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Bash command line Shortcuts

Bash command line Shortcuts

Picked these from here

Command Editing Shortcuts

Command Note
Ctrl + a go to the start of the command line
Ctrl + e go to the end of the command line
Ctrl + k delete from cursor to the end of the command line
Ctrl + u delete from cursor to the start of the command line
Ctrl + w delete from cursor to start of word (i.e. delete backwards one word)
Ctrl + y paste word or text that was cut using one of the deletion shortcuts (such as the one above) after
Ctrl + xx move between start of command line and current cursor position (and back again)
Alt + b move backward one word (or go to start of word the cursor is currently on)
Alt + f move forward one word (or go to end of word the cursor is currently on)
Alt + d delete to end of word starting at cursor (whole word if cursor is at the beginning of word)
Alt + c capitalize to end of word starting at cursor (whole word if cursor is at the beginning of word)
Alt + u make uppercase from cursor to end of word
Alt + l make lowercase from cursor to end of word
Alt + t swap current word with previous
Ctrl + f move forward one character
Ctrl + b move backward one character
Ctrl + d delete character under the cursor
Ctrl + h delete character before the cursor
Ctrl + t swap character under cursor with the previous one

Command Recall Shortcuts

Command Note
Ctrl + r search the history backwards
Ctrl + g escape from history searching mode
Ctrl + p previous command in history (i.e. walk back through the command history)
Ctrl + n next command in history (i.e. walk forward through the command history)
Alt + . use the last word of the previous command

Command Control Shortcuts

Command Note
Ctrl + l clear the screen
Ctrl + s stops the output to the screen (for long running verbose command)
Ctrl + q allow output to the screen (if previously stopped using command above)
Ctrl + c terminate the command
Ctrl + z suspend/stop the command

Bash Bang (!) Commands

Bash also has some handy features that use the ! (bang) to allow you to do some funky stuff with bash commands.

Command Note
!! run last command
!blah run the most recent command that starts with ‘blah’ (e.g. !ls)
!blah:p print out the command that !blah would run (also adds it as the latest command in the command history)
!$ the last word of the previous command (same as Alt + .)
!$:p print out the word that !$ would substitute
!* the previous command except for the last word (e.g. if you type ‘find some_file.txt /‘, then !| would give you ‘find some_file.txt‘)
!*:p print out what !| would substitute
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