Table of Contents
Working with Bash Keyboard Shortcuts
Sources
The Basics
Bash is the default command-line shell on most Linux distributions and included in macOS. On Windows you can install a Linux-based bash environment (WSL, Cygwin).
The bash shell features a wide variety of keyboard shortcuts you can use. These will work in bash on any operating system. Some of them may not work if you’re accessing bash remotely through an SSH or telnet session, depending on how you have your keys mapped.
With a few of these in your toolbelt, you’ll be a Terminal master in no time.
| Shortcut | Command |
|---|---|
| CTRL+L | Clear the screen. |
| CTRL+W | Delete the word starting at cursor. |
| CTRL+U | Clear the line i.e. Delete the all words from command line. |
| ⇧, ⇩ | Recall commands (see command history). |
| TAB | Auto-complete files, directory, command names and much more. |
| CTRL+R | Search through previously used commands (see command history) |
| CTRL+C | Cancel currently running commands. |
| CTRL+T | Swap the last two characters before the cursor. |
| ESC+T | Swap the last two words before the cursor. |
TAB completion
Tab completion is a very useful bash feature. While typing a file name, directory name, or command, press TAB and bash will automatically complete what you’re typing, if possible. If not, bash will show you various possible matches and you can continue typing and pressing TAB to finish typing.
| Shortcut | Command |
|---|---|
| TAB | Automatically complete the file name, directory name, or command you’re typing. |
For example: if you have a file named really_long_file_name in /home/user/ and it’s the only file name starting with “r” in that directory, you can type /home/user/r, press TAB, and bash will automatically fill in /home/user/really_long_file_name for you. If you have multiple files or directories starting with “r”, bash will inform you of your possibilities. You can start typing one of them and press TAB to continue.
Moving the cursor
Use the following shortcuts to quickly move the cursor around the current line while typing a command.
| Shortcut | Command |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+A, POS1 | Go to the beginning of the line (Home) |
| Ctrl+E, END | Go to the End of the line (End) |
| ALT+B | Back (left) one word |
| ALT+F | Forward (right) one word |
| Ctrl+F | Forward one character |
| Ctrl+B | Backward one character |
| Ctrl+Xx | (double tap 'X' ) Move between the beginning of the line and the current position of the cursor. This allows you to press Ctrl+Xx to return to the start of the line, change something, and then press Ctrl+Xx to go back to your original cursor position. To use this shortcut, hold the Ctrl and tap X twice. |
Editing
Use the following shortcuts to quickly delete characters, fix typos and undo your key presses. Bash also includes some basic cut-and-paste features and is able to convert characters to upper or lower case.
| Shortcut | Command |
|---|---|
| CTRL+L | Clear the Screen, similar to the clear command |
| ALT+BACKSPACE | Delete the Word before the cursor. |
| CTRL+D | Delete character under the cursor |
| ALT+D | Delete from actual cursor position to the end of word |
| CTRL+H | Delete character before the cursor (Backspace) |
| CTRL+W | Cut the Word before the cursor to the clipboard. |
| CTRL+K | Cut the Line after the cursor to the clipboard. |
| CTRL+U | Cut/delete the Line before the cursor to the clipboard. |
| ALT+T | Swap current word with previous |
| CTRL+T | Swap the last two characters before the cursor (typo). |
| ESC+T | Swap the last two words before the cursor. |
| CTRL+Y | Paste the last thing to be cut (yank) |
| ALT+U | Capitalize every character from the cursor to the end of the current word, converting the characters to upper case. |
| ALT+L | Uncapitalize every character from the cursor to the end of the current word, converting the characters to lower case. |
| ALT+C | Capitalize the character under the cursor. Your cursor will move to the end of the current word. |
| ALT+R | Cancel the changes and put back the line as it was in the history (revert). |
| CTRL+_ | Undo |
Special keys: Tab, Backspace, Enter, Esc
Text Terminals send characters (bytes), not key strokes. Special keys such as Tab, Backspace, Enter and Esc are encoded as control characters. Control characters are not printable, they display in the terminal as ^ and are intended to have an effect on applications.
