Keyboard Shortcuts

Xonsh comes pre-baked with a few keyboard shortcuts. The following is only available under the prompt-toolkit shell.

Editing

Shortcut

Description

Ctrl-C

Cancel the current command if nothing is selected.

Shift-Left or Shift-Right

Select one character in either direction.

Ctrl-Shift-Left or Ctrl-Shift-Right

Select one word in either direction.

Ctrl-V

Paste clipboard contents.

Ctrl-Backspace or Ctrl-H

Delete a single word (like Alt-Backspace).

Ctrl-X + Ctrl-E

Open the current buffer in your default text editor.

Ctrl-Right

Complete a single auto-suggestion word.

Shift+Enter

Start new line without execution. Terminal must support xterm modifyOtherKeys mode 1 or Kitty keyboard protocol.

Selection Actions

The following shortcuts work when text is selected (e.g. via Shift+Arrow keys):

Shortcut

Description

Ctrl-C

Copy selected text.

Ctrl-X + Ctrl-C

Copy selected text (alternative).

Ctrl-X + Ctrl-X

Cut selected text.

Tab

Indent selected lines.

Shift+Tab

Unindent selected lines.

Escape

Cancel selection.

Execution

Shortcut

Description

Ctrl-J
Similar to enter in a few respects:
1. Execute the current buffer.
2. End and execute a multiline statement.

Ctrl-M

Same as Ctrl-J.

Exit

Press Ctrl-D to exit xonsh and return to original terminal. If not called by another terminal, then exit current terminal window. Similar to exit.