Keyboard shortcuts
This article provides a list of (not commonly known) default keyboard shortcuts and provides information about user customization.
Standard shortcuts
Kernel
There are several low level shortcuts that are implemented in the kernel which can be used for debugging and recovering from an unresponsive system. Whenever possible, it is recommended that you use these shortcuts instead of doing a hard shutdown (holding down the power button to completely power off the system).
To use these, they must first be activated with either sysctl kernel.sysrq=1 or echo "1" > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq. Values greater than 1 can be used to partially enable certain features, see the Linux kernel documentation for details. If you wish to have it enabled during boot, add the appropriate setting to your sysctl configuration. If you want to make sure it will be enabled even before the partitions are mounted and in the initrd, then add sysrq_always_enabled=1 to your kernel parameters.
A common idiom to remember this is "Reboot Even If System Utterly Broken" (also referred to as "REISUB"). Alternatively, think of it as "BUSIER" backwards.
| Keyboard Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
Alt+SysRq+r Unraw
|
Take control of keyboard back from X. |
Alt+SysRq+e Terminate
|
Send SIGTERM to all processes, allowing them to terminate gracefully. |
Alt+SysRq+i Kill
|
Send SIGKILL to all processes, forcing them to terminate immediately. |
Alt+SysRq+s Sync
|
Flush data to disk. |
Alt+SysRq+u Unmount
|
Unmount and remount all filesystems read-only. |
Alt+SysRq+b Reboot
|
Reboot |
- If you are using a display manager and after
Alt+SysRq+eyou are presented with the login screen (or full desktop if autologin is enabled), it is most likely caused byRestart=alwaysdirective in the relevant service file. If necessary, edit the unit, however this should not prevent the "REISUB" sequence from working. - If all the above combinations work except
Alt+SysRq+b, try using the contralateralAltkey. - On laptops that use
Fnkey to differentiateSysRqfromPrtScrn, it may not actually be necessary to use theFnkey (i.e.,Alt+PrtSc+lettercould work). - On Lenovo laptops
SysRqis often configured asFn+S. To use it press and holdAltthen pressFn+s, releaseFnandsstill holdingAltfollowed by the keys above. - You may need to press
Ctrlalong withAlt. So for example, full key shortcut would beCtrl+Alt+SysRq+b.
See Wikipedia:Magic SysRq key for more details.
Virtual console
See Linux console#Keyboard shortcuts.
Xorg and Wayland
| Keyboard Shortcut | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Ctrl+Alt+F1, F2, F3, ...
|
Switch to n-th virtual console | If it does not work, try Ctrl+Fn+Alt+F….
|
Shift+Insert Mouse Button 2
|
Paste text from the PRIMARY buffer | By default, Qt maps Shift+Insert to CLIPBOARD instead of the PRIMARY buffer (see e.g. [1]) and Ctrl+Shift+Insert is mapped to the PRIMARY buffer.
|
Customization
Readline
Readline is a commonly used library for line-editing; it is used for example by Bash, FTP, and many more (see the details of readline package under "Required By" for more examples). It has Emacs-like and vi-like editing modes which can be customized with escape sequences. Default key bindings are listed in the Info documentation.
Zsh
Zsh uses ZLE to link shortcuts to widgets, scripts and commands.
Xorg
See Xorg/Keyboard configuration#Frequently used XKB options for some common shortcuts, that are disabled by default.
When we are in a graphical environment we may want to execute a command when certain key combination is pressed (i.e. bind a command to a keysym). There are multiple ways to do that:
- The most portable way using low level tools, such as acpid. Not all keys are supported, but configuration in uniform way is possible for keyboard keys, power adapter connection and even headphone jack (un)plugging events. It is also difficult to run programs inside X session correctly.
- The universal way using Xorg utilities (e.g. xbindkeys) and eventually your desktop environment or window manager tools.
- The quicker way using a third-party program to do everything in GUI, such as the Gnome Control Center.
sxhkd
A simple X hotkey daemon with a powerful and compact configuration syntax. See sxhkd for details.
actkbd
From actkbd home page:
- actkbdAUR (available in AUR) is a simple daemon that binds actions to keyboard events. It recognises key combinations and can handle press, repeat and release events. Currently it only supports the linux-2.6 evdev interface. It uses a plain-text configuration file which contains all the bindings.
A sample configuration and guide is available here.
xbindkeys
xbindkeys allows advanced mapping of keysyms to actions independently of the Desktop Environment.
xbindkeys difficult to use, try the graphical manager xbindkeys_config-gtk2AUR from the AUR.Desktop environments
Windows managers
Key binding for X-selection-paste
Users who prefer to work with the keyboard rather than the mouse may benefit from a key binding to the paste operation of the middle mouse button. This is especially useful in a keyboard-centered environment. A workflow example is:
- In Firefox, select a string you want to google for (with the mouse).
- Hit
Ctrl+kto enter the "search engine" field. - Hit
F9to paste the buffer, instead of moving the mouse pointer to the field and middle-click to paste.
Shift+Insert has a similar yet different functionality, see #Xorg: Shift+Insert inserts the clipboard buffer, not the x-selection-paste buffer. In some applications, these two buffers are mirrored.The method suggested here uses the following three packages::
- xsel to give access to the x-selection-buffer content.
- Xbindkeys to bind a key-stroke to an action.
- xvkbdAUR to pass the buffer string to the application by emulating keyboard input.
This example binds the x-selection-paste operation to the F9 key:
.xbindkeysrc
"xvkbd -no-jump-pointer -xsendevent -text "\D1`xsel`" 2>/dev/null"
F9
The "\D1" code prefixes a 100 ms pause to inserting the selection buffer (see the xvkbd home page).
-xsendevent argument to xvkbd.The key codes for keys other than F9 can be determined using xbindkeys -k.
References:
XMonad Window Manager
In the xmonad window manager there is a built-in function to paste the x-selection-buffer content. In order to bind that function to a key-stroke (here Insert key) the following configuration can be used:
xmonad.hs
import XMonad.Util.Paste ... -- X-selection-paste buffer , ((0, xK_Insert), pasteSelection) ]
Tips and tricks
- If you like a keyboard-centered workflow, you might also appreciate a tiling window manager.