1: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-8.1 since
2: the release of readline-8.0.
3:
4: New Features in Readline
5:
6: a. If a second consecutive completion attempt produces matches where the first
7: did not, treat it as a new completion attempt and insert a match as
8: appropriate.
9:
10: b. Bracketed paste mode works in more places: incremental search strings, vi
11: overstrike mode, character search, and reading numeric arguments.
12:
13: c. Readline automatically switches to horizontal scrolling if the terminal has
14: only one line.
15:
16: d. Unbinding all key sequences bound to a particular readline function now
17: descends into keymaps for multi-key sequences.
18:
19: e. rl-clear-display: new bindable command that clears the screen and, if
20: possible, the scrollback buffer (bound to emacs mode M-C-l by default).
21:
22: f. New active mark and face feature: when enabled, it will highlight the text
23: inserted by a bracketed paste (the `active region') and the text found by
24: incremental and non-incremental history searches. This is tied to bracketed
25: paste and can be disabled by turning off bracketed paste.
26:
27: g. Readline sets the mark in several additional commands.
28:
29: h. Bracketed paste mode is enabled by default. There is a configure-time
30: option (--enable-bracketed-paste-default) to set the default to on or off.
31:
32: i. Readline tries to take advantage of the more regular structure of UTF-8
33: characters to identify the beginning and end of characters when moving
34: through the line buffer.
35:
36: j. The bindable operate-and-get-next command (and its default bindings) are
37: now part of readline instead of a bash-specific addition.
38:
39: k. The signal cleanup code now blocks SIGINT while processing after a SIGINT.
40:
41: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
42: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-8.0 since
43: the release of readline-7.0.
44:
45: New Features in Readline
46:
47: a. Non-incremental vi-mode search (`N', `n') can search for a shell pattern, as
48: Posix specifies (uses fnmatch(3) if available).
49:
50: b. There are new `next-screen-line' and `previous-screen-line' bindable
51: commands, which move the cursor to the same column in the next, or previous,
52: physical line, respectively.
53:
54: c. There are default key bindings for control-arrow-key key combinations.
55:
56: d. A negative argument (-N) to `quoted-insert' means to insert the next N
57: characters using quoted-insert.
58:
59: e. New public function: rl_check_signals(), which allows applications to
60: respond to signals that readline catches while waiting for input using
61: a custom read function.
62:
63: f. There is new support for conditionally testing the readline version in an
64: inputrc file, with a full set of arithmetic comparison operators available.
65:
66: g. There is a simple variable comparison facility available for use within an
67: inputrc file. Allowable operators are equality and inequality; string
68: variables may be compared to a value; boolean variables must be compared to
69: either `on' or `off'; variable names are separated from the operator by
70: whitespace.
71:
72: h. The history expansion library now understands command and process
73: substitution and extended globbing and allows them to appear anywhere in a
74: word.
75:
76: i. The history library has a new variable that allows applications to set the
77: initial quoting state, so quoting state can be inherited from a previous
78: line.
79:
80: j. Readline now allows application-defined keymap names; there is a new public
81: function, rl_set_keymap_name(), to do that.
82:
83: k. The "Insert" keypad key, if available, now puts readline into overwrite
84: mode.
85:
86: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
87: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-7.0 since
88: the release of readline-6.3.
89:
90: New Features in Readline
91:
92: a. The history truncation code now uses the same error recovery mechansim as
93: the history writing code, and restores the old version of the history file
94: on error. The error recovery mechanism handles symlinked history files.
95:
96: b. There is a new bindable variable, `enable-bracketed-paste', which enables
97: support for a terminal's bracketed paste mode.
98:
99: c. The editing mode indicators can now be strings and are user-settable
100: (new `emacs-mode-string', `vi-cmd-mode-string' and `vi-ins-mode-string'
101: variables). Mode strings can contain invisible character sequences.
102: Setting mode strings to null strings restores the defaults.
103:
104: d. Prompt expansion adds the mode string to the last line of a multi-line
105: prompt (one with embedded newlines).
