| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + A | Move to the start of the command line |
| Ctrl + E | Move to the end of the command line |
| Ctrl + F | Move one character forward |
| Ctrl + B | Move one character backward |
| Ctrl + XX | Switch cursor position between start of the command line and the current position |
| Ctrl + L | Similar to clear command, clears the terminal screen |
| Ctrl + S | Stops command output to the screen |
| Ctrl + Z | Suspends current command execution and moves it to the background |
| Ctrl + Q | Resumes suspended command |
| Ctrl + C | Send SIGI and kill currently executing command |
| Ctrl + R | Incremental reverse search of bash history |
| Ctrl + P | Non-incremental reverse search of bash history |
| Ctrl + G | Exits history mode |
| Ctrl + U | Deletes before the cursor until the start of the command |
| Ctrl + K | Deletes after the cursor until the end of the command |
| Esc + T | Switch between last two words before cursor |
| !! | Repeat last command |
| cd – | Repates last file path |
Pattern Matching
| Character | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
* |
Wildcard: Matches any sequence of characters | ls *.txt |
? |
Single-character wildcard | ls file?.txt |
[ ] |
Character class: Matches any one of the enclosed characters | ls file[123].txt |
[^ ] |
Negated character class: Matches any character not in the enclosed characters | ls file[^123].txt |
- |
Range in character class: Specifies a range of characters | ls file[1-3].txt |
{ } |
Grouping: Matches any one of the comma-separated patterns | mv file{.txt,.bak} |
! |
Negation: Negates the meaning of a pattern | ls !(*.txt) |
() |
Grouping: Changes the order of evaluation in complex patterns | `rm -r (backup* |
| ` | ` | OR operator: Matches either of the patterns |
^ |
Anchoring: Matches the beginning of a line | grep ^start file.txt |
$ |
Anchoring: Matches the end of a line | grep end$ file.txt |
| Character | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
. |
Matches any single character (except newline) | grep H.t matches Hat, Hot, etc. |
[:alnum:] |
Matches any alphanumeric character | grep [[:alnum:]] matches lines containing alphanumeric characters |
[:alpha:] |
Matches any alphabetic character | grep [[:alpha:]] matches lines containing alphabetic characters |
[:digit:] |
Matches any digit | grep [[:digit:]] matches lines containing digits |
[:space:] |
Matches any whitespace character | grep [[:space:]] matches lines containing whitespace |
[:punct:] |
Matches any punctuation character | grep [[:punct:]] matches lines containing punctuation |
[:lower:] |
Matches any lowercase letter | grep [[:lower:]] matches lines containing lowercase letters |
[:upper:] |
Matches any uppercase letter | grep [[:upper:]] matches lines containing uppercase letters |
