delete_previous_word

Synopsis

/bind <key> delete_previous_word

Description

Delete text backward from the input cursor to the beginning of the current or previous word. Within a word, the beginning of that word is removed. At the first character of a word, on a separator, or at the end of the line, the action moves backward through separators and the preceding word, deleting the region it crosses. The character under the original cursor is not deleted.

The deleted text replaces the cut buffer and can be restored with yank_from_cutbuffer. The cursor moves to the beginning of the deleted region and the remaining text shifts left. At the start of the input line, including on an empty line, nothing happens and the cut buffer is unchanged.

Words are separated by characters in word_break, which defaults to space and tab. If that setting is unset, space and tab are also used. Only ASCII characters below DEL are recognized as separators; non-ASCII characters added to the setting do not become separators for this action. If backward movement reaches the start of the input line, deletion extends to that position even when the line begins with separators.

This built-in action takes no arguments or options; extra text supplied with the binding is ignored. It behaves the same in insert and overwrite modes and does not send the input line or issue an IRC request.

The default bindings are ^[h (Escape followed by lowercase h) and ^[^? (Escape followed by DEL). Scripts can change them; the latter sequence may be sent by Alt-Backspace on some terminals.

Example

/bind ^[h delete_previous_word

With the default word separators and one two three in the input line, invoking the action on the t in three leaves one three and saves two in the cut buffer. Invoking it instead on the o in two removes tw, leaving one o three.

See bind for key sequence syntax and backward_word for the movement used to select the deleted region.

Source references

• source/keys.c: action registration and default bindings.
• source/input.c: input_delete_previous_word, input_backward_word, WHITESPACE, and cut_input select the region, save it, and redraw the input line.
• source/ircaux.c: strext2 extracts the cut text and closes the gap.
• include/config.h and source/vars.c: word_break default and setting registration.