The Adventures of Systems Boy!

Want to use the option-arrow key combo to move through text in Terminal just like you do in virtually every other Mac application on the planet? Boy, I sure did. Luckily, Allan Odgaard, the author of TextMate, has figured out how, and it’s a breeze. In a nutshell (no pun intended):

• Open Terminal
• Open the Inspector (command-i)
• Go to the “Keyboard” section
• Add a new key binding by pressing the “Add” button
• Set “Key:” to “cursor left”
• Set “Modifier:” to “option”
• Set “Action” to “send string to shell:”
• In the text box, press the escape key to get the “\033″ text, then hit the “b” key, for “back”
• Click “OK”
• Repeat this process for forward movement, using “cursor right” for the “Key:” setting, and “escape-f” for the forward key binding
• Be sure to click “Use Settings as Defaults” if you want the change to be permanent

The Terminal Inspector: Finally Proper Word Movement
(click for larger view)

That’s it! Now hitting option-left-arrow will move the cursor back one word in Terminal, and, of course, option-right-arrow will move it one word forward.

Sweet!