Use keyboard shortcuts at the command line

Novell Cool Solutions: Trench
By Domnic Mendes

Digg This - Slashdot This Posted: 14 Nov 2005

For example, when using the default Emacs-like mode, you can use a number of [Ctrl] or [Esc] key combinations to navigate and manipulate text when you're working on a lengthy command. Here's a list of some of your options:

Key Combination	Action
[Ctrl]B	move backward one character
[Ctrl]F	move forward one character
[Esc]B	move one word backward
[Esc]F	move one word forward
[Ctrl]A	move to the first character in the line
[Ctrl]E	move to the end of the line
[Ctrl]U	delete the current line
[Ctrl]K	delete from the cursor's current position to the end of the line

You can also use a command to search through your history. Press [Ctrl]R to perform a reverse search through your history for a given command. When you've located the command, press [Enter] to reexecute it, or edit the command to change it.

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