DEL
|
Delete last character ( |
M-DEL
|
Kill last word (backward-kill-word ).
|
C-x DEL
|
Kill to beginning of sentence (backward-kill-sentence ).
|
The DEL
character (delete-backward-char
) is the most
important correction command. It deletes the character before point.
When DEL
follows a self-inserting character command, you can think
of it as canceling that command. However, avoid the mistake of thinking
of DEL
as a general way to cancel a command!
When your mistake is longer than a couple of characters, it might be
more convenient to use M-DEL
or C-x DEL
.
M-DEL
kills back to the start of the last word, and C-x DEL
kills back to the start of the last sentence. C-x DEL
is particularly useful when you change your mind about the
phrasing of the text you are writing. M-DEL
and C-x DEL
save the killed text for C-y and M-y to
retrieve. See Yanking.
M-DEL
is often useful even when you have typed only a few
characters wrong, if you know you are confused in your typing and aren't
sure exactly what you typed. At such a time, you cannot correct with
DEL
except by looking at the screen to see what you did. Often it
requires less thought to kill the whole word and start again.