In zsh how do you bind Ctrl+backspace to delete the previous word?

Question

I'm trying to bind the command usualy binded to ^W with ctrl+backspace.

I have two problem here, one for each parameter of the bindkey command:

While some control key combinations have straightforward ASCII equivalents (Control-H sending ASCII 0x08, for example), control-backspace does not. Your terminal emulator must be configured to generate a string, much like it does for a function key or arrow key. — chepner, Jan 21 '14 at 20:05

score 47 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 25 '22 at 12:03

47

One may use bindkey '^H' backward-kill-word.

edited Aug 25 '22 at 12:03

apaderno

answered Jan 21 '14 at 08:09

psychoslave

6

The related question's accepted answer was updated on 2015-11-09: [The gnome terminal problem seems to be fixed.](https://git.gnome.org/browse/vte/commit/?id=23c7cd0f99d504cbab06d4c27254d4f3e2807ba8) – thorbjornwolf Nov 21 '15 at 14:46
Then whats the keybinding for ctrl+H ? – Midhunraj R Pillai Jan 27 '21 at 10:20
how to specify to `delete everything` (what i typed before hitting `enter`)? – alexzander Jun 11 '21 at 14:07
Try `^U` for everything before the cursor on the current line, `^K` for what comes after. – psychoslave Jun 12 '21 at 04:03

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 12 '22 at 19:19

6

As I pointed out here there is a chance that the keystrokes are different in some systems.

If the output of showkey -a is:

then you should add the following line in your ~/.zshrc file:

bindkey '^?' backward-kill-word

answered Apr 12 '22 at 19:19

G. Sapph

2 Answers2