Anil’s Weblog

Bash provides many hot keys to ease use. Like

ctrl-l — clear screen
ctrl-r — does a search in the previously given commands so that you don’t have to repeat long command.
ctrl-u — clears the typing before the hotkey.
ctrl-a — takes you to the beginning of the command you are currently typing.
ctrl-e — takes you to the end of the command you are currently typing in.
esc-b — takes you back by one word while typing a command.
ctrl-c — kills the current command or process.
ctrl-d — kills the shell.
ctrl-h — deletes one letter at a time from the command you are typing in.
ctrl-z — puts the currently running process in background, the process can be brought back to run state by using fg command.
esc-p — like ctrl-r lets you search through the previously given commands.
esc-. — gives the last command you typed.

These proved extremely useful for me.