Keyboard Shortcuts in Terminal on Mac
This post provides a quick reference to the keyboard shortcuts for the Terminal application on Mac.
- Mac Keyboard Keys
- Windows & Tabs Keys
- Edit Command Line Keys
- Select & Find Text Keys
- Marks & Bookmarks Keys
- Other Shortcut Keys
- Summary
This post provides a quick reference to the keyboard shortcuts for the Terminal application on Mac. The Terminal application is a Mac command-line interface. This is one of the most important applications a developer should know how to use. It allows you to control your Mac using a command prompt by issuing different types commands depending on the applications, utilities and other libraries on your Mac.
These commands were written and tested on the Terminal Application Version 2.10 (433).
Mac Keyboard Keys
The following set of keyboard symbols is used as part of the definition of the keyboard shortcuts. Not all the keyboard symbols can be found on your Mac keyboard and is a combination of other keys.
| Keyboard Symbol | Description | Keyboard Symbol | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⌘ | The Command (⌘) Key | ⇤ | The Backtab (⇤) Key |
| ⇧ | The Shift (⇧) Key | ↩ | The Return (↩) Key |
| ⌥ | The Option (⌥) Key | ⌤ | The Enter (⌤) Key |
| ⌃ | The Control (^) Key (ctrl) | ⌫ | The Delete (⌫) Key |
| fn | The Function (fn) Key | ⌦ | The Forward Delete (⌦) Key |
| ⇪ | The Caps Lock (⇪) Key | ⇞ | The Page Up (⇞) Key |
| ← | The Left Arrow (←) Key | ⇟ | The Page Down (⇟) Key |
| → | The Right Arrow (→) Key | ↖ | The Home (↖) Key |
| ↑ | The Up Arrow (↑) Key | ↘ | The End (↘) Key |
| ↓ | The Down Arrow (↓) Key | ␣ | The Space (␣) Key |
| ⇥ | The Tab (⇥) Key | ⎋ | The Escape (⎋) Key |
Mac Keyboard Keys
Some of the keys cannot be located on the keyboard, and the fn key is used in combination with other keys.
| Keyboard Symbol | Description | Keyboard Symbol | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⇞ | Page Up Key: Fn + up arrow | ⌦ | Forward Delete Key: Fn + delete |
| ⇟ | Page Down Key: Fn + down arrow | ⇤ | Backtab Key: Fn + tab |
| ↖ | Home Key: Fn + left arrow | ⌤ | Enter Key: Fn + return |
| ↘ | End Key: Fn + right arrow |
Alternative Mac Keyboard Keys
Windows & Tabs Keys
The following set of keyboard shortcuts are related to the terminal window and the multiple tabs within the terminal window.
| Shortcut | Keyboard Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Command-N | ⌘ + N | New Window |
| Control-Command-N | ⌃ + ⌘ + N | New Window with Same Command |
| Command-T | ⌘ + T | New Tab |
| Control-Command-T | ⌃ + ⌘ + T | New Tab with Same Command |
| Shift-Command-T | ⇧ + ⌘ + T | Show Tab Bar / Hide Tab Bar |
| Shift-Command-Backslash | ⇧ + ⌘ + \ | Show All Tabs / Exit Tab Overview |
| Shift-Command-N | ⇧ + ⌘ + N | New Command |
| Shift-Command-K | ⇧ + ⌘ + K | New Remote Connection |
| Command-I | ⌘ + I | Show Inspector / Hide Inspector |
| Shift-Command-I | ⇧ + ⌘ + I | Edit Title |
| Option-Command-I | ⌥ + ⌘ + I | Edit Background Colour |
| Command-Zero (0) | ⌘ + 0 | Default Font Size |
| Command-Plus (+) | ⌘ + + | Make Fonts Bigger |
| Command-Minus (–) | ⌘ + - | Make Fonts Smaller |
| Command-Shift-Tilde (~) | ⌘ + ⇧ + ~ | Cycle Through Windows (Reverse) |
| Control-Tab | ^ + ⇥ | Show Next Tab |
| Control-Shift-Tab | ^ + ⇧ + ⇥ | Show Previous Tab |
| Command-D | ⌘ + D | Split Panes |
| Shift-Command-D | ⇧ + ⌘ + D | Close Split Pane |
| Command-W | ⌘ + W | Close Tab |
| Shift-Command-W | ⇧ + ⌘ + W | Close Window |
| Option-Command-W | ⌥ + ⌘ + W | Close Other Tabs |
| Option-Shift-Command-W | ⌥ + ⇧ + ⌘ + W | Close All |
| Command-Home | ⌘ + (fn + ←) | Scroll To Top |
| Command-End | ⌘ + (fn + →) | Scroll To Bottom |
| Command-Page Up | ⌘ + (fn + ↑) | Page Up |
| Command-Page Down | ⌘ + (fn + ↓) | Page Down |
| Option-Command-Page Up | ⌥ + ⌘ + (fn + ↑) | Line Up |
| Option-Command-Page Down | ⌥ + ⌘ + (fn + ↓) | Line Down |
Windows & Tabs Keys
Edit Command Line Keys
The following set of keyboard shortcuts will allow you to move the cursor with ease on the command line when you have multiline commands.
