The /etc/inputrc
file deals with mapping
the keyboard for specific situations. This file is the start-up file
used by Readline — the input-related library — used by Bash
and most other shells.
Most people do not need user-specific keyboard mappings so
the command below creates a global /etc/inputrc
used by everyone who logs in. If you later decide you need to override
the defaults on a per-user basis, you can create a
.inputrc
file in the user's home directory with
the modified mappings.
For more information on how to edit the inputrc
file, see info bash under the Readline Init
File section. info readline is also a good
source of information.
Below is a generic global inputrc
along
with comments to explain what the various options do. Note that
comments cannot be on the same line as commands. Create the file
using the following command:
cat > /etc/inputrc << "EOF"
# Begin /etc/inputrc
# Modified by Chris Lynn <roryo@roryo.dynup.net>
# Allow the command prompt to wrap to the next line
set horizontal-scroll-mode Off
# Enable 8bit input
set meta-flag On
set input-meta On
# Turns off 8th bit stripping
set convert-meta Off
# Keep the 8th bit for display
set output-meta On
# none, visible or audible
set bell-style none
# All of the following map the escape sequence of the
# value contained inside the 1st argument to the
# readline specific functions
"\eOd": backward-word
"\eOc": forward-word
# for linux console
"\e[1~": beginning-of-line
"\e[4~": end-of-line
"\e[5~": beginning-of-history
"\e[6~": end-of-history
"\e[3~": delete-char
"\e[2~": quoted-insert
# for xterm
"\eOH": beginning-of-line
"\eOF": end-of-line
# for Konsole
"\e[H": beginning-of-line
"\e[F": end-of-line
# End /etc/inputrc
EOF