Binding Fn-Delete in zsh on Mac OS X

Question

In zsh, whenever I press Fn+Delete (which is forward delete) a tilde (~) gets inserted. This indicates zsh doesn't have the key bound.

How do I bind it, and make it behave normally (delete in front of the cursor)?

score 23 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 30 '10 at 15:59

23

First figure out what sequence it generates.

echo "CtrlVFnDelete" | od -c

Then bind that sequence using the normal zsh bind mechanism.

answered Jul 30 '10 at 15:59

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

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~ > echo "~"|od -c 0000000 ~ \n 0000002 ~ > What do I do with this information now? – Thomas R Jul 30 '10 at 16:08
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@rixth: It's not actually outputting only a tilde. You can't use `echo "~"` , you have to actually follow the directions that **Ignacio** gave you. On my system, it's `^[[3~` (or as `od` outputs: `033 [ 3 ~`). So the command would be `bindkey "^[[3~" delete-char` which would go in your `~/.zshrc`. – Dennis Williamson Aug 02 '10 at 01:05
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To clarify the above, `ctrl-v` is a special escape sequence that means "insert the next character I press as a literal unescaped character, instead of doing whatever it usually does." Meaning that it doesn't get converted to `~`, but stays as the escape sequence. – NHDaly May 23 '16 at 23:38
I don't understand how to use the output of the above to derive the bindkey. My output is `0000000 C t r l V F n D e l e t e \n 0000016`. – Oliver Joseph Ash Jun 22 '16 at 13:32

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 15 '18 at 16:05

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For me the above didn't do the trick so I added the following key binding to my ~/.zshrc:

bindkey "\e[3~" delete-char

FYI: I am on a Mac (High Sierra).

answered Mar 15 '18 at 16:05

LordTribual

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And how to know the code for any other key I want to bind, e.g. Fn+F1? so that I can set the corresponding codes in my `~/.zshrc`. – alexventuraio Mar 29 '18 at 17:34
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You could type `cat` and then type the keys. `Fn+F1` gives me `^[OP` for instance. – LordTribual Apr 03 '18 at 07:37

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 25 '17 at 19:55

bindkey 'CtrlvFnDelete' delete-char

This will bind Fn+Delete to delete forward a single character. If the above is not clear, you need to type Ctrl+v, Fn+Delete between typing the quotes. Ctrl+v allows you type the literal escape escape sequence of whatever key comes after it.

You can put this line in your ~/.zshrc file.

Binding Fn-Delete in zsh on Mac OS X

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