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A great way to be more productive using Gnome is to use one workspace per application or per dedicated activity, and then use the keyboard to navigate between these workspaces. Gnome Shell uses dynamic workspaces, meaning it creates additional workspaces as they are needed. To close the message tray simply use the same shortcut again. To open the message tray using the keyboard use the Super+m shortcut. This is also the place where the calendar and world clocks are available. In GNOME, notifications are available in the message tray. For example, it’s easy to start the Firefox web browser with the following key sequence Super + fir + Enter. (The Super key usually has a logo on it.) This is really useful when it comes to start an application.
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The activities overview can be easily opened using the Super key from the keyboard.
KEYBOARD SHORTCUT TO OPEN TERMINAL HOW TO
Learn how to be more efficient with GNOME Shell with these 5 ways to use the keyboard instead of the mouse. In fact, GNOME Shell is also a desktop manager designed for and meant to be driven by the keyboard. If you, like me, like both modes, there’s a really good Zsh plugin that not only enhances vi mode with more features like mode visual indicator and support for surround bindings, but also makes most of the Emacs key bindings available.For some people, using GNOME Shell as a traditional desktop manager may be frustrating since it often requires more action of the mouse. So, in vi mode, if you want to delete the whole line, you press ESC (to switch to command mode), dd (to delete the line), and a (to switch back to insert mode).ĭepending on your shell, or if you have any plugins, some of the Emacs-based shortcuts might work when in insert mode. If you want to switch back to insert mode, just like vi, press a (or A, i, I, depending on where you want the cursor to be). To switch to normal mode, press ESC or CTRL-[, by default, there won’t be any visual indication about which mode is currently active. Just like any vi-based editor, vi mode operates in either insert mode (keys produce text on the screen) or normal mode (keys represent editing commands).
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ALT-L: Change one word to the right to lowercase.ALT-U: Change one word to the right to uppercase.
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CTRL-XE: Open the $EDITOR to edit the line.CTRL-Y: Paste the characters previously cut.CTRL-D/ DELETE/ FN DELETE (MACOS): Delete one character to the right.CTRL-H/ BACKSPACE/ DELETE (MACOS): Delete one character to the left.CTRL-K: Cut the characters to the right of the cursor.CTRL-XX: Hold CTRL and press X twice to move the cursor to the beginning of the line, and hold CTRL and press X twice again to move the cursor back.ALT-F/ CTRL-RIGHT: Move right one word.CTRL-F/ RIGHT: Move right one character.CTRL-E/ END: Move to the end of a line.CTRL-A/ HOME: Move to the beginning of a line.To list all the current key bindings, run: # zsh bindkey # bash bind -Pīoth Zsh and Bash support keymaps, so you can have a different set of key bindings active at different times.
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rc file): # zsh bindkey -v # bash set -o vi To switch to vi mode, run (or add to your. rc file): # zsh bindkey -e # bash set -o emacs To switch to Emacs mode, run (or add to your. Switching modesĪlthough Emacs mode is the default, if you have your $EDITOR set to vi (or any editor that contain “vi” such as vim), vi mode will be enabled. I won’t get down to the nitty-gritty of how line editors work, if you are interested, you can find more information about zle (Zsh line editor) and about Readline (used by Bash). I recommend starting with Emacs mode, mastering it, and later trying the vi mode. There are two modes of operation available to the Zsh (and Bash) line editor, one (the default) based on Emacs, and the other based on vi. It’s the first part of the shell you probably interacted with, as it handles all the commands you type.Įvery shell provides some kind of line editing capabilities, including entering and deleting characters, word navigation, deleting lines, etc. A line editor is a text editor that allows users to edit lines that represent commands.
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