From: brent@uwovax.uwo.ca (Brent Sterner)
Subject: Re: AIX, ksh, and <esc> sequence line editing (partial progress)
Organization: University of Western Ont, London
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 16:42:04 GMT

   Hi all.  I have a *partial* answer to my earlier query:

In article <1992Dec22.153435.1@uwovax.uwo.ca>, brent@uwovax.uwo.ca (Brent Sterner) writes:
>    Hi there.  I'm a beginner at managing an aix system, using ksh as my
> base for learning this platform.  Other systems I have access to (including
> several unix (tcsh-based) systems and VMS) provide a mode of line editing
> in which certain escape sequences map into command recall or cursor movement
> within a recalled command line.  ksh doesn't seem to let me do this, from
> what I've located in the manuals.  (Have I missed something?)
> 
>    Specifically, I'd like  <esc>[A   <esc>[B   <esc>[C   and   <esc>[D  to
> perform the equivalent of "emacs" style line editing <ctrl-P>, <ctrl-N>,
> <ctrl-F>, and <ctrl-B> respectively.  (I'm using an X-station successfully
> at the moment to get at all those other systems; modifying the character
> mapping for my station is not very attractive to me.  Obviously I'd prefer
> to do this at the RS/6000 end.)

   I have had some email exchange with Rob van Manen (thanks Rob) in which
   he indicates that he has done it (yay), but for some reason I cannot
   replicate it (boo).  In summary:

On Wed, 23 Dec 92 14:54:47 +0100, manen@prl.philips.nl (Rob van Manen) said:
>
>Add the next few lines to the ksh (the one ENV points to)
>
>set -o emacs
>
>alias __A="^P"        # recall previous line
>alias __B="^N"        # goto next line
>alias __D="^B"        # go back in a line
>alias __C="^F"        # go forward in a line
>
>The characters ^P, ^N, ^B and ^F have to be the control characters.

   I did not know how to do this.  So Rob sent me the following:

>table
> !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?
>@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_
>begin 644 .aliases
>M<V5T("UO(&5M86-S"@IA;&EA<R!?7T$](A B(" @(" @(" C(')E8V%L;"!Pz
>M<F5V:6]U<R!L:6YE"F%L:6%S(%]?0CTB#B(@(" @(" @(",@9V]T;R!N97ATy
>M(&QI;F4*86QI87,@7U]$/2("(B @(" @(" @(R!G;R!B86-K(&EN(&$@;&ENx
>M90IA;&EA<R!?7T,](@8B(" @(" @(" C(&=O(&9O<G=A<F0@:6X@82!L:6YEw
>!"@IAv
> u
>end

   This decodes into the required .alias file.  Now when I login, all my
   cursor keys echo  ^@  (instead of simply beeping at me).  It seems we
   are making progress, but we've stalled at this point.  Rob indicates
   that ^V echoes the ksh version.  He sees: 'Version 11/16/88', while
   I see 'Version 11/16/88d SBCS'.  I don't know the significance of the
   difference.

   Rob and I have agreed to ponder this over the holidays.  This post is
   public thanks to Rob as well as hoping this will help someone else on
   the net figure out what I'm missing.

   If you can help, please send me email.  (I'll be gone for 10 days +/-,
   and I'd hate to have a perfectly good answer vanish from our news tree
   while I wasn't around to see it.)  Thanks to everyone else who tried to
   help me out, and happy holidays to all.  b.
--
Brent Sterner   AIX System Manager Apprentice
Fast:           <brent@hazzard.engga.uwo.ca>
Telephone:      (519)661-2151 x 6036            Fax:    (519)661-3486
Slow:   Computing & Communications Services, Natural Sciences Building
        The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada  N6A 5B7
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions