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