Input And Keys

Betamax tapes drive a real PTY with printable text and terminal key sequences. Use Type for text the user would enter, and use key commands for navigation, editing, shortcuts, and interrupts.

Printable Text

Type sends text into the terminal one Unicode scalar at a time. The default delay comes from Set TypingSpeed, and a command can override that delay with an @duration suffix.

Set TypingSpeed 30ms

Type "printf 'hello from betamax\n'"
Enter
Wait+Screen "hello from betamax"

Type@5ms "fast input for a long fixture"
Enter

Quote text that contains spaces, shell syntax, newlines, or backslashes. Type is for printable text; use key commands when the input should be a terminal control key.

Key Commands

Key commands send encoded key sequences through the terminal. They can include modifiers, an optional duration, and an optional repeat count.

Type "abcdef"
Left 3
Backspace
Delete
End
Enter

Ctrl+C
Shift+Tab
Alt+F
F5

Use keys for cursor movement, readline editing, interrupting commands, menu navigation, and TUI shortcuts. The reference lists the supported named keys and modifier syntax in Key Commands.

Editing And Interrupts

The examples/keys.tape example is a compact smoke test for editing and terminal control keys. It types text, moves the cursor, deletes characters, submits the edited line, interrupts a command with Ctrl+C, and waits for the shell prompt before continuing.

Type "abcdef"
Left 3
Backspace
Delete
End
Enter
Wait+Screen "edited=abef"

Type "sleep 5"
Ctrl+C
Wait

Prefer a semantic Wait, Wait+Line, or Wait+Screen after input that changes terminal state. That keeps tapes tied to observed behavior instead of fixed delays.

On-Screen Keys

Use KeyboardOverlay when generated media should show the input that caused a terminal change. The overlay is useful for review GIFs and screenshots because arrow keys, shortcuts, and interrupts are otherwise invisible.

Set KeyboardOverlay Input
Set KeyboardOverlayLocation BottomRight

Type "echo foo"
Enter
Wait+Screen "foo"
Sleep 900ms

The overlay is presentation-only. It does not change the bytes written to the PTY, wait matching, state JSON, or final output dimensions.