Keymappings/backspace/insert/overwrite using Stata/Linux at the console

[Henrique Romero]

Hi,

Is there a way of changing the default typing mode in the Stata Linux console?
E.g. (borrowed from the decade old post mentioned below)

By default, command-line editing is in 'overwrite' mode, which means that if you type:
use ataset.dta
and realize that you meant 'dataset.dta', and move the cursor on to the 'a' at the start of 'ataset' and then type 'd', you'd see:
use dtaset.dta

You can hit "insert" (or "control+E" on a Mac keyboard) to go from "overwrite" to "overtype", but once you hit "enter" on a command, the behavior reverts back to "overwrite". So, if you want to use "overtype" (which is the default mode in most shells and on the Stata GUI), you have to hit "insert" after every single command.

The only reference to this I have found is this post from 2007: https://www.stata.com/statalist/arch.../msg00521.html

Has it really been over 10 years (and 5 major releases) since that post and we still don't have a way of changing the default typing behavior in Stata?

Thank you,
Henrique

[Mauricio Caceres]

I too find this very frustrating. I would be happy for an option via "set" to make insert mode permanent. However, it seems that this behavior is not an oversight, but an intentional design decision. From https://www.stata.com/manuals/u10.pdf

When we press Enter, Stata forgets all about insert mode, so we do not have to remember from one command to the next whether we are in insert mode.