Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 15:45:26 +0000 From: Brian Somers <brian@shift.lan.awfulhak.org> To: sthaug@nethelp.no Cc: hans@brandinnovators.com, sos@ravenock.cybercity.dk, brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk, brian@utell.co.uk, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Backspace = ^H Message-ID: <199703251545.PAA00578@shift.lan.awfulhak.org> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 25 Mar 1997 16:11:39 %2B0100." <9207.859302699@verdi.nethelp.no>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> This is more of a religious issue than anything else. There are lots
> of system which use the Delete character (177) to delete a character :-)
> I prefer a system where ^h is help in emacs, and the arrow key above the
> enter key is mapped to Delete, which deletes characters.
>
> Please don't go around and claim that there is 'one editor that gets
> it wrong', and using ^h to delete characters is more logical than using
> Delete. Both of those characters are equally logical.
>
> Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no
>
True - the only really "solid" argument that I've seen however is the
ascii table.
Perhaps there should be an easier way of doing things - maybe
(in the case of FreeBSD) a sysctl variable that allows the default
erase char to be changed:
/etc/sysconfig:
# Specify NO if you like things inconsistent, erase defaults to
# ^h, BS sends ^?, DEL sends ^h
# Otherwise specify your erase char (^h or ^? usually)
erasechar=NO
/etc/rc.i386:
if [ ."$erasechar" != .NO ]; then
sysctl xxxxx.erasechar=$erasechar
kbdcontrol -l blah blah BS=$erasechar
fi
I still prefer the system that says 0x7f is the "Backspace key" and
erase is 0x7f - I personally don't care about the delete key. I
do most of my typing on a laptop and couldn't tell you offhand where
the hell the DEL key is anyway :)
--
Brian <brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk> <brian@freebsd.org>
<http://www.awfulhak.demon.co.uk>;
Don't _EVER_ lose your sense of humour !
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199703251545.PAA00578>