Clearing screen when using Vi keybindings on Bash command-line

[Srikanth Cherla]

Hi,

I recently switched to using Vi keybindings in bash shell as described here http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Use_vi_shortcuts_in_terminal. It's great, except that ^L (Ctrl + l) does not clear screen any more. I tried the two options mentioned in the link but neither of them works. I also tried adding the line

alias ^L='clear'

in my .bashrc but that didn't work. Can someone suggest what else I can do?

Thanks!

[Tim Chase]

On 2014-03-14 10:02, Srikanth Cherla wrote:
> http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Use_vi_shortcuts_in_terminal. It's great,
> except that ^L (Ctrl + l) does not clear screen any more. I tried
> the two options mentioned in the link but neither of them works. I
> also tried adding the line

Control+L works in Emacs editing mode (which I tend to prefer for
general command-line operations), but seems to have strange behavior
in vi mode. In some contexts, it seems to correctly clear the
screen; but in other contexts (which I haven't completely sussed
out), it seems to ignore the control+L. You could try explicitly
adding

"\C-l": clear-screen

in your ~/.inputrc

> alias ^L='clear'
>
> in my .bashrc but that didn't work. Can someone suggest what else I
> can do?

The alias doesn't work for reasons I'd expect for multiple reasons.

-tim

[Marcin Szamotulski]

Just press <Esc> and then CTRL-L, at least it works for me in bash in an
xterm. It does not work in in the insert mode.

Cheers,
Marcin

[Tim Chase]

On 2014-03-15 00:36, Marcin Szamotulski wrote:

> On 18:19 Fri 14 Mar, Tim Chase wrote:
>> On 2014-03-14 10:02, Srikanth Cherla wrote:
>> > http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Use_vi_shortcuts_in_terminal. It's
>> > great, except that ^L (Ctrl + l) does not clear screen any
>> > more. I tried the two options mentioned in the link but neither
>> > of them works. I also tried adding the line
>>
>> Control+L works in Emacs editing mode (which I tend to prefer for
>> general command-line operations), but seems to have strange
>> behavior in vi mode. In some contexts, it seems to correctly
>> clear the screen; but in other contexts (which I haven't
>> completely sussed out), it seems to ignore the control+L. You
>> could try explicitly adding
>>
>> "\C-l": clear-screen
>>
>> in your ~/.inputrc
>

> Just press <Esc> and then CTRL-L, at least it works for me in bash
> in an xterm. It does not work in in the insert mode.

Yeah, I just couldn't figure out how to get .inputrc to perform a
"clear-screen" on control+L in vi-insert mode in addition to
vi-command mode. And there were some edge cases where control+L
*did* work without hitting <esc> first (perhaps before entering a
command?).

-tim

[John Little]

On Saturday, March 15, 2014 6:02:11 AM UTC+13, Srikanth Cherla wrote:
>
> I recently switched to using Vi keybindings in bash shell ... ^L (Ctrl + l) does not clear screen any more.

With bash vi mode there are two keymaps, corresponding to vim's normal mode and insert modes, called vi-command and vi-insert. ctrl-L works by default in vi-command mode, so typing <esc><ctrl-l> will do it, but needs another keystroke "a" to get back to insert mode.

For ctrl-L to work in insert mode, you need a ~/.inputrc file, that specifies the keymap:

set keymap vi-insert
"\C-L": clear-screen

> alias ^L='clear'

You have to press enter to invoke an alias, and it has to be the first word on the line, not at all like the ctrl-L you're used to.

Regards, John Little

[Srikanth Cherla]

^L works after pressing <Esc>. I don't know how I missed that. I did try it a few times before posting the question and it didn't work then. My sincere apologies for posting the question, and thank you to those who replied.

Srikanth