This appendix covers keyboard shortcuts for Terminal.app, command-line editing, and common terminal emulators on macOS.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+N | New window |
Cmd+T | New tab |
Cmd+Shift+N | New window with same command |
Cmd+W | Close tab/window |
Cmd+Shift+W | Close window |
Cmd+1-9 | Switch to tab 1-9 |
Cmd+Shift+[ | Previous tab |
Cmd+Shift+] | Next tab |
Cmd+Left Arrow | Previous tab |
Cmd+Right Arrow | Next tab |
Cmd+Shift+D | Split pane horizontally |
Cmd+D | Split pane vertically (some configs) |
Cmd+Shift+Enter | Toggle full screen |
Cmd+Ctrl+F | Toggle full screen |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd++ or Cmd+= | Increase font size |
Cmd+- | Decrease font size |
Cmd+0 | Reset font size to default |
Cmd+K | Clear screen and scrollback |
Cmd+L | Clear screen (keep scrollback) |
Ctrl+L | Clear screen (shell command) |
Cmd+Home | Scroll to top |
Cmd+End | Scroll to bottom |
Page Up | Scroll up one page |
Page Down | Scroll down one page |
Cmd+Up Arrow | Scroll up one line |
Cmd+Down Arrow | Scroll down one line |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+A | Select all |
Cmd+C | Copy selection |
Cmd+V | Paste |
Cmd+Shift+V | Paste escaped (for URLs, paths) |
Double-click | Select word |
Triple-click | Select line |
Cmd+Click | Open URL in browser |
Option+Click | Position cursor at click location |
Cmd+Drag | Rectangular selection |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+F | Find |
Cmd+G | Find next |
Cmd+Shift+G | Find previous |
Cmd+E | Use selection for find |
Cmd+J | Jump to selection |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+U | Mark current line |
Cmd+Shift+U | Mark line and send return |
Cmd+Shift+M | Insert bookmark |
Cmd+Up Arrow | Jump to previous mark |
Cmd+Down Arrow | Jump to next mark |
Cmd+Shift+A | Select between marks |
Most shells (bash, zsh) use Emacs-style keybindings by default. These work in Terminal.app and other terminal emulators.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+A | Move to beginning of line |
Ctrl+E | Move to end of line |
Ctrl+F | Move forward one character |
Ctrl+B | Move backward one character |
Option+F or Esc F | Move forward one word |
Option+B or Esc B | Move backward one word |
Ctrl+XX | Toggle between start of line and current position |
Note: On macOS, Option+F and Option+B may require enabling “Use Option as Meta key” in Terminal preferences, or use Esc followed by the letter.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+D | Delete character under cursor (or logout if empty line) |
Ctrl+H | Delete character before cursor (backspace) |
Ctrl+W | Delete word before cursor |
Option+D or Esc D | Delete word after cursor |
Ctrl+U | Delete from cursor to beginning of line |
Ctrl+K | Delete from cursor to end of line |
Ctrl+Y | Paste (yank) last deleted text |
Option+Y | Cycle through kill ring |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+T | Transpose characters (swap current and previous) |
Option+T or Esc T | Transpose words |
Option+U or Esc U | Uppercase word from cursor |
Option+L or Esc L | Lowercase word from cursor |
Option+C or Esc C | Capitalize word from cursor |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+P or Up Arrow | Previous command in history |
Ctrl+N or Down Arrow | Next command in history |
Ctrl+R | Reverse incremental search |
Ctrl+S | Forward incremental search (may need to enable) |
Ctrl+G | Cancel search and restore original line |
Option+< or Esc < | First command in history |
Option+> or Esc > | Last command in history |
Ctrl+O | Execute command and fetch next from history |
!! | Repeat last command (type and press Enter) |
!n | Repeat command number n from history |
!string | Repeat last command starting with string |
!?string | Repeat last command containing string |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+C | Interrupt (SIGINT) - cancel current command |
Ctrl+Z | Suspend (SIGTSTP) - pause current command |
Ctrl+D | End of file (EOF) - logout or close input |
Ctrl+\ | Quit (SIGQUIT) - forceful termination |
Ctrl+S | Pause output (XOFF) |
Ctrl+Q | Resume output (XON) |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Tab | Auto-complete command, filename, or variable |
Tab Tab | Show all completions |
Option+= or Esc = | List possible completions |
Option+* or Esc * | Insert all completions |
Option+/ or Esc / | Complete filename |
Ctrl+X / | List possible filename completions |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+L | Clear screen, redraw current line at top |
Ctrl+S | Stop output to screen |
Ctrl+Q | Resume output to screen |
Zsh includes additional features beyond standard Emacs bindings:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Tab | Complete and show menu if ambiguous |
Ctrl+I | Same as Tab |
Shift+Tab | Reverse through completions |
Option+H or Esc H | Run help for current command |
Option+? | Show command help |
Ctrl+X A | Expand alias |
Ctrl+X G | List expansions of current glob |
