Today I’ll share about how to use keyboard shortcuts in Linux Bash to make it more convenient for all of us. Go to your home directory(~) which is usually located under “/home/{UserName}/” and open the file “.inputrc”. You should create one if it doesn’t exists. This file is used by bash typing library to provide key-bindings or features like auto complete etc.

The schema of the file is really simple and you can reach the full content here http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Bindable-Readline-Commands

You can do two things inside this file:

• Set predefined variables to turn them on or off. Ex. : “set show-all-if-ambiguous on”
• Bind keys to methods: “TAB: menu-complete”

Tricky part about escape keys are you can define them by name or via escape character sequence(http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#ANSI_002dC-Quoting). For example you can set “ctrl + v” combination with “\C-v” where “\C” is the control key “-” means while pressing it and “v” is key v.

Now let’s start playing with it:

1. In order to have auto complete upon pressing “Tab” key and moving backward upon pressing “Shift + Tab”, insert the text below to the .inputrc file:
   
   set show-all-if-ambiguous on set completion-ignore-case on set match-hidden-files on TAB: menu-complete "\e[Z": "\e-1\C-i"

   1 2 3 4 5

   set show-all-if-ambiguous on set completion-ignore-case on set match-hidden-files on TAB: menu-complete "\e[Z": "\e-1\C-i"

2. In order to remove the current line upon pressing “Escape” :
   
   "\e": kill-whole-line

   1	"\e": kill-whole-line

3. In order to be able to jump between words with “Ctrl + Left Arrow” or “Ctrl + Right Arrow”
   
   "\eOC": forward-word "\eOD": backward-word

   1 2	"\eOC": forward-word "\eOD": backward-word

4. In order to paste the text from clipboard (Yes in Linux world you’ll hear killing for cutting and yanking for pasting operations):
   
   "\C-v": yank

   1	"\C-v": yank

5. Sometimes playing with .inputrc file can mess up the bash for arrow, home and end keys. If that happens you can set them explicitly by:
   
   "\e[1~": beginning-of-line "\e[4~": end-of-line "\e[7~": beginning-of-line "\e[8~": end-of-line "\eOH": beginning-of-line "\eOF": end-of-line "\e[H": beginning-of-line "\e[F": end-of-line

   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

   "\e[1~": beginning-of-line "\e[4~": end-of-line "\e[7~": beginning-of-line "\e[8~": end-of-line "\eOH": beginning-of-line "\eOF": end-of-line "\e[H": beginning-of-line "\e[F": end-of-line

6. Some additional useful methods can be found at:
   
   <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-Moving" target="_blank">Commands for moving the cursor</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-History" target="_blank">Commands for manipulating the history</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-Text" target="_blank">Commands For Changing Text</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-Killing" target="_blank">Killing And Yanking</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-Completion" target="_blank">Commands for completition</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Miscellaneous-Commands" target="_blank">Some Miscellaneous Commands</a>

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   <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-Moving" target="_blank">Commands for moving the cursor</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-History" target="_blank">Commands for manipulating the history</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-Text" target="_blank">Commands For Changing Text</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-Killing" target="_blank">Killing And Yanking</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Commands-For-Completion" target="_blank">Commands for completition</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Miscellaneous-Commands" target="_blank">Some Miscellaneous Commands</a>