Navigating in a menu

There are two methods of navigating in a menu frame. One is to use a navigation key. As an example of how navigation keys work, you can try the menu navigation keys in the example menu TOP MENU. The following list shows some of the keys you can use to navigate in a menu:

• <> or the alternative keystroke sequence <CTRL-r> moves the cursor right one item in a multi-column menu, or down one item in a single-column menu. In a multi-column menu, it does not wrap. In a single-column menu, it wraps to the top of the column.

• <> or the alternative keystroke sequence <CTRL-l> moves the cursor left one item in a multi-column menu, or up one item in a single-column menu. In a multi-column menu, it does not wrap. In a single-column menu, it wraps to the bottom of the column.

• <> or the alternative keystroke sequence <CTRL-d> moves the cursor down one item, wrapping to the top of the column in a single-column menu, and the top of the next column in a multi-column menu. On the last item in the last column of a multi-column menu, it wraps to the top of the first column.

• <> or the alternative keystroke sequence <CTRL-u> moves the cursor up one item, wrapping to the bottom of the column in a single-column menu, and the bottom of the previous column in a multi-column menu. On the first item in the first column of a multi-column menu, it wraps to the bottom of the last column.

As you navigate in the menu, the ``>'' symbol shows which menu item is current. In a scrollable (by definition, single-column) menu, pressing <> or <> when the cursor is on the last item of the display will roll the contents of the menu up one line; pressing <> or <> when the cursor is on the first line of the display will roll the contents of the menu down one line. Note that pressing the named keys <SCROLL-UP> or <SCROLL-DOWN> will roll the contents of a scrollable menu up or down one line, respectively, without moving the cursor.

The other method of navigating in a menu frame is to type the name of the item to which you want to move. You do not have to type the full name, or worry about upper and lower case. When you type a character, the cursor moves to the first item in the menu that matches the string typed so far. If you type the letter w, for example, the cursor moves to the first menu item that starts with w or W. If you then type r, the cursor moves to the first item that starts with the letters wr. When a string cannot be matched, the terminal bell sounds, or the screen flashes, depending on the terminal, and an error message is displayed on the message line. The cursor wraps around when it reaches either end of the menu. In a scrollable menu the display scrolls as necessary.