PuTTY Keyboard Shortcuts Cheatsheet | Cheat Sheets Hero

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April 24, 2025 23:50

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Basic Terminal Navigation & Editing

Line Editing Shortcuts

Ctrl + A	Move cursor to the beginning of the line.
Ctrl + E	Move cursor to the end of the line.
Ctrl + U	Erase everything from the cursor to the beginning of the line.
Ctrl + K	Erase everything from the cursor to the end of the line.
Ctrl + W	Erase the word before the cursor.
Ctrl + Y	Paste the text that was last ‘killed’ (erased with Ctrl+U/K/W).
Ctrl + T	Transpose the two characters before the cursor.
Ctrl + B	Move cursor back one character.
Ctrl + F	Move cursor forward one character.

Word Navigation Shortcuts

Alt + B (or Ctrl + Left Arrow)	Move cursor back one word.
Alt + F (or Ctrl + Right Arrow)	Move cursor forward one word.
Alt + D	Delete the word after the cursor.
Alt + Backspace	Delete the word before the cursor.
Esc + Backspace	Alternative for deleting the word before the cursor.
Ctrl + Backspace	May delete the word before the cursor depending on terminal settings.
Ctrl + R	Initiate reverse search through command history.
Ctrl + G	Cancel current action (e.g., search).
Tab	Attempt filename or command completion.

Basic Process Control

Ctrl + C	Send a SIGINT signal to the foreground process (commonly used to interrupt/stop a running command).
Ctrl + Z	Send a SIGTSTP signal to the foreground process (commonly used to suspend/pause a running command). Use `fg` to resume.
Ctrl + D	Send an End-of-File (EOF) marker. Can be used to exit a shell or program expecting input.
Ctrl + \	Send a SIGQUIT signal to the foreground process (causes a program to terminate and dump core).
Ctrl + S	XOFF - Pause output to the terminal (flow control).
Ctrl + Q	XON - Resume output to the terminal (flow control).
Up Arrow	Recall the previous command from history.
Down Arrow	Recall the next command from history.
Page Up / Page Down	Scroll the terminal window up/down within the current view.

PuTTY Specific Features & Scrollback

Scrollback Buffer Navigation

Shift + Page Up	Scroll terminal content up by one page (uses PuTTY’s scrollback buffer).
Shift + Page Down	Scroll terminal content down by one page (uses PuTTY’s scrollback buffer).
Shift + Home	Scroll to the beginning of the scrollback buffer.
Shift + End	Scroll to the end of the scrollback buffer (most recent output).
Ctrl + Shift + Page Up	Scroll terminal content up line by line.
Ctrl + Shift + Page Down	Scroll terminal content down line by line.

Text Selection & Copy/Paste

Left Mouse Button (Drag)	Select text in the terminal window.
Left Mouse Button (Double-Click)	Select a single word.
Left Mouse Button (Triple-Click)	Select an entire line.
Right Mouse Button	Paste the currently selected text into the terminal at the cursor position.
Middle Mouse Button	Can be configured to paste or perform other actions.
Shift + Insert	Alternative paste shortcut (standard X terminal paste).
Ctrl + Insert	Alternative copy shortcut (standard X terminal copy).
Selection Behavior	Any text selected with the left mouse button is automatically copied to the Windows clipboard.

Window & Session Control

Alt + Enter	Toggle Fullscreen mode.
Alt + Space	Open the standard Windows system menu for the PuTTY window.
Alt + - (Minus)	Open the standard Windows system menu for the PuTTY window (alternative key).
Click on Window Icon (Top-Left)	Open the standard Windows system menu.
Right-Click Title Bar	Open the standard Windows system menu.
System Menu -> Change Settings...	Access runtime configuration options for the current session.
System Menu -> Duplicate Session	Open a new PuTTY window with the same session configuration.
System Menu -> Restart Session	Close and immediately reopen the current session connection.
System Menu -> Event Log	View connection events and debugging information.