Source: Things You Didn't Know About GNU Readline

GNU Readline

GNU Readline is an unassuming little software library that people relied on for years without realizing that it was there. It's integrated in Bash and basically augments any command-line interface with a common set of keystrokes that allow you to move around within and edit a single line of input.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Note: The Meta key is mapped to different keys in different systems:

• Linux and Windows keyboard: Alt key or Esc key
• MacOS keyboard: Esc key

On MacOS, you can also map Option key to Meta key: Click Profiles > choose the profile you want (you must do it for each profile here) > click Keyboard > Enable “Use Option as Meta Key”

Cursor movement:

Command	Description
Ctrl + A	Move to the beginning of the line
Ctrl + E	Move to the end of the line
Meta + B	Move to the previous word
Meta + F	Move to the next word
Ctrl + U	Cuts to the beginning of the line
Ctrl + K	Cuts to the end of the line
Ctrl + W	Cuts the previous word
Ctrl + P	Browse previously entered commands
Ctrl + R	Reverse search for previously entered commands
Ctrl + Y	Pastes the text in buffer

Bash histroy:

Command	Description
!!	Run previous command (e.g. sudo !!)
!cmd	Run previous command that begins with cmd
!cmd:p	Print last command in history beginning with cmd
!$	Last argument of last command
!^	First argument of last command