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5 tty - A command line interface

tty is a simple command line interface program where keystrokes are collected and interpreted. Completed lines are sent to the shell for interpretation. There is a simple history mechanism, which saves previous lines. These can be edited before sending them to the shell. tty is started when Erlang is started with the command:

erl

tty operates in one of two modes:

5.1 Normal Mode

In normal mode keystrokes from the user are collected and interpreted by tty. Most of the emacs line editing commands are supported. The following is a complete list of the supported line editing commands.

Note: The notation C-a means pressing the control key and the letter a simultaneously. M-f means pressing the ESC key followed by the letter f.

tty text editing
Key Sequence Function
C-a Beginning of line
C-b Backward character
M-b Backward word
C-d Delete character
M-d Delete word
C-e End of line
C-f Forward character
M-f Forward word
C-g Enter shell break mode
C-k Kill line
C-l Redraw line
C-n Fetch next line from the history buffer
C-p Fetch previous line from the history buffer
C-t Transpose characters
C-y Insert previously killed text

5.2 Shell Break Mode

tty enters shell break mode when you type Control G. In this mode you can:


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