Bash: delete from cursor till end of line with a keyboard shortcut

Use Ctrl+K to delete from the cursor to the end of the line.

Use Ctrl+U to delete from the cursor to the beginning of the line.

It depends on whether you are using vi(set -o vi) or emacs(set -o emacs) editing mode within your shell.

By default, your shell generally defaults to emacs editing mode.

• In emacs mode, deleting to the end of the line can be accomplished by using the command ctrl-k.

• If, however, you happen to be using vi editing mode in your command shell, the same result can be accomplished by typing Esc(which will place you in command mode) followed by d-$(if you want to delete the entire line, enter dd).

If you are uncertain as to which editing mode that you are currently using in your shell, enter the command set -o from the command line and you will be able to determine which editing mode that you are currently using:

set -o
...snip...
emacs           on
...snip...
vi              off

To switch your command-line editing mode, simply type either:

set -o vi

or

set -o emacs

In case you're only familiar with one of Zsh and Bash, here are the equivalent key bindings you (may) need:

bash

bind '"\C-k"':kill-line

zsh

bindkey "\C-k"      vi-kill-eol

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Other relevant information

To get a list of key bindings:

# bash
bind -p

# zsh
bindkey