Readline shortcuts in forms / insert mode

[The-Compiler]

It'd be nice to have readline shortcuts inside forms. However I'm not sure if it's possible to modify the cursor position etc.

[NoSuck]

This would be a godsend.

[NoSuck]

This would be a godsend.

[jahkeup]

Especially for Emacs users! 👍

[jahkeup]

Especially for Emacs users! 👍

[The-Compiler]

FWIW you can do some of those things with bindings using the fake-key command:

:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-a> fake-key <Home>
:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-k> fake-key <Shift-End> ;; fake-key <Delete>
...

still I'm hesitant to add those bindings by default - I think most users would still expect e.g. ctrl-a to select all.

[The-Compiler]

FWIW you can do some of those things with bindings using the fake-key command:

:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-a> fake-key <Home>
:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-k> fake-key <Shift-End> ;; fake-key <Delete>
...

still I'm hesitant to add those bindings by default - I think most users would still expect e.g. ctrl-a to select all.

[Al-Caveman]

Personally I have (thanks to The-Compiler for tellng me over IRC):

:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-a> fake-key <Home>
:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-e> fake-key <End>
:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-k> fake-key <Shift-End> ;; fake-key <Delete>

And this works perfectly for me so far.

[Al-Caveman]

Personally I have (thanks to The-Compiler for tellng me over IRC):

:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-a> fake-key <Home>
:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-e> fake-key <End>
:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-k> fake-key <Shift-End> ;; fake-key <Delete>

And this works perfectly for me so far.

[Chinggis6]

alias imap "bind --force --mode insert"
imap <Ctrl-h> fake-key <Backspace>
imap <Backspace> message-info "Use Ctrl-H!"

If you hate Backspace 😉

[Chinggis6]

alias imap "bind --force --mode insert"
imap <Ctrl-h> fake-key <Backspace>
imap <Backspace> message-info "Use Ctrl-H!"

If you hate Backspace 😉

[wsdjeg]

How about <Ctrl+w>? seems hard to bind.

[wsdjeg]

How about <Ctrl+w>? seems hard to bind.

[wsdjeg]

:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-u> fake-key <Shift+Home> ;; fake-key <Delete>

[wsdjeg]

:bind --mode=insert <Ctrl-u> fake-key <Shift+Home> ;; fake-key <Delete>

[pkillnine]

@wsdjeg bind --mode insert <Ctrl-w> fake-key <Ctrl-backspace>

[pkillnine]

@wsdjeg bind --mode insert <Ctrl-w> fake-key <Ctrl-backspace>

[krompus]

@pkillnine also, make sure you don't have <Ctrl-w> set to close tab; that caused me some headaches back on Pentadactyl before I unbound it. Then my issue was accidentally closing tabs when using default browsers. #justemacsproblems

[krompus]

@pkillnine also, make sure you don't have <Ctrl-w> set to close tab; that caused me some headaches back on Pentadactyl before I unbound it. Then my issue was accidentally closing tabs when using default browsers. #justemacsproblems

[rndusr]

I think the fake-key hack should be documented in the FAQ or something.

Being forced to use the cursor keys until I found this issue was probably the
biggest hurdle for me. I had to find the fake-key hack and then figure out the
shortcuts, like . I would've been absolutely delighted to find
something like this:

c.bindings.commands = {
    'insert': {
        '<Ctrl-f>'        : 'fake-key <Right>',
        '<Ctrl-b>'        : 'fake-key <Left>',
        '<Ctrl-a>'        : 'fake-key <Home>',
        '<Ctrl-e>'        : 'fake-key <End>',
        '<Ctrl-n>'        : 'fake-key <Down>',
        '<Ctrl-p>'        : 'fake-key <Up>',
        '<Alt-v>'         : 'fake-key <PgUp>',
        '<Ctrl-v>'        : 'fake-key <PgDown>',
        '<Alt-f>'         : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Right>',
        '<Alt-b>'         : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Left>',
        '<Ctrl-d>'        : 'fake-key <Delete>',
        '<Alt-d>'         : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Delete>',
        '<Alt-Backspace>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Backspace>',
        '<Ctrl-y>'        : 'insert-text {primary}',
    }
}

[rndusr]

I think the fake-key hack should be documented in the FAQ or something.

