Useful bash / zsh shortcuts
MacOS iTerm 2 users must turn on meta key β https://coderwall.com/p/_lmivq
Nice visual cheatsheet from the article:
Move cursor
| Ctrl + a | Go to the beginning of the line (Home) |
| Ctrl + e | Go to the End of the line (End) |
| Alt + b | Back (left) one word |
| Alt + f | Forward (right) one word |
| Ctrl + f | Forward one character |
| Ctrl + b | Backward one character |
| Ctrl + xx | Toggle between the start of line and current cursor position |
Edit
| Ctrl + u | Cut the line before the cursor position |
| Alt + Del | Delete the Word before the cursor |
| Alt + d | Delete the Word after the cursor |
| Ctrl + d | Delete character under the cursor |
| Ctrl + h | Delete character before the cursor (backspace) |
| Ctrl + w | Cut the Word before the cursor to the clipboard |
| Ctrl + k | Cut the Line after the cursor to the clipboard |
| Alt + t | Swap current word with previous |
| Ctrl + t | Swap the last two characters before the cursor (typo) |
| Esc + t | Swap the last two words before the cursor. |
| Ctrl + y | Paste the last thing to be cut (yank) |
| Alt + u | UPPER capitalize every character from the cursor to the end of the current word. |
| Alt + l | Lower the case of every character from the cursor to the end of the current word. |
| Alt + c | Capitalize the character under the cursor and move to the end of the word. |
| Alt + r | Cancel the changes and put back the line as it was in the history (revert) |
| Π‘trl + _ | Undo |
History
| Ctrl + r | Recall the last command including the specified character(s)(equivalent to : vim ~/.bash_history). |
| Ctrl + p | Previous command in history (i.e. walk back through the command history) |
| Ctrl + n | Next command in history (i.e. walk forward through the command history) |
| Ctrl + s | Go back to the next most recent command. |
| Ctrl + o | Execute the command found via Ctrl+r or Ctrl+s |
| Ctrl + g | Escape from history searching mode |
| Alt + . | Use the last word of the previous command |
Process control
Bang(!) - The History Expansion
Bash also has some handy features that use the ! (bang) to allow you to do some funky stuff with bash commands.
General notation is '![event][:word[:modifier[:modifier]...]]'.
You may omit word separator ':', if the word designator begins with a '^', '$', '*', '-', or '%'.
If a word designator is supplied without an event specification, the previous command is used as the event.
After the optional word designator, you can add a sequence of one or more modifiers, each preceded by a ':'.
| Events | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ! | Start a history substitution, except when followed by a space, tab, the end of the line, β=β or β(β (when the extglob shell option is enabled using the shopt builtin). | |
| !n | Refer to command line n. |
$ history 1 echo foo bar baz 2 history $ !1 #Print command that will be saved in history #+and executed echo foo bar baz #Actual execution foo bar baz |
| !-n | Refer to the command n lines back. |
$ history 1 echo foo 2 echo bar 3 echo baz 4 history $ !-3 echo bar bar |
| !! | Refer to the previous command. This is a synonym for β!-1β. |
$ echo foo bar baz foo bar baz $ !! echo foo bar baz foo bar baz |
| !string | Refer to the most recent command preceding the current position in the history list starting with string. |
$printf '%s\n' foo foo $ echo bar bar $ !pri printf '%s\n' foo foo |
| !?string[?] | Refer to the most recent command preceding the current position in the history list containing string. The trailing β?β may be omitted if the string is followed immediately by a newline. |
$printf '%s\n' foo foo $ echo bar bar $ !?ntf printf '%s\n' foo foo $ !?bar echo bar bar |
| ^string1^tring2^ | Quick Substitution. Repeat the last command, replacing string1 with string2. Equivalent to `!!:s/string1/string2`. |
For more info, refer to `s/old/new/` in Modifiers section.
