Adding more Emacs-like bindings to ZSH’s line editor (ZLE)

line-editorzsh

I have a couple of questions regarding the emacs-like keyboard bindings in Zsh. As background to all the questions: I have Emacs-like keybinding activated with bindkey -e (activated by default)

Copying and region highlighting:

In Emacs, if you run C-space (set-mark), select a region and then copy it using M-w, Emacs puts the region in the kill ring and stops selecting text (i.e. if I move the point, no more text is selected).

However, I can't get the same behavior in ZLE. Once I copy a region with M-W, the selection mode is still on, and if I move my cursor, the selection keeps changing.

Stop selection:

In Emacs, if I am selecting a region, and press C-g, the selection stops (the current mark is killed). In Zsh, by default, C-g starts a new line in the shell. So is there a ZLE command that I can bind to (maybe using something different from C-g) to stop an ongoing selection?

Best Answer

To deactivate the selection, run set-mark-command with a negative argument: ESC - Ctrl+Space.

To copy the region and deactivate the selection, write a function that performs the two actions, then declare it as a widget with zle -N and bind that widget to a key.

copy-region-as-kill-deactivate-mark () {
  zle copy-region-as-kill
  zle set-mark-command -n -1
}
zle -N copy-region-as-kill-deactivate-mark
bindkey '\ew' copy-region-as-kill-deactivate-mark

Related Solutions

Using zsh’s line editor to wrap around subprocesses

Here is how you can do it if using GNU screen:

Put a file called zf in your $PATH with:

#! /usr/bin/env zsh
zmodload -i zsh/zle
trap 'printf "\03"; exit' INT
HISTSIZE=100
while a=; vared -p "${2:-zle> }" -eh a; do
{
  s=$(stty -g)
  stty -echo -iexten -isig lnext '' werase '' eof '' rprnt '' kill ''
  printf "%s\r" "$a"
  print -rs -- "$a"
  stty "$s"
} < $1
done
printf "\04"

And then, run the filter in screen as

<Ctrl-A>:exec .!. zf /dev/pts/x "> "

Replace /dev/pts/x with the actual Windows pty (output of tty command in the window), and "> " with the prompt to display.

There will be occasional display glitches as both zsh and the application will write to the terminal in an unconcerted way.

Original at http://www.zsh.org/mla/users/2005/msg00186.html

Bash Emacs – How to Copy and Set Mark in Bash as in Emacs

It doesn't highlight the selection, but otherwise I think it works fine.

Try running

$ bind -p | grep copy-region-as-kill

to make sure that C-x C-r actually worked.

It should say:

"\ew": copy-region-as-kill

After that, it should work fine.

Example:

$ abc<C-Spc><C-a><M-w> def <C-y>

gives me

$ abc def abc

If you ever want to know where mark is, just do C-x C-x.

Example:

$ <C-Spc>abc<C-x><C-x>

will put the cursor back to where you set mark (the start of the line).

Also, I don't think you need to add the set-mark binding. I didn't.

$ bind -p | grep set-mark
"\C-@": set-mark
"\e ": set-mark
# vi-set-mark (not bound)

(note that most terminals send C-@ when C-Spc is pressed. I assume yours does too.)

If all this fails:

does Ctrl+Space work in emacs -nw on the same terminal?
do other Alt/Meta shortcuts work in bash?