Keyboard Commands

Several of the folder and message operations have keystroke bindings. These let you do much of your browsing with hands on the keyboard. The default bindings are given in the Table below. This table shows the Tk syntax for key presses that you'll need to use in the Binding dialogs.

The exmh chapters use the Tk syntax for key presses, such as <Control-y>, <Delete>, and <Tab>. This syntax is used in the Binding dialogs. Capitalization is important. For instance, press the lowercase d key to delete a message; use uppercase D (Shift, D) to delete and advance without displaying the next message.

Table: exmh Keyboard Commands

Key Press Command

<Control-Return> Commit
<Key-i> Inc
<Key-f> Forward
<Key-r> Reply
<Key-c> Compose a new mail message
<Key-p> Previous
<Key-P> Previous message, but don't display it
<minus> Previous message, even if it is marked for delete or move
<Key-n> Next
<Key-N> Next message, but don't display it
<Key-F> Change to next folder with unseen messages
<Key-U> Next unseen message, if any
<Key-s> Display the current message
<Key-d> Delete and advance
<Key-D> Delete and advance, but don't display
<Key-m> Move and advance
<Key-M> Move and advance, but don't display
<Key-u> Unmark
<space> Page forward the message display
<BackSpace> Page back the message display
<dollar> ($) Go to last message, but don't display
<asciicircum> (^) Go to first message, but don't display
<question> (?) Bring up the Command binding dialog

You can browse, change, and define new command keystrokes via the Bind user interfaces available under the Bindings menu. There are two dialogs: one for editing commands in the built-in editor and another for the command bindings described above. For more information, see the Section Binding User Interface.

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This file is from the third edition of the book MH & xmh: Email for Users & Programmers, ISBN 1-56592-093-7, by Jerry Peek. Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. This file is freely-available; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. For more information, see the file copying.htm.