Macos – Exit SSH session in OSX Terminal

Press Ctrl+C to terminate the program and get back to the shell prompt.

If you want a program to run in the background and return you to a shell prompt, append an ampersand (&) to the end of the command. For example:

node test.js &

You are right, this is not an OS X specific question. The answer is found in bash, the standard shell on OS X (also included in most if not all Linux distros).

bash provides a built-in command called bind that can be used to bind a key combination (like AltK) to a command (like ssh foo).

Open Terminal and type:

bind '"\ek":"ssh foo\n"'

This will bind the key combination \ek (in Terminal both AltK and EscK) to the command ssh foo. The \n adds a return.

Now press AltK and ssh foo will be executed (modify ssh foo to your needs).

If you want this key combination to be automatically loaded when starting a Terminal create a file called .inputrc in your home folder:

cd ~
touch .inputrc

and open it:

open -e ~/.inputrc

You will see TextEdit open. Type:

"\ek":"ssh foo\n"

and save it (or use your favorite editor). That's it!

There's much more to it than what I've explained here. I recommend that you have a look to this question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4200800/in-bash-how-do-i-bind-a-function-key-to-a-command and check (the rather dry) section READLINE in man bash. Notice that the escape sequence \M-, which in other operating systems is mapped to Alt, doesn't work in Terminal. You need to use \e to bind Alt.

Since escape sequences are terminal emulation dependent I'd like to share the setup I used to test the above command: