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Readline Keyboard Shortcuts

The milk CLI uses the GNU Readline library for line editing. This page lists the most useful keybindings.

Tip

For the complete reference, see the official Readline User Manual.

See also: CLI Overview · CLI Syntax · Scripting

Notation

Prefix Meaning
C-x Hold Ctrl and press x
M-x Hold Alt/Meta and press x (or press Esc then x)
Key Action
C-a Move to start of line
C-e Move to end of line
M-f Move forward one word
M-b Move backward one word
C-l Clear screen, reprint current line

Editing

Key Action
C-_ / C-x C-u Undo last edit
C-t Transpose characters
M-t Transpose words
M-u Uppercase current word
M-l Lowercase current word
M-c Capitalize current word

Kill & Yank (Cut & Paste)

Key Action
C-k Kill from cursor to end of line
C-w Kill previous word (whitespace-delimited)
M-d Kill from cursor to end of word
M-DEL Kill from cursor to start of word
C-y Yank (paste) most recently killed text
M-y Rotate kill-ring after C-y

History

Key Action
↑ / C-p Previous history entry
↓ / C-n Next history entry
C-r Reverse incremental search
M-< Jump to first history entry
M-> Jump to last (current) entry

Completion

Key Action
TAB Autocomplete (commands, filenames)
M-? List possible completions
M-* Insert all completions

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