Bash Shortcuts Quick Reference

Ctrl-a

Move to the start of the line.

Ctrl-e

Move to the end of the line.

Ctrl-b

Move back one character.

Alt-b

Move back one word.

Ctrl-f

Move forward one character.

Alt-f

Move forward one word.

Ctrl-] x

Where x is any character, moves the cursor forward to the next occurance of x.

Alt-Ctrl-] x

Where x is any character, moves the cursor backwards to the previous occurance of x.

Ctrl-u

Delete from the cursor to the beginning of the line.

Ctrl-k

Delete from the cursor to the end of the line.

Ctrl-w

Delete from the cursor to the start of the word.

Esc-Del

Delete previous word (may not work, instead try Esc followed by Backspace)

Ctrl-y

Pastes text from the clipboard.

Ctrl-l

Clear the screen leaving the current line at the top of the screen.

Ctrl-x Ctrl-u

Undo the last changes. Ctrl-_ does the same

Alt-r

Undo all changes to the line.

Alt-Ctrl-e

Expand command line.

Ctrl-r

Incremental reverse search of history.

Alt-p

Non-incremental reverse search of history.

!!

Execute last command in history

!abc

Execute last command in history beginning with abc

!abc:p

Print last command in history beginning with abc

!n

Execute nth command in history

!$

Last argument of last command

!^

First argument of last command

^abc^xyz

Replace first occurance of abc with xyz in last command and execute it