ZSHZLE(1) General Commands Manual ZSHZLE(1)
NAME
zshzle - zsh command line editor
DESCRIPTION
If the ZLE option is set (which it is by default in interactive shells)
and the shell input is attached to the terminal, the user is able to
edit command lines.
There are two display modes. The first, multiline mode, is the default.
It only works if the TERM parameter is set to a valid terminal type that
can move the cursor up. The second, single line mode, is used if TERM
is invalid or incapable of moving the cursor up, or if the SIN-
GLE_LINE_ZLE option is set. This mode is similar to ksh, and uses no
termcap sequences. If TERM is "emacs", the ZLE option will be unset by
default.
The parameters BAUD, COLUMNS, and LINES are also used by the line edi-
tor. See Parameters Used By The Shell in zshparam(1).
The parameter zle_highlight is also used by the line editor; see Charac-
ter Highlighting below. Highlighting of special characters and the re-
gion between the cursor and the mark (as set with set-mark-command in
Emacs mode, or by visual-mode in Vi mode) is enabled by default; consult
this reference for more information. Irascible conservatives will wish
to know that all highlighting may be disabled by the following setting:
zle_highlight=(none)
In many places, references are made to the numeric argument. This can
by default be entered in emacs mode by holding the alt key and typing a
number, or pressing escape before each digit, and in vi command mode by
typing the number before entering a command. Generally the numeric ar-
gument causes the next command entered to be repeated the specified num-
ber of times, unless otherwise noted below; this is implemented by the
digit-argument widget. See also the Arguments subsection of the Widgets
section for some other ways the numeric argument can be modified.
KEYMAPS
A keymap in ZLE contains a set of bindings between key sequences and ZLE
commands. The empty key sequence cannot be bound.
There can be any number of keymaps at any time, and each keymap has one
or more names. If all of a keymap's names are deleted, it disappears.
bindkey can be used to manipulate keymap names.
Initially, there are eight keymaps:
emacs EMACS emulation
viins vi emulation - insert mode
vicmd vi emulation - command mode
viopp vi emulation - operator pending
visual vi emulation - selection active
isearch
incremental search mode
command
read a command name
.safe fallback keymap
The `.safe' keymap is special. It can never be altered, and the name
can never be removed. However, it can be linked to other names, which
can be removed. In the future other special keymaps may be added; users
should avoid using names beginning with `.' for their own keymaps.
In addition to these names, either `emacs' or `viins' is also linked to
the name `main'. If one of the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables
contain the string `vi' when the shell starts up then it will be `vi-
ins', otherwise it will be `emacs'. bindkey's -e and -v options provide
a convenient way to override this default choice.
When the editor starts up, it will select the `main' keymap. If that
keymap doesn't exist, it will use `.safe' instead.
In the `.safe' keymap, each single key is bound to self-insert, except
for ^J (line feed) and ^M (return) which are bound to accept-line. This
is deliberately not pleasant to use; if you are using it, it means you
deleted the main keymap, and you should put it back.
Reading Commands
When ZLE is reading a command from the terminal, it may read a sequence
that is bound to some command and is also a prefix of a longer bound
string. In this case ZLE will wait a certain time to see if more char-
acters are typed, and if not (or they don't match any longer string) it
will execute the binding. This timeout is defined by the KEYTIMEOUT pa-
rameter; its default is 0.4 sec. There is no timeout if the prefix
string is not itself bound to a command.
The key timeout is also applied when ZLE is reading the bytes from a
multibyte character string when it is in the appropriate mode. (This
requires that the shell was compiled with multibyte mode enabled; typi-
cally also the locale has characters with the UTF-8 encoding, although
any multibyte encoding known to the operating system is supported.) If
the second or a subsequent byte is not read within the timeout period,
the shell acts as if ? were typed and resets the input state.
As well as ZLE commands, key sequences can be bound to other strings, by
using `bindkey -s'. When such a sequence is read, the replacement
string is pushed back as input, and the command reading process starts
again using these fake keystrokes. This input can itself invoke further
replacement strings, but in order to detect loops the process will be
stopped if there are twenty such replacements without a real command be-
ing read.
A key sequence typed by the user can be turned into a command name for
use in user-defined widgets with the read-command widget, described in
the subsection `Miscellaneous' of the section `Standard Widgets' below.
Local Keymaps
While for normal editing a single keymap is used exclusively, in many
modes a local keymap allows for some keys to be customised. For example,
in an incremental search mode, a binding in the isearch keymap will
override a binding in the main keymap but all keys that are not overrid-
den can still be used.
If a key sequence is defined in a local keymap, it will hide a key se-
quence in the global keymap that is a prefix of that sequence. An exam-
ple of this occurs with the binding of iw in viopp as this hides the
binding of i in vicmd. However, a longer sequence in the global keymap
that shares the same prefix can still apply so for example the binding
of ^Xa in the global keymap will be unaffected by the binding of ^Xb in
the local keymap.
ZLE BUILTINS
The ZLE module contains three related builtin commands. The bindkey com-
mand manipulates keymaps and key bindings; the vared command invokes ZLE
on the value of a shell parameter; and the zle command manipulates edit-
ing widgets and allows command line access to ZLE commands from within
shell functions.
bindkey [ options ] -l [ -L ] [ keymap ... ]
bindkey [ options ] -d
bindkey [ options ] -D keymap ...
bindkey [ options ] -A old-keymap new-keymap
bindkey [ options ] -N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
bindkey [ options ] -m
bindkey [ options ] -r in-string ...
bindkey [ options ] -s in-string out-string ...
bindkey [ options ] in-string command ...
bindkey [ options ] [ in-string ]
bindkey's options can be divided into three categories: keymap
selection for the current command, operation selection, and oth-
ers. The keymap selection options are:
-e Selects keymap `emacs' for any operations by the current
command, and also links `emacs' to `main' so that it is
selected by default the next time the editor starts.
-v Selects keymap `viins' for any operations by the current
command, and also links `viins' to `main' so that it is
selected by default the next time the editor starts.
-a Selects keymap `vicmd' for any operations by the current
command.
-M keymap
The keymap specifies a keymap name that is selected for
any operations by the current command.
If a keymap selection is required and none of the options above
are used, the `main' keymap is used. Some operations do not per-
mit a keymap to be selected, namely:
-l List all existing keymap names; if any arguments are
given, list just those keymaps.
If the -L option is also used, list in the form of bindkey
commands to create or link the keymaps. `bindkey -lL
main' shows which keymap is linked to `main', if any, and
hence if the standard emacs or vi emulation is in effect.
This option does not show the .safe keymap because it can-
not be created in that fashion; however, neither is `bind-
key -lL .safe' reported as an error, it simply outputs
nothing.
-d Delete all existing keymaps and reset to the default
state.
-D keymap ...
Delete the named keymaps.
-A old-keymap new-keymap
Make the new-keymap name an alias for old-keymap, so that
both names refer to the same keymap. The names have equal
standing; if either is deleted, the other remains. If
there is already a keymap with the new-keymap name, it is
deleted.
-N new-keymap [ old-keymap ]
Create a new keymap, named new-keymap. If a keymap al-
ready has that name, it is deleted. If an old-keymap name
is given, the new keymap is initialized to be a duplicate
of it, otherwise the new keymap will be empty.
To use a newly created keymap, it should be linked to main.
Hence the sequence of commands to create and use a new keymap
`mymap' initialized from the emacs keymap (which remains un-
changed) is:
bindkey -N mymap emacs
bindkey -A mymap main
Note that while `bindkey -A newmap main' will work when newmap is
emacs or viins, it will not work for vicmd, as switching from vi
insert to command mode becomes impossible.
The following operations act on the `main' keymap if no keymap
selection option was given:
-m Add the built-in set of meta-key bindings to the selected
keymap. Only keys that are unbound or bound to self-in-
sert are affected.
-r in-string ...
Unbind the specified in-strings in the selected keymap.
This is exactly equivalent to binding the strings to unde-
fined-key.
When -R is also used, interpret the in-strings as ranges.
When -p is also used, the in-strings specify prefixes.
Any binding that has the given in-string as a prefix, not
including the binding for the in-string itself, if any,
will be removed. For example,
bindkey -rpM viins '^['
will remove all bindings in the vi-insert keymap beginning
with an escape character (probably cursor keys), but leave
the binding for the escape character itself (probably
vi-cmd-mode). This is incompatible with the option -R.
-s in-string out-string ...
Bind each in-string to each out-string. When in-string is
typed, out-string will be pushed back and treated as input
to the line editor. When -R is also used, interpret the
in-strings as ranges.
Note that both in-string and out-string are subject to the
same form of interpretation, as described below.
in-string command ...
Bind each in-string to each command. When -R is used, in-
terpret the in-strings as ranges.
[ in-string ]
List key bindings. If an in-string is specified, the
binding of that string in the selected keymap is dis-
played. Otherwise, all key bindings in the selected
keymap are displayed. (As a special case, if the -e or -v
option is used alone, the keymap is not displayed - the
implicit linking of keymaps is the only thing that hap-
pens.)
When the option -p is used, the in-string must be present.
The listing shows all bindings which have the given key
sequence as a prefix, not including any bindings for the
key sequence itself.
When the -L option is used, the list is in the form of
bindkey commands to create the key bindings.
When the -R option is used as noted above, a valid range consists
of two characters, with an optional `-' between them. All char-
acters between the two specified, inclusive, are bound as speci-
fied.
For either in-string or out-string, the following escape se-
quences are recognised:
\a bell character
\b backspace
\e, \E escape
\f form feed
\n linefeed (newline)
\r carriage return
\t horizontal tab
\v vertical tab
\NNN character code in octal
\xNN character code in hexadecimal
\uNNNN unicode character code in hexadecimal
\UNNNNNNNN
unicode character code in hexadecimal
\M[-]X character with meta bit set
\C[-]X control character
^X control character
In all other cases, `\' escapes the following character. Delete
is written as `^?'. Note that `\M^?' and `^\M?' are not the
same, and that (unlike emacs), the bindings `\M-X' and `\eX' are
entirely distinct, although they are initialized to the same
bindings by `bindkey -m'.
vared [ -Aacghe ] [ -p prompt ] [ -r rprompt ]
[ -M main-keymap ] [ -m vicmd-keymap ]
[ -i init-widget ] [ -f finish-widget ]
[ -t tty ] name
The value of the parameter name is loaded into the edit buffer,
and the line editor is invoked. When the editor exits, name is
set to the string value returned by the editor. When the -c flag
is given, the parameter is created if it doesn't already exist.
