The Command Editor

The command line editor allows editing of a command line. It is of use in correcting typing errors or repeating saved commands, possibly after modification.

The command line editor handles the following keystrokes:

Ctrl-A or HOME

Move cursor to start of command.

Ctrl-B or Cursor Left

Move cursor left one place.

Ctrl-D or DELETE

Delete character under cursor.

Ctrl-E or END

Move cursor to end of command.

Ctrl-F or Cursor Right

Move cursor right one place.

Ctrl-G

Exit from the command stack and return to a clear command line.

Ctrl-K

Delete all to the right of the cursor.

Ctrl-L

Convert command to lowercase.

Ctrl-N or Cursor Down

Display "next" command from command stack.

Ctrl-O or Insert

Toggle insert/overlay mode.

Ctrl-P

Display "previous" command from command stack.

Ctrl-R

Search back up the command stack for a given string. The string may be entered either before or after the Ctrl-R. Using Ctrl-R again, finds the next item matching the supplied string. The search is case insensitive.

Ctrl-T

Interchange characters before cursor.

Ctrl-U

Convert command to uppercase.

Ctrl-W

Amend casing of the "word" at or preceding the cursor position, cycling through uppercase, lowercase and title case.

Ctrl-Z or Cursor Up

Display "previous" command from command stack.

Backspace

Backspace one place.

Entering a command line containing only a question mark shows a summary of the command editor keys.

Command Editor Options

The command stack editor operations are controlled by option codes which may be entered in field 3 of the $RELEASE VOC entry. These are:

E	Position the cursor at the end of a recalled command rather than the start.

L	Use the screen size to determine the default number of items shown by .L

O	Start in overlay mode.

S	Show the stack commands when moving back through the stack.

X	Clear the recalled command if the first character typed is not a control code. This mode cannot be used with E.