3.3. Changing the default key bindings

Usage: bind map key function

This command allows you to change the default key bindings (operation invoked when pressing a key).

map specifies in which menu the binding belongs. The currently defined maps are:

generic This is not a real menu, but is used as a fallback for all of the other menus except for the pager and editor modes. If a key is not defined in another menu, Mutt will look for a binding to use in this menu. This allows you to bind a key to a certain function in multiple menus instead of having multiple bind statements to accomplish the same task.

alias The alias menu is the list of your personal aliases as defined in your muttrc. It is the mapping from a short alias name to the full email address(es) of the recipient(s).

attach The attachment menu is used to access the attachments on received messages.

browser The browser is used for both browsing the local directory structure, and for listing all of your incoming mailboxes.

editor The editor is the line-based editor the user enters text data.

index The index is the list of messages contained in a mailbox.

compose The compose menu is the screen used when sending a new message.

pager The pager is the mode used to display message

attachment data, and help listings.

pgp The pgp menu is used to select the OpenPGP keys used for encrypting outgoing messages.

postpone The postpone menu is similar to the index menu, except is used when recalling a message the user was composing, but saved until later.

key is the key (or key sequence) you wish to bind. To specify a control character, use the sequence \Cx, where x is the letter of the control character (for example, to specify control-A use ``\Ca''). Note that the case of x as well as \C is ignored, so that \CA, \Ca, \cA and \ca are all equivalent. An alternative form is to specify the key as a three digit octal number prefixed with a ``\'' (for example \177 is equivalent to \c?).

In addition, key may consist of:

\t              tab
<tab>           tab
\r              carriage return
\n              newline
\e              escape
<esc>           escape
<up>            up arrow
<down>          down arrow
<left>          left arrow
<right>         right arrow
<pageup>        Page Up
<pagedown>      Page Down
<backspace>     Backspace
<delete>        Delete
<insert>        Insert
<enter>         Enter
<return>        Return
<home>          Home
<end>           End
<space>         Space bar
<f1>            function key 1
<f10>           function key 10

key does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a space (`` '').

function specifies which action to take when key is pressed. For a complete list of functions, see the reference. The special function noop unbinds the specified key sequence.