Being forced to use the cursor keys until I found this issue was probably the
biggest hurdle for me. I had to find the fake-key hack and then figure out the
shortcuts, like . I would've been absolutely delighted to find
something like this:

c.bindings.commands = {
    'insert': {
        '<Ctrl-f>'        : 'fake-key <Right>',
        '<Ctrl-b>'        : 'fake-key <Left>',
        '<Ctrl-a>'        : 'fake-key <Home>',
        '<Ctrl-e>'        : 'fake-key <End>',
        '<Ctrl-n>'        : 'fake-key <Down>',
        '<Ctrl-p>'        : 'fake-key <Up>',
        '<Alt-v>'         : 'fake-key <PgUp>',
        '<Ctrl-v>'        : 'fake-key <PgDown>',
        '<Alt-f>'         : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Right>',
        '<Alt-b>'         : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Left>',
        '<Ctrl-d>'        : 'fake-key <Delete>',
        '<Alt-d>'         : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Delete>',
        '<Alt-Backspace>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Backspace>',
        '<Ctrl-y>'        : 'insert-text {primary}',
    }
}

[jgkamat]

I agree the visibility of this issue could be a lot better. Ideally we could just maintain something like the snippet you just posted somewhere. I'm not sure if it would make too much sense in the FAQ, but I wouldn't object to adding it there :) Maybe we should just close this issue after we do that, while we could implement this in js somehow, I don't think there's a reason to since these bindings work very well (I've been using it for quite a while). rndusr writes:

…

I think the fake-key hack should be documented in the FAQ or something. Being forced to use the cursor keys until I found this issue was probably the biggest hurdle for me. I had to find the fake-key hack and then figure out the shortcuts, like . I would've been absolutely delighted to find something like this: c.bindings.commands = { 'insert': { '<Ctrl-f>' : 'fake-key <Right>', '<Ctrl-b>' : 'fake-key <Left>', '<Ctrl-a>' : 'fake-key <Home>', '<Ctrl-e>' : 'fake-key <End>', '<Ctrl-n>' : 'fake-key <Down>', '<Ctrl-p>' : 'fake-key <Up>', '<Alt-v>' : 'fake-key <PgUp>', '<Ctrl-v>' : 'fake-key <PgDown>', '<Alt-f>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Right>', '<Alt-b>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Left>', '<Ctrl-d>' : 'fake-key <Delete>', '<Alt-d>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Delete>', '<Alt-Backspace>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Backspace>', '<Ctrl-y>' : 'insert-text {primary}', } } — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[jgkamat]

I agree the visibility of this issue could be a lot better. Ideally we could just maintain something like the snippet you just posted somewhere. I'm not sure if it would make too much sense in the FAQ, but I wouldn't object to adding it there :) Maybe we should just close this issue after we do that, while we could implement this in js somehow, I don't think there's a reason to since these bindings work very well (I've been using it for quite a while). rndusr writes:

…

I think the fake-key hack should be documented in the FAQ or something. Being forced to use the cursor keys until I found this issue was probably the biggest hurdle for me. I had to find the fake-key hack and then figure out the shortcuts, like . I would've been absolutely delighted to find something like this: c.bindings.commands = { 'insert': { '<Ctrl-f>' : 'fake-key <Right>', '<Ctrl-b>' : 'fake-key <Left>', '<Ctrl-a>' : 'fake-key <Home>', '<Ctrl-e>' : 'fake-key <End>', '<Ctrl-n>' : 'fake-key <Down>', '<Ctrl-p>' : 'fake-key <Up>', '<Alt-v>' : 'fake-key <PgUp>', '<Ctrl-v>' : 'fake-key <PgDown>', '<Alt-f>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Right>', '<Alt-b>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Left>', '<Ctrl-d>' : 'fake-key <Delete>', '<Alt-d>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Delete>', '<Alt-Backspace>' : 'fake-key <Ctrl-Backspace>', '<Ctrl-y>' : 'insert-text {primary}', } } — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[rndusr]

How about making this configurable with a boolean setting?

That snippet I posted above is a very elaborate "readline-keybindings =
True". There is no need to spell it out in every detail like that.

A setting would also solve the discoverability issue. It would be documented
together with the other settings and you could find it by searching for
"readline" on the settings reference page.

[rndusr]

How about making this configurable with a boolean setting?

That snippet I posted above is a very elaborate "readline-keybindings =
True". There is no need to spell it out in every detail like that.

A setting would also solve the discoverability issue. It would be documented
together with the other settings and you could find it by searching for
"readline" on the settings reference page.

[The-Compiler]

Someone would first need to verify (ideally by writing tests) that those keybindings work as expected, and also do so on macOS and Windows. FWIW I'd still prefer a proper implementation of the same movements using JS though.

[The-Compiler]

Someone would first need to verify (ideally by writing tests) that those keybindings work as expected, and also do so on macOS and Windows. FWIW I'd still prefer a proper implementation of the same movements using JS though.

[The-Compiler]

Another point raised in #4298: Some of those keybindings (like Ctrl-U) overwrite primary selection, which is unexpected - that wouldn't happen if this were properly implemented in JavaScript.

[The-Compiler]

Another point raised in #4298: Some of those keybindings (like Ctrl-U) overwrite primary selection, which is unexpected - that wouldn't happen if this were properly implemented in JavaScript.