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)
Ctrl + _
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, ‘=’ 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.
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
</td>
^
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).
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.