Bash CTRL to move cursor between words/strings
BashBash Problem Overview
I am use to using the CTRL key to move faster when using the left and right arrow keys (goes to end of a word, instead of one char at a time).
Can I do that in bash somehow?
I could probably code it, but I was wondering if there is something easier / already done.
Bash Solutions
Solution 1 - Bash
With the default readline key bindings, ALT+B goes back one word, ALT+F goes forward one word.
The default Ubuntu setup additionally provides CTRL+arrows like you're used to. These are in /etc/inputrc and specified as follows:
# mappings for Ctrl-left-arrow and Ctrl-right-arrow for word moving
"\e[1;5C": forward-word
"\e[1;5D": backward-word
"\e[5C": forward-word
"\e[5D": backward-word
"\e\e[C": forward-word
"\e\e[D": backward-word
Not sure why we need three of them...
Solution 2 - Bash
As Thomas explained, you can add the bindings to /etc/inputrc.
Another alternative so it loads every time you log in, is putting them in ~/.bashrc like this:
#use ctl keys to move forward and back in words
bind '"\eOC":forward-word'
bind '"\eOD":backward-word'
I learned that you can use cat > /dev/null to look at the characters that your keyboard is sending, e.g., CTRL + right arrow shows:
^[OC
where ^[ is the same as \e so that's where the code comes from in the bind command.
You can also look up bindings like this:
bind -p | grep forward-word
All of this is pretty damn awesome and I'm glad I found out some more power of bash.
Solution 3 - Bash
A .inputrc in your home directory will cause ctrl+left to stop working on Ubuntu (for example).
To get everything working, add the following to ~/.inputrc:
# Include system-wide inputrc, which is ignored by default when
# a user has their own .inputrc file.
$include /etc/inputrc
credit to f.kowal
Solution 4 - Bash
Add $include /etc/inputrc
in ~/.inputrc
Worked for CentOS Linux release 8.2.2004 (Core)