Xfce Forum

jt1122

Member

Registered: 2021-03-26

Posts: 245

Terminal keybindings

Hi,

Is it possible to bind in the xfce4-terminal a *sequence* of keys to simulate another keyboard input, for example:
ESC+left arrow would be mapped to ^L (so any app running in therminal would receive ^L once ESC+left arrow have been entered)
ESC-x ESC - y would be mapped to ^K

etc.

Thanks.

KBar

Member

Registered: 2021-11-05

Posts: 689

Re: Terminal keybindings

Sure it is.

If your shell is bash (if you don't know, then it most likely is), you can rebind those keys as long as there is a readline function for what you're looking for. So for clearing the screen, which is what the ^L control character does, you'd do the following:

# clear any existing binding first:
bind -r '\e\e[D'
# then bind it to a function
bind '"\e\e[D": clear-screen'

man readline & help bind for more.

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jt1122

Member

Registered: 2021-03-26

Posts: 245

Re: Terminal keybindings

Thanks.

I'm familiar with readline.

I'll clarify what I'm trying to achieve: some terminal apps (like text editors) don't support key sequences but only combinations like ctrl-<key> or alt-<key> where <key> is a letter (no special char or escape codes).

So I'm wondering if this example is doable:
esc+left arrow -> converted into ctrl-x -> fed into the terminal app-> app performs some actions

Cheers

jt1122

Member

Registered: 2021-03-26

Posts: 245

Re: Terminal keybindings

bump