Bug 482359

Summary: Pressing "Delete Word Backward" (Ctrl+Backspace) doesn't work.
Product: [Applications] konsole Reporter: Link <link20050703>
Component: keyboardAssignee: Konsole Bugs <konsole-bugs-null>
Status: REPORTED ---    
Severity: normal CC: dev, john.kizer, nilskemail+kde, ninjalj
Priority: NOR Keywords: qt6
Version First Reported In: 24.02.0   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Neon   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Link 2024-03-04 07:34:26 UTC 
SUMMARY
Pressing "Delete Word Backward" (Ctrl+Backspace) doesn't work (it just delete 1 character instead of 1 word)

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Open konsole
2. Type something more than 2 characters
3. Press Delete Word Backward (default to Ctrl+Backspace, configured in Settings under Keyboard / Shortcuts)

OBSERVED RESULT
Konsole only delete 1 character

EXPECTED RESULT
Konsole delete 1 word.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 6.0.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.0.0
Qt Version: 6.6.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
OS: KDE Neon 6.0
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Comment 1 John Kizer 2024-12-29 19:40:03 UTC 
*** Bug 497700 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 2 Link 2025-06-09 17:33:33 UTC 
Coming back to this, it looks like Alt+Backspace in Konsole works like Ctrl+Backspace in other applications (deleting 1 word at a time). Is it possible to change that Alt+Backspace keybind to Ctrl+Backspace somehow?
Comment 3 nilskemail+kde 2025-06-09 18:30:27 UTC 
(In reply to LTS20050703 from comment #2)
> Coming back to this, it looks like Alt+Backspace in Konsole works like
> Ctrl+Backspace in other applications (deleting 1 word at a time). Is it
> possible to change that Alt+Backspace keybind to Ctrl+Backspace somehow?

This is due to the way Konsole sends the key to the terminal. For some reason Konsole sends it as Ctrl+H which is equivalent to a normal Backspace. Your shell (likely bash) is then responsible for deciding what to do with that sequence - this is not something Konsole can decide but rather you shell's key bindings
Comment 4 John Kizer 2025-06-19 04:34:22 UTC 
Just adding a link here that was on the other linked report - I don't know enough to be sure, but I suspect this is intentional based on the comments and resolution to https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=391075
Comment 5 ninjalj 2025-11-08 13:01:54 UTC 
"Delete Word Backward" is a shell/terminal application functionality.

For instance, bash uses readline, and can be told to delete the previous word on Ctrl-Backspace like so:

bind Control-h:backward-kill-word

For persisting this setting across readline-using applications, you can add it, sans the bind word, to a .inputrc file on your home.