106:
107: e. There is a new bindable variable, `colored-completion-prefix', which, if
108: set, causes the common prefix of a set of possible completions to be
109: displayed in color.
110:
111: f. There is a new bindable command `vi-yank-pop', a vi-mode version of emacs-
112: mode yank-pop.
113:
114: g. The redisplay code underwent several efficiency improvements for multibyte
115: locales.
116:
117: h. The insert-char function attempts to batch-insert all pending typeahead
118: that maps to self-insert, as long as it is coming from the terminal.
119:
120: i. rl_callback_sigcleanup: a new application function that can clean up and
121: unset any state set by readline's callback mode. Intended to be used
122: after a signal.
123:
124: j. If an incremental search string has its last character removed with DEL, the
125: resulting empty search string no longer matches the previous line.
126:
127: k. If readline reads a history file that begins with `#' (or the value of
128: the history comment character) and has enabled history timestamps, the history
129: entries are assumed to be delimited by timestamps. This allows multi-line
130: history entries.
131:
132: l. Readline now throws an error if it parses a key binding without a terminating
133: `:' or whitespace.
134:
135: m. The default binding for ^W in vi mode now uses word boundaries specified
136: by Posix (vi-unix-word-rubout is bindable command name).
137:
138: n. rl_clear_visible_line: new application-callable function; clears all
139: screen lines occupied by the current visible readline line.
140:
141: o. rl_tty_set_echoing: application-callable function that controls whether
142: or not readline thinks it is echoing terminal output.
143:
144: p. Handle >| and strings of digits preceding and following redirection
145: specifications as single tokens when tokenizing the line for history
146: expansion.
147:
148: q. Fixed a bug with displaying completions when the prefix display length
149: is greater than the length of the completions to be displayed.
150:
151: r. The :p history modifier now applies to the entire line, so any expansion
152: specifying :p causes the line to be printed instead of expanded.
153:
154: s. New application-callable function: rl_pending_signal(): returns the signal
155: number of any signal readline has caught but not yet handled.
156:
157: t. New application-settable variable: rl_persistent_signal_handlers: if set
158: to a non-zero value, readline will enable the readline-6.2 signal handler
159: behavior in callback mode: handlers are installed when
160: rl_callback_handler_install is called and removed removed when a complete
161: line has been read.
162:
163: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
164: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-6.3 since
165: the release of readline-6.2.
166:
167: New Features in Readline
168:
169: a. Readline is now more responsive to SIGHUP and other fatal signals when
170: reading input from the terminal or performing word completion but no
171: longer attempts to run any not-allowable functions from a signal handler
172: context.
173:
174: b. There are new bindable commands to search the history for the string of
175: characters between the beginning of the line and the point
176: (history-substring-search-forward, history-substring-search-backward)
177:
178: c. Readline allows quoted strings as the values of variables when setting
179: them with `set'. As a side effect, trailing spaces and tabs are ignored
180: when setting a string variable's value.
181:
182: d. The history library creates a backup of the history file when writing it
183: and restores the backup on a write error.
184:
185: e. New application-settable variable: rl_filename_stat_hook: a function called
186: with a filename before using it in a call to stat(2). Bash uses it to
187: expand shell variables so things like $HOME/Downloads have a slash
188: appended.
189:
190: f. New bindable function `print-last-kbd-macro', prints the most-recently-
191: defined keyboard macro in a reusable format.
192:
193: g. New user-settable variable `colored-stats', enables use of colored text
194: to denote file types when displaying possible completions (colored analog
195: of visible-stats).
196:
197: h. New user-settable variable `keyseq-timout', acts as an inter-character
198: timeout when reading input or incremental search strings.
199:
200: i. New application-callable function: rl_clear_history. Clears the history list
201: and frees all readline-associated private data.
202:
203: j. New user-settable variable, show-mode-in-prompt, adds a characters to the
204: beginning of the prompt indicating the current editing mode.
205:
206: k. New application-settable variable: rl_input_available_hook; function to be
207: called when readline detects there is data available on its input file
208: descriptor.
