Shortcuts Link to heading
There are many shortcuts that we can use to make working with Linux easier and faster. After we have familiarized ourselves with the most important of them and have made them a habit, we will save ourselves much typing. Some of them will even help us to avoid using our mouse in the terminal.
Auto-Complete Link to heading
[TAB] - Initiates auto-complete. This will suggest to us different options based on the STDIN we provide. These can be specific suggestions like directories in our current working environment, commands starting with the same number of characters we already typed, or options.
Cursor Movement Link to heading
[CTRL] + A - Move the cursor to the beginning of the current line.
[CTRL] + E - Move the cursor to the end of the current line.
[CTRL] + [←] / [→] - Jump at the beginning of the current/previous word.
[ALT] + B / F - Jump backward/forward one word.
Erase The Current Line Link to heading
[CTRL] + U - Erase everything from the current position of the cursor to the beginning of the line.
[Ctrl] + K - Erase everything from the current position of the cursor to the end of the line.
[Ctrl] + W - Erase the word preceding the cursor position.
Paste Erased Contents Link to heading
[Ctrl] + Y - Pastes the erased text or word.
Ends Task Link to heading
[CTRL] + C - Ends the current task/process by sending the SIGINT signal. For example, this can be a scan that is running by a tool. If we are watching the scan, we can stop it / kill this process by using this shortcut. While not configured and developed by the tool we are using. The process will be killed without asking us for confirmation.
End-of-File (EOF) Link to heading
[CTRL] + D - Close STDIN pipe that is also known as End-of-File (EOF) or End-of-Transmission.
Clear Terminal Link to heading
[CTRL] + L - Clears the terminal. An alternative to this shortcut is the clear command you can type to clear our terminal.
Background a Process Link to heading
[CTRL] + Z - Suspend the current process by sending the SIGTSTP signal.
Search Through Command History Link to heading
[CTRL] + R - Search through command history for commands we typed previously that match our search patterns.
[↑] / [↓] - Go to the previous/next command in the command history.
Switch Between Applications Link to heading
[ALT] + [TAB] - Switch between opened applications.
Zoom Link to heading
[CTRL] + [+] - Zoom in.
[CTRL] + [-] - Zoom out.