Command Line Shortcuts

The following keys are useful for editing the command-line. Note that UNIX has had a long and twisted evolution from the mainframe, and the Home, End and other keys may not work properly. The following keys bindings are however common throughout many LINUX applications:

Ctrl-a
Move to the beginning of the line (Home).
Ctrl-e
Move to the end of the line (End).
Ctrl-h
Erase backward (backspace).
Ctrl-d
Erase forward (Delete).
Ctrl-f
Move forward one character (Right Arrow).
Ctrl-b
Move backward one character (Left Arrow).
Alt-f
Move forward one word.
Alt-b
Move backward one word.
Alt-Ctrl-f
Erase forward one word.
Alt-Ctrl-b
Erase backward one word.
Ctrl-p
Previous command (up arrow).
Ctrl-n
Next command (down arrow).

Your command-line keeps a history of all the commands you have typed in. Ctrl-p and Ctrl-n will cycle through previous commands entered. New users seem to gain tremendous satisfaction from typing in lengthy commands over and over. Never type in anything more than once--use your command history instead.

Ctrl-s is used to suspend the current session, causing the keyboard to stop responding. Ctrl-q reverses this condition.

Ctrl-r activates a search on your command history. Pressing Ctrl-r in the middle of a search finds the next match whereas Ctrl-s reverts to the previous match (although some distributions have this confused with suspend).

The Tab command is tremendously useful for saving key strokes. Typing a partial directory name, file name, or command, and then pressing Tab once or twice in sequence completes the word for you without your having to type it all in full.

You can make Tab and other keys stop beeping in the irritating way that they do by editing the file /etc/inputrc and adding the line

set bell-style none