The -a flag may be given with -c to create an array parameter, or
the -A flag to create an associative array. If the type of an
existing parameter does not match the type to be created, the pa-
rameter is unset and recreated. The -g flag may be given to sup-
press warnings from the WARN_CREATE_GLOBAL and WARN_NESTED_VAR
options.
If an array or array slice is being edited, separator characters
as defined in $IFS will be shown quoted with a backslash, as will
backslashes themselves. Conversely, when the edited text is
split into an array, a backslash quotes an immediately following
separator character or backslash; no other special handling of
backslashes, or any handling of quotes, is performed.
Individual elements of existing array or associative array para-
meters may be edited by using subscript syntax on name. New ele-
ments are created automatically, even without -c.
If the -p flag is given, the following string will be taken as
the prompt to display at the left. If the -r flag is given, the
following string gives the prompt to display at the right. If
the -h flag is specified, the history can be accessed from ZLE.
If the -e flag is given, typing ^D (Control-D) on an empty line
causes vared to exit immediately with a non-zero return value.
The -M option gives a keymap to link to the main keymap during
editing, and the -m option gives a keymap to link to the vicmd
keymap during editing. For vi-style editing, this allows a pair
of keymaps to override viins and vicmd. For emacs-style editing,
only -M is normally needed but the -m option may still be used.
On exit, the previous keymaps will be restored.
Vared calls the usual `zle-line-init' and `zle-line-finish' hooks
before and after it takes control. Using the -i and -f options,
it is possible to replace these with other custom widgets.
If `-t tty' is given, tty is the name of a terminal device to be
used instead of the default /dev/tty. If tty does not refer to a
terminal an error is reported.
zle
zle -l [ -L | -a ] [ string ... ]
zle -D widget ...
zle -A old-widget new-widget
zle -N widget [ function ]
zle -f flag [ flag... ]
zle -C widget completion-widget function
zle -R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
zle -M string
zle -U string
zle -K keymap
zle -F [ -L | -w ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
zle -I
zle -T [ tc function | -r tc | -L ]
zle widget [ -n num ] [ -f flag ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
The zle builtin performs a number of different actions concerning
ZLE.
With no options and no arguments, only the return status will be
set. It is zero if ZLE is currently active and widgets could be
invoked using this builtin command and non-zero otherwise. Note
that even if non-zero status is returned, zle may still be active
as part of the completion system; this does not allow direct
calls to ZLE widgets.
Otherwise, which operation it performs depends on its options:
-l [ -L | -a ] [ string ]
List all existing user-defined widgets. If the -L option
is used, list in the form of zle commands to create the
widgets.
When combined with the -a option, all widget names are
listed, including the builtin ones. In this case the -L
option is ignored.
If at least one string is given, and -a is present or -L
is not used, nothing will be printed. The return status
will be zero if all strings are names of existing widgets
and non-zero if at least one string is not a name of a de-
fined widget. If -a is also present, all widget names are
used for the comparison including builtin widgets, else
only user-defined widgets are used.
If at least one string is present and the -L option is
used, user-defined widgets matching any string are listed
in the form of zle commands to create the widgets.
-D widget ...
Delete the named widgets.
-A old-widget new-widget
Make the new-widget name an alias for old-widget, so that
both names refer to the same widget. The names have equal
standing; if either is deleted, the other remains. If
there is already a widget with the new-widget name, it is
deleted.
-N widget [ function ]
Create a user-defined widget. If there is already a wid-
get with the specified name, it is overwritten. When the
new widget is invoked from within the editor, the speci-
fied shell function is called. If no function name is
specified, it defaults to the same name as the widget.
For further information, see the section `Widgets' below.
-f flag [ flag... ]
Set various flags on the running widget. Possible values
for flag are:
yank for indicating that the widget has yanked text into
the buffer. If the widget is wrapping an existing inter-
nal widget, no further action is necessary, but if it has
inserted the text manually, then it should also take care
to set YANK_START and YANK_END correctly. yankbefore does
the same but is used when the yanked text appears after
the cursor.
kill for indicating that text has been killed into the
cutbuffer. When repeatedly invoking a kill widget, text
is appended to the cutbuffer instead of replacing it, but
when wrapping such widgets, it is necessary to call `zle
-f kill' to retain this effect.
vichange for indicating that the widget represents a vi
change that can be repeated as a whole with `vi-re-
peat-change'. The flag should be set early in the function
before inspecting the value of NUMERIC or invoking other
widgets. This has no effect for a widget invoked from in-
sert mode. If insert mode is active when the widget fin-
ishes, the change extends until next returning to command
mode.
-C widget completion-widget function
Create a user-defined completion widget named widget. The
completion widget will behave like the built-in comple-
tion-widget whose name is given as completion-widget. To
generate the completions, the shell function function will
be called. For further information, see zshcompwid(1).
-R [ -c ] [ display-string ] [ string ... ]
Redisplay the command line. If a display-string is given
and not empty, this is shown in the status line (immedi-
ately below the line being edited).
If the optional strings are given they are listed below
the prompt in the same way as completion lists are
printed. If no strings are given but the -c option is used
such a list is cleared.
Note that immediately after returning from running wid-
gets, the command line will be redisplayed and the strings
displayed will be erased. Therefore, this option is only
useful for widgets that do not exit immediately after us-
ing it.
This command can safely be called outside user defined
widgets; if zle is active, the display will be refreshed,
while if zle is not active, the command has no effect. In
this case there will usually be no other arguments.
The status is zero if zle was active, else one.
-M string
As with the -R option, the string will be displayed below
the command line; unlike the -R option, the string will
not be put into the status line but will instead be
printed normally below the prompt. This means that the
string will still be displayed after the widget returns
(until it is overwritten by subsequent commands).
-U string
This pushes the characters in the string onto the input
stack of ZLE. After the widget currently executed fin-
ishes ZLE will behave as if the characters in the string
were typed by the user.
As ZLE uses a stack, if this option is used repeatedly the
last string pushed onto the stack will be processed first.
However, the characters in each string will be processed
in the order in which they appear in the string.
-K keymap
Selects the keymap named keymap. An error message will be
displayed if there is no such keymap.
This keymap selection affects the interpretation of fol-
lowing keystrokes within this invocation of ZLE. Any fol-
lowing invocation (e.g., the next command line) will start
as usual with the `main' keymap selected.
-F [ -L | -w ] [ fd [ handler ] ]
Only available if your system supports one of the `poll'
or `select' system calls; most modern systems do.
Installs handler (the name of a shell function) to handle
input from file descriptor fd. Installing a handler for
an fd which is already handled causes the existing handler
to be replaced. Any number of handlers for any number of
readable file descriptors may be installed. Note that zle
makes no attempt to check whether this fd is actually
readable when installing the handler. The user must make
their own arrangements for handling the file descriptor
when zle is not active.
When zle is attempting to read data, it will examine both
the terminal and the list of handled fd's. If data be-
comes available on a handled fd, zle calls handler with
the fd which is ready for reading as the first argument.
Under normal circumstances this is the only argument, but
if an error was detected, a second argument provides de-
tails: `hup' for a disconnect, `nval' for a closed or oth-
erwise invalid descriptor, or `err' for any other condi-
tion. Systems that support only the `select' system call
always use `err'.
If the option -w is also given, the handler is instead a
line editor widget, typically a shell function made into a
widget using `zle -N'. In that case handler can use all
the facilities of zle to update the current editing line.
Note, however, that as handling fd takes place at a low
level changes to the display will not automatically ap-
pear; the widget should call `zle -R' to force redisplay.
As of this writing, widget handlers only support a single
argument and thus are never passed a string for error
state, so widgets must be prepared to test the descriptor
themselves.
If either type of handler produces output to the terminal,
it should call `zle -I' before doing so (see below). Han-
dlers should not attempt to read from the terminal.
If no handler is given, but an fd is present, any handler
for that fd is removed. If there is none, an error mes-
sage is printed and status 1 is returned.
If no arguments are given, or the -L option is supplied, a
list of handlers is printed in a form which can be stored
for later execution.
An fd (but not a handler) may optionally be given with the
-L option; in this case, the function will list the han-
dler if any, else silently return status 1.
Note that this feature should be used with care. Activity
on one of the fd's which is not properly handled can cause
the terminal to become unusable. Removing an fd handler
from within a signal trap may cause unpredictable behav-
ior.
Here is a simple example of using this feature. A connec-
tion to a remote TCP port is created using the ztcp com-
mand; see the description of the zsh/net/tcp module in
zshmodules(1). Then a handler is installed which simply
prints out any data which arrives on this connection.
Note that `select' will indicate that the file descriptor
needs handling if the remote side has closed the connec-
tion; we handle that by testing for a failed read.
if ztcp pwspc 2811; then
tcpfd=$REPLY
handler() {
zle -I
local line
if ! read -r line <&$1; then
# select marks this fd if we reach EOF,
# so handle this specially.
print "[Read on fd $1 failed, removing.]" >&2
zle -F $1
return 1
fi
print -r - $line
}
zle -F $tcpfd handler
fi
-I Unusually, this option is most useful outside ordinary
widget functions, though it may be used within if normal
output to the terminal is required. It invalidates the
current zle display in preparation for output; typically
this will be from a trap function. It has no effect if
zle is not active. When a trap exits, the shell checks to
see if the display needs restoring, hence the following
will print output in such a way as not to disturb the line
being edited:
TRAPUSR1() {
# Invalidate zle display
[[ -o zle ]] && zle -I
# Show output
print Hello
}
In general, the trap function may need to test whether zle
is active before using this method (as shown in the exam-
ple), since the zsh/zle module may not even be loaded; if
it is not, the command can be skipped.
