Bash¶

Summary

Nearly every shortcut on this page isn't actually a "Bash" feature — it comes from GNU Readline, the line-editing library Bash links against.¹
That's why the same shortcuts work in plenty of other places too: the Python REPL, psql, mysql, irb, and anything else built on Readline.
Notation follows the standard Readline convention: C- means hold Ctrl, M- means Meta — which on virtually every real keyboard is the Alt key, or Esc pressed first and released if there's no dedicated Alt/Meta key.¹

Alt and Esc are (usually) the same thing

If your terminal doesn't pass Alt through directly, pressing Esc then a key does the identical thing as holding Alt and pressing that key. This is why you'll sometimes see the same shortcut written both ways — they're not two different bindings, just two notations for one keystroke.

Bash cursor movement cheat sheet — Figure 1. Bash cursor movement, visualized²

Moving the Cursor¶

Shortcut	Description
`ctrl + a`	Go to the beginning of the line
`ctrl + e`	Go to the end of the line
`ctrl + b`	Move back one character
`ctrl + f`	Move forward one character
`alt + b`	Move back one word
`alt + f`	Move forward one word
`ctrl + x` `ctrl + x`	Toggle between the start of the line and the current cursor position
`ctrl + ]` then x	Move forward to the next occurrence of character x
`alt + ctrl + ]` then x	Move backward to the previous occurrence of character x

Table 1. Moving the Cursor

Editing¶

Shortcut	Description
`ctrl + d`	Delete the character under the cursor
`ctrl + h`	Delete the character before the cursor
`ctrl + u`	Cut everything before the cursor
`ctrl + k`	Cut everything after the cursor
`ctrl + w`	Delete the word before the cursor
`alt + [Backspace]`	Also delete the word before the cursor
`alt + d`	Delete the word from the cursor forward
`ctrl + y`	Paste the most recently cut text
`ctrl + i`	Command completion (this is literally the same keystroke as `[TAB]`)
`ctrl + l`	Clear the screen (same as running `clear`)
`ctrl + c`	Kill whatever's currently running
`ctrl + z`	Suspend the current process to the background
`ctrl + _` or `ctrl + x` `ctrl + u`	Undo
`alt + r`	Undo all changes to the current line
`ctrl + t`	Swap the two characters before the cursor
`esc + t` / `alt + t`	Swap the two words before the cursor
`alt + c`	Capitalize from the cursor to the end of the word
`alt + u`	Uppercase from the cursor to the end of the word
`alt + l`	Lowercase from the cursor to the end of the word
`esc + .` / `alt + .` / `esc + _`	Insert the last argument of the previous command (`vim a.txt b.txt` → inserts `b.txt`)
`alt + <`	Jump to the first line of history
`alt + >`	Jump to the end of history (the line currently being typed)
`alt + ?`	List files/folders in the current path, as help
`alt + *`	Insert all matching completions as parameters
`alt + ctrl + e`	Expand the command line (aliases, history, and shell expansions)
`~` `[TAB]` `[TAB]`	List all users
`$` `[TAB]` `[TAB]`	List all shell variables
`@` `[TAB]` `[TAB]`	List all entries in `/etc/hosts`
`[TAB]`	Auto-complete

Table 2. Editing

cd - isn't a keybinding

Unlike everything above, cd - isn't a Readline shortcut at all — it's shell state: cd to your previous working directory. Worth knowing, just a different category of "shortcut."

Searching History¶

Shortcut	Description
`ctrl + r`	Search backward through history, starting from the current line
`ctrl + s`	Search forward through history, starting from the current line
`ctrl + p`	Previous command in history (same as ↑)
`ctrl + n`	Next command in history (same as ↓)
`alt + p`	Non-incremental reverse search of history
`alt + n`	Non-incremental forward search of history
`ctrl + o`	Execute the command found via `ctrl + r`/`ctrl + s`
`ctrl + g`	Abort history search mode
`!!`	Run the previous command (e.g. `sudo !!`)
`!vi`	Run the previous command that begins with `vi`
`!vi:p`	Print (don't run) the previous command beginning with `vi`
`!n`	Execute the nth command in history
`!$`	Last argument of the last command
`!^`	First argument of the last command
`^abc^xyz`	Replace the first occurrence of `abc` with `xyz` in the last command, and run it

Table 3. Searching History

Incremental vs. non-incremental search — what's the difference?

ctrl + r/ctrl + s are incremental — the match updates live as you type each character. alt + p/alt + n are non-incremental — you type the whole search term first, then press Enter, and only then does it search.

Kill a Job¶

Given a job number n (list your jobs with jobs):

kill %n

Example:

kill %1

My Bash Alias¶

alias hg='history | grep'

Useful Resources¶

GNU Readline Library — the official documentation, maintained by Chet Ramey (Readline and Bash's maintainer)
bash-shortcuts-cheat-sheet — the original cheat sheet this page is based on

Ramey, C. (n.d.). GNU Readline Library. http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/php/chet/readline/readline.html ↩↩
fliptheweb. (n.d.). bash-shortcuts-cheat-sheet [GitHub repository]. https://github.com/fliptheweb/bash-shortcuts-cheat-sheet ↩