alt Hacker NewsThis reminds me of an excerpt from an old Emacs manual:
. . . if you forget which commands deal with windows, just type @b[ESC-?]@t[window]@b[ESC].
I think the better advice for command-line editing would be to set up the mouse.
Replies
For a bit about the language, read `3bcw` as move `b`ackward by `3` words and `c`hange the `w`ord under the cursor.
The general form of `b` is `[count]b` where
[count] An optional number that may precede the command to multiply
or iterate the command. If no number is given, a count of one
is used, unless otherwise noted. Note that in this manual the
[count] is not mentioned in the description of the command,
but only in the explanation. This was done to make the
commands easier to look up. If the 'showcmd' option is on,
the (partially) entered count is shown at the bottom of the
window. You can use <Del> to erase the last digit (|N<Del>|).
b [count] words backward. |exclusive| motion.
https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/motion.html#b
For `c` it’s
["x]c{motion} Delete {motion} text [into register x] and start
insert. When 'cpoptions' includes the 'E' flag and
there is no text to delete (e.g., with "cTx" when the
cursor is just after an 'x'), an error occurs and
insert mode does not start (this is Vi compatible).
When 'cpoptions' does not include the 'E' flag, the
"c" command always starts insert mode, even if there
is no text to delete.
{motion} A command that moves the cursor. These are explained in
|motion.txt|. Examples:
w to start of next word
b to begin of current word
4j four lines down
/The<CR> to next occurrence of "The"
I think you're confused by the markup. It looks like it's saying Alt-? (Alt and Esc are interchangeable due to terminal reasons) to open up the help search and then type 'window' to search for window commands. Sounds pretty simple to me
> This weird command is presented with such a benevolent innocence as if it's the simplest thing in the world.
I think it's a question of context and familiarity. To a vim user, like me and, I assume, ahmedfromtunis, their examples do indeed seem simple and natural. Presumably, to an emacs user, the example you quote (if it's quoted literally—I don't use emacs and can't even tell) is just as natural, and assuming some comfort with emacs is presumably OK in a manual for the software!
I have yet to see a shell that has mouse enabled line editing support. It should certainly be possible though.
I do prefer vi bindings at the same time though. Vi bindings and mouse support complement each other well, you don't have to choose one or the other, just use whichever feels most natural and convenient in that exact moment.