It is possible to call `zle -I' several times before con-
trol is returned to the editor; the display will only be
invalidated the first time to minimise disruption.
Note that there are normally better ways of manipulating
the display from within zle widgets; see, for example,
`zle -R' above.
The returned status is zero if zle was invalidated, even
though this may have been by a previous call to `zle -I'
or by a system notification. To test if a zle widget may
be called at this point, execute zle with no arguments and
examine the return status.
-T This is used to add, list or remove internal transforma-
tions on the processing performed by the line editor. It
is typically used only for debugging or testing and is
therefore of little interest to the general user.
`zle -T transformation func' specifies that the given
transformation (see below) is effected by shell function
func.
`zle -Tr transformation' removes the given transformation
if it was present (it is not an error if none was).
`zle -TL' can be used to list all transformations cur-
rently in operation.
Currently the only transformation is tc. This is used in-
stead of outputting termcap codes to the terminal. When
the transformation is in operation the shell function is
passed the termcap code that would be output as its first
argument; if the operation required a numeric argument,
that is passed as a second argument. The function should
set the shell variable REPLY to the transformed termcap
code. Typically this is used to produce some simply for-
matted version of the code and optional argument for de-
bugging or testing. Note that this transformation is not
applied to other non-printing characters such as carriage
returns and newlines.
widget [ -n num ] [ -f flag ] [ -Nw ] [ -K keymap ] args ...
Invoke the specified widget. This can only be done when
ZLE is active; normally this will be within a user-defined
widget.
With the options -n and -N, the current numeric argument
will be saved and then restored after the call to widget;
`-n num' sets the numeric argument temporarily to num,
while `-N' sets it to the default, i.e. as if there were
none.
With the option -K, keymap will be used as the current
keymap during the execution of the widget. The previous
keymap will be restored when the widget exits.
Normally, calling a widget in this way does not set the
special parameter WIDGET and related parameters, so that
the environment appears as if the top-level widget called
by the user were still active. With the option -w, WIDGET
and related parameters are set to reflect the widget being
executed by the zle call.
Normally, when widget returns the special parameter LAST-
WIDGET will point to it. This can be inhibited by passing
the option -f nolast.
Any further arguments will be passed to the widget; note
that as standard argument handling is performed, any gen-
eral argument list should be preceded by --. If it is a
shell function, these are passed down as positional para-
meters; for builtin widgets it is up to the widget in
question what it does with them. Currently arguments are
only handled by the incremental-search commands, the his-
tory-search-forward and -backward and the corresponding
functions prefixed by vi-, and by universal-argument. No
error is flagged if the command does not use the argu-
ments, or only uses some of them.
The return status reflects the success or failure of the
operation carried out by the widget, or if it is a
user-defined widget the return status of the shell func-
tion.
A non-zero return status causes the shell to beep when the
widget exits, unless the BEEP options was unset or the
widget was called via the zle command. Thus if a user de-
fined widget requires an immediate beep, it should call
the beep widget directly.
ZLE WIDGETS
All actions in the editor are performed by `widgets'. A widget's job is
simply to perform some small action. The ZLE commands that key se-
quences in keymaps are bound to are in fact widgets. Widgets can be
user-defined or built in.
The standard widgets built into ZLE are listed in the section `Standard
Widgets' below. Other built-in widgets can be defined by other modules
(see zshmodules(1)). Each built-in widget has two names: its normal
canonical name, and the same name preceded by a `.'. The `.' name is
special: it can't be rebound to a different widget. This makes the wid-
get available even when its usual name has been redefined.
User-defined widgets are defined using `zle -N', and implemented as
shell functions. When the widget is executed, the corresponding shell
function is executed, and can perform editing (or other) actions. It is
recommended that user-defined widgets should not have names starting
with `.'.
USER-DEFINED WIDGETS
User-defined widgets, being implemented as shell functions, can execute
any normal shell command. They can also run other widgets (whether
built-in or user-defined) using the zle builtin command. The standard
input of the function is redirected from /dev/null to prevent external
commands from unintentionally blocking ZLE by reading from the terminal,
but read -k or read -q can be used to read characters. Finally, they
can examine and edit the ZLE buffer being edited by reading and setting
the special parameters described below.
These special parameters are always available in widget functions, but
are not in any way special outside ZLE. If they have some normal value
outside ZLE, that value is temporarily inaccessible, but will return
when the widget function exits. These special parameters in fact have
local scope, like parameters created in a function using local.
Inside completion widgets and traps called while ZLE is active, these
parameters are available read-only.
Note that the parameters appear as local to any ZLE widget in which they
appear. Hence if it is desired to override them this needs to be done
within a nested function:
widget-function() {
# $WIDGET here refers to the special variable
# that is local inside widget-function
() {
# This anonymous nested function allows WIDGET
# to be used as a local variable. The -h
# removes the special status of the variable.
local -h WIDGET
}
}
BUFFER (scalar)
The entire contents of the edit buffer. If it is written to, the
cursor remains at the same offset, unless that would put it out-
side the buffer.
BUFFERLINES (integer)
The number of screen lines needed for the edit buffer currently
displayed on screen (i.e. without any changes to the preceding
parameters done after the last redisplay); read-only.
CONTEXT (scalar)
The context in which zle was called to read a line; read-only.
One of the values:
start The start of a command line (at prompt PS1).
cont A continuation to a command line (at prompt PS2).
select In a select loop (at prompt PS3).
vared Editing a variable in vared.
CURSOR (integer)
The offset of the cursor, within the edit buffer. This is in the
range 0 to $#BUFFER, and is by definition equal to $#LBUFFER.
Attempts to move the cursor outside the buffer will result in the
cursor being moved to the appropriate end of the buffer.
CUTBUFFER (scalar)
The last item cut using one of the `kill-' commands; the string
which the next yank would insert in the line. Later entries in
the kill ring are in the array killring. Note that the command
`zle copy-region-as-kill string' can be used to set the text of
the cut buffer from a shell function and cycle the kill ring in
the same way as interactively killing text.
HISTNO (integer)
The current history number. Setting this has the same effect as
moving up or down in the history to the corresponding history
line. An attempt to set it is ignored if the line is not stored
in the history. Note this is not the same as the parameter
HISTCMD, which always gives the number of the history line being
added to the main shell's history. HISTNO refers to the line be-
ing retrieved within zle.
ISEARCHMATCH_ACTIVE (integer)
ISEARCHMATCH_START (integer)
ISEARCHMATCH_END (integer)
ISEARCHMATCH_ACTIVE indicates whether a part of the BUFFER is
currently matched by an incremental search pattern. ISEARCH-
MATCH_START and ISEARCHMATCH_END give the location of the matched
part and are in the same units as CURSOR. They are only valid for
reading when ISEARCHMATCH_ACTIVE is non-zero.
All parameters are read-only.
KEYMAP (scalar)
The name of the currently selected keymap; read-only.
KEYS (scalar)
The keys typed to invoke this widget, as a literal string;
read-only.
KEYS_QUEUED_COUNT (integer)
The number of bytes pushed back to the input queue and therefore
available for reading immediately before any I/O is done;
read-only. See also PENDING; the two values are distinct.
killring (array)
The array of previously killed items, with the most recently
killed first. This gives the items that would be retrieved by a
yank-pop in the same order. Note, however, that the most re-
cently killed item is in $CUTBUFFER; $killring shows the array of
previous entries.
The default size for the kill ring is eight, however the length
may be changed by normal array operations. Any empty string in
the kill ring is ignored by the yank-pop command, hence the size
of the array effectively sets the maximum length of the kill
ring, while the number of non-zero strings gives the current
length, both as seen by the user at the command line.
LASTABORTEDSEARCH (scalar)
The last search string used by an interactive search that was
aborted by the user (status 3 returned by the search widget).
LASTSEARCH (scalar)
The last search string used by an interactive search; read-only.
This is set even if the search failed (status 0, 1 or 2 returned
by the search widget), but not if it was aborted by the user.
LASTWIDGET (scalar)
The name of the last widget that was executed; read-only.
LBUFFER (scalar)
The part of the buffer that lies to the left of the cursor posi-
tion. If it is assigned to, only that part of the buffer is re-
placed, and the cursor remains between the new $LBUFFER and the
old $RBUFFER.
MARK (integer)
Like CURSOR, but for the mark. With vi-mode operators that wait
for a movement command to select a region of text, setting MARK
allows the selection to extend in both directions from the ini-
tial cursor position.
NUMERIC (integer)
The numeric argument. If no numeric argument was given, this pa-
rameter is unset. When this is set inside a widget function,
builtin widgets called with the zle builtin command will use the
value assigned. If it is unset inside a widget function, builtin
widgets called behave as if no numeric argument was given.
PENDING (integer)
The number of bytes pending for input, i.e. the number of bytes
which have already been typed and can immediately be read. On
systems where the shell is not able to get this information, this
parameter will always have a value of zero. Read-only. See also
KEYS_QUEUED_COUNT; the two values are distinct.
PREBUFFER (scalar)
In a multi-line input at the secondary prompt, this read-only pa-
rameter contains the contents of the lines before the one the
cursor is currently in.
PREDISPLAY (scalar)
Text to be displayed before the start of the editable text
buffer. This does not have to be a complete line; to display a
complete line, a newline must be appended explicitly. The text
is reset on each new invocation (but not recursive invocation) of
zle.
POSTDISPLAY (scalar)
Text to be displayed after the end of the editable text buffer.
This does not have to be a complete line; to display a complete
line, a newline must be prepended explicitly. The text is reset
on each new invocation (but not recursive invocation) of zle.
RBUFFER (scalar)
The part of the buffer that lies to the right of the cursor posi-
tion. If it is assigned to, only that part of the buffer is re-
placed, and the cursor remains between the old $LBUFFER and the
new $RBUFFER.
