Shorthand at the Command Prompt

• / - root directory

• ./ - current directory

• ./command_name - run a command in the current directory when the current directory is not on the path

• ../ - parent directory

• ~ - home directory

• $ - typical prompt when logged in as ordinary user

• # - typical prompt when logged in as root or superuser

• ! - repeat specified command

• !! - repeat previous command

• ^^ - repeat previous command with substitution

• & - run a program in background mode

• [Tab][Tab] - prints a list of all available commands. This is just an example of autocomplete with no restriction on the first letter.

• x[Tab][Tab] - prints a list of all available completions for a command, where the beginning is ``x''

• [Alt][Ctrl][F1] - switch to the first virtual text console

• [Alt][Ctrl][Fn] - switch to the n^th virtual text console. Typically, there are six on a Linux PC system.

• [Alt][Ctrl][F7] - switch to the first GUI console, if there is one running. If the graphical console freezes, one can switch to a nongraphical console, kill the process that is giving problems, and switch back to the graphical console using this shortcut.

• [ArrowUp] - scroll through the command history (in bash)

• [Shift][PageUp] - scroll terminal output up. This also works at the login prompt, so you can scroll through your boot messages.

• [Shift][PageDown] - scroll terminal output down

• [Ctrl][Alt][+] - switch to next X server resolution (if the server is set up for more than one resolution)

• [Ctrl][Alt][-] - change to previous X server resolution

• [Ctrl][Alt][BkSpc] - kill the current X server. Used when normal exit is not possible.

• [Ctrl][Alt][Del] - shut down the system and reboot

• [Ctrl]c - kill the current process

• [Ctrl]d - logout from the current terminal

• [Ctrl]s - stop transfer to current terminal

• [Ctrl]q - resume transfer to current terminal. This should be tried if the terminal stops responding.

• [Ctrl]z - send current process to the background

• reset - restore a terminal to its default settings

• [Leftmousebutton] - Hold down left mouse button and drag to highlight text. Releasing the button copies the region to the text buffer under X and (if gpm is installed) in console mode.

• [Middlemousebutton] - Copies text from the text buffer and inserts it at the cursor location. With a two-button mouse, click on both buttons simultaneously. It is necessary for three-button emulation to be enabled, either under gpm or in XF86Config.

source: http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r10735/unixcomm.html