Productivity Tips and Tricks

These tips will make you significantly faster and more efficient on the command line.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Line Editing

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + A	Go to beginning of line
Ctrl + E	Go to end of line
Ctrl + U	Delete from cursor to beginning
Ctrl + K	Delete from cursor to end
Ctrl + W	Delete word before cursor
Alt + D	Delete word after cursor
Ctrl + Y	Paste deleted text

Command Control

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + C	Cancel current command
Ctrl + Z	Suspend process (use fg to resume)
Ctrl + D	Exit shell (or send EOF)
Ctrl + L	Clear screen
Ctrl + R	Search command history

History Tricks

Search History

Ctrl + R              # Search as you type
!!                    # Run last command
!$                    # Last argument of last command
!*                    # All arguments of last command
!n                    # Run command number n
!string               # Run last command starting with string

Example

sudo apt update
sudo !!               # Runs: sudo apt update (again)

cat file.txt
vim !$                # Runs: vim file.txt

Tab Completion

The Tab key is your friend:

• Tab once: Complete if unique
• Tab twice: Show all options

Works for:

• Commands
• File paths
• Options (with some commands)
• Hostnames

Brace Expansion

Create multiple items efficiently:

# Create multiple files
touch file{1,2,3}.txt
# Creates: file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt

# Create range
mkdir day{01..31}
# Creates: day01, day02, ... day31

# Multiple expansions
cp file.{txt,bak}
# Same as: cp file.txt file.bak

Exercise: Use Brace Expansion

Create multiple files at once:

Aliases

Create shortcuts for common commands:

# Add to ~/.bashrc
alias ll='ls -la'
alias la='ls -A'
alias l='ls -CF'
alias ..='cd ..'
alias ...='cd ../..'
alias update='sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y'
alias gs='git status'
alias gc='git commit'

Quick Editing

# Edit last command in editor
fc

# Edit and re-run
^old^new              # Replace old with new in last command

Working with Output

# Save and display
command | tee file.txt

# Clipboard (requires xclip)
command | xclip -selection clipboard

# Count results
command | wc -l

Process Shortcuts

# Run in background
command &

# Suspend and background
Ctrl + Z
bg

# Bring to foreground
fg

Time Savers

Previous Directory

cd -                  # Go to previous directory

Make and Enter Directory

mkdir newdir && cd newdir
# Or create a function:
mkcd() { mkdir -p "$1" && cd "$1"; }

Safe rm

alias rm='rm -i'      # Always ask

Quick Server

python3 -m http.server 8000

File Quick Actions

# Quick backup
cp file.txt{,.bak}    # Creates file.txt.bak

# Swap two files
mv file1 temp && mv file2 file1 && mv temp file2

Multiple Commands

# Run in sequence
cmd1 ; cmd2 ; cmd3

# Run only if previous succeeds
cmd1 && cmd2 && cmd3

# Run only if previous fails
cmd1 || cmd2

Glob Patterns

*           # Any characters
?           # Single character
[abc]       # a, b, or c
[0-9]       # Digit
**          # Recursive (with shopt -s globstar)

Key Takeaways

• Learn keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+A, Ctrl+E, Ctrl+R)
• Use Tab completion constantly
• Create aliases for common commands
• Brace expansion saves typing
• History search (Ctrl+R) finds previous commands
• !! and !$ reuse command history