| Keys | Control Character |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+I | TAB |
| Ctrl+J | Newline |
| Ctrl+M | ENTER |
| Ctrl+[ | ESC |
Many terminals will also send control characters for keys in the digit row:
| Shortcut | Result |
|---|---|
| CTRL+2 | ^@ |
| CTRL+3 | ^[ ESCAPE |
| CTRL+4 | ^\ |
| CTRL+5 | ^] |
| CTRL+6 | ^^ |
| CTRL+7 | ^_ UNDO |
| CTRL+8 | ^? Backward-delete-char |
CTRL+V tells the terminal to not interpret the following character, so CTRL+V CTRL+I will display a TAB character, similarly CTRL+V ENTER will display the escape sequence for the Enter key: ^M.
Working With Your Command History
You can quickly scroll through your recent commands, which are stored in your user account’s bash history file.
| Shortcut Command | |
|---|---|
| CTRL+R | This will enter Bash recall mode which you can use to search for commands you’ve previously run. It recalls the last command matching the characters you provide. Press CTRL+R and start typing to search your bash history (~/.bash_history) for a command. |
| CTRL+O | Execute the command found via Ctrl+R or Ctrl+S |
| CTRL+G | Leave Bash recall mode without running a command. |
| CTRL+P or ⇧ | Go to the previous command in the command history. Press the shortcut multiple times to walk back through the history. |
| CTRL+N or ⇩ | Go to the next command in the command history. Press the shortcut multiple times to walk forward through the history. |
| ALT+R | Revert any changes to a command you’ve pulled from your history if you’ve edited it. |
| CTRL+S | Go back to the next most recent command. (beware to not execute it from a terminal because this will also launch its XOFF). |
| !! | Repeat last command |
| !abc | Run last command starting with abc |
| !abc:p | Print last command starting with abc |
| !$ | Last argument of previous command |
| ALT+. | Last argument of previous command |
| !* | All arguments of previous command |
| ^abc^def | Run previous command, replacing abc with def |
Process control
Use the following shortcuts to manage running processes.
| Shortcut | Command |
|---|---|
| CTRL+C | Interrupt (kill) the current foreground process running in in the terminal. This sends the SIGINT signal to the process, which is technically just a request—most processes will honor it, but some may ignore it. |
| CTRL+D | Close the bash shell. This sends an EOF (End-of-file) marker to bash, and bash exits when it receives this marker. This is similar to running the exit command. |
| CTRL+Z | Suspend the current foreground process running in bash. This sends the SIGTSTP signal to the process. To return the process to the foreground later, use the fg process_name command. |
Controlling the screen
The following shortcuts allow you to control what appears on the screen.
| Shortcut | Command |
|---|---|
| CTRL+L | Clear the screen. This is similar to running the “clear” command. |
| CTRL+S | Stop all output to the screen. This is particularly useful when running commands with a lot of long, verbose output, but you don’t want to stop the command itself with |
| CTRL+Q | Resume output to the screen after stopping it with Ctrl+Shift. |
Emacs mode vs Vi Mode
The above instructions assume you’re using the default keyboard shortcut configuration in bash. By default, bash uses emacs-style keys. If you’re more used to the vi text editor, you can switch to vi-style keyboard shortcuts.
The following command will put bash into vi mode:
set -o vi
The following command will put bash back into the default emacs mode:
set -o emacs
“…emacs, which might be thought of as a thermonuclear word processor” ~ Emacs vs. Vi Wiki
Related
- fg - Bring a command to the foreground.
- ~./.bash_history - Text file with command history.
- Terminals Are Weird - How and why of terminal keybindings.
- Equivalent Windows Keyboard shortcuts
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