---
title: Bash Shortcuts For Maximum Productivity
tags:
  - IT/Tools/Shell/bash
  - IT/Shell
---

## Bash Shortcuts For Maximum Productivity

### Command Editing Shortcuts

| Shortcut | Description |
| -------- | ----------- |
| Ctrl + a | go to the start of the command line |
| Ctrl + e | go to the end of the command line |
| Ctrl + k | delete from cursor to the end of the command line |
| Ctrl + u | delete from cursor to the start of the command line |
| Ctrl + w | delete from cursor to start of word (i.e. delete backwards one word) |
| Ctrl + y | paste word or text that was cut using one of the deletion shortcuts (such as the one above) after the cursor |
| Ctrl + xx | move between start of command line and current cursor position (and back again) |
| Alt + b | move backward one word (or go to start of word the cursor is currently on) |
| Alt + f | move forward one word (or go to end of word the cursor is currently on) |
| Alt + d | delete to end of word starting at cursor (whole word if cursor is at the beginning of word) |
| Alt + c | capitalize to end of word starting at cursor (whole word if cursor is at the beginning of word) |
| Alt + u | make uppercase from cursor to end of word |
| Alt + l | make lowercase from cursor to end of word |
| Alt + t | swap current word with previous |
| Ctrl + f | move forward one character |
| Ctrl + b | move backward one character |
| Ctrl + d | delete character under the cursor |
| Ctrl + h | delete character before the cursor |
| Ctrl + t | swap character under cursor with the previous one |

### Command Recall Shortcuts

| Shortcut | Description |
| --------- | ------------- |
| Ctrl + r | search the history backwards |
| Ctrl + g | escape from history searching mode |
| 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) |
| Alt + . | use the last word of the previous command |

### Command Control Shortcuts

| Shortcut | Description |
| -------- | ----------- |
| Ctrl + l | clear the screen |
| Ctrl + s | stops the output to the screen (for long running verbose command) |
| Ctrl + q | allow output to the screen (if previously stopped using command above) |
| Ctrl + c | terminate the command |
| Ctrl + z | suspend/stop the command |

### Bash Bang (!) Commands
   Bash also has some handy features that use the ! (bang) to allow you to do some funky stuff with bash commands.
   
| Shortcut | Description |
| --------- | ------------- |
| `!!` | run last command |
| `!blah` | run the most recent command that starts with ‘blah’ (e.g. !ls) |
| `!blah:p` | print out the command that !blah would run (also adds it as the latest command in the command history) |
| `!$` | the last word of the previous command (same as Alt + .) |
| `!$:p` | print out the word that `!$` would substitute |
| `!*` | the previous command except for the last word (e.g. if you type ‘find some_file.txt /‘, then !* would give you ‘find some_file.txt‘) |
| `!*:p` | print out what `!*` would substitute |