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Title: Xterm and backspace / del

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Xterm and backspace / del

Applicable to
S.u.S.E. version: >=4.2
Kernel version: irrelevant

Symptom:

The backspace key does not delete under X the sign on the left, but the one under the cursor.

Cause:

Several causes are possible:

The package terminfo is not compatible with the corresponding XFree version.
You have installed a new / old xterm.
You have only updated XFree.
The file XTerm in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults was changed.

Solution:

Please proceed as follows:

Make sure that the following packages are installed:
```
xf86, terminfo, ncurses
```
The best is to let YaST replace these packages. The S.u.S.E. packages terminfo and ncurses describe the S.u.S.E. package xf86's xterm's behaviour. Every programme that is called in xterm reads the xterm properties of the installed packages terminfo and ncurses from either the TERMINFO or the TERMCAP files.
If it does not still work, a versions incompatibility between Xterm and XFree and terminfo may be behind. In this case you could try the following:
Check, whether the file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm is available and identical to the package xf86's file. If not, you should install once more from CD either the package xf86 or the file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm.
If that is not useful at all, try the following:
1. Call the following command to read the terminfo entries for XTerm:
```
infocmp -1 xterm | less
```
2. Look for the codes for backspace (kbs) and delete (kdch1). The values adjusted to the S.u.S.E. configuration are:
```
...
kbs=\177,
...
kdch1=\E[3~,
...
```
3. Change if necessary the values of both kbs and kdch1, by deviating the tasks not to less, but into a file (e.g. /tmp/blabla. Edit this file in the corresponding way and add the entries again in terminfo by:
```
tic /tmp/blabla
```
If it does not still work, it could also be due to a wrong file ~/.inputrc. Please check whether
1. a file ~/.inputrc exists. Move it away or delete it.
2. the variable INPUTRC is set (by set | grep INPUT). It should be set in /etc/inputrc. If not, look for the place in which it is set (~/.profile? ~/.bashrc?) and delete it correspondingly.

Keywords: XTERM, TERMINFO, BACKSPACE, DELETE, NCURSES

Feedback welcome: Send Mail to maddin@suse.de (Please give the following subject: SDB-maddin_xterm)

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