REGION_ACTIVE (integer)
Indicates if the region is currently active. It can be assigned
0 or 1 to deactivate and activate the region respectively. A
value of 2 activates the region in line-wise mode with the high-
lighted text extending for whole lines only; see Character High-
lighting below.
region_highlight (array)
Each element of this array may be set to a string that describes
highlighting for an arbitrary region of the command line that
will take effect the next time the command line is redisplayed.
Highlighting of the non-editable parts of the command line in
PREDISPLAY and POSTDISPLAY are possible, but note that the P flag
is needed for character indexing to include PREDISPLAY.
Each string consists of the following whitespace-separated parts:
• Optionally, a `P' to signify that the start and end offset
that follow include any string set by the PREDISPLAY spe-
cial parameter; this is needed if the predisplay string
itself is to be highlighted. Whitespace between the `P'
and the start offset is optional.
• A start offset in the same units as CURSOR.
• An end offset in the same units as CURSOR.
• A highlight specification in the same format as used for
contexts in the parameter zle_highlight, see the section
`Character Highlighting' below; for example, standout or
fg=red,bold.
• Optionally, a string of the form `memo=token'. The token
consists of everything between the `=' and the next white-
space, comma, NUL, or the end of the string. The token is
preserved verbatim but not parsed in any way.
Plugins may use this to identify array elements they have
added: for example, a plugin might set token to its (the
plugin's) name and then use `region_highlight=( ${re-
gion_highlight:#*memo=token} )' in order to remove array
elements it have added.
(This example uses the `${name:#pattern}' array-grepping
syntax described in the section `Parameter Expansion' in
zshexpn(1).)
For example,
region_highlight=("P0 20 bold memo=foobar")
specifies that the first twenty characters of the text including
any predisplay string should be highlighted in bold.
Note that the effect of region_highlight is not saved and disap-
pears as soon as the line is accepted.
Note that zsh 5.8 and older do not support the `memo=token' field
and may misparse the third (highlight specification) field when a
memo is given.
The final highlighting on the command line depends on both re-
gion_highlight and zle_highlight; see the section CHARACTER HIGH-
LIGHTING below for details.
registers (associative array)
The contents of each of the vi register buffers. These are typi-
cally set using vi-set-buffer followed by a delete, change or
yank command.
SUFFIX_ACTIVE (integer)
SUFFIX_START (integer)
SUFFIX_END (integer)
SUFFIX_ACTIVE indicates whether an auto-removable completion suf-
fix is currently active. SUFFIX_START and SUFFIX_END give the lo-
cation of the suffix and are in the same units as CURSOR. They
are only valid for reading when SUFFIX_ACTIVE is non-zero.
All parameters are read-only.
UNDO_CHANGE_NO (integer)
A number representing the state of the undo history. The only
use of this is passing as an argument to the undo widget in order
to undo back to the recorded point. Read-only.
UNDO_LIMIT_NO (integer)
A number corresponding to an existing change in the undo history;
compare UNDO_CHANGE_NO. If this is set to a value greater than
zero, the undo command will not allow the line to be undone be-
yond the given change number. It is still possible to use `zle
undo change' in a widget to undo beyond that point; in that case,
it will not be possible to undo at all until UNDO_LIMIT_NO is re-
duced. Set to 0 to disable the limit.
A typical use of this variable in a widget function is as follows
(note the additional function scope is required):
() {
local UNDO_LIMIT_NO=$UNDO_CHANGE_NO
# Perform some form of recursive edit.
}
WIDGET (scalar)
The name of the widget currently being executed; read-only.
WIDGETFUNC (scalar)
The name of the shell function that implements a widget defined
with either zle -N or zle -C. In the former case, this is the
second argument to the zle -N command that defined the widget, or
the first argument if there was no second argument. In the lat-
ter case this is the third argument to the zle -C command that
defined the widget. Read-only.
WIDGETSTYLE (scalar)
Describes the implementation behind the completion widget cur-
rently being executed; the second argument that followed zle -C
when the widget was defined. This is the name of a builtin com-
pletion widget. For widgets defined with zle -N this is set to
the empty string. Read-only.
YANK_ACTIVE (integer)
YANK_START (integer)
YANK_END (integer)
YANK_ACTIVE indicates whether text has just been yanked (pasted)
into the buffer. YANK_START and YANK_END give the location of
the pasted text and are in the same units as CURSOR. They are
only valid for reading when YANK_ACTIVE is non-zero. They can
also be assigned by widgets that insert text in a yank-like fash-
ion, for example wrappers of bracketed-paste. See also zle -f.
YANK_ACTIVE is read-only.
ZLE_RECURSIVE (integer)
Usually zero, but incremented inside any instance of recur-
sive-edit. Hence indicates the current recursion level.
ZLE_RECURSIVE is read-only.
ZLE_STATE (scalar)
Contains a set of space-separated words that describe the current
zle state.
Currently, the states shown are the insert mode as set by the
overwrite-mode or vi-replace widgets and whether history commands
will visit imported entries as controlled by the set-local-his-
tory widget. The string contains `insert' if characters to be
inserted on the command line move existing characters to the
right or `overwrite' if characters to be inserted overwrite ex-
isting characters. It contains `localhistory' if only local his-
tory commands will be visited or `globalhistory' if imported his-
tory commands will also be visited.
The substrings are sorted in alphabetical order so that if you
want to test for two specific substrings in a future-proof way,
you can do match by doing:
if [[ $ZLE_STATE == *globalhistory*insert* ]]; then ...; fi
Special Widgets
There are a few user-defined widgets which are special to the shell. If
they do not exist, no special action is taken. The environment provided
is identical to that for any other editing widget.
zle-isearch-exit
Executed at the end of incremental search at the point where the
isearch prompt is removed from the display. See zle-isearch-up-
date for an example.
zle-isearch-update
Executed within incremental search when the display is about to
be redrawn. Additional output below the incremental search
prompt can be generated by using `zle -M' within the widget. For
example,
zle-isearch-update() { zle -M "Line $HISTNO"; }
zle -N zle-isearch-update
Note the line output by `zle -M' is not deleted on exit from in-
cremental search. This can be done from a zle-isearch-exit wid-
get:
zle-isearch-exit() { zle -M ""; }
zle -N zle-isearch-exit
zle-line-pre-redraw
Executed whenever the input line is about to be redrawn, provid-
ing an opportunity to update the region_highlight array.
zle-line-init
Executed every time the line editor is started to read a new line
of input. The following example puts the line editor into vi
command mode when it starts up.
zle-line-init() { zle -K vicmd; }
zle -N zle-line-init
(The command inside the function sets the keymap directly; it is
equivalent to zle vi-cmd-mode.)
zle-line-finish
This is similar to zle-line-init but is executed every time the
line editor has finished reading a line of input.
zle-history-line-set
Executed when the history line changes.
zle-keymap-select
Executed every time the keymap changes, i.e. the special parame-
ter KEYMAP is set to a different value, while the line editor is
active. Initialising the keymap when the line editor starts does
not cause the widget to be called.
The value $KEYMAP within the function reflects the new keymap.
The old keymap is passed as the sole argument.
This can be used for detecting switches between the vi command
(vicmd) and insert (usually main) keymaps.
STANDARD WIDGETS
The following is a list of all the standard widgets, and their default
bindings in emacs mode, vi command mode and vi insert mode (the `emacs',
`vicmd' and `viins' keymaps, respectively).
Note that cursor keys are bound to movement keys in all three keymaps;
the shell assumes that the cursor keys send the key sequences reported
by the terminal-handling library (termcap or terminfo). The key se-
quences shown in the list are those based on the VT100, common on many
modern terminals, but in fact these are not necessarily bound. In the
case of the viins keymap, the initial escape character of the sequences
serves also to return to the vicmd keymap: whether this happens is de-
termined by the KEYTIMEOUT parameter, see zshparam(1).
Movement
vi-backward-blank-word (unbound) (B) (unbound)
Move backward one word, where a word is defined as a series of
non-blank characters.
vi-backward-blank-word-end (unbound) (gE) (unbound)
Move to the end of the previous word, where a word is defined as
a series of non-blank characters.
backward-char (^B ESC-[D) (unbound) (unbound)
Move backward one character.
vi-backward-char (unbound) (^H h ^?) (ESC-[D)
Move backward one character, without changing lines.
backward-word (ESC-B ESC-b) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the previous word.
emacs-backward-word
Move to the beginning of the previous word.
vi-backward-word (unbound) (b) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the previous word, vi-style.
vi-backward-word-end (unbound) (ge) (unbound)
Move to the end of the previous word, vi-style.
beginning-of-line (^A) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the beginning
of the line, move to the beginning of the previous line, if any.
vi-beginning-of-line
Move to the beginning of the line, without changing lines.
down-line (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
Move down a line in the buffer.
end-of-line (^E) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of the line,
move to the end of the next line, if any.
vi-end-of-line (unbound) ($) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line. If an argument is given to this
command, the cursor will be moved to the end of the line (argu-
ment - 1) lines down.
vi-forward-blank-word (unbound) (W) (unbound)
Move forward one word, where a word is defined as a series of
non-blank characters.
vi-forward-blank-word-end (unbound) (E) (unbound)
Move to the end of the current word, or, if at the end of the
current word, to the end of the next word, where a word is de-
fined as a series of non-blank characters.
forward-char (^F ESC-[C) (unbound) (unbound)
Move forward one character.
vi-forward-char (unbound) (space l) (ESC-[C)
Move forward one character.
vi-find-next-char (^X^F) (f) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the next occur-
rence of it in the line.
vi-find-next-char-skip (unbound) (t) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the position just
before the next occurrence of it in the line.
vi-find-prev-char (unbound) (F) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the previous oc-
currence of it in the line.
vi-find-prev-char-skip (unbound) (T) (unbound)
Read a character from the keyboard, and move to the position just
after the previous occurrence of it in the line.
vi-first-non-blank (unbound) (^) (unbound)
Move to the first non-blank character in the line.
vi-forward-word (unbound) (w) (unbound)
Move forward one word, vi-style.
forward-word (ESC-F ESC-f) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the next word. The editor's idea of a
word is specified with the WORDCHARS parameter.
emacs-forward-word
Move to the end of the next word.
vi-forward-word-end (unbound) (e) (unbound)
Move to the end of the next word.
vi-goto-column (ESC-|) (|) (unbound)
Move to the column specified by the numeric argument.
vi-goto-mark (unbound) (`) (unbound)
Move to the specified mark.
vi-goto-mark-line (unbound) (') (unbound)
Move to beginning of the line containing the specified mark.
vi-repeat-find (unbound) (;) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi-find command.
vi-rev-repeat-find (unbound) (,) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi-find command in the opposite direction.
up-line (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
Move up a line in the buffer.
