README.md

Useful bash / zsh shortcuts

MacOS iTerm 2 users must turn on meta key — 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 + b	Backward one character
Ctrl + f	Forward one character
Ctrl + xx	Toggle between the start of line and current cursor position

Edit

Ctrl + u	Cut the line before the cursor position
Ctrl + d	Delete character under the cursor
Ctrl + h	Delete character before the cursor (backspace)
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.
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)
Сtrl + _	Undo

Cut and paste (kill and yank)

Alt + Del	Cut the word (or part of word) before the cursor to the clipboard
Alt + d	Cut the word (or part of word) after the cursor to the clipboard
Ctrl + w	Cut to the previous whitespace before the cursor to the clipboard
Ctrl + k	Cut the line after the cursor to the clipboard
Ctrl + y	Paste the last thing to be cut (yank)

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, ‘=’ or ‘(’ (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 ‘!-1’.	$ 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 ‘?’ 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 ‘q’, 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 ‘s’ modifier once to each word in the event.	Result is same as in `g` modifier

Recent links

• Bash Shortcuts For Maximum Productivity
• Syntax Bashkeyboard
• Moving efficiently in the CLI
• Bash History Expansion