Navigating the Bash Shell
Modern shells provide useful “hotkey” commands that can save considerable typing. The control- notation means that the Ctrl (control) key and the following key should be depressed at the same time.
| Function | Key |
|---|---|
| Tab completion: expand typed string to as far as it has a unique name. | tab |
| Search for earlier command | control-r |
| Move to the beginning of the line | control-a |
| Move to the end of the line | control-e |
| Clear the screen | clear or control-l |
Arrow Keys
When using bash you may use its built-in history mechanism to save yourself some keystrokes.
| Function | Key |
|---|---|
| scroll through the previous commands you have typed | up arrow |
| if already scrolled back, scroll to more recent commands | down arrow |
| edit text on a line | right or left arrow |
Logging Out
To log out of a shell, type exit
exit
This logs you out of your current terminal window. If that is a login window, for example your ssh shell, it will log you out of the system entirely.