Shortcut to jump between words/phrases separated by spaces in a terminal

Question

When we write commands especially long ones, we sometimes need to make edits. For example imagine:

docker run --rm --name My_container_3.19.2.9-999_khbdabshs --entrypoint bash registry.me.com:2001/apps/My_container_3.19.2.9-999_khbdabshs

Starting at the beginning of the line by hitting ctrl+a or end of line by hitting ctrl+e, how can I quickly get to the word bash?

Is there a shortcut to jump between docker run --rm --name My_container_3.19.2.9-999_khbdabshs --entrypoint bash registry.me.com:2001/apps/My_container_3.19.2.9-999_khbdabshs, which are all seperated by spaces?

I've seen people mention ctrl+b/f or esc+b/f but it doesn't exactly do what I want.

I'm using iTerm with ZSH on a macOS. Hopefully the shortcut works irrespective to what emulator or shell I use.

Answer 1

Meta-F will jump one "word" Forward.

Meta-B will jump one "word" Backward.

On many modern keyboards, Alt works as Meta. On a Mac, it may be Option You can also use Esc,F and Esc,B. For the latter iterations, it is not a key combination, but a key sequence: Press and release Esc, and then press and release either F or B.

You can also use Ctrl-] followed by any character to jump the cursor rightward to the next match for the specified character. So if your cursor is at the start of the line, Ctrl-],B three times would place the cursor at the b in bash.

Meta-Ctrl-] followed by any character to jump the cursor leftward similarly.