Cisco IOS CLI Shortcut Cheat Sheet
This is a list of the Cisco IOS CLI shortcuts for reference.
Cursor Movement Shortcuts
| SHORTCUT | DESCRIPTION | MNEMONIC |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+A | Move cursor to the beginning of the line | A for Alpha (=First) |
| Ctrl+E | Move cursor to the end of the line | E for End |
| Ctrl+F | Move cursor forward one character | F for Forward |
| Ctrl+B | Move cursor backward | B for Backward |
| Esc+F | Moves forward one word | F for Forward |
| Esc+B | Moves backwards one word | B for Backward |
| Up Arrow or Ctrl+P |
Previous command | P for Previous |
| Down Arrow or Ctrl+N |
Next command | N for Next |
Editing Shortcuts
| SHORTCUT | DESCRIPTION | MNEMONIC |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+W or Esc+Backspace |
Delete the word to the left of the cursor | W for Word |
| Ctrl+U | Delete the whole line | U for Universal |
| Ctrl+T | Swap or transpose the current character with the one before it | T for Transpose |
| Ctrl+K | Erase characters from the cursor to end of the line | |
| Ctrl+X | Erase characters from the cursor to the beginning of the line | |
| Esc+D | Delete from Cursor to end of word | D for Delete |
| Ctrl+D | Delete the character to the right of the cursor | D for Delete |
| Backspace or Ctrl+H |
Delete the character to the left of the cursor | |
| Esc+C | Makes the letter at the cursor uppercase. | C for Capital |
| Esc+L | Changes the word at the cursor to lowercase | L for Lower |
| Esc+U | Makes letters from the cursor to the end of the word uppercase. | U for Uppercase |
Functional Shortcuts
| SHORTCUT | DESCRIPTION | MNEMONIC |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+L or Ctrl+R |
Reprint/Refresh the line. Starts a new line, with the same command shown. (If the system sends a message to the screen while a command is being entered, and you are not using line synchronization.) | L for Line R for Reprint |
| Tab | Command autocomplete. Also refreshes the line. | |
| Enter or Ctrl+M |
Enter/Return | |
| Ctrl+C | Exit. Exit from config mode to privileged EXEC mode. | C for Cancel |
| Ctrl+Z | Apply the command line and exit from config mode to privileged EXEC mode. | |
| Ctrl+Shift+6 (X) or Ctrl+^(X) |
CTRL+SHIFT+6 is one action, the (X) is the second action. On some keyboard layouts it’s Ctrl+^ (X) because ^ is the break character. |
Delete-Buffer Shortcuts
The buffer stores the last ten items that have been deleted using Ctrl+K, Ctrl+U, or Ctrl+X
| SHORTCUT | DESCRIPTION | MNEMONIC |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+Y | Paste the most recent entry in the delete buffer | Y for Yank |
| Esc+Y | Paste the Previous entry in the history buffer | Y for Yank |