History Control
beginning-of-buffer-or-history (ESC-<) (gg) (unbound)
Move to the beginning of the buffer, or if already there, move to
the first event in the history list.
beginning-of-line-hist
Move to the beginning of the line. If already at the beginning
of the buffer, move to the previous history line.
beginning-of-history
Move to the first event in the history list.
down-line-or-history (^N ESC-[B) (j) (ESC-[B)
Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom line,
move to the next event in the history list.
vi-down-line-or-history (unbound) (+) (unbound)
Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom line,
move to the next event in the history list. Then move to the
first non-blank character on the line.
down-line-or-search
Move down a line in the buffer, or if already at the bottom line,
search forward in the history for a line beginning with the first
word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search, rather
than the first word in the buffer.
down-history (unbound) (^N) (unbound)
Move to the next event in the history list.
history-beginning-search-backward
Search backward in the history for a line beginning with the cur-
rent line up to the cursor. This leaves the cursor in its origi-
nal position.
end-of-buffer-or-history (ESC->) (unbound) (unbound)
Move to the end of the buffer, or if already there, move to the
last event in the history list.
end-of-line-hist
Move to the end of the line. If already at the end of the
buffer, move to the next history line.
end-of-history
Move to the last event in the history list.
vi-fetch-history (unbound) (G) (unbound)
Fetch the history line specified by the numeric argument. This
defaults to the current history line (i.e. the one that isn't
history yet).
history-incremental-search-backward (^R ^Xr) (unbound) (unbound)
Search backward incrementally for a specified string. The search
is case-insensitive if the search string does not have uppercase
letters and no numeric argument was given. The string may begin
with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the line. When
called from a user-defined function returns the following sta-
tuses: 0, if the search succeeded; 1, if the search failed; 2, if
the search term was a bad pattern; 3, if the search was aborted
by the send-break command.
A restricted set of editing functions is available in the
mini-buffer. Keys are looked up in the special isearch keymap,
and if not found there in the main keymap (note that by default
the isearch keymap is empty). An interrupt signal, as defined by
the stty setting, will stop the search and go back to the origi-
nal line. An undefined key will have the same effect. Note that
the following always perform the same task within incremental
searches and cannot be replaced by user defined widgets, nor can
the set of functions be extended. The supported functions are:
accept-and-hold
accept-and-infer-next-history
accept-line
accept-line-and-down-history
Perform the usual function after exiting incremental
search. The command line displayed is executed.
backward-delete-char
vi-backward-delete-char
Back up one place in the search history. If the search
has been repeated this does not immediately erase a char-
acter in the minibuffer.
accept-search
Exit incremental search, retaining the command line but
performing no further action. Note that this function is
not bound by default and has no effect outside incremental
search.
backward-delete-word
backward-kill-word
vi-backward-kill-word
Back up one character in the minibuffer; if multiple
searches have been performed since the character was in-
serted the search history is rewound to the point just be-
fore the character was entered. Hence this has the effect
of repeating backward-delete-char.
clear-screen
Clear the screen, remaining in incremental search mode.
history-incremental-search-backward
Find the next occurrence of the contents of the
mini-buffer. If the mini-buffer is empty, the most recent
previously used search string is reinstated.
history-incremental-search-forward
Invert the sense of the search.
magic-space
Inserts a non-magical space.
quoted-insert
vi-quoted-insert
Quote the character to insert into the minibuffer.
redisplay
Redisplay the command line, remaining in incremental
search mode.
vi-cmd-mode
Select the `vicmd' keymap; the `main' keymap (insert mode)
will be selected initially.
In addition, the modifications that were made while in vi
insert mode are merged to form a single undo event.
vi-repeat-search
vi-rev-repeat-search
Repeat the search. The direction of the search is indi-
cated in the mini-buffer.
Any character that is not bound to one of the above functions, or
self-insert or self-insert-unmeta, will cause the mode to be ex-
ited. The character is then looked up and executed in the keymap
in effect at that point.
When called from a widget function by the zle command, the incre-
mental search commands can take a string argument. This will be
treated as a string of keys, as for arguments to the bindkey com-
mand, and used as initial input for the command. Any characters
in the string which are unused by the incremental search will be
silently ignored. For example,
zle history-incremental-search-backward forceps
will search backwards for forceps, leaving the minibuffer con-
taining the string `forceps'.
history-incremental-search-forward (^S ^Xs) (unbound) (unbound)
Search forward incrementally for a specified string. The search
is case-insensitive if the search string does not have uppercase
letters and no numeric argument was given. The string may begin
with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the line. The
functions available in the mini-buffer are the same as for his-
tory-incremental-search-backward.
history-incremental-pattern-search-backward
history-incremental-pattern-search-forward
These widgets behave similarly to the corresponding widgets with
no -pattern, but the search string typed by the user is treated
as a pattern, respecting the current settings of the various op-
tions affecting pattern matching. See FILENAME GENERATION in
zshexpn(1) for a description of patterns. If no numeric argument
was given lowercase letters in the search string may match upper-
case letters in the history. The string may begin with `^' to
anchor the search to the beginning of the line.
The prompt changes to indicate an invalid pattern; this may sim-
ply indicate the pattern is not yet complete.
Note that only non-overlapping matches are reported, so an ex-
pression with wildcards may return fewer matches on a line than
are visible by inspection.
history-search-backward (ESC-P ESC-p) (unbound) (unbound)
Search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search, rather
than the first word in the buffer.
vi-history-search-backward (unbound) (/) (unbound)
Search backward in the history for a specified string. The
string may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning
of the line.
A restricted set of editing functions is available in the
mini-buffer. An interrupt signal, as defined by the stty set-
ting, will stop the search. The functions available in the
mini-buffer are: accept-line, backward-delete-char, vi-back-
ward-delete-char, backward-kill-word, vi-backward-kill-word,
clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert and vi-quoted-insert.
vi-cmd-mode is treated the same as accept-line, and magic-space
is treated as a space. Any other character that is not bound to
self-insert or self-insert-unmeta will beep and be ignored. If
the function is called from vi command mode, the bindings of the
current insert mode will be used.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search, rather
than the first word in the buffer.
history-search-forward (ESC-N ESC-n) (unbound) (unbound)
Search forward in the history for a line beginning with the first
word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search, rather
than the first word in the buffer.
vi-history-search-forward (unbound) (?) (unbound)
Search forward in the history for a specified string. The string
may begin with `^' to anchor the search to the beginning of the
line. The functions available in the mini-buffer are the same as
for vi-history-search-backward. Argument handling is also the
same as for that command.
infer-next-history (^X^N) (unbound) (unbound)
Search in the history list for a line matching the current one
and fetch the event following it.
insert-last-word (ESC-_ ESC-.) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert the last word from the previous history event at the cur-
sor position. If a positive numeric argument is given, insert
that word from the end of the previous history event. If the ar-
gument is zero or negative insert that word from the left (zero
inserts the previous command word). Repeating this command re-
places the word just inserted with the last word from the history
event prior to the one just used; numeric arguments can be used
in the same way to pick a word from that event.
When called from a shell function invoked from a user-defined
widget, the command can take one to three arguments. The first
argument specifies a history offset which applies to successive
calls to this widget: if it is -1, the default behaviour is used,
while if it is 1, successive calls will move forwards through the
history. The value 0 can be used to indicate that the history
line examined by the previous execution of the command will be
reexamined. Note that negative numbers should be preceded by a
`--' argument to avoid confusing them with options.
If two arguments are given, the second specifies the word on the
command line in normal array index notation (as a more natural
alternative to the numeric argument). Hence 1 is the first word,
and -1 (the default) is the last word.
If a third argument is given, its value is ignored, but it is
used to signify that the history offset is relative to the cur-
rent history line, rather than the one remembered after the pre-
vious invocations of insert-last-word.
For example, the default behaviour of the command corresponds to
zle insert-last-word -- -1 -1
while the command
zle insert-last-word -- -1 1 -
always copies the first word of the line in the history immedi-
ately before the line being edited. This has the side effect
that later invocations of the widget will be relative to that
line.
vi-repeat-search (unbound) (n) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi history search.
vi-rev-repeat-search (unbound) (N) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi history search, but in reverse.
up-line-or-history (^P ESC-[A) (k) (ESC-[A)
Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line, move
to the previous event in the history list.
vi-up-line-or-history (unbound) (-) (unbound)
Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line, move
to the previous event in the history list. Then move to the
first non-blank character on the line.
up-line-or-search
Move up a line in the buffer, or if already at the top line,
search backward in the history for a line beginning with the
first word in the buffer.
If called from a function by the zle command with arguments, the
first argument is taken as the string for which to search, rather
than the first word in the buffer.
up-history (unbound) (^P) (unbound)
Move to the previous event in the history list.
history-beginning-search-forward
Search forward in the history for a line beginning with the cur-
rent line up to the cursor. This leaves the cursor in its origi-
nal position.
set-local-history
By default, history movement commands visit the imported lines as
well as the local lines. This widget lets you toggle this on and
off, or set it with the numeric argument. Zero for both local and
imported lines and nonzero for only local lines.
Modifying Text
vi-add-eol (unbound) (A) (unbound)
Move to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
vi-add-next (unbound) (a) (unbound)
Enter insert mode after the current cursor position, without
changing lines.
backward-delete-char (^H ^?) (unbound) (unbound)
Delete the character behind the cursor.
vi-backward-delete-char (unbound) (X) (^H)
Delete the character behind the cursor, without changing lines.
