Readline Cheat Sheet

Emacs editing mode

For detailed information see the GNU Readline library manual or type man readline.
For information about Readline in Bash type man bash and search for ^READLINE or Commands for moving.
 

Moving

Ctrl-a	Move to the start of the current line.
Ctrl-e	Move to the end of the line.
Ctrl-f	Move forward a character.
Ctrl-b	Move back a character.
Alt-f	Move forward to the end of the next word. Words are alphanumeric.
Alt-b	Move back to the start of the current or previous word. Words are alphanumeric.
Ctrl-l	Clear the screen.

History

Ctrl-p	Fetch the previous command from the history list.
Ctrl-n	Fetch the next command from the history list.
Alt-<	Move to the first line in the history.
Alt->	Move to the last line in the history.
Ctrl-r	Search backward through history.
Ctrl-s	Search forward through history.
Alt-p	Search backward through history for a given string.
Alt-n	Search forward through history for a given string.
Ctrl-Alt-y	Insert the first argument to the previous command. With an argument n, insert the nth word from the previous command.
Alt-. Alt-_	Insert the last argument to the previous command. With an argument n, insert the nth word from the previous command.

Changing Text

Ctrl-d	Delete the character under the cursor.
Delete	Delete the character before the cursor.
Ctrl-v Ctrl-q	Add the next character you type verbatim.
Ctrl-t	Transpose characters.
Alt-t	Transpose words.
Alt-u	Uppercase the current word.
Alt-l	Lowercase the current word.
Alt-c	Capitalize the current word.

Killing and Yanking (Cutting and Pasting)

Ctrl-k	Kill (cut) forwards to the end of the line.
Ctrl-u Ctrl-x Delete	Kill (cut) backwards to the start of the line.
Alt-d	Kill (cut) forwards to the end of the current word.
Alt-Delete Ctrl-w	Kill (cut) backwards to the start of the current word.
Alt-\	Delete whitespace around the cursor.
Ctrl-y	Yank (paste) the top of the kill ring.
Alt-y	Rotate the kill ring, and yank (paste) the new top. Only works after a yank.

Completing

Tab	Autocomplete.
Alt-?	List possible completions.
Alt-*	Insert possible completions.

Macros

Ctrl-x (	Begin saving the characters typed as a macro.
Ctrl-x )	Stop saving the characters typed as a macro.
Ctrl-x e	Execute the most recent macro.

Miscellaneous

Ctrl-x Ctrl-r	Read in the contents of the inputrc file.
Ctrl-g	Abort current editing command
Ctrl-_ Ctrl-x Ctrl-u	Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.
Alt-r	Undo all changes made to this line. This is like executing the undo command enough times to return the line to its initial state.
Alt-Space Ctrl-@	Set the mark (save this location).
Ctrl-x Ctrl-x	Set the mark and jump to the previous mark.
Ctrl-]	Search forwards for a single character in the current line and jump to that location.
Ctrl-Alt-]	Search backwards for a single character in the current line and jump to that location.
Alt-#	Comment the current line and start a new one.
Ctrl-e	Enter Emacs editing mode
Ctrl-Alt-j	Enter Vi editing mode