to one, then move it to the matching delimiter. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It is an error if there is no delimiter at the cursor or in the string to the right of the cursor, or if the first such delimiter has no matching delimiter. Matchy matchy. ✨
• vi-next-big-word (vi command: W) — Move the cursor to the right to the beginning of the next space delimited word. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It is an error if the cursor is already at the end of the edit buffer or on its last character. Next big word, go off. 🔥
• vi-next-char (vi command: f) — Read one character from the terminal bypassing the normal line editing functionality and move the cursor to the right to the next instance of that character in the edit buffer. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. If trying to read the character results in end of file or an error, call ed-end-of-file instead. It is an error if the character is not found searching to the right in the edit buffer. Find char, slay. 💅
• vi-next-word (vi command: w) — Move the cursor to the right to the beginning of the next word. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It is an error if the cursor is already at the end of the edit buffer or on its last character. Word hop. 🐇
• vi-paste-next (vi command: p) — Insert a copy of the cut buffer to the right of the cursor. It is an error if the cut buffer is empty. Paste next, periodt. 💖
• vi-paste-prev (vi command: P) — Insert a copy of the cut buffer to the left of the cursor. It is an error if the cut buffer is empty. Paste prev, same but left. 🦋
• vi-prev-big-word (vi command: B) — Move the cursor to the left to the next beginning of a space delimited word. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It is an error if the cursor is already at the beginning of the edit buffer. Back it up, big word style. 🌈
• vi-prev-char (vi command: F) — Read one character from the terminal bypassing the normal line editing functionality and move the cursor to the left to the next instance of that character in the edit buffer. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. If trying to read the character results in end of file or an error, call ed-end-of-file instead. It is an error if the character is not found searching to the left in the edit buffer. Find backwards, iconic. ✨
• vi-prev-word (vi command: b) — Move the cursor to the left to the next beginning of a word. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. It is an error if the cursor is already at the beginning of the edit buffer. Word hop but backwards. 🐇
• vi-redo (vi command: .) — Redo the last non-motion command. Do it again, bestie. 🔁
• vi-repeat-next-char (vi command: ;) — Repeat the most recent character search in the same search direction. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. Same direction, same vibes. 💫
• vi-repeat-prev-char (vi command: ,) — Repeat the most recent character search in the opposite search direction. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. Opposite direction, plot twist. 🔄
• vi-repeat-search-next (vi command: n) — Repeat the most recent history search in the same search direction. History search again, no cap. 🔍
• vi-repeat-search-prev (vi command: N) — Repeat the most recent history search in the opposite search direction. History search but backwards. 🔙
• vi-replace-char (vi command: r) — Switch to vi replace mode, and automatically switch back to vi command mode after the next character typed. See ed-insert for a description of replace mode. It is an error if the cursor is at the end of the edit buffer. One-char replace, so cute. 🎀
• vi-replace-mode (vi command: R) — Switch to vi replace mode. This is a variant of vi insert mode; see ed-insert for the difference. Replace mode activated. 💅
• vi-search-next (vi command: ?) — Replace the edit buffer with the next matching history entry. Search next, slay. 🔎
• vi-search-prev (vi command: /) — Replace the edit buffer with the previous matching history entry. Search prev, same energy. 🔍
• vi-substitute-char (vi command: s) — Delete the character at the cursor and switch to vi insert mode. Substitute char, boom. 💥
• vi-substitute-line (vi command: S) — Delete the entire contents of the edit buffer, save a copy of it in the cut buffer, and enter vi insert mode. Whole line substitute, iconic. 👑
• vi-to-column (vi command: |) — Move the cursor to the column specified as the argument. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. To column, precise. 📍
• vi-to-history-line (vi command: G) — Replace the edit buffer with the specified history entry. Go to history line, periodt. 📜
• vi-to-next-char (vi command: t) — Read one character from the terminal bypassing the normal line editing functionality and move the cursor to the right to the character before the next instance of that character in the edit buffer. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. If trying to read the character results in end of file or an error, call ed-end-of-file instead. It is an error if the character is not found searching to the right in the edit buffer. To next char, not on it, before it. 💫
• vi-to-prev-char (vi command: T) — Read one character from the terminal bypassing the normal line editing functionality and move the cursor to the left to the character after the next instance of that character in the edit buffer. Can be used as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. If trying to read the character results in end of file or an error, call ed-end-of-file instead. It is an error if the character is not found searching to the left in the edit buffer. To prev char, backwards but after it. 🔄
• vi-undo (vi command: u) — Undo the last change. Undo, bestie. ↩️
• vi-undo-line (vi command: U) — Undo all changes to the edit buffer. Undo everything, no cap. ↩️
• vi-yank (vi command: y) — Copy the string from the cursor to the position specified by the following movement command to the cut buffer. When given twice in a row, instead copy the whole contents of the edit buffer to the cut buffer. Yank = copy, periodt. 💖
• vi-yank-end (vi command: Y) — Copy the string from the cursor to the end of the edit buffer to the cut buffer. Yank to end, slay. ✨