If in insert mode, this won't delete past the point where insert
mode was last entered.
backward-delete-word
Delete the word behind the cursor.
backward-kill-line
Kill from the beginning of the line to the cursor position.
backward-kill-word (^W ESC-^H ESC-^?) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the word behind the cursor.
vi-backward-kill-word (unbound) (unbound) (^W)
Kill the word behind the cursor, without going past the point
where insert mode was last entered.
capitalize-word (ESC-C ESC-c) (unbound) (unbound)
Capitalize the current word and move past it.
vi-change (unbound) (c) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill from the cur-
sor position to the endpoint of the movement. Then enter insert
mode. If the command is vi-change, change the current line.
For compatibility with vi, if the command is vi-forward-word or
vi-forward-blank-word, the whitespace after the word is not in-
cluded. If you prefer the more consistent behaviour with the
whitespace included use the following key binding:
bindkey -a -s cw dwi
vi-change-eol (unbound) (C) (unbound)
Kill to the end of the line and enter insert mode.
vi-change-whole-line (unbound) (S) (unbound)
Kill the current line and enter insert mode.
copy-region-as-kill (ESC-W ESC-w) (unbound) (unbound)
Copy the area from the cursor to the mark to the kill buffer.
If called from a ZLE widget function in the form `zle copy-re-
gion-as-kill string' then string will be taken as the text to
copy to the kill buffer. The cursor, the mark and the text on
the command line are not used in this case.
copy-prev-word (ESC-^_) (unbound) (unbound)
Duplicate the word to the left of the cursor.
copy-prev-shell-word
Like copy-prev-word, but the word is found by using shell pars-
ing, whereas copy-prev-word looks for blanks. This makes a dif-
ference when the word is quoted and contains spaces.
vi-delete (unbound) (d) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and kill from the cur-
sor position to the endpoint of the movement. If the command is
vi-delete, kill the current line.
delete-char
Delete the character under the cursor.
vi-delete-char (unbound) (x) (unbound)
Delete the character under the cursor, without going past the end
of the line.
delete-word
Delete the current word.
down-case-word (ESC-L ESC-l) (unbound) (unbound)
Convert the current word to all lowercase and move past it.
vi-down-case (unbound) (gu) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and convert all char-
acters from the cursor position to the endpoint of the movement
to lowercase. If the movement command is vi-down-case, swap the
case of all characters on the current line.
kill-word (ESC-D ESC-d) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the current word.
gosmacs-transpose-chars
Exchange the two characters behind the cursor.
vi-indent (unbound) (>) (unbound)
Indent a number of lines.
vi-insert (unbound) (i) (unbound)
Enter insert mode.
vi-insert-bol (unbound) (I) (unbound)
Move to the first non-blank character on the line and enter in-
sert mode.
vi-join (^X^J) (J) (unbound)
Join the current line with the next one.
kill-line (^K) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill from the cursor to the end of the line. If already on the
end of the line, kill the newline character.
vi-kill-line (unbound) (unbound) (^U)
Kill from the cursor back to wherever insert mode was last en-
tered.
vi-kill-eol (unbound) (D) (unbound)
Kill from the cursor to the end of the line.
kill-region
Kill from the cursor to the mark.
kill-buffer (^X^K) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the entire buffer.
kill-whole-line (^U) (unbound) (unbound)
Kill the current line.
vi-match-bracket (^X^B) (%) (unbound)
Move to the bracket character (one of {}, () or []) that matches
the one under the cursor. If the cursor is not on a bracket
character, move forward without going past the end of the line to
find one, and then go to the matching bracket.
vi-open-line-above (unbound) (O) (unbound)
Open a line above the cursor and enter insert mode.
vi-open-line-below (unbound) (o) (unbound)
Open a line below the cursor and enter insert mode.
vi-oper-swap-case (unbound) (g~) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and swap the case of
all characters from the cursor position to the endpoint of the
movement. If the movement command is vi-oper-swap-case, swap the
case of all characters on the current line.
overwrite-mode (^X^O) (unbound) (unbound)
Toggle between overwrite mode and insert mode.
vi-put-before (unbound) (P) (unbound)
Insert the contents of the kill buffer before the cursor. If the
kill buffer contains a sequence of lines (as opposed to charac-
ters), paste it above the current line.
vi-put-after (unbound) (p) (unbound)
Insert the contents of the kill buffer after the cursor. If the
kill buffer contains a sequence of lines (as opposed to charac-
ters), paste it below the current line.
put-replace-selection (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
Replace the contents of the current region or selection with the
contents of the kill buffer. If the kill buffer contains a se-
quence of lines (as opposed to characters), the current line will
be split by the pasted lines.
quoted-insert (^V) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert the next character typed into the buffer literally. An
interrupt character will not be inserted.
vi-quoted-insert (unbound) (unbound) (^Q ^V)
Display a `^' at the cursor position, and insert the next charac-
ter typed into the buffer literally. An interrupt character will
not be inserted.
quote-line (ESC-') (unbound) (unbound)
Quote the current line; that is, put a `'' character at the be-
ginning and the end, and convert all `'' characters to `'\'''.
quote-region (ESC-") (unbound) (unbound)
Quote the region from the cursor to the mark.
vi-replace (unbound) (R) (unbound)
Enter overwrite mode.
vi-repeat-change (unbound) (.) (unbound)
Repeat the last vi mode text modification. If a count was used
with the modification, it is remembered. If a count is given to
this command, it overrides the remembered count, and is remem-
bered for future uses of this command. The cut buffer specifica-
tion is similarly remembered.
vi-replace-chars (unbound) (r) (unbound)
Replace the character under the cursor with a character read from
the keyboard.
self-insert (printable characters) (unbound) (printable characters and
some control characters)
Insert a character into the buffer at the cursor position.
self-insert-unmeta (ESC-^I ESC-^J ESC-^M) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert a character into the buffer after stripping the meta bit
and converting ^M to ^J.
vi-substitute (unbound) (s) (unbound)
Substitute the next character(s).
vi-swap-case (unbound) (~) (unbound)
Swap the case of the character under the cursor and move past it.
transpose-chars (^T) (unbound) (unbound)
Exchange the two characters to the left of the cursor if at end
of line, else exchange the character under the cursor with the
character to the left.
transpose-words (ESC-T ESC-t) (unbound) (unbound)
Exchange the current word with the one before it.
With a positive numeric argument N, the word around the cursor,
or following it if the cursor is between words, is transposed
with the preceding N words. The cursor is put at the end of the
resulting group of words.
With a negative numeric argument -N, the effect is the same as
using a positive argument N except that the original cursor posi-
tion is retained, regardless of how the words are rearranged.
vi-unindent (unbound) (<) (unbound)
Unindent a number of lines.
vi-up-case (unbound) (gU) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and convert all char-
acters from the cursor position to the endpoint of the movement
to lowercase. If the movement command is vi-up-case, swap the
case of all characters on the current line.
up-case-word (ESC-U ESC-u) (unbound) (unbound)
Convert the current word to all caps and move past it.
yank (^Y) (unbound) (unbound)
Insert the contents of the kill buffer at the cursor position.
yank-pop (ESC-y) (unbound) (unbound)
Remove the text just yanked, rotate the kill-ring (the history of
previously killed text) and yank the new top. Only works follow-
ing yank, vi-put-before, vi-put-after or yank-pop.
vi-yank (unbound) (y) (unbound)
Read a movement command from the keyboard, and copy the region
from the cursor position to the endpoint of the movement into the
kill buffer. If the command is vi-yank, copy the current line.
vi-yank-whole-line (unbound) (Y) (unbound)
Copy the current line into the kill buffer.
vi-yank-eol
Copy the region from the cursor position to the end of the line
into the kill buffer. Arguably, this is what Y should do in vi,
but it isn't what it actually does.
Arguments
digit-argument (ESC-0..ESC-9) (1-9) (unbound)
Start a new numeric argument, or add to the current one. See
also vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line. This only works if bound to
a key sequence ending in a decimal digit.
Inside a widget function, a call to this function treats the last
key of the key sequence which called the widget as the digit.
neg-argument (ESC--) (unbound) (unbound)
Changes the sign of the following argument.
universal-argument
Multiply the argument of the next command by 4. Alternatively,
if this command is followed by an integer (positive or negative),
use that as the argument for the next command. Thus digits can-
not be repeated using this command. For example, if this command
occurs twice, followed immediately by forward-char, move forward
sixteen spaces; if instead it is followed by -2, then for-
ward-char, move backward two spaces.
Inside a widget function, if passed an argument, i.e. `zle uni-
versal-argument num', the numeric argument will be set to num;
this is equivalent to `NUMERIC=num'.
argument-base
Use the existing numeric argument as a numeric base, which must
be in the range 2 to 36 inclusive. Subsequent use of digit-argu-
ment and universal-argument will input a new numeric argument in
the given base. The usual hexadecimal convention is used: the
letter a or A corresponds to 10, and so on. Arguments in bases
requiring digits from 10 upwards are more conveniently input with
universal-argument, since ESC-a etc. are not usually bound to
digit-argument.
The function can be used with a command argument inside a
user-defined widget. The following code sets the base to 16 and
lets the user input a hexadecimal argument until a key out of the
digit range is typed:
zle argument-base 16
zle universal-argument
Completion
accept-and-menu-complete
In a menu completion, insert the current completion into the
buffer, and advance to the next possible completion.
complete-word
Attempt completion on the current word.
delete-char-or-list (^D) (unbound) (unbound)
Delete the character under the cursor. If the cursor is at the
end of the line, list possible completions for the current word.
expand-cmd-path
Expand the current command to its full pathname.
expand-or-complete (TAB) (unbound) (TAB)
Attempt shell expansion on the current word. If that fails, at-
tempt completion.
expand-or-complete-prefix
Attempt shell expansion on the current word up to cursor.
expand-history (ESC-space ESC-!) (unbound) (unbound)
Perform history expansion on the edit buffer.
expand-word (^X*) (unbound) (unbound)
Attempt shell expansion on the current word.
list-choices (ESC-^D) (^D =) (^D)
List possible completions for the current word.
list-expand (^Xg ^XG) (^G) (^G)
List the expansion of the current word.
magic-space
Perform history expansion and insert a space into the buffer.
