Terminal Editing Shortcust Cheasheet UNIX (Max/Ubuntu/CentOS)
While working with UNIX (Ubuntu/CentOS/MAC) terminals, it is not very convenient to move your cursors back and forth and it makes our overall productivity low. Since these terminals do not support smooth cursor movement up/down and knowing those shortcuts make our productivity high.
The document has the following sections and each talks about specific shortcusts for UNIX(Mac/CentOS/Ubuntu) Terminals:
- Editing Shortcuts Command
- Recall Shortcuts Command
- Control Shortcuts Command
- Bash Bang Shortcuts Command
Editing Shortcuts Command
Following Shortcuts and commands help you to move your cursors left/right quickly and hence you edit the unix/shell command more easily. Here it goes:
| Editing Command | Description |
|---|---|
| CTRL+A CTRL+E |
Go to the start/end of the command line |
| CTRL+U CTRL+K |
Delete from cursor to the start/end of the command line |
| CTRL+W ALT+D |
Delete from cursor to start/end of word (whole word if at the boundary) |
| CTRL+Y | Paste word or text that was cut using one of the deletion shortcuts (such as the one above) after the cursor |
| CTRL+XX | Move between start of command line and current cursor position (and back again) |
| ALT+B ALT+F |
Move backward/forward one word (or go to start of word the cursor is currently on) |
| 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 CTRL+B |
Move forward/backward one character |
| CTRL+D CTRL+H |
Delete character after/before under cursor |
| CTRL+T | Swap character under cursor with the previous one |
Recall Shortcuts Command
Following Shortcuts and commands help you to recall historically executed command so you don’t need to type them again and again. Here it goes:
| Recall Command | Description |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Control Shortcuts Command
Following Shortcuts and commands help you to control your terminals. Here it goes:
| Control Command | Description |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Bang Bash Shortcuts Command
You may not need them all the time, but still helpful in many cases. Here it goes:
| Bang Bash Command | Description |
|---|---|
| C!! | Run last command |
| C!blah | Run the most recent command that starts with blah |
| C!blah:p | Print out the command that !blah would run (also adds it as the latest command in the command history |
| C!$ | The last word of the previous command (same as ALT+.) |
| C!$:p | Print out the word that !$ would substitute |
| !* | The previous command except for the first word (e.g., if you type find some_file.txt /, then !* would give you some_file.txt /) |
| !*:p | Print out what !* would substitute |