14 GRUB's user interface
************************

GRUB has both a simple menu interface for choosing preset entries from a
configuration file, and a highly flexible command-line for performing
any desired combination of boot commands.

   GRUB looks for its configuration file as soon as it is loaded.  If
one is found, then the full menu interface is activated using whatever
entries were found in the file.  If you choose the "command-line" menu
option, or if the configuration file was not found, then GRUB drops to
the command-line interface.

14.1 The flexible command-line interface
========================================

The command-line interface provides a prompt and after it an editable
text area much like a command-line in Unix or DOS. Each command is
immediately executed after it is entered(1) (*note Command-line
interface-Footnote-1::).  The commands (*note Command-line and menu
entry commands::) are a subset of those available in the configuration
file, used with exactly the same syntax.

   Cursor movement and editing of the text on the line can be done via a
subset of the functions available in the Bash shell:

<C-f>
<PC right key>
     Move forward one character.

<C-b>
<PC left key>
     Move back one character.

<C-a>
<HOME>
     Move to the start of the line.

<C-e>
<END>
     Move the the end of the line.

<C-d>
<DEL>
     Delete the character underneath the cursor.

<C-h>
<BS>
     Delete the character to the left of the cursor.

<C-k>
     Kill the text from the current cursor position to the end of the
     line.

<C-u>
     Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the line.

<C-y>
     Yank the killed text back into the buffer at the cursor.

<C-p>
<PC up key>
     Move up through the history list.

<C-n>
<PC down key>
     Move down through the history list.

   When typing commands interactively, if the cursor is within or before
the first word in the command-line, pressing the <TAB> key (or <C-i>)
will display a listing of the available commands, and if the cursor is
after the first word, the '<TAB>' will provide a completion listing of
disks, partitions, and file names depending on the context.  Note that
to obtain a list of drives, one must open a parenthesis, as 'root ('.

   Note that you cannot use the completion functionality in the TFTP
filesystem.  This is because TFTP doesn't support file name listing for
the security.

   (1) However, this behavior will be changed in the future version, in
a user-invisible way.

14.2 The simple menu interface
==============================

The menu interface is quite easy to use.  Its commands are both
reasonably intuitive and described on screen.

   Basically, the menu interface provides a list of "boot entries" to
the user to choose from.  Use the arrow keys to select the entry of
choice, then press <RET> to run it.  An optional timeout is available to
boot the default entry (the first one if not set), which is aborted by
pressing any key.

   Commands are available to enter a bare command-line by pressing <c>
(which operates exactly like the non-config-file version of GRUB, but
allows one to return to the menu if desired by pressing <ESC>) or to
edit any of the "boot entries" by pressing <e>.

   If you protect the menu interface with a password (*note Security::),
all you can do is choose an entry by pressing <RET>, or press <p> to
enter the password.

14.3 Editing a menu entry
=========================

The menu entry editor looks much like the main menu interface, but the
lines in the menu are individual commands in the selected entry instead
of entry names.

   If an <ESC> is pressed in the editor, it aborts all the changes made
to the configuration entry and returns to the main menu interface.

   Each line in the menu entry can be edited freely, and you can add new
lines by pressing <RET> at the end of a line.  To boot the edited entry,
press <Ctrl-x>.

   Although GRUB unfortunately does not support "undo", you can do
almost the same thing by just returning to the main menu using <ESC>.