cmus key-bindings

Useful keys

These are the keys I use most times I run cmus. If you want to do even more with cmus or change the keybindings, read the help I link to in this page's conclusion.

v - stop playback

b - next track

z - previous track

c - pause playback

s - toggle shuffle (read about the m key below if you're going to use shuffle)

m- toggles the "aaa mode." aaa stands for artist, album, or all. If artist mode is on cmus will shuffle only between songs by the playing artist. In album mode cmus will shuffle between songs on the playing album. If all mode is on, cmus will shuffle between every song in your library. You can see the currently set "aaa mode" in the bottom right, next to where the display of the continue, repeat, and shuffle settings.

x - restart track

i - jump view to the currently playing track (handy when in shuffle mode)

/ - searching cmus works as in many Unix programs. Typing slash, a string, and enter will find the first instance of that string in your library. Press n to go to the next string, N to go to the previous. cmus's search isn't case sensitive and is quite smart; a search for damned insurrection will return Bulldozer's "Insurrection of the Living Damned" (rad tune).

- - reduce the volume by 10%

+ - increase the volume by 10%

. seek +1m

, seek -1m

:add ~/music


CMus offers seven different views, which can be accessed using the 1-7 keys. Here they are:
1 - Library, the default view mode, including two tabs (artists/albums and songs in currently selected album)
2 - Sorted Library, which provides a playlist view allowing to jump to specific tracks (this view can be customized in view mode 6
3 - Playlist, editable playlist
4 - Play Queue, which displays the track queue
5 - File Browser
6 - Filters, a list of user-defined filters for the library
7 - Settings, which displays key bindings and commands

Very useful - thanks!