| Shortcut | Keyboard Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Option-MousePointer | ⌥ + Click | Reposition the insertion point. |
| Control-A | ^ + A | Move the insertion point to the beginning of the line. |
| Control-E | ^ + E | Move the insertion point to the end of the line. |
| Right Arrow | → | Move the insertion point forwards one character. |
| Left Arrow | ← | Move the insertion point backwards one character. |
| Option-Right Arrow | ⌥ + → | Move the insertion point forwards one word. |
| Option-Left Arrow | ⌥ + ← | Move the insertion point backwards one word. |
| Control-U | ^ + U | Delete to the beginning of the line. |
| Control-K | ^ + K | Delete to the end of the line. |
| Option-D | ⌥ + D | Delete forwards to the end of the word. |
| Control-W | ^ + W | Delete backwards to the beginning of the word. |
| Backspace | ⌫ | Delete one character to the left. |
| Function-Backspace | fn + ⌫ | Delete one character to the right. |
| Control-T | ^ + T | Transpose two characters. |
Edit Command Line Keys
Select & Find Text Keys
The following set of keyboard shortcuts is used to find and manipulate text within the terminal application. You can copy and paste text from other documents into a Terminal application.
| Shortcut | Keyboard Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Triple-click the line | Click + Click + Click | Select a complete line of text. |
| Double-click the word | Click + Click | Select a word |
| Shift-Command-DoubleClick | ⇧ + ⌘ + Cick + Click | Select a complete file path. |
| Shift-Command-DoubleClick | ⇧ + ⌘ + Click + Click | Select a URL. |
| Option-Highlight | ⌥ + Highlight | Select a rectangular block. |
| Command-X | ⌘ + X | Cut |
| Command-C | ⌘ + C | Copy |
| Control-Shift-Command-C | ^ + ⇧ + ⌘ + C | Copy Without Background Colour |
| Option-Shift-Command-C | ⌥ + ⇧ + ⌘ + C | Copy Plain Text |
| Command-V | ⌘ + V | Paste |
| Shift-Command-V | ⇧ + ⌘ + V | Paste The Selection |
| Control-Command-V | ^ + ⌘ + V | Paste Escaped Text |
| Control-Shift-Command-V | ^ + ⇧ + ⌘ + V | Paste Escaped Selection |
| Command-F | ⌘ + F | Find |
| Command-G | ⌘ + G | Find Next |
| Command-Shift-G | ⌘ + ⇧ + G | Find Previous |
| Command-E | ⌘ + E | Find using the Selected Text |
| Command-J | ⌘ + J | Jump to the Selected Text |
| Command-A | ⌘ + A | Select All |
| Control-Command-Space | ^ + ⌘ + ␣ | Open the Character Viewer |
Select & Find Text Keys
Marks & Bookmarks Keys
| Shortcut | Keyboard Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Command-U | ⌘ + U | Mark |
| Option-Command-U | ⌥ + ⌘ + U | Mark as Bookmark |
| Shift-Command-U | ⇧ + ⌘ + U | Unmark |
| Command-Return | ⌘ + ↩ | Mark Line and Send Return |
| Shift-Command-Return | ⇧ + ⌘ + ↩ | Send Return without Marking |
| Shift-Command-M | ⇧ + ⌘ + M | Insert Bookmark |
| Option-Shift-Command-M | ⌥ + ⌘ + M | Insert Bookmark with Name |
| Command-Up Arrow | ⌘ + ↑ | Jump to Previous Mark |
| Command-Down Arrow | ⌘ + ↓ | Jump to Next Mark |
| Option-Command-Up Arrow | ⌥ + ⌘ + ↑ | Jump to Previous Bookmark |
| Option-Command-Down Arrow | ⌥ + ⌘ + ↓ | Jump to Next Bookmark |
| Command-L | ⌘ + L | Clear to Previous Mark |
| Option-Command-L | ⌥ + ⌘ + L | Clear to Previous Bookmark |
| Command-K | ⌘ + K | Clear to Start |
| Shift-Command-A | ⇧ + ⌘ + A | Select Between Marks |
Marks & Bookmarks Keys
Other Shortcut Keys
The following set of keyboard shortcuts are a few unrelated commands you can use within the Terminal Application to complete your experience.
| Shortcut | Keyboard Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Control-Command-F | ^ + ⌘ + F | Enter Full Screen / Exit Full Screen |
| Shift-Command-C | ⇧ + ⌘ + C | Show Colours / Hide Colours |
| Command-Comma (,) | ⌘ + , | Open Terminal Preferences |
| Command-P | ⌘ + P | |
| Option-Command-R | ⌥ + ⌘ + R | Soft Reset Terminal Emulator State |
| Control-Option-Command-R | ^ + ⌥ + ⌘ + R | Hard Reset Terminal Emulator State |
| Command-Double Click (URL) | ⌘ + Click + Click | Open a URL |
| Command-S | ⌘ + S | Export Text As |
| Shift-Command-S | ⇧ + ⌘ + S | Export Selected Text As |
| Control-R | ^ + R | Reverse Search Command History |
| Command-R | ⌘ + R | Toggle “Allow Mouse Reporting” Option |
| Command-Option-O | ⌘ + ⌥ + V | Toggle “Use Option As Meta Key” Option |
| Shift-Command-DownArrow | ⇧ + ⌘ + ↓ | Show Alternate Screen |
| Shift-Command-UpArrow | ⇧ + ⌘ + ↑ | Hide Alternate Screen |
Other Shortcut Keys
Summary
Congratulations!!! You have learned a number of keyboard shortcuts for Terminal. The Terminal application is a very powerfull tool to use to manage your Mac and all other applications installed on the Mac.
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