Re: [PATCH] Change <delete> to delete forward in the editor menu.

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On Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 08:22:46PM +0800, Kevin J. McCarthy wrote:
>I saw this mentioned by tsp on #mutt.  Apparently <delete> is bound to
>OP_EDITOR_BACKSPACE.  I never noticed because I just hit ctrl-d
>instinctly instead of reaching over to the delete key!
>
><delete> has been set to delete backwards since the initial git
>commit.  I believe this was related to the awkward era of 'stty erase'
>setting 30 years ago to get del/backspace working properly.
>
>I think we're past that, aren't we?  Change it to delete forward by
>default.

Thanks everyone for the feedback and the interesting discussion about=20
the history of the keys and mappings.  I've reread all the emails, and=20
thought about it this week.

I think most participants are in favor of, or at least lean towards,=20
changing the <delete> key to delete forward, and recognize that this is=20
standard expected behavior now.  New mutt users will be confused by the=20
current default behavior in mutt's line editor.  So I've decided I will=20
make the change.

Jim and Claus, I respect that this decision is annoying to some older=20
users.  But I think there does come a point where even older programs=20
should make "default" changes as time passes.  This time, I'll ask=20
existing users who want the <delete> key to delete backwards to make a=20
config change in their .muttrc:

   bind editor <delete> backspace

for the benefit of new users and current expectations.

--=20
Kevin J. McCarthy
GPG Fingerprint: 8975 A9B3 3AA3 7910 385C  5308 ADEF 7684 8031 6BDA

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