Line Editor Commands


Below is a table of line editor commands you can use while you are working in a terminal window.


UpArrow, CTRL-p

Gets previous command from history

DownArrow, CTRL-n

Gets next command from history

Tab

Completes pathname of current work, including both file names and command names. If completion is not unique then terminal will beep in some cases, or appear to do nothing if terminal beep is off.

Tab Tab

If completion is not unique, hitting Tab again will show list of possible completions given your partial input.

LeftArrow, CTRL-b

Moves cursor one character to the left

RightArrow, CTRL-f

Moves cursor one character to the right

CTRL-LeftArrow, ESC b

Moves cursor left one WORD

CTRL-RightArrow, ESC f

Moves cursor right one WORD

CTRL-a

Moves cursor to the start of line

CTRL-e

Moves cursor to the end of line

CTRL-k

Kills (deletes) all characters from current position to the end of line

CTRL-h, Backspace

Deletes previous character

CTRL-d, Delete

Deletes current character

ESC Backspace

Deletes previous WORD

ESC d

Deletes current WORD