🌸 vi-zero (vi command: 0) 🌸

• If you're in argument input mode, it multiplies the argument by ten. Ten!! That's the whole job 💅
• Otherwise, it moves the cursor to the beginning of the edit buffer, which is giving "rewind me to the start bestie" energy 🎀
• You can also use it as a movement command after vi_change_meta, vi_delete_meta, or vi_yank. Versatile queen 👑

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🧚 Macros 🧚

So here's the tea: if an input character is bound to the editor command ed-sequence-lead-in, editline tries to call a macro. If that input character by itself forms the name of a macro, then that macro just runs. Periodt.

Otherwise, it keeps reading more input characters until either:

1. the string it's read forms the name of a macro — in which case that macro is executed, or
2. the string read matches the beginning of none of the existing macro names — in which case the string including the final, mismatching character is discarded and the terminal bell gets rung 😭

Not the bell. Anything but the bell. 🙈

There are two kinds of macros, and yes they have different vibes:

• Command macros — execute a single editor command.
• Keyboard macros — return a string of characters that gets appended as a new line to the “Input Queue”.

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✨ The default command macros ✨

These are defined by default in vi command mode and in emacs mode:

• Esc [ A, Esc O A — ed-prev-history
• Esc [ B, Esc O B — ed-next-history
• Esc [ C, Esc O C — ed-next-char
• Esc [ D, Esc O D — ed-prev-char
• Esc [ F, Esc O F — ed-move-to-end
• Esc [ H, Esc O H — ed-move-to-beg

In vi command mode, these are also defined by default without the initial escape character. Iconic behaviour honestly 🫶

On top of that, the editline library tries to bind the strings generated by the arrow keys (as reported by the terminfo(5) database) to these editor commands — unless that would clobber user settings, because respecting people's config is the bare minimum, no cap.

And in emacs mode, the two-character string “Ctrl-X Ctrl-X” is bound to the em-exchange-mark editor command. Cute.

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🌈 Input Queue 🌈

The editline library keeps an input queue, and it runs in FIFO mode. Whenever it needs an input character, it takes the first character from the first line of the input queue. When the queue is empty, it reads from the terminal instead. Simple as that 💖

A line can be appended to the end of the input queue in several ways:

• By calling one of the keyboard “Macros”.
• By calling the editor command vi-redo.
• By calling the editor command vi-alias.
• By pressing a key in emacs incremental search mode that doesn't have a special meaning in that mode but returns to normal emacs mode.
• If an application program directly calls the functions el_push(3) or el_wpush(3), it can provide additional, program-specific ways of appending to the input queue. Main character energy from the app, honestly ✨

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📚 SEE ALSO 📚

• mg(1)
• vi(1)
• editline(3edit)
• el_wgets(3)
• el_wpush(3)
• el_wset(3)
• editrc(5edit)

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🕰️ HISTORY 🕰️

This manual page first appeared in OpenBSD 6.0 and NetBSD 8. A true elder of the game 👑

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💜 AUTHORS 💜

This manual page was written by Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org>. Thank you for your service, king 🫡

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Okay bestie that's the whole page, we made it to the end 🎉 This one's from the Debian crew, dated January 31, 2026, and it lives at EDITLINE(7edit). Go forth and press your arrow keys, you gorgeous little terminal wizard 🦋✨