Pressing 'alt 1' key
 

Hi,

Can someone explain to me what 'alt 1' does when you press it? I press it and it shows this:

(arg: 1)

I have no idea what that means. Thanks!

-twantrd

you can get the details of the same in `info bash` (digit Arguments) or `info readline` (readline arguments)

for ex you type
123456789
and your cursor is at 5
alt0 3 ctrl-d will delete 3 chars from your current cursor position
here you are specifying that you want to do the ctrl-d operation 3 times
if you want to do 10 times
alt1 0 ctrl-d would do the job

a special meaning is when you use - sign, which will invert the meaning.
for ex again you have
12345678 and your cursor is at 5
if you press alt-minus 3 ctrl-d it deletes 3 chars from 5 in reverse direction
you can use other commands too like ^b to move back one char
more details about the commands available can be read from info readline

Ahhh..thank you. Very well explanation. I appreciate your help.

-twantrd