How do I clear delete the current line in terminal

Question

If I m using terminal and typing in a line of text for a command  is there a hotkey or any way to clear delete that line   For example  if my current line command is something really long like    gt  git log --graph --all --blah  uh oh i want to cancel and clear this line  lt cursor is here now gt    Is there a hotkey or command to go from the above to    gt       Usually I will press the   8595  key  and if my current line is a brand new one on the history  that will clear it   But if I m going through my command history via the   8593  key and start editing or using those commands    8595  will only change the prompt to the next newest command in history  so it doesn t work here unless I press   8595  multiple times

User · Accepted Answer

You can use Ctrl U to clear up to the beginning   You can use Ctrl W to delete just a word   You can also use Ctrl C to cancel   If you want to keep the history  you can use Alt Shift   to make it a comment     Bash Emacs Editing Mode Cheat Sheet

User · Answer

Ctrl A  Ctrl K to wipe the current line in the terminal  You can then recall it with Ctrl Y if you need

User · Answer

An alternative to Ctrl A  Ctrl K is Ctrl E  Ctrl U

User · Answer

Alt   comments out the current line  It will be available in history if needed

User · Answer

I have the complete shortcuts list     Ctrl a  Move cursor to start of line  Ctrl e  Move cursor to end of line  Ctrl b  Move back one character   Alt b   Move back one word Ctrl f  Move forward one character Alt f   Move forward one word Ctrl d  Delete current character Ctrl w  Cut the last word   Ctrl k  Cut everything after the cursor Alt d  Cut word after the cursor Alt w  Cut word before the cursor Ctrl y  Paste the last deleted command   Ctrl    Undo  Ctrl u  Cut everything before the cursor Ctrl xx Toggle between first and current position  Ctrl l  Clear the terminal   Ctrl c  Cancel the command Ctrl r  Search command in history - type the search term Ctrl j  End the search at current history entry Ctrl g  Cancel the search and restore original line Ctrl n  Next command from the History Ctrl p  previous command from the History

User · Answer

Just to summarise all the answers    Clean up the line  You can use Ctrl U to clear up to the beginning  Clean up the line  Ctrl E Ctrl U to wipe the current line in the terminal  Clean up the line  Ctrl A Ctrl K to wipe the current line in the terminal  Cancel the current command line  Ctrl C  Recall the deleted command  Ctrl Y  then Alt Y  Go to beginning of the line  Ctrl A Go to end of the line  Ctrl E Remove the forward words for example  if you are middle of the command  Ctrl K Remove characters on the left  until the beginning of the word  Ctrl W To clear your entire command prompt  Ctrl   L Toggle between the start of line and current cursor position  Ctrl   XX

User · Answer

CTRL R and start typing to search for previous commands in history  Will show full lines  CTRL R again to cycle

User · Answer

Add to the list   In Emacs mode  hit Esc  followed by R  will delete the whole line   I don t know why  just happens to find it  Maybe it s not used for delete line but happens to have the same effect  If someone knows  please tell me  thanks     Works in Bash  but won t work in Fish

User · Answer

In order to clean the whole line  2 different ways     Home   Ctrl K    End   Ctrl U

User · Answer

or if your using vi mode  hit Esc followed by cc  to get back what you just erased  Esc and then p

User · Answer

Ctrl u  move up to the beginning of your line to a ring buffer Ctrl k  move up to the end of your line to a ring buffer Ctrl w  move characters and  multiple  words left from your cursor to a ring buffer Ctrl y  insert last entry from your ring buffer and then you can use Alt y to rotate through your ring buffer  Press multiple times to continue to  previous  entry in ring buffer

User · Answer

I m not sure if you love it but I use Ctrl A  to go beginning the line  and Ctrl K  to delete the line  I was familiar with these commands from emacs  and figured out them accidently

User · Answer

Ctrl   W will clear the word to the left

User · Answer

To delete the whole line no matter where the cursor is  you can use the kill-whole-line command  but it is unbound by default  It can be bound to  for example  Ctrl Alt K by inserting    e C-k   kill-whole-line   into your Readline init file  conventionally    inputrc    Various remarks    To avoid accidentally re-assigning a key sequence that is already in use for something else  you can check all your bindings with bind -P  Check for the suggested binding with  bind -P   grep    e  C-k   The Readline init file name is is taken from the shell variable INPUTRC  If it is unset  the default is    inputrc  or  if that doesn t exist   etc inputrc  Notice that if you have    inputrc   etc inputrc will be ignored  To reload your Readline init file  you can use Ctrl X Ctrl R  Links to relevant manual sections    Readline Init File Readline killing and yanking commands The bind builtin

User · Answer

Another nice complete list  TERINAL Shortcuts Lists   Left            Move back one character Right           Move forward one character Ctrl b          Move back one character Ctrl f          Move forward one character  Alt Left        Move back one word Alt Right       Move forward one word Alt b           Move back one word Alt f           Move forward one word  Cmd Left        Move cursor to start of line Cmd Right       Move cursor to end of line Ctrl a          Move cursor to start of line Ctrl e          Move cursor to end of line  Ctrl d          Delete character after cursor Backspace       Delete character before cursor  Alt Backspace   Delete word before cursor Ctrl w          Delete word before cursor Alt w           Delete word before the cursor Alt d           Delete word after the cursor  Cmd Backspace   Delete everything before the cursor Ctrl u          Delete everything before the cursor Ctrl k          Delete everything after the cursor  Ctrl l          Clear the terminal  Ctrl c          Cancel the command Ctrl y          Paste the last deleted command Ctrl            Undo  Ctrl r          Search command in history - type the search term Ctrl j          End the search at current history entry and run command Ctrl g          Cancel the search and restore original line  Up              previous command from the History Down            Next command from the History Ctrl n          Next command from the History Ctrl p          previous command from the History  Ctrl xx         Toggle between first and current position

[bash] How do I clear/delete the current line in terminal?

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