2007-10-11 Terminal.app, SSH, and GNU Screen

I used to have a problem:

1. Start Terminal.app on your Mac 10.3.9 (not sure whether the version makes a differences)

2. Connect to a GNU/Linux machine using SSH

3. Start GNU screen

4. Notice how backspace stops working

Within Emacs, the solution is easy. Just add the following to your ~*.emacs:*

(global-set-key (kbd "<deletechar>") 'backward-delete-char)
(global-set-key (kbd "ESC <deletechar>") 'backward-kill-word)

But within Bash, the solution still eludes me. For a moment I thought I just needed the following in my ~*.inputrc:*

Del: backward-delete-character
Meta-Del: backward-kill-word

But it had no effect. Some googling found a reference to **od -c**. Exactly what I was looking for! It printed an ominous `^[[3~` when I hit the Backspace key.

And thus the solution:

"\e[3~": backward-delete-char
"\e\e[3~": backward-kill-word

Yay!!

​#Software