[Toc][Index]

Command-Line Editing


The command line works like a single-line word processor, allowing you to 
edit any part of the command at any time before you press Enter to execute 
it, or Esc to erase it.  The command line you enter can be up to 1023 
characters long. 
You can use the following editing keys when you are typing a command (the 
words Ctrl and Shift mean to press the Ctrl or Shift key together with the 
other key named): 
Cursor Movement Keys: 
                       Move the cursor left one character. 
        >               Move the cursor right one character. 
        Ctrl           Move the cursor left one word. 
        Ctrl >          Move the cursor right one word. 
        Home            Move the cursor to the beginning of the line. 
        End             Move the cursor to the end of the line. 
 
 Insert and Delete: 
        Ins             Toggle between insert and overtype mode. 
        Del             Delete the character at the cursor. 
        Backspace       Delete the character to the left of the cursor. 
        Ctrl-L          Delete the word or partial word to the left of the 
                        cursor. 
        Ctrl-R          or Ctrl-Bksp   Delete the word or partial word to 
                        the right of the cursor. 
        Ctrl-Home       Delete from the beginning of the line to the 
                        cursor. 
        Ctrl-End        Delete from the cursor to the end of the line. 
        Esc             Delete the entire line. 
 
 Execution: 
        Ctrl-C          or Ctrl-Break  Cancel the command line. 
        Enter           Execute the command line. 
 
 Most of the command-line editing capabilities are also available when a 
 CMD.EXE command prompts you for a line of input.  For example, you can 
 use the command-line editing keys when DESCRIBE prompts for a file 
 description, when INPUT prompts for input from an alias or batch file, or 
 when LIST prompts you for a search string. 
 If you want your input at the command line to be in a different color 
 from CMD.EXE's prompts or output, you can use the Display page of the 
 OPTION dialogs, or the InputColors directive in CMD.INI. 
 CMD.EXE will prompt for additional command-line text when you include the 
 escape character as the very last character of a typed command line.  The 
 default escape character is the caret [^].  For example: 

 
         [c:\] echo The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy^
         More? sleeping dog. > alphabet
 
 
 Sometimes you may want to enter one of the command line editing 
 keystrokes on the command line, instead of performing the key's usual 
 action.  For example, suppose you have a program that requires a Ctrl-R 
 character on its command line.  Normally you couldn't type this keystroke 
 at the prompt, because it would be interpreted as a "Delete word right" 
 command. 
 To get around this problem, use the special keystroke Alt-255. You enter 
 Alt-255 by holding down the Alt key while you type 255 on the numeric 
 keypad, then releasing the Alt key (you must use the number keys on the 
 numeric pad; the row of keys at the top of your keyboard won't work). 
  This forces CMD.EXE to interpret the next keystroke literally and places 
 it on the command line, ignoring any special meaning it would normally 
 have as a command-line editing or history keystroke.  You can use Alt-255 
 to suppress the normal meaning of command-line editing keystrokes even if 
 they have been reassigned with key mapping directives in the .INI file, 
 and Alt-255 itself can be reassigned with the CommandEscape directive. 

Created using Inf-PHP v.2 (c) 2003 Yuri Prokushev
Created using Inf-HTML v.0.9b (c) 1995 Peter Childs