Ctrl+X * | Expand glob inline |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+R | Incremental history search |
Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N | Navigate history |
Option+P | History search backward (prefix match) |
Option+N | History search forward (prefix match) |
fc | Edit last command in editor |
r | Re-run last command |
r foo=bar | Re-run last command, replacing foo with bar |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+X Ctrl+E | Edit command line in $EDITOR |
Option+Q | Push line to buffer, clear, execute next command, then restore |
Option+' | Quote line |
Option+" | Quote region |
Ctrl+X Ctrl+V | Show zsh version |
Both bash and zsh support vi-style editing. Enable with:
# Bash
set -o vi
# Zsh
bindkey -v
| Key | Action |
|---|
h | Move left |
l | Move right |
w | Move forward one word |
b | Move backward one word |
e | Move to end of word |
0 | Move to beginning of line |
$ | Move to end of line |
^ | Move to first non-blank character |
x | Delete character |
dw | Delete word |
dd | Delete line |
d$ or D | Delete to end of line |
d0 | Delete to beginning of line |
cw | Change word |
cc | Change line |
c$ or C | Change to end of line |
yy | Yank (copy) line |
yw | Yank word |
p | Paste after cursor |
P | Paste before cursor |
u | Undo |
Ctrl+R | Redo |
i | Insert mode at cursor |
I | Insert at beginning of line |
a | Append after cursor |
A | Append at end of line |
r | Replace single character |
R | Replace mode |
k | Previous history |
j | Next history |
/ | Search forward in history |
? | Search backward in history |
n | Repeat search |
N | Repeat search in reverse |
v | Edit command in $EDITOR |
| Key | Action |
|---|
Escape | Return to command mode |
Ctrl+[ | Return to command mode |
Ctrl+C | Cancel and return to command mode |
iTerm2 provides additional shortcuts beyond Terminal.app:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+N | New window |
Cmd+T | New tab |
Cmd+W | Close tab |
Cmd+Shift+W | Close window |
Cmd+Option+W | Close all tabs except current |
Cmd+1-9 | Switch to tab |
Cmd+Left/Right | Previous/next tab |
Cmd+Shift+Enter | Maximize pane |
Cmd+Option+E | Expose all tabs |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+D | Split vertically |
Cmd+Shift+D | Split horizontally |
Cmd+Option+Arrow | Navigate between panes |
Cmd+] | Next pane |
Cmd+[ | Previous pane |
Cmd+Shift+Enter | Toggle pane zoom |
Cmd+Option+Shift+H/V | Move divider |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+F | Find |
Cmd+Shift+H | Paste history |
Cmd+; | Autocomplete |
Cmd+Shift+; | Open command history |
Cmd+Option+/ | Recent directories popup |
Cmd+Click | Open URL/file |
Cmd+Option+B | Instant replay |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+K | Clear buffer |
Cmd+Ctrl+K | Clear scrollback |
Cmd+/ | Find cursor |
Cmd+Option+; | Open command history |
Cmd+Shift+M | Set mark |
Cmd+Shift+J | Jump to mark |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+I | Edit session |
Cmd+, | Preferences |
Cmd+Option+I | Toggle broadcast input |
Cmd+Shift+O | Open quickly (fuzzy search tabs) |
When viewing files with less:
| Key | Action |
|---|
Space or f | Forward one page |
b | Backward one page |
d | Forward half page |
u | Backward half page |
j or Down | Forward one line |
k or Up | Backward one line |
g or Home | Go to beginning |
G or End | Go to end |
/<pattern> | Search forward |
?<pattern> | Search backward |
n | Next search match |
N | Previous search match |
&<pattern> | Show only matching lines |
m<letter> | Mark current position |
'<letter> | Go to mark |
F | Follow mode (like tail -f) |
v | Open in $EDITOR |
-N | Toggle line numbers |
-S | Toggle line wrapping |
h | Help |
q | Quit |
Man pages use less by default, but some additional keys work:
| Key | Action |
|---|
h | Help |
q | Quit |
Space | Next page |
b | Previous page |
/ | Search |
n | Next match |
N | Previous match |
For quick edits in vim:
| Key | Action |
|---|
i | Insert before cursor |
a | Insert after cursor |
o | Insert new line below |
O | Insert new line above |
x | Delete character |
dd | Delete line |
yy | Copy line |
p | Paste |
u | Undo |
Ctrl+R | Redo |
/ | Search |
n | Next match |
:w | Save |
:q | Quit |
:wq | Save and quit |
:q! | Quit without saving |
ZZ | Save and quit |
ZQ | Quit without saving |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+C | Cancel/interrupt |
Ctrl+D | Exit/EOF |
Ctrl+Z | Suspend |
Ctrl+L | Clear screen |
Ctrl+A | Start of line |
Ctrl+E | End of line |
Ctrl+U | Delete to start |
Ctrl+K | Delete to end |
Ctrl+W | Delete word |
Ctrl+R | Search history |
Tab | Autocomplete |
Up/Down | History navigation |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd+T | New tab |
Cmd+W | Close tab |
Cmd+1-9 | Switch tab |
Cmd+K | Clear all |
Cmd+F | Find |
Cmd++/- | Font size |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+C | Kill foreground |
Ctrl+Z | Suspend |
bg | Continue in background |
fg | Bring to foreground |
jobs | List background jobs |