Linux – How to cancel reverse search without losing text typed

bashcommand linelinux

When using reverse-search (Ctrl–r) in the bash terminal , I can cancel the search using either Ctrl–c or Ctrl–g. Both these options will clear the text typed while searching.

However, the most common reason I need to cancel my search is when I realize the command I wanted to type is not in my history, and this often happens only after I've typed a very long command.

Is there some way to cleanly abort the search without losing everything I typed?

Best Answer

Try using the cursor movement keys, e.g. Ctrl+B or Ctrl+F.

Related Solutions

Linux – (reverse-i-search) in Bash

The best answer there is to use Ctrl+G to cancel the current search.

Mac – way of using ctrl-r after typing part of command in bash

You can search bash's history using what you have already typed easily.

Suppose you have just typed curl -I http://superuser.com and you forgot to type Ctrl+r first:

$ curl -I http://superuser.com

If you want to do an i-search on your history, go to the beginning of line first (Ctrl+a), enter i-search (Ctrl+r) and type Ctrl+y. This should search using the contents of the whole text you already typed:

(reverse-i-search)`curl -I http://superuser.com': curl -I http://superuser.com/faq

Alternatively, you can use Ctrl+w instead of Ctrl+y to search using just the first word of the text you just typed:

(reverse-i-search)`curl': curl -I http://superuser.com/faq

Binding it all to a single key

If you want to do all this in one keystroke, you can bind a single key to a keyboard macro. If you want to use, say, F12 run:

$ bind '"\e[24~":"\C-a\C-r\C-y"'

That will last for the session.

Making it permanent

Just define the macro in your ~/.inputrc:

"\e[24~":"\C-a\C-r\C-y"

Note that here we omit the single quotes.

You might find this answer useful.