Advanced Tricks Edit Command in Your Editor Ctrl+X, Ctrl+E - Open current command in your default editor (usually vim or nano)
$ # Press Ctrl+X then Ctrl+E # Your editor opens with the command # Edit it, save, and close # The edited command runs Real use case: You’re building a complex command with lots of flags. Instead of fighting with the one-line editor, pop it into vim, format it nicely, then run it.
Why Learn Commandline Shortcuts? If you’re spending any amount of time in the terminal, learning shortcuts can potentially save you hours in the future. Most people know the arrow keys and backspace, but bash has decades of shortcuts built in that almost nobody uses.
I’ve been using Linux since 2011, and I’m still discovering new ones. Here are the ones I actually use daily, plus some obscure gems.
Navigation Shortcuts Jump to Beginning or End of Line Ctrl+A - Jump to the beginning of the line
Editor’s Note Here is a guide of my super simple install of Arch Linux using a fork of Classy Girraffe’s that users LUKS, ext4, GRUB2, swapfile, and tmpfs. It can be found here. I also have my i3 dotfiles that you can check out here.
This guide does not hold your hand so you will either need to research a few things you do not know or you must already know what commands and flags are needed when presented.
