A quick reference of commonly used Linux shortcuts and commands that I find useful. This reference will be updated as more shortcuts and commands are added or removed.
Last updated: 01-03-2020
Table of Contents
Shortcut Keys
A collection of useful shortcut keys for bash which is the default shell in most Linux system.
Alt Key Shortcuts
Alt key shortcuts are mostly used to manipulate the command text that is inputted into the shell terminal
| Key Combination | Affects |
|---|---|
| Alt + A | Go to beginning of line |
| Alt + B | Move cursor back one character |
| Alt + F | Move cursor forward one character |
| Alt + U | Capitalize the word after the cursor |
| Alt + L | Lowercase the word after the cursor |
| Alt + T | Swap the last two words |
| Alt + R | Undo changes made to command retrieved using Ctrl + R (bash history search) |
| Alt + . | Use the last word or parameter from the previous command in the new command |
| Alt + C | Suspend the running command or process, similar to Ctrl + C |
| Alt + D | If the terminal is empty, closes the terminal. If there is text, delete all characters after the cursor |
Ctrl Key Shortcuts
Ctrl key shortcuts are used to manipulate command text as well as interact with the shell terminal.
| Key Combination | Affects |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + A | Go to beginning of line |
| Ctrl + E | Go to end of the line |
| Ctrl + B | Move cursor back one character |
| Ctrl + F | Move cursor forward one character |
| Ctrl + H | Delete the character before the cursor |
| Ctrl + D | Delete the character under the cursor |
| Ctrl + U | Delete all characters before the cursor |
| Ctrl + W | Delete a word before the cursor |
| Ctrl + Y | Paste the last item deleted or cut |
| Ctrl + T | Swap the last two character |
| Ctrl + S | Search bash history |
| Ctrl + R | Reverse search bash history |
| Ctrl + G | Leave history searching mode |
| Ctrl + L | Clear the screen |
| Ctrl + C | Stop the currently running command |
| Ctrl + Z | Pause the currently running command and backgrounds it. |
| Ctrl + D | Delete the character under the cursor |
Bash Bang Shortcuts
Bash Bang (!) shortcuts are used to manipulate the command that was just entered.
| Key Combination | Affects |
|---|---|
| !! | Run last command |
| !blah | Run last command that starts with ‘blah’ |
| !blah:p | Print the command of !blah without running it |
| !$ | Use the last word or parameter from the previous command in the new command |
| !$:p | Print the value of !$ |
Filesystem Commands
Getting around the Linux filesystem and interacting with it.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| ls | List files in current working directory |
| touch | Create a file |
| cp | Copy a file |
| mv | Move a file |
| rm | Delete a file |
| cd | Change to a directory. If ran by itself, returns to home folder |
| mkdir | Create a directory |
| rmdir | Deletes an empty directory |
| chmod | Change the mode of the file or directory |
| chown | Change the owner the file or directory |
| chgrp | Change the group membership of the file or directory |
| cat | Print out the contents of a file |
| head | Prints the top few lines of a file |
| tail | Prints the last few lines of a file |
| less | Prints out the content of a file interactively |
| wc | Counts the words on screen |
Archive Files Commands
Manipulating archived or compressed files.
Compressing and Archiving Files
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| tar -cvf ./file.tar <dir_to_compress> | Create a tar file |
| tar -cvzf ./newfile.tar.gz <dir_to_compress> | Create a tar.gz file |
| tar -cvzf ./newfile.tgz <dir_to_compress> | Create a tgz file |
| zip -r ./file.zip <dir_to_compress> | Create a zip file |
Decompressing and Unarchiving Files.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| tar -xvf ./file.tar | Extract a tar file |
| tar -xvzf ./newfile.tar.gz | Extract a tar.gz file |
| tar -xvzf ./newfile.tgz | Extract a tgz file |
| unzip ./file.zip | Extract a zip file |