
This is a page from an upcoming zine called "The Secret Rules of the Terminal".
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read the transcript!
editing text ([almost] always works)
backspace
Ctrl + W
: delete previous wordCtrl + U
: delete line
(except in text editors)
quitting
Ctrl + C
: quit (SIGINT
)Ctrl + Z
: stop process (SIGTSTP
) (resume withfg
orbg
or kill (withkill
)Ctrl + D
: quit (in a REPL) (more on page 20)q
: quit (in some full screen programs)Enter
: exit frozen SSH session
or the nuclear option:
$ ps aux | grep THING
bork 7213 ... THING
$ kill -9 7213
editing text
(these often work in a readline-like situation)
-
arrow keys
-
Ctrl + A
orHome
: beginning of line -
Ctrl + E
orEnd
: end of line -
Ctrl + arrow keys
: left/right a word
or sometimesAlt + arrow keys
orOption + arrow keys
orAlt+b / Alt+f
-
Ctrl + K
: delete line forward -
Ctrl + Y
: paste (fromCtrl+K
orCtrl+U
) -
Ctrl + H
: might work ifBackspace
doesn’t
also many shells have a “vi mode” if that’s your jam
other useful stuff
- Ctrl + L: clear screen
- Ctrl + R: search history
- Ctrl + Q: unfreeze screen (that you froze with
Ctrl+S
, more on page 25)
copy and paste
in your terminal emulator, it’s usually:
Ctrl + Shift + C/V
or Cmd + C/V
mouse stuff that might work
Option + click
- or
Alt + click
: place cursor scroll wheel
: scroll
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