By Joran Martijn

These are known as the GNU Readline key bindings. See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Readline]] for a more exhaustive list. The following are ones that I use commonly

=== The Hot Keys ===

<code>
Ctrl-a		Jump to START of line
Ctrl-e		Jump to END of line
Meta-f		Jump FORWARD one word or until special character. For example ‘ /\_.,-‘ 
Meta-b		Jump BACK one word or until special character
Ctrl-k		Remove (KILL) everything after the cursor
Ctrl-u		Remove everything before the cursor
Ctrl-w		Remove the (previous) word
Meta-d          Remove the (next) word
Ctrl-y		Paste (YANK) the last thing you removed with Ctrl-k, Ctrl-u or Ctrl-w
Ctrl-l		Clear the screen (same as clear) Ctrl-d Exit terminal session (same as exit)
Meta-Bcksp	Remove everything before the cursor until a special character
Ctrl-r		Search for commands in the commands history (also see history)
</code>

Theys hotkeys can save you a lot of time when editing a previous command to create a new command, especially if these are very long commands. I find in particular Ctrl-r extremely useful.

=== The Meta Key ===

The Meta key is a special key that is commonly used in command line work. It used to be an actual physical key on keyboards from the 1970s, when computer standard protocols were being developed. Nowadays its more like a virtual key which is activated by different physical keys depending on the system you are using

Meta = Alt on standard keyboards

Meta = Esc on Mac keyboards


If you use iTerm2 on a Mac, you can make the Option key act as the Meta key:
Preferences -> Profiles -> Keys -> Esc+