Most of computer users and developers manipulating the mouse and keyboards takes up to two seconds each time. As per Brainscape calculation, If a person works for eight hours per day :
[2 wasted seconds/min] x [480 minutes per day] x 240 working days per year = 64 wasted hours per year.
So, Most of users last their 8 working days every year. Now, you realize the importance of keyboard shortcuts. So that in this post we will learn most important shortcuts in GNU/Linux operating system. These not only save time, but also make the computer user more efficient.
General shortcut
| Key combination | Action |
| Ctrl + Alt + T | Launches a terminal window |
| Super + L or Ctrl + Alt + L | Locks the desktop |
| Super + D or Ctrl + Alt + D | Displays the desktop. Pressing the same keys again will show al the windows on the desktop as these were originally. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Del | Displays the log-out dialogue box. |
| Super + A | Shows the Application menu. |
| Ctrl + H | Displays the hidden files in the file manager. Has a toggle effect. |
| Alt + Fl | Gives an overview of all open windows. |
| Alt + F2 | Opens the Run command dialogue box. |
Terminal shortcut
| Key combination | Action |
| Ctrl + R | Searches history based on the entered text. |
| Ctrl +A | Moves the cursor to the beginning of the line |
| Ctrl + E | Moves the cursor to the end of the line |
| Ctrl + U | Deletes the entire current line |
| Ctrl + L | Clears the output of a command in the terminal. |
| Ctrt + K | Deletes all text to the right of the cursor. |
Print Screen and video recording of the screen
| Key combination | Action |
| Print Screen | Takes a screenshot |
| Alt + Print Screen | Takes a screenshot of the active window. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Print | Takes a screenshot of a window and Screen copies it to a clipboard.Screen |
| Shift + Ctrl + Alt + R | Takes a video recording of the full screen of the desktop. The recording is done for 30 seconds, a time frame that can be changed. During the recording, a red circle on the top right corner is displayed, and the recorded video is saved in the WebM format in the Videos folder of the user. Press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+R to stop the recording manually. |
Switching between application
| Key combination | Action |
| Alt + F4 | Closes the currently active window . |
| Alt + Tab | Switches between application. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Tab | Switches between application from all workspaces. |
| Super + S | Switches between workspaces. |
| Super + W | Displays all windows in the current workspace. |
| Shift + Super + W | Displays all windows from all workspace. |
Tile Window
| Key combination | Action |
| Super + left arrow | Tiles the current window to the left half of the screen. |
| Super + right arrow | Tiles the current window to the right half of the screen. |
| Super + up arrow | Tiles the current window to the top half of the screen. |
| Super + down arrow | Tiles the current window to the bottom half of the screen. |
Browser shortcut
| Key combination | Action |
| Ctrl + T | Opens a new tab. |
| Ctrl + Shift + T | Opens the most recently closed tab. |
| Ctrl + D | Adds a new bookmark. |
| Ctrl + W | Closes the browser tab. |
| Alt + D | Positions the cursor in the browser’s address bar. |
| F5 or Ctrl+R | Refreshes a page. |
| Ctrl + Shift + Del | Clears private data and history. |
| Ctrl + N | Opens a new window. |
| Home | Scrolls to the top of the page. |
| End | Scrolls to the bottom of the page. |
| Ctrl + J | Opens the Downloads folder (in Chrome) |
| F11 | Full-screen view (toggle effect) |
Own Custom shortcut
You can also configure your own custom shortcuts in Ubuntu, as follows:
- Click on Settings
- Select the Devices tab in the left menu of the Settings window.
- Select the Keyboard tab in the Devices menu.
- The ‘+’ button is displayed at the bottom of the right panel. Click on the ‘+’ sign to open the custom shortcut dialogue box and configure a new shortcut.
Learning three shortcuts mentioned in this article can save a lot of time and make you more productive.
Reference
- Cohen, Andrew. How keyboard shortcuts could revive America’s economy; http://www.brainscape.com. [Online] Brainscape, 26 May 2017; https://www.brainscape.com/blog/2011/08/keyboard-shortcuts-economy/
- https://opensourceforu.com/2019/11/keyboard-shortcuts-to-speed-up-your-work-in-linux/
Cheers!
- Blog – Haripriya and Manimaran
Villupuram GLUG 
1 thought on “Important Keyboard Shortcuts in GNU/Linux”