Terminal & iTerm2 Keyboard Shortcuts

Line Editing (Readline / Emacs Mode)

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+A	Move cursor to beginning of line
Ctrl+E	Move cursor to end of line
Ctrl+F	Move cursor forward one character
Ctrl+B	Move cursor backward one character
Alt+F / Opt+F	Move forward one word
Alt+B / Opt+B	Move backward one word
Ctrl+U	Delete from cursor to beginning of line
Ctrl+K	Delete from cursor to end of line
Ctrl+W	Delete word before cursor
Alt+D / Opt+D	Delete word after cursor
Ctrl+D	Delete character under cursor (or exit shell)
Ctrl+H	Delete character before cursor (backspace)
Ctrl+T	Transpose characters
Alt+T / Opt+T	Transpose words
Ctrl+Y	Paste (yank) last deleted text
Alt+Y / Opt+Y	Cycle through yank ring
Ctrl+_	Undo last edit
Ctrl+XX	Toggle between cursor position and beginning of line

History

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+R	Reverse search history
Ctrl+S	Forward search history
Ctrl+P / Up	Previous command in history
Ctrl+N / Down	Next command in history
Alt+. / Opt+.	Insert last argument of previous command
!!	Repeat last command
!$	Last argument of previous command
!*	All arguments of previous command
!abc	Run last command starting with “abc”
^old^new	Replace “old” with “new” in last command
Ctrl+G	Cancel history search
history	Show full command history

Process Control

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+C	Kill current foreground process
Ctrl+Z	Suspend current process (background)
Ctrl+D	Send EOF (exit shell if line is empty)
Ctrl+S	Pause terminal output
Ctrl+Q	Resume terminal output
Ctrl+L	Clear screen (keep history)
fg	Resume suspended job in foreground
bg	Resume suspended job in background
jobs	List background jobs

iTerm2 Specific

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+T	New tab
Cmd+W	Close tab/pane
Cmd+D	Split pane vertically
Cmd+Shift+D	Split pane horizontally
Cmd+]	Next pane
Cmd+[	Previous pane
Cmd+Opt+Arrow	Navigate between panes
Cmd+Shift+Enter	Maximize/restore pane
Cmd+Left / Cmd+Right	Switch tabs
Cmd+1-9	Jump to tab by number
Cmd+F	Find in terminal
Cmd+Shift+H	Paste history
Cmd+;	Autocomplete
Cmd+Opt+E	Expose all tabs
Cmd+/	Find cursor
Cmd+Enter	Toggle fullscreen
Cmd+Shift+I	Broadcast input to all panes
Cmd+K	Clear buffer
Cmd+Shift+O	Open quickly (search sessions)

macOS Terminal.app

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+T	New tab
Cmd+N	New window
Cmd+W	Close tab
Cmd+Shift+Left/Right	Switch tabs
Cmd+D	Split window (macOS Sequoia+)
Cmd+K	Clear to start
Cmd+,	Preferences
Cmd+I	Inspector (window info)

Useful Shell Aliases

Alias/Command	Action
alias ll='ls -la'	Long listing with hidden files
alias ..='cd ..'	Go up one directory
alias ...='cd ../..'	Go up two directories
alias gs='git status'	Git status shortcut
alias gp='git push'	Git push shortcut
Ctrl+R then type	Fuzzy search command history
cd -	Return to previous directory
pushd / popd	Directory stack navigation