I think its a bash thing and it is really annoying me..

its difficult to explain the problem but I will try..

When I type a command on the shell prompt... then lets say I go back to the 2nd letter and correct a typo.. after that I cannot get the cursor beyond the last alphabet that I had typed..

In the following.. type is in red and position of cursor is: ^

% ./a.out -g file.txt -n 15
^

Then I correct the typo..

% ./a.out -f file.txt -n 15
^

then I want to continue ahead and complete the command

% ./a.out -f file.txt -n 15
^

but my cursor wouldnt go beyond the last character (5 in this case) aaargghh !!!

So I have to delete 5 using "x", now the cursor comes to 1..and I cannont go beyond that !!!!!

oops, the cursor position did not come out properly..let me try again..

% ./a.out -g file.txt -n 15
^

Then I correct the typo..

% ./a.out -f file.txt -n 15
^

then I want to continue ahead and complete the command

% ./a.out -f file.txt -n 15
^

well, first the cursor is just after the '5'
second its just after the 'f'

third, the cursor is *on* the '5'

Thanks Johnf !! that worked.. !!

try shift a that should do it.