iTerm2

What is iTerm2?

iTerm2 is a replacement for Terminal and the successor to iTerm. It works on Macs with macOS 10.14 or newer. iTerm2 brings the terminal into the modern age with features you never knew you always wanted.

Tabs and Windows

Function	Shortcut
New Session	⌘ + N
New Tab	⌘ + T
Close Tab or Window	⌘ + W (same as many mac apps)
Go to Tab	⌘ + Number Key (ie: ⌘2 is 2nd tab)
Go to Split Pane by Direction	⌘ + Option + Arrow Key
Cycle iTerm Windows	⌘ + backtick (true of all mac apps and works with desktops/mission control)
Splitting
Split Window Vertically (same profile)	⌘ + D
Split Window Horizontally (same profile)	⌘ + Shift + D (mnemonic: shift is a wide horizontal key)
Moving
Move a pane with the mouse	⌘ + Alt + Shift and then drag the pane from anywhere
Fullscreen
Fullscreen	⌘+ Enter
Maximize a pane	⌘ + Shift + Enter (use with fullscreen to temp fullscreen a pane!)
Resize Pane	Ctrl + ⌘ + Arrow (given you haven't mapped this to something else)
Less Often Used By Me
Go to Split Pane by Order of Use	⌘ + ] , ⌘ + [
Split Window Horizontally (new profile)	Option + ⌘ + H
Split Window Vertically (new profile)	Option + ⌘ + V
Previous Tab	⌘+ Left Arrow (I usually move by tab number like ⌘+1)
Next Tab	⌘+ Right Arrow
Go to Window	⌘ + Option + Number

My Favorite Shell Key Combos

These might be helpful to getting you faster with the shell. These are just common shell shortcuts unrelated to iTerm itelf. These will usually work in Bash/Zsh/Fish on Mac and on Linux. There are many shortcuts out there but I use these quite a bit. There is also more than one way to do a thing so adopt what you like best.

Hopefully some of these improve your work life. 😃

Function	Key Combination	Use
Delete to start of line	Ctrl + U	Use this to start over typing without hitting Ctrl-C
Delete to end of line	Ctrl + K	Use this with command history to repeat commands and changing one thing at the end!
Repeat last command	Up Arrow	Cycle and browse your history with up and down. Ctrl-R is faster if you know the string you are looking for.
Move back and forth on a line	Left/Right Arrow Keys	This takes you off the home row but it's easy to remember
Move back and forth on a line by words	⌥ + Left/Right Arrow Keys	Fast way to jump by words to correct a typo or "run again" with minor changes to last command. Ctrl as modifier might also work on mac and non-mac keyboards/shells/apps.
Delete previous word (in shell)	Ctrl + W	It's faster to delete by words. Especially when your last command was wrong by a single typo or something.
Clear screen	Ctrl + L	This is telling the shell to do it instead of an explicit command like clear or cls in DOS. If you use ⌘ + K, this is telling iTerm to clear the screen which might have the same result or do something terrible (like when using a TUI like top or htop. In general, use this instead of typing clear over and over.
Exit Shell	Ctrl + D	Instead of typing exit, just get this in muscle memory. It works in many contexts as exit of end of file (EOF).

Moving Faster

A lot of shell shortcuts work in iterm and it's good to learn these because arrow keys, home/end keys and Mac equivalents don't always work. For example ⌘ + Left Arrow is usually the same as Home (go to beginning of current line) but that doesn't work in the shell. Home works in many apps but it takes you away from the home row.

Function	Shortcut
Move to the start of line	Ctrl + A or Home (Home is fn+Left arrow)
Move to the end of line	Ctrl + E or End (End is fn+Right arrow)
Moving by word on a line (this is a shell thing but passes through fine)	Ctrl + Left/Right Arrow
Cursor Jump with Mouse (shell and vim - might depend on config)	Option + Left Click

About keyboard shortcuts 💡

So, some keyboard shortcuts are Mac's. For example fn+Left Arrow is the Home key. On a fullsize Mac keyboard, there is a Home key. Home will usually pass through to iTerm and the shell. By shell, I mean zsh, bash or fish. The shell is the program running inside of iTerm when you open iTerm. If you launch vim or something, zsh/bash/fish is "gone" because vim is running. So, it's complicated to explain when keys work and when they don't.

For example, Home will work in zsh. It will take you to the beginning of the line. If your cursor is at the end of "three" in this below example

one two three|

When you press Home (fn+Left Arrow) your cursor will be on one: |one So, in this way, Home works the same in "the shell" as it does in TextEdit.app or any basic text box on Mac. This is not the case if you start up vim or emacs. This is not iTerm's fault. This is just how Mac/Linux works. Just a head's up on that little detail.

Copy and Paste with iTerm without using the mouse

I don't use this feature too much. I instead just mouse select (which copies to the clipboard) and paste. There's no need to Copy to the clipboard if you have General > Selection > Copy to pasteboard on selection enabled.

Function	Shortcut
Enter Copy Mode	Shift + ⌘ + C
Enter Character Selection Mode in Copy Mode	Ctrl + V
Move cursor in Copy Mode	HJKL vim motions or arrow keys
Copy text in Copy Mode	Ctrl + K

Copy actions goes into the normal system clipboard which you can paste like normal.

Search the Command History

Some of these are not directly related to iTerm and are just "shell features". Like, if you open Terminal.app on Mac some of these still work because it's the shell and not iTerm. I'm including them anyway.

Function	Shortcut
Search as you type	Ctrl + R and type the search term; Repeat Ctrl + R to loop through result
Search the last remembered search term	Ctrl + R twice
End the search at current history entry	Ctrl + Y
Cancel the search and restore original line	Ctrl + G

Misc

Function	Shortcut
Clear the screen/pane (when Ctrl + L won't work)	⌘ + K (I use this all the time)
Broadcast command to all panes in window (nice when needed!)	⌘ + Alt + I (again to toggle)
Find Cursor	⌘ + / or use a theme or cursor shape that is easy to see