Linux Terminal Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

Knowing keyboard shortcuts for the Linux terminal saves hours of repetitive typing. These shortcuts work in Bash (the default shell on most Linux distributions), and most also work in Zsh and other shells that use the GNU Readline library. This reference covers cursor movement, text editing, history search, process control, and terminal management.

Cursor Movement Shortcuts

Move the cursor without reaching for the arrow keys.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + A	Move cursor to the beginning of the line
Ctrl + E	Move cursor to the end of the line
Ctrl + F	Move cursor one character forward (same as Right arrow)
Ctrl + B	Move cursor one character backward (same as Left arrow)
Alt + F	Move cursor one word forward
Alt + B	Move cursor one word backward
Ctrl + XX	Toggle between the start of the line and current cursor position

Text Editing Shortcuts

Delete, cut, and paste text directly on the command line without a mouse.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + U	Cut everything from the cursor to the beginning of the line
Ctrl + K	Cut everything from the cursor to the end of the line
Ctrl + W	Cut the word before the cursor
Alt + D	Cut the word after the cursor
Ctrl + Y	Paste the last cut text (yank)
Alt + Y	Cycle through previously cut text (after Ctrl + Y)
Ctrl + D	Delete the character under the cursor (or logout if line is empty)
Ctrl + H	Delete the character before the cursor (same as Backspace)
Alt + T	Swap the current word with the previous word
Ctrl + T	Swap the character under the cursor with the previous one
Alt + U	Uppercase the word from the cursor to the end of the word
Alt + L	Lowercase the word from the cursor to the end of the word
Alt + C	Capitalize the character under the cursor and move to end of word

Command History Shortcuts

Search and reuse previously executed commands.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + R	Reverse search through command history (type to filter)
Ctrl + G	Cancel the reverse search and restore original line
Ctrl + P	Previous command in history (same as Up arrow)
Ctrl + N	Next command in history (same as Down arrow)
Alt + .	Insert the last argument from the previous command
!!	Repeat the last command (useful with sudo: sudo !!)
!$	Refer to the last argument of the previous command
!*	Refer to all arguments of the previous command
!abc	Run the most recent command starting with “abc”
!abc:p	Print the most recent command starting with “abc” without running it
^old^new	Run the previous command but replace “old” with “new”

Process Control Shortcuts

Manage running processes and signals from the terminal.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + C	Send SIGINT – interrupt and stop the current foreground process
Ctrl + Z	Send SIGTSTP – suspend the current process (resume with fg or bg)
Ctrl + D	Send EOF – logout of the current shell session (same as exit)
Ctrl + \	Send SIGQUIT – terminate the process and dump core
Ctrl + S	Freeze terminal output (stop scrolling)
Ctrl + Q	Resume terminal output (unfreeze after Ctrl + S)

Terminal and Screen Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + L	Clear the terminal screen (same as the clear command)
Tab	Auto-complete file names, commands, and paths
Tab Tab	Show all possible completions when there are multiple matches
Ctrl + _	Undo the last editing action
Alt + R	Revert all changes to the current line

Bang (!) History Expansion Examples

History expansion with ! is one of the most powerful time-saving features in Bash. Here are practical examples.

Rerun the last command as root:

sudo !!

Use the last argument from the previous command. If you ran mkdir /var/www/mysite, you can immediately cd into it:

cd !$

Quick substitution – fix a typo in the previous command without retyping the whole thing:

^teh^the

Run the most recent ssh command from history:

!ssh

Customize Readline Key Bindings

All Bash shortcuts are controlled by the GNU Readline library. You can view and customize bindings using the bind command or the ~/.inputrc file.

List all current key bindings:

bind -P | grep -v "not bound"

Enable case-insensitive tab completion by adding this to ~/.inputrc:

set completion-ignore-case On

Show all completions immediately without pressing Tab twice:

set show-all-if-ambiguous On

Conclusion

These shortcuts work across virtually all Linux terminals and most SSH sessions. The most impactful ones to learn first are Ctrl + R for history search, Ctrl + A / Ctrl + E for line navigation, and Ctrl + U / Ctrl + K for cutting text. For multiplexed terminal sessions with additional shortcuts, look into tmux.

Related guides:

• How to install and configure Zsh on Linux
• How To Install and Use Tmux on Linux
• Configure Zsh syntax highlighting on Linux / macOS
• Top 20 Windows PowerShell Keyboard Shortcuts For Geeks
• Kubectl Cheat Sheet for Kubernetes Admins and CKA Exam Prep