Keyboard shortcuts

Remarks#

bind -P show all configured shortcuts.

Recall Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl` + `r`	search the history backwards
`Ctrl` + `p`	previous command in history
`Ctrl` + `n`	next command in history
`Ctrl` + `g`	quit history searching mode
`Alt` + `.`	use the last word of the previous command
	repeat to get the last word of the previous + 1 command
`Alt` + `n` `Alt` + `.`	use the nth word of the previous command
`!!` + `Return`	execute the last command again (useful when you forgot sudo: `sudo !!`)

Editing Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl` + `a`	move to the beginning of the line
`Ctrl` + `e`	move to the end of the line
`Ctrl` + `k`	Kill the text from the current cursor position to the end of the line.
`Ctrl` + `u`	Kill the text from the current cursor position to the beginning of the line
`Ctrl` + `w`	Kill the word behind the current cursor position
`Alt` + `b`	move backward one word
`Alt` + `f`	move forward one word
`Ctrl` + `Alt` + `e`	shell expand line
`Ctrl` + `y`	Yank the most recently killed text back into the buffer at the cursor.
`Alt` + `y`	Rotate through killed text. You can only do this if the prior command is `Ctrl` + `y` or `Alt` + `y`.

Killing text will delete text, but save it so that the user can reinsert it by yanking. Similar to cut and paste except that the text is placed on a kill ring which allows for storing more than one set of text to be yanked back on to the command line.

You can find out more in the emacs manual.

Job Control

Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl` + `c`	Stop the current job
`Ctrl` + `z`	Suspend the current job (send a SIGTSTP signal)

Macros

Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl` + `x`, `(`	start recording a macro
`Ctrl` + `x`, `)`	stop recording a macro
`Ctrl` + `x`, `e`	execute the last recorded macro

Custome Key Bindings

With the bind command it is possible to define custom key bindings.

The next example bind an Alt + w to >/dev/null 2>&1:

bind '"\ew"':"\" >/dev/null 2>&1\""

If you want to execute the line immediately add \C-m (Enter) to it:

bind '"\ew"':"\" >/dev/null 2>&1\C-m\""