Entering text in the terminal is complicated \ stacker news ~devs

Entering text in the terminal is complicated jvns.ca/blog/2024/07/08/readline/

276 sats \ 8 comments \ @kepford 8 Jul devs

Julia Evans explains how readline works in the terminal.

Some good tips in this one. I have used many of these for well over 10 years.

110 sats \ 0 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 8 Jul

Man, this is a fantastic overview. The inconsistencies in various shells have driven me nuts, and I'd never really though about the "why" beneath it.

110 sats \ 6 replies \ @k00b 8 Jul

One of my top ten frustrations is expecting readline in an interactive mode and not getting it.

I hadn't heard of rlwrap. I'll have to give a try next time this happens.

10 sats \ 5 replies \ @kepford OP 8 Jul

Yeah, new to me as well.

55 sats \ 4 replies \ @k00b 8 Jul

I also hadn't used ctrl-w or crtl-u before. On mac, I use alt-right/left arrow rather than ctrl-rl-arrow to cursor over words.

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 8 Jul

These little tips man, they are gold. Years ago I used to do a talk called "Cracking the Shell" that was just a bunch of stuff like this I'd picked up over the years. I know I'm not even scratching the surface. So many little tips and tricks.

19 sats \ 2 replies \ @kepford OP 8 Jul

If you add this to your bashrc you can use vim key bindings to edit your commands.

set -o vi

Then if you write a command out and then press escape, you can use vim motions to move around and edit your command. Its mentioned in the post but not explained.

I find that useful.

55 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 8 Jul

I'm not a vim guy! I've always used a non-terminal-based editor. I can get around in vim for quick and dirty remote hot fixes, but I'm no wiz.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 8 Jul

Ah, then you would not gain anything from this :)