Bash Shell Keyboard Shortcuts For Linux Users

The default shell on most Linux operating systems is called Bash. There are a couple of important hotkeys that you should get familiar with if you plan to spend a lot of time at the command line. These shortcuts will save you a ton of time if you learn them.

Here is the List of Bash Shell Keyboard Shortcuts For Linux Users

• Ctrl + A - Go to the beginning of the line you are currently typing on


• Ctrl + E - Go to the end of the line you are currently typing on


• Ctrl + L - Clears the Screen, similar to the clear command


• Ctrl + U - Clears the line before the cursor position. If you are at the end of the line, clears the entire line.


• Ctrl + H - Same as backspace


• Ctrl + R - Let’s you search through previously used commands


• Ctrl + C - Kill whatever you are running


• Ctrl + D - Exit the current shell


• Ctrl + Z - Puts whatever you are running into a suspended background process. fg restores it.


• Ctrl + W - Delete the word before the cursor


• Ctrl + K - Clear the line after the cursor


• Ctrl + T - Swap the last two characters before the cursor


• Esc + T - Swap the last two words before the cursor


• Alt + F - Move cursor forward one word on the current line


• Alt + B - Move cursor backward one word on the current line


• Tab - Auto-complete files and folder names


• Ctrl + W - erase word before cursor


• Ctrl + Y - to paste it (as in delete and copy) all text in front of the cursor


• Esc + . (or Esc + Underscore) - Insert Last Argument


• Ctrl + b - Move back a character


• Ctrl + f - Move forward a character


• Ctrl + r - Search the history backwards


• Ctrl + xx - Move between EOL and current cursor position


• Ctrl + x @ - Show possible hostname completions


• 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 + c - Capitalize the word


• Alt + d - Delete word


• 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 + back-space - Delete backward from cursor


• Here "2T" means Press TAB twice


• $ 2T - All available commands(common)


• $ (string) 2T - All available commands starting with (string)


• $ /2T - Entire directory structure including Hidden one


• $ 2T - Only Sub Dirs inside including Hidden one


• $ *2T - Only Sub Dirs inside without Hidden one


• $ ~2T - All Present Users on system from "/etc/passwd"


• $ $2T - All Sys variables


• $ @2T - Entries from "/etc/hosts"


• $ =2T - Output like ls or dir

Useful Note that some of these commands may not work if you are accessing bash through a telnet ,ssh session, or depending on how you have your keys mapped.