Re: stty bug...?

[Bob Proulx]

Myers, George (N-Superior Services) wrote:
> Logging into a RedHat Linux 8.0 host using Exceed v7.0.
> Setting "stty erase <Backspace>.
> Result of the above stty command results in a tilde (~) echoed to my  console 
> when I hit the Backspace key.
> 
> Any ideas on how to make "stty erase <Backspace> work?

Hmm...  Probably the better way to set this would be to use the caret
sequence instead of trying to do an actual erase character on the
command line.

  stty erase '^?'

The two most common erase keys are DEL which is ^? and BACKSPACE which
is ^H.  Although in the long, long, LONG past '#' was common.  This is
determined by the terminal you are using.  Different terminals have
historically chosen different values.  This has been a long time
source of conflict.  I think the leader in this race is DEL ^? as that
is the default today for most modern systems.  But if you are working
on an older system such as HP-UX then be aware that the console
terminal emulator there still uses ^H.

Don't get fooled into thinking that BACKSPACE is the same as the PC104
keyboard "<--Backspace" key.  It is not.  Depending upon the terminal
emulator being used and the configuration it could send either one.
Don't get fooled into thinking that the PC104 keypad "Delete" is DEL.
It is not.  The keypad Delete is a completely different and unrelated
character which usually is recognized to delete the character ahead of
the cursor instead of behind it as in the case of the erase character.
That is a common source of confusion.

I am not familiar with "Exceed" but googling around for it seems to
imply that it is a MS-Windows terminal emulator.  You will need to
either experiment with the behavior, experiment with the configuration
options, or read the documentation there to determine what Exceed
wants as an erase character.  If possible I recommend that you will
have the least amount of compatibility problems if you can configure
it to use DEL ^? as the erase character.

Bob