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Useful bash / zsh shortcuts

MacOS iTerm 2 users must turn on meta key — https://coderwall.com/p/_lmivq

Nice visual cheatsheet from the article:

visual cheetsheet

Move cursor

Ctrl + a Go to the beginning of the line (Home)
Ctrl + e Go to the End of the line (End)
Alt + b Back (left) one word
Alt + f Forward (right) one word
Ctrl + f Forward one character
Ctrl + b Backward one character
Ctrl + xx Toggle between the start of line and current cursor position

Edit

Ctrl + u Cut the line before the cursor position
Alt + Del Delete the Word before the cursor
Alt + d Delete the Word after the cursor
Ctrl + d Delete character under the cursor
Ctrl + h Delete character before the cursor (backspace)
Ctrl + w Cut the Word before the cursor to the clipboard
Ctrl + k Cut the Line after the cursor to the clipboard
Alt + t Swap current word with previous
Ctrl + t Swap the last two characters before the cursor (typo)
Esc + t Swap the last two words before the cursor.
Ctrl + y Paste the last thing to be cut (yank)
Alt + u UPPER capitalize every character from the cursor to the end of the current word.
Alt + l Lower the case of every character from the cursor to the end of the current word.
Alt + c Capitalize the character under the cursor and move to the end of the word.
Alt + r Cancel the changes and put back the line as it was in the history (revert)
Сtrl + _ Undo

History

Ctrl + r Recall the last command including the specified character(s)(equivalent to : vim ~/.bash_history).
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)
Ctrl + s Go back to the next most recent command.
Ctrl + o Execute the command found via Ctrl+r or Ctrl+s
Ctrl + g Escape from history searching mode
Alt + . Use the last word of the previous command

Process control

Bang(!) - The History Expansion

Bash also has some handy features that use the ! (bang) to allow you to do some funky stuff with bash commands.
General notation is '![event][:word[:modifier[:modifier]...]]'.
You may omit word separator ':', if the word designator begins with a '^', '$', '*', '-', or '%'.
If a word designator is supplied without an event specification, the previous command is used as the event.
After the optional word designator, you can add a sequence of one or more modifiers, each preceded by a ':'.

EventsMeaningExample
! Start a history substitution, except when followed by a space, tab, the end of the line, ‘=’ or ‘(’ (when the extglob shell option is enabled using the shopt builtin).

    
!n Refer to command line n.
$ history
1 echo foo bar baz
2 history
$ !1
#Print command that will be saved in history
#+and executed
echo foo bar baz
#Actual execution
foo bar baz
!-n Refer to the command n lines back.
$ history
1 echo foo
2 echo bar
3 echo baz
4 history
$ !-3
echo bar
bar
!! Refer to the previous command. This is a synonym for ‘!-1’.
$ echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
$ !!
echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
!string Refer to the most recent command preceding the current position in the history list starting with string.
$printf '%s\n' foo
foo
$ echo bar
bar
$ !pri
printf '%s\n' foo
foo
!?string[?] Refer to the most recent command preceding the current position in the history list containing string. The trailing ‘?’ may be omitted if the string is followed immediately by a newline.
$printf '%s\n' foo
foo
$ echo bar
bar
$ !?ntf
printf '%s\n' foo
foo
$ !?bar
echo bar
bar
^string1^tring2^ Quick Substitution. Repeat the last command, replacing string1 with string2. Equivalent to `!!:s/string1/string2`. For more info, refer to `s/old/new/` in Modifiers section.
$ echo foo
foo
$ ^echo^printf '%s\n'^
printf '%s\n' foo
foo
!# Repeat entire command line before this event.
$ echo foo; echo bar; !#echo baz
echo foo; echo bar; echo foo; echo bar; echo baz
foo
bar
foo
bar
baz
WordsMeaningExample
0 (zero) The 0th word. For many applications, this is the command word.
$ echo foo
foo
$ !:0
echo
n The nth word.
$ echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
$ echo !:2
echo bar
bar
^ The first argument; that is, word 1.
$ echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
$ echo !^
echo foo
foo
$
The last argument.
$ echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
$ echo !$
echo baz
baz
% The word matched by the most recent `?string?` search
$ echo foo
foo
$ printf '%s\n' bar
bar
$ !?ch
echo foo
foo
$ !% baz
echo baz
baz
$ !?bar
printf '%s\n' bar
bar
$ echo !%
echo bar
bar
x-y A range of words; `-y` abbreviates `0-y`.
$ echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
$ echo !:2-3
echo bar baz
bar baz
$ !:-1
echo bar
bar
* All of the words, except the 0th. This is a synonym for `1-$`. It is not an error to use `*` if there is just one word in the event - the empty string is returned in that case.
$ echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
$ printf '%s\n' !*
printf '%s\n' foo bar baz
foo
bar
baz
x* Abbreviates `x-$`
$ echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
$ printf '%s\n' !:2*
printf '%s\n' bar baz
bar
baz
x- Abbreviates `x-$` like `x*`, but omits the last word.
$ echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
$ printf '%s\n' !:0-
printf '%s\n' echo foo bar
echo
foo
bar
ModifiersMeaningExample
p Print the new command but do not execute it.
Printed command is saved in history, so you can use Ctrl+p to re-enter it in current prompt.
$ echo foo bar baz
foo bar baz
$ !:p
#Printed, but not executed
echo foo bar baz
$ !:*:p
foo bar baz
h Remove a trailing pathname component, leaving only the head (Actually, remove all after last `/`, including).
$ echo foo /example/path/bar.txt baz
foo /example/path/bar.txt baz
$ !:p:h
echo foo /example/path
t Remove all leading pathname components, leaving the tail (Actually, remove all before last `/`, including).
$ echo foo /example/path/bar.txt baz
foo /example/path/bar.txt baz
$ !:p:t
bar.txt baz
r Remove a trailing suffix of the form `.suffix`, leaving the basename (Actually, remove all after last `.`, including).
$ echo foo /example/path/bar.txt baz
foo /example/path/bar.txt baz
$ !:p:r
echo foo /example/path/bar
e Remove all but the trailing suffix (Actually, remove all before last `.`, including).
$ echo foo /example/path/bar.txt baz
foo /example/path/bar.txt baz
$ !:p:e
txt baz
q Quote the substituted words, escaping further substitutions.
$ echo foo 'bar baz'
foo bar baz
$ !:p:q
'echo foo '\'bar baz'\'''
x Quote the substituted words as with ‘q’, but break into words at spaces, tabs, and newlines.
$ echo foo 'bar baz'
foo bar baz
$ !:p:x
'echo' 'foo' ''\'bar' 'baz'\'''
s/old/new/ Substitute new for the first occurrence of old in the event line. Any delimiter may be used in place of `/`. The delimiter may be quoted in old and new with a single backslash. If `&` appears in new, it is replaced by old. A single backslash will quote the `&`. The final delimiter is optional if it is the last character on the input line.
$ echo foo bar
foo bar
$ !:p:s/foo/baz
echo baz bar
& Repeat the previous substitution.
$ echo foo bar
foo bar
$ !:p:s/foo/baz
echo baz bar
$ printf '%s\n' foo
foo
$ !:p:&
printf '%s\n' baz
g
a
Cause changes to be applied over the entire event line. Used in conjunction with `s`, as in gs/old/new/, or with `&`.
$ echo foo bar foo
foo bar foo
$ !:p:gs/foo/baz
echo baz bar baz
G Apply the following ‘s’ modifier once to each word in the event. Result is same as in `g` modifier

    

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