209:
210: l. Readline calls an application-set event hook (rl_event_hook) after it gets
211: a signal while reading input (read returns -1/EINTR but readline does not
212: handle the signal immediately) to allow the application to handle or
213: otherwise note it.
214:
215: m. If the user-settable variable `history-size' is set to a value less than
216: 0, the history list size is unlimited.
217:
218: n. New application-settable variable: rl_signal_event_hook; function that is
219: called when readline is reading terminal input and read(2) is interrupted
220: by a signal. Currently not called for SIGHUP or SIGTERM.
221:
222: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
223: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-6.2 since
224: the release of readline-6.1.
225:
226: a. The history library does not try to write the history filename in the
227: current directory if $HOME is unset. This closes a potential security
228: problem if the application does not specify a history filename.
229:
230: b. New bindable variable `completion-display-width' to set the number of
231: columns used when displaying completions.
232:
233: c. New bindable variable `completion-case-map' to cause case-insensitive
234: completion to treat `-' and `_' as identical.
235:
236: d. There are new bindable vi-mode command names to avoid readline's case-
237: insensitive matching not allowing them to be bound separately.
238:
239: e. New bindable variable `menu-complete-display-prefix' causes the menu
240: completion code to display the common prefix of the possible completions
241: before cycling through the list, instead of after.
242:
243: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
244: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-6.1 since
245: the release of readline-6.0.
246:
247: New Features in Readline
248:
249: a. New bindable function: menu-complete-backward.
250:
251: b. In the vi insertion keymap, C-n is now bound to menu-complete by default,
252: and C-p to menu-complete-backward.
253:
254: c. When in vi command mode, repeatedly hitting ESC now does nothing, even
255: when ESC introduces a bound key sequence. This is closer to how
256: historical vi behaves.
257:
258: d. New bindable function: skip-csi-sequence. Can be used as a default to
259: consume key sequences generated by keys like Home and End without having
260: to bind all keys.
261:
262: e. New application-settable function: rl_filename_rewrite_hook. Can be used
263: to rewite or modify filenames read from the file system before they are
264: compared to the word to be completed.
265:
266: f. New bindable variable: skip-completed-text, active when completing in the
267: middle of a word. If enabled, it means that characters in the completion
268: that match characters in the remainder of the word are "skipped" rather
269: than inserted into the line.
270:
271: g. The pre-readline-6.0 version of menu completion is available as
272: "old-menu-complete" for users who do not like the readline-6.0 version.
273:
274: h. New bindable variable: echo-control-characters. If enabled, and the
275: tty ECHOCTL bit is set, controls the echoing of characters corresponding
276: to keyboard-generated signals.
277:
278: i. New bindable variable: enable-meta-key. Controls whether or not readline
279: sends the smm/rmm sequences if the terminal indicates it has a meta key
280: that enables eight-bit characters.
281:
282: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
283: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-6.0 since
284: the release of readline-5.2.
285:
286: New Features in Readline
287:
288: a. A new variable, rl_sort_completion_matches; allows applications to inhibit
289: match list sorting (but beware: some things don't work right if
290: applications do this).
291:
292: b. A new variable, rl_completion_invoking_key; allows applications to discover
293: the key that invoked rl_complete or rl_menu_complete.
294:
295: c. The functions rl_block_sigint and rl_release_sigint are now public and
296: available to calling applications who want to protect critical sections
297: (like redisplay).
298:
299: d. The functions rl_save_state and rl_restore_state are now public and
300: available to calling applications; documented rest of readline's state
301: flag values.
302:
303: e. A new user-settable variable, `history-size', allows setting the maximum
304: number of entries in the history list.
305:
306: f. There is a new implementation of menu completion, with several improvements
307: over the old; the most notable improvement is a better `completions
308: browsing' mode.
309:
310: g. The menu completion code now uses the rl_menu_completion_entry_function
311: variable, allowing applications to provide their own menu completion
312: generators.
313:
314: h. There is support for replacing a prefix of a pathname with a `...' when
315: displaying possible completions. This is controllable by setting the
316: `completion-prefix-display-length' variable. Matches with a common prefix
317: longer than this value have the common prefix replaced with `...'.