This is intended to be bound to space.
menu-complete
Like complete-word, except that menu completion is used. See the
MENU_COMPLETE option.
menu-expand-or-complete
Like expand-or-complete, except that menu completion is used.
reverse-menu-complete
Perform menu completion, like menu-complete, except that if a
menu completion is already in progress, move to the previous com-
pletion rather than the next.
end-of-list
When a previous completion displayed a list below the prompt,
this widget can be used to move the prompt below the list.
Miscellaneous
accept-and-hold (ESC-A ESC-a) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the contents of the buffer on the buffer stack and execute
it.
accept-and-infer-next-history
Execute the contents of the buffer. Then search the history list
for a line matching the current one and push the event following
onto the buffer stack.
accept-line (^J ^M) (^J ^M) (^J ^M)
Finish editing the buffer. Normally this causes the buffer to be
executed as a shell command.
accept-line-and-down-history (^O) (unbound) (unbound)
Execute the current line, and push the next history event on the
buffer stack.
auto-suffix-remove
If the previous action added a suffix (space, slash, etc.) to the
word on the command line, remove it. Otherwise do nothing. Re-
moving the suffix ends any active menu completion or menu selec-
tion.
This widget is intended to be called from user-defined widgets to
enforce a desired suffix-removal behavior.
auto-suffix-retain
If the previous action added a suffix (space, slash, etc.) to the
word on the command line, force it to be preserved. Otherwise do
nothing. Retaining the suffix ends any active menu completion or
menu selection.
This widget is intended to be called from user-defined widgets to
enforce a desired suffix-preservation behavior.
beep Beep, unless the BEEP option is unset.
bracketed-paste (^[[200~) (^[[200~) (^[[200~)
This widget is invoked when text is pasted to the terminal emula-
tor. It is not intended to be bound to actual keys but instead to
the special sequence generated by the terminal emulator when text
is pasted.
When invoked interactively, the pasted text is inserted to the
buffer and placed in the cutbuffer. If a numeric argument is
given, shell quoting will be applied to the pasted text before it
is inserted.
When a named buffer is specified with vi-set-buffer ("x), the
pasted text is stored in that named buffer but not inserted.
When called from a widget function as `bracketed-paste name`, the
pasted text is assigned to the variable name and no other pro-
cessing is done.
See also the zle_bracketed_paste parameter.
vi-cmd-mode (^X^V) (unbound) (^[)
Enter command mode; that is, select the `vicmd' keymap. Yes,
this is bound by default in emacs mode.
vi-caps-lock-panic
Hang until any lowercase key is pressed. This is for vi users
without the mental capacity to keep track of their caps lock key
(like the author).
clear-screen (^L ESC-^L) (^L) (^L)
Clear the screen and redraw the prompt.
deactivate-region
Make the current region inactive. This disables vim-style visual
selection mode if it is active.
describe-key-briefly
Reads a key sequence, then prints the function bound to that se-
quence.
exchange-point-and-mark (^X^X) (unbound) (unbound)
Exchange the cursor position (point) with the position of the
mark. Unless a negative numeric argument is given, the region
between point and mark is activated so that it can be high-
lighted. If a zero numeric argument is given, the region is ac-
tivated but point and mark are not swapped.
execute-named-cmd (ESC-x) (:) (unbound)
Read the name of an editor command and execute it. Aliasing this
widget with `zle -A' or replacing it with `zle -N' has no effect
when interpreting key bindings, but `zle execute-named-cmd' will
invoke such an alias or replacement.
A restricted set of editing functions is available in the
mini-buffer. Keys are looked up in the special command keymap,
and if not found there in the main keymap. An interrupt signal,
as defined by the stty setting, will abort the function. Note
that the following always perform the same task within the exe-
cuted-named-cmd environment and cannot be replaced by user de-
fined widgets, nor can the set of functions be extended. The al-
lowed functions are: backward-delete-char, vi-back-
ward-delete-char, clear-screen, redisplay, quoted-insert,
vi-quoted-insert, backward-kill-word, vi-backward-kill-word,
kill-whole-line, vi-kill-line, backward-kill-line, list-choices,
delete-char-or-list, complete-word, accept-line, expand-or-com-
plete and expand-or-complete-prefix.
kill-region kills the last word, and vi-cmd-mode is treated the
same as accept-line. The space and tab characters, if not bound
to one of these functions, will complete the name and then list
the possibilities if the AUTO_LIST option is set. Any other
character that is not bound to self-insert or self-insert-unmeta
will beep and be ignored. The bindings of the current insert
mode will be used.
Currently this command may not be redefined or called by name.
execute-last-named-cmd (ESC-z) (unbound) (unbound)
Redo the last function executed with execute-named-cmd.
Like execute-named-cmd, this command may not be redefined, but it
may be called by name.
get-line (ESC-G ESC-g) (unbound) (unbound)
Pop the top line off the buffer stack and insert it at the cursor
position.
pound-insert (unbound) (#) (unbound)
If there is no # character at the beginning of the buffer, add
one to the beginning of each line. If there is one, remove a #
from each line that has one. In either case, accept the current
line. The INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS option must be set for this to
have any usefulness.
vi-pound-insert
If there is no # character at the beginning of the current line,
add one. If there is one, remove it. The INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
option must be set for this to have any usefulness.
push-input
Push the entire current multiline construct onto the buffer stack
and return to the top-level (PS1) prompt. If the current parser
construct is only a single line, this is exactly like push-line.
Next time the editor starts up or is popped with get-line, the
construct will be popped off the top of the buffer stack and
loaded into the editing buffer.
push-line (^Q ESC-Q ESC-q) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the current buffer onto the buffer stack and clear the
buffer. Next time the editor starts up, the buffer will be
popped off the top of the buffer stack and loaded into the edit-
ing buffer.
push-line-or-edit
At the top-level (PS1) prompt, equivalent to push-line. At a
secondary (PS2) prompt, move the entire current multiline con-
struct into the editor buffer. The latter is equivalent to
push-input followed by get-line.
read-command
Only useful from a user-defined widget. A keystroke is read just
as in normal operation, but instead of the command being executed
the name of the command that would be executed is stored in the
shell parameter REPLY. This can be used as the argument of a fu-
ture zle command. If the key sequence is not bound, status 1 is
returned; typically, however, REPLY is set to undefined-key to
indicate a useless key sequence.
recursive-edit
Only useful from a user-defined widget. At this point in the
function, the editor regains control until one of the standard
widgets which would normally cause zle to exit (typically an ac-
cept-line caused by hitting the return key) is executed. In-
stead, control returns to the user-defined widget. The status
returned is non-zero if the return was caused by an error, but
the function still continues executing and hence may tidy up.
This makes it safe for the user-defined widget to alter the com-
mand line or key bindings temporarily.
The following widget, caps-lock, serves as an example.
self-insert-ucase() {
LBUFFER+=${(U)KEYS[-1]}
}
integer stat
zle -N self-insert self-insert-ucase
zle -A caps-lock save-caps-lock
zle -A accept-line caps-lock
zle recursive-edit
stat=$?
zle -A .self-insert self-insert
zle -A save-caps-lock caps-lock
zle -D save-caps-lock
(( stat )) && zle send-break
return $stat
This causes typed letters to be inserted capitalised until either
accept-line (i.e. typically the return key) is typed or the
caps-lock widget is invoked again; the later is handled by saving
the old definition of caps-lock as save-caps-lock and then re-
binding it to invoke accept-line. Note that an error from the
recursive edit is detected as a non-zero return status and propa-
gated by using the send-break widget.
redisplay (unbound) (^R) (^R)
Redisplays the edit buffer.
reset-prompt (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
Force the prompts on both the left and right of the screen to be
re-expanded, then redisplay the edit buffer. This reflects
changes both to the prompt variables themselves and changes in
the expansion of the values (for example, changes in time or di-
rectory, or changes to the value of variables referred to by the
prompt).
Otherwise, the prompt is only expanded each time zle starts, and
when the display has been interrupted by output from another part
of the shell (such as a job notification) which causes the com-
mand line to be reprinted.
reset-prompt doesn't alter the special parameter LASTWIDGET.
send-break (^G ESC-^G) (unbound) (unbound)
Abort the current editor function, e.g. execute-named-command, or
the editor itself, e.g. if you are in vared. Otherwise abort the
parsing of the current line; in this case the aborted line is
available in the shell variable ZLE_LINE_ABORTED. If the editor
is aborted from within vared, the variable ZLE_VARED_ABORTED is
set.
run-help (ESC-H ESC-h) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
`run-help cmd', where cmd is the current command. run-help is
normally aliased to man.
vi-set-buffer (unbound) (") (unbound)
Specify a buffer to be used in the following command. There are
37 buffers that can be specified: the 26 `named' buffers "a to
"z, the `yank' buffer "0, the nine `queued' buffers "1 to "9 and
the `black hole' buffer "_. The named buffers can also be speci-
fied as "A to "Z.
When a buffer is specified for a cut, change or yank command, the
text concerned replaces the previous contents of the specified
buffer. If a named buffer is specified using a capital, the newly
cut text is appended to the buffer instead of overwriting it.
When using the "_ buffer, nothing happens. This can be useful for
deleting text without affecting any buffers.
If no buffer is specified for a cut or change command, "1 is
used, and the contents of "1 to "8 are each shifted along one
buffer; the contents of "9 is lost. If no buffer is specified for
a yank command, "0 is used. Finally, a paste command without a
specified buffer will paste the text from the most recent command
regardless of any buffer that might have been used with that com-
mand.
