iterm2 cheatsheet

iterm2.md

Tabs and Windows

Function	Shortcut
New Tab	⌘ + T
Close Tab or Window	⌘ + W (same as many mac apps)
Go to Tab	⌘ + Number Key (ie: ⌘2 is 2nd tab)
Go to Split Pane by Direction	⌘ + Option + Arrow Key
Cycle iTerm Windows	⌘ + backtick (true of all mac apps and works with desktops/mission control)
Splitting
Split Window Vertically (same profile)	⌘ + D
Split Window Horizontally (same profile)	⌘ + Shift + D (mnemonic: shift is a wide horizontal key)
Moving
Move a pane with the mouse	⌘ + Alt + Shift and then drag the pane from anywhere
Fullscreen
Fullscreen	⌘+ Enter
Maximize a pane	⌘ + Shift + Enter (use with fullscreen to temp fullscreen a pane!)
Resize Pane	Ctrl + ⌘ + Arrow (given you haven't mapped this to something else)
Less Often Used By Me
Go to Split Pane by Order of Use	⌘ + ] , ⌘ + [
Split Window Horizontally (new profile)	Option + ⌘ + H
Split Window Vertically (new profile)	Option + ⌘ + V
Previous Tab	⌘+ Left Arrow (I usually move by tab number)
Next Tab	⌘+ Right Arrow
Go to Window	⌘ + Option + Number

My Favorite Shell Key Combos

These might be helpful to getting you faster with the shell but really this isn't iTerm2 specific. I'm assuming you are using bash or zsh on Mac. There are many tips but I use these quite a bit. There is also more than one way to do it sometimes so adopt what you like best.

Hopefully some of these change your life. :)

Function	Shortcut	Use
Delete to start of line (favorite)	Ctrl + U	Use this to start over typing without hitting Ctrl-C
Delete to end of line (favorite)	Ctrl + K	Use this with command history to repeat commands and changing one thing at the end!
Repeat last command	Up Arrow	Cycle and browse your history with up and down. Ctrl-R is faster if you know the string you are looking for.
Move back and forth on a line	Arrow Keys	This takes you off the home row but it's easy to remember
Move back and forth on a line by words	⌥ + Arrow Keys	Fast way to jump to a word to correct a typo or "run again" with minor changes
Delete previous word (in shell)	Ctrl + W	It's faster to delete by words. Especially when your last command was wrong by a single typo or something.
Clear screen	Ctrl + L	This is telling the shell to do it. When this doesn't work ⌘ + K will tell iTerm to do it which works when you aren't in a shell. Use this instead of typing clear over and over.

Moving Faster

A lot of shell shortcuts work in iterm and it's good to learn these because arrow keys, home/end keys and Mac equivalents don't always work. For example ⌘ + Left Arrow is usually the same as Home (go to beginning of current line) but that doesn't work in the shell. Home works in many apps but it takes you away from the home row.

Function	Shortcut
Move to the start of line	Ctrl + A or Home
Move to the end of line	Ctrl + E or End
Move forward a word	Option + F
Move backward a word	Option + B
Set Mark	⌘ + M
Jump to Mark	⌘ + J
Moving by word on a line (this is a shell thing but passes through fine)	Ctrl + Left/Right Arrow
Cursor Jump with Mouse (shell and vim - might depend on config)	Option + Left Click

Copy and Paste with iTerm without using the mouse

I don't use this feature too much.

Function	Shortcut
Enter Copy Mode	Shift + ⌘ + C
Enter Character Selection Mode in Copy Mode	Ctrl + V
Move cursor in Copy Mode	HJKL vim motions or arrow keys
Copy text in Copy Mode	Ctrl + K

Copy actions goes into the normal system clipboard which you can paste like normal.

Search the Command History

Function	Shortcut
Search as you type	Ctrl + R and type the search term; Repeat Ctrl + R to loop through result
Search the last remembered search term	Ctrl + R twice
End the search at current history entry	Ctrl + Y
Cancel the search and restore original line	Ctrl + G

Misc

Function	Shortcut
Clear the screen/pane (when Ctrl + L won't work)	⌘ + K (I use this all the time)
Broadcast command to all panes in window (nice when needed!)	⌘ + Alt + I (again to toggle)
Find Cursor	⌘ + / or use a theme or cursor shape that is easy to see

Thank you. As a new iTerm user this is very helpful.

You are missing ⌘ + Shift + i to input across all tabs and Ctrl + l to clear the window

why denied?

Thanks!! One more: ctrl + ⌘ + Arrow for resizing active pane.

Can iTerm2 Fullscreen in split terminal?

option + f and option + b doesn't work if you don't set your option key in preferences > keys

can we fire command at a time in multiple windows?

paraggit .... you can do in multiple tabs using ⌘ + Shift + i . Not sure about multiple windows.

