Common Readline Shortcuts

2022-08-19 · 2 min read · Linux ·

Readline Shortcut

GNU Readline is a software library that provides in-line editing and history capabilities for interactive programs with a command-line interface, such as Bash and IPython.

man readline or readline

Moving

Shortcut	Comment	Chinese Comment
`Ctrl`+`A`	Move to the start of the current line
`Ctrl`+`E`	Move to the end of the line
`Ctrl`+`F` / `→`	Move forward a character
`Ctrl`+`B` / `←`	Move backward a character
`Alt`+`F`	Move forward one word
`Alt`+`B`	Move backward one word
`Ctrl`+`L`	Clear screen

Copy and Paste (Killing and Yianking)

Shortcut	Comment	Chinese Comment
`Ctrl`+`K`	Cut text to the end of line
`Ctrl`+`U`	Cut text to the beginning of line	Cut to the beginning of the line
`Alt`+`D`	Cut text to the end of the current word	Cut to the end of the word
`Ctrl`+`W`	Cut the word behind point, using white space as a word boundary	Cut to the beginning of the word
`Ctrl`+`Y`	Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point	Paste the clipboard contents
`Alt`+`Y`	Rotate the kill-ring, and yank the new top. If the prior command is yank or yank-pop	Cycle through the clipboard

Changing Text

Shortcut	Comment	Chinese Comment
`Ctrl`+`D`	Delete the character at point	Delete the character at the cursor
`Ctrl`+`H`	Delete previous character	Delete previous character
`Ctrl`+`T`	Transpose characters	Transpose characters forward
`Meta`+`T`	Transpose words	Transpose words forward
`Alt`+`U`	Uppercase the current word
`Alt`+`L`	Lowercase the current word
`Alt`+`C`	Capitalize the current word

History

Shortcut	Comment	Chinese comment
`Ctrl`+`R`	Search backwards in history
`Ctrl`+`S`	Search forwards in history
`Alt`+`.`	Insert the last argument of the previous command
`Alt`+ `number` + `.`	With an argument n, insert the nth word from the previous command.

Lastmod： Wednesday, August 6, 2025

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