Re: Make `Ctrl + W` and `Ctrl + Shift + H` in zsh behave the same as in bash

[Daniel Shahaf <d.s@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rik wrote on Sat, 21 Mar 2020 14:29 -0500:
> I've recently started using zsh and I like it. However, coming from 
> bash, some little things I miss.
> 

Welcome!

> *The problem:*
> 
> In bash behavior is like this:
> 
>   * Ctrl + W deletes the word behind the cursor up to the next space
>   * Ctrl + Shift + H deletes the word behind the cursor up to the next
>     seperation charcater like ., ,, -, / etc.
> 
> In zsh both Ctrl + W an Ctrl + Shift + H behave like the latter one in 
> bash. I would like the same behavior as in bash.
> 
> 
> 
> *This is what I've tried:*
> 
>     SPACE_WORDCHARS='~!#$%^&*(){}[]<>?.+;-_/\|=@`'  
>     backward-delete-word() WORDCHARS=$SPACE_WORDCHARS zle .$WIDGET
>     zle -N backward-delete-word
>     bindkey "^W" backward-delete-word
> 
> This works, however, it breaks the functionality that deleting a word 
> puts the word on the paste buffer, so I can't then paste this word with 
> Ctrl + Y. This is quite important functionality for me. To be honest I'm 
> not completely sure how this zle function works and what .$WIDGET does. 
> Would anyone know a way how I can make this work while retaining the 
> cut/paste behavior?

Deleting those four lines and adding just «WORDCHARS='~!#$%^&*(){}[]<>?.+;-_/\|=@`'»
instead seems to do what you want.

(I also tried calling «zle -f kill» in the wrapper but it didn't have
the desired effect.)

Regarding $WIDGET, it's a parameter that gets predefined by zle when
widget functions are invoked.  In the example, its value will be
"backward-delete-char".  Thus, net effect of «zle .$WIDGET» will be to
call the builtin "backward-delete-char" widget.  For a simpler example,
consider:

mywidget() { LBUFFER+="x" }
zle -N mywidget
bindkey "y" mywidget

With this, every time you press "y", you'll get an "x" inserted.  (You
can just paste this example at the prompt to try it.)

Cheers,

Daniel