Keyboard shortcuts for editing CLI commands
The command at the current command prompt is the active command. Using keyboard shortcuts enables you to edit the active command quickly. These keyboard shortcuts are similar to those of the UNIX tcsh shell and the Emacs editor.
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts for editing CLI commands. Ctrl-
indicates that you press and hold the Ctrl key while typing the character specified after it. Esc-
indicates that you press and release the Esc key and then type the character specified after it.
| If you want to… | Use the following keyboard shortcut… |
|---|---|
| Move the cursor back by one character | Ctrl-B |
| Back arrow | |
| Move the cursor forward by one character | Ctrl-F |
| Forward arrow | |
| Move the cursor back by one word | Esc-B |
| Move the cursor forward by one word | Esc-F |
| Move the cursor to the beginning of the line | Ctrl-A |
| Move the cursor to the end of the line | Ctrl-E |
| Remove the content of the command line from the beginning of the line to the cursor, and save it in the cut buffer The cut buffer acts like temporary memory, similar to what is called a clipboard in some programs. | Ctrl-U |
| Remove the content of the command line from the cursor to the end of the line, and save it in the cut buffer | Ctrl-K |
| Remove the content of the command line from the cursor to the end of the following word, and save it in the cut buffer | Esc-D |
| Remove the word before the cursor, and save it in the cut buffer | Ctrl-W |
| Yank the content of the cut buffer, and push it into the command line at the cursor | Ctrl-Y |
| Delete the character before the cursor | Ctrl-H |
| Backspace | |
| Delete the character where the cursor is | Ctrl-D |
| Clear the line | Ctrl-C |
| Clear the screen | Ctrl-L |
| Replace the current content of the command line with the previous entry on the history list With each repetition of the keyboard shortcut, the history cursor moves to the previous entry. | Ctrl-P |
| Esc-P | |
| Up arrow | |
| Replace the current content of the command line with the next entry on the history list With each repetition of the keyboard shortcut, the history cursor moves to the next entry. | Ctrl-N |
| Esc-N | |
| Down arrow | |
| Expand a partially entered command or list valid input from the current editing position | Tab |
| Ctrl-I | |
| Display context-sensitive help | ? |
Escape the special mapping for the question mark (?) character For instance, to enter a question mark into a command's argument, press Esc and then the | Esc-? |
| Start TTY output | Ctrl-Q |
| Stop TTY output | Ctrl-S |