Keyboard shortcuts
General controls
Shortcut | Description | Context |
---|
Ctrl+C | Cancel current input or generation | Standard interrupt |
Ctrl+D | Exit Claude Code session | EOF signal |
Ctrl+L | Clear terminal screen | Keeps conversation history |
Up/Down arrows | Navigate command history | Recall previous inputs |
Esc + Esc | Edit previous message | Double-escape to modify |
Method | Shortcut | Context |
---|
Quick escape | \ + Enter | Works in all terminals |
macOS default | Option+Enter | Default on macOS |
Terminal setup | Shift+Enter | After /terminal-setup |
Paste mode | Paste directly | For code blocks, logs |
Quick commands
Shortcut | Description | Notes |
---|
# at start | Memory shortcut - add to CLAUDE.md | Prompts for file selection |
/ at start | Slash command | See slash commands |
Vim mode
Enable vim-style editing with /vim
command or configure permanently via /config
.
Mode switching
Command | Action | From mode |
---|
Esc | Enter NORMAL mode | INSERT |
i | Insert before cursor | NORMAL |
I | Insert at beginning of line | NORMAL |
a | Insert after cursor | NORMAL |
A | Insert at end of line | NORMAL |
o | Open line below | NORMAL |
O | Open line above | NORMAL |
Navigation (NORMAL mode)
Command | Action |
---|
h /j /k /l | Move left/down/up/right |
w | Next word |
e | End of word |
b | Previous word |
0 | Beginning of line |
$ | End of line |
^ | First non-blank character |
gg | Beginning of input |
G | End of input |
Editing (NORMAL mode)
Command | Action |
---|
x | Delete character |
dd | Delete line |
D | Delete to end of line |
dw /de /db | Delete word/to end/back |
cc | Change line |
C | Change to end of line |
cw /ce /cb | Change word/to end/back |
. | Repeat last change |
Configure your preferred line break behavior in terminal settings. Run /terminal-setup
to install Shift+Enter binding for iTerm2 and VSCode terminals.
Command history
Claude Code maintains command history for the current session:
- History is stored per working directory
- Cleared with
/clear
command
- Use Up/Down arrows to navigate (see keyboard shortcuts above)
- Ctrl+R: Reverse search through history (if supported by terminal)
- Note: History expansion (
!
) is disabled by default
See also