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Shortcuts to Move Faster in Bash Command Line

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Basic moves

Move back one character. Ctrl + b
Move forward one character. Ctrl + f
Delete current character. Ctrl + d
Delete previous character. Backspace
Undo. Ctrl + -

Moving faster

Move to the start of line. Ctrl + a
Move to the end of line. Ctrl + e
Move forward a word. Meta + f (a word contains alphabets and digits, no symbols)
Move backward a word. Meta + b
Clear the screen. Ctrl + l

What is Meta? Meta is your Alt key, normally. For Mac OSX user, you need to enable it yourself. Open Terminal > Preferences > Settings > Keyboard, and enable Use option as meta key. Meta key, by convention, is used for operations on word.

Cut and paste (‘Kill and yank’ for old schoolers)

Cut from cursor to the end of line. Ctrl + k
Cut from cursor to the end of word. Meta + d
Cut from cursor to the start of word. Meta + Backspace
Cut from cursor to previous whitespace. Ctrl + w
Paste the last cut text. Ctrl + y
Loop through and paste previously cut text. Meta + y (use it after Ctrl + y)
Loop through and paste the last argument of previous commands. Meta + .

Search the command history

Search as you type. Ctrl + r and type the search term; Repeat Ctrl + r to loop through results.
Search the last remembered search term. Ctrl + r twice.
End the search at current history entry. Ctrl + j
Cancel the search and restore original line. Ctrl + g

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