When called from a widget function by the zle command, the buffer
can optionally be specified with an argument. For example,
zle vi-set-buffer A
vi-set-mark (unbound) (m) (unbound)
Set the specified mark at the cursor position.
set-mark-command (^@) (unbound) (unbound)
Set the mark at the cursor position. If called with a negative
numeric argument, do not set the mark but deactivate the region
so that it is no longer highlighted (it is still usable for other
purposes). Otherwise the region is marked as active.
spell-word (ESC-$ ESC-S ESC-s) (unbound) (unbound)
Attempt spelling correction on the current word.
split-undo
Breaks the undo sequence at the current change. This is useful
in vi mode as changes made in insert mode are coalesced on enter-
ing command mode. Similarly, undo will normally revert as one
all the changes made by a user-defined widget.
undefined-key
This command is executed when a key sequence that is not bound to
any command is typed. By default it beeps.
undo (^_ ^Xu ^X^U) (u) (unbound)
Incrementally undo the last text modification. When called from
a user-defined widget, takes an optional argument indicating a
previous state of the undo history as returned by the
UNDO_CHANGE_NO variable; modifications are undone until that
state is reached, subject to any limit imposed by the
UNDO_LIMIT_NO variable.
Note that when invoked from vi command mode, the full prior
change made in insert mode is reverted, the changes having been
merged when command mode was selected.
redo (unbound) (^R) (unbound)
Incrementally redo undone text modifications.
vi-undo-change (unbound) (unbound) (unbound)
Undo the last text modification. If repeated, redo the modifica-
tion.
visual-mode (unbound) (v) (unbound)
Toggle vim-style visual selection mode. If line-wise visual mode
is currently enabled then it is changed to being character-wise.
If used following an operator, it forces the subsequent movement
command to be treated as a character-wise movement.
visual-line-mode (unbound) (V) (unbound)
Toggle vim-style line-wise visual selection mode. If charac-
ter-wise visual mode is currently enabled then it is changed to
being line-wise. If used following an operator, it forces the
subsequent movement command to be treated as a line-wise move-
ment.
what-cursor-position (^X=) (ga) (unbound)
Print the character under the cursor, its code as an octal, deci-
mal and hexadecimal number, the current cursor position within
the buffer and the column of the cursor in the current line.
where-is
Read the name of an editor command and print the listing of key
sequences that invoke the specified command. A restricted set of
editing functions is available in the mini-buffer. Keys are
looked up in the special command keymap, and if not found there
in the main keymap.
which-command (ESC-?) (unbound) (unbound)
Push the buffer onto the buffer stack, and execute the command
`which-command cmd'. where cmd is the current command.
which-command is normally aliased to whence.
vi-digit-or-beginning-of-line (unbound) (0) (unbound)
If the last command executed was a digit as part of an argument,
continue the argument. Otherwise, execute vi-beginning-of-line.
Text Objects
Text objects are commands that can be used to select a block of text ac-
cording to some criteria. They are a feature of the vim text editor and
so are primarily intended for use with vi operators or from visual se-
lection mode. However, they can also be used from vi-insert or emacs
mode. Key bindings listed below apply to the viopp and visual keymaps.
select-a-blank-word (aW)
Select a word including adjacent blanks, where a word is defined
as a series of non-blank characters. With a numeric argument,
multiple words will be selected.
select-a-shell-word (aa)
Select the current command argument applying the normal rules for
quoting.
select-a-word (aw)
Select a word including adjacent blanks, using the normal
vi-style word definition. With a numeric argument, multiple words
will be selected.
select-in-blank-word (iW)
Select a word, where a word is defined as a series of non-blank
characters. With a numeric argument, multiple words will be se-
lected.
select-in-shell-word (ia)
Select the current command argument applying the normal rules for
quoting. If the argument begins and ends with matching quote
characters, these are not included in the selection.
select-in-word (iw)
Select a word, using the normal vi-style word definition. With a
numeric argument, multiple words will be selected.
CHARACTER HIGHLIGHTING
The line editor has the ability to highlight characters or regions of
the line that have a particular significance. This is controlled by the
array parameter zle_highlight, if it has been set by the user.
If the parameter contains the single entry none all highlighting is
turned off. Note the parameter is still expected to be an array.
Otherwise each entry of the array should consist of a word indicating a
context for highlighting, then a colon, then a comma-separated list of
the types of highlighting to apply in that context.
The contexts available for highlighting are the following:
default
Any text within the command line not affected by any other high-
lighting. Text outside the editable area of the command line is
not affected.
isearch
When one of the incremental history search widgets is active, the
area of the command line matched by the search string or pattern.
region The currently selected text. In emacs terminology, this is re-
ferred to as the region and is bounded by the cursor (point) and
the mark. The region is only highlighted if it is active, which
is the case after the mark is modified with set-mark-command or
exchange-point-and-mark. Note that whether or not the region is
active has no effect on its use within emacs style widgets, it
simply determines whether it is highlighted. In vi mode, the re-
gion corresponds to selected text in visual mode.
special
Individual characters that have no direct printable representa-
tion but are shown in a special manner by the line editor. These
characters are described below.
suffix This context is used in completion for characters that are marked
as suffixes that will be removed if the completion ends at that
point, the most obvious example being a slash (/) after a direc-
tory name. Note that suffix removal is configurable; the circum-
stances under which the suffix will be removed may differ for
different completions.
paste Following a command to paste text, the characters that were in-
serted.
When region_highlight is set, the contexts that describe a region --
isearch, region, suffix, and paste -- are applied first, then re-
gion_highlight is applied, then the remaining zle_highlight contexts are
applied. If a particular character is affected by multiple specifica-
tions, the last specification wins.
zle_highlight may contain additional fields for controlling how terminal
sequences to change colours are output. Each of the following is fol-
lowed by a colon and a string in the same form as for key bindings.
This will not be necessary for the vast majority of terminals as the de-
faults shown in parentheses are widely used.
fg_start_code (\e[3)
The start of the escape sequence for the foreground colour. This
is followed by one to three ASCII digits representing the colour.
Only used for palette colors, i.e. not 24-bit colors specified
via a color triplet.
fg_default_code (9)
The number to use instead of the colour to reset the default
foreground colour.
fg_end_code (m)
The end of the escape sequence for the foreground colour.
bg_start_code (\e[4)
The start of the escape sequence for the background colour. See
fg_start_code above.
bg_default_code (9)
The number to use instead of the colour to reset the default
background colour.
bg_end_code (m)
The end of the escape sequence for the background colour.
The available types of highlighting are the following. Note that not
all types of highlighting are available on all terminals:
none No highlighting is applied to the given context. It is not use-
ful for this to appear with other types of highlighting; it is
used to override a default.
fg=colour
The foreground colour should be set to colour, a decimal integer,
the name of one of the eight most widely-supported colours or as
a `#' followed by an RGB triplet in hexadecimal format.
Not all terminals support this and, of those that do, not all
provide facilities to test the support, hence the user should de-
cide based on the terminal type. Most terminals support the
colours black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white,
which can be set by name. In addition. default may be used to
set the terminal's default foreground colour. Abbreviations are
allowed; b or bl selects black. Some terminals may generate ad-
ditional colours if the bold attribute is also present.
On recent terminals and on systems with an up-to-date terminal
database the number of colours supported may be tested by the
command `echotc Co'; if this succeeds, it indicates a limit on
the number of colours which will be enforced by the line editor.
The number of colours is in any case limited to 256 (i.e. the
range 0 to 255).
Some modern terminal emulators have support for 24-bit true
colour (16 million colours). In this case, the hex triplet format
can be used. This consists of a `#' followed by either a three or
six digit hexadecimal number describing the red, green and blue
components of the colour. Hex triplets can also be used with 88
and 256 colour terminals via the zsh/nearcolor module (see zsh-
modules(1)).
Colour is also known as color.
bg=colour
The background colour should be set to colour. This works simi-
larly to the foreground colour, except the background is not usu-
ally affected by the bold attribute.
bold The characters in the given context are shown in a bold font.
Not all terminals distinguish bold fonts.
standout
The characters in the given context are shown in the terminal's
standout mode. The actual effect is specific to the terminal; on
many terminals it is inverse video. On some such terminals,
where the cursor does not blink it appears with standout mode
negated, making it less than clear where the cursor actually is.
On such terminals one of the other effects may be preferable for
highlighting the region and matched search string.
underline
The characters in the given context are shown underlined. Some
terminals show the foreground in a different colour instead; in
this case whitespace will not be highlighted.
The characters described above as `special' are as follows. The format-
ting described here is used irrespective of whether the characters are
highlighted:
ASCII control characters
Control characters in the ASCII range are shown as `^' followed
by the base character.
Unprintable multibyte characters
This item applies to control characters not in the ASCII range,
plus other characters as follows. If the MULTIBYTE option is in
effect, multibyte characters not in the ASCII character set that
are reported as having zero width are treated as combining char-
acters when the option COMBINING_CHARS is on. If the option is
off, or if a character appears where a combining character is not
valid, the character is treated as unprintable.
Unprintable multibyte characters are shown as a hexadecimal num-
ber between angle brackets. The number is the code point of the
character in the wide character set; this may or may not be Uni-
code, depending on the operating system.
Invalid multibyte characters
If the MULTIBYTE option is in effect, any sequence of one or more
bytes that does not form a valid character in the current charac-
ter set is treated as a series of bytes each shown as a special
character. This case can be distinguished from other unprintable
characters as the bytes are represented as two hexadecimal digits
between angle brackets, as distinct from the four or eight digits
that are used for unprintable characters that are nonetheless
valid in the current character set.
Not all systems support this: for it to work, the system's repre-
sentation of wide characters must be code values from the Univer-
sal Character Set, as defined by IS0 10646 (also known as Uni-
code).
Wrapped double-width characters
When a double-width character appears in the final column of a
line, it is instead shown on the next line. The empty space left
in the original position is highlighted as a special character.
If zle_highlight is not set or no value applies to a particular context,
the defaults applied are equivalent to
zle_highlight=(region:standout special:standout
suffix:bold isearch:underline paste:standout)
i.e. both the region and special characters are shown in standout mode.
Within widgets, arbitrary regions may be highlighted by setting the spe-
cial array parameter region_highlight; see above.
zsh 5.9 May 14, 2022 ZSHZLE(1)
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