5 ms·
The other answer to this is correct, but a little more detail in case you're interested: ^W is a control code. This specific one represents the keys ctrl+w, a
by amputect 3y ago
The other answer to this is correct, but a little more detail in case you're interested:
^W is a control code. This specific one represents the keys ctrl+w, a keyboard command in Vi and Bash among other things. It deletes the previous word. You often see something similar with ^H as well, which is a single-character backspace. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backspace#^W_and_^U https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backspace#^W_and_^U has some more information about these.
Some people use them more to make visual jokes in written text, more or less the same way you'd use strikethrough formatting in text.
- IIsi50MHz 3y agoAnd in my experience ties in nicely with the fact that when a dumb terminal glitched or lost sync with the server, control codes would start to litter the screen instead of being interpretted. You'd see things like: …thsi typo^Ŵ^H^H… start to appear, sometimes followed by several random letters hit in frustration, before the final hard-reset of the terminal and resignation to the fact some unsaved work has been lost.
- razodactyl 3y agoI wish there were more people like you on the internet.