# forward-kill-word(2)

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## NAME

forward-kill-word - Delete next word at the cursor position
backward-kill-word - Delete previous word at the cursor position

## SYNOPSIS

n forward-kill-word (esc d)
n backward-kill-word (esc backspace)

## DESCRIPTION

forward-kill-word deletes the next n words starting at the current cursor position, the deleted text is added to the kill buffer. See forward-word(2) for a description of word boundaries. If no argument n is given and the current character is a non-word character then only the characters from the current position to the start of the next word are removed. If the argument n is `0` the command has no effect. If a negative argument is specified, n words are deleted backwards (i.e. this is the same as -n backward-kill-word).

backward-kill-word deletes the previous n words before the cursor, the deleted text is added to the kill buffer. The numeric argument has the same effect as with forward-kill-word.

## NOTES

backward-kill-word is also bound to esc backspace.

The negative argument is typically used by macro scripts where the kill buffer is more precisely controlled.

## HISTORY

The interpretation of the numeric argument was changed in the 2005 release to kill n words in a forwards or backwards direction. In previous releases then the negative argument controlled the kill buffer behavior. If kill buffer control is required then kill-region(2) should be used instead.

## SEE ALSO

backward-delete-char(2), forward-delete-char(2), forward-word(2), kill-region(2), yank(2).

(c) Copyright JASSPA 2009
Last Modified: 2009/08/29
Generated On: 2009/10/12

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