Like most operating systems, Linux contains a wide variety of keystroke shortcuts to allow users and operators quick access to frequently used operating system functions and features. While it is not essential to learn them, it can be useful, especially in case you press one accidentally (such as Ctrl+D, which will immediately exit a shell session without confirmation). The following table lists the most common keystroke shortcuts and briefly describes their purpose.
| Keystroke | Context | Purpose/Function |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+D | Nautilus | Add a bookmark to bottom of the Places pane |
| Ctrl+L | Nautilus | Switch to Textural format for Location Bar |
| F9 | Nautilus | Toggles side pane on/off |
| Ctrl+C | GUI's | Copy to clipboard (except in GUI terminal emulator) |
| Ctrl+X | GUI's | Cut to clipboard (except in GUI terminal emulator) |
| Ctrl+V | GUI's | Paste from clipboard |
| Mouse drag | GUI's | Copy to selection buffer |
| Mouse middle click | GUI's | Paste from selection buffer |
| Alt+F2 | GUI's | Opens a Run Application dialog box |
| Alt+Tab | GUI's | Move focus to next open window |
| Alt+Shift+Tab | GUI's | Move focus to previous open window |
| Ctrl+Alt+Backspace | GUI's | Quit/restart a GUI session |
| Ctrl+Alt+Escape | GUI's | Kill a GUI application |
| Ctrl+Alt+Left | GUI's | Move focus to previous desktop workspace |
| Ctrl+Alt+Right | GUI's | Move focus to next desktop workspace |
| Ctrl+Alt+(Keypad+) | GUI's | Increase screen resolution |
| Ctrl+Alt+(Keypad-) | GUI's | Decrease screen resolution |
| Ctrl+Alt+F1 (sometimes F7) | GUI's | Toggle to virtual terminal tty1 (the GUI terminal session in Fedora) |
| Ctrl+Alt+F2 | GUI's | Toggle to virtual terminal tty2 |
| Ctrl+Alt+F3 | GUI's | Toggle to virtual terminal tty3 |
| Ctrl+Alt+F4 | GUI's | Toggle to virtual terminal tty4 |
| Ctrl+Alt+F5 | GUI's | Toggle to virtual terminal tty5 |
| Ctrl+Alt+F6 | GUI's | Toggle to virtual terminal tty6 |
| Alt+F1 (sometimes F7) | Shells | Toggle to virtual terminal tty1 (the GUI terminal session in Fedora) |
| Alt+F2 | Shells | Toggle to virtual terminal tty2 |
| Alt+F3 | Shells | Toggle to virtual terminal tty3 |
| Alt+F4 | Shells | Toggle to virtual terminal tty4 |
| Alt+F5 | Shells | Toggle to virtual terminal tty5 |
| Alt+F6 | Shells | Toggle to virtual terminal tty6 |
| Ctrl+C | Shells | Generates an INT Signal 2 (SIGINT) - Causes a Terminal Interrupt |
| Ctrl+D | Shells | End-of-file [EOF] character - terminates a shell session |
| Ctrl+Shift+\ | Shells | Generates a Quit Signal 3 (SIGQUIT) - Quits a running process |
| Ctrl+Z | Shells | Generates a TSTP Signal (SIGTSTP) - Suspend a running process |
| Ctrl+V | Shells | Escape a control character |
| Ctrl+L or Ctrl+R | Remote Shells | Refresh/redraw a terminal screen/window |
| Ctrl+] | Remote Shells | Shift to command mode (Enter returns to terminal mode) |
| Ctrl+H | Shells and Editors | Erase a character to the left |
| Ctrl+M | Shells and Editors | Carriage Return |
| Ctrl+U (sometimes Ctrl+X) | Shells and Editors | Line Kill - Erase a line (left) |
| Ctrl+W | Shells and Editors | Erase a word (left) |
| Ctrl+Alt+Delete | Shells only | Shutdown Event - can be trapped or disabled |
| Completion Keystrokes: | ||
| Tab | Shells | Command completion |
| ~ (Tilde) | Shells | Home directory path of current (or postfixed user) |
| History Commands: | ||
| Up Arrow | Shells | Retype last shell command |
| !! | Shells | Reexecute last shell command |
| . (dot) | Shells | Run a built-in command or function |
| Pager Commands: | ||
| 'h' or '?' | Pager | Display pager help |
| Down Arrow or Enter | Pager | Display next line |
| Up Arrow | Pager | Display previous line |
| Page Down or 'f' or Space | Pager | Display next screen page |
| Page Up or 'b' | Pager | Display previous screen page |
| q | Pager | quit/exit pager |
| /(pattern) | Pager | Search for (pattern) |
| !(cmd) | Pager | Executes (cmd) in a subshell |