altcharset

Synopsis

/bind <key> altcharset

Description

This built-in keybinding inserts the alternate character set toggle character (Control-E, byte 0x05) at the cursor in the input line. The character appears as a reverse capital E. Insertion respects insert_mode: in overwrite mode it replaces the character at the cursor instead. The cursor advances past the inserted character.

When EPIC displays text containing this character, it toggles the terminal's alternate character set attribute. Whether that changes the appearance of subsequent characters depends on the terminal emulator and its terminal capabilities. It does not convert text to Unicode or select a different text encoding; for ordinary Unicode/UTF-8 text, use the desired Unicode characters directly.

The action takes no arguments or options and has no default key assignment. It edits the input line without sending it or issuing an IRC request. Any extra text supplied with the binding is ignored.

Example

/bind ^X^A altcharset

Press Control-X followed by Control-A to insert the toggle. Insert another toggle after the text that should use the alternate character set to turn the attribute off again.

See bind for key sequence syntax.

Source references

• source/keys.c: action registration and default key assignments.
• source/input.c: insert_altcharset and input_add_character.
• include/irc.h: ALT_TOG character definition.
• source/screen.c: alternate character set toggle processing and terminal attributes.
• source/term.c: reverse control-character display in the input line and terminal attribute output.