Using csh & tcsh

What the Settings Mean

There are many special keys on your terminal; the most important are those that per form the erase, kill, werase, rprnt, lnext, stop, start, intr, susp, and eof functions.

Line Editing Settings

The erase, kill, werase, rprnt, and lnext characters let you do simple editing of the current command line. (Some systems do not support werase or rprnt.) If you use tcsh, you also have access to a built-in general purpose editor, described in Chapter 7, The tcsh Command-Line Editor.

erase

To backspace over the last character, type the erase character. Common erase characters are CTRL-H (also known as BACKSPACE) or DEL. Terminals vary in what they provide. There is often a BACKSPACE key that produces CTRL-H, and/or a DEL (or DELETE or RUBOUT) key that produces a DEL character. Some keyboards have only a BACKSPACE or DEL key, but allow you to program the key to produce the character you want.

kill

The kill (line kill) character completely zaps the line you're typing so you can start over. Common kill character settings are CTRL-U or CTRL-X.

werase

The werase (word erase) character erases the last word of your command line with one keystroke. When you need to erase several characters, using word erase is often faster than hitting the erase key over and over. The werase key is usually CTRL-W. (If you're using tcsh, CTRL-W might not do word erase. Try ESC DEL or ESC CTRL-H instead.)

rprnt

The rprnt (reprint) character redisplays the command line you're typing—useful if output gets ...