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Is there a shortcut in bash and zsh to delete one component of a path? For example, if I type ls ~/local/color/, and the cursor is at the end of line, is there a shortcut to delete the color/ at the end? Ideally I want solutions in both vi-mode and emacs-mode

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Don't you have seen Alt-BkSpc in my answer? – enzotib Sep 30 '11 at 17:49
@enzotib I want to delete partial path, not whole path (one word) with one shortcut. – Vayn Sep 30 '11 at 17:52
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From bash man page: "Words are composed of alphanumeric characters (letters and digits)." so it stops at /, and it works for me. I suggest you to give it at least a quick test. – enzotib Sep 30 '11 at 17:56
@enzotib It's my fault, the shortcut also works fine in my bash shell. Thank you :D. Now I have another problem, which answer should be accepted... – Vayn Sep 30 '11 at 18:07
me! me! me! Kidding. In all fairness enzotib's answer is more complete and more relevant to the subject. I would accept him :D – rahmu Sep 30 '11 at 18:45
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3 Answers

up vote 11 down vote accepted

The most commonly used commands in the default bash emacs mode, for most commonly used keyboards:

Movement

  • Ctrl-p, or Up: previous command
  • Ctrl-n, or Down: next command
  • Ctrl-b, or Left: previous character
  • Ctrl-f, or Right: next character
  • Alt-b: previous word
  • Alt-f: next word
  • Ctrl-a, or Home: begin of command
  • Ctrl-e, or End: end of command

Editing

  • BkSpc: delete previous character
  • Ctrl-d, or Del: delete current character
  • Alt-BkSpc: delete word to left
  • Alt-d: delete word to right
  • Ctrl-u: delete to start of command
  • Ctrl-k: delete to end of command
  • Ctrl-y: paste last cut

Miscellanea

  • Cltr-/: undo
  • Cltr-r: incremental backward history search
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Complement: set a shortcut for this purpose in zsh bindkey [key] vi-backward-kill-word – Vayn Sep 30 '11 at 19:36
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By default bash (and I'm guessing zsh) will be in emacs-mode. You could try something like this:

Esc + b will put the cursor back one word. Ctrl + k will delete until the end of the line.

Most modern shells (like bash) will implement advanced command line editing features. Those commands are either close to emacs editing (Ctrl +A for line beginning, Ctrl + E for line end, ...).

If you're familar with vi-like editors, you could try to allow vi-mode.

set -o vi

It gives your shell vi-like modes (command mode/insert mode), and you get access to the standard commands (d for delete, r for replace, ...)

In Vi Mode, here's how you would do what you described:

Esc (command mode); d; b.
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I would not say "Command line editing is even more powerful and complete in vi-mode", emacs mode has commands to do everything you can do in vi mode. – enzotib Sep 30 '11 at 16:35
I admit I got a bit carried away. I'll rephrase this. – rahmu Sep 30 '11 at 16:36
Thanks for reminding me there is vi-mode in bash, so I can use db in this scenario in bash. I also found vi-backward-kill-word in zsh is what I want, and it is more convenient than set vi-mode in bash. But I still want to find an emacs mode shortcut for this purpose in bash. – Vayn Sep 30 '11 at 17:07
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There's also unix-filename-rubout for Readline!

# in ~/.inputrc
# press ctrl-b to delete unix filename parts
# see: man bash | less -p 'unix-filename-rubout' and
#      http://www.calmar.ws/vim/vi-bash.html
set editing-mode vi
set keymap vi
"\C-b": unix-filename-rubout
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