318:
319: i. There is a new `revert-all-at-newline' variable. If enabled, readline will
320: undo all outstanding changes to all history lines when `accept-line' is
321: executed.
322:
323: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
324: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-5.2 since
325: the release of readline-5.1.
326:
327: New Features in Readline
328:
329: a. Calling applications can now set the keyboard timeout to 0, allowing
330: poll-like behavior.
331:
332: b. The value of SYS_INPUTRC (configurable at compilation time) is now used as
333: the default last-ditch startup file.
334:
335: c. The history file reading functions now allow windows-like \r\n line
336: terminators.
337:
338: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
339: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-5.1 since
340: the release of readline-5.0.
341:
342: New Features in Readline
343:
344: a. The key sequence sent by the keypad `delete' key is now automatically
345: bound to delete-char.
346:
347: b. A negative argument to menu-complete now cycles backward through the
348: completion list.
349:
350: c. A new bindable readline variable: bind-tty-special-chars. If non-zero,
351: readline will bind the terminal special characters to their readline
352: equivalents when it's called (on by default).
353:
354: d. New bindable command: vi-rubout. Saves deleted text for possible
355: reinsertion, as with any vi-mode `text modification' command; `X' is bound
356: to this in vi command mode.
357:
358: e. If the rl_completion_query_items is set to a value < 0, readline never
359: asks the user whether or not to view the possible completions.
360:
361: f. New application-callable auxiliary function, rl_variable_value, returns
362: a string corresponding to a readline variable's value.
363:
364: g. When parsing inputrc files and variable binding commands, the parser
365: strips trailing whitespace from values assigned to boolean variables
366: before checking them.
367:
368: h. A new external application-controllable variable that allows the LINES
369: and COLUMNS environment variables to set the window size regardless of
370: what the kernel returns.
371:
372:
373: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
374: This is a terse description of the new features added to readline-5.0 since
375: the release of readline-4.3.
376:
377: New Features in Readline
378:
379: a. History expansion has a new `a' modifier equivalent to the `g' modifier
380: for compatibility with the BSD csh.
381:
382: b. History expansion has a new `G' modifier equivalent to the BSD csh `g'
383: modifier, which performs a substitution once per word.
384:
385: c. All non-incremental search operations may now undo the operation of
386: replacing the current line with the history line.
387:
388: d. The text inserted by an `a' command in vi mode can be reinserted with
389: `.'.
390:
391: e. New bindable variable, `show-all-if-unmodified'. If set, the readline
392: completer will list possible completions immediately if there is more
393: than one completion and partial completion cannot be performed.
394:
395: f. There is a new application-callable `free_history_entry()' function.
396:
397: g. History list entries now contain timestamp information; the history file
398: functions know how to read and write timestamp information associated
399: with each entry.
400:
401: h. Four new key binding functions have been added:
402:
403: rl_bind_key_if_unbound()
404: rl_bind_key_if_unbound_in_map()
405: rl_bind_keyseq_if_unbound()
406: rl_bind_keyseq_if_unbound_in_map()
407:
408: i. New application variable, rl_completion_quote_character, set to any
409: quote character readline finds before it calls the application completion
410: function.
411:
412: j. New application variable, rl_completion_suppress_quote, settable by an
413: application completion function. If set to non-zero, readline does not
414: attempt to append a closing quote to a completed word.
415:
416: k. New application variable, rl_completion_found_quote, set to a non-zero
417: value if readline determines that the word to be completed is quoted.
418: Set before readline calls any application completion function.
419:
420: l. New function hook, rl_completion_word_break_hook, called when readline
421: needs to break a line into words when completion is attempted. Allows
422: the word break characters to vary based on position in the line.
423:
424: m. New bindable command: unix-filename-rubout. Does the same thing as
425: unix-word-rubout, but adds `/' to the set of word delimiters.
426:
427: n. When listing completions, directories have a `/' appended if the
428: `mark-directories' option has been enabled.
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