Command Shorthand

Command Shell Shorthand

Shorthand at the Command Prompt

Some of these are specific to the bash shell. I have not experimented enough with other shells to know which are common to all shells. See also the ``Bash Reference Card'', SSC (2000), available online.

• / - root directory
• ./ - current directory
• ./command_name - run a command in the current directory when the current directory is not on the path
• ../ - parent directory
• ~ - home directory
• $ - typical prompt when logged in as ordinary user
• # - typical prompt when logged in as root or superuser
• ! - repeat specified command
• !! - repeat previous command
• ^^ - repeat previous command with substitution
• & - run a program in background mode
• [Tab][Tab] - prints a list of all available commands. This is just an example of autocomplete with no restriction on the first letter.
• x[Tab][Tab] - prints a list of all available completions for a command, where the beginning is ``x''
• [Alt][Ctrl][F1] - switch to the first virtual text console
• [Alt][Ctrl][Fn] - switch to the nth virtual text console. Typically, there are six on a Linux PC system.
• [Alt][Ctrl][F7] - switch to the first GUI console, if there is one running. If the graphical console freezes, one can switch to a nongraphical console, kill the process that is giving problems, and switch back to the graphical console using this shortcut.
• [ArrowUp] - scroll through the command history (in bash)
• [Shift][PageUp] - scroll terminal output up. This also works at the login prompt, so you can scroll through your boot messages.
• [Shift][PageDown] - scroll terminal output down
• [Ctrl][Alt][+] - switch to next X server resolution (if the server is set up for more than one resolution)
• [Ctrl][Alt][-] - change to previous X server resolution
• [Ctrl][Alt][BkSpc] - kill the current X server. Used when normal exit is not possible.
• [Ctrl][Alt][Del] - shut down the system and reboot
• [Ctrl]c - kill the current process
• [Ctrl]d - logout from the current terminal
• [Ctrl]s - stop transfer to current terminal
• [Ctrl]q - resume transfer to current terminal. This should be tried if the terminal stops responding.
• [Ctrl]z - send current process to the background
• reset - restore a terminal to its default settings
• [Leftmousebutton] - Hold down left mouse button and drag to highlight text. Releasing the button copies the region to the text buffer under X and (if gpm is installed) in console mode.
• [Middlemousebutton] - Copies text from the text buffer and inserts it at the cursor location. With a two-button mouse, click on both buttons simultaneously. It is necessary for three-button emulation to be enabled, either under gpm or in XF86Config.