Shell cheatsheet - Shortcuts

Last Updated: 2024-01-20

Shortcuts (Sorted By Function)

Navigation

• Ctrl + a - Jump to the start of the line
• Ctrl + e - Jump to the end of the line
• Ctrl + f - Move forward a char
• Ctrl + b - Move back a char
• Ctrl + xx - Move between EOL and current cursor position

Edit

• Ctrl + d - Delete character from under the cursor
• Ctrl + w - Cut word before cursor
• Ctrl + k - Cut to EOL
• Ctrl + u - Cut from line start to cursor
• Ctrl + y - Paste
• Ctrl + t - move forward character before cursor

Search

• Ctrl-r: search backward.
• Ctrl-s: search forward.

For example, to search grep commands in your history and cycle through alternatives:

• Ctrl-r
• grep
• Ctrl-r
• Ctrl-s

Others

• Ctrl + c - Terminate the command
• Ctrl + z - Suspend/ Stop the command
• Ctrl + l - Clear the screen
• Ctrl + x @ - Show possible hostname completions

Shortcuts (Sorted By Key)

Ctrl

• Ctrl + a - Jump to the start of the line
• Ctrl + b - Move back a char
• Ctrl + c - Terminate the command (SIGINT)
• Ctrl + d - Delete character from under the cursor
• Ctrl + w - Delete word before cursor
• Ctrl + e - Jump to the end of the line
• Ctrl + f - Move forward a char
• Ctrl + k - Delete to EOL
• Ctrl + l - Clear the screen
• Ctrl + r - Search the history backwards
• Ctrl + u - Delete backward from cursor
• Ctrl + xx - Move between EOL and current cursor position
• Ctrl + x @ - Show possible hostname completions
• Ctrl + z - Suspend/ Stop the command (SIGSTP)
• Ctrl + t - move forward character before cursor
• Ctrl + \ - if Ctrl-c fails. (SIGQUIT)

Alt

• Alt + < - Move to the first line in the history
• Alt + > - Move to the last line in the history
• Alt + ? - Show current completion list
• Alt + * - Insert all possible completions
• Alt + / - Attempt to complete filename
• Alt + . - Yank last argument to previous command
• Alt + b - Move backward
• Alt + c - Capitalize the word
• Alt + d - Delete word
• Alt + f - Move forward
• Alt + l - Make word lowercase
• Alt + n - Search the history forwards non-incremental
• Alt + p - Search the history backwards non-incremental
• Alt + r - Recall command
• Alt + t - Move words around
• Alt + u - Make word uppercase
• Alt + backspace - Delete backward from cursor

Misc

• TAB TAB - Display all available commands(common)
• <STRING> TAB TAB - Display all available commands starting with string.
• / TAB TAB - Show entire directory structure including hidden ones.
• * TAB TAB - Show only sub-directories inside excluding hidden ones.
• ~ TAB TAB - Show all present users on system from "/etc/passwd"
• $ TAB TAB - Show all sys variables
• @ TAB TAB - Show all entries from "/etc/hosts"
• = TAB TAB - List output like ls or dir