Is there anyway to clear the output of the previous command?

On my last laptop I used to be able to press Ctrl + s to do a forward search in the case that I pressed Ctrl + r one too many times and need to search forward once or twice. Is there a config that I need to change to restore this functionality?

Good Job

I find it might be useful to add "Cmd + w" to close the split window in the cheatsheet:)

Oh man, this blew up and gists don't notify on updates. I will incorporate the suggestions. But Cmd+w is pretty global on mac @Jonathan-UIUC :)

thanks, nice job

Option + Left mouse click to move cursor easily.

Broadcast command to all panes in window help a lot! thx

cmd + / to focus where the cursor. helpful when multiple applications are on opened on one desktop. also when split screens are used.

⌘ + Shift + arrow-up
⌘ + Shift + arrow-down

For navigating marks. If shell integration is enabled all commands are marked automatically, and you can quickly go to previous commands and their output.

The undo doesn't seem to be correct?

The undo doesn't seem to be correct?

Fixed! Thanks @simonewebdesign .

why does some of the hotkeys not work for me? Do I need to arrange it or it come with the app?

Awesome!

For Moving forward/backward by words, Use Option + F/B. It might need you to reset your keys, Preferences => Choose the profile => Keys Tab => Set Left Option Key and Right Option key to Esc+

@jaredpavan said:

On my last laptop I used to be able to press Ctrl + s to do a forward search in the case that I pressed Ctrl + r one too many times and need to search forward once or twice. Is there a config that I need to change to restore this functionality?

I had the same issue. I found your comment here by Googling for the solution. So, I want to make sure it is here for others. Since iTerm uses TMUX and TMUX ignores "flow control" commands, Ctrl + s is ignored. The solution is to call stty -ixon in your shell session. If you put it in your .bash_profile it will fix it for all login shells.

@rickgaurav Thank you! This has been bothering me for months and that worked!

For Moving forward/backward by words, Use Option + F/B. It might need you to reset your keys, Preferences => Choose the profile => Keys Tab => Set Left Option Key and Right Option key to Esc+

@RichardBronosky - interesting. My iTerm doesn't have tmux.

Thank you

Very handy, thank you!

⌘ + Shift + arrow-up
⌘ + Shift + arrow-down

For navigating marks. If shell integration is enabled all commands are marked automatically, and you can quickly go to previous commands and their output.
✅

Thank you!

I am new to iTerm and I am so used to move between words using the option and the arrow, it's not working here and also the ctrl + arrows is not working as well

I am new to iTerm and I am so used to move between words using the option and the arrow, it's not working here and also the ctrl + arrows is not working as well

@AlaaHamoudah
Thanks, the correct modifier key is ⌥ (option). I edited this gist. Check Preferences > Profiles > Keys that your left option key is set to Esc+.
Edit: Preferences > Profiles > Keys
See screenshot below. Thank you @SlowerLoris

Thanks for ur response, but still not clear for me. Here are my keys, the left option is not set to anything, and there is no Esc+ in the dropdown list.
Also, I am used on the right option to work with the arrows as the normal shell, not the left one. Is this doable here?

@AlaaHamoudah Go to Profiles tab ( not Keys ), you will see this:

Ctrl + D
closes panel which you split by ⌘ + D

@yuchdev Ctrl-D is a common unix convention. It's not related to iterm but you are not wrong. 😄 It's a shortcut for EOF which is the same thing as typing exit but it's also useful for cat and other shell tricks. ⌘+W is a closer accompanying shortcut for ⌘+D because it closes a window, if it is a pane, it will close that pane.

Thanks

Thanks @SlowerLoris , that worked for me ❤️

Thanks so much for this, @squarism ! I'm a new developing student and this will really help me out.

Thank you so much for this curated list of shortcuts!

Loving iTerm2 in general.
I'd like to be able to skip words in the terminal with Option + Left Arrow/Right Arrow, but it's currently only working with Option +F/B. I set the left option key to Esc+ already.

How can I configure such that the arrow keys work? Thanks.

Loving iTerm2 in general.
I'd like to be able to skip words in the terminal with Option + Left Arrow/Right Arrow, but it's currently only working with Option +F/B. I set the left option key to Esc+ already.

How can I configure such that the arrow keys work? Thanks.

@PropeReferio Ctrl+Arrow keys might work for you. It seems to work on Mac locally and a remote ssh Linux shell. I think that's just a terminal thing and not anything iTerm is messing with. I know Putty/Windows seems to handle this ok. So Ctrl+Arrow keys will jump by words on a current line of a shell. Useful for editing history or some really long command. 🌻