1) Tab key = to complete a file name. very useful for long file name

ls <enter>

finance-report-june-2008  sales-report-june-2008  engineering-report-june-2008

if i want to open finance report i can just type

more fi<tab>, it will auto complete the filename become more finance-report-june-2008

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2) Ctrl+R = to search for a keyword in history

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3) !string and  !num = to perform previous action in history

Example for !string

!ssh <enter>

it will perform previous command in history ssh 122.456.789.123 -l mylogin

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Example for !num

type history to see all the previous commands, you can see for each command is assigned an id

!54 <enter> ( ! followed by the id number)

it will perform the command in history with id number 54

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4) Tilde (~) = shortcut to home directory

cat ~/.bash_profile

to refer to your own directory

cat ~julie/public_html

to refer to another user’s home directory

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5) Command editing Tricks

There are many but i find these are the most useful

Ctrl + a = moves to beginning of line

Ctrl + e = moves to end of line

Ctrl + w = deletes the word before the cursor

Ctrl + u = deletes to beginning of line

Ctrl + k = deletes to end of line

Ctrl + y = undo a deletion

Alt + b = moves to beginning of line word by word

Alt + f = moves to end of line word by word