$ echo foo foo $ ^echo^printf '%s\n'^ printf '%s\n' foo foo |
| !# | Repeat entire command line before this event. |
$ echo foo; echo bar; !#echo baz echo foo; echo bar; echo foo; echo bar; echo baz foo bar foo bar baz |
| Words | Meaning | Example |
| 0 (zero) | The 0th word. For many applications, this is the command word. |
$ echo foo foo $ !:0 echo |
| n | The nth word. |
$ echo foo bar baz foo bar baz $ echo !:2 echo bar bar |
| ^ | The first argument; that is, word 1. |
$ echo foo bar baz foo bar baz $ echo !^ echo foo foo |
$ |
The last argument. |
$ echo foo bar baz foo bar baz $ echo !$ echo baz baz |
| % | The word matched by the most recent `?string?` search |
$ echo foo foo $ printf '%s\n' bar bar $ !?ch echo foo foo $ !% baz echo baz baz $ !?bar printf '%s\n' bar bar $ echo !% echo bar bar |
| x-y | A range of words; `-y` abbreviates `0-y`. |
$ echo foo bar baz foo bar baz $ echo !:2-3 echo bar baz bar baz $ !:-1 echo bar bar |
| * | All of the words, except the 0th. This is a synonym for `1-$`. It is not an error to use `*` if there is just one word in the event - the empty string is returned in that case. |
$ echo foo bar baz foo bar baz $ printf '%s\n' !* printf '%s\n' foo bar baz foo bar baz |
| x* | Abbreviates `x-$` |
$ echo foo bar baz foo bar baz $ printf '%s\n' !:2* printf '%s\n' bar baz bar baz |
| x- | Abbreviates `x-$` like `x*`, but omits the last word. |
$ echo foo bar baz foo bar baz $ printf '%s\n' !:0- printf '%s\n' echo foo bar echo foo bar |
| Modifiers | Meaning | Example |
| p | Print the new command but do not execute it. Printed command is saved in history, so you can use Ctrl+p to re-enter it in current prompt. |
$ echo foo bar baz foo bar baz $ !:p #Printed, but not executed echo foo bar baz $ !:*:p foo bar baz |
| h | Remove a trailing pathname component, leaving only the head (Actually, remove all after last `/`, including). |
$ echo foo /example/path/bar.txt baz foo /example/path/bar.txt baz $ !:p:h echo foo /example/path |
| t | Remove all leading pathname components, leaving the tail (Actually, remove all before last `/`, including). |
$ echo foo /example/path/bar.txt baz foo /example/path/bar.txt baz $ !:p:t bar.txt baz |
| r | Remove a trailing suffix of the form `.suffix`, leaving the basename (Actually, remove all after last `.`, including). |
$ echo foo /example/path/bar.txt baz foo /example/path/bar.txt baz $ !:p:r echo foo /example/path/bar |
| e | Remove all but the trailing suffix (Actually, remove all before last `.`, including). |
$ echo foo /example/path/bar.txt baz foo /example/path/bar.txt baz $ !:p:e txt baz |
| q | Quote the substituted words, escaping further substitutions. |
$ echo foo 'bar baz' foo bar baz $ !:p:q 'echo foo '\'bar baz'\''' |
| x | Quote the substituted words as with βqβ, but break into words at spaces, tabs, and newlines. |
$ echo foo 'bar baz' foo bar baz $ !:p:x 'echo' 'foo' ''\'bar' 'baz'\''' |
| s/old/new/ | Substitute new for the first occurrence of old in the event line. Any delimiter may be used in place of `/`. The delimiter may be quoted in old and new with a single backslash. If `&` appears in new, it is replaced by old. A single backslash will quote the `&`. The final delimiter is optional if it is the last character on the input line. |
$ echo foo bar foo bar $ !:p:s/foo/baz echo baz bar |
| & | Repeat the previous substitution. |
$ echo foo bar foo bar $ !:p:s/foo/baz echo baz bar $ printf '%s\n' foo foo $ !:p:& printf '%s\n' baz |
| g a |
Cause changes to be applied over the entire event line. Used in conjunction with `s`, as in gs/old/new/, or with `&`. |
$ echo foo bar foo foo bar foo $ !:p:gs/foo/baz echo baz bar baz |
| G | Apply the following βsβ modifier once to each word in the event. | Result is same as in `g` modifier |