GNU Info

(zsh.info)Keymaps

---

Next: Zle Builtins Up: Zsh Line Editor

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

Keymaps
=======

A keymap in ZLE contains a set of bindings between key sequences and
ZLE commands.  The empty key sequence cannot be bound.

There can be any number of keymaps at any time, and each keymap has one
or more names.  If all of a keymap's names are deleted, it disappears.
bindkey can be used to manipulate keymap names.

Initially, there are four keymaps:

emacs
     EMACS emulation

viins
     vi emulation - insert mode

vicmd
     vi emulation - command mode

.safe
     fallback keymap

The `.safe' keymap is special.  It can never be altered, and the name
can never be removed.  However, it can be linked to other names, which
can be removed.  In the future other special keymaps may be added;
users should avoid using names beginning with `.' for their own keymaps.

In addition to these four names, either `emacs' or `viins' is also
linked to the name `main'.  If one of the VISUAL or EDITOR environment
variables contain the string `vi' when the shell starts up then it will
be `viins', otherwise it will be `emacs'.  bindkey's -e and -v options
provide a convenient way to override this default choice.

When the editor starts up, it will select the `main' keymap.  If that
keymap doesn't exist, it will use `.safe' instead.

In the `.safe' keymap, each single key is bound to self-insert, except
for ^J (line feed) and ^M (return) which are bound to accept-line.
This is deliberately not pleasant to use; if you are using it, it means
you deleted the main keymap, and you should put it back.

Reading Commands
----------------

When ZLE is reading a command from the terminal, it may read a sequence
that is bound to some command and is also a prefix of a longer bound
string.  In this case ZLE will wait a certain time to see if more
characters are typed, and if not (or they don't match any longer
string) it will execute the binding.  This timeout is defined by the
KEYTIMEOUT parameter; its default is 0.4 sec.  There is no timeout if
the prefix string is not itself bound to a command.

As well as ZLE commands, key sequences can be bound to other strings,
by using `bindkey -s'.  When such a sequence is read, the replacement
string is pushed back as input, and the command reading process starts
again using these fake keystrokes.  This input can itself invoke
further replacement strings, but in order to detect loops the process
will be stopped if there are twenty such replacements without a real
command being read.