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Last active March 29, 2025 21:51
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readline shortcuts

Readline

GNU readline is a commonly used library for line-editing; it is used for example by Bash, FTP, and many more (see the details of [readline][5] package under "Required By" for more examples). readline is also customizable (see man page for details).

Keyboard Shortcut Description

Ctrl+l Clear the screen

Cursor Movement

Ctrl+b Move cursor one character to the left

Ctrl+f Move cursor one character to the right

Alt+b Move cursor one word to the left

Alt+f Move cursor one word to the right

Ctrl+a Move cursor to start of the line

Ctrl+e Move cursor to end of the line

Copy & Paste

Ctrl+u Cut everything from line start to cursor

Ctrl+k Cut everything from the cursor to end of the line

Alt+d Cut the current word after the cursor

Ctrl+w Cut the current word before the cursor

Ctrl+y Paste the previous cut text

Alt+y Paste the second latest cut text

Alt+Ctrl+y Paste the first argument of the previous command

Alt+./_ Paste the last argument of the previous command

History

Ctrl+p Move to the previous line

Alt+n Move to the next line

Ctrl+s Search

Ctrl+r Reverse search

Ctrl+j End search

Ctrl+g Abort search (restores original line)

Alt+r Restores all changes made to line

Completion

Tab Auto-complete a name

Alt+? List all possible completions

Alt+* Insert all possible completions

source: arch wiki

@chipbite
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