List of terminal generated signals (eg Ctrl-C -> SIGINT)

The Linux N_TTY line discipline only sends three different signals: SIGINT, SIGQUIT, and SIGTSTP. By default the following control characters produce the signals:

  • Ctrl+C - SIGINT
  • Ctrl+\ - SIGQUIT
  • Ctrl+Z - SIGTSTP

You can use stty to check or change the characters that generate signals.

$ stty -a | grep -Ewoe '(intr|quit|susp) = [^;]+'
intr = ^C
quit = ^\
susp = ^Z

intr (interrupt) generates SIGINT, quit generates SIGQUIT, susp (suspend) generates SIGTSTP. stty -a will also show things like start = ^Q; stop = ^S; and erase = ^? (backspace), which don't send signals but affect the terminal layer otherwise.

Plain stty will show the non-default settings and e.g. stty intr ^Q would change the interrupt character to ^Q instead of ^C.

I think ^L (form feed, new page) is not a terminal feature, but a character often used by applications to ask for a redraw the view, rechecking the window size at the same time.