Windows Terminal app offer a single console for all command line interfaces. By default, you can access Command Prompt, Windows PowerShell and Azure Cloud Shell. You can also add additional app profiles to include them in Terminal app. As with any command line interfaces, using keyboard shortcuts can save plenty of time when using Terminal app. Fortunately, the app comes with 40+ useful shortcuts and you can customize each shortcut or add a new shortcut if you need. Check our guide to learn more about using Terminal app.
Complete List of Windows Terminal App Shortcuts
When you are in Terminal app, press “Control + Comma” keys to open “Settings” section. Navigate to “Actions” menu from the sidebar to view the complete list of available actions with corresponding keyboard shortcuts. You can use the keyboard shortcuts to trigger the actions easily and save time. Here we have grouped all default keyboard shortcuts into the following five categories. Note that some actions have multiple shortcuts like pasting content from clipboard can be done with “Control + V” or “Shift + Insert” or “Control + Shift + V” keys.
General Terminal Shortcuts
- Control + Shift + W – close current pane
- Alt + F4 – close the app window
- Control + C – copy selected text. You can also use “Control + Insert” or Control + Shift + C” keys.
- Control + Minus – reduce font size
- Control + Plus – increase font size
- Control + 0 – reset font size to default
- Control + Shift + F – Find text
- Control + V – paste content from clipboard. You can also use “Control + Shift + V” or Shift + Insert” shortcuts for pasting.
- Control + A – select all text, you can also use “Control + Shift + A” keys.
Open Command Shortcuts
- Alt + Control + Comma – open default JSON settings file
- Shift + Control + Comma – open JSON settings file
- Control + Shift + Space – show dropdown for new tab
- Control + Comma – open Terminal app’s settings page
- Alt + Space – open default system menu
- Control + Shift + P – show or hide command palette
Managing Tabs, Panes and Window
- Control + Shift + T – open a new tab with default profile
- Control + Shift + N – open a new app window
- Control + Shift + 1 to 9 – open a new tab with corresponding profile index
- Alt + Shift + D – duplicate a pane
- Control + Shift + D – duplicate a tab
Resizing Terminal App
- Alt + Shift + Down Arrow – resize pane down
- Alt + Shift + Left Arrow – resize pane left
- Alt + Shift + Right Arrow – resize pane to the right
- Alt + Shift + Up Arrow – resize pane up
- Alt + Shift + Minus – split pane horizontally
- Alt + Shift + Plus – split pane vertically
- Alt + Enter – toggle full screen mode, you can also use F11 key.
Navigating in Terminal
- Alt + Down Arrow – move focus down
- Alt + Left Arrow – move focus to left
- Alt + Right Arrow – move focus to right
- Alt + Up Arrow – move focus up
- Alt + Control + Left Arrow – move the focus to last used pane
- Control + Tab – navigate to next tab in the app
- Control + Shift + Tab – navigate to previous tab in the app
- Control + Shift + Down Arrow – scroll to the bottom
- Control + Shift + Up Arrow – scroll to the top
- Control + Shift + Page Down – move one page in down direction
- Control + Shift + Page Up – move one page in up direction
- Control + Shift + Home – go to first command in the history
- Control + Shift + End – go to last command in the history
- Alt + Control + 1 to 9 – go to corresponding tab number
Using Keyboard Shortcuts in Terminal App
All the above shortcuts will work when you are in one of the command line interface tabs like Command Prompt. Make sure you are not in the app’s settings page as the shortcuts may not work on that page. Here are some good examples of using the above shortcuts in Terminal app.
Press “Alt + Shift + Minus” keys and then “Alt + Shift + Plus” keys to split the app’s tab into multiple panes.
Open Command Palette with “Control + Shift + P” shortcuts using which you can quickly find commands and execute in Terminal app.
Open the new tab menu using “Control + Shift + Space” keys to access the options available for opening a new tab in Terminal app.
Changing the Default Shortcut for Action
Good thing is that you do not need to settle with the default assigned shortcuts for actions. Terminal app allows you to change the default keyboard assignments for the actions.
- Press “Control + Comma” keys to open Terminal settings page.
- Navigate to “Actions” menu and hover over an action that you want to edit.
- Click the pencil icon showing next to the shortcut keys.
- This will open both the action and shortcut keys for editing. Select any action from the dropdown and type new shortcut keys in the text box.
- After that, click the tick mark button and then click “Save” button to apply the new shortcut assignment.
Note: You can also press the delete icon to completely delete the shortcut assignment.
Creating New Shortcut
As you can see, the action dropdown contains plenty of items in the list and not all the actions are assigned with shortcut keys. For example, you can assign a new shortcut for “Swap pane up” action. You can use this swap option when splitting the panes horizontally with “Alt + Shift + Minus” keys as explained above.
- For creating a new shortcut, click the “+ Add new” button when you are in “Actions” menu.
- Select new action from the dropdown menu list.
- Click in the text box and press your shortcut keys combination.
- Finally, click the tick mark button to add your newly created shortcut in the list.
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