Does the "backspace" key places the cursor on a new line in UNIX V7?

Question

I am running UNIX V7 using the SimH emulator. Whenever I press the "backspace" key, instead of the previous character being deleted, what happens is that the cursor is placed on a new line.

Is this how the "backspace" key behaves in UNIX V7, or is it just a SimH thing?

Answer 1

By default, the delete character (ASCII 127, ^?) acts as the interrupt key (usually bound to ^C on more modern Unix-like systems). Pressing the interrupt key will behave as you describe. In Unix v7 there's no easy way to change this except to modify the kernel.

If your terminal sends a delete character when you press the backspace key, try modifying your terminal settings so that it sends backspace (ASCII 8, ^H) instead. Then use the following command to get Unix to recognize backspace as the erase character:

stty erase '^H'

While you're at it, you might want to also set the line-kill key according to modern usage:

stty kill '^U'

Answer 2

Please try the following:

1. Find out what your backspace key is generating, by running od -b then pressing backspace, then ctrl-D. If ctrl-D doesn't work, press up to 16 arbitrary different characters, then press Enter to see the output, then press ctrl-C.

2. Say stty erase ^H if backspace generates byte 010, or stty erase ^_ if backspace generates byte 0177.