22.2 Command Editing

GDB reads its input commands via the Readline interface. This GNU library provides consistent behavior for programs which provide a command line interface to the user. Advantages are GNU Emacs-style or vi-style inline editing of commands, csh-like history substitution, and a storage and recall of command history across debugging sessions.

You may control the behavior of command line editing in GDB with the command set.

set editing

set editing on

Enable command line editing (enabled by default).

set editing off

Disable command line editing.

show editing

Show whether command line editing is enabled.

See Command Line Editing, for more details about the Readline interface. Users unfamiliar with GNU Emacs or vi are encouraged to read that chapter.

GDB sets the Readline application name to ‘gdb’. This is useful for conditions in .inputrc.

GDB defines a bindable Readline command, operate-and-get-next. This is bound to C-o by default. This command accepts the current line for execution and fetches the next line relative to the current line from the history for editing. Any argument is ignored.