BASH(1) General Commands Manual BASH(1)
Readline Command Names
The following is a list of the names of the commands and the default
key sequences to which they are bound. Command names without an accom‐
panying key sequence are unbound by default. In the following descrip‐
tions, point refers to the current cursor position, and mark refers to
a cursor position saved by the set-mark command. The text between the
point and mark is referred to as the region.
Commands for Moving
beginning-of-line (C-a)
Move to the start of the current line.
end-of-line (C-e)
Move to the end of the line.
forward-char (C-f)
Move forward a character.
backward-char (C-b)
Move back a character.
forward-word (M-f)
Move forward to the end of the next word. Words are composed of
alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).
backward-word (M-b)
Move back to the start of the current or previous word. Words
are composed of alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).
shell-forward-word
Move forward to the end of the next word. Words are delimited
by non-quoted shell metacharacters.
shell-backward-word
Move back to the start of the current or previous word. Words
are delimited by non-quoted shell metacharacters.
clear-screen (C-l)
Clear the screen leaving the current line at the top of the
screen. With an argument, refresh the current line without
clearing the screen.
redraw-current-line
Refresh the current line.
Commands for Manipulating the History
accept-line (Newline, Return)
Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is. If this line
is non-empty, add it to the history list according to the state
of the HISTCONTROL variable. If the line is a modified history
line, then restore the history line to its original state.
previous-history (C-p)
Fetch the previous command from the history list, moving back in
the list.
next-history (C-n)
Fetch the next command from the history list, moving forward in
the list.
beginning-of-history (M-<)
Move to the first line in the history.
end-of-history (M->)
Move to the end of the input history, i.e., the line currently
being entered.
reverse-search-history (C-r)
Search backward starting at the current line and moving `up'
through the history as necessary. This is an incremental
search.
forward-search-history (C-s)
Search forward starting at the current line and moving `down'
through the history as necessary. This is an incremental
search.
non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)
Search backward through the history starting at the current line
using a non-incremental search for a string supplied by the
user.
non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)
Search forward through the history using a non-incremental
search for a string supplied by the user.
history-search-forward
Search forward through the history for the string of characters
between the start of the current line and the point. This is a
non-incremental search.
history-search-backward
Search backward through the history for the string of characters
between the start of the current line and the point. This is a
non-incremental search.
yank-nth-arg (M-C-y)
Insert the first argument to the previous command (usually the
second word on the previous line) at point. With an argument n,
insert the nth word from the previous command (the words in the
previous command begin with word 0). A negative argument
inserts the nth word from the end of the previous command. Once
the argument n is computed, the argument is extracted as if the
"!n" history expansion had been specified.
yank-last-arg (M-., M-_)
Insert the last argument to the previous command (the last word
of the previous history entry). With a numeric argument, behave
exactly like yank-nth-arg. Successive calls to yank-last-arg
move back through the history list, inserting the last word (or
the word specified by the argument to the first call) of each
line in turn. Any numeric argument supplied to these successive
calls determines the direction to move through the history. A
negative argument switches the direction through the history
(back or forward). The history expansion facilities are used to
extract the last word, as if the "!$" history expansion had been
specified.
shell-expand-line (M-C-e)
Expand the line as the shell does. This performs alias and his‐
tory expansion as well as all of the shell word expansions. See
HISTORY EXPANSION below for a description of history expansion.
history-expand-line (M-^)
Perform history expansion on the current line. See HISTORY
EXPANSION below for a description of history expansion.
magic-space
Perform history expansion on the current line and insert a
space. See HISTORY EXPANSION below for a description of history
expansion.
alias-expand-line
Perform alias expansion on the current line. See ALIASES above
for a description of alias expansion.
history-and-alias-expand-line
Perform history and alias expansion on the current line.
insert-last-argument (M-., M-_)
A synonym for yank-last-arg.
operate-and-get-next (C-o)
Accept the current line for execution and fetch the next line
relative to the current line from the history for editing. Any
argument is ignored.
edit-and-execute-command (C-xC-e)
Invoke an editor on the current command line, and execute the
result as shell commands. Bash attempts to invoke $VISUAL,
$EDITOR, and emacs as the editor, in that order.
Commands for Changing Text
end-of-file (usually C-d)
The character indicating end-of-file as set, for example, by
"stty". If this character is read when there are no charac‐
ters on the line, and point is at the beginning of the line,
Readline interprets it as the end of input and returns EOF.
delete-char (C-d)
Delete the character at point. If this function is bound to the
same character as the tty EOF character, as C-d commonly is, see
above for the effects.
backward-delete-char (Rubout)
Delete the character behind the cursor. When given a numeric
argument, save the deleted text on the kill ring.
forward-backward-delete-char
Delete the character under the cursor, unless the cursor is at
the end of the line, in which case the character behind the cur‐
sor is deleted.
quoted-insert (C-q, C-v)
Add the next character typed to the line verbatim. This is how
to insert characters like C-q, for example.
tab-insert (C-v TAB)
Insert a tab character.
self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, ...)
