bash command line editing

bash productivity commands

Command Recall Shortcuts

Ctrl + r – search the history backwards
Ctrl + g – escape from history searching mode
Ctrl + p – previous command in history (i.e. walk back through the command history)
Ctrl + n – next command in history (i.e. walk forward through the command history)
Alt + . – use the last word of the previous command

Command Control Shortcuts

Ctrl + l – clear the screen
Ctrl + s – stops the output to the screen (for long running verbose command)
Ctrl + q – allow output to the screen (if previously stopped using command above)
Ctrl + c – terminate the command
Ctrl + z – suspend/stop the command

Bash Bang (!) Commands

Bash also has some handy features that use the ! (bang) to allow you to do some funky stuff with bash commands.

!! – run last command
!blah – run the most recent command that starts with ‘blah’ (e.g. !ls)
!blah:p – print out the command that !blah would run (also adds it as the latest command in the command history)
!$ – the last word of the previous command (same as Alt + .)
!$:p – print out the word that !$ would substitute
!* – the previous command except for the last word (e.g. if you type ‘find some_file.txt /‘, then !* would give you ‘find some_file.txt‘)
!*:p – print out what !* would substitute