Delete current command

Question

Is there a keyboard shortcut to delete the current command?

Let's say I have:

$ cp /home/one/two/tree/ /var/www/one/two/three

I want to easily the current command, specially when it's long and I had a typo. The up and down history selection doesn't remove the current command at all.

Answer 1

Assuming your shell is bash, this question has been asked and answered on SO.

Press Ctrl-U to delete the command line from the location of the cursor up to the beginning. Precede this by Ctrl-E if the cursor isn't at the end of the line.

Or press Ctrl-C to cancel the current prompt and obtain a new one, which has the benefit that you still see the command you typed.

As bash is highly customizable, the above should work in a default setup, but you or your package provider might always reconfigure the shell for a different set of shortcuts.

Answer 2

Try Command Line Editing?

If you are using Bash, check: http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Command-Line-Editing.html