Insert the character typed.
transpose-chars (C-t)
Drag the character before point forward over the character at
point, moving point forward as well. If point is at the end of
the line, then this transposes the two characters before point.
Negative arguments have no effect.
transpose-words (M-t)
Drag the word before point past the word after point, moving
point over that word as well. If point is at the end of the
line, this transposes the last two words on the line.
upcase-word (M-u)
Uppercase the current (or following) word. With a negative
argument, uppercase the previous word, but do not move point.
downcase-word (M-l)
Lowercase the current (or following) word. With a negative
argument, lowercase the previous word, but do not move point.
capitalize-word (M-c)
Capitalize the current (or following) word. With a negative
argument, capitalize the previous word, but do not move point.
overwrite-mode
Toggle overwrite mode. With an explicit positive numeric argu‐
ment, switches to overwrite mode. With an explicit non-positive
numeric argument, switches to insert mode. This command affects
only emacs mode; vi mode does overwrite differently. Each call
to readline() starts in insert mode. In overwrite mode, charac‐
ters bound to self-insert replace the text at point rather than
pushing the text to the right. Characters bound to back‐
ward-delete-char replace the character before point with a
space. By default, this command is unbound.
Killing and Yanking
kill-line (C-k)
Kill the text from point to the end of the line.
backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout)
Kill backward to the beginning of the line.
unix-line-discard (C-u)
Kill backward from point to the beginning of the line. The
killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
kill-whole-line
Kill all characters on the current line, no matter where point
is.
kill-word (M-d)
Kill from point to the end of the current word, or if between
words, to the end of the next word. Word boundaries are the
same as those used by forward-word.
backward-kill-word (M-Rubout)
Kill the word behind point. Word boundaries are the same as
those used by backward-word.
shell-kill-word
Kill from point to the end of the current word, or if between
words, to the end of the next word. Word boundaries are the
same as those used by shell-forward-word.
shell-backward-kill-word
Kill the word behind point. Word boundaries are the same as
those used by shell-backward-word.
unix-word-rubout (C-w)
Kill the word behind point, using white space as a word bound‐
ary. The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
unix-filename-rubout
Kill the word behind point, using white space and the slash
character as the word boundaries. The killed text is saved on
the kill-ring.
delete-horizontal-space (M-\)
Delete all spaces and tabs around point.
kill-region
Kill the text in the current region.
copy-region-as-kill
Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer.
copy-backward-word
Copy the word before point to the kill buffer. The word bound‐
aries are the same as backward-word.
copy-forward-word
Copy the word following point to the kill buffer. The word
boundaries are the same as forward-word.
yank (C-y)
Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point.
yank-pop (M-y)
Rotate the kill ring, and yank the new top. Only works follow‐
ing yank or yank-pop.
Numeric Arguments
digit-argument (M-0, M-1, ..., M--)
Add this digit to the argument already accumulating, or start a
new argument. M-- starts a negative argument.
universal-argument
This is another way to specify an argument. If this command is
followed by one or more digits, optionally with a leading minus
sign, those digits define the argument. If the command is fol‐
lowed by digits, executing universal-argument again ends the
numeric argument, but is otherwise ignored. As a special case,
if this command is immediately followed by a character that is
neither a digit nor minus sign, the argument count for the next
command is multiplied by four. The argument count is initially
one, so executing this function the first time makes the argu‐
ment count four, a second time makes the argument count sixteen,
and so on.
Completing
complete (TAB)
Attempt to perform completion on the text before point. Bash
attempts completion treating the text as a variable (if the text
begins with $), username (if the text begins with ~), hostname
(if the text begins with @), or command (including aliases and
functions) in turn. If none of these produces a match, filename
completion is attempted.
possible-completions (M-?)
List the possible completions of the text before point.
insert-completions (M-*)
Insert all completions of the text before point that would have
been generated by possible-completions.
menu-complete
Similar to complete, but replaces the word to be completed with
a single match from the list of possible completions. Repeated
execution of menu-complete steps through the list of possible
completions, inserting each match in turn. At the end of the
list of completions, the bell is rung (subject to the setting of
bell-style) and the original text is restored. An argument of n
moves n positions forward in the list of matches; a negative
argument may be used to move backward through the list. This
command is intended to be bound to TAB, but is unbound by
default.
menu-complete-backward
Identical to menu-complete, but moves backward through the list
of possible completions, as if menu-complete had been given a
negative argument. This command is unbound by default.
delete-char-or-list
Deletes the character under the cursor if not at the beginning
or end of the line (like delete-char). If at the end of the
line, behaves identically to possible-completions. This command
is unbound by default.
complete-filename (M-/)
Attempt filename completion on the text before point.
possible-filename-completions (C-x /)
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a filename.
complete-username (M-~)
Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a
username.
possible-username-completions (C-x ~)
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a username.
complete-variable (M-$)
Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a
shell variable.
possible-variable-completions (C-x $)
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a shell variable.
complete-hostname (M-@)
Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a
hostname.
possible-hostname-completions (C-x @)
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a hostname.
complete-command (M-!)
Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a
command name. Command completion attempts to match the text
against aliases, reserved words, shell functions, shell
builtins, and finally executable filenames, in that order.
possible-command-completions (C-x !)
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a command name.
dynamic-complete-history (M-TAB)
Attempt completion on the text before point, comparing the text
against lines from the history list for possible completion
matches.
dabbrev-expand
Attempt menu completion on the text before point, comparing the
text against lines from the history list for possible completion
matches.
complete-into-braces (M-{)
Perform filename completion and insert the list of possible com‐
pletions enclosed within braces so the list is available to the
shell (see Brace Expansion above).
Keyboard Macros
start-kbd-macro (C-x ()
Begin saving the characters typed into the current keyboard
macro.
end-kbd-macro (C-x ))
Stop saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro
and store the definition.
call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e)
Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the char‐
acters in the macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.
print-last-kbd-macro ()
Print the last keyboard macro defined in a format suitable for
the inputrc file.
Miscellaneous
re-read-init-file (C-x C-r)
Read in the contents of the inputrc file, and incorporate any
bindings or variable assignments found there.
abort (C-g)
Abort the current editing command and ring the terminal's bell
(subject to the setting of bell-style).
do-uppercase-version (M-a, M-b, M-x, ...)
If the metafied character x is lowercase, run the command that
is bound to the corresponding uppercase character.
prefix-meta (ESC)
Metafy the next character typed. ESC f is equivalent to Meta-f.
undo (C-_, C-x C-u)
Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.
revert-line (M-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.
tilde-expand (M-&)
Perform tilde expansion on the current word.
set-mark (C-@, M-<space>)
Set the mark to the point. If a numeric argument is supplied,
the mark is set to that position.
exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x)
Swap the point with the mark. The current cursor position is
set to the saved position, and the old cursor position is saved
as the mark.
character-search (C-])
A character is read and point is moved to the next occurrence of
that character. A negative count searches for previous occur‐
rences.
character-search-backward (M-C-])
A character is read and point is moved to the previous occur‐
rence of that character. A negative count searches for subse‐
quent occurrences.
skip-csi-sequence
Read enough characters to consume a multi-key sequence such as
those defined for keys like Home and End. Such sequences begin
with a Control Sequence Indicator (CSI), usually ESC-[. If this
sequence is bound to "\[", keys producing such sequences will
have no effect unless explicitly bound to a readline command,
instead of inserting stray characters into the editing buffer.
This is unbound by default, but usually bound to ESC-[.
insert-comment (M-#)
Without a numeric argument, the value of the readline com‐
ment-begin variable is inserted at the beginning of the current
line. If a numeric argument is supplied, this command acts as a
toggle: if the characters at the beginning of the line do not
match the value of comment-begin, the value is inserted, other‐
wise the characters in comment-begin are deleted from the begin‐
ning of the line. In either case, the line is accepted as if a
newline had been typed. The default value of comment-begin
causes this command to make the current line a shell comment.
If a numeric argument causes the comment character to be
removed, the line will be executed by the shell.
glob-complete-word (M-g)
The word before point is treated as a pattern for pathname
expansion, with an asterisk implicitly appended. This pattern
is used to generate a list of matching filenames for possible
completions.
glob-expand-word (C-x *)
The word before point is treated as a pattern for pathname
expansion, and the list of matching filenames is inserted,
replacing the word. If a numeric argument is supplied, an
asterisk is appended before pathname expansion.
glob-list-expansions (C-x g)
The list of expansions that would have been generated by
glob-expand-word is displayed, and the line is redrawn. If a
numeric argument is supplied, an asterisk is appended before
pathname expansion.
dump-functions
Print all of the functions and their key bindings to the read‐
line output stream. If a numeric argument is supplied, the out‐
put is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
inputrc file.
dump-variables
Print all of the settable readline variables and their values to
the readline output stream. If a numeric argument is supplied,
the output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part
of an inputrc file.
dump-macros
Print all of the readline key sequences bound to macros and the
strings they output. If a numeric argument is supplied, the
output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
inputrc file.
display-shell-version (C-x C-v)
Display version information about the current instance of bash.
GNU Bash 4